Choosing a particular period from 1800 to the present, in what ways has art or design responded to the changing social and cultural forces of that period?
The term 'Impressionism' came from the art critic Louis Leroy, after viewing Claude Monet's "Sunrise", painted in 1873, and classing it as an 'Impression'. In fact, the true purpose of Impressionism was to capture an exact moment in time, looking at the qualities of light, tone and colouring, in order to portray a specific sensation that would have been received from the changing world around them. At the time, Paris was experiencing exciting developments in urbanisation, industrialisation and economic growth. These paintings were a personal response to a new lifestyle. In particular, Gustave Caillebotte's "Paris street; rainy day", 1877, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir's "Bal du moulin de la galette", 1876, clearly display this practise.
The impressionists' focus was to capture the new, changing and exciting lifestlye of Paris. During this period, the Haussmann Plan was taking place; a modernisation programme. Napoleon III commissioned Georges-Eugene Haussmann to plan the update of this city. This consisted of creating straight roads along with increasing the width and length of the boulevards themselves. There was also large areas where the boulevards crossed, creating grande areas of social interaction. It was this leisure that Robert L. Herbert discusses in Impressionism. New places of leisure were built, such as parks. In general, there was an improved way of life, whether it was the increased hygiene or fashionable areas to socialise. The term 'flaneur' was used, meaning to casually stroll or wonder and its clear that this new leisurely lifestyle occurred due to urbanization.
This, however, was not the only exciting occurrence in Paris at the time. Industrialisation was taking place, meaning new railway lines able to take Parisians to and from leisurely places. This seemed to provoke a sense of freedom, creating action and activity amongst the social happenings in Paris. I believe it was this freedom that encouraged these artists to paint en plein air, making these social gatherings easily access-able, allowing the artist to really capture the atmosphere. Photography and cinema were part of the new fashionable lifestyle and this was highly influential on several paintings. Paris was full of excitement and adventure and it was this sensation that inspired the Impressionist artists to develop a new style of painting.
To understand something new, one must be aware of what is considered different. Rejected by the officials at the Paris salon, the Salon des Refuses became the place that the impressionist painters exhibited their work. These paintings got rejected due to the fact that they didn't stick to traditional painterly techniques. Rather then using a fine brush, the new technique consisted of thick brushstrokes, along with a clear display of rapidity of process. Attention to the changing quality of light seemed to be the main focus of the paintings. This obviously coincides with the idea of capturing a specific moment in time. The subject matter itself also changed. Rather then focusing in on people and characteristics, the subject matter changed into a visual account of a specific atmosphere/scene. Paintings became less about people themselves and more about the new way of life in Paris. As Charles Baudelaire in The Painter of Modern Life stated, "It is doubtless an excellent thing to study the old masters in order to learn how to paint; but it can be no more then a waste of labour if your aim is to understand the special nature of present day beauty".
One artist in particular who I feel really displays a response to the changing social and cultural forces would be Claude Monet. As stated earlier, it was his painting of, "Impression, sunrise" that created the term Impressionism. When compared to traditional techniques of painting, it is quite apparent why this term was chosen by Louis Leroy. The painting rejects any form of traditional artwork, with the new use of rapid, thick brushstrokes, attention to the scientific use of colour and a new subject. To really capture the moment of the sun setting, Monet would've had to have a knew understanding of the use of colour. He worked out that shadow isnt not in fact black, but made up of a selection of colours, mainly blue and purple. By contrasting the use of what would've probably been cadmium orange and ultramarine blue, being complimentary colours, the painting radiates with the warmth of the setting sun. In terms of a new composition, the background is made up of horizontal and vertical strokes, which represent land, factories and boats in the distance. This lack of attention to detail shows the importance of the attention to light for the impressionist painters.
Similarly, with "Autumn effect at Argenteuil", 1873, Monet used the complimentary colours of blue and orange to create this landscape painting. Traditionally landscape paintings contained quite dull colouring, normally with plenty of greens and browns, as so this was seen as a new and exciting portrayal of this subject. Another reason why this stood out was because there doesn't seem to be a distinct differentiation between the foliage and the water. Here, you can see Monet is really paying attention to portaying this truth to nature. It's something new, experimenting with compositional layout and optical perception.
