Reading Notes: Panorama of Impressionism 0 1- Understanding Impressionism from Multiple Angles

I have just started to contact books on painting recently. Some time ago, I saw Gu Ye's Xiao Gu Chat Painting1&; Two volumes, the book is very interesting, which makes the abstruse western painting easy to understand, especially suitable for novices who are interested in the history of painting but don't know how to start. Of course, I am one of them. After reading Gu Ye's book, I was lucky to find another book worth reading, which is this one: 32 exhibitions: Impressionism Panorama. Understanding Impressionism from the perspective of exhibition is a good starting point.

Organize and share notes and extracts, because it is the first time to read a professional book. If there are some places that are biased, please leave a message and point out.

About this book

The introduction at the beginning of the article says: "Choose 32 impressionist exhibitions in the world in the past 20 years, on the one hand, show the whole picture of impressionism, and more importantly, present the history of an exhibition. In fact, every exhibition is a rewriting of art history, which not only reflects the level and feelings of the curator, but also reflects the brand of the times. "

1, the emergence of impressionism and early impressionism

Impressionism is the beginning of modern art, which refers to an artistic movement or painting style centered on Paris, France from 1870 to 1880. The name of impressionism comes from Monet's famous painting Impression of Sunrise, which was used by journalists at that time to satirize this group of artists. As we all know, avant-garde art is usually not recognized by the history at that time. It usually takes several generations for people to accept avant-garde art, and barbizon before Impressionism and Fauvism after Impressionism have the same treatment.

Impressionism is a continuation of realism, which is relative to the academic school;

* Academic school, painting only orthodox themes: excluding historical paintings, religious paintings and portraits, landscape paintings and still life paintings; It requires vivid images, smooth and bright pictures, no brush strokes, and hidden personality and emotion.

* Realism, focusing on real life and ordinary scenery.

* Impressionism, that is, "an instant impression", has a thick brushwork, uses vision to harmonize colors, and does not use black (early). The light source color is in sharp contrast with the environmental color, and the composition has the effect of vivid colors and fragrance, which is influenced by modern photography.

The difference between modern art and classical art;

Classics: things that never change.

Modern: uncertain, accidental, but vivid, current experience.

2. Paris Salon and the First Impressionist Art Exhibition

Paris Salon, that is, the Salon of the Society.1In the mid-9th century, the Paris Academy of Fine Arts held the "Paris Salon" art exhibition every year, and the selection committee of the Society selected the works according to the standards of the Society, and selected the grand prize, so as to safeguard the authority of the Society and ensure the economic interests of the artists of the Society (the way of selling paintings by freelance artists). Barbizon once challenged the academic school, and later barbizon entered the salon, but the Impressionists never entered the Paris salon once. Even the "unsuccessful salon" started at 1863 was rejected by the impressionists. So the impressionist painters planned to hold their own exhibitions, and the impressionist exhibitions came into being.

1in April, 874, the first impressionist painting exhibition was held in the studio of photographer Nadal. More than 30 painters participated in this exhibition, including Monet, Renoir, pissarro, Heathley, Cezanne, Mo Lisuo, Degas and Monet's teacher eugene boudin. Manet did not attend. There was a lot of criticism at the exhibition. Some critics say that Monet's painting is at best a sketch, not a complete work. From 1874 to 1886, the impressionists held eight exhibitions.

3. Paris and Impressionism

Zola once described Paris in the19th century as follows:

"On the wide Seine-Marne River, the surroundings are green, and only clear waves are rippling, like dancing, reflecting bright lights of white, gray and rose under the sunlight."

First, the urban transformation of Paris

Clark mentioned an idea full of temptation in his 1985 work Portrait of Modern Life: Paris in Manet and His Followers' Art. This temptation is not simply to juxtapose the background of the times with the theme of painting, but to explore the complicated relationship between modern cities and modern people. It involves not only the theme of painting, but also techniques and forms, and more importantly, the way painting reproduces the world.

So what is the connection between the impressionist movement in Paris and Paris? The first thing that must be mentioned is the great transformation in Paris.

The urban structure we see today was largely created by Baron Haussmann, a municipal official. 185 1 year, after a secret coup in Bonan, he ascended the throne, calling himself Charles Louis Napolé on Bonaparte. 1853, Bonama recalled Osman in Bordeaux at that time and gave him the task of transforming Paris. From 1853 to 1870, that is, during the Second Reich, Ottoman went all out and the city of Paris underwent great changes. At that time, the great transformation was opposed by all parties (for example, Hugo complained that Osman destroyed the memory of old Paris, and Flaubert adopted an outsider attitude towards new Paris). Even after the fall of Bonama, people burned it, but after the situation subsided, people began to enjoy the benefits brought by modernization.

