|
Search over 100 encyclopedias and dictionaries: |
Research categories | Follow us on Twitter |
Research categories
View all topics in the newsView all reference sources at Encyclopedia.com |
|||
Impressionism
Impressionism. A movement in painting that originated in France in the 1860s and had an enormous impact on Western art over the following half-century. As an organized movement, Impressionism was purely a French phenomenon, but many of its ideas and practices were adopted in other countries, and by the turn of the century it was a dominant influence on avant-garde art in Europe (and also in the USA and Australia). In essence, its effect was to undermine the authority of large, formal, highly finished paintings in favour of works that more immediately expressed the artist's personality and response to the world.
The Impressionists were not a formal group with clearly defined principles and aims; rather they were a loose association of artists linked by some community of outlook who banded together for the purpose of exhibiting, most of them having had difficulty in getting their work accepted for the official Salon (they held eight group shows, all in Paris, in 1874, 1876, 1877, 1879, 1880, 1881, 1882, and 1886). The main figures involved were (in alphabetical order) Cézanne, Degas, Manet, Monet, Camille Pissarro, Renoir, and Sisley; Berthe Morisot, too, played a central role in the movement. Frédéric Bazille was part of the original nucleus but died tragically early in 1870; the minor figures included Armand Guillaumin, who was the last survivor of those who showed in the 1874 exhibition, dying in 1927. Monet, Renoir, and Sisley met as students, and the others came into contact with them through the artistic café society of Paris. There were friendly ties of varied degrees of intimacy linking each of them to most of the others, but Degas and even more Manet were set somewhat apart because they came from a higher stratum of society than the others, and the artists' commitment to Impressionism varied considerably (Manet was much respected as a senior figure, but he never exhibited with the group). They were united, however, in rebelling against academic conventions to try to depict their surroundings with spontaneity and freshness, capturing an ‘impression’ of what the eye sees at a particular moment, rather than a detailed record of appearances. Their archetypal subject was landscape (and painting out of doors, directly from nature, was one of the key characteristics of the movement), but they treated many other subjects, notably ones involving everyday city life. Degas, for example, made subjects such as horse races, dancers, and laundresses his own, and Renoir is famous for his pictures of pretty women and children. In trying to capture the effects of light on varied surfaces, particularly in open-air settings, the Impressionists transformed painting, using bright colours and sketchy brushwork that seemed bewildering or shocking to traditionalists. The name ‘Impressionism’, in fact, was coined derisively, when the painter and critic Louis Leroy (1812–85) latched onto a picture by Monet, Impression: Sunrise (1872, Mus. Marmottan, Paris), at the group's first exhibition, heading his abusive review ‘Exposition des Impressionistes’ (Le Charivari, 25 Apr. 1874); he dismissed the group as a whole as ‘hostile to good manners, to devotion to form, and to respect for the masters’. Although the critical response to the Impressionists was not as one-sided as is sometimes suggested, Leroy's attitude prevailed in conservative circles for many years; for example, when Gustave Caillebotte left his superb Impressionist collection to the French nation in 1894, Jean-Léon Gérôme wrote that ‘For the Government to accept such filth, there would have to be a great moral slackening.’ However, by the the time of the final exhibition in 1886 the Impressionists as a whole were starting to achieve critical praise and financial success (helped by the dedicated promotion of Durand-Ruel), and during the 1890s their influence began to be widely felt (by this time the group had broken up and only Monet continued to pursue Impressionist ideals rigorously). Few artists outside France adopted Impressionism wholesale, but many lightened their palettes and loosened their brushwork as they synthesized its ideas with their local traditions. It was perhaps in the USA that it was most eagerly adopted, both by painters such as Childe Hassam and the other members of The Ten and by collectors ( Mary Cassatt helped to develop the taste among her wealthy picture-buying friends). It also made a significant impact in Australia, with Tom Roberts playing the leading role in its introduction. In Britain, Sickert and Steer are generally regarded as the main channels through which Impressionism influenced the country's art, but the differences between their work shows how broadly and imprecisely the term has been used (at the time, D. S. MacColl commented that it was applied to ‘any new painting that surprised or annoyed the critics or public’). For a few years around 1890, Steer painted in a sparklingly fresh Impressionist manner, but his