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Acknowledgements
Impressionism: Paintings Collected by European Museums
is organized by the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, in
collaboration with the Denver Art Museum and the
Seattle Art Museum.
High Museum of Art, Atlanta Seattle Art Museum Denver Art Museum
February 23 - May 16, 1999 June 12 - August 29, 1999 October 2 - December 12, 1999
In Atlanta, this exhibition is In Seattle, the exhibition is In Denver, the exhibition is
made possible by the Katherine generously sponsored by: generously sponsored by
John Murphy Foundation and Presenting Sponsor U S WEST. Additional funding is
The Rich Foundation. U S WEST provided by the Adolph Coors
The exhibition is sponsored by Additional funding provided by: Foundation, the Denver
Delta Airlines and NationsBank The Boeing Company Foundation, and the citizens who
The Seattle Times support the Scientific and
Starbucks Coffee Company Cultural Facilities District.
Kreielsheimer Exhibition
Endowment
Seattle Art Museum We regret the omission of
Supporters(SAMS) sponsors confirmed after
The Annual Fund December 31, 1998.
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Contents
About the Packet............................................................................................................ 3
About Impressionism..................................................................................................... 4
Radicalism of Impressionism: “Trees are Not Violet; The Sky is Not Butter!”....................... 4
The Painting of Modern Life and Real Life Subjects ............................................................. 5
Busy City and Quiet Countryside Settings............................................................................. 5
En Plein Air and “The Painter of the Passing Moment”......................................................... 6
Optical Innovations: Images of “Magical Instantaneity”........................................................ 7
Collecting Impressionism: “Something Solid and Durable”................................................... 8
Activities ....................................................................................................................... 10
Lesson #1................................................................................................................... 11
Lesson #2................................................................................................................... 13
Lesson #3................................................................................................................... 15
Lesson #4................................................................................................................... 17
Lesson #5................................................................................................................... 19
Lesson #6................................................................................................................... 21
Lesson #7................................................................................................................... 23
Lesson #8......................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.
Lesson #9................................................................................................................... 27
Glossary............................................................................................................................ 29
Books ................................................................................................................................. 31
Videos ................................................................................................................................ 32
Web Sites ........................................................................................................................... 32
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About the Packet
his packet introduces you to • Collecting Impressionism:“Something
• The Painting of Modern and Real Life 4. Information, Looking Questions, and
Subjects. The Impressionists liked to paint Activities that Correspond to the Color
scenes of everyday life: contemporary people Transparencies
at work and play.
• Information for each image represented
• Busy City and Quiet Countryside Settings. in a transparency is provided for quick
The Impressionists often painted people in reference about the artist, style, and subject.
city and country settings.
• Looking Questions enrich the student’s
• En Plein Air and “The Painter of the consideration of a painting by encouraging
Passing Moment.” Most Impressionists chose discussion and careful looking. Some
to paint en plein air, or outdoors, instead of, questions also reinforce the themes of
or in addition to, painting in their studios. radicalism, the depiction of modern and real
They liked to capture their subjects in the life, city and country settings, en plein air
middle of quiet, contemplative moments. painting, and optical innovations. Your
students may generate diverse answers to the
• Optical Innovations: Images of“Magical looking questions.
Instantaneity.” Many scientific and color The looking questions are a starting point
theory innovations of the late 19th century for teachers to facilitate the student’s close
enabled the impressionists to experiment in viewing. The questions may be expanded to
the ways that they did. be more...
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• interpretive – “What do you think the 5. Glossary
artist’s intent was in...?”
• comparative - similarities and differences Printed in bold text throughout the packet are
between paintings... important terms for understanding
• hypothetical – “What if...?” Impressionism and the culture in which it
• Suggested Activities engage students in existed. For definitions, please refer to the
various experiences relating to Impressionism. glossary at the back of the packet.
Additionally, these activities will help
cultivate learning skills that involve the arts, 6. Resources
math, science, language arts, and social
studies. You can develop these activities The books, videos, and other resources for
further according to the level and needs of teachers and students provide for further
your students. We urge you to share the investigation of Impressionism, the artists, art
interdisciplinary curriculum activities in this history, and world events.
packet with teachers of other subject areas.
I
n 1874, fifty-five artists held the first understand that trees are not violet; that the
independent group show of Impressionist sky is not the color of fresh butter...and that
art. Most of them - including Cézanne, no sensible human being could countenance
Pissarro, Renoir, Degas, Monet, Manet, and such aberrations...try to explain to Monsieur
his sister-in-law Berthe Morisot (“a bunch of Renoir that a woman’s torso is not a mass of
lunatics and a woman,” muttered one decomposing flesh with those purplish-green
observer) - had been rejected by the Salon, stains,” wrote art critic Albert Wolff after the
the annual French state-sponsored exhibition second Impressionist exhibition. Although
that offered the only real opportunity for some people appreciated the new paintings,
artists to display and sell their work. Never many did not. The critics and the public
mind, they told each other. At the Salon, agreed the Impressionists couldn’t draw and
paintings were stacked three or four high, and their colors were considered vulgar. Their
crowded too closely together on the walls. At compositions were strange. Their short,
their independent exhibition, mounted in what slapdash brushstrokes made their paintings
was formerly a photographer’s studio, the practically illegible. Why didn’t these artists
artists could hang their works at eye level take the time to finish their canvases, viewers
with space between them. Although the artists wondered?
didn’t call themselves “Impressionists” at Indeed, Impressionism broke every rule of
first, this occasion would be the first of eight the French Academy of Fine Arts, the
such “Impressionist” exhibits over the next conservative school that had dominated art
twelve years. training and taste since 1648. Impressionist
scenes of modern urban and country life were
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a far cry from the Academic efforts to teach The sturdiest thread linking the Impressionists
moral lessons through historic, mythological, was an interest in the world around them. For
and Biblical themes. This tradition, drawn subject matter, they looked to contemporary
from ancient Greek and Roman art, featured people at work and play. Inventions such as
idealized images. Symmetrical compositions, the steam engine, power loom, streetlights,
hard outlines, and meticulously smooth paint camera, ready-made fashions, cast iron, and
surfaces characterized academic paintings. steel had changed the lives of ordinary people.
