The Impressionist, Summer Fall 2020

The Impressionist E X P L O R I N G I M P R E S S I O N I S M F R O M T H E 1 9 T H C E N T U R Y T O P R E S E N T D AY

FALL/WINTER 2021

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Self-Portrait, Vincent Van Gogh (1889), Original from The National Gallery of Art. CC0 1.0. Digitally enhanced by rawpixel. (opposite) The Starry Night, Vincent Van Gogh (1889), Original from Wikimedia Commons. CC0 1.0. Digitally enhanced by rawpixel.

from the editor

Dear Readers,

W

elcome to the premier issue of The Impressionist. The purpose of this magazine is to educate art lovers about impressionism and excite fresh appreciation for this style of painting.

The Impressionist showcases articles about the advent of impressionism in Europe, as well as the development of post-impressionism and contemporary impressionism. The authors searched for fascinating and little-known facts about the impressionists, and I hope you find the articles interesting.

I am indebted to My Modern Met and The Art Story for letting me reproduce their articles herein. Many of the images used in this magazine are reproduced courtesy of Creative Commons or are public domain images. Credits are given to galleries and non-profit organizations who lent me use of their images. I hope you enjoy the artwork.

Thanks for reading!

erin hanson: crystal creek

Amy Jensen Editor

The Impressionist VOLUME 1, NUMBER 1 • FALL/WINTER 2021

Contents 14 The Birth of Impressionism from Realism ON THE COVER

Carmel Lone Pine, Erin Hanson (2020) Oil on canvas, 50 x 40 in.

by Kelly Richman-Abdou with permission of My Modern

Met

20 The Impressionist is a free publication with the purpose to educate art lovers about impressionism and inspire fresh interest for this style of painting. To receive your complimentary digital copy, please email contact@redrockfineart.com We are offering complimentary issues of this magazine for distribution in art museums, galleries, non-profit art centers, art fairs and other art exhibitions. Please email for more information: contact@redrockfineart.com Painting measurements are in inches, height x width. Image credits are given on-page. See more information on page 80.

Four Friends—The Foundation of Impressionism by

30 Paul Durand-Ruel—The Man Who Backed the Impressionists by

All content copyright © 2021 by Red Rock Fine Art, Inc. (except where otherwise noted).

All published content may not be reproduced in any form without written permission from Red Rock Fine Art, Inc. Editor Amy Jensen

Van Gogh—Beyond Impressionism reproduced with permission from theartstory.org

44 Van Gogh’s Most Famous Paintings

48 Birger Sandzén—Van Gogh of the West

by Joan

The Group of Seven, Canada’s Impressionist Movement

by Julia Shaw

Design and Production fourcolorplanet.com

Printer Hartley Press, Inc. Printed in USA

French

52

Publisher Erin Hanson

Contributing Writers Christine Bond, Paul D. Shoden, Joan French, Norman Kolpas

Paul Shoden

34

The Impressionist (ISBN 978-1-7345977-1-4) is published by Red Rock Fine Art, Inc. Red Rock Fine Art, Inc. 1805 NE Colvin Ct. McMinnville, OR 97128 Email: contact@redrockfineart.com

Christine Bond

58 Mavericks Turned Masters by

Norman Kolpas

80 Resources

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The Thames at London, Claude Monet (1871), Oil on canvas, Courtesy National Museum Wales, Collections Online.

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12 the impressionist | fall / winter

The Impressionist

erin hanson: rainbow cypress

Exploring Impressionism from the 19th Century to Present Day

f a l l /w i n t e r fall / winter | the impressionist 13

The Birth of Impressionism from Realism

A

dmired by art experts, popular with the public, and widely exhibited in the world’s top museums, Impressionism has dominated the art world for nearly 150 years. Renowned for its painters’ pioneering approach to art, the groundbreaking genre has facilitated the emergence and shaped the evolution of several art movements, solidifying its role as the catalyst of modern art.

While Impressionism’s distinctive aesthetic is undoubtedly one-of-akind, the context of the canvases is just as captivating. Here, we explore the

By Kelly Richman-Abdou with permission of My Modern Met. 14 the impressionist | fall / winter

background, characteristics, and legBANKS OF THE SEINE, VÉTHEUIL Claude Monet (1880). Oil on canvas, acy of Impressionism to illustrate the Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington. iconic movement’s profound impact Chester Dale Collection. on the history of art. (opposite) WOMAN WITH A PARASOL— Impressionism is a movement of MADAME MONET AND HER SON Claude Monet (1875). Oil on canvas, art that emerged in 1870’s France.

Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington.

Rejecting the rigid rules of the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon. beaux-arts (“fine arts”), Impressionist artists showcased a new way to ob- (en plein air) rather than in a studio,” serve and depict the world in their the Tate explains. “This resulted in a work, foregoing realistic portrayals greater awareness of light and color for fleeting impressions of their sur- and the shifting pattern of the natural roundings—which, often, were found scene. Brushwork became rapid and in the broad outdoors. broken into separate dabs in order to “Instead of painting in a studio, the render the fleeting quality of light.” impressionists found that they could This new approach to painting capture the momentary and transient diverged from traditional techniques, effects of sunlight by working quickly, finally culminating in a movement that in front of their subjects, in the open air changed the course of art history.

fall / winter | the impressionist 15

16 the impressionist | fall / winter

(above) NEAR THE LAKE Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1879–1890). Original from The Art Institute of Chicago. CC0 1.0. Digitally enhanced by rawpixel. (opposite, top) IN BRITTANY (EN BRETAGNE) Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1886).

Original from Barnes Foundation. CC0 1.0. Digitally enhanced by rawpixel. (opposite, bottom) HORSE IN A MEADOW Edgar Degas (1871). Original from The National Gallery of Art. CC0 1.0. Digitally enhanced by rawpixel.

fall / winter | the impressionist 17

Throughout the 19th century, most French painters produced work that adhered to the traditional tastes of the Académie des Beaux-Arts, a Paris-based organization that held annual salons. Showcasing a selection of hand-picked artwork, the salons tended to favor conventional subject matter—including historical, mythological, and allegorical scenes—rendered in a realistic style.

Tired by this age-old approach to creativity, a group of artists decided to skip the salon hype and, instead, host their own independent exhibitions.

Known as Société Anonyme Coopérative des Artistes Peintres, Sculpteurs, Graveurs (“Cooperative and Anony18 the impressionist | fall / winter

mous Association of Painters, Sculptors, and Engravers”), this band of artists—which included Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, and Camille Pissarro—held their first exhibition in 1874.

Set in the studio of Nadar, a French photographer, the exhibition featured several paintings by 30 artists, with the most notable being Claude Monet’s Impression, Sunrise (1872).

The exhibition saw mixed reviewed from critics, including journalist Louis Leroy. When analyzing Impression, Sunrise, he infamously wrote: “Impression—I was certain of it. I was just telling myself that, since I was impressed, there had to be some impres-

ROCKS AT PORT-GOULPHAR, BELLE-ÎLE Claude Monet (1886). Original from the Art Institute of Chicago. CC0 1.0. Digitally enhanced by rawpixel. (opposite) THE CAFE CONCERT (THE SONG OF THE DOG) Edgar Degas (18751877). Gouache, pastel. Courtesy of WikiArt.

sion in it … and what freedom, what ease of workmanship! Wallpaper in its embryonic state is more finished than that seascape.”

Though clearly intended as an insult, his review actually helped the movement—it inadvertently (and ironically) gave it its well-known name. q

fall / winter | the impressionist 19

Four Friends The Foundation of Impressionism

I

n 1862, four young men came together in Paris to study painting.

They were Claude Monet, Pierre Renoir, Alfred Sisley, and Frederic Bazille. In the course of their studies, they brought into being a completely new style of art called Impressionism.

Their teacher was Charles Gleyre, who had taken on the school of Paul Delaroche, and who was himself a working artist. Although he never achieved the fame of some of his students, he was an excellent teacher. He taught them to paint “en plein air” (painting outdoors) in Paris and surrounding areas.

By Christine Bond

20 the impressionist | fall / winter

The Salon, at the time, was the official art exhibition of the Academie de Beaux-Arts in Paris. If an artist could get into the Salon, he then had official recognition as an artist; but if he was not invited, he was, in the eyes of society, not really an artist. These four painters were not invited. Their work was too new and too different to be considered real art.

The solution to this situation was to create their own exhibition, which took place on April 15, 1874, and the result was a new school of painting, labeled “Impressionism” by a newspaper reporter, who did not know that he was creating a major art movement by his

(above) VIEW OF THE CANAL SAINT MARTIN Alfred Sisley (1870). Oil on canvas, 19.6 x 25.5 in. Courtesy of WikiArt. (opposite, top left) THE PAINTER ALFRED SISLEY Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1868). Oil on canvas. Courtesy of WikiArt.

supposedly derogatory label. Monet, Renoir, Sisley, and Bazille participated in this exhibition, becoming part of the new movement. Although these four started out in the same way, they each took different paths and developed completely different styles, although all four are known as Impressionists.

