Post-Impressionism
Post Impressionism Notes
- The Post Impressionists were a few independent artists at the end of the 19th century who rebelled against the limitations of Impressionism to develop a range of personal styles that influenced the development of art in the 20th century.
- The art of Paul Gauguin was a major influence in the development of Fauvism
- The art of Vincent Van Gogh was an influence on Expressionism in the 20th century.
- The art of Paul Cézanne was an influence on the Cubists at the start of the 20th century.
- The analytical method of Seurat's Pointillism influenced those artists who adopted more calculated approach to painting, particularly in the development of abstract art.
Cubism
Cubism Notes
- Cubism was invented around 1907 in Paris by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque.
- Cubism was the first abstract style of modern art.
- A Cubist painting ignores the traditions of perspective drawing and shows you many views of a subject at one time.
- The Cubists introduced collage into painting.
- The Cubists were influenced by art from other cultures, particularly African masks.
- There are two distinct phases of the Cubist Style: Analytical Cubism (pre 1912) and Synthetic Cubism (post 1912)
- Cubism influenced many other styles of modern art including Orphism, Futurism, Vorticism, Suprematism, Constructivism and Expressionism.
Impressionism
Impressionism Notes
- The name 'Impressionism' comes from a sarcastic review by Louis Leroy of Monet's painting, 'Impression, Sunrise' (1873).
- Impressionism was a style of painting that used a more scientific analysis of colour to capture the effects of light in nature.
- The main artists associated with Impressionism were Claude Monet, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas, Alfred Sisley and Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec.
- The Impressionists painted with small strokes of pure colours which mixed in the eye of the spectator when viewed from a distance.
- The Impressionists were the first group of artists to embrace painting 'en plein air' (painting outside).
- The Impressionists had to paint quickly to capture the atmosphere of a particular time of day or the effects of different weather conditions on the landscape.
- The speed of the Impressionists' painting technique forced them to sacrifice accurate line and detail in favour of atmospheric effect.
- The subject most suited to the Impressionist technique was landscape, but they also painted portraits, still lifes and figure compositions.
- Impressionist compositions were strongly influenced by the development of photography and the discovery of Japanese woodcuts.
- Impressionism is now seen as the first movement in modern art, and had a huge influence on the development of art in the 20th century.
Fauvism
Fauvism Notes
- Fauvism was a style of painting developed in France at the beginning of the 20th century by Henri Matisse and André Derain.
- The artists who painted in this style were known as 'Les Fauves'.
- The title 'Les Fauves' (the wild beasts) came from a sarcastic remark by the art critic Louis Vauxcelles.
- Les Fauves believed that colour should be used to express the artist's feelings about a subject, rather than simply to describe what it looks like.
- Fauvist paintings have two main characteristics: simplified drawing and exaggerated colour.
- Les Fauves were a great influence on the German Expressionists.
