Session 3: Impressionism: Problems and Issues Then and Now

Learning Objectives

1. To identify and explain the formal characteristics, subjects and practices of Impressionist painting.
2. To identify and explain different interpretations of Impressionist art from Social History and feminist perspectives.

Glossary of Terms: Impressionism

Gender
Refers to socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities, characteristics and attributes that any society considers appropriate for men and women.  Unlike sex which refers to the biological and physical differences between men and women, gender is a construct and can change across cultures and times.

Haussmannization
Refers to the mid-19th century redesign of Paris which was supervised by Baron Haussmann that resulted in the construction of the first modern city in Europe.

Male gaze
A late 20th century term associated with feminist and gender theory where looking is constructed as an active male experience; being looked at as a passive female one.

Mixed media
Refers to the use of two or more different mediums in the same work. 

Plein Air
Oil painting done outside and directly onto the canvas which was made possible because of new paints in tubes that did not dry and a new interest in landscape painting.

Impressionism

Problems and Issues Then and Now

Impressionism is probably the most popular modern art movement with audiences today. Virtually everyone likes these color and light filled paintings of gardens, leisure life, ballerinas, and water lilies. Things were different in the 1870s. Academic artists sneered that Impressionist paintings demonstrated little, if any, artistic technique. Critics complained about their shapeless and formless compositions.

• What made Impressionism so controversial?

• What influenced this particular group of men and women to develop a new approach to painting?

• What kinds of techniques and practices did they initiate and how did that affect the trajectory of modern art and aesthetics?

These are the first issues to address. We are going to start with basics like new techniques and new technologies, but we are also going to explore the avant-garde notion of creativity and changing ideas of what representation meant and looked like from the perspective of the modern artist.  

Social History and gender theories redirected the priorities of art historians to issues of class, gender and context. Critical questions about the intersection of art with politics, economics and cultural conventions dramatically changed the way that we understand Impressionism today. 

•    How did Impressionist paintings act as healing images following the Franco-Prussian War and the Commune?
•    How do concerns about class and gender offer different interpretations of modernity?
•    How did modern sculpture develop in 19th century Europe? 

Elaborate and allegorical monuments were considered necessary and appropriate to celebrate heroes, civic and national virtue. Sculptors needed expensive supplies and assistants. Any kind of civic commission meant they had to work with groups, budgets, and public approval. These are quite different conditions from buying canvases and paints, working plein air and hoping to sell paintings through independent shows or word of mouth.

•    What were the specific issues that sculpture and sculptors faced in the modern world?
•    How did an Impressionist approach apply to sculpture?