Post-Impressionism& Symbolism

Context• Reaction to Impressionism – Impressionist aesthetic was exhausted, optical reality was “played out” • Personal view of the artist was primary – -Stylization of subject matter/images done in an invented order-Exploring the world of the imagination• Political sub-text to work -Working class/lower classes/underworld of industrial revolution-Alienation of modern cities/societies, with disturbing undercurrents to work and society• Fascination with foreign in two respects:-The “primitive” (non-urban)-Non-Western peoples• Experimentation with primary elements of art, painting style and art techniques-Artists focus on formal and stylistic aspects of art making-Issues of artist’s personal (unique) style/technique. Artists strove to have unique style (a signature look).

Manao Tupapau (Spirit of the Dead Watching)Gauguin.

Characteristics of Post-Impressionism• Variety of style – not one style but the emergence of individual styles • Variety of painting techniques-The artist’s individual technique becomes a preoccupation and their signature-Paintings become formal exercises rather than records of visual reality• Variety of influences on artists’ styles:-Medieval art – Gauguin-Japanese art (prints) – Van Gogh-Commercial art/posters – Toulouse-Lautrec-Exotic cultures of Tahiti - Gauguin• Varied subject matter of painting:-The exotic – Gauguin-The fringes of modern cities – Van Gogh, Seurat-The fringes of night life – Toulouse-Lautrec

At the Moulin Rouge.Toulouse-Lautrec.

Whistler• Like Cassatt, Whistler was an American expatriate. He lived in Paris for some time before finally settling in London. • He called his paintings “nocturnes” or “arrangements” to draw a parallel to musical harmonies• Whistler here spatters gold flecks on a dark background, reminiscent of a falling firework.• He was interested in creating a harmonious arrangement of shapes on the rectangle of his panel. • While he shared the Impressionists’ interests in the subject of contemporary life and the sensations that color produces in the eye, he also added the influence of creating harmonies similar to musical harmonies.• “Nature contains the elements, in color and form, of all pictures, as the keyboard contains the notes of all music. But the artist is born to pick, and choose, and group with science, these elements, that the result may be beautiful – as the musician gathers his notes, and forms his chords, until he brings forth from chaos glorious harmony.” -Whistler

Nocturne in Black and Gold (The Falling Rocket)James Abbott McNeill Whistler, 1875.

Oil on panel. 1’11” x 1’6”

Whistler• Not all of Whistler’s artwork’s were as abstract seeming as Nocturne in Black and Gold. He also was well known for doing realistic portraits. • This portrait, called Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1 (but commonly incorrectly referred to as “Whistler’s Mother”) is a portrait of Whistler’s mother, who lived with him at the time, and helped him in his studio.• What sort of person do you think she was?• Although this image is obviously more realistic than Nocturne in Black and Gold, it still has some things in common, such as…?

Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1James Abbot McNeill Whistler, 1871.

Toulouse-Lautrec• Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was born into an aristocratic family in southern France, but a genetic disorder stunted his growth and left him physically disabled. • As a result, he exiled himself from high society, finding solace instead in the tawdry night world of the cafes, theaters, dance halls, and brothels of Montmarte, Paris. • In At the Moulin Rouge, Toulouse-Lautrec depicted the interior of the famous dance hall and cabaret. • His depiction shows the influence of Degas, Japanese prints, and photography in the oblique and asymmetrical composition, the spatial diagonals, and the strong line patterns with added dissonant colors. • Although the subject matter is similar to Renoir’s Le Moulin de la Galette, Toulouse-Lautrec’s scene is nightlife, with its artificial light, brassy music, and corrupt, cruel, mask-like faces.• Between 1891 and 1900, Toulouse-Lautrec made roughly 30 posters for various nightspots, advertising their most popular acts. In Jane Avril, the dancer (Jane) shows off her limber ability to do the can-can. • In the foreground, a bass-player fills the lower right. • The linear, fluid style is characteristic of the Art Nouveau movement of the late 1800s.