Despite the Academy’s power, seeds of Underlying the Industrial Revolution was a
artistic and political unrest had been sown belief that technological progress was key to
long before 1874. The early- and mid-19th all human progress. In this climate of
century was a time of political instability in discovery, people felt they could do anything.
France. Between 1830 and 1850, the The Industrial Revolution brought
population of Paris doubled. During the economic prosperity to France, and Emperor
Revolution of 1848, Parisian workers with Napoleon III set out to make Paris the
socialist goals overthrew the monarchy, only showpiece of Europe. He hired civic planner
to see conservatives seize the reins of Baron Hausmann, Prefect of the Seine, to
government later that year. Fear of further replace the dirty, old medieval city with wide
uprisings created widespread distrust among boulevards, parks, and monuments. The new
the aristocracy, the poor, and the newly steel-ribbed railroad stations and bridges were
prosperous bourgeoisie or middle class. feats of modern engineering. Cafés,
At the same time, the far-reaching restaurants, and theaters lured the bourgeoisie,
Industrial Revolution fostered a new faith in the powerful new merchant class who had
the individual and his unlimited potential. made their homes in and around Paris.
Romantic painters such as Eugène Delacroix
began to celebrate individuality in terms of Busy City and Quiet Countryside
painting technique with warm colors and
vigorous brush- strokes. Delacroix’s journals
Settings
would later provide ideas about color theory
and painting techniques to the Impressionists. Most Impressionists were born in the
Later in the 19th century, Barbizon School bourgeoisie class, and this was the world they
painters Corot, Millet, and Rousseau painted. “Make us see and understand, with
abandoned classical studio themes to go brush or with pencil, how great and poetic we
outside and paint the landscape around them. are in our cravats and our leather boots,” the
Realist Gustave Courbet, a mentor to several poet Charles Baudelaire challenged his friend
Impressionists, painted the rural poor just as Édouard Manet. Baudelaire’s essay, The
he saw them. His rough-textured technique Painter of Modern Life, inspired other
displeased the Academy. Impressionists to portray real life themes, too.
The Impressionists, or “Independents,” as Degas prowled behind the scenes of the opera
they preferred to be called, brought together a and ballet for his subjects. Monet
wide variety of these influences, beliefs, and immortalized Paris railroad stations. Nearly
styles when they first exhibited and met in all the Impressionist artists painted people
Paris cafés to discuss art. Their rejection of hurrying through busy streets and enjoying
the Academy and the Academy’s rejection of their leisure time on the boulevard, at the
them united the group. racetrack, in café-concerts, shops, restaurants,
and parks.
However, it was not just city bustle that
The Painting of Modern Life and intrigued the Impressionists. Country themes
Real Life Subjects appealed to them, too. Railroads gave people
a new mobility. They could hop on a train and
be in the countryside in an hour. Commuters
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escaped the crowded city to the suburbs that more truthful, and thus more ethical, than
sprouted around Paris. The Seine River, parks, copying the art of the past.
and gardens provided recreation for weekend Impressionist landscapes often contained
picnickers, swimmers, and boat parties, which people, or showed the effects of man’s
the Impressionists duly recorded. One key to presence - on a bridge or path, for example.
Impressionism’s popularity, it has been The Impressionists wanted to catch people in
written, is that the artist often put the viewer candid rather than staged or posed moments.
in the position of someone on holiday It is as if the artist and we, the viewers, are
enjoying a beautiful scene. “Monet never watching a private, contemplative moment.
painted weekdays,” one critic noted wryly. We see men, women, and children floating in
The home offered other real-life subjects. a rowboat, strolling under the trees, or just
It was unacceptable for women painters like watching the river flow.
Berthe Morisot or Mary Cassatt to set up an Impressionists often depicted people mid-
easel in most public places. They relied on task. Degas caught opera audience members
domestic scenes of women from their own watching each other instead of the stage and
social class cuddling babies, playing with ballet dancers stretching or adjusting their
their children, dressing in the boudoir, or costumes before a performance. Renoir’s
tending their gardens. The garden was central guitar player strums her instrument by herself.
to late 19th-century life. Monet, Manet, and Pissarro’s Parisian pedestrians hurriedly cross
Renoir often painted their gardens. Monet the city streets.
called his flowerbeds “my most beautiful A wish to capture nature’s fleeting
work of art.” moment led many Impressionists to paint the
same scene at different times and in different
En Plein Air and “The Painter of weather. They had to work fast to capture the
the Passing Moment” moment, or to finish an outdoor painting
before the light changed. Artists had often
made quick sketches in pencil or diluted oil
Painting the sidewalk café, the racetrack, or paint on location, but now the sketch became
the boating party attracted the Impressionists the finished work. Impressionist painters
to work outdoors, or en plein air. Most adopted a distinctive style of rapid, broken
Impressionists worked directly and brushstrokes: lines for people on a busy street,
spontaneously from nature. It was Barbizon or specks to re-create flowers in a meadow.
painter Camille Corot who first advised artists These artists often applied paint so thickly
to “submit to the first impression” of what that it created a rough texture on the canvas.
they saw - a real landscape without the Impressionists mixed colors right on the
contrived classical ruins or Biblical parables canvas or stroked on the hues next to each
of French Academic painting. other and let the viewer’s eye do the blending.
Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Sisley, and others This process was called optical color mixing.
preferred to record their initial sensory Not only did this sketchy technique suggest
reactions rather than idealize a subject. A motion, but it also captured the shimmering
painter friend of Monet recalled the master effects of light that engaged these artists. The
giving him this advice: “He (Monet) said he rough, brilliant paintings of Impressionism
wished he had been born blind and then had were a drastic departure from the slick, highly
suddenly gained his sight so that he could finished canvases of Academic painters.
have begun to paint in this way without Although the Impressionists wanted their
knowing what the objects were that he saw work to look almost accidental, it’s no
before him. He held that the first real look at surprise that early critics called it “lazy” and
the motif was likely to be the truest and most unfinished.
unprejudiced one.” The Impressionists
thought that painting their experiences was
6
Optical Innovations: Images of storefront establish-ments. In addition,
collapsible metal tubes replaced pigs-bladder
“Magical Instantaneity” pouches as storage vessels for paint. Tubes
preserved the pigment longer, allowing artists
Color Theory to take extended painting trips outdoors.
In its use of color, Impressionism dramatically
broke away from tradition. Advances in the Photography
fields of optics and color theory fascinated Perhaps no invention of the Industrial
these painters. Working outdoors, Revolution influenced Impressionism more
Impressionists rendered the play of sunlight than the camera. Black and white photography
and the hues of nature with a palette of not only recorded the scene for later study, it
bolder, lighter colors than classical studio arrested the very real-life moments that
painters used. In 1666, Sir Isaac Newton had Impressionists pursued. Most of the
shown that white light could be split into Impressionists had cameras; in fact, Monet
many colors - including the three primary had four and Degas experimented with one of
colors, red, blue, and yellow - by a prism. The the early Kodak portable models. Their art
Impressionists learned how to create the took on the odd, unexpected, and
prismatic colors with a palette of pure, asymmetrical compositions sometimes caught
intense pigments and white. Unlike Academy by the camera.
painters, who covered their canvases with a Rejecting the centered figural groups of
dark underpainting, Impressionists worked traditional art, Impressionists thought nothing
on unprimed white canvas or a pale gray or of cutting off a figure at the painting’s edge,
cream background for a lighter, brighter or pushing the action into corners and leaving
effect. the center of the composition empty. Degas
Eugene Chevreul’s 1839 book, On the Law called photography “an image of magical
of Simultaneous Contrast of Colors, guided instantaneity,” and was particularly adept at
the Impressionist practice of laying down the off-center composition. He was also
strokes of pure, contrasting colors. Chevreul intrigued by the newly invented motion
found that colors change in relation to the picture machine, which took multiple
other colors near them. Complementary photographs of moving animals at high
colors, or those directly opposite each other shutter speeds. He used the machine to study
on his color wheel, create the most intense movement and gesture. Impressionists eagerly
effects when placed next to each other, he studied panoramic landscape photography and
wrote. Red-green or blue-orange adopted its flattened perspective. Monet
combinations cause an actual vibration in the noticed that slow shutter speeds blurred
viewer’s eye so that color appears to leap off moving figures, and he began to smudge his
the canvas. No wonder viewers react painted figures similarly. To the human eye,
emotionally to the glittering sunlight on of course, figures don’t blur, and one early
Monet’s rivers or the splash of orange critic dismissed Monet’s distant pedestrians as
costume on Degas’ballet dancers. “I want my “black tongue lickings.” Even those who
red to sound like a bell!” Renoir said. “If I praised the artist’s ability to capture this “ant-
don’t manage it at first, I put in more red, and like swarming... the instantaneity of
also other colors, until I’ve got it.” movement” often missed the link to
photography.
Art Materials
New technology in art materials made a wider Japonisme
range of color pigments available. In the past, Another visual influence on Impressionism
artists had to grind and mix their own was the phenomenon called Japonisme. The
pigments with oil. Now, color merchants sold opening of Japan to Western trade and
ready-to-use paints and other materials from diplomacy in 1854 led to a rage in France for
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all things Japanese. Japanese artifacts found paintings during the early years. Finally, in
an eager market in the growing middle class the 1880s and ‘90s, the world the
in Paris. In 1862, a Far Eastern curio shop Impressionists painted began to embrace
called Le Porte Chinoise opened near the them. American collectors were largely
Louvre Museum. The shop sold fans, responsible for this reversal of fortune, buying
kimonos, lacquered boxes, hanging scrolls, enough paintings to keep several artists at
ceramics, bronze statuary and other items the work. The Musée de Luxembourg in Paris
Impressionists used as props in their mounted the first museum exhibition of
paintings. In particular, Impressionists Impressionist art in 1897, and an exhibition at
admired Japanese wood-block prints and the 1900 World Exposition sealed the artists’
applied that art form’s flat, decorative shapes, reputations. Paintings sold twenty-five years
bright colors, and asymmetrical compositions earlier for a mere fifty francs, noted Durand-
to their own work. Ruel, now fetched 50,000 francs.
The elegant Japanese prints (known as What caused the public’s change of heart?
ukiyo-e, or “images of the floating world” of “Ironically,” writes art historian Ann Dumas,
geishas and other popular entertainment) also “the Impressionists” former status as
inspired a new interest in printmaking. In renegades enhanced their appeal to the
addition to wood-block prints, Impressionists connoisseurship and speculative skills of the
created lithographs (prints made from oil- bourgeois collector...(it was) a new art for a
based ink designs on wet stone) and etchings new class that wanted images of the world
(prints from designs etched into metal plates they inhabited.”
with acid). These methods allowed Degas, Perhaps more crucial to its present-day
Monet, Cassatt, and other artists to make popularity is the broadly appealing color,
multiple copies of their work and thus reach a spontaneity, and freshness of Impressionist
larger audience. art. Before the first exhibition in 1874, the art
critic Armand Silvestre observed of these
Collecting Impressionism: paintings, “A blond light pervades them, and
“Something Solid and Durable” everything is gaiety, clarity, spring festivals,
golden evenings or apple trees in blossom.
They are windows opening on the joyous
In the early years of Impressionism, artists countryside, on rivers full of pleasure boats
struggled to find markets for their work, and stretching into the distance, on a sky which
many lived hand-to-mouth. Impressionism shines with light mists, on the outdoor life,
changed when artists quarreled with one panoramic and charming.”
another, withdrew from exhibitions, or, like
Monet and Renoir, reverted to a more
Academic style they hoped would lure buyers.
