AP Art History - Impressionism, Post Impressionism, Symbolism

HENRI ROUSSEAU, The Dream, 1910. Oil on canvas, 6' 8" X 9' 9".

"Primitive without leaving Paris - self taught amateur, started painting full-time after retirement from service in French government. 1st exhibited in Salon of 1885 when he was 41. Derided by critics, he then started exhibiting in Salon des Independants in 1886 until his death. Unfavorable reviews - lack formal training, imperfect perspective, doll-like figures, settings resembling constructed theater sets not landscapes. Natural talent for design and imagination teeming with exotic images of mysterious tropical landscapes. Uneasiness of subconscious self during sleep - subject of contemporary Sigmund Freud; influenced the development of Surrealism.

VINCENT VAN GOGH, Starry Night, 1889. Oil on canvas, 2' 5" x 3'.

"Why . . . shouldn't the shining dots of the sky be as accessible as the black dots on the map of France? Just as we take the train to get to Tarascon or Rouen, we take death to reach a star." - Van Gogh

GUSTAV KLIMT, The Kiss, 1907-1908. Oil on canvas, 5' 11" x 5' 11".http://www.theartwolf.com/10_expensive.htm

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James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Arrangement in Grey and Black No.1 (Whistler's Mother), 4' 9" x 5' 4", 1871, oil paint on canvas

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PAUL CÉZANNE, Mont Sainte-Victoire, 1902-1904. Oil on canvas, 2' 3" x 2' 11".

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TOULOUSE- LAUTREC Salon at the Rue des Moulins, 1894, 3' 8" x 4' 4".

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Impressionism

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Japonisme

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Oceania

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AUGUSTE RODIN, Burghers of Calais, 1884-1889. Bronze, 6' 10" high, 7' 11" long, 6' 6" deep.

1346, English King Edward III surrounded French port of Calais, cutting off essential supplies. 11 months later, he demanded surrender of 6 of the town's leading men, burghers, in return for sparing citizens. Rodin's sculpture emphasizes internal struggle of men walking toward their fate wearing a sackcloth, rope halter. Later spared by intervention of English queen feared their deaths would bring bad luck to her unborn child.

Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, Dance1865-1869, stone, 13' high

1863, Charles Garnier, architect of new Paris Opera, commissioned 4 sculpted groups by 4 artists who had won the Grand Prix de Rome to decorate the façade. Carpeaux was to cover the theme of dance. Over a 3-year period, he produced sketches and models before conceiving this farandole (from Provence) of women encircling the spirit of dance. Main concern was to convey the feeling of movement, both circular and vertical. Public was shocked by the realism of the female nudes, which they judged unseemly; a bottle of ink was thrown against the sculpture and its removal was requested. Public preferred idealized bodies of classical sculptures.

AUGUSTE RODIN, The Thinker, Monumental, 1903, 6' 2".

1880 in its original size (approx. 2' 4") as crowning element of The Gates of Hell, seated on the tympanum, it was entitled The Poet - representing Dante, author of the Divine Comedy which inspired The Gates, leaning forward to observe the circles of Hell, while meditating on his work. Initially both a being with a tortured body, almost a damned soul, and a free-thinking man, determined to transcend his suffering through poetry. The pose of this figure owes much to Carpeaux's Ugolino (1861) and to the seated portrait of Lorenzo de' Medici carved by Michelangelo (1526-31). Enlarged in 1904, colossal version even more popular: image of a man lost in thought, but whose powerful body suggests a great capacity for action, has became one of the most celebrated sculptures ever known. Numerous casts exist worldwide.

VINCENT VAN GOGH, Night Café, 1888. Oil on canvas, 2' 4" x 3'.

1886 - Van Gogh moved to Paris, collected and copied Japanese prints. 1888 - relocated to Arles in southern France where he painted Night Café. He also lived with Gauguin for a short period of time there. He wrote letters to his brother Theo about his work and stated he wanted the Night Café to convey an oppressive atmosphere - "a place where one can ruin oneself, go mad, or commit a crime." Communicated the "madness" of the place with juxtaposed vivid hues to amplify their intensity. Known for expressive value of both color and paint application. Starry Night painted a year before his death at an asylum in Saint-Remy, near Arles. Cypress trees and placement of constellations confirmed as matching the view from his room at the asylum. Communicates electrifying vastness of the universe, with earth huddling beneath. Perhaps church expresses or reconciles his conflicted views about religion. "In both my life and in my painting, I can very well do without God but I cannot, ill as I am, do without something which is greater than I, . . . The power to create." Another seemingly contradictory quote, "a great starlit vault of heaven...one can only call God."

