Art periods - Impressionism and Post Impressionism - Essay Example

Impressionism and Post Impressionism Brad Jones Introduction The impressionism and post impressionism periods refer to the works of art created by artists with the intention of influential art movements. The artistic work arose majorly in France in the late 19th century. Impressionism did not agree with the system of controlled state salons and academics. They instead favored an independent exhibition. The first exhibition was held in 1874. The characteristics of their work include painting of scenes of modern life and contemporary landscapes (Rewald, 2005). The paintings majorly took the recreation and bourgeois leisure. This was a different invention from the traditional and historical works of art. The traditional works of art majorly involve plain drawings and the historical narration through oral narratives. The traditional artistic works also involve the mythical narrative. The impressionists thus deviated from this style and they engage in drawings and painting in order to create an impressive work of art. The impressionists used the effect of light, atmosphere and their movement in order to create a perfect work. They emphasize the painting of the surface and this gave the work a good and capturing impression. They used to fatten the sense of the work through use of cropped perspective. The Japanese influenced the cropped perspective. The impressionist deviated from their predecessor artists as they painted in the open air (en plain air) (Rewald, 2005). This was very important in confronting the modern city life and the nature. They further painted their work by use of pure color. The use of pure color was very important as they made the work of the artist impressive. The work was attractive unlike the previous artistic work. The artists who fall in this category influenced the western conception of drawings and paintings. The impressionists revolutionized the western work of art. It was an avenue of the post impressionists who created their work basing on the impressionism. They modified the impressionism work of art. They thus, maintained some other aspects of the impressionism. The impressionism is very important as it made a base for the post impressionism. All the paintings, drawings and films of post- impressionism were borrowed from the impressionism. Even though the post impressionists deviated from the impressionists, they still borrowed some knowledge from impressionists to perfect their works of art. Claude Monet is the greatest artist in this period. He aimed at catching light and atmosphere something which had not been thought by the past artists. His enjoyment in painting outdoors let to spontaneous and free painting technique. Monet’s brushwork is remarkably varied and flexible. He could change his work. Sometimes his work was dappled and sparking but at other times it was broad and sweeping. “Post- impression” refers to the reaction of artists to the impressionism work. It took place as from 1880s. The reaction was led by Paul Gauguin and, Paul C’ezanne, Georges Seurat and Vincent van Gogh. They rejected the impression perspective and the use of light and color. They argued that the use of light and color was natural and spontaneous. They instead emphasized and favored a content which is more symbolic. They argued that the work should have formal order and even a formal structure which is appealing. Although they deviated from the impressionism, they maintained artificiality of the picture. They also believed that color is not tied to the form but should be independent. The composition of the picture should build an aesthetic and emotional meaning of the picture. The post impressionists believed that an artist’s work is more impressive if the color, form and structured are modified. This in turn makes the work more appealing and attractive. Post-impressionists emphasize the use of unnatural colors and the use of geometric forms. Post impressionists continued to use the brilliant impressionist palette but did not emphasize on the recording of light and color. They created the art with a degree of formal structure and order. In the early twenties, George Seurat and Vincent Van Gogh created a more abstract style which was more influential. They argued that a well modified work is appealing and attractive. Post impressionists argued that color gives plain and natural picture. The picture is neither attractive nor appealing. The post impressionists created a more structured and more visual capturing picture (Shiff, 2004). The style came as a result of the historical challenges presented by the past artists and impressionism. The past artists presented their work orally. Drawing was natural and poorly presented. Impressionism did not complement these historical challenges. The historical conditions thus necessitated the advent of post impressionists. These artists presented modified objects which were more appealing and attractive than the objects created by the former artists. The post impressionism has sub-divisions such as the pointillism and Divisionism. These divisions are interested in the new way of painting. They studied and came up with the different optics and color. Pointillism as one of the post impressive style used little dots in the pure colors. This made it attractive to any individual of the time and the pointillism work was used to develop the modern arts of movement. They also invented colors which could be blended together to give a finished and coherent work (Watney, 2008). Initially pointillism was named divisionism but later on changed to pointillism. Divisionism technically is a theory and pointillism is a technique. However, many people refer these two as pointillism. This is not true as one refers to a technique which is based on the theory. The two are interlinked as the theoretical framework can be used to build a technique to be used. The post impressionism is bright, freer and even shows more emotions. It produces the long and broken