ALFRED SISLEY

(left) BOATS Alfred Sisley (1885). Oil on canvas, 21.6 x 15 in. Courtesy of WikiArt.

1839-1899

(below) SNOW AT LOUVECIENNES Alfred Sisley (1878). Oil on canvas, 24 x 20 in. Courtesy of WikiArt.

T

he first artist, Alfred Sisley, painted landscapes almost exclusively.

His paintings were delicate, with muted colors, very often with a traditional format. Most of his paintings contained some sort of water: rivers, canals, the sea, or even snow. He liked the play of light on water and sky, and he used more muted colors than the other painters. In his lifetime he painted nearly 1,000 paintings.

In View of the St. Martin Canal (opposite page), the colors of the sky and water are nearly identical; these are the key elements of the painting, while the buildings and the boats lining the canal are only background elements. The water is alive with light from the sky.

The Canal St. Martin is a 4.6 kilometer canal in Paris, connecting the Canal de l’Ourcq to the river Seine. Today, much of the Canal St. Martin has been edged with paving and covered with bridges so people can walk alongside it and enjoy its beauty.

Here is Snow at Louveciennes, (above).

Louveciennes is a village about fifteen kilometers from Paris. Sisley, Renior, and other Impressionist painters were attracted to its cobblestone lanes, vine-covered stone walls, and picturesque storefronts, with its steepled

church in the town’s center. They often painted the town and country roads between Louveciennes and Paris. This painting has lovely tones of white and gray, communicating the lonely mood of a solitary man out for a walk on a snow-covered street. fall / winter | the impressionist 21

Jean Frédéric Bazille 1841-1870

(above) FAMILY REUNION Frédéric Bazille (1867).

Oil on canvas, 59.8 x 90.5 in.

Courtesy of WikiArt. SELF-PORTRAIT Frédéric Bazille (1865-1866).

Oil on canvas, 42.8 x 28.3 in.

Courtesy of WikiArt.

22 the impressionist | fall / winter

T

he second artist, Jean Frédéric Bazille, on the other hand, painted figures and still lifes almost exclusively. Of the four original Impressionists, he followed the definition of Impressionism the least, and he only produced forty-eight paintings in his lifetime, most of which are of a more traditional style, using stylized forms and primary colors, as in this painting, Bathers, (Summer Scene) (opposite page) .

In Bazille’s work, the Impressionist element came out rarely; for example, in this painting, Man with a Pipe (opposite page, top left). The shapes are only impressions, and the colors are muted.

We can see the light reflected on his hair, his mustache, and his pipe. Notice how different this painting is from Bathers (Summer Scene). It is hard to believe that these two paintings were by the same artist!

The vast majority of Jean Frederic’s paintings were portraits, in the style of Bathers. He did not often stray into the Impressionist style.

(above) MAN WITH A PIPE Frédéric Bazille (1869).

Courtesy of WikiArt. (right) VIEW OF THE VILLAGE OF CASTELNAU-LE-LEZ Frédéric Bazille (1868).

Oil on canvas, 51 x 35 in.

Courtesy of WikiArt.

(above) GRAPE PICKER IN A YELLOW HAT Frédéric Bazille (1870).

Oil on canvas. Courtesy of WikiArt. (left) BATHERS (SUMMER SCENE) Frédéric Bazille (1869). Oil on canvas.

Courtesy of WikiArt.

fall / winter | the impressionist 23

PierreAuguste Renoir

1841-1919

(above) THE LUNCHEON OF THE BOATING PARTY Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1880-1881). Oil on canvas, 51 x 68 in. Courtesy of WikiArt. (right) SELF-PORTRAIT AT THE AGE OF THIRTY FIVE Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1876). Oil on canvas. Courtesy of WikiArt.

24 the impressionist | fall / winter

T

he third artist, Pierre Renoir, was easily the most versatile painter of the four. He started painting in the style of the Impressionist, but later shifted toward realism and the more traditional Renaissance style. His starting point was Impressionism, so his early works emphasized the play of light on water and on the figures in his compositions. He was also the most prolific of the four, painting over 4,000 works in his lifetime. He loved to paint people doing what they loved to do.

His paintings are full of people living their lives and being happy together.

One excellent example of a painting showing people living their lives was Luncheon of the Boating Parties (above).

People are having a wonderful time talking, laughing, and drinking wine.

Renoir captures the feeling of happy people at their leisure. The lady in the foreground playing with the little dog is Aline Charigot, Renoir’s future wife.

(above) ON THE GRASS (1873) by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Original from Barnes Foundation.

CC0 1.0. Digitally enhanced by rawpixel. (above, right) DANCE AT BOUGIVAL Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1883). Oil on canvas, 35.4 x 45.7 in. Courtesy of WikiArt. (right) YOUNG GIRLS AT THE PIANO Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1892). Oil on canvas, 45.6 x 35.4 in. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

In 1891 Renoir was asked to contribute a painting to a new museum, the Musee de Luxembourg. The result is this lovely painting is called Young Girls at the Piano (right). He made five versions of this painting, which are now all in private collections.

Another very lovely painting is Dance at Bougival (above). This painting displays an example of the beautiful dresses of the time. In the painting the man and the woman are in love and delighting in their dance. The focus of the painting, aside from the woman’s beautiful costume, is the romantic passion of the couple, captured by the movement of the figures and the contrast of colors between the man and the woman.

Renoir kept painting throughout his life, and even when his hands were so severely arthritic that he couldn’t hold a paintbrush, he taped the brushes to his wrists so he could continue painting. fall / winter | the impressionist 25

Claude Monet

1840-1926

SELF-PORTRAIT WITH A BERET Claude Monet (1886). Oil on canvas, 22 x 18 in.

Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

26 the impressionist | fall / winter

W

hen he was young and still a student of painting, Renoir and his friend Claude Monet would paint together in the countryside around Paris. One such site was called La Grenouillère. It was a floating restaurant and boat-rental establishment on the Seine River, at the village of Croissysur-Seine, and it was quite a center of society in 1869. In fact, it was so famous that it became the setting of a short story by Guy de Maupassant called “La Femme de Paul.”

There was a walkway to the restaurant divided in the middle by a small island called “The Camembert,” after the shape of the cheese. Welldressed men and women dallied at the Camembert and swam in the river.

One day, the two painters set up easels in exactly the same location

at exactly the same time, facing the restaurant and the Camembert. The result was two of the first Impressionist paintings, one by Monet and one by Renoir. There were men and women in party clothes on the walkway to the restaurant, bathers in the river alongside sailboats with bright white sails, a selection of boats tied to the dock, and in the background a line of trees from the other side of the river.

Renoir’s painting is called La Grenouillère (below). The focal point of the painting is the island on the way to the floating restaurant, the Camembert. He emphasizes the people on the island, showing the women’s beautiful lacy dresses and parasols. The men have hats and beards. There are little dogs playing near the water. The trees are shown in clear detail, and background

(above) LA GRENOUILLÈRE Claude Monet (1869). Oil on canvas, 29.3 x 39.2 in. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. (opposite) LA GRENOUILLÈRE Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1869). Oil on canvas, 26.1 x 31.8 in. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

trees are green. There is a play of light against the water, but the light on the clothing and the figures is easy to see.

Monet’s painting is also called La Grenouillère (above). The focal point of the painting is also the island, the Camembert, but the emphasis of the painting is the changing of light on the water of the river and the contrast of the water between the sun and the shade. The boats tied to the dock are also developed more fully with distinct shapes and colors. The people on

the island are indistinct, and the trees across the river are yellow-green. Of the bathers in the water little can be seen except as an indistinct impression.

Monet painted a second painting of the Frog Pond. This one is called Bathers at La Grenouillère. It must have been painted from a different spot because the perspective is completely different.

In this painting the Camembert is not seen, but instead the focus is on the boats in the foreground. The canvas is divided nearly in half, with the boats

taking up the lower half and vague images of bathers in the top half. In fact, it is difficult to discern the bathers from the shimmering waters of the river.

The paintings of La Grenouillère aren’t the only time Monet painted a scene more than once. In fact, the image of water lilies he is so famous for was painted not once, but over 250 times.

He liked to paint the same scene over and over to observe the changes of light and color at different times of the day and on different days. fall / winter | the impressionist 27

THE IMAGE OF WATER LILIES HE IS SO FAMOUS FOR WAS PAINTED NOT ONCE, BUT OVER 250 TIMES.

28 the impressionist | fall / winter

(above) IMPRESSION, SUNRISE Claude Monet (1872). Oil on canvas, 24.8 x 18.8 in. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. (opposite, top) WATER LILLIES Claude Monet (1917-1919). Oil on canvas. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. (opposite, bottom) WATER LILLIES Claude Monet (1919). Oil on canvas. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

The first painting must have been painted in the daylight, while the second must have been late afternoon or early evening.