Cézanne also turned away from About the
Impressionism, disappointed that he hadn’t
been able “to make of Impressionism
Exhibition
something solid and durable like the art of the Impressionism: Paintings
museums.”
However, one visionary Paris art dealer,
Collected by European Museums
Paul Durand-Ruel, recognized the greatness
E
arly paintings by the Impressionists
of Impressionism as early as 1870. “A true
shocked the public and infuriated many
picture dealer should also be an enlightened
critics. “A frightening spectacle of
patron; he should, if necessary, sacrifice his
human vanity so far adrift that it verges on
immediate interest to his artistic convic-
sheer lunacy,” scoffed Paris critic Albert
tions,” Durand-Ruel wrote. He regularly
Wolff in 1876. Just twenty-five years later,
bought, sold, and promoted Impressionist
however, the work of Monet, Renoir, Manet,
8
Degas, Pissarro, Morisot and Caillebotte said a museum trustee of the Morisot
would be found in the collections of major exclusion.
museums through-out Europe and America. Private collectors and one particularly
One hundred and twenty-five years later, tenacious gallery owner contributed largely to
Impressionism is one of the best known and Impressionism’s acceptance. Art dealer Paul
loved types of art. Durand-Ruel bought the early paintings of
The provenance, or history of ownership these neglected artists so that they could keep
of these Impressionist works, is a fascinating working. He offered them advice on style and
subject in itself. Who were the early heroes subjects, gave them an alternative to state-run
who dared to purchase this “difficult” art and exhibitions - the art world’s first one-person
hang it in their homes, offices, and galleries? art shows - and promoted their work in
How did these once-spurned paintings find Europe and the United States.
their way into major museums and world Among the first private collectors of
capitals? What events drove the artwork out Impressionism were writers, fellow painters
of the hands of artists to museum directors, like Caillebotte, and other figures from the art
private collectors, and ministers of culture? world. The original owner of Claude Monet’s
These questions constitute the reason for this Port at Argenteuil was a painter working in a
exhibition. style similar to Monet’s. Vincent van Gogh
The chief focus of Impressionism: willed all his work to his art-dealer brother,
Paintings Collected by European Museums is Theo, on whom he had depended emotionally
the earliest acquisitions by European and financially for most of his life. Many of
museums. The Musée de Luxemboug’s 1897 those paintings, including Self-Portrait with a
exhibition featured thirty-eight Impressionist Straw Hat, remained in the van Gogh family
paintings, all bequeathed to the French for seventy years. Americans also collected
government by the artist and collector Impressionism early on, as did other newly
Gustave Caillebotte. But not all museums rich, “bourgeois” connoisseurs, who saw in
welcomed Impressionism, even by 1900. these bold, colorful canvases a mirror of their
London’s National Gallery turned down a gift own lives.
of Degas’The Ballet Scene from Meyerbeer’s The artworks in the Impressionism:
Opera ”Robert le Diable” in 1905 and Paintings Collected by European Museums
refused to show Morisot’s Summer’s Day exhibition reflect the broad interests and
after acquiring it in 1913. “The National varied styles of Impressionism at its peak.
Gallery is and should remain a great Temple This exhibition is presented by the High
of Art” that would not tolerate “an exhibition Museum of Art, the Seattle Art Museum, and
of the works of the modern French art-rebels the Denver Art Museum.
in the sacred precincts of Trafalgar Square,”
9
objects in the foreground overlap objects in
the background? Although there are no
Activities specific right answers, ask the students to
The Arts hypothesize how many feet of depth each
Up until the 1860s, European painters often painting illustrates. What clues did the artist
painted idealized people and events from the provide to support the hypotheses?
Bible, mythology, or history. In contrast,
Impressionist paintings often depict ordinary Language Arts
situations. We may think differently about Discuss the transparencies with the class.
ordinary situations in our own lives by What are their favorite paintings? Why did
drawing or writing about them. Ask students they choose those? Have the students write an
to list five things they do each day that might essay from the point of view of a collector or
be appropriate for an Impressionist painting of museum director who wants to purchase one
a modern life subject. Vote on one subject and of the paintings. Include why they chose the
then have each of the students paint it. A painting and how it will add to their current
busy, fleeting moment in a hallway or collections. For instance, a director of a self-
cafeteria, for instance, may seem more portrait museum might want to add the self-
beautiful upon reflection. Explain that portrait by van Gogh to his or her collection.
everyone will have a different “impression” of
the scene. Try to emphasize the lights, Social Studies
shadows, and colors in the scene. Have the students stage an art
exhibition of their own within the classroom.
Math or Science Send out invitations and design posters to
All of these two-dimensional, flat works advertise the exhibition. Some students will
create an illusion of three-dimensional depth. be traditional artists while others will be
Rank them from the composition that appears experimental artists. Other students will be
to be the closest to the viewer (or most critics and collectors. The artwork and written
shallow) to the composition with the greatest exercises that the students create based upon
feeling of depth. Look for the ways that each the activities in this packet would be
painting depicts depth. For instance, are the appropriate for the exhibition.
colors softer in the background? Did the artist
use perspective? Are objects smaller in the
background than in the foreground? Do
10
Lesson #1
Claude Monet (mow-NAY)
French, 1840-1926
The Port at Argenteuil, about 1872
Oil on canvas
23 5/8 x 31 3/4 in.
11
Looking Questions
• How many people do you • What sort of boats are what you see, can you
see? these? Sailing boats? tell the time of day?
• What are they doing? Fishing boats? Cargo
• What do you see on the boats?
left side of the painting? • Describe the weather.
• What do you see on the What season is it? What
right side of the painting? time of day is it? From
12
Lesson #2
Edgar Degas (duh-GAH)
French, 1834-1917
The Ballet Scene from Meyerbeer’s
Opera, “Robert le Diable,” 1876
Oil on canvas
30 1/8 x 32 in.
