About French Impressionism

In 1874, fifty-five artists held the first independent group show of “Impressionist” art. Most of them had been rejected by the Salon, the annual French state-sponsored exhibition that offered the only real opportunity for artists to display and sell their work. Never mind, they told each other. Although the artists didn’t call themselves "Impressionists" at first, this occasion would be the first of eight "Impressionist" exhibits over the next twelve years.

An outraged critic, Louis Leroy, coined the label "Impressionist." He looked at Monet’s Impression Sunrise, the artist’s sensory response to a harbor at dawn, painted with sketchy brushstrokes. "Impression!" the journalist snorted. "Wallpaper in its embryonic state is more finished!" Within a year, the name Impressionism was an accepted term in the art world.

If the name was accepted, the art itself was not. The critics and the public agreed the Impressionists, or "Independents," as they preferred to be called, couldn’t draw and their colors were considered vulgar. Their compositions were strange. Their short, slapdash brushstrokes made their paintings practically illegible.  Barbizon painter Camille Corot advised artists to "submit to the first impression" of what they saw - a real landscape without the contrived classical ruins or Biblical parables of French Academic painting.  The Impressionists thought that painting their experiences was more truthful, and thus more ethical, than copying the art of the past. 

Working outdoors, Impressionists worked with bolder, lighter colors than classical studio painters used. New technology in art materials made a wider range of color pigments available.  The invention of the camera influenced Impressionism by not only recording scenes for later study but also arresting the very real-life moments that Impressionists pursued; and Japanese printmaking inspired Degas, Monet, Cassatt, and other artists to make multiple copies of their work and thus reach a larger audience. 

Indeed, Impressionism broke every rule of the French Academy of Fine Arts, the conservative school that had dominated art training and taste since 1648. Impressionist scenes of modern urban and country life were a far cry from the Academic efforts to teach moral lessons through historic, mythological, and Biblical themes featured in idealized images. Symmetrical compositions, hard outlines, and meticulously smooth paint surfaces characterized academic paintings.

Despite the Academy’s power, seeds of artistic and political unrest had been sown long before 1874. The early- and mid-19th century was a time of political instability in France. Between 1830 and 1850, the population of Paris doubled. During the Revolution of 1848, Parisian workers with socialist goals overthrew the monarchy, only to see conservatives seize the reins of government later that year. Fear of further uprisings created widespread distrust among the aristocracy, the poor, and the newly prosperous bourgeoisie or middle class.

At the same time, the far-reaching Industrial Revolution fostered a new faith in the individual and his unlimited potential. Emperor Napoleon III set out to make Paris the showpiece of Europe by replacing the dirty, old medieval city with wide boulevards, parks, and monuments. The new steel-ribbed railroad stations and bridges were feats of modern engineering. Cafés, restaurants, and theaters lured the bourgeoisie, the powerful new merchant class who had made their homes in and around Paris. Underlying the Industrial Revolution was a belief that technological progress was key to all human progress. In this climate of discovery, people felt they could do anything.

The Impressionists brought together a wide variety of these influences, beliefs, and styles and their rejection of the Academy--and vice versa--united them as a group.  Today, Impressionist works are among the most loved and widely collected.  The artists’ former status as renegades has only added to the appeal of the colors, spontaneity, and freshness of Impressionist art.

Reference:  www.impressionism.org/teachimpress