Post-Impressionist Art
History, Characteristics of Neo-Impressionism
and Post Impressionism Painting.
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Post-Impressionist Art |
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Post-Impressionism (c.1880s, 1890s)Characteristics In fine art, the term Post-Impressionism denotes the work of a group of French artists trying to progress beyond the pure or narrow Impressionism of Claude Monet and his followers, during the late 19th century and early years of the 20th century. The most famous Post-Impressionist painters include, in chronological order: Whistler (1834-1903), the flamboyant American painter, noted for his tonal Nocturnes; Cezanne (1839-1906) (also a member of the Impressionist group), one of the most influential of modern artists, whose formalistic approach to landscape paved the way for Cubism; Paul Gauguin (1848-1903), the colourist whose extraordinary paintings of people and scenes from Tahiti influenced contemporary styles of Cloisonism and Primitivism; Van Gogh (1853-1890) one of the pioneers of Expressionism, noted for his intensely personal pictures; Georges Seurat (1859-1891), one of the greatest exponents of drawing, who founded the Neo-Impressionist style of Pointillism, and whose masterpiece Bathers at Asnieres (National Gallery, London) holds up better than most other Post-Impressionist works; and the alcoholic Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901), whose lithographic poster art, and scenes of cafes and nightclubs, helped to create the popular image of Paris at the turn of the century. Other important Post Impressionist painters include the fauvist Henri Matisse (1869-1954); Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947) the most famous of Les Nabis; Paul Serusier (1864-1927), noted for The Talisman; Edouard Vuillard (1868-1940), founder of Intimism, and Maurice Utrillo (1883-1955), best remembered for his picture postcard views of Paris streets, notably Montmartre. |
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Georges Seurat (1859-1891), along with his disciple Paul Signac (1863-1935), was the founder of Neo-Impressionism, the name given to the Divisionist technique (also called pointillism) which aimed to establish a scientific basis for Impressionism through the optical mixture of colours. Divisionism adhered to the colour theories of M Chevreul, as elaborated in his 1839 book De La Loi du Contraste Simultanée des Couleurs (concerning the law of the simultaneous contrast of colours).
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Paul Cezanne, considered by some art historians to be the father of modern art for his influence over Picasso and Cubism, became determined to take a classical approach to plein-air painting as practised by the Impressionists. His carefully structured landscape compositions and still-lifes were built up in different chunks or planes at a painstakingly slow speed (the fruit in his still life paintings used to rot while he painted it!), so as to optimize the effects that each plane brought to the overall composition. This subjugation of natural content to form and structure, had a huge impact on Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, who developed it further into their Cubist philosophy of art. Famous works by Cezanne include: The Cardplayers (1892), Montagne Sainte-Victoire with Trees and a House (1882), Still Life with Basket (1890), The Boy in the Red Waistcoat (1894), Still Life with Plaster Cupid (1895), and Les Grandes Baigneuses (The Large Bathers) (1900-05). Cezanne was one of several Post-Impressionists to be supported by the Parisian Ambroise Vollard (1866-1939) and the Russian collector Ivan Morozov. Vincent Van Gogh only painted for the last ten years of his tragically short life, but in total contrast to the snail-like Cezanne, once he started he couldn't stop, painting nearly 900 pictures at an average of one every four days. Most are autobiographical, inadvertently charting his emotional decline and ultimate collapse. His painting demonstrates an emotional intensity of colour and brushstroke, as he attempted to convey his personal feelings of what he saw. |
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All his life is in his paintings, (especially his self-portraits) from the dark and enclosed coarseness of The Potato Eaters (1885), to the soaringly optimistic yellows of his Sunflowers series, followed by the gnarled twisted branches of The Olive Pickers (1889), and the threatening black birds in Wheatfield with Crows (1890). Not surprisingly, Van Gogh became an icon for following generations of expressionist painters whose art purposefully distorted form and colour in order to express feelings. Other famous works by Van Gogh include: The Old Mill (1888), Bridge at Arles (1888), View of Arles with Irises (1888), The Bedroom at Arles (1888), Sunflowers (1888), Cypresses (1889), View of Arles (Flowering Orchards) (1889), The Olive Trees (1889), Starry Night (1889), Portrait of Dr Gachet (1890). For his part, Paul Gauguin developed a simplified non-naturalistic style of painting - known as Synthetism - characterized by decorative line and flat patches of bold colour. He was also a key promoter of primitivism. Sadly, his paintings failed to sell and he died a pauper in the South Pacific. Henri Matisse, the leader of Fauvism, succeeded in freeing colour from its traditional uses, and in the process changed how painters worked, for ever. His contribution to Post-Impressionism cannot be over-estimated. One of his richest patrons was the Russian textile tycoon and Post-Impressionist devotee Sergei Shchukin. Other influential Fauvist painters included Andre Derain, Maurice de Vlaminck and Georges Rouault. Edouard Vuillard was one of the most gifted and innovative contributors to modern French painting, best known for his magical 'intimist' style of pattened flickering colour. His masterpieces include the genre paintings: In the Garden (1894-5) and Women Sewing Before a Garden (1895). A pioneer of simple design and tonal sympathy. One of the most underrated artists, although his works are in prestigious collections such as the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, the National Gallery in Washington DC and the Art Institute of Chicago. |
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Les Nabis (1891-1899) The late nineteenth century school known as Les Nabis, was a group of Post-Impressionist artists and illustrators based in Paris, who became highly influential in the area of graphic art. Their focus on design was echoed in the parallel Art Nouveau movement. Important members of Les Nabis included Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947), Ker Xavier Roussel (1867-1944), Felix Vallotton (1865-1925), Maurice Denis (1870-1943) and Edouard Vuillard (1868-1940). British Post-Impressionists: The Camden Town Group Founded in 1911 in London by Walter Sickert (1860-1942), the Camden Town Group (named after Sickert's down-at-heel home district in North London) specialized in realist scenes of city life executed in a range of Post-Impressionist styles and held three exhibitions at the Carfax Gallery in 1911 and 1912. Group members included: Robert Bevan (1865-1925), Spencer Gore (1878-1914), Harold Gilman (1876-1919), and Charles Isaac Ginner (1878-1952). Important collectors of post-Impressionist paintings include the philanthropist Samuel Courtauld (1876-1947), and the American drugs manufacturer Dr Albert C Barnes (1872-1951). The Group of Seven (1920-1960s) Strongly influenced by Post-Impressionism, the Group of Seven were Canadian landscape artists who created bold, highly-coloured paintings, often infusing their compositions with symbolic meanings. The members of the group included Tom Thomson, as well as Franklin Carmichael (1890-1945), AJ Casson (1898-1992), Lionel Fitzgerald (1890-1956), Arthur Lismer (1885-1969), Lawren Harris (1885-1970), Edwin Holgate (1892-1977), AY Jackson (1882-1974), JEH MacDonald (1873-1932), and FH Varley (1881-1969).
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• For other art movements and periods,
see: History of Art.
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