Looking Questions
• Where does this • There are two the lower left-hand
scene take place? horizontal lines in this corner looking?
• Where are you, painting. Where are they? • What colors do you
the viewer, located in • Where are the see in the painting?
relation to the scene in lights coming from? • What shapes are
the painting? • What are the people on repeated in this painting?
• What musical instru- the stage doing?
ments do you see? • Where is the man in
Looking Questions
• This is a painting of painting? Notice the sky the train and the clouds.
Paris. What does the and bits of green. Why do you think the
artist include to show you • What geometric shapes artist chose to include
that this is a city rather do you see? Where do these elements?
than a country scene? you see “X” shapes? • What colors are the
• Describe the clothing Where do you see ovals? shadows?
each person is wearing. What shapes are the • Do you see any red in the
• Is there anything that shadows? What shapes painting? Where?
represents nature in this repeat to create patterns?
• Notice the steam from
Activities pattern. Have your students sleep? What does the dog
circle any of these words that eat? Notice the dog’s tail.
The Arts they could use to talk about a What feeling does the tail
Create a lesson about one- part of this work of art. Ask convey?
point linear perspective. Put them to write at least three
an overleaf of Mylar on this sentences using the circled Social Studies
transparency and draw the words to describe this Look closely at the painting.
receding lines of the bridge, painting. For example: “I see Discuss how clothing
street, and buildings. Show several cut-out shapes with describes a person’s place in
and explain the vanishing curves on the bridge.” society or reflects a certain
points and horizon line. occasion. Look at this
Language Arts painting and discuss each
Math or Science Did you notice the dog in the person’s role. Have the
The following terms are often painting? Why do you think students look through
used in science and/or math: the artist chose to include the magazines and cut out images
growth, life forms, direction, dog? Have your students of fashion that describe a
rhythm, balance, repetition, develop a short explanation profession, an occasion, or
weight, angles, light, shapes, of what the dog is thinking. Is even a class of society. Ask
triangle, rectangle, circle, the dog a stray or does he/she them to create a costume
square, curves, movement, belong to someone in the collage using the images.
direction, motion, size, painting? Where is he going?
Why? Where does the dog
16
Lesson #4
Berthe Morisot(more-ee-SOH)
French, 1841-1895
Summer’s Day, about 1879
Oil on canvas
18 x 29 5/8 in.
17
Looking Questions
• What type of location in the painting? Where What else do you think
do you see in the do you see zigzag, curvy, was in the boat outside of
painting? or straight lines? What our view? Do you think
• What time of day is it? kinds of lines repeat? the artist or someone else
• Describe the clothes that • Is there any black in the was in the boat?
the women are wearing. picture? Where?
• Although there are very • The painting shows us
few outlines, what other part of the boat and the
kinds of lines do you see two women riding in it.
18
Lesson #5
Claude Monet (mow-NAY)
French, 1840-1926
The Cliff at Fécamp, 1881
Oil on canvas
25 5/8 x 32 in.
19
Looking Questions
• Describe the shapes that • Name two colors that • Look carefully at the
you see. What shapes are contrast. textures of the plants,
repeated? • Where do the colors rocks, water, and sky.
• Notice brushstrokes of contrast? How do the brushstrokes
warm colors next to • Do you see any outlines? describe different
brushstrokes of cool textures?
colors.
20
Lesson #6
Paul Cézanne (say-ZAHN)
French, 1839-1906
Still Life with Pears,
about 1885
Oil on canvas
15 x 18 1/8 in.
Subject left. Is that a strip of wood one red pear. The odd-
This is one of more than 170 slashing flat across the numbered groupings of
still life paintings Paul background? The artist seems simply shaped objects in
Cézanne created in his to have lifted the back of the contrasting colors are
lifetime. At first glance, it’s a table and tipped it forward. characteristic of Cézanne’s
simple arrangement of pears The objects on it appear to still life paintings. Cézanne
on a tabletop, but a second slide into our laps. tried to show internal con-
look shows us that the objects struction of the forms that he
are not true to nature. What, Style painted, “nature as cylinders,
for example, is the gauzy Like other Impressionists, sphere, and cones,” in his
black mass to the right of the Cézanne painted with quick, words.
plate? Is that really drapery visible brushstrokes, laying
protruding stiffly beyond the on colors next to each other. Artist
table’s edge? Indeed, In this painting, the red pear Paul Cézanne was born to a
Cézanne liked to make appears more intensely red wealthy family in the town of
ordinary objects look when placed among the green Aix-en-Provence. Tempera-
unfamiliar, a radical idea in pears. Cézanne understood mental and shy, he became an
the late 19th century. To him, that when complementary artist against his father’s
studying nature was merely colors like red and green wishes. Fellow artist Camille
the first step in making art. (found on opposite sides of Pissarro introduced him to
After that, Cézanne the color wheel) are placed Impressionism in the 1870s
explained, the artist should adjacently in a painting, they and became a lifelong friend,
“make pictures that teach us vibrate with intensity. Many encouraging Cézanne to paint
something.” Often that other Impressionist painters from nature and providing
“something” was to see a used contrasting colors to emotional support. Still,
scene from different points of describe the play of light on Cézanne grew disillusioned
view. Like his fellow the surfaces of forms. with Impressionism,
Impressionists, Cézanne was Cézanne often used colors to distrusted fellow artists, and
intrigued by the optic articulate the forms and the refused to exhibit with the
sciences. Notice how he composition. For instance, in group after their second
distorted perspec-tive in this this painting the arrangement show. “I wanted to make of
painting by showing the of the three pears on the right Impressionism something
tabletop parallel to the picture and the three pears on the solid and enduring, like the
frame on the right, but pulled plate is emphasized by bits of art in museums,” he once
away from the wall on the black and contrasted with the said.
