Session 4: Post-Impressionism and Artistic Genius

Learning Objectives

1. To identify and explain the formal and theoretical reasons for the development of Post-Impressionism.

2. To explain how different modern artists interpreted post-impressionistic ideas in their art.

3. To explain the relationship of Symbolist theory to the notion of modern artistic genius.

4. To identify the allure of the “primitive” in the 19th century and the post-modern concerns about that term.

Glossary of Terms: Post-Impressionism

Anaturalist color
The use of color in a representational painting that does not replicate or necessarily refer to the way that people, objects or landscapes appear in real life. The intention is for the colors to expressively communicate emotional or ideological connotations rather than represent the empirical world realistically. Anatural color was a hallmark of many Post-Impressionist works in the 19th century and becomes an accepted convention by the 20th century. 

Cloisonnism
Term that describes Post-Impressionist paintings in which the forms were heavily outlined, which reminded people of cloisonné design work on vases and jewelry. The result was a painting that appeared very flat because of the absence of modeling to create a three dimensional effect. 

Primitive
Although rarely used in Art History today because of its derogatory connotations, in the 19th century Europeans used the term to identify non-western tribal cultures, especially African and the South Pacific, along with their styles and artifacts. Avant-garde artists who adopted a “primitive” approach often incorporated elements and motifs from tribal work into their own art making.  The term was also used to designate early, less developed versions of European styles.

Synthetism 
This was a modification of Cloisonnism in which painters eliminated the strong outlines and juxtaposed colors against each other. The result was a painting that appeared very flat because of the absence of modeling to create a three dimensional effect.

Utopia
Although it would be culture and time specific, utopia refers to an ideal society and the specific conditions that guarantee it.

The March of the "isms"

The modern impulse to innovate and change would be a constant in the avant-garde, and lead to what some art historians dub “the march of the isms” - one movement following another, each promising the definitive aesthetic, style or approach. The first serious critique began with Cézanne, who established a new formal vocabulary for painting that grounded Post-Impressionism and moved modern art much closer to abstraction.

• What were Post-Impressionist complaints about Impressionism?
• What were the formal and theoretical positions of Cézanne’s approach to painting and his concerns about art? 

Post-Impressionists experimented with a variety of formal responses that addressed the critical issues of structure, intentionality, color, form and artistic subjectivity. They expanded the formal and visual vocabulary of the movement and distinguished their styles from each other and reinforced the uniqueness of their artistic abilities to the public.

•    What was the relationship between 19th century optical theory and chromo-luminarism?

•    What kinds of cultural information about Parisian life have art historians identified in Seurat’s paintings?

Continuing with Post-Impressionism

The notion of the “primitive” was a powerful influence on 19th century Europe and the avant-garde because it shaped popular perceptions of non-western cultures.  Since few Europeans traveled to those areas, much of what they learned about the non-west was through what they saw in World Fairs, photography and fine art.

•    How did Gauguin’s choice of subject and style reinforce notions of “primitive” in his paintings?

•    What are the concerns of art historians about the term “primitive” and its associations in Gauguin’s work?

Vincent van Gogh epitomized the myth of the modern artist as “tortured genius” although his paintings, understanding and approach to the issues of post-impressionism were critical and creative.

•    How did van Gogh interpret and communicate post-impressionist ideas in his work?

•    What are the consequences of conflating creativity, criticality and art with notions of genius and madness?