style later became more sober; Sickert adopted the broken brushwork of Impressionism (as did his followers in the Camden Town Group), but he used much more subdued colour, and he had a taste for quirky, distinctively English subject matter. In contrast, the painters of the Newlyn School often painted out of doors in conscious imitation of the French and used comparatively high-keyed colour, but they generally did not adopt Impressionist brushwork. Accordingly, many authorities think that among British artists, only Steer—and he only briefly—can be considered a ‘pure’ Impressionist. In addition to prompting imitation and adaptation, Impressionism also inspired various counter-reactions—indeed its influence was so great that much of the history of late 19th-century and early 20th-century painting is the story of its aftermath. The Neo-Impressionists, for example, tried to give the optical principles of Impressionism a scientific basis, and the Post-Impressionists began a long series of movements that attempted to free colour and line from purely representational functions. Similarly, the Symbolists wanted to restore the emotional values that they thought the Impressionists had sacrificed through concentrating so strongly on the fleeting and the casual. |
|
|
Cite this article
IAN CHILVERS. "Impressionism." The Oxford Dictionary of Art. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. IAN CHILVERS. "Impressionism." The Oxford Dictionary of Art. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O2-Impressionism.html IAN CHILVERS. "Impressionism." The Oxford Dictionary of Art. 2004. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O2-Impressionism.html |
|
Impressionism
Impressionism. A movement in painting that originated in France in the 1860s and had an enormous impact on Western art over the following half century. As an organized movement, Impressionism was purely a French phenomenon, but many of its ideas and practices were adopted in other countries, and by the turn of the century it was a dominant influence on avant-garde art in Europe (and also in the USA and Australia). In essence, its effect was to undermine the authority of large, formal, highly finished paintings in favour of works that more immediately expressed the artist's personality and response to the world.
The nucleus of the Impressionist group was formed in the 1860s, and the name was coined facetiously by a reviewer of the first joint exhibition, held in Paris in 1874. Seven more Impressionist exhibitions followed, the last in 1886, by which time the group was beginning to lose its cohesion (it was in any case never formally structured). The central figures (in alphabetical order) were Paul Cézanne; Edgar Degas; Édouard Manet (1832–83), although he never exhibited in the group shows; Claude Monet; Camille Pissarro; Pierre-Auguste Renoir; and Alfred Sisley (1839–99). The minor figures included Armand Guillaumin, who was the last survivor of those who showed in the 1874 exhibition, dying in 1927, the year after Monet. These painters differed from each other in many ways, but they were united in rebelling against academic conventions to try to depict their surroundings with spontaneity and freshness, capturing an ‘impression’ of what the eye sees at a particular moment, rather than a detailed record of appearances. Their archetypal subject was landscape (and painting out of doors, directly from nature, was one of the key characteristics of the movement), but they treated many other subjects, notably ones involving everyday city life. The Impressionists were at first generally received with suspicion, bewilderment, or abuse (although the critical response was not as one-sided as is sometimes suggested). To most observers, their vigorous brushwork looked sloppy and unfinished, and their colours seemed garish and unnatural. Among conservative artists and critics, this continued to be the prevailing view for many years. For example, when the painter Gustave Caillebotte (1848–94) left his superb Impressionist collection to the French nation, the academic painter and sculptor Jean-Léon Gérome (1824–1904) wrote that ‘For the Government to accept such filth, there would have to be a great moral slackening', and at about the same time in England, Sir Edward Poynter expressed a similar disdain, although in more temperate language. In more sympathetic circles, however, the Impressionists began achieving substantial success in the 1880s (helped by the dedicated promotion of Durand-Ruel), and during the 1890s their influence began to be widely felt. Few artists outside France adopted Impressionism wholesale, but many lightened their palettes and loosened their brushwork as they synthesized its ideas with their local traditions. The support of critics such as Julius Meier-Graefe in Germany and George Moore and Frank Rutter in Britain was important in increasing awareness and understanding of the movement (the first book on Impressionism in English, published in 1903, was a translation of a work by the French critic Camille Mauclair; the first book on the subject actually written in English appeared a year later—Impressionist Painting: