Humanities Assignment 3
NINETEENTH CENTURY13 The name for the painting style known as “Impressionism” came about through the exhibition of a group of paintings at a show for rejected works. In the nine- teenth century, a special group of jurors were selected by the French Academy to judge the art that was to be shown each year in an offi cial annual exhibition of paintings. That art exhibit had a long, prestigious tradition, and each year many painters were left out of the exhibit. Finally, in 1863, many of the artists who were rejected rebelled and Napoléon III responded. An exhibit, called the “Salon des Refusés,” was held, but it was unsuccessful because so many artists were scorned and ridiculed. Because of its poor reception, the Salon des Refusés was not held again for many years. However, several of the artists who participated in the failed exhibit would soon change art history forever (Phipp and Wink 210). A story has been told about how the name Impressionism got started. In 1874, a small group of artists decided to have a private showing of their work. The artists who exhib- ited at that showing included Edouard Manet, Paul Cezanne, Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas, and Claude Monet. Monet’s painting of a boat in the water at sunrise was written about in a newspaper and derogatorily titled Impression Sunrise. It has been called that ever since. Monet painted Impression Sunrise using pure colors and very free-fl owing, fl uid movements with his brush. The Impressionists, as they came to be called, were able to paint outdoors in the open air since their paint came out of tubes. Before, artists had to mix their paint in the studio. The Impressionists were fascinated with the way in which refl ected light changed the look of an object at different times of day. For example, Claude Monet painted a façade of one cathedral at different times of the day just to show how the light changed the color of the building.
Monet painted Impression Sunrise in 1873. It was oil on canvas and measured 193 8 × 25½ inches. The painting had been at the Musee Marmottan-Claude Monet in Paris, France, until it was stolen.
Students may ask why the famous Vincent Van Gogh was not in the list above. Vincent did not live in Paris until later on, and he did not paint Starry Night
until 1898. His brother was an art dealer, but he was unable to sell his paintings. Van Gogh was not considered an Impressionist painter, although he was infl uenced by the Impressionists. Particularly important to Vincent’s work were the artists Tou- louse Lautrec and Georges-Pierre Seurat. Both artists lived in Paris and were known by the Impressionists. Lautrec created posters for the famous cabaret Moulin Rouge, and Seurat was considered to be a pointillist. Pointillism is similar to Impressionism, but the pointillist uses little dots, rather than brushstrokes, of opposite color to cre- ate an image.
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The two best-known Russian Realist authors were Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) and Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821–81). Tolstoy’s War and Peace dealt with the aftermath of Napoléon’s invasion of Russia, including how that invasion left an aristocratic family in Moscow in a precarious position.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky grew up in Moscow and portrayed his characters with some of his own psychological interests. His psychological portrayals of character were imbued with themes of guilt and redemption. The hero in The Idiot was an epileptic, and so was Dostoyevsky. The author would write about himself through his characters.
Realism also made an impact in the theater and in music. Three major Realist play- wrights of the later nineteenth century, who were credited with bringing modernism to theater, were Anton Chekhov, August Strindberg, and Henrik Ibsen. In opera, Realism was expressed through realistic characters. Some of the characters of writers such as Georges Bizet were tormented by passionate feelings of love and jealously. In Italy, the type of oper- atic Realism that represented subjects like vulnerable women who suffer and die for love was called verismo. Realism was preoccupied with economic hardship (Parrott 193).
The subjects of Realist art were often fantasy, sentiment, and social reality. The French Realist painter Gustave Courbet said, “Show me an angel and I’ll paint one.” A woman who was the first woman to receive the Legion of Honor was admired interna- tionally for her paintings of Queen Victoria and horses. Honoré Daumier had his first solo exhibition when he was seventy years old. He observed the lower class and was well known for his depictions of their deplorable living conditions. Daumier wanted to draw attention to the injustice of society through his artwork. He was determined to do something about the suffering he saw, and was working on a method of correcting problems of inhumanity to man. (Parrott)
Edouard Manet admired the art critic Emile Zola. They both agreed that artists should have the right of free expression.