When at looking at the new social happenings in Paris, Renoir showed quite an interest. "Bal du Mouline de la Galette", 1877, was painted in order to capture the joy and the excitement in the garden at Butte Monmartre. This was a fashionable and popular place to go to socialise and celebrate the new and improved Paris. Renoir shows this by looking at vibrant colouring, along with attention to not the people themselves, but the way that light is falling on the scene. Renoir did in fact have friends at this social gathering, but instead the focus is on light. This way the viewer is able to get an idea of the atmosphere of the evening. Note the fact that Renoir would've been sitting at the garden itself and by using this composition and colouring you become aware of the personal response of the artist.
Above is Edouard Manet's, "Bar a la Folies-Bergere", 1882, used in order to make a quick comparison between two different responses to the new way of life. As you can see, the key focus of this painting appears to not be about light, but instead about this supposed bar maid. Centrally placed, the woman appears to look troubled or vacant. You find yourself trying to analyse the background story to this female, compared to
Caillebotte's "Paris street, Rainy day", 1877, is a slightly different response to the impressionist. It's purpose is the same, in the sense that its a response to the changed city, however, the focus appears to be more on the physical changes, such as new streets and technology, rather than the new social buzz. There are no rapid brushstrokes or simplified objects. The thing that stands out the most for me with this painting, is the modern composition. It's one of those that you'd find on a developed photograph. The whole scene seems cinematic. Not only does it display the new layout of the widened boulevards, but it contains cropped figures and the idea of focus; just like a camera would. If anything, this painting is a celebration of the developing world and technology.
"Gare Saint'lazare", painted in 1877 by Monet, is another display of the pysical change of the face of Paris. However, Monet, being an impressionist, wanted to portray the excitement of the scene and so the attention is on light and colour. This is backed up in Christoph Heinrich's Caldue Monet. This was one of 11 in a series of paintings of the train station and therefore Monet displays his intense fascination with the changing qualities of light. For example, whilst comparing the cold, blue coloured smoke in the foreground to the warm looking building in the background, you can see that Monet is really playing around with colouring. Here they're used in ways that would've come as quite a shock to traditional artists.
In a similar way to how photography captures a moment, the Impressionists wanted to portray a new city atmosphere onto canvas. Subject matter changed, moving away from individuals and onto a social setting, simply containing Parisians. With an improved arrangement of boulevards, heightened technology and a new sense of freedom of leisure, Paris was one of the most exciting cities in the world. Throughout the city, there would've been a sort of rush of excitement. People could travel to different areas of France with ease. It was a new place of adventure and it as this that sparked artists such as Monet and Renoir to have a strong focus on representing this atmosphere, largely looking at light and using colour. Vibrant colouring was used and contrasted, such as "Autumn effect at Argenteuil" in order to create that intensity and harmonious flow of colour and excitement at these new scenes within the city. Rather then sticking to traditional techniques whilst painting what they saw, such as Manet, these artists wanted something more modern and different. They accepted the fact that their work would be displayed in the Salon des Refuses and instead set out to display their own responses to these happenings. They purposely played around and ignored rules and set out to do something different. The paintings, in my opinion, successfully represent the sensation and the city atmosphere that would've been felt throughout Paris at the time.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
- Charles-Pierre Baudelaire (2010). The Painter of Modern Life. London: Penguin Books
- Roberts Herbert (1991). Impressionism: Art, Leisure, and Parisian Society . UK: Yale University Press
- Jessica Gunderson (2008). Impressionism. UK: The Creative Company
- Howard Saalman (1971). Haussmann: Paris Transformed . UK: G. Braziller
- Christoph Heinrich (2000). Claude Monet, 1840-1926 . UK: Taschen
- Ambroise Vollard (1990). Renoir: An Intimate Record . UK: Courier Dover Publication
- http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/learn-about-art/guide-to-impressionism/guide-to-impressionism
- http://www.columbia.edu/itc/architecture/ockman/pdfs/dossier_4/Baudelaire.pd
- http://www.intermonet.com/
- Meyer Schapiro (1997 ). Impressionism: Reflections and Perceptions . University of Michigan: George Braziller