LOUIS HENRY SULLIVAN, Carson, Pirie, Scott Building, Chicago, 1899-1904.

1st truly modern architect; synthesized industrial structure and ornamentation. Expressed the spirit of late-19th-century commerce - light filled, well ventilated office buildings. Regularity of window placements expressed large-scale, refined, and orderly office work taking place within. Sullivan's dictum, "form follows function," became slogan of early 20th century architects. Exterior and interior - free and flexible relationship, as his pupil Frank Lloyd Wright described, similar to bones and hands. Carson, Pirie, Scott Building - minimal structural steel skeleton for broad open display spaces. Lower 2 levels - elaborate ornamental cast iron frame display windows.

Industrialization of Europe and U.S. ca. 1850 (no picture)

3rd quarter of 19th century - 2nd Industrial Revolution. 1st - textiles, steam, iron 2nd - steel, electricity, chemicals, oil: foundation for plastics, machinery, building construction, and automobiles. Inventions of radio, electric light, telephone, and electric streetcar shortly followed. URBANIZATION - farmers with less land were squeezed from properties. Work opportunities in factories, improved health/living conditions in cities. MARXISM and DARWINISM 19th century empiricists, believed scientific, rational law governed nature. Marx - economic forces based on class struggle induced historical change. Germans living in Paris, Marx and Engles wrote the communist Manifesto in 1848, advocating the creation of a socialist state - working class seized power and destroyed capitalism. Darwin challenged religious beliefs by postulating a competitive system where only fittest survive - contributed to growing secularism.

Cezanne: Post-Impressionist Form (no picture)

Allied with Impressionists, especially Pisarro, but studies of Old Masters in Louvre persuaded him Impressionist paintings lacked form and structure. Cezanne declared he wanted to "make of Impressionism something solid and durable like the art of the museums." Sought a lasting structure behind formless and fleeting visual information eyes absorb. More analytical style - order lines, planes, and colors comprising nature. Constantly checked his painting against the part of the scene, he called "motif" he was studying at the moment. Sought to achieve Poussin's effects of distance, depth, structure, and solidity not by using traditional perspective and chiaroscuro, but by recording the color patterns he deduced from an optical analysis. Explored properties of line, plane, color and interrelationships. Understood visual properties of colors: hues, saturation, value, cool colors recede, warm colors advance and juxtaposed colors to create volume and depth. Presents the viewer with 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional images simultaneously - profoundly influenced the development of Cubism in the early 20th century.

JAMES ABBOTT MCNEILL WHISTLER, Nocturne in Black and Gold (The Falling Rocket), ca. 1875. Oil on panel, 2' x 1' 6".

American expatriate, spent time in Paris before settling in London "Arrangements" or "nocturnes" - harmonies parallel those in music. Whister - "Nature contains the elements, in color and form, . . . as the keyboard contains the notes of all music. But the artist is born to pick, and choose, . . . that the result may be beautiful - as the musician gathers his notes and forms his chords . . ." British critic John Ruskin accused Whistler of "flinging a pot of paint in the public's face." Whistler sued him for libel. Whistler: "It is a night piece and represents the fireworks at Cremorne Gardens." Judge: "Not a view of Cremorne?" Whistler: "If it were a view of Cremorne it would certainly bring about nothing but disappointment on the part of the beholders. It is an artistic arrangement." The spectators laughed, Whistler won 1 farthing and had to pay court costs - he was financially ruined.

Post-Impressionism (no picture)

By 1886 most critics and much of the public accepted the Impressionists as serious artist. Some painters along with a group of younger artists felt the movement neglected too many traditional elements of picture making while attempting to capture momentary sensations of light and color. By the 1880s artists were again examining the properties and expressive qualities of line, pattern, form, and color. Van Gogh (Dutch-born) and Gauguin (French) - expressive capabilities of formal elements. Seurat and Cezanne (French) - more analytical. Known as Post Impressionism, roots in Impressionist precepts and methods, but not stylistically homogeneous.

GEORGES SEURAT, A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, 1884-1886. Oil on canvas, 6' 9" x 10'.

