Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French

art movement An art movement is a tendency or style in art with a specific art philosophy or goal, followed by a group of artists during a specific period of time, (usually a few months, years or decades) or, at least, with the heyday of the movement defined ...

that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of

Fauvism Fauvism ( ) is a style of painting and an art movement that emerged in France at the beginning of the 20th century. It was the style of (, ''the wild beasts''), a group of modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong col ...

. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction against Impressionists' concern for the naturalistic depiction of light and colour. Its broad emphasis on abstract qualities or symbolic content means Post-Impressionism encompasses Les Nabis, Neo-Impressionism, Symbolism, Cloisonnism, the

Pont-Aven School Pont-Aven School (; ) encompasses works of art influenced by the Breton town of Pont-Aven and its surroundings. Originally the term applied to works created in the artists' colony at Pont-Aven, which started to emerge in the 1850s and lasted until ...

, and Synthetism, along with some later Impressionists' work. The movement's principal artists were

Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter whose work introduced new modes of representation, influenced avant-garde artistic movements of the early 20th century a ...

(known as the father of Post-Impressionism),

Paul Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramist, and writer, whose work has been primarily associated with the Post-Impressionist and Symbolist movements. He was also an influ ...

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artworks ...

and Georges Seurat. The term Post-Impressionism was first used by art critic

Roger Fry Roger Eliot Fry (14 December 1866 – 9 September 1934) was an English painter and art critic, critic, and a member of the Bloomsbury Group. Establishing his reputation as a scholar of the Old Masters, he became an advocate of more recent ...

in 1906.Peter Morrin, Judith Zilczer, William C. Agee, ''The Advent of Modernism. Post-Impressionism and North American Art, 1900-1918'', High Museum of Art, 1986 Critic

Frank Rutter Francis Vane Phipson Rutter (17 February 1876 – 18 April 1937)"Rutter, Frank V. P.", ''Who Was Who'', A & C Black, 1920–2007; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007. Retrieved froukwhoswho8 August 2008. was a British art art critic, c ...

in a review of the Salon d'Automne published in ''Art News'', 15 October 1910, described Othon Friesz as a "post-impressionist leader"; there was also an advert for the show ''The Post-Impressionists of France''.Bullen, J. B. ''Post-impressionists in England'', p.37. Routledge, 1988. , Three weeks later, Roger Fry used the term again when he organised the 1910 exhibition ''Manet and the Post-Impressionists'', defining it as the development of French art since

Édouard Manet Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French Modernism, modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism (art movement), R ...

. Post-Impressionists extended

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

while rejecting its limitations: they continued using vivid colours, sometimes using

impasto Impasto is a technique used in painting, where paint is laid on an area of the surface thickly, usually thick enough that the brush or painting-knife strokes are visible. Paint can also be mixed right on the canvas. When dry, impasto provides tex ...

(thick application of paint) and painting from life, but were more inclined to emphasize geometric forms, distort form for expressive effect, and use unnatural or modified colour.

Overview

The Post-Impressionists were dissatisfied with what they felt was the triviality of subject matter and the loss of structure in Impressionist paintings, though they did not agree on the way forward. Georges Seurat and his followers concerned themselves with pointillism, the systematic use of tiny dots of colour.

set out to restore a sense of order and structure to painting, to "make of Impressionism something solid and durable, like the art of the museums". He achieved this by reducing objects to their basic shapes while retaining the saturated colours of Impressionism. The Impressionist Camille Pissarro experimented with Neo-Impressionist ideas between the mid-1880s and the early 1890s. Discontented with what he referred to as romantic Impressionism, he investigated pointillism, which he called scientific Impressionism, before returning to a purer

in the last decade of his life.

often used vibrant colour and conspicuous brushstrokes to convey his feelings and his state of mind. Although they often exhibited together, Post-Impressionist artists were not in agreement concerning a cohesive movement. Yet, the abstract concerns of harmony and structural arrangement, in the work of all these artists, took precedence over naturalism. Artists such as Seurat adopted a meticulously scientific approach to colour and composition.

Defining Post-Impressionism

The term was used in 1906, and again in 1910 by

in the title of an exhibition of modern French painters: ''Manet and the Post-Impressionists'', organized by Fry for the

Grafton Galleries The Grafton Galleries, often referred to as the Grafton Gallery, was an art gallery in Mayfair, London. The French art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel showed the first major exhibition in Britain of Impressionist paintings there in 1905. Roger Fry's t ...

in London. Three weeks before Fry's show, art critic

had put the term ''Post-Impressionist'' in print in ''Art News'' of 15 October 1910, during a review of the Salon d'Automne, where he described Othon Friesz as a "post-impressionist leader"; there was also an advert in the journal for the show ''The Post-Impressionists of France''. Most of the artists in Fry's exhibition were younger than the Impressionists. Fry later explained: "For purposes of convenience, it was necessary to give these artists a name, and I chose, as being the vaguest and most non-committal, the name of Post-Impressionism. This merely stated their position in time relatively to the Impressionist movement."