Its Genesis and Development by the British landscape painter Wynford Dewhurst (1864–1941), who knew Monet and corresponded with Pissarro). Outside France, it was perhaps in the USA that Impressionism was most eagerly adopted, both by painters such as Childe Hassam and the other members of The Ten and by collectors ( Mary Cassatt helped to develop the taste among her wealthy picture-buying friends). It also made a significant impact in Australia, with Tom Roberts playing the leading role in its introduction. In Britain, Sickert and Steer are generally regarded as the main channels through which Impressionism influenced the country's art, but the differences between their work shows how broadly and imprecisely the term has been used (at the time, D. S. MacColl commented that it was applied to ‘any new painting that surprised or annoyed the critics or public'). For a few years around 1890, Steer painted in a sparklingly fresh Impressionist manner, but his style later became more sober; Sickert adopted the broken brushwork of Impressionism (as did his followers in the Camden Town Group), but he used much more subdued colour, and he had a taste for quirky, distinctively English subject-matter. In contrast, the painters of the Newlyn School often painted out of doors in conscious imitation of the French and used comparatively high-keyed colour, but they generally did not adopt Impressionist brushwork. Accordingly, many authorities think that among British artists, only Steer—and he only briefly—can be considered a ‘pure’ Impressionist. In addition to prompting imitation and adaptation, Impressionism also inspired various counter-reactions—indeed its influence was so great that much of the history of late 19th-century and early 20th-century painting is the story of its aftermath. The Neo-Impressionists, for example, tried to give the optical principles of Impressionism a scientific basis, and the Post-Impressionists began a long series of movements that attempted to free colour and line from purely representational functions. Similarly, the Symbolists wanted to restore the emotional values that they thought the Impressionists had sacrificed through concentrating so strongly on the fleeting and the casual. |
|
|
Cite this article
IAN CHILVERS. "Impressionism." A Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Art. 1999. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. IAN CHILVERS. "Impressionism." A Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Art. 1999. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O5-Impressionism.html IAN CHILVERS. "Impressionism." A Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Art. 1999. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O5-Impressionism.html |
|
impressionism
impressionism in painting, late-19th-century French school that was generally characterized by the attempt to depict transitory visual impressions, often painted directly from nature, and by the use of pure, broken color to achieve brilliance and luminosity. It was loosely structured in that many painters were associated with the movement for only brief periods in their careers. Their association often came about more for the purpose of exhibiting their works than from an approach to painting held in common.
|
|
|
Cite this article
"impressionism." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "impressionism." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-impress-art.html "impressionism." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-impress-art.html |
|
Impressionism
Impressionism. A movement in painting that originated in France in the 1860s and had an enormous impact on Western art over the following half-century. The Impressionists were not a formal group with clearly defined principles and aims; rather they were a loose association of artists linked by some community of outlook who banded together for the purpose of exhibiting. The central figures were (in alphabetical order) Cézanne, Degas, Manet, Monet, Camille Pissarro, Renoir, and Sisley. Monet, Renoir, and Sisley met as students, and the others came into contact with them through the artistic café society of Paris. There were friendly ties of varied degrees of intimacy linking each of them to most of the others, but Degas and even more Manet were set somewhat apart because they came from a higher stratum of society than the others, and the artists' commitment to Impressionism varied considerably (Manet was much respected as a senior figure, but he never exhibited with the group). They were united, however, in rebelling against academic conventions to try to depict their surroundings with spontaneity and freshness, capturing an ‘impression’ of what the eye sees at a particular moment, rather than a detailed record of appearances. Their archetypal subject was landscape (and painting out of doors, directly from nature, was one of the key characteristics of the movement), but they treated many other subjects, notably ones involving everyday city life. Degas, for example, made subjects such as horse races, dancers, and laundresses his own, and Renoir is famous for his pictures of pretty women and children.