Color: hue (red, yellow), saturation (hue's brightness or dullness), value (hue's lightness or darkness) Chemist Michel-Eugene Chevreul - law of simultaneous contrasts of colors: juxtaposed colors affect the eye's reception of each, making the colors as dissimilar as possible - in hue and value. Art critic Charles Blanc, discovered optical mixing: the smaller the areas of juxtaposed complementary colors, the greater the tendency for the eye to "mix" the colors - grayish or neutral tint. Physicist Ogden Rood suggested graduation could be achieved by placing small dots/lines of color side by side, blend from a distance. Georges Seurat calculated painstaking system of painting based on scientific color theory. Pointillism or divisionism - observing color and separating it into component parts, pure component colors are applied in dots/ daubs. Impressionist recreational theme subject - shifting social class relationships - people from various classes. Repeated motifs create patterns, rhythm and suggest spatial depth and movement. Light, air, people, landscape - elements in abstract design.

MARY CASSATT, The Bath, ca. 1892. Oil on canvas, 3' 3" x 2' 2".

Daughter of Philadelphia banker, although family objected, began training at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art at 15, but not satisfied with the instruction: "There was no teaching" at the Academy. Female students could not use live models [until somewhat later] and the principal training was primarily drawing from casts." Later moved to Europe to study master-works in France and Italy. Also studied with Gerome (Eakins also a student). Degas admired her work and befriended her. Could not frequent cafes with male artists - had to care for aging parents who had moved to Europe to join her. Subjects frequently women and children. Mix of objectivity & genuine sentiment. Compositional devices of Degas and Japanese prints.

EDGAR DEGAS, The Tub, 1886. Pastel, 1' 11" X 2' 8". and TORII KIYONAGA, Two Women at the Bath, 1780. Color woodblock, detail 4" X 3".

Degas was a master of line; studies of figures in rapid and informal action - impression of arrested motion. Pastels, outlined objects, covered with hatch marks. Shelf on right tilted, seems parallel to picture plane, from Japanese prints - visual complexity for viewer. Due to simplicity of printing process, Japanese prints feature flat color, limited gradation. Flatness interested modernists who sought ways to call attention to picture surface. Degas owned a print by Torii Kiyonaga depicting 8 women at a bath in various poses and states of undress.

Staffgod (Tangaroa?), from Rarotonga, Cook Islands, Polynesia. Wood, 2' 4" high. [36-15A]

Deity images with multiple figures attached to bodies Probably represented clan and district ancestors honored for protective and procreative powers. Ultimately refer to creator deities Polynesians revere for role in human fertility. In August 1821, by decree of leaders, entire population of Rurutu, the northernmost of the Austral Islands in French Polynesia converted to Christianity. As a symbol of their embrace of monotheistic religion, presented statuees of gods to British missionaries stationed on neighboring island.

PAUL GAUGUIN, Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? 1897. Oil on canvas, 4' 7" x 12' 3".

Fascinated with primitive life - native motifs, colors from tropical flora. In Gauguin's judgment, most important painting - summary of artistic methods and views on life. Tropical landscape; broad areas of flat color - lushness and intensity. Gauguin in a letter to a friend, "Where are we going? Near to death an old woman . . . . What are we? Day to day existence. . . . Where do we come from? Source. Child. Life begins. . . ." Tried to commit suicide after completion of painting, died a few years later in Marquesas Islands - his artistic genius unrecognized.

PAUL GAUGIN, The Spirit of the Dead Keeps Watch, 1892. Oil on burlap mounted on canvas, 2' 4" x 3'.

Gauguin's Tahitian girlfriend Tehura, 14 years old, who one night, according to Gauguin, was lying in fear when he arrived late home: "immobile, naked, lying face downward on the bed with the eyes inordinately large with fear . . . Might she not with her frightened face take me for one of the demons and spirits of the Tupapaus, with which the legends of her race people sleepless nights?" The spirit she fears, personified by the old woman seated at left. The strong colors are symbolic of the Polynesian belief that phosphorescent lights were manifestations of the spirits of the dead. Phosphorescent lights were in fact a type of fungus that grows on dead trees. Girl's fear also might have been in response to Gauguin's aggressive behavior; consistent with his known physical abuse of women.

HENRI DE TOULOUSE-LAUTREC, At the Moulin Rouge, 1892-1895. Oil on canvas, 4' x 4' 7".

Genetic defects stunted growth, partially crippled, self-exile from high society of family. Reveled in Paris' music halls, cafes, bordellos. Influence of Degas, Japanese prints, and photography with asymmetry, diagonals, strong linear patterns, and harsh colors. Scenes from earlier Impressionist paintings - he exaggerated or emphasized elements so tone is new, satirical edge, borders on caricature. Glaring artificial light, brassy music, corrupt, cruel, and masklike faces - distortions by simplification of figures and faces anticipated Expressionism with even brighter and bolder lines.

HENRY HOBSON RICHARDSON, Marshall Field wholesale store, Chicago, 1885-1887 (demo. 1930).

Greater speed and economy in building (especially commercial), reduction in fire hazards, use of cast and wrought iron. Disastrous fires in 1870s proved cast iron by itself was not resistant to fire. Started encasing metal (for strength) in masonry (for fire resistance). In cities increase property values forced architects to build upwards. 1st elevators used in Equitable Building in New York in 1868 - 1871. HENRY HOBSON RICHARDSON one of 1st to design modern commercial structures. Marshall Field store occupied entire city block. Respect for Romanesque architecture of Auvergne area in France - heavy round arches, massive masonry walls. Tripartite elevation of a Renaissance palace. No classical ornamentation, massive courses of masonry, strong horizontals of window sills. Glazed arcades opened up walls, led to modern total penetration of walls.

Late 1800s: Fin-de-Siecle & Gustav Klimpt (no picture)

Historians have adopted the term fin-de-siecle which means "end of the century" for the spirit of dissolution, boredom, cynicism, pessimism, anxiety, and a widespread belief that civilization leads to decadence; characteristic of European, especially Austrian culture. Middle classes aspired to advantages of aristocracy - to lead "the good life." This evolved into culture of indulgence. Also immersed in exploring the unconscious - Sigmund Freud. Determination to enjoy life masked anxiety prompted by significant political upheaval and an uncertain future. Viennese artist Klimpt captured period's flamboyance in work, tempered with unsettling undertones. The Kiss has an ambiguous setting apart from space and time. Shimmering extravagant flat patterning with ties to Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts movement. Conflict between 2 and 3 dimensionality central to work of modernists. Patterns signify gender contrasts while simultaneously uniting the lovers into a single formal entity.

CLAUDE MONET, Impression: Sunrise, 1872. Oil on canvas, 1' 7" x 2' 1".

Hostile critic named movement in response to Monet's painting in 1st Impressionist show in 1874. By 3rd show in 1878, the artists embraced their title. Before the term was used for sketches, whose qualities apply to Impressionist paintings: abbreviation, speed, spontaneity, sensation, impermanence, and the "fleeting moment" - artists' sensations, subjective and personal responses to nature. Painting en plein air - focus on light and color - instantaneous representation of atmosphere and climate. A student of Monet describes his approach, ". . . try to forget what objects you have before you . . . Merely think, here is a little square of blue, here an oblong of pink, . . . and paint it just as it looks to you . . ." Scientific studies of light and chemically synthesized pigments increased artists' sensitivity to multiplicity of colors in nature. Local color is modified by light shining on it, reflections of other objects.

Symbolism

Impressionists and Post-Impressionists used their sensations and emotions to interpret nature. Symbolists concerned with expressing their individual spirit/free interpretations of nature - rejected optical world for fantasy world. Artists spoke in signs and symbols, as if they were prophets. Symbolists disdained Realism as trivial - see through things to a significance far deeper than superficial appearance. Poet Arthur Rimbaud insisted, artists became beings of extraordinary insight. In his Letter from a Seer (1871) he explained that to achieve the seer's insight, artists must become deranged - unhinge/confuse everyday faculties of sense and reason. Artists' mystical vision - convert objects of world into symbols of reality beyond this world, from within the individual. Elements of Symbolism in Van Gogh and Gauguin's work; differed from mainstream Symbolists in that they portrayed unseen powers linked to a physical reality instead of depicting a wholly interior life. Against materialism/conventions of industrial/middle-class society. Subjects: esoteric, exotic, mysterious, visionary, dreamlike, fantastic. Sigmund Freud, founder of psychoanalysis was a contemporary - introduced world to unconscious experience.

ÉDOUARD MANET, Claude Monet in His Studio Boat, 1874. Oil on canvas, 2' 8" X 3' 3".

In The Painter of Modern Life,1860 Baudelaire wrote, "Modernity is the transitory, the fugitive, the contingent." In 1872 Monet moved to Argenteuil, prosperous industrial town on Seine; leisure destination of Parisians. With funds from painting sales, Monet bought a boat to use as a floating studio. His wife is his muse and admirer. Leisure activities of bourgeoisie and industrialization. Manet is painting modern life (as defined by Baudelaire). Adopted younger artist's subject matter, short brushstrokes and reflected light on water.

TORII KIYONAGA, Two Women at the Bath, 1780. Color woodblock, 10" X 7"

Japan avoided Western intrusion until 1853 - 1854 when Commodore Matthew Perry and American naval forces exacted trading and diplomatic privileges from Japan. Japonisme - French term to describe Japanese aesthetic; appealed to Fashionable segment of Parisian society. Japanese kimonos, fans, lacquer cabinets, tea caddies, folding screens, tea services and jewelry flooded Paris. During Edo period in Japan woodblock prints became very popular. Prints were sold for the cost of a bowl of noodles - efficient production system. Artists designed the prints and sold drawings to publishers - name of both appeared on prints, but not block carvers and printers.

SUZUKI HARUNOBU, Evening Bell at the Clock, from Eight Views of the Parlor, Edo period, ca. 1765. Woodblock print, 11" x 8". [34-12]

Late 18th century designer, played key role in developing multicolored prints - highest quality paper and costly pigments. Most Japanese prints were susceptible to fading, sued inexpensive dies from plants. Known for depicting activities of daily lives of beautiful young women. Elevated point of view. Drying after bath with maid turning to face chiming clock.

Row of MAOI on a stone platform, Rapa Nui (Easter Island), Polynesia, 10th to 12th centuries. Volcanic tuff and red scoria. [36-12]

Maoi - up to 50' tall and 200,000 pounds on stone platforms, ahu, at burial or sacred sites used for religious ceremonies. Pukao - small red scoria (local volcanic stone) cylinders serve as topknots or hats. Scholars debate, but most believe lineage chiefs or sons erected maoi depicting ancestral chiefs. Generic images, not individual portraits - able to accommodate spirits or gods, mediate between chiefs and gods, natural and cosmic worlds. Nearly 1000 moai erected on 250 ahu. Size of monoliths testament to achievements of culture. According to one scholar: 30 men 1 year to carve a moai, 90 men 2 months to transport it from quarry to ahu site, 90 men 3 months to position vertically on ahu.

Hair ornaments from the Marquesas Islands, Polynesia, collected in 1870s. Bone, 1 1/2" high (left), [36-14]

Marquesan chiefs chief trace right to rule genealogically, but before European contact could acquire power by force. Warfare widespread in 19th century. Warrior hair ornaments - protective amulets, worn until kinsman's death was avenged. Form of tiki - carvings of exalted, deified ancestor figures. Stylized face is typically Marquesan; island groups remained isolated. Tattoo served as spiritual armor, protection for warriors. Hierarchical social structure, nobles and warriors accumulated tattoo patterns over years to enhance status, mana (spiritual power), and beauty. Tattooing disappeared in 19th century due to missionary pressure, but has been revived as expression of cultural pride.

CLAUDE MONET, Rouen Cathedral: The Portal (in Sun), 1894. Oil on canvas, 3' 3" x 2' 2"

Monet created more than 3 dozen paintings of the Rouen Cathedral from the same view at different times of day, under various climatic conditions. Focused on light and color to reach a greater understanding of appearance of form.

EDGAR DEGAS, The Rehearsal of the Ballet Onstage, 1874. Oil colors with turpentine, traces of watercolor and pastel over pen-and-ink drawing on cream-colored wove paper, laid on bristol board and mounted on canvas, 1' 9" x 2' 5".

More formal leisure activities - Paris Opera and ballet school. Diverging lines lead viewer into picture. Figures not centrally placed. 3 similar versions: largest, in grisaille (Musée d'Orsay, Paris), shown in 1st Impressionist exhibition in 1874. 1 of 2 in the Metropolitan Museum. Preparatory drawings exist for almost every figure; Degas also used photography for preliminary studies.

Kuka'ilimoku, from Hawaii, Polynesia, late 18th or early 19th century. Wood, 2'6" high (figure only). [36-17]

Most highly stratified social structure in Pacific. 1795, chief Kamehameha unified major islands of Hawaiian archipelago and became king in 1810, ruling for 9 years. U.S. annexed Hawaii as a territory in 1898, statehood was conferred in 1959. As elsewhere in Oceania, gods were pervasive presence, part of every person's life. Chiefs invoked gods regularly and publicized genealogical links to reinforce right to rule. War god, Kuka'ilimoku, was prominent as prekingdom year chiefs struggled to maintain and expand control - warfare was widespread. This sculpture stood in a heiau (temple) on Hawaii (Big Island), where Kamehameha I originally ruled before expanding his authority. Aggressive, defiant features and muscular body - slightly flexed as if ready to attack.

ANTONIO GAUDI, Casa Milá, Barcelona, Spain, 1907.

Name from a shop in Paris Considered an important transition between the eclectic historic revival styles of the 19th-century and Modernism. Art based on natural forms that could be reproduced for a large audience. Sinuous lines and "whiplash" curves were derived, in part, from botanical studies and illustrations of deep-sea organisms such as those by German biologist Ernst Heinrich Haeckel Antonio Gaudi, trained as an ironworker, inspired by Moorish and simple architecture from his native Catalonia. Conceived of buildings as a whole, like sculptures; invented new structural techniques. Casa Mila features: lacy iron railings, dormer windows on undulating roof, fantastic writhing chimneys, surface like worn rock, entrance like sea cave. 1879 discovery of Paleolithic cave paintings at Altamira. Gaudi felt his buildings were symbolically living things. Spiritual kin of ealy-20th-century Expressionist painting and sculpture.

EDVARD MUNCH, The Scream, 1893. Tempura and pastels on cardboard, 3' x 2' 5".

Originally conceived by Norwegian Munch as part of his epic Frieze of Life series, which explored the progression of modern life by focusing on the themes of love, angst, and death. He believed humans were powerless before natural forces of death an love and emotions associated with them - jealousy, loneliness, fear, desire, despair became themes of his art. His goal was to describe the conditions of "modern psychic life." Expressive color, line, and distortion. Influenced by Gauguin and would inspire German Expressionists in early 20th century. Another version of "The Scream" was sold at auction for $119,922, 500 at Sotheby's May 2, 2012, in New York. The image is one of four versions.

PAUL CÉZANNE, Basket of Apples, ca. 1895. Oil on canvas, 2' x 2' 7".

Painting process was so analytical and slow that Cezanne abandoned using real fruit - they tended to rot. Not optically realistic: disjunctures in painting - table edges are discontinuous, objects depicted from different view points. Cezanne's methods never allow viewer to disregards the 2-dimensionality of the picture plane.

ALEXANDRE-GUSTAVE EIFFEL,Eiffel Tower, 984' high, Paris, 1889.

Realist impulse - architectural designs that honestly expressed a building's purpose, rather than elaborately disguise its function. Eiffel tower responded to this idea and contributed to development of 20th century skyscraper. Eiffel designed exhibition halls, bridges, and interior armature of Statue of Liberty, France's anniversary gift to U.S. Designed for an exhibition in 1889 as a symbol of modern Paris; still considered a symbol of 19th century civilization. Tallest structure in the world at time of construction. 4 giant supports, connected by arching open framed skirts, mask heavy horizontal girders strengthen the legs. Transparency of structure blurs distinction between interior and exterior never before achieved or attempted. Interpenetration of inner and outer space - hallmark of 20th-centryuy art and architecture.

AUGUSTE RODIN, The Gates of Hell, 1880-1900. Posthumous bronze cast, 20' 10" X 13' 1".

Rejected from Ecole des Beaux-Arts, enrolled in French school of decorative arts, "Petit Ecole," lesser version of prestigious school. Attention for early sculptures, 1880 government commission to design doors for Museum of Decorative Arts (never built). Doors were cast in bronze after his death. Rodin did not use photographs, "I have always endeavored to express the inner feelings by the mobility of the muscles. . . . photographs, . . . seem suddenly fixed in midair, . . . there is no progressive development of movement as there is in art. . . . [I]t is the artist who is truthful and it is photography which lies, for in reality time does not stop." Primarily worked in pliable material - model would move around for him for preliminary sculptures in clay. Influence of Impressionism - concern for effect of light on surfaces.

France around 1870 (no picture)

SOCIAL DARWINISM: Herbert Spencer applied Darwinism to rapidly developing socioeconomic realm - justified colonization of less advanced peoples and cultures. By 1900 major economic and political powers divided up much of the world. French colonized N. Africa and Indochina; British occupied India, Australia, Nigeria, Egypt , Sudan, Rhodesia, Union of South Africa; Dutch were a major presence in Pacific . . . MODERNISM: Darwin's ideas of evolution, Marx's emphasis on continuing sequence of conflicts - acute sense of world's impermanence and constantly shifting reality. Modernists transcend simple depiction of contemporary world (Realism), they examine premises of art itself (Manet in Le Dejejner l'Herbe). 20th century art critic Clement Greenberg wrote, "The limitations that constitute the medium of painting - the flat surface, the shape of the support, the properties of the pigment . . . Modernist painting has come to regard . . . as positive factors that are to be acknowledged openly."