Monet donated eight of his water lilies paintings to France in celebration of the Armistice as a symbol of peace at the end of World War I as a symbol of peace. They are now on display at the Musee de l’Orangerie in Paris.

Monet painted many other series of related paintings in addition to his water lilies. He created five paintings of haystacks during the 1888 hay harvest. On a trip to Venice in 1908, he painted thirty-seven paintings of the

canals and buildings he saw during his stay. He also created another series of fifteen paintings of poplar trees growing along the Epte River near his home in Giverny. (A nearby town had decided to cut down the trees, but Monet paid the town to delay the cutting of the trees until he had completed his paintings.) Finally, he did a series of thirty paintings of the Rouen Cathedral in Paris.

Probably the most famous painting Monet created was Impression, Sunrise, which is considered by many to be the first Impressionist painting. It was made even more well-known than it

already was by being featured as the “loot” in the movie The Thomas Crowne Affair. Currently, it resides in the Musee Marmottan Monet in Paris.

Monet painted approximately 2,500 paintings. That number may even be larger because he destroyed an unknown number of his canvases. Once a show in Paris had to be postponed because he destroyed 15 of the paintings that were supposed to be in the show.

These four men, as different as they were, formed the backbone of the Impressionist Movement. They will be remembered for their contributions of beauty, light, and color to our lives. q fall / winter | the impressionist 29

Paul Durand-Ruel The Man Who Backed the Impressionists

(above) PAUL DURAND-RUEL Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1910). Oil on canvas, 25.5 x 21.2 in.

Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. (left) THE DANCE CLASS Edgar Degas (1875). Oil on canvas, 33.4 x 29.5 in.

Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. (opposite) TWO SISTERS (ON THE TERRACE) Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1881). Oil on canvas, 39.5 x 31.8 in. Original from the Art Institute of Chicago. CC0 1.0. Digitally enhanced by rawpixel.

N

ear the end of the 19th century in Paris, France, a small group of rebellious artists violated the accepted academic and royal standards governing art at the time. Ultimately known as the Impressionists, this group was scorned, rejected and regarded with utter contempt by the academics and critics of the day. The group dared to paint with a new set of techniques and a light-infused style that was not confined to the established dictates of Realism, nor was it in line with Establishment thinking.

Today, Impressionism is arguably the most well-loved and well-known art in the world. A little less known is the fact that Impressionism almost

By Paul Shoden 30 the impressionist | fall / winter

THE MASTERS OF THE IMPRESSIONISM ERA MIGHT HAVE BEEN UNKNOWN TO THIS DAY WITHOUT THE LABORS OF ONE MAN: AN ART DEALER BY THE NAME OF PAUL DURAND-RUEL. never came to be. The masters of the Impressionism era, who are so modernly cherished, might have been unknown to this day without the labors of one man: an art dealer by the name of Paul Durand-Ruel.

Taking over the family art business from his father and after fleeing to

England during the Franco-Prussian war, Durand-Ruel met his fellow countrymen Monet and Pissarro while in England and began to collect their paintings. Later, upon his return to France, they introduced him to Degas, Sisley, Renoir and others. Thus began the cause that would become his life’s work.

At a time when there was no commercial demand for the work of the Impressionists, Durand-Ruel purchased the paintings of these starving artists in quantity, sometimes buying out entire studios and collections and providing great relief to them, offering them stipends, paying doctor’s bills and even offering a place for Monet to paint within his home. During the darkest of times Monet threatened to destroy his canvases to which Durand-Ruel replied, “Please don’t do that. I’ll send

fall / winter | the impressionist 31

you money. Just send me the canvases in return. Don’t despair if you’re feeling like you’re in a rut artistically.

I believe in you. Continue to paint and we’ll find a market.”

Flirting with bankruptcy nearly twenty times over the years, he continued to persist in his mission to promote these undiscovered masters.

“All my efforts were thwarted by the violent campaign mounted against Manet, Monet, Renoir, Sisley, Degas and Puvis de Chavannes, and other artists I had the audacity to hang in my galleries,” he said.

It was over a decade after his first meeting with the Impressionists and after many failed exhibitions of their work in Europe, whereupon he loaded three hundred paintings aboard a sailing ship and headed for America.

It was there he encountered a differ32 the impressionist | fall / winter

ent kind of buyer unexposed to prejudice. “The Americans do not laugh,” said Durand-Ruel, “They buy.” Following in the footsteps of the more open-minded Americans, the French eventually began purchasing the Impressionists’ works, and the rest of Europe at last followed suit.

In addition to the financial and emotional support he offered the artists he represented, Paul Durand-Ruel established a few innovative business principles that have influenced art galleries to this day: solo exhibitions promoting a singular artist, the strategic cornering of the market by buying out entire collections, and the creation of an international network of art galleries as a means for promotion.

Before he passed away, a wealthy and successful man, in 1922 at the age of 89, Durand-Ruel said, “At last the

(above) WAITING Edgar Degas (1882).

Pastel on paper, 19 x 24 in.

Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Impressionist masters triumphed. My madness had been wisdom. To think that had I passed away at 60, I would have died debt-ridden and bankrupt, surrounded by a wealth of underrated treasure.”

Monet spoke gratefully of his friend and patron, “We would have died of hunger without Durand-Ruel, all we impressionists.” Renoir, after thirty years of friendship, immortalized the man by painting his portrait (page 38).

Most of the Impressionist masterpieces we enjoy in today’s museums and exhibitions once passed through the hands of Paul Durand-Ruel. We owe thanks to his foresight, persistence, courage and undying support of the arts. q

(above) BOULEVARD HAUSSMANN Gustave Caillebotte (1879-1881). Oil on canvas, 31.8 x 25.9 in. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. (above, right) SHIPS RIDING ON THE SEINE AT ROUEN Claude Monet (1872-1873). Original from the National Gallery of Art. CC0 1.0. Digitally enhanced by rawpixel. (below) THE BRIDGE AT VILLENEUVE-LA-GARENNE Alfred Sisley (1872). Oil on canvas, 19.4 x 25.7 in. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

fall / winter | the impressionist 33

Van Gogh Beyond Impressionism

V

incent van Gogh was born the second of six children into a religious Dutch Reformed Church family in the south of the Netherlands. His father, Theodorus van Gogh, was a clergyman and his mother, Anna Cornelia Carbentus, was the daughter of a bookseller. Van Gogh reportedly exhibited unstable moods during his childhood, and showed no early inclination toward art-making, though he excelled at languages while attending two boarding schools. In 1868, he abandoned his studies and never successfully returned to formal schooling.

Article reproduced with permission from theartstory.org 34 the impressionist | fall / winter

In 1869, van Gogh apprenticed at the headquarters of the international art dealers Goupil & Cie in Paris and eventually worked at the Hague branch of the firm. He was relatively successful as an art dealer and stayed with the firm for almost a decade. In 1872, van Gogh began exchanging letters with his younger brother Theo. This correspondence continued through the end of Vincent’s life. The following year, Theo himself became an art dealer, and Vincent was transferred to the London office of Goupil & Cie. Around this time, Vincent became depressed and turned to God. After several transfers between London and Paris, van Gogh was let go from his position at Goupil’s and

WHEAT FIELD WITH CYPRESSES Vincent van Gogh (1889). Original from the MET Museum. CC0 1.0.

Digitally enhanced by rawpixel. (opposite) SELF-PORTRAIT WITH A STRAW HAT Vincent van Gogh (1887). Original from the MET Museum. CC0 1.0. Digitally enhanced by rawpixel.

decided to pursue a life in the clergy.

While living in southern Belgium as a poor preacher, he gave away his possessions to the local coal-miners until the church dismissed him because of his overly enthusiastic commitment to his faith. In 1880, van Gogh decided he could be an artist and still remain in God’s service, writing, “To try to understand the real significance of what the great artists, the serious masters, tell us in their masterpieces, that leads

fall / winter | the impressionist 35

(above) OLIVE TREES Vincent van Gogh (1889). Original from the MET Museum.

CC0 1.0. Digitally enhanced by rawpixel. (left) SUNFLOWERS Vincent van Gogh (1887). Original from the MET Museum.

CC0 1.0. Digitally enhanced by rawpixel. (opposite) IRISES Vincent van Gogh (1889). Original from the J. Paul Getty Museum. CC0 1.0. Digitally enhanced by rawpixel.

36 the impressionist | fall / winter

to God; one man wrote or told it in a book; another, in a picture.” Van Gogh was still a pauper, but Theo sent him some money for survival. Theo financially supported his elder brother his entire career, as Vincent made virtually no money from his paintings.

A year later, in 1881, dire poverty motivated van Gogh to move back home with his parents, where he taught himself to draw. He became infatuated with his cousin, Kee Vos-Stricker. His continued pursuit of her affection, despite utter rejection, eventually split the family. With the support of Theo, van Gogh moved to

the Hague, rented a studio, and studied under Anton Mauve — a leading member of the Hague School. Mauve introduced van Gogh to the work of the French painter Jean-François Millet, who was renowned for depicting common laborers and peasants.

