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... forms to teach ethical lessons through historic, mythological, and Biblical themes. This convention, drawn from ancient Greek and Roman art, featured idealized images. Symmetrical compositions, hard outlines, and meticulously smooth paint surfaces characterised academic paintings. In spite of the Academy's power, signs of artistic and political discontent had been seen long before 1874. The early- and mid- 19 th century was a time of political instability in France.
Between 1830 and 1850, the population of Paris doubled. During the Revolution of 1848, Parisian workers with socialist goals overthrew the monarchy, only to see conservatives seize the reins of government later that year. Edgar Degas subject matter characterised this perfectly, here in his work Classe Danse (seen below) he sketched from a live model in his studio and combined poses into groupings that depicted rehearsal and performance scenes in which dancers on stage, entering the stage, and resting or waiting to perform are shown simultaneously and in counterpoint, often from an indirect angle of vision. Obviously, they are upper class and partaking in leisure activities. Other subjects from this period include the racetrack, the beach, and cafe interiors. Women in 19 th century Impressionism were of great importance.
Of the most importance out of all art movements of the time. Their depiction in paintings, role in society and the artists who represented them characterised this. Firstly, a major part of Impressionism, was viewing women as objects of beauty, and when portrayed were often from high society and were mainly portrayed in urban based, leisure activities. However this was archetypal mainly for the male painters, females dealt with the maternal side of things. Themes such as connections between a child and their mother, depiction of women in family environment and taking part in intellectual activities were what these females painted to diverge from the obstacles and prejudices of the 19 th century.
While in society at the time women were subjugated to men, and in no public way seen as their equal, they were (as stated above) objects of beauty and splendour in the eyes of Impressionists. In France, Emperor Napoleon III was making industrial reforms, which really did not have much to do with women, at the same time in America this was around half a century before the stock market boom, and the market flooding of household merchandise, so women were still largely house bound and controlled by their husbands, also no major womens rights movements had taken place. Two major Impressionist female artists were Berthe Morisot and Mary Cassatt. While Morisot was French, Cassatt was born in America and travelled to and fro Paris, with her family, studying, and working.
Of course, their gender suspended them from experiencing the aspects of society that largely influenced male artists; their entrance to the twilight world of caf, the music hall and the brothel was deprived of them. As a result of this they drew direct influences from other Impressionistic artists that were males, Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec to name a couple. In 1874, Cassatt's work caught the interest of Degas, which resulted in a close friendship between the two, not only this but also an invitation exhibit with the new Impressionist movement. Cassatt thought highly of Manet, Degas and Courbet.
The strong usage of black is what likens her work directly to Manet's. Seeing as women were not permitted to go to life-classes, at which students drew live nude models, this deprived them of a significant aspect of art training. Bearing in mind that she was an artist seeking to steer clear of conformity, this and her restricted access to public areas irritated her. To get over this hurdle, she chose to illustrate women partaking in intellectual and intelligent activities and taking a more academic approach to life, this was her way of promoting womens position in society. Berthe Morisot, one of the most important Impressionist female painters, generally painted cherished maternal scenes and pictures of women and children in her works. These works are equal to, by and large, the works of Monet and Manet, and that said a lot for a 19 th century woman.
Her main theme was the close relationship of mother and child, this reoccurred many times throughout her painting career. Morisot was a stable contributor to the Impressionist movement, her work being displayed at 7 out of the 8 independent exhibitions. In the period of 1880 s to early 1890 s her themes and motifs did not deviate from that which was her archetypal (relationship between mother an child). This was obviously not to discredit her, as she was extremely well respected as an artist at the time, regardless of gender. Emile Zola was a French novelist during the studied period, it was the criticism that he gave which confirmed the interpretation of what it meant to paint an impression. Saying it was an artist trying to record how the atmospheric effect of a particular moment produced a particular impression on him or her as an individual.
When the Impressionists spoke of their interest in impressions, they meant they were interested in painting the unique effect that nature produced in them, or the experience that marked the meeting place of the individual, interior self and the outside world. By saying they paint their impressions, they meant they were recording the primal impact nature made on their senses, or the raw unarticulated appearance things had when seen without prejudice. In 1866, Zola defended Manet against accusations of insincerity with the claim that his temperament led him to see a subject in stains. Zola's defence of the art, and over all influence was important, but not all that significant on the wider scale. French critic, Baudelaire, was influential to prominent Impressionists such as Degas and Manet. He was largely involved in Degas flavour paintings and greatly effected the way in which these were approached.
While Baudelaire had a well-respected opinion his influence was more fixated on specific artists than Zola's which tended to be rather open. This sophisticated criticism on the exclusive artists is what greatly impacted their style and subject matter. Japanese art (although Impressionists often referred to things Japanese as Chinese) had a major influence in the composition, background and style of Impressionist works. High viewpoints, peculiar spatial ambiguity, the shallow background are evident in Manet's Boating (1874). Which depicts a man and a woman enjoying leisurely times on a boat, the man in the centre of the picture looks forward as if at the viewer, the woman on the left hand side looks with a hint of boredom over the sea. In the top right corner there is a plane of the sail, Manet is using this as though he was peeling back the paint so one could see the canvas.
The French of the mid-nineteenth century saw Japanese culture as primitive and Japanese prints as masterpieces of nave vision. Degas pastels of women in feminine maintenance activities have precedents in the work of Japanese artists depicting animals. The Impressionists, regardless of claiming to paint spontaneously and innocently what they saw, strangely enough learn how to achieve the desired effect by examining artistic precedent, Japanese sources. Impressionism was a major turning point away from traditionalism in art.
Subject matter, technique and overall composition were all radically changed. Without Impressionism todays art would be very different as Impressionism inspired many of the movements that combine to make modern art. For its time Impressionism was a quite avante garde however in our context it is viewed as merely a way of painting, to go back and experience just how out of place Impressionism was in France during that time would be incredible.
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Research essay sample on 19 Th Century Impressionist Movement