PAUL GAUGUIN, Vision after the Sermon or Jacob Wrestling with the Angel, 1888. Oil on canvas, 2' 5" x 3'.

Self-taught painter, later took lessons with Impressionist Pissarro, resigned from brokerage business at age 35 to paint full time. 3 years later, attracted by Brittany's supposedly unspoiled culture, Gauguin left his wife and 5 children and moved to Pont-Aven. (Actually Brittany had a profitable market economy at the time, but Gaugin viewed the Bretons as "natural" in their peasant environment). Painting shows Breton women in their Sunday clothes, visualizing the sermon they just heard. Biblical account includes the renaming of Jacob as "Israel", literally "He who struggles with God." Women pray as they would before roadside crucifix shrines, characteristic of Breton countryside. Image from memory, modified by imagination. Determining colors was Gaugin's central element of creativity. Twisted perspective emphasized innocent faith of women, shrank Jacob and the angel. Wrestling matches were regular entertainment after high mass. Gauguin admired Japanese prints, stained glass, and cloisonné metal work - abstract, expressive patterns of line, shape, and pure color. After brief period with Van Gogh in Arles, moved to Tahiti searching for a life far removed from materialistic Europe, to reconnect with nature, search for provocative subjects, and an economical place to live. Tahiti - French colony since 1842, so Gauguin moved to countryside.

PIERRE-AUGUSTE RENOIR, Le Moulin de la Galette, 1876. Oil on canvas, 4' 3" x 5' 8".

Set working hours enabled people to plan pastimes. Renoir painted en plein air with Monet and Manet at Argenteuil. Renoir, " . . . two qualities of art? It must be indescribable and it must be inimitable." Dappled with sunlight and shade, blurred into figures - floating and fleeting light. Casual unposed placement of figures and continuity of space - viewer as participant. Classical arts - universal and timeless qualities, Impressionism the opposite - incidental, momentary, and passing aspects of reality.

CLAUDE MONET, Haystacks (Sunset), 1891.

Shadows do not appear gray or black, but are modified by reflections . . . Complementary colors side by side intensify. "Mixed" by juxtaposing colors - more intense. Short choppy brushstrokes captured the vibrating quality of light. Modernist art opposed to academic art, Royal Academies (France 1648, Britain 1768). Membership and annual exhibitions, "Salons," were highly competitive. Government subsidized - traditional subjects and polished technique. Juries rejected modernist work - challenge to established artistic conventions, preventing public to see art that was not officially sanctioned. Dissatisfaction jurors led Napoleon III (nephew of Napoleon, first elected president and the last monarch of France) to establish Salon de Refuses (Rejected). Manet's Luncheon on the Grass was displayed, entire exhibit was panned by public. In 1867 after more rejections, Manet mounted private exhibit outside World's Fair. 6 years later, Monet and Impressionists formed own society and held exhibitions from 1874 - 1886. In 1884 Salon of Independent Artists was founded. Venues increased, along with new art forms/styles.

GUSTAVE MOREAU, The Apparition, 1874-1876. Watercolor, 3' 6" X 2' 4".

Subjects inspired by dreaming. Known for sensuous design, gorgeous color, intricate line, rich details, opulent settings. Submitted The Apparition to Salon of 1876 - popular contemporary theme of femme fatale (fatal woman) who destroyed men. Salome (Mark 6:21-28) danced enticingly for stepfather/great-uncle, King Herod, who promised her any wish. Mother told her to ask for head of John the Baptist. He had condemned Herod for marrying Salome's mother (who was his brother's former wife and Herod's niece) in violation of Old Testament law. Herod sits in background - classical columnar hall resembles Roman triumphal arch. Halo-framed head of John the Baptist drips with blood - hallucinatory imagery Foreshadows work of Surrealists.

JEAN-BAPTISTE CARPEAUX, Ugolino and His Children, 1865-1867. Marble, 6' 5" high.

Tangibility and solidity of sculpture suggests permanence, so it could not capture the "fleeting moment" of Impressionist painters. In France, Carpeaux combined Realism with love of ancient, Renaissance, and Baroque sculpture. Based on Dante's Inferno where Count Ugolino with 4 sons starve to death while shut up in tower. In Hell, Ugolino tells Dante how in despair he bit both his hands in grief. His children thought he was hungry and offered him their own flesh as food. Studied Michelangelo's male figures and also had Hellenistic Laocoon group in mind, early 1st century CE, 7' 10" high. Vivid reality of anatomy - life studies.