The Impressionists' desire to look at the world with a new freshness and immediacy was encouraged by photography and by scientific research into colour and light. In trying to capture the effects of light on varied surfaces, particularly in open-air settings, they transformed painting, using bright colours and sketchy brushwork that seemed bewildering or shocking to traditionalists. The name ‘Impressionism’, in fact, was coined derisively, when it was applied to a picture by Monet, Impression: Sunrise (1872, Mus. Marmottan, Paris), which was shown at the first Impressionist exhibition, held in Paris in 1874. There were seven more Impressionist exhibitions(1876, 1877, 1879, 1880, 1881, 1882, and 1886), and after the final one the group broke up, only Monet continuing to pursue Impressionist ideals rigorously. Although the Impressionists at first had a generally hostile reception and several of them endured great financial hardship early in their careers, they began to achieve substantial success in the 1880s (helped by the dedicated promotion of Durand-Ruel) and during the 1890s their influence was widely felt. Few artists outside France adopted Impressionism wholesale, but many lightened their palettes and loosened their brushwork as they synthesized its ideas with their local traditions. Indeed its impact was so enormous that much of the history of late 19th-century and early 20th-century painting is the story of developments from it or reactions against it. The Neo-Impressionists, for example, tried to give the optical principles of Impressionism a scientific basis, and the Post-Impressionists began a long series of movements that attempted to free colour and line from purely representational functions. Similarly, the Symbolists wanted to restore the emotional values they thought the Impressionists had sacrificed by concentrating so strongly on the fleeting and the casual. |
|
|
Cite this article
IAN CHILVERS. "Impressionism." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. IAN CHILVERS. "Impressionism." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O3-Impressionism.html IAN CHILVERS. "Impressionism." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists. 2003. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O3-Impressionism.html |
|
Impressionism
Impressionism, aesthetic movement in which the artist attempts to present the impressions an object makes upon him, rather than a realistic version of the object itself. Impressionists are thus more concerned with moods or sensations than with the observation of details. The name derives from the French school of painting of the late 19th century, whose exponents included Degas, Monet, Manet, Renoir, and Pissarro, and which was brought to the U.S. by such painters as J.A. Weir, Maurice Prendergast, and Childe Hassam, who were similarly concerned with transitory effects of light and with capturing a momentary luminous atmosphere. Their theories were taken up by writers, especially Baudelaire and other followers of Poe, and Symbolists such as Mallarmé, who attempted to capture the fleeting impressions of a moment, or held that the personal attitudes and moods of an author were more important than any objective depiction of character, setting, and action. In music, the leading impressionist is Debussy, whose American followers include such composers as Griffes and Loeffler. Impressionistic art was most influential at the end of the 19th century and during the early decades of the 20th, when its leading proponents in American criticism included Huneker, Vance Thompson, and G.J. Nathan. In poetry the movement is exemplified in such authors as Pound, Sandburg, Amy Lowell, Conrad Aiken, Marianne Moore, and Wallace Stevens, who were influenced by a mingling of trends, including Imagism. Impressionists in prose include such diverse writers as Van Vechten, Huneker, Gertrude Stein, E.E. Cummings, and Thomas Beer. Expressionism is both an extension and a negation of this point of view.
