Post Impressionism

POST IMPRESSIONISM• In the late 1800’s a group of young painters broke

away from Impressionists.• They moved away from natural paintings in favour for

their own highly personal art that expressed emotions rather than simply visual impressions.

• Some concentrated on themes of deeper symbolism.• They might have been called ‘Post Impressionism’ but

they did not view themselves as part of a movement.

The Post Impressionist artists included:• Paul Cezanne• Paul Gauguin• Vincent van Gogh• George Seurat.They influenced generations of artists to follow and their work laid the foundations for some of the major movements of early 20th century:Expressionism, Cubism and Fauvism.

NEO IMPRESSIONISM• At the last Impressionist exhibition in 1886, Georges

Seurat exhibited a huge painting called Sunday afternoon at the Island of the Grande Jatte.

• Main attraction of the show and stunned the people.• Using colour theory in a completely new way he

challenged the accepted Impressionist style.• His technique based on points of pure colour, was

known as Neo-Impressionism.• Method involved placing hundreds of small touches

of complementary colours together to capture the effect of colour and light in a ‘scientific’ way.

• Using small dots or points of colour, which gave rise to the name ‘Pointillism’, the colours combined before the spectators eyes in an optical illusion but remained glowing and light.

• It was immediately recognised as a new direction for modern art.

GEORGE SEURAT (1959-1891)• Georges Seurat became deeply interested in

scientific theories on colour and vision.• He spent two years devoting himself to black

and white drawing.• His first huge canvas showed people

swimming and relaxing on the riverbank at the popular bathing place of Asnieres.

• The painting was refused by the Salon, so Seuat and several other artists Independents.

• They held an exhibition that was unsuccessful but here Seurat met Paul Signac a younger, largely self taught painter.

POST/NEO IMPRESSIONISM

Sunday afternoon on the Island of the Grande Jatte

• He travelled to this spot everyday, sketching all morning before returning to the studio where he painted in the afternoons.

• The giant canvas took two years to complete.

• Colours were spectacularly bright. The natural colours of objects mingled with complementary colours: red with green, and orange with blue.

• This changed the objects and gave the effect of reflected sunlight.

• More formal-looking than impressionism and has a timeless and somewhat mysterious quality.

PAUL SIGNAC (1863-1935)• This guy was strongly influenced by

Impressionism. He became enthusiastically involved with the small group of artists and the theories of Pointillism or Divisionism.

• He had a more outgoing personality than Seurat and his enthusiasm was of immense benefit to him.

• Seurat died at the age of 31 and Signac became the leader of the Neo Impressionists but without Seurat the movement came to an end.

PAUL CÉZANNE (1839-1906)• One of the most influential artists in 20th Century

painting.• Inspired generations of modern artists but it was

many years before his genius was appreciated.• Achievements were only recognised in his later

years. By that time rejection and ridicule had made him an embittered recluse.

HIS LINKS WITH IMPRESSIONISM• Studied in Paris and came into contact with the

Impressionists and Pissarro.• Moved in the same circles as the Impressionists and

exhibited at some of their shows.• Introduced to Manet, Degas and their friends at the Café

Guerbois by Pissarro.• However he was never really an Impressionist and he had a

vision in art beyond that of anyone working around him.• Known as a difficult character and his early paintings were of

morbid subjects.

INFLUENCE OF PISSARRO• Real strength in his work only began when he started working

with Pissarro.• Listened to his advice and the two artists worked side-by-side

out of doors.• Pissarro's emphasis on meticulous observation of nature

influenced Cezanne's work in a big way. • Let to a transformation in his paintings.• His work was strikingly original but throughout his career he

battled with contradictory forces that caused his painting to be slow and painful.

• Wanted to go beyond what he considered the disorderly aspect of freshness of nature that was seen in Impressionist painting.

STRUGGLES IN PAINTING• Cezanne’s work is strikingly original but throughout

his career he battled with contradictory forces that caused his painting to be slow and painful.

• He wanted to go beyond what he considered the disorderly aspect of freshness of nature evident in Impressionist painting.

Signed Paintings:• He was rarely satisfied with his work. He signed

only those paintings that he was completely happy with.

• When he died many paintings were found rolled up in his studio. These had failed to meet the exacting standards that he had set from himself.

CEZANNE'S SUBJECTS:• Painted the landscape around Aix and Marseilles, but he also

worked in his studio.• For him the subject itself was of little or no importance.• Preferred to work with inanimate objects such as pieces of

fruit, because they did not move or talk.• He ignored texture and concentrated only on the colour and

shape.• Began to push forms toward geometric shapes and famously

remarked that painters should treat nature as a cylinder, sphere or cone.

• Work became more about organising shapes and colours with an emphasis on structure and composition.

• Also adjusted the rules of perspective to suit the composition.

CEZANNE'S PORTRAITS• Cezanne painted portraits of his wife and

son, along with several self portraits.• He also painted some of the workers on the

estate, but these paintings convey very little feeling about the character of his sitter.

• In many ways his portraits have the same qualities as a still life. They are solemn but almost majestic; it is their quiet appearance and grave colours make them very moving.

• Cezanne tried to paint the art dealer Ambroise Vollard. He sat for over a hundred sittings but Cezanne eventually abandoned this work and said he was only satisfied with the front of the shirt.

CEZANNE AND MONT ST VICTOIRE• His favourite landscape subject

was Mont St Victoire; he painted over sixty versions of the mountain.

• In the early paintings the mountain is often framed by trees. He painted from more or less the same viewpoint, but it gradually loomed nearer and larger in his pictures of later years.

• Later versions are painted with greater freedom but still emphasise the solidity of the subject. However, the structure seems less obvious without the emphasis on lines.

• The strong and permanent shape of this solid limestone mass rising out of the surrounding countryside continued to fascinate Cezanne from the 1870s to his death.

• He concentrated on a strong pattern of brushstrokes, using dense and vibrant blocks of colour to build up the structure of the mountain, sky and housed in the foreground.

• In these later versions, the brushstrokes are arranged in slabs of vibrant colour, forming an almost abstract composition.

• In every painting, the mountain retains its form and sense of grandeur.

STILL LIFE WITH APPLES AND ORANGES• This painting emphasises many points of vision

at one time.• Perspective has been adjusted to tilt the table

forward in the interests of composition.• The fruit, table and chair are shown from

different viewpoints to emphasise the structure and form.

• The fruit, painted in vibrant glowing colour, spills from the plate onto folds of white cloth.

• The carved wooden chair and velvet cushion are particularly richly depicted.

• The whole composition is set against a background of loudly patterned cloth, painted with dramatic energy in its deep twists and folds.