In 1884, after moving to Nuenen, Netherlands, van Gogh began drawing the weathered hands, heads, and other anatomical features of workers and the poor, determined to become a painter of peasant life like Millet. Although he found a professional calling, his personal life was in shambles. Van Gogh accused Theo of not trying hard

enough to sell his paintings, to which Theo replied that Vincent’s dark palette was out of vogue compared to the bold and bright style of the Impressionist artists that was popular. Suddenly, on March 26, 1885, their father died from a stroke, putting pressure on van Gogh to have a successful career.

Shortly afterward, he completed the Potato Eaters (1885), his first large-scale composition and great work.

Leaving the Netherlands for the last time in 1885, van Gogh enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. There he discovered the art of Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens, fall / winter | the impressionist 37

THE MAJORITY OF VAN GOGH’S BEST-KNOWN WORKS WERE PRODUCED DURING THE FINAL TWO YEARS OF HIS LIFE. whose swirling forms and loose brushwork had a clear impact on the young artist’s style. However, the rigidity of academicism of the school did not appeal to van Gogh and he left for Paris the following year. He moved in with Theo in Montmartre - the artist’s district in northern Paris - and studied with painter Fernand Cormon, who introduced the young artist to the Impressionists. The influence of artists such as Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas, and Georges Seurat, as well as pressure from Theo to sell paintings, motivated van Gogh to adopt a lighter palette.

From 1886 to 1888, van Gogh became acutely interested in Japanese 38 the impressionist | fall / winter

prints and began to avidly study and collect them, even curating an exhibition of them at a Parisian restaurant. In late 1887, van Gogh organized an exhibition that included his work and that of his colleagues Emile Bernard and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and in early 1888, he exhibited with the Neo-impressionists Georges Seurat and Paul Signac at the Salle de Repetition of the Theatre Libre d’Antoine.

The majority of van Gogh’s bestknown works were produced during the final two years of his life. During the fall and winter of 1888, Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin lived and worked together in Arles in the south of France, where van Gogh

eventually rented four rooms at 2 Place Lamartine, which was dubbed the “Yellow House” for its citron hue.

The move to Provence began as a plan for a new artist’s community in Arles as alternative to Paris and came at a critical point in each of the artists’ careers. While at the “Yellow House” Gauguin and van Gogh worked closely together and developed a concept of color symbolic of inner emotion and not dependent upon nature. Despite enormous productivity, van Gogh suffered from various bouts of mental instability, most likely including epilepsy, psychotic episodes and delusions. Gauguin left for Tahiti, partially as a means of escaping van Gogh’s

(above) LE CAFÉ DE NUIT (THE NIGHT CAFÉ) Vincent van Gogh (1888). Original from the Yale University Art Gallery. CC0 1.0. Digitally enhanced by rawpixel. (opposite) OLEANDERS Vincent van Gogh (1888).

Original from the MET Museum. CC0 1.0. Digitally enhanced by rawpixel. (right) MADAME JOSEPH-MICHEL GINOUX Vincent van Gogh (1888–1889). Original from the MET Museum. CC0 1.0. Digitally enhanced by rawpixel.

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ROSES Vincent van Gogh (1890). Original from the MET Museum. CC0 1.0. Digitally enhanced by rawpixel.

40 the impressionist | fall / winter

STILL LIFE (NATURE MORTE) Vincent van Gogh (1888). Original from the Barnes Foundation. CC0 1.0. Digitally enhanced by rawpixel.

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(above) THE POPLARS AT SAINT-RÉMY Vincent van Gogh (1889). Original from The Cleveland Museum of Art., CC0 1.0, Digitally enhanced by rawpixel. (opposite, top) THE DRINKERS Vincent van Gogh (1890). Original from the Art Institute of Chicago.

CC0 1.0, Digitally enhanced by rawpixel. (opposite, bottom) FIRST STEPS, AFTER MILLET Vincent van Gogh (1890). Original from the MET Museum. CC0 1.0, Digitally enhanced by rawpixel.

42 the impressionist | fall / winter

increasingly erratic behavior. The artist slipped away after a particularly violent fight in which van Gogh threatened Gauguin with a razor and then cut off part of his own right ear.

On May 8, 1889, reeling from his deteriorating mental condition, van Gogh voluntarily committed himself into a psychiatric institution in Saint-Remy, near Arles. As the weeks passed, his mental well-being remained stable and he was allowed to resume painting. This period became one of his most productive. In the year spent at Saint-Remy, van Gogh created over 100 works, including Starry Night (1889). The clinic and its garden became his main subjects, rendered in the dynamic brushstrokes and lush palettes typical of his mature period.

On his walks around the grounds, van Gogh immersed himself in the experience of the natural surroundings, later recreating from memory the olive and cypress trees, irises, and other flora that populated the clinic’s campus.

Shortly after leaving the clinic, van Gogh moved north to Auvers-sur-Oise outside of Paris, to the care of a homeopathic doctor and amateur artist, Dr. Gachet. The doctor encouraged van Gogh to paint as part of his recovery, and he happily obliged. He avidly documented his surroundings in Auvers, averaging roughly a painting a day over the last months of his life. However, after Theo disclosed his plan to go into business for himself and explained funds would be short for a while, van Gogh’s depression deepened sharply.

On July 27, 1890, he wandered into a nearby wheat field and reputably shot himself in the chest with a revolver.

Although van Gogh managed to struggle back to his room, his wounds were not treated properly and he died in bed two days later. Theo rushed to be at his brother’s side during his last hours and reported that his final words were: “The sadness will last forever.”

Clear examples of van Gogh’s wide influence can be seen throughout art history. The Fauves and the German

Expressionists worked immediately after van Gogh and adopted his subjective and spiritually inspired use of color. The Abstract Expressionists of the mid-20th century made use of van Gogh’s technique of sweeping, expressive brushstrokes to indicate the artist’s psychological and emotional state. Even the Neo-Expressionists of the 1980s, like Julian Schnabel and Eric Fischl, owe a debt to van Gogh’s expressive palette and brushwork. In popular culture, his life has inspired music and numerous films, including Vincente Minelli’s Lust for Life (1956), which explores van Gogh and Gauguin’s volatile relationship. In his lifetime, van Gogh created 900 paintings and made 1,100 drawings and sketches, but only sold one painting during his career. With no children of his own, most of van Gogh’s works were left to brother Theo. q fall / winter | the impressionist 43

Van Gogh’s Most Famous Paintings

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he iconic tortured artist, Vincent van Gogh strove to convey his emotional and spiritual state in each of his artworks. Although he sold only one painting during his lifetime, van Gogh is now one of the most popular artists of all time. His canvases with densely laden, visible brushstrokes rendered in a bright, opulent palette emphasize van Gogh’s personal expression brought to life in paint. Each painting provides a direct sense of how the artist viewed each scene, interpreted through his eyes, mind, and heart. This radically idiosyncratic, emotionally evocative style has continued to affect artists and movements throughout the 20th century and up to the present day, guaranteeing van Gogh’s importance far into the future.

1888 Café Terrace At Night

This was one of the first scenes van Gogh painted during his stay in Arles and the first painting where he used a nocturnal background. Using contrasting colors and tones, van Gogh achieved a luminous surface that pulses with an interior light, almost in defiance of the darkening sky. The lines of composition all point to the center of the work drawing the eye along the pavement as if the viewer is strolling the cobblestone streets. The café still exists today and is a “mecca” for van Gogh fans visiting the south of France.

Describing this painting in a letter to his sister he wrote, “Here you have a night painting without black, with nothing but beautiful blue and violet and green and in this surrounding the illuminated area colors itself sulfur pale yellow and citron green. It amuses me enormously to paint the night right on the spot...” Painted on the street at night, van Gogh recreated the setting directly from his observations, a practice inherited from the Impressionists. However, unlike the Impressionists, he did not record the scene merely as his eye observed it, but imbued the image with a spiritual and psychological tone that echoed his individual and personal reaction.

The brush strokes vibrate with the sense of excitement and pleasure van Gogh experienced while painting this work.

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Oil on canvas Kröller-Muller Museum, Otterlo

44 the impressionist | fall / winter

Fourteen Sunflowers In a Vase

Van Gogh’s Sunflower series was intended to decorate the room that was set aside for Gauguin at the “Yellow House,” his studio and apartment in Arles. The lush brushstrokes built up the texture of the sunflowers and van Gogh employed a wide spectrum of yellows to describe the blossoms, due in part to recently invented pigments that made new colors and tonal nuances possible. Van Gogh used the sunny hues to express the entire lifespan of the flowers, from the full bloom in bright yellow to the wilting and dying blossoms rendered in melancholy ochre. The traditional painting of a vase of flowers is given new life through van Gogh’s experimentation with line and texture, infusing each sunflower with the fleeting nature of life, the brightness of the Provencal summer sun, as well as the artist’s mindset.