Jane AvrilToulouse-Lautrec.1893.Lithograph.5’2” x 4’1”

At the Moulin Rouge.Toulouse-Lautrec,

1895.

Seurat• Approached Impressionist ideas of light/color/optics through systematic organization of color. • Pointillism (aka Divisionism) involved carefully observing color and separating it into its component parts. The artist then applies these pure colors to the canvas in tiny dots (points). The figures are thus only visible from a distance, when the viewer’s eye blends the colors.• Scientists at the time studied how the eye perceives color, as well as emotional responses to colors. They discovered:-Simultaneous contrasts of colors (meaning that juxtaposing colors affects the eyes perception of each, e.g. when dark and light green are side-by-side, the dark green seems darker, and the light green seems lighter). -Colors could optically mix, if they were small and seen from a distance. -Optical after-images (after staring at a red object, the eye will momentarily see a spot of green). • The painting is very ordered and stiff. How did Seurat create a sense of repetition? • Representation of social class – various classes mingle on their day off (Sunday)

A Sunday on La Grande JatteGeorges Seurat, 1884-86. Oil on canvas. 6’9” x 10”.

Vincent van Gogh• Van Gogh used color and distorted forms to express his emotions (subjective rather than objective). • Son of a pastor. Did missionary work in Belgium, but faced many professional failures. Turned to painting. Created first painting at 32, but continued to feel like a failure and outcast. Fatally shot himself 5 years later. Only sold one painting.• He lived briefly in Paris, where he avidly collected Japanese wood block prints, before moving to rural southern France.• Starry Night was painted when he was in an asylum in southern France. Instead of painting the sky as he saw it through his window, he depicted his feelings about the electrifying vastness of the universe, filled with whirling and exploding stars, with the earth and humanity huddling beneath it.• The church in the foreground may be an attempt to reconcile his conflicting feelings about religion.• How is van Gogh using color to express himself?

Starry NightVincent van Gogh, 1889. oil on canvas, 2’5” x 3’.

Paul Gauguin• Gauguin ran a successful brokerage business before turning to art (which helped fund his later travels). • Like van Gogh, his paintings are subjective/expressive.• He believed that color above all must be expressive, and that it was the right of the artist to choose what colors to use.• Unlike van Gogh, his color areas appear flat and smooth.• Gauguin departed from optical realism and composed the picture elements to focus on the message/idea.

Where Do We Come From?What Are We?Where Are We Going?Paul Gauguin, 1897. Oil on canvas. 4’7” x 12’3”.

• After visiting van Gogh in France, Gauguin moved to Tahiti (in the South Pacific), far from materialistic Europe. He was disappointed to find that it had been extensively colonized by the French. He moved to a remote part of the island to maintain his vision of an untamed paradise.• He was especially interested in the Tahitian people and wildlife, filling his paintings with depictions of them.• He struggled, never finding recognition/success. He attempted suicide while in Tahiti, but failed. He died a few years later in the Marquesas Islands.

Cezánne• Although his landscapes are reminiscent of Impressionism, Cezanne sought to make something more “solid and durable.”• He worked in nature, painting the landscape near his home in Aix en Provence (Southern France). • He worked in a more analytical style, using the elements of art (line, form, color) to organize nature. • Instead of using linear perspective to create depth, he utilized color relationships, putting warmer and more saturated colors in the foreground, and cooler, duller colors in the back. • The three main aspects of color are:-Hue – a color (such as red, turquoise, green…)-Saturation – how bold or drab a color is-Value – how light or dark a color is• His brushstrokes, while coarse, are deliberate and controlled.• He sought to paint “something other than reality,” not a representation of nature but “a construction after nature.”• Although he was not widely popular during his life, his ideas greatly influenced later Cubist painters.

Mont Sainte-VictoirePaul Cezánne, 1902.Oil/canvas. 2’3” x 2’11”.

Large BathersPaul Cezánne, 1906.