Impressionism
is about the nature of fugitive light falling on surfaces. This play of moving
light, as opposed to stationary light, expresses the ephemeral quality of
modernity. Impressionism is about the
temporary, the here and now, and not about the timeless, the forever. Impressionism
is about life lived in bursts of brief encounters in the city. It's about
faster speeds, quickly moving clouds, sunshine reflected on water, and the
shimmer of satin ribbons dangling from a baby's cradle. Above all,
Impressionism is about modernity: its faster pace and various improvements in
the quality of daily life. It is about middle class activities: shopping,
vacationing, rushing, strolling, lingering, waiting, working and taking time
off to flirt in a Montmartre dance hall or a restaurant on the Seine. The
artists who seemed to quickly jot down these instances of modern life were
playfully dubbed "Impressionists" and their paintings became known as
"Impressionism." However, the critics' nickname was not a compliment,
for at this time "serious" artists blended their colors and minimized
the appearance of brushstrokes to produce the "licked" surface
preferred by the academic masters. Impressionism featured short, visible
strokes - dots, commas, smears and blobs - that the arbiters of taste considered
pathetically inept. To say "Impressionist" in 1874 meant the painter
had no skill and lacked the common sense to finish a painting before
selling it.
In 1874, a group of artists who
dedicated themselves to this "messy" style pooled their resources to
promote themselves in their own exhibition. The idea was radical. In those days
the French art world revolved around the annual Salon, an official exhibition
sponsored by the French government through its Académie des Beaux-Arts.
The group called themselves the Anonymous
Society of Painters, Sculptors, Engravers, etc., and rented the photographer
Nadar's studio in a new building, which was on its own a rather modern edifice.
Their effort caused a brief sensation. For the average art-audience, the art
looked strange, the exhibition space looked unconventional and the decision to
show their art outside of the Salon or the Academy's orbit (and even sell
directly off the walls) seemed close to madness. Indeed, they pushed the limits
of art in the 1870s far beyond the range of "acceptable" practice.
The best known artists in the group
were Claude Monet, Pierre-August Renoir, Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro, Alfred
Sisley, Eugene Boudin, and Berthe Morisot. One of Claude Monet's entries for
the show, Impression: Sunrise (1873) inspired the critical nickname
"Impressionism" in the earliest reviews (Louis Leroy, Le
Charivari, 25 April 1874).
What do you think about this style of art?