AUGUSTE RODIN, The Kiss, 1882. Marble, 6' high × 3' 8" long × 3' 10" deep.

The Kiss originally represented Paolo and Francesca, two characters from Dante's Divine Comedy: slain by Francesca's husband who surprised them as they exchanged their first kiss, they were condemned to wander eternally through Hell. Designed in early stages of the elaboration of The Gates, was given a prominent position on the lower left door, opposite Ugolino, until 1886, when Rodin decided that this depiction of happiness and sensuality was incongruous with the theme. He transformed the group into an independent work, exhibited in 1887. The French state commissioned an enlarged version in marble, which Rodin took nearly ten years to deliver. Not until 1898 did he agree to exhibit what he called his "huge knick-knack."

Hiroshige 1845

The word ukiyo-e means a picture of "the floating world". Derived from Buddhist religious interpretation that described life on earth as unhappy, a stage to go through on the road to salvation. Portrays the pleasures that helped to relieve the restraints of urban Japanese life. Growing urbanization in Japanese cities led to increase of pursuit of sensual pleasure in popular theaters and pleasure houses by merchants and samurai (whose families remained in home territories). Also admirers of literature, music, and art.

Utagawa Kunisada

Ukiyo-e prints usually tell a story with scenes from life in the houses of prostitution or in the theater, posed as a tableau or scene. Details such as fabric and hair style had to reflect the current fashions of the time. Ukiyo-e information from: Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute - Visions of People: The Influences of Japanese Prints - Ukiyo-e, Upon Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century French Art by Patricia Flynn

KATSUSHIKA HOKUSAI, The Great Wave off Kanagawa, from Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji, Edo period, ca. 1826-1833. Woodblock print, ink and colors on paper, 10" x 1' 3". [34-13]

Used European synthetic dyes - Prussian blue. Low horizon typical of Western Painting, in foreground wave's more traditional flat and powerful graphic form.

Kuninao, 1845

Utilized the Chinese system for suggesting perspective which is different from Western art: lines stay parallel as they recede into the background - they do not converge. This technique created diagonal planes that was later employed by the French Impressionists. No shadows are used because they convey a temporal experience.

ANDO HIROSHIGE, Plum Estate, Kameido, from One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, Edo period, 1857. Woodblock print, ink and color on paper, 1' 1" X 9". [34-1]

Van Gogh collected and copied Japanese prints. Hiroshige depicted places of leisure and natural beauty where Japanese escaped city life. Bold abstract pattern resembling calligraphy. Red sky enhances abstract effect, flattening pictorial space - completely foreign to Western notion of perspective.

VINCENT VAN GOGH, The Potato Eaters, 1885. Oil on canvas, 2' 8" X 3' 9".

Van Gogh explored capabilities of colors and distorted forms to express his emotions as he encountered nature. Son of Dutch Protestant pastor, Vincent believed he had a religious calling, did missionary work with coal-miners in Belgium. Repeated professional and personal failures brought him close to despair. Painting was a way to communicate his experiences. Painted The Potato Eaters at 32 years old. Five years later, considering himself a failure as an artist and an outcast from society at large, he fatally shot himself. Sold only one painting during his lifetime; even though his brother, Theo, was a Parisian art dealer. Fauves and German Expressionists built on his expressive use of color. Influence is an important factor in determining artistic significance; today Van Gogh is one of the most revered artists in history.

GUSTAVE CAILLEBOTTE, Paris: A Rainy Day, 1877. Oil on canvas, 6' 9" x 9' 9".

World's first socialist working class uprising. The workers of Paris, joined by insubordinate National Guardsmen, seized the city and set about re-organizing the government. The Commune occurred after France was defeated in the Franco-Prussian War and Napoleon III was exiled. Caused by disaster of war and growing discontent of French workers. Between 25 - 35,000 people lost their lives during the street massacres of the Commune's last days. Painting symbolizes Paris recuperated for the bourgeoisie. Rain on the cobblestones symbolized purification of the streets after the war and uprising of the communards. (A Social history of Modern Art Volume 4: Art in an Age of Civil Struggle 1848 - 1871 by Albert Boime) Redesigning of Paris began in began in 1852, ordered by Napoleon III, to accommodate increased population (1.5 million) and to facilitate movement of troops in case of another revolution. Boulevards widened, new water/sewer systems, street lights, buildings. Transformed medieval Paris, thousands of buildings/streets demolished. Informal/ asymmetrical composition, frame seems to crop figures randomly - suggesting transitory nature of street scene.