Emile Zola was of the opinion that if one wrote about the inhumane behavior towards people then there could be more attention drawn to the problems, and solu- tions could be obtained. Édouard Manet painted Emile Zola which is considered to be a major work of Manet’s career and a master portrait. Zola’s writings made an impact towards improving conditions and Manet’s paintings created a new form of art for that time. They both were of the mindset that writers and painters should have the right to produce their work without restrictions and have the right to express themselves through their creations.
The Pre-Raphaelites were dedicated to artistic change and social reform. Photog- raphy was a new way of representing life. It accurately recorded a moment in time. This new technique actually enhanced the illusion of realism. Private portrait studios were set up during the late nineteenth century.
After the Revolutionary War in the United States, the new country expanded its territory as settlers moved west. Between 1804 and 1806, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led an expedition into western territories that inspired settlers to follow. In 1830, the Indian Removal Act required all Native Americans to relocate west of the Mississippi River into what is now Oklahoma. Native Americans were pushed further and further west. White men felt threatened by the Native American Ghost Dance, and they feared that the Indians would create a problem and be violent. The United States cavalry intercepted a band of Sioux and ordered them to camp at Wounded Knee. The next day a rifle went off, which started a chaotic chain of events. At the end of the day, more than three hundred people were killed. The massacre at Wounded Knee marked the end of the Ghost Dance movement. It became a symbol for the Native Americans of their people’s brutalization by the United States Cavalry and some government official (Parrott).
During the nineteenth century, abolitionists in the United States tried to end slavery. John Brown, a white man, led a massacre in Kansas in which five slave owners were killed.
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He was unsuccessful in freeing the slaves, and he was captured and hanged. Abolition- ists and former slaves devised a network known as the Underground Railroad. People opposed to slavery helped slaves escape and travel north to freedom along this route.
The United States fought a civil war between 1861 and 1865. On January 1, 1863, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which offi cially freed slaves in rebellious states. The Civil War ended in 1865, and from 1867 to 1877, Congress imposed a policy known as Reconstruction.
The Midwest was the home of the early American skyscraper. According to Louis Henry Sullivan and other members of the Chicago School, a building’s form should refl ect its purpose, function, and style.
An important American author who was infl uenced by listening to the voices of Americans was Samuel Langhorne Clemens. Clemens was known as Mark Twain (1835–1910). He wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Parrott).
Claude Debussy (1862–1918), sometimes labeled an Impressionist, was one of the composers who changed the way music sounded. The sound that Debussy created was infl uenced by his desire to refl ect the way things sounded in the atmosphere. This is similar to the ways Impressionist painters found inspiration in how light changes from one moment to the next. Debussy also changed the way that he composed by emphasiz- ing the whole tone scale.
QUESTIONS
Questions to Contemplate
What was the “Salon des Refuses”?
Which of Claude Monet’s paintings gave the Impressionist movement its name?
Where did Impressionism begin?
What made Impressionism different from traditional painting?
How was Daumier’s subject matter different from Monet’s?
Where was one of the fi rst skyscrapers built?
NINETEENTH-CENTURY ACCOMPLISHMENTS
The style of art called Impressionism
Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Mary Cassatt, Edgar Degas, Paul Cezanne, Camille Pisarro, Edouard Manet (Impressionist painters)
Auguste Rodin—a great sculptor who created The Thinker
Vincent Van Gogh—considered to be a post-Impressionist
Admittance of women into the Legion of Honor to show work
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Lewis and Clark Expedition
Underground Railroad in an attempt to help slaves escape to freedom
Civil War 1861–1865 in the United States
Emancipation Proclamation (1863) by President Abraham Lincoln
Mark Twain (Samuel Langehorne Clemens)—wrote The Adventures of Hucklebery Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer