|
The French Revolution of 1789 brought widespread class upheaval. This
preeminence in social consequence meant that public arts were to develop with greater speed and diversity in France than in other
European countries. While England's manufacturing levels in newly established factories were sufficient for it to be labeled the
"production capital of the world," the conception and evolving of the Impressionist movement required the cultural climate of
France.
It is interesting to note how preceding artistic styles inspire and
made way for one another and how these, in turn lead to Impressionism. While the movements cannot be confined to an exact
chronological timetable, they do give some clues as to the artistic background in which Impressionism began. This movement was widely found throughout Europe in the post-renaissance period and is largely
considered one of the most influential forerunner of Impressionism. Since the eighteenth century, English artists
had demonstrated an zeal towards painting the landscape. Particular condition
that were constantly changing nature of the landscape made way for a more impressionistic approach to the painting.
J.M.W.Turner's Rain, Steam & Speed - The Great Western Railway of 1844 provides a good idea of how this English
division undoubtedly affected ensuing French artists.
In 1855, Paris World Fair, a sequel to the London's Crystal Palace four years previously.
A distinguishing feature of this second fair was its focus on art. This served, in some large part, to highlight Paris as the
centre of the art world. If new innovative ideas were to be expressed, this was the place for painters to come. Among those
attracted by the World Fair in Paris were the group of young painters, soon to be earmark the Impressionists.
The Académie Suisse, founded and run by the painter Charles Suisse, provided a cheap and
productive venue in which aspiring painters could exchange new and progressive ideas. It was here that Pissarro, Monet,
Guillaumin and Cézanne first came to know each other. Despite the obvious advantages of free models, which were provided, the
Académie Suisse was appealing for a number of reasons. The most important of which was that it provided a place to air new and
controversial attitudes in painting. Those that would otherwise never have been exposed in an art world community, which was
committed to a traditional style and open only to the most, limited
modifications.
This community was represented and controlled by three bodies; the Salon, the Académie
and the École des Beaux Arts. Typically, all had their set ways and codes. Only certain candidates qualified for positions in
particular offices, etc. The art world of Paris at the time is fairly described as being an incestuous society in which similarly
educated officials came together and regulated what would otherwise have been a far more diverse collection of "accepted" art.
The Salon had become an annual exhibition at which members of the Académie, often professors at the École, judged entries. It was
the inflexible nature of these judges that prompted the new style of painters to exhibit their works in the studio of the Nadar
the Paris based photographer. This exhibition held in 1874, included Monet's famous Impression: Sunrise, which is generally
thought to have prompted the naming of the entire technique of lose painting, impressionism was born and here to stay
|