Among the achievements of Ottoman transformation, Osman Avenue, which runs through the eighth and ninth districts, is 2.53 kilometers long and 30 to 33.6 meters wide. Now the commercial landscape along the avenue has the upper hand, for example, the two largest department stores in France, Spring Department Store and Galeries Lafayette Department Store, are located on the edge of the avenue. Shops, cafes, theaters and other entertainment places along the avenue have greatly changed the noisy neighborhood life in Paris and formed a "public space ruled by commodity fetishism". Demolition of old blocks is also an idea to control street riots. Osman vigorously engaged in construction, which directly stimulated the real estate industry, and the rise in house prices and rents stimulated the speculative enthusiasm of the whole people. "The government sells 60 years of land ownership to real estate developers, and real estate developers make money together with bankers through bank financing" (this scene is really familiar to us).

It can be said that the great transformation of Paris has turned Paris into a landscape society.

Paris and street lamps at night

The darkness of the middle ages, the night of the middle ages, belongs to the era when demons, witches and lawless people haunt. Hugo reappeared this atmosphere in Notre Dame de Paris. Claude, a priest in a cloak, attacked the captain of the guard who was having an affair with Esmeralda. At that time, Esmeralda, a witness, thought it was Satan.

The light and shade of the city, black and white, directly affected the impressionism who paid attention to light and shadow. /kloc-at the end of 0/7, public lighting began to appear on the streets of Paris, and street lamps became a landscape in Paris. /kloc-at the beginning of the 0/9th century, black and smelly oil lamps and candles were replaced by clean and odorless gas.

The birth of street lamps reshaped urban space and urban time experience, marking Paris's entry into a modern city. Street lamps illuminate public places. They no longer belong to demons, ghosts or robbers and thieves, but to citizens.

So in Impressionist paintings, under the shadow of lights, there are carnivals, nightclubs, Nightcrawler and masked dancers. Degas, Lautrec and Renoir are all masters in describing the nightlife in Paris. In their works, the night in Paris is always inseparable from lust, art and colored lights.

Good indoor lighting prolongs the time for family activities, dinners, children's play and homework, housewives, women workers and adults to read books in the evening. A middle-class family has a comfortable, warm and cordial atmosphere indoors.

Monet's dinner

4. Impressionism and the Middle Class

/kloc-in the middle of the 0/9th century, the industrialization process in France led to the replacement of workers by staff and the emergence of the middle class. Impressionism found a place in the middle class. In the early impressionist paintings, the daily life of the middle class accounted for a large proportion, such as breakfast, picnic, walking, boating, vacation, tourism, urban pastoral or life in a consumer society. The middle class represents free life and art, as well as the yearning for free life.

5. Impressionism and indoor, cafe and theater box.

Since Caleb Porter, the people in the house or the middle class in the house have become an important theme.

Put people in lighting areas such as balconies or windows to form a perspective of staring at others;

The man standing at the window of Caleb Potter.

An exquisite, independent and rich male image, hanging indoors and overlooking the outside world, symbolizes a rising and exciting Paris and the limitations of modern people in it.

The main characters in more paintings are women, who are placed in the living room with social function, close to the window or balcony. "Women are led to the light, but they resist the scenery." .

The traditional model of community, family and church was broken, and the middle and petty bourgeoisie began to choose cafes, theaters and other entertainment places with free spirit and sensory charm. Music cafes are common in the works of Degas, Manet and Lautrec. This popular cultural place has low threshold, casual social interaction and mixed crowds. Manet's "Goddess's Bar Recreation Hall" and other classic works.

In the heyday of Impressionism, the theater box in Paris became an important place for social activities, and the dual structure of the box theme was always to examine others and be watched. Starting from the identity of the audience, the discussion of the viewing state between the two sexes is extended. The image of women has gradually changed from male viewing at the beginning to active viewing.

Comparing the following two pictures, in the first picture, women's eyes are ambiguous and free, and the glasses in their hands are more like decorations, while in the second picture, women's movements are obviously much bolder, and the binoculars in their left hand look very professional.

Renoir's box

Gonzalez's Italian theater box (you can't find the original picture, you can take it with your mobile phone)