21
Looking Questions
• What is a still life? Why • Are there any colors that painting? Why do you
would someone paint a surprise you? think the artist chose to
still life? • What circular shapes do use yellow?
• Does this painting seem you see? What do the • What shapes did he
radical to you in any circular shapes represent? choose to repeat?
way? • Where do you see • Do some of the objects
• Discuss Cézanne’s triangles? have similar colors?
choice of objects. Do • Straight lines? Curvy
some of them seem odd lines?
or distorted? • Where do you see the
color yellow in the
Activities glued to another piece of
Math or Science paper. After that, the students
The Arts Name at least three geometric write descriptions of each
First, place a sheet of clear solids or flat shapes object around the outline of
plastic over the transparency represented in this the cut-out shape. This way,
and draw the basic geometric composition. How many the students will have a
shapes of the still life. shapes or forms appear to be written and visual description
Cézanne said he wanted to touching each other? How of the objects.
“treat nature by the cylinder, many are overlapping?
the sphere, the cone.” Set up Carefully copy at least two Social Studies
a still life of objects with different shapes by drawing The artist Paul Cézanne has
simple shapes like soft drink their outlines on a piece of moved through a time
cans or bottles and a bowl of paper and cutting them out. machine to be the art teacher
fruit on a cafeteria tray. Ask See if someone else can find for the class. The students
the students to draw from it. which ones you copied. have the opportunity to ask
Challenge your students to Cézanne questions about the
simplify the image by Language Arts choices he made as an artist.
drawing only three- Discuss the definition of still What questions are they
dimensional geometric life with your students. Then, curious about? Write down a
shapes. tell them to “write a still few questions after reading
life.” Each student lists their the information and looking
favorite personal objects and at the transparency
draws their outlines. Next,
the objects are cut out and
22
Lesson #7
Vincent van Gogh
(van-GO)
Dutch, 1853-1890
Self-Portrait with a
Straw Hat, 1887
Oil on pasteboard
16 x 12 3/4 in.
24
Lesson #8
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
(ren-WHAR)
French, 1841-1919
Woman Playing a Guitar, 1896-97
Oil on canvas
31 7/8 x 25 5/8 in.
Impressionists. In terms of
Subject review, the Folies-Bergères. composition, the woman,
Julie Manet, daughter of The artist also loved the chair, and guitar are painted
Impressionist Berthe Morisot enchanting lute players of to emphasize and repeat
and Èdouard Manet’s brother, 18th-century French painting voluptuous curves. The
Eugène, was charmed to and, especially, the women curves in the foreground are
discover this painting in playing musical instruments anchored in space by the
progress in Renoir’s studio. by 19th-century painter Jean- crisp verticals and horizontals
“He’s doing some ravishing Baptiste-Camille Corot. of the background.
things with a guitar;” she Renoir’s career veered from
wrote, “a woman with a the Impressionist’s
contemporary Paris life, and
Artist
white muslin dress, held by The son of a tailor, Pierre-
pink bows, leans gracefully the modern dress worn by his
earlier models. This guitar- Auguste Renoir studied with
over a large brown guitar, Monet at the classical Ècole
with her feet on a yellow player wears a simple, white
costume. The solid, triangular des Beaux-Arts. As an
cushion... It’s all colored, Impressionist, he painted
soft, delicious.” Julie composition recalls the
monumental figures of human figures enjoying
provides a perfect description modern pastimes in light-
of this work, which captures classical painters Titian and
Rubens centuries earlier. filled gardens, outdoor
a contemplative moment. restaurants, and cafes. Soft
Julie no doubt saw other brushstrokes and luminous
paintings from this series of Style color characterize his work.
men and women playing the Color and composition make “For me a picture should be a
guitar, done late in Renoir’s a dramatic impact in this pleasant thing, joyful and
career. The subject may have painting. Notice the variety pretty - yes pretty!” he said.
appealed to the artist for of colors in the skin and Later in life, he favored the
several reasons. Maybe the dress: warm yellow-gray and more conservative subjects,
guitarists were successors to pink tones where the figure solid figures, and centered
Renoir’s earlier paintings of catches the light, and cool compositions of earlier,
young women playing the blue-gray and green shades in academic art. Like fellow
piano. Or perhaps he was the shadows. Rich and artists Monet and Cassatt, he
inspired by the seductive glowing, the color harmonies wondered if the
Spanish dancer “la Belle capture the play of light and Impressionists’views of a
Otero,” who performed with shadow that so interested the fleeting moment in modern
Paris’s famous entertainment
25
life would interest future generations.
Looking Questions
• This painting shows us a • Where do you see
woman playing a guitar curving lines?
as she sits on a cushioned • What color are the
chair. Describe the shadows?
furnishings that you see. • What is the focal point of
• What shapes and colors this painting?
are repeated in this • How did the artist
image? indicate the focal point?
26
Lesson #9
Edgar Degas (duh-GAH)
French, 1834-1917
Before the Performance,
about 1896-98
Oil on paper laid on canvas
18 3/4 x 24 3/4 in.
27
looser style that would painters. This looser style was due, in part, to his failing
inspire a new generation of eyesight.
Looking Questions
• Squint your eyes and • What did the artist crop
describe the colors, or cut off at the edges of • Imagine that all the
shapes, and patterns that this painting? dancers were wearing
you see. • Cover the bottom third of pink instead of yellow
• Where is the source of the transparency. How and orange. How would
light? does it change? it change the mood of the
• Name the colors that are • Cover all of the painting?
repeated. transparency except one
• What complementary of the dancers. What did
colors do you see? the artist choose to
simplify or eliminate?