(opposite) CAFÉ TERRACE AT NIGHT Vincent van Gogh (1888).

Oil on canvas, 31.8 x 25.7 in.

Courtesy Wikimedia Commons. (left) FOURTEEN SUNFLOWERS IN A VASE Vincent van Gogh (1888). Oil on canvas, 37.4 x 28.7 in.

Courtesy Wikimedia Commons. (below) THE BEDROOM Vincent van Gogh (1889). Original from the Art Institute of Chicago. CC0 1.0. Digitally enhanced by rawpixel.

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Oil on canvas The National Gallery, London

1888

1889 The Bedroom

Van Gogh’s Bedroom depicts his living quarters at 2 Place Lamartine, Arles, known as the “Yellow House”. It is one of his most well-known images. His use of bold and vibrant colors to depict the off-kilter perspective of his room demonstrated his liberation from the muted palette and realistic renderings of the Dutch artistic tradition, as well as the pastels commonly used by the Impressionists. He labored over the subject matter, colors, and arrangements of this composition, writing many letters to Theo about it, “This time it’s just simply my bedroom, only here color is to do everything, and giving by its simplification a grander style to things, is to be suggestive here of rest or of sleep in general. In a word, looking at the picture ought to rest the brain, or rather the imagination.” While the bright yellows and blues might at first seem to echo a sense of disquiet, the bright hues call to mind a sunny summer day, evoking as sense of warmth and calm, as van Gogh intended. This personal interpretation of a scene in which particular emotions and memories drive the composition and palette is a major contribution to modernist painting.

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Oil on canvas Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

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Van Gogh’s Most Famous Paintings Starry Night

Starry Night is often considered to be van Gogh’s pinnacle achievement. Unlike most of his works, Starry Night was painted from memory, and not out in the landscape. The emphasis on interior, emotional life is clear in his swirling, tumultuous depiction of the sky - a radical departure from his previous, more naturalistic landscapes. Here, van Gogh followed a strict principal of structure and composition in which the forms are distributed across the surface of the canvas in an exact order to create balance and tension amidst the swirling torsion of the cypress trees and the night sky.

The result is a landscape rendered through curves and lines, its seeming chaos subverted by a rigorous formal arrangement. Evocative of the spirituality van Gogh found in nature, Starry Night is famous for advancing the act of painting beyond the representation of the physical world.

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1889

Oil on canvas The Museum of Modern Art

1889

Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear

After cutting off a portion of his right earlobe during a manic episode while in Arles, van Gogh painted Self Portrait with a Bandaged Ear while recuperating and reflecting on his illness. He believed that the act of painting would help restore balance to his life, demonstrating the important role that artistic creation held for him. The painting bears witness to the artist’s renewed strength and control in his art, as the composition is rendered with uncharacteristic realism, where all his facial features are clearly modeled and careful attention is given to contrasting textures of skin, cloth, and wood.

The artist depicts himself in front of an easel with a canvas that is largely blank and a Japanese print hung on the wall. The loose and expressive brush strokes typical of van Gogh are clearly visible; the marks are both choppy and sinuous, at times becoming soft and diffuse, creating a tension between boundaries that are otherwise clearly marked. The strong outlines of his coat and hat mimic the linear quality of the Japanese print behind the artist. At the same time, van Gogh deployed the technique of impasto, or the continual layering of wet paint, to develop a richly textured surface, which furthers the depth and emotive force of the canvas. This self-portrait, one of many van Gogh created during his career, has an intensity unparalleled in its time, which is elucidated in the frank manner in which the artist portrays his self-inflicted wound as well as the evocative way he renders the scene. By combining influences as diverse as the loose brushwork of the Impressionists and the strong outlines from Japanese woodblock printing, van Gogh arrived at a truly unique mode of expression in his paintings.

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Oil on canvas Courtauld Institute Galleries, London

46 the impressionist | fall / winter

(top) SELF-PORTRAIT WITH BANDAGED EAR Vincent van Gogh (1889). Oil on canvas, 23.6 x 19.3 in. Courtauld Institute of Art, London, UK, Courtesy of WikiArt.; (above) STARRY NIGHT Vincent van Gogh (1889). Oil on canvas, 29 x 36.5 in. Original from Wikimedia Commons.

CC0 1.0. Digitally enhanced by rawpixel.

(opposite, top) THE CHURCH IN AUVERS-SUR-OISE, VIEW FROM THE CHEVET Vincent van Gogh (1890). Oil on canvas, 36.6 x 29.3 in. Courtesty Wikimedia Commons. (opposite, bottom) PORTRAIT OF DR. GACHET Vincent van Gogh (1890). Oil on canvas, 26.3 x 22 in. Courtesty Wikimedia Commons.

Church at Auvers

After van Gogh left the asylum at Saint-Remy in May 1890 he travelled north to Auvers, outside of Paris. Church at Auvers is one of the most well-known images from the last few months of van Gogh’s life. Imbuing the landscape with movement and emotion, he rendered the scene with a palette of vividly contrasting colors and brush strokes that lead the viewer through painting. Van Gogh distorted and flattened out the architecture of the church and depicted it caught within its own shadow – which reflects his own complex relationship to spirituality and religion.

Van Gogh conveys a sense that true spirituality is found in nature, not in the buildings of man. The continued influence of Japanese woodblock printing is clear in the thick dark outlines and the flat swaths of color of the roofs and landscape, while the visible brush strokes of the Impressionists are elongated and emphasized. The use of the acidic tones and the darkness of the church alludes to the impending mental disquiet that would eventually erupt within van Gogh and lead to his suicide. This sense of instability plagued van Gogh throughout his life, infusing his works with a unique blend of charm and tension.

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1890

Oil on canvas Musee d’Orsay, Paris

1890 Paul-Ferdinand Gachet

Dr. Gachet was the homeopathic physician that treated van Gogh after he was released from Saint-Remy. In the doctor, the artist found a personal connection, writing to his sister, “I have found a true friend in Dr. Gachet, something like another brother, so much do we resemble each other physically and also mentally.” Van Gogh depicts Gachet seated at a red table, with two yellow books and foxglove in a vase near his elbow. The doctor gazes past the viewer, his eyes communicating a sense of inner sadness that reflects not only the doctor’s state of mind, but van Gogh’s as well. Van Gogh focused the viewer’s attention on the depiction of the doctor’s expression by surrounding his face with the subtly varied blues of his jacket and the hills of the background. Van Gogh wrote to Gauguin that he desired to create a truly modern portrait, one that captured “the heartbroken expression of our time.”

Rendering Gachet’s expression through a blend of melancholy and gentility, van Gogh created a portrait that has resonated with viewers since its creation. A recent owner, Ryoei Saito, even claimed he planned to have the painting cremated with him after his death, as he was so moved by the image. The intensity of emotion that van Gogh poured into each brush stroke is what has made his work so compelling to viewers over the decades, inspiring countless artists and individuals. q

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Oil on canvas Private Collection

fall / winter | the impressionist 47

Birger Sandzén Van Gogh of the West

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wedish-born painter Birger Sandzén has become widely known for his oil paintings, which continue to rise in value as an increasing number of collectors and museums scramble to purchase one of the 2,600 oil paintings he created in his lifetime. Popularly known as the “Van Gogh of the West,” Sandzén painted the red rock cliffs and western landscapes of the United States with the curving brush strokes, thickly applied paint, and impassioned color that one usually associates with a van Gogh painting.

By Joan French

48 the impressionist | fall / winter

Born in Bildsberg, Sweeden, in 1871, Sandzén began his study of landscape painting in his home country at a young age. At the age of ten he was enrolled at Skara School to study art under the Sweedish master Olof Erlandson. After graduating with honors, Sandzén moved to Paris for three months to study with Edmond Francois Aman-Jean, who introduced him to pointillism. Here he met George Seurat and Ernest Laurent, who promoted the concept of Impressionism to the young artist.

Searching for employment found Birger Sandzén relocating to America, where he settled in Lindsborg, Kan-

RED FARM AND WHEAT SHOCKS Birger Sandzén (1950). Oil on board, 30 x 40 in, Greenough Collection, Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery. (opposite) THE ISLAND Birger Sandzén (1923).

Oil on canvas, 48 x 36 in, Thorsen Collection, Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery.

sas, for the rest of his days, teaching at Bethany College. Here he developed his style from a subdued palette into a rich and colorful technique of capturing light. His broad and rhythmical brush strokes of pure color blend optically when viewed from a distance, as with other impressionist paintings.

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SANDZÉN’S SUBJECT MATTER INCLUDE BRYCE CANYON, ZION CANYON IN UTAH, YELLOWSTONE, THE GRAND CANYON, MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK, AND THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS OF COLORADO.