brushwork. The work also sometimes produces swirly brushwork which creates a scene of interest and exciting feel. The painting is brought to life because of the use of vibrant and bright colors. They also provide a range of moods. Van Gogh’s works for example are quite outstanding. He creates and interprets clearly what he sees with his eyes. He created intense and vivid paintings. These paintings expressed his feelings and moods. The impressionists created a work which is less appealing and attractive. They are just “painters of mere impressions” (Shiff, 2004). The artists are not capable to produce a well composed and finished works of earth. The work they produced was natural and plain. This flaw of the impressionists work was solved by the post impressionists. The post impressionists made and defined more focused paintings. This legitimizes their appearance in the eyes of the people. However, despite this flaw the work of impressionists are very important. They impacted both the post impressionists work and modern styles of painting and picture presentations. The works are beautiful and unique. The style can be modified and still it presents an attractive picture. Post impressionism on the other hand, face challenges in that without impressionism the style could not come into being. Although, the post-impressionism deviated from the impressionism its base was from the style of impressionism. Post impressionists should not criticize the artists of the style in impressionism period saying they did Shorty work. The work of post impressionism was built from the impressionism work. It was a gateway for the birth of post impressionism style. The post impressionism still uses the painting which was borrowed from impressionism work. The works of impressionists and post impressionists have differences. The impressionists emphasized on the use of light and nature to create work of art. The light and nature were used to perfect the work of art. They thus created work which was more appealing unlike the previous works of other artists. The impressionism as a style of painting had emphasis on color and showed realistic scene containing ordinary objects. On the other hand, post- impressionism as a style of painting was derived from impressionism. When it comes to painting impressionists painted outdoors while post impressionists paintings were mainly done on studio. Furthermore, as impressionists used thin and small brushstrokes post impressionists used geometric forms to present its subjects. Impressionism let to Neo-impressionism, Cubism, Faudism and post-impressionism. On the other hand, post impressionism let to modern art. Post impressionism was also more time consuming and methodical than impressionism. The impressionists mainly captured the heat of the subject while post impressionists were mainly based on the concept of the artist and emotion. The works created could easily communicate a passage. The structure was well modified in such a way that it could easily communicate the message (Britt, 2010). The post impressionists deviated from the use of light and instead concentrating on the modification of the structure to give a finished and perfect picture. Though the two works differed, the styles had similarities. They both used color in painting. For example the work of Still life with Teapot and Fruit created by post impressionism artist known as Gauguin employed the use of painting to perfect his work. As he built the flat objects the perfection was done using the color. White color is used in the top tablecloth and the foreground of the picture plane. The use of color was borrowed from the works of impressionists. The impressionists work such as the “Dock at Deauville-1869” by Boudin also employed color. The work was known as “oil on canvas”. It appeared with high resolution image. The paintings by use of color made the artist’s work attractive. Furthermore, the two works were also similar in that the two had to employ drawings. Before the works were painted, they had to be designed by use of drawings. The drawings were similar across the two works. However, the two works had differences. For example, the Still life with Teapot and Fruit was done in studio while the Dock at Deauville-1869 was done outdoors. Another difference is that the later employed light to build their objects while the former did not recognize the use of light. Gauguin argued that use of light presents natural object. Furthermore, Gauguin’s work was modified and finished while Boudin’s work was less appealing. The two works of impressionism and post impressionism are very important in building the world and the society. The works created formed a baseline for the current drawings and paintings. Painting which was invented by the impressionism artists is still applicable in the current painting. It has only been modified. However, its modification is based on the paintings started by impressionism artists. The post impressionism on the other hand, is very important as the style built a baseline also for the current drawings and paintings. The paintings currently are the modifications of the post impressionism work (Roe,2000). The structure and paintings of the impressionism are still applied in the current drawings and paintings. The two styles have implications in the current society. The inventions of the artists of that time are very important in contemporary society. The society’s beauty is built from the works of impressionists and post impressionists References Britt, D. (Ed.). (2010). Modern art: Impressionism to post-modernism. Thames & Hudson. Watney, S. (2008). English post-impressionism. Studio vista. GALLERY, P. R. T. S. T. Impressionism and Post-Impressionism,(2003). Roe, S. (2000). The impact of post-impressionism. Shiff, Richard. Cézanne and the End of Impressionism: A Study of the Theory, Technique, and Critical Evaluation of Modern Art. University of Chicago Press, 2004. Rewald, J. (2005). The history of Impressionism (p. 458). Museum of modern art. Read More