Activities
be taken instead. The Social Studies
The Arts computer was invented in the This painting has several
Look at all the different middle of the 20th century. colors, like buttery yellows
positions the dancers’bodies What new kinds of art has the and peachy oranges. Write a
take in the painting. Recruit a computer influenced or recipe for this painting.
few willing students to pose enabled? Ask the students to Include measurements, all the
in the same positions the write an essay about these ingredients you can find, the
dancers took while the artist, two inventions and their time to prepare, and any
Edgar Degas, sketched, impact on the world of art. special “cooking” or
photographed, or painted “viewing/consuming”
them. The rest of the students Language Arts instructions. Write another
will sketch a series of quick Have the students compose a recipe for one of the other
drawings capturing the story describing the move- transparencies (maybe the
movement and gesture of the ments of the dancers in the other Degas) and see if
body rather than making it painting. List words that someone else can guess
anatomically correct. Use describe the dancers’actions. which recipe matches each
charcoal crayons or soft What happened after the image. For example: “You
pencils for this exercise. moment you see in the will need orange, yellow,
image? The title of the brown, black, white, and
Math or Science painting is Before the green paint. Mix paint to
One influence on Performance. Have the taste. Apply paint liberally to
Impressionist painting was students write what they background, foreground, and
the invention of the camera in imagine the performance dancers’costumes and
the middle of the 19th would be like. sparingly to bodies and faces.
century. There was no longer Sprinkle white paint to
a need to paint a person or garnish. Enjoy this satisfying
event with complete accuracy painting again and again!”
because a photograph could
28
stronger. For example, red strengthens green,
blue strengthens orange, and yellow
Glossary strengthens violet.
Academy or Academic art - Art created
according to the prescriptions of the official composition - The combination of elements
academies of painting and sculpture which in a painting or other work of art that provides
flourished in Europe from the 17th to the 19th order or structure to the scene.
centuries. French Academic art of the late
19th century was characterized by idealized cool color - A color that suggests sensations
mythological or historical subject matter, of coolness, such as blue or its associated
mixed, modulated colors, and a smooth, hues, blue-green, and blue-violet. In painting,
highly polished finish. cool colors appear to recede from the picture
plane and therefore suggest depth.
background - The surface or area against
which objects are seen or represented. dandy - A man who affects extreme elegance
in clothes and manners.
Barbizon School - A group of French flâneur (Fr.) - This French word describes an
painters who, from about 1830 to 1870, lived idler or stroller.
in or near the town of Barbizon, at the edge of
the forest of Fontainebleau in France. There focal point - The area in a pictorial
they painted the animals, landscapes, and composition to which the eye returns most
people of the region. The group was naturally.
distinguished by painting outdoors rather than
in studios, as had generally been the practice. foreground - The part of a picture or view
The work of the Barbizon painters included a depicted as nearest to the viewer.
wider scope of subject matter, greater realism,
and fresher color than that of the other French horizon line - In linear perspective, the line
painters of the time, who followed the where sky and earth seem to meet. It is on this
traditions of historical scenes and idealized line that the vanishing point is located.
style favored by the conservative French
Academy. The Barbizon painters are Japonisme (Fr.) - The widespread interest in
considered by many as the precursors of all things Japanese - art, furnishings, costume,
Impressionism in their informality and etc. - in France after the opening of Japan to
insistence on naturalness rather than idealism. Western trade in 1854. The color harmonies,
simple designs, asymmetrical compositions,
color wheel - Conventional means of and flat forms of Japanese wood block prints
arranging the primary colors (blue, red, and strongly influenced Impressionist and Post-
yellow), their principal mixtures or secondary Impressionist art.
colors (orange, green, and violet), and other
principal mixtures or hues, so as to landscape - A landscape is a view or vista of
demonstrate their sequential relationship. natural scenery on land, or a representation,
Colors that fall directly opposite one another especially painting, of the outdoors.
in the color circle are called complementary
colors. linear perspective - Uses real or suggested
lines converging on a vanishing point or
complementary color - A primary color points on the horizon line or at eye level, and
whose placement opposite the secondary color linking receding planes as they converge. It
produced by the other two primaries on the provides a three-dimensional world on a two-
color circle makes it seem brighter or dimensional surface.
29
middle ground - The part of a picture or view provenance - The record of all known
depicted as the middle to the viewer. previous ownership and locations of a work of
art.
one-point perspective - Linear perspective in
which the eye is drawn towards a single The Salon - An official French exhibition of
vanishing point in the center of the paintings was first held in 1667 under royal
composition, usually on the horizon line. patronage in the Salon d’Apollon in the
Synonym: centralized perspective. Louvre. From 1667 to 1737 the exhibit was
held annually; from 1737 to the French
optical mixtures - Pure primary colors used Revolution it was held biannually. After the
in small touches in close juxtaposition so that French Revolution (1789-99), the Salon took
they seem to merge, producing secondary place once again annually. It continued to be
colors. This effect was used in Impressionist officially administered until 1881, when the
art. government withdrew. In that year a
committee of ninety artists, elected by all who
outline - In drawing, an imaginary line which had exhibited in previous Salons, met to set
marks the boundary of an object or figure, up the Soc? ti? Nationale des Beaux-Arts.
without taking into consideration light, shade, This organization held an annual exhibition of
internal modeling, or color. its own from 1880 onwards.
overlap - To extend over and cover part of. self-portrait - An artistic image of the artist,
especially one showing the face.
palette - 1. A portable tray (usually made of
wood) on which an artist sets out his colors still life - A painting of objects.
and also mixes them. 2. By extension, the
choice of colors seen in his or her work. underpainting - In traditional oil painting,
the process of painting the canvas in a neutral
perspective - The method of representing a color as a first step in the development of
three-dimensional object, or a particular tonal values and of the composition as a
volume of space, on a flat or nearly flat whole.
surface.
vanishing point - In perspective, the point
(en) plein air painting - 1. Painted out of towards which a set of lines, which are in
doors. The practice may have been initiated reality parallel to each other, seem to
by François Desportes in the early 18th converge.
century but was made a matter of doctrine by
the Impressionists. 2. Sometimes incorrectly warm color - A color which suggests
applied to landscapes painted in the studio sensations of warmness, such as red or
which employ such a direct technique that yellow.
they seem to have been done out of doors. Warm colors tend to project from the picture
plane.
primary colors - Blue, yellow, and red. The
colors from which all others are derived, and
which cannot be resolved or decomposed into Resource for art terms: Lucie-Smith, Edward. The
other colors. Thames and Hudson Dictionary of Art Terms. London,
1984. Most of the definitions in the glossary are from
this dictionary.