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(above) RIVER AND COTTONWOODS Birger Sandzén (1930). Oil on canvas, Greenough Collection, Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery. (opposite, top) SUNSET, ESTES PARK Birger Sandzén (1921). Oil on canvas, 36 x 48 in, Sandzén Gallery. (opposite, bottom) MOONRISE ON THE COLORADO RIVER Birger Sandzén (1931). Oil on canvas, 40 x 48 in, Greenough Collection, Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery.

While Sandzén carefully recorded lighting changes across rocks, trees, and mountain peaks, he was no stickler for representational accuracy. He chose colors that excited the imagination and embraced the feeling of being out of doors.

Sandzén’s subject matter include Bryce Canyon, Zion Canyon in Utah, Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde National Park, and the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. It was as if

the then-deceased Van Gogh had been transported to the striking National Parks of our western states to paint anew in a happier life.

Sandzén painted quietly and industrially in his adopted state, far from the much-traveled art scene in New York of the period, and while he gained only local acclaim during his lifetime, his paintings are now taking the art world by storm, nearly 70 years after his death. q fall / winter | the impressionist 51

The Group of Seven, Canada’s Impressionist Movement A New Country Finds Its Voice

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ack in the early 1900s, the Canadian landscape was called “unpaintable” by skeptics. A lot was going on in Canada at the time; the Industrial Revolution was in full swing, non-native settlers were forging an incredibly wild and inhospitable countryside, and World War I was brewing. Perhaps, with so many settlers struggling to carve out lives in such uncertain terrain, the natural lands of Canada were considered too hostile for anyone to depict it with beauty. The rugged land was one to be tamed, not celebrated.

By Julia Shaw

52 the impressionist | fall / winter

Fortunately, a group of Canadian artists did not see it that way.

The Group of Seven was Canada’s first internationally recognized art movement. This ragtag group of artists formed unofficially when five of the members met at Grip Limited, a design firm that grew to prominence during the heyday of commercial illustration. The firm employed A.Y. Jackson (founder of The Group of Seven), as well as Frank Johnston, Arthur Lismer, Frederick Varley, and Tom Thomson.

At this time, Canadian art was trying to find its voice. Critics of that day felt the Canadian art of the time was too European and they longed for

someone to capture the “spirit of the great northland.” In the eyes of critics, anyone who had yet attempted to do so had failed.

TOM THOMSON AND THE GROUP OF SEVEN he original group of friends met around 1909, a tumultuous time.

Before they were able to gain a firm footing in the local art scene, tragedy struck. World War I began in 1914, and three of the friends shipped overseas.

Tom Thomson and Arthur Lismer stayed home to work and paint.

Thomson was enchanted by Algonquin Park, an enormous national park

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(right) HOUSE OF YPRES A. Y. Jackson (1917-1918). Oil on board, 25.1 x 30.2 in. Original from the Canadian War Museum Collection. CC0 1.0. (below) WOODS IN WINTER Tom Thomson (1917). Oil on panel, 5.7 x 7.8 in.

Tom Thomson Art Gallery. CC0 1.0. (opposite) ICE COVERED LAKE Tom Thomson (1917). Oil on panel, 5.2 x 7.4 in.

Tom Thomson Art Gallery. CC0 1.0.

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(right) EVENING Tom Thomson (1913).

Oil on canvas, 6.4 x 9.7 in.

Original from the Art Gallery of Ontario. CC0 1.0. (below) IN THE NORTHLAND Tom Thomson (1915-1916). Oil on canvas, 40 x 45 in. Original from the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. CC0 1.0. (opposite) THE JACK PINE Tom Thomson (1916-17).

Oil on canvas, 50.3 x 55 in.

Original from the National Gallery of Canada. CC0 1.0.

54 the impressionist | fall / winter

that boasted canoeing, fishing, and other natural pleasures for city-dwelling Canadians. The park was also peopled by bootleggers, foresters, and draft dodgers. Thomson often went fishing, camping, painting, and taking photographs in the park. He worked en plein air and was developing a unique style of Canadian impressionism that captured the beauty and vibrance of the surrounding natural spaces.

Unfortunately, one day in the summer of 1917, Thomson lost his life while canoeing in his beloved Algonquin Park. He could never join the official Group of Seven, which was founded a few years after his death, but he is

included in the movement as his artistic genius and close friendship contributed to Canadian impressionism.

Thomson painted works that captured the desolate northland of Canada.

These pieces include “The Jack Pine” and “In the Northland,” which showcase the region’s wild beauty. “Jack Pine” has been in the National Gallery of Canada’s collection since 1918. “In the Northland” has been passed from museum to museum since 1916, and was finally acquired by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in 2009.

After the War, the original crew from The Grip, along with A.J. Casson, Edwin Holgate, and LeMoine Fitzgerald,

founded The Group of Seven. This group of talented Canadian artists painted their way across the countryside. The coalition of incredible talent allowed each group member to learn from one another, explore various parts of the wild northern country, and capture landscapes with a modern style that revivified impressionism.

THE GROWTH OF CANADIAN IMPRESSIONISM he Group of Seven gained inspiration from classic impressionism, the Canadian landscape, and their own views on modern art. While most of the painters in The Group chose

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fall / winter | the impressionist 55

THE GROUP MADE A NAME FOR ITSELF IN THE 1920s FOR ART THAT SHARED THE ARTIST’S PERSONAL FEELINGS ABOUT CANADA’S WILDERNESS. landscapes and pastoral subjects for their later works, they did not all begin painting in nature. Many of the painters chose to depict local slums, harbors, soldiers, the Great War, and the industrialization of their city.

However, as time wore on, artists like A.Y. Jackson and Frank Johnston moved away from the industrialized influences of the city and shared their fascination and love of the land in which they lived.

One of the most exciting things about The Group of Seven is their disparate artistic styles. While four of the 56 the impressionist | fall / winter

original group came from a graphic design background, several moved away from the simplicity of this style and incorporated other painting methods to express their feelings and impressions as they painted the rough and tumble beauty of Canada’s natural spaces.

The Group made a name for itself in the 1920s for art that shared the artist’s personal feelings about Canada’s wilderness. The shared vision made for successful exhibitions and created a foothold for Canadian art on an international stage.

The Group of Seven was later joined

by more members, including A.J. Casson, Edwin Holgate, and Emily Carr.

These additions meant the movement needed a new name. They called themselves The Canadian Group of Painters, which grew to encompass twenty-eight painters across the nation.

Canadian art continues to evolve, incorporating new artists, more techniques, and modern works depicting Canada’s changing landscape, cities, and faces. Fortunately, because of The Group of Seven, this incredible artwork now gets the attention it deserves on the international stage.q

(above) SUNSET Tom Thomson (1915).

Oil on panel, 8.3 x 10.5 in. Original from the McMichael Canadian Art Collection.

CC0 1.0. (opposite) SPRING ICE Tom Thomson (1915-1916). Oil on canvas, 28.3 x 40.2 in. Original from the National Gallery of Canada. CC0 1.0.

(top left) TREES IN FRANCE Emily Carr (1911). Oil on canvas, 13.9 x 17.91 in. Original from the McMichael Canadian Art Collection.

CC0 1.0. (top right) THE SOLEMN LAND James MacDonald (1921). Oil on canvas, 48.23 x 60.43 in. CC0 1.0.

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Mavericks Turned Masters Impressionists Have Long Dared to Paint Their Subjects Fearlessly and Boldly

(left) SAN GIORGIO MAGGIORE AT DUSK Claude Monet (1908).

Oil on canvas, 25.7 x 36.4 in.

Courtesy Wikimedia Commons. (below) MONTAGNE SAINTEVICTOIRE (PAYSAGE) Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1889). Original from Barnes Foundation. CC0 1.0. Digitally enhanced by rawpixel.

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ouis Leroy was outraged. And the popular Parisian playwright, who also dabbled at painting and printmaking, was determined to expose an upstart group of artists—who had banded together to show their works in a new exhibition—for what he thought they really were: imposters.

Unlike the little boy of legend who dared to speak up in the public square and declare that the emperor was strutting about naked, Leroy confined his comments to print in a review he wrote for the April 25, 1874 issue of the satirical magazine Le Charivari. In the headline, he coined a mocking new term: “The Exhibition of the Impressionists,” taking that sobriquet in turn from the title of one of the paintings in the show: Impression: soleil levant (Impression: sunrise), by 33-year-old

By Norman Kolpas 58 the impressionist | fall / winter

Claude Monet. Leroy’s description of the painting’s execution dripped with sarcasm: Impression—I was certain of it. I was just telling myself that, since I was impressed, there had to be some impression in it… and what freedom, what ease of workmanship! Wallpaper in its embryonic state is more finished than that seascape.

Rather than taking offense at such dismissive words, Monet and his cohort of artists in the show—including other rising but yet-to-be-heralded names like Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Paul Cézanne, Camille Pissarro, Berthe Morisot, and Alfred Sisley—wore the term proudly. The Impressionists, as they came to call themselves, gained still more members, including the American painter Mary Cassatt, and went on to hold eight more group shows over the next twelve years, with well-attended exhibitions outside of France including London, Boston, and New York.

