Post-Impressionism

Post-Impressionism. Term applied to various trends in painting, particularly in France, that developed from Impressionism or in reaction against it in the period c.1880–c.1905. Roger Fry coined the term as the title of an exhibition, ‘Manet and the Post-Impressionists’, which he organized at the Grafton Galleries, London, in 1910. The exhibition was dominated by the work of Cézanne, Gauguin, and van Gogh, who are considered the central figures of Post-Impressionism. These three artists varied greatly in their response to Impressionism: Cézanne, who wished ‘to make of Impressionism something solid and enduring, like the art of the museums’, was preoccupied with pictorial structure; Gauguin renounced ‘the abominable error of naturalism’ to explore the symbolic use of colour and line; and van Gogh's uninhibited emotional intensity was the fountainhead of Expressionism. Georges Seurat, a figure of almost equal importance, concentrated on a more scientific analysis of colour (see Neo-Impressionism. The general drift of Post-Impressionism was to lead away from the naturalism of Impressionism towards the series of avant-garde movements (such as Fauvism and Cubism) that revolutionized European art in the decade leading up to the First World War. (Some writers extend the notion of Post-Impressionism to cover these developments, making the term embrace the period c.1880–c.1914, but this makes an already broad concept less rather than more useful.)

Fry organized his first Post-Impressionist exhibition at short notice and in an almost casual atmosphere, but he brought together a highly impressive (if far from balanced) collection of pictures, mainly loaned by leading French dealers. The exhibition created what the Daily Mail called ‘an altogether unprecedented artistic sensation’ or what Sickert more succinctly described as a ‘rumpus’. The reviews were mainly unpleasant, sometimes viciously so. Some visitors were angry ( Duncan Grant recalled people shaking their umbrellas at the pictures) and others mocked. The prevailing opinion was that the pictures on show were childish, crude, and the product of moral degeneracy or mental derangement. Duncan Grant, however, said that he and Vanessa Bell were ‘wildly enthusiastic’ about the exhibition, and it powerfully affected the work of several of the painters in Sickert's circle (see Camden Town Group), in general encouraging the use of strong, flat colours.

In 1912 Fry organized a second Post-Impressionist exhibition at the Grafton Galleries. This was more wide-ranging, coherent, and up to date than the first (it included several Cubist works), with a British section chosen by Clive Bell and a Russian section organized by Boris Anrep. It too caused a great deal of controversy, but did not have quite the same impact as the first.