30
briefly examines his life and influences and
has many reproductions of his works.
Selected
Bibliography & Skira-Venturi, Rosabianca. A Weekend with
Van Gogh. New York: Rizzoli, 1993. It
Resources for briefly examines his life and influences and
has many reproductions of his works.
Educators
Welton, Jude. Monet. [Eyewitness Art series].
London: D. Kindersley/The Musée
Books Marmottan, Paris, 1992. This book uses the
same format for each artist with many
Children reproductions, details, and text.
Bjork, Christina and Anderson, Lena. Linnea Welton, Jude. Impressionism. [Eyewitness Art
in Monet’s Garden. Stockholm: R & S Books, series]. New York: D. Kindersley/The Art
1987. This is a story of a little girl’s interest in Institute of Chicago, 1993. This book
Monet and her visit to Monet’s home. combines biography and artistic analysis with
photos of selected works. It has many detailed
Muhlberger, Richard. What Makes a Degas a reproductions.
Degas? New York: Viking/Metropolitan
Museum of Art, 1993. The book explores Adults
such art topics as style, composition, color,
and subject matter as they relate to twelve Bade, Patrick. Degas: The Masterworks. New
works by Degas. York: Portland House, 1991. The author
outlines Degas’life, influences, and works
Muhlberger, Richard. What Makes a Monet a and contains many color reproductions with
Monet? New York: Viking/Metropolitan commentary.
Museum of Art, 1993. The book explores
such art topics as style, composition, color, Denvir, Bernard. The Impressionists at First
and subject matter as they relate to twelve Hand [World of Art series]. New York:
works by Monet. Thames and Hudson, 1987. This paperback
book has first hand accounts by Impressionist
Muhlberger, Richard. What Makes a Van artists and writers about their lives.
Gogh a Van Gogh? New York: Viking/
Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1993. The book de la Faille, J.B. The Works of Vincent van
explores such art topics as style, composition, Gogh: His Paintings and Drawings.
color, and subject matter as they relate to Amsterdam: Reynal and Co./Wm. Morrow,
twelve works by van Gogh. 1970. Described as the ÒdefinitiveÓ catalog
of van Gogh’s work, and the only book that
Salvi, Francesco. The Impressionists: The contains reproductions of all of his known
Origin of Modern Painting. [Masters of Arts paintings and drawings.
Series]. New York: Peter Bedrich Boales,
1994. The book includes information on Lloyd, Christopher. Pissarro. New York:
individual artists, list of key dates, historical Phaidon, 1979. Forty-eight full-color plates
background, and nice illustrations. with commentary and analysis.
Skira-Venturi, Rosabianca. A Weekend with Moffet, Charles S., Benson, Ruth and
Renoir. New York: Rizzoli, 1991. The book Wiseman, Fronia E. The New Painting:
Impressionism 1874-1886. Seattle: R. Barton
31
distributors for the United States and Canada, Videos
The University of Washington Press, ©1986,
1989. This catalogue provides an overview of
the paintings in the Impressionist exhibition. Children
Nunhead, Nancy. Claude Monet. London: Linnea in Monet’s Garden. The Linnea
Park Lane, 1994. Nunhead briefly introduces Swedish Film Institute, Feature Institute
Monet’s life and the development of his work Nordic Film, and TV Fund, 1993. This is a
with over ninety large, full-color plates. 30-minute story of a little girl’s interest in
Monet and her visit to Monet’s home.
Rewald, John. The History of Impressionism.
New York Graphic Society Boston/The Adults
Museum of Modern Art, New York, Fourth
revised edition, 1973. The 672-page book has An Age of Reason, An Age of Passion: A
623 illustrations, and is a comprehensive Fresh View, Impressionism and Post-
reference. Impressionism.
Produced by WNET, New York. West Long
Romano, Eileen. The Impressionists Their Branch, NJ: Kultur, 1989. This two-part video
Lives, Their World, and Their Paintings. New series was presented by PBS and is 114
York: Penguin Studio, 1997. This book is a minutes long.
concise introduction to Impressionism
including the historical context. The Landscape of Pleasure. Written and
presented by Robert Hughes, The Ambrose
Stuckey, Charles. Berthe Morisot, video publishers, New York, 1988. The Shock
Impressionist. New York: Hudson Hills Press, of The New series explains the basics of
1987. It has biographical information and Impressionism in 52 minutes.
many full-color reproductions.
Monet, a Legacy of Light. Boston WGBH by
White, Barbara Ehrlich. Renoir, His Life, Art Public Media Home Vision, 1989. It is a 30-
and Letters. Harry N. Abrams, Inc. minute introduction to MonetÕs life and art.
Publishers, New York. 1984. The book has
detailed information; 391 illustrations. Web Sites
White, Barbara Ehrlich. Impressionists Side The Claude Monet Home Page
by Side: Their Friendships, Rivalries and www.columbia.edu/~jns16/
Artistic Exchanges. New York: Knopf, 1996. monet_html/monet.html
White focuses on seven pairs of artists: Degas This is an introduction to Monet with
and Manet, Monet and Renoir, Cézanne and biographical information and an overview of
Pissarro, Manet and Morisot, Cassatt and Impressionism. Discussion of Monet’s
Degas, Morisot and Renoir, Cassatt and methods and techniques, formal and thematic
Morisot. She compares their treatment of analysis of one of his works. Bibliography is
identical subjects using reproductions, and provided. Some sections are all text. It has
text. great reproductions and links to other sites.
33
Chiyo Ishikawa, Curator of European Painting
Credits and Special at the Seattle Art Museum for their assistance.
34