John Rewald John Rewald (May 12, 1912 – February 2, 1994) was an American academic, author and art historian. He was known as a scholar of Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Cézanne, Renoir, Pissarro, Seurat, and other French painters of the late 19th cen ...

limited the scope to the years between 1886 and 1892 in his pioneering publication on ''Post-Impressionism: From Van Gogh to Gauguin'' (1956). Rewald considered this a continuation of his 1946 study, ''History of Impressionism'', and pointed out that a "subsequent volume dedicated to the second half of the post-impressionist period":Rewald, John: ''Post-Impressionism: From Van Gogh to Gauguin'', revised edition: Secker & Warburg, London, 1978, p. 9. ''Post-Impressionism: From Gauguin to Matisse'', was to follow. This volume would extend the period covered to other artistic movements derived from Impressionism, though confined to the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Rewald focused on such outstanding early Post-Impressionists active in France as

van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artwork ...

Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramist, and writer, whose work has been primarily associated with the Post-Impressionist and Symbolist movements. He was also an influ ...

Seurat Georges Pierre Seurat ( , ; ; 2 December 1859 – 29 March 1891) was a French post-Impressionist artist. He devised the painting techniques known as chromoluminarism and pointillism and used conté crayon for drawings on paper with a rough ...

, and Redon. He explored their relationships as well as the artistic circles they frequented (or were in opposition to), including: * Neo-Impressionism: ridiculed by contemporary art critics as well as artists as Pointillism;

and Signac would have preferred other terms:

Divisionism Divisionism, also called chromoluminarism, is the characteristic style in Neo-Impressionist painting defined by the separation of colors into individual dots or patches that interact optically..Homer, William I. ''Seurat and the Science of Pain ...

for example * Cloisonnism: a short-lived term introduced in 1888 by the art critic Édouard Dujardin, was to promote the work of

Louis Anquetin Louis Émile Anquetin (26 January 1861 – 19 August 1932) was a French painting, painter. Biography Anquetin was born in Étrépagny, France, and educated at the Lycée Pierre Corneille (Rouen), Lycée Pierre Corneille in Rouen. In 1882 he cam ...

, and was later also applied to contemporary works of his friend Émile Bernard * Synthetism: another short-lived term coined in 1889 to distinguish recent works of Gauguin and Bernard from that of more traditional Impressionists exhibiting with them at the Café Volpini. *

: implying little more than that the artists involved had been working for a while in Pont-Aven or elsewhere in Brittany. * Symbolism: a term highly welcomed by vanguard critics in 1891, when Gauguin dropped Synthetism as soon as he was acclaimed to be the leader of Symbolism in painting. Furthermore, in his introduction to Post-Impressionism, Rewald opted for a second volume featuring Toulouse-Lautrec,

Henri Rousseau Henri Julien Félix Rousseau (; 21 May 1844 – 2 September 1910)
at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, Gug ...

"le Douanier", Les Nabis and Cézanne as well as the Fauves, the young

Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

and Gauguin's last trip to the

South Seas Today the term South Seas, or South Sea, most commonly refers to the portion of the Pacific Ocean south of the equator. The term South Sea may also be used synonymously for Oceania, or even more narrowly for Polynesia or the Polynesian Triangle ...

; it was to expand the period covered at least into the first decade of the 20th century—yet this second volume remained unfinished.

Reviews and adjustments

Rewald wrote that "the term 'Post-Impressionism' is not a very precise one, though a very convenient one"; convenient, when the term is by definition limited to French visual arts derived from Impressionism since 1886. Rewald's approach to historical data was narrative rather than analytic, and beyond this point he believed it would be sufficient to "let the sources speak for themselves." Rival terms like

Modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

or Symbolism were never as easy to handle, for they covered literature, architecture and other arts as well, and they expanded to other countries. *

, thus, is now considered to be the central movement within ''international'' western civilization with its original roots in France, going back beyond the French Revolution to the

Age of Enlightenment The Age of Enlightenment (also the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment) was a Europe, European Intellect, intellectual and Philosophy, philosophical movement active from the late 17th to early 19th century. Chiefly valuing knowledge gained th ...

. * Symbolism, however, is considered to be a concept which emerged a century later in France, and implied an individual approach. Local national traditions as well as individual settings therefore could stand side by side, and from the very beginning a broad variety of artists practicing some kind of symbolic imagery, ranged between extreme positions: The Nabis for example united to find synthesis of tradition and brand new form, while others kept to traditional, more or less academic forms, when they were looking for fresh contents: Symbolism is therefore often linked to fantastic, esoteric, erotic and other non-realist subject matter. To meet the recent discussion, the connotations of the term 'Post-Impressionism' were challenged again: Alan Bowness and his collaborators expanded the period covered forward to 1914 and the beginning of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, but limited their approach widely on the 1890s to France. Other European countries are pushed back to standard connotations, and Eastern Europe is completely excluded. In Germany, it was Paul Baum and Carl Schmitz-Pleis who, in retrospect, provided the decisive impetus. So, while a split may be seen between classical 'Impressionism' and 'Post-Impressionism' in 1886, the end and the extent of 'Post-Impressionism' remains under discussion. For Bowness and his contributors as well as for Rewald, '

Cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement which began in Paris. It revolutionized painting and the visual arts, and sparked artistic innovations in music, ballet, literature, and architecture. Cubist subjects are analyzed, broke ...

' was an absolutely fresh start, and so Cubism has been seen in France since the beginning, and later in England. Meanwhile, Eastern European artists, however, did not care so much for western traditions, and proceeded to manners of painting called abstract and suprematic—terms expanding far into the 20th century. According to the present state of discussion, ''Post-Impressionism'' is a term best used within Rewald's definition in a strictly historical manner, concentrating on French art between 1886 