Members of the art-loving public saw in Impressionism what Leroy failed to appreciate. These were paintings that felt a world apart from studio works done in the then-prevailing Classical style, which were static and stodgy by comparison, or with the excessive idealization of the natural world so evident in Romantic Realism.

By contrast, Impressionism possessed a freshness and immediacy that resulted from executing the paintings at least partially en plein air, in the open air right on the scene, deftly combining loose brushstrokes with innate talent and solid studio training.

In addition, Impressionists gained fresh approaches to color inspired in part by the theories developed earlier in the century by chemist MichelEugène Chevreul, who observed the ways in which certain tones could be heightened by the close proximity of others: “The greater the difference between the colors, the more they mutually beautify each other.” A movement had been born that for many people came to define the best of fine art.

(above) THE JAPANESE FOOTBRIDGE Claude Monet (1899). Oil on canvas, 32 x 40 in. Original from the National Gallery of Art. CC0 1.0.

Digitally enhanced by rawpixel. (left) LILIES AT DAWN Erin Hanson (2016).

Oil on canvas, 52 x 30 in.

fall / winter | the impressionist 59

MONT SAINTE-VICTOIRE AND THE VIADUCT OF THE ARC RIVER VALLEY Paul Cézanne (1882-1885).

Oil on canvas, 25.8 x 32.2 in. Original from the MET Museum. CC0 1.0. Digitally enhanced by rawpixel.

DARING TO BE DIFFERENT Impressionists have often bravely taken the risk that their art might be misunderstood at first. Such daring is evident from those first officially “Impressionist” works by Claude Monet and his fellow artists to the emergence of California’s own version of Impressionism in the early 20th century, and then from a revival of the genre in the late-20th century to the rise of present-day painters working in their own dynamic reinterpretations—like Erin Hanson, with her works created in a vibrantly energetic style that has become known as “Open Impressionism.”

Yet, these aesthetic outliers all bravely persevered, continuing to create works that held true to their personal and unique vision of nature, regardless of the status quo.

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Their efforts eventually were discovered and valued by art lovers who not only understood what they were doing but also ultimately came to appreciate their creations with finely discerning passion.

To gain such an aesthetic understanding, gallery and museum patrons who had been raised on works that aimed to faithfully reproduce the scenes they portrayed had to literally retrain their eyes to appreciate the decades of skill it required to capture a scene with fewer brush strokes executed with such seeming spontaneity. As the revered British art historian Sir Ernst Gombrich remarked in his book The Story of Art (1950), with reference to the dazzling array of rapidly executed brush strokes necessary to capture a scene’s fleeting light in a plein-air scene:

It took some time before the public learned that to appreciate an Impressionist painting one has to step back a few yards, and enjoy the miracle of seeing these puzzling patches suddenly fall into one place and come to life before your eyes.

To achieve this miracle, and to transfer the actual visual experience of the painter to the beholder, was the true aim of the Impressionists.

The feeling of a new freedom and a new power which these artists had must have been truly exhilarating; it must have compensated them for much of the derision and hostility they encountered.

Needless to say, the avid sales and widespread adulation they ultimately enjoyed in response to their work were no doubt exhilarating as well.

(right) THE LARGE PLANE TREES (ROAD MENDERS AT SAINT-RÉMY) (1889) Vincent Van Gogh (1889). Original from The Cleveland Museum of Art. CC0 1.0. Digitally enhanced by rawpixel.

(below) FOREST LIGHT Erin Hanson (2019).

Oil on canvas, 36 x 24 in.

“IT TOOK SOME TIME BEFORE THE PUBLIC LEARNED THAT TO APPRECIATE AN IMPRESSIONIST PAINTING ONE HAS TO STEP BACK A FEW YARDS, AND ENJOY THE MIRACLE OF SEEING THESE PUZZLING PATCHES SUDDENLY FALL INTO ONE PLACE AND COME TO LIFE BEFORE YOUR EYES.”

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(left) IN THE GARDEN (CELIA THAXTER IN HER GARDEN) Childe Hassam (1892). Oil on canvas, 22.2 x 18 in. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons. (bottom, left) WINTER HARMONY John Henry Twachtman (1900). Oil on canvas, 25.75 x 3115/16 in.

Courtesy Wikimedia Commons. (bottom, right) MARGARET “GRETCHEN” STRONG Frank Weston Benson (1909).

Oil on canvas, 30.2 x 25.2 in.

Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

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UNDER AMERICAN SKIES Impressionism soon took hold among American artists who not only saw Impressionist shows in Boston and New York but also traveled and studied in France. Just a decade after French Impressionists exhibited their work on U.S. soil, the first show dedicated to the works of American Impressionists debuted in 1893 at the Chicago World’s Fair. Five years after that, the first organized group of American Impressionists formed in the northeastern United States, calling themselves “Ten American Painters,” an association more familiarly referred to as “The Ten.” Among them were such enduring names as John Henry Twachtman, Frank W. Benson, Childe Hassam, and Thomas Wilmer Dewing.

These artists, like their French antecedents, aimed to see the world afresh through their paintings. Some among The Ten came the hard way to their belief in and dedication to Impressionism. J. Alden Weir, another member, originally felt distaste for the movement: “I never in my life saw more horrible things,” he had remarked in 1877 in a letter he wrote home to his parents upon encountering works by the French Impressionists as an art student in Paris. “They do not observe drawing nor form but give you an impression of what they call nature. It was worse than the Chamber of Horrors.” By 1880, however, Weir had clearly changed his tune, even buying two works by Édouard Manet with proceeds from the sales of his own paintings.

JEANNE (SPRING) Édouard Manet (1881). Oil on canvas, 29.1 x 20.2 in.

Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

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(above) CANYON DE CHELLY Edgar Alwyn Payne (before 1947). Oil on canvas, 24 x 28 in.

Courtesy Wikimedia Commons; (right) SADDLEBACK MOUNTAIN William Wendt (1919). Courtesy Wikimedia Commons. (below) MONUMENT DAWN Erin Hanson (2018). Oil on canvas, 24 x 30 in. (opposite, top) NAVAJO HERDING WILD HORSES Carl Oscar Borg (1945). Oil on canvas, 26 x 30 in.

Courtesy of Sullivan Goss – An American Gallery; (opposite, bottom) SUPERSTITION MOUNTAINS Ray Strong (1940s). Oil on canvas, 31.375 x 51.375 in. Courtesy of Sullivan Goss – An American Gallery.

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(above) CANYON MISSION VIEJO, CAPISTRANO Edgar Alwyn Payne (before 1947). Oil on canvas, 24 x 28 in. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons. (below) EUCALYPTI Edgar Alwyn Payne (before 1947). Oil on canvas, 20 x 24 in. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

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IMPRESSIONISM COMES TO CALIFORNIA Just as the beautiful scenery and clement weather of France inspired so many of the first Impressionists, the “Golden State” of California began to move Impressionist painters to settle there in the final years of the 19th century and the first decade and a half of the 20th.

A group of painters began working in the open air in and around the San Francisco Bay Area. But, following the devastating 7.9-magnitude earthquake that struck San Francisco on April 18, 1906, many of these artists headed southward to the frequent sunny days and beautiful coastline stretching from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles and on to Laguna Beach and still further south to San Diego.

Luminaries of Southern California’s booming plein-air movement included Austrian-born Franz A. Bischoff, who settled in South Pasadena in 1906; German-born William Wendt, who moved to L.A. that same year and became part of Laguna Beach’s growing arts colony six years later; and landscape painter Edgar Payne, who in 1917 moved first to Glendale, near Los Angeles, and then to Laguna Beach. These and others including Elsie Palmer Payne (Edgar’s wife), William Lees Judson, Benjamin C. Brown, Donna Schuster, Granville Redmond, Guy Rose, and Franz A. Bischoff transformed this part of the state into “one of the most remarkable and distinctive schools of regional American art,” according to the scholar Jean Stern, Executive Director of The Irvine Museum, who is widely respected as the foremost expert on Southern California’s plein-air movement.

Working as they did more than thirty years later than those who first brought Impressionism to light, these New World practitioners possessed the perspective to wax even more philosophically about what was now a tradition in which they painted. “The average artist, if he chooses, could render an exact drawing of what he sees,” mused Edgar Payne, for example.

“Artistic work not only allows but demands some deviation from form and line. Just how far this may go depends on the viewpoint of each painter.”

(above) MORNING SPLENDOR Erin Hanson (2014). Oil on canvas, 40 x 48 in. (below) LIGHTED OAK Erin Hanson (2015). Oil on canvas, 24 x 30 in.

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HILLS OF GOLD (LUCAS VALLEY) Ray Strong (1969). Oil on panel, 24 x 36 in. Courtesy of Sullivan Goss – An American Gallery.

PLEIN-AIR IN MODERN TIMES Following the first heyday of California Impressionism, so much of the history of art in the 20th century seemed to turn further and further away from conventional and representational art.