|
|
|
Cite this article
James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Impressionism." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Impressionism." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-Impressionism.html James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Impressionism." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-Impressionism.html |
|
impressionism
impressionism Major French anti-academic art movement of the late 19th century, gaining its name from a painting by Monet entitled Impression, Sunrise (1874). In the words of Monet, the movement's leading painter, impressionists aimed to create “a spontaneous work rather than a calculated one”. In the 1860s, Monet, Renoir, Sisley and Frédéric Bazille formed a close-knit group exploring the possibilities of painting outdoors and closely analysing and interpreting the effects of light on nature. The first impressionist exhibition took place in 1874. Although not accepted at first, Impressionism became widely influential from the late 1880s and spread throughout Europe. Degas and Pissarro were prominent Impressionists and Cézanne exhibited with them twice. Manet was influenced by, and in turn influenced, Impressionism. Other Impressionists include Berthe Morisot and Mary Cassatt. Rodin has been called Impressionist because of his interest in the effects of light on his sculpture. In music, the term Impressionism refers to a period lasting from roughly 1890 to 1930, and is usually applied to the work of Claude Debussy. It tends to be subtle and atmospheric rather than overtly emotional. Many composers were influenced by Debussy, including Maurice Ravel and Frederick Delius. See also Romanticism
|
|
|
Cite this article
"impressionism." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "impressionism." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-impressionism.html "impressionism." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-impressionism.html |
|
impressionism
impressionism. Term used in graphic art from 1874 to describe the work of Monet, Degas, Whistler, Renoir, etc., whose paintings avoid sharp contours but convey an ‘impression’ of the scene painted by means of blurred outlines and minute small detail. It was applied by musicians to the mus. of Debussy and his imitators because they interpret their subjects (e.g. La Mer) in a similar impressionistic manner, conveying the moods and emotions aroused by the subject rather than a detailed tone-picture. To describe Debussy's harmony and orchestration as impressionist in the sense of vague or ill-defined is to do them a severe injustice. Some of the technical features of musical impressionism included new chord combinations, often ambiguous as to tonality, chords of the 9th, 11th, and 13th being used instead of triads and chords of the 7th; appoggiaturas used as part of the chord, with full chord included; parallel movement in a group of chords of triads, 7ths, and 9ths, etc.; whole-tone chords; exotic scales; use of the modes; and extreme chromaticism.
|
|
|
Cite this article
MICHAEL KENNEDY and JOYCE BOURNE. "impressionism." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. MICHAEL KENNEDY and JOYCE BOURNE. "impressionism." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O76-impressionism.html MICHAEL KENNEDY and JOYCE BOURNE. "impressionism." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. 1996. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O76-impressionism.html |
|
impressionism
impressionism in music, a French movement in the late 19th and early 20th cent. It was begun by Debussy in reaction to the dramatic and dynamic emotionalism of romantic music, especially that of Wagner. Reflecting the impressionist schools of French painting and letters, Debussy developed a style in which atmosphere and mood take the place of strong emotion or of the story in program music. He used new chord combinations, whole-tone chords, chromaticism, and exotic rhythms and scales. In place of the usual harmonic progression, he developed a style in which chords are valued for their individual sonorities rather than for their relations to one another, and dissonances are unprepared and unresolved. Although conceived in reaction to romanticism, musical impressionism seems today the culmination of romanticism. Its influence was widespread and is evident in the music of Ravel, Dukas, Respighi, Albéniz, de Falla, Delius, C. T. Griffes, and J. A. Carpenter.
|
|
|
Cite this article
"impressionism." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "impressionism." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-impress-mus.html "impressionism." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-impress-mus.html |
|
Impressionism
Im·pres·sion·ism / imˈpreshəˌnizəm/ • n. a style or movement in painting originating in France in the 1860s, characterized by a concern with depicting the visual impression of the moment, esp. in terms of the shifting effect of light and color. ∎ a literary or artistic style that seeks to capture a feeling or experience rather than to achieve accurate depiction. ∎ Mus. a style of composition (associated esp. with Debussy) in which clarity of structure and theme is subordinate to harmonic effects, characteristically using the whole-tone scale. |
|
|
Cite this article
"Impressionism." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Impressionism." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-impressionism.html "Impressionism." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-impressionism.html |
|
Impressionism
Impressionism, the name given in derision (from a painting by Monet called Impression: soleil levant) to the work of a group of French painters who held their first exhibition in 1874. Their aim was to render the effects of light on objects rather than the objects themselves. Claude Monet (1840–1926), Alfred Sisley (1839–99), and Camille Pissarro (1831–1903) carried out their aims most completely. The term is used by transference in literature and music.
|
|
|
Cite this article
MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Impressionism." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Impressionism." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-Impressionism.html MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Impressionism." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-Impressionism.html |
|
Impressionism
Impressionism a style or movement in painting originating in France in the 1860s, characterized by a concern with depicting the visual impression of the moment, especially in terms of the shifting effect of light and colour. The Impressionist painters repudiated both the precise academic style and the emotional concerns of Romanticism, and their interest in objective representation, especially of landscape, was influenced by early photography.
|
|
|
Cite this article
ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Impressionism." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Impressionism." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-Impressionism.html ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Impressionism." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-Impressionism.html |
|