That may not come as a surprise when viewed as a response to the turbulence of two World Wars, the Great Depression, the Atomic Age, the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, and other social upheavals. Expressionism, Fauvism, Cubism, Dadaism, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, and numerous other “Isms”—not to mention Pop Art—seemed to suggest that mere pretty pictures were somehow no longer relevant or worthy of serious consideration. Some critics even derisively began referring 68 the impressionist | fall / winter

to the California Impressionists of the early 20th century as “The Eucalyptus School,” so named for the scenic Australian trees that had been widely planted throughout California by the state government and appeared in so many regional plein-air landscapes.

And yet, this condemnation came more from the art historians and critics than as a true reflection of what mainstream art lovers were buying. Indeed, early Southern California Impressionists like William Wendt and Edgar Payne went on painting fine canvases that garnered general attention well into the middle of the 20th century, when critics and curators statewide began focusing anew on California Impressionism, an interest that only grew stronger over the next several decades.

Meanwhile, new generations of Impressionists came onto the scene, bringing with them fresh techniques and new approaches to landscape painting.

The late Ray Strong, who passed away in 2006 at the age of 101, inspired and mentored plein-air painters in Santa Barbara, where he moved in 1960. In the 1990s, Pasadena-based artist Peter Adams, along with his gallerist wife Elaine Adams, revived the California Art Club, an association originally formed by Southern California’s first plein-air painters. Annual paint-outs and shows including major gatherings in scenic locations like Laguna Beach and Santa Catalina Island have come to attract major attention and showcase top Impressionists not just from California but also from across the nation.

(top) FIELDS OF LIGHT Erin Hanson (2018). Oil on canvas, 24 x 30 in. (above) HILLS OF HEATHER Erin Hanson (2018).

Oil on canvas board, 11 x 14 in. (right) MALIBU COAST, SPRING Granville Redmond (1929).

Oil on canvas, 20 x 25 in. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

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A MODERN MAVERICK OF “OPEN IMPRESSIONISM” Beyond such organized events, there are also mavericks in today’s Impressionist world, artists who have forged their own unique paths while holding dear the precepts that inspired their forbears. Prominent among such talents today is Erin Hanson, who has her own brand of Impressionism.

Like the earliest Impressionists, the Los Angeles-raised Hanson has long been captivated by color—at least since the age of 6, when she was crestfallen that the irises she had planted in the garden with her mother lacked the vibrant hues of Vincent van Gogh’s Irises. Says Hanson, “I knew even then that art could be better than real life.”

Educated in bioengineering at UC Berkeley, from which she graduated in 2003, Hanson had long nurtured a love for art as well as for science, selling commissions and dog portraits when she was 10 years old and working in a mural studio since the age of 12, then teaching herself Japanese painting and comic-book illustration while pursuing her college degree. She picked up her brush anew a few years later when, soon after moving to Las Vegas to rock climb at Red Rock Canyon, she found an ideal landscape full of vivid colors to inspire her artistic juices.

Hanson committed to completing one painting a week, finding ample inspiration for that steady pace in the brilliantly rust-colored sheer rock faces,

(above) CYPRESS DUSK Erin Hanson (2020).

Oil on canvas, 26 x 30 in. (opposite) CRYSTAL ASPEN Erin Hanson (2020). Oil on canvas, 36 x 24 in.

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(above) DAYBREAK Erin Hanson (2015).

Oil on canvas, 36 x 48 in. (opposite) JOSHUA BLOOMS Erin Hanson (2016). Oil on canvas, 72 x 60 in.

SAGUARO SHERBET Erin Hanson (2017). Oil on canvas, 9 x 12 in.

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deep purple shadows, and brilliantly blue desert skies. Just as the first Impressionists had done more than 130 years before, she amplified such colors by juxtaposing them with contrasting and complementary tones in bold brush strokes that captured the very energy of the landscape itself. Her only departure from tradition grew logically out of the fact that such grand landscapes seemed to call for oversized canvases that did not lend themselves to plein-air work. Instead, Hanson soaked in the landscape visually through early morning hikes and tactilely through her fingers while climbing, and she used a camera to capture the effects of light, which she would later use as loose

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(above) IRISES IN VASE Erin Hanson (2019).

Oil on canvas, 24 x 30 in. (opposite) SUNFLOWER HUES Erin Hanson (2019). Oil on canvas, 40 x 30 in.

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reference material when painting in the studio. Her entire goal when painting was to recreate what it felt like to be out of doors and to be face-to-face with Mother Nature.

Soon, Erin Hanson’s explorations took her beyond her beginnings at Red Rock Canyon, and she devoted herself full-time to art that celebrated the expansiveness of the still-unspoiled great American West, from the stark desert beauty of Joshua Tree National Park to the lush vineyards of Northern California, from the rugged coastline of Carmel to the dramatic rock formations and verdant vales of Zion National Park.

With over 2,000 original oil paintings completed so far in her 15-year career,

she has already surpassed many of the past greats in terms of perseverance.

She came to refer to her personal style with the term “Open Impressionism,” paying tribute not only to the artists of the past who have inspired her but also to the wide-open vistas of the landscapes that she paints. “The purpose of Open-Impressionism is to capture the true feeling of being outdoors, each painting more of an emotional work than a photographic representation,” says the artist. “And color is how I communicate that emotional moment.”

Sounds like an approach with which the Impressionists who came before her would fully agree. q

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ERIN HANSON’S WORKS ARE CREATED IN A VIBRANTLY ENERGENTIC STYLE THAT HAS BECOME KNOWN AS “OPEN IMPRESSIONISM.”

(above) VINEYARD WAY Erin Hanson (2016).

Oil on canvas, 40 x 30 in. (left) NAPA MIST Erin Hanson (2021).

Oil on canvas, 32 x 40 in. (opposite) TEXAN SKY Erin Hanson (2013). Oil on canvas, 60 x 72 in.

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The Impressionist Exploring Impressionism from the 19th Century to Present Day

Dear Reader,

T

hank you for reading the premier issue of The Impressionist. Our free magazine is designed to educate, inspire, and encourage an appreciation for impressionism on a broad scale. We are offering The Impressionist for distribution (free of charge) to museums, art galleries, art schools, art exhibitions, and non-profit art centers. Please reach out to Amy if you are interested in distributing this magazine at your facility: contact@redrockfinart.com.

Amy Jensen, (above) THE PATH Erin Hanson (2014).

Oil on canvas, 28 x 40 in. (opposite) CYPRESSES Vincent Van Gogh (1888). Original from the MET Museum. Digitally enhanced by rawpixel.

Editor contact@redrockfineart.com (858) 324-4644

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RESOURCES GLOSSARY Dadaism– a movement in art and literature based on deliberate irrationality and negation of traditional artistic values Hague School– a group of artists who lived and worked in The Hague (a city on the western coast of the Netherlands) between 1860 and 1890. Their work was heavily influenced by the conservative, realist French painters of the early 19th-century. maverick–an unorthodox or independentminded person Open Impressionism–a new style of painting developed by Erin Hanson, characterized by a limited palette of pure pigments and impasto brush strokes that are laid side-by-side without layering. sobriquet– a nickname Tate –a network of four art museums that houses the United Kingdom’s national collection of British art, as well as international modern and contemporary art.

SOURCES Art Institute of Chicago, artic.edu Barnes Foundation, barnesfoundation.org Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery, sandzen.org Cleveland Museum of Art, clevelandart.org Courtauld Institute Galleries, London, courtauld.ac.uk Creative Commons, creativecommons.org J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, getty.edu/museum Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, krollermuller.nl MET Museum, NYC, metmuseum.org Musée d’Orsay, Paris, musee-orsay.fr Museum of Modern Art, NYC, moma.org My Modern Met, mymodernmet.com National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., nga.gov National Gallery, London, nationalgallery.org.uk Rawpixel, rawpixel.com Sullivan Goss – An American Gallery, sullivangoss.com The Art Story, theartstory.org Yale University Art Gallery, artgallery.yale.edu Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, vangoghmuseum.com WikiArt, wikiart.org Wikimedia Commons, commons.wikimedia.org

Wild Sunflowers

Oil on canvas, 40 x 40 in Erin Hanson 80 the impressionist | fall / winter

ADDITIONAL CREDIT INFORMATION Wikimedia Commons: Almost all images are under a free license (usually CC-BY, CC-BY-SA, or GFDL) or in the public domain. The official position taken by the Wikimedia Foundation is that “faithful reproductions of two-dimensional public domain works of art are public domain”.

A work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1925.

CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication. https://creativecommons.org/ publicdomain/zero/1.0/

Dance of Irises

Oil on canvas, 40 x 60 in

Open Impressionism Discover the contemporary impressionist works of Erin Hanson

San Carlos between 5th and 6th, Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA 93921 (831) 574-1782 1805 NE Colvin Ct., McMinnville, Oregon 97128 (503) 334-3670 www.erinhansongallery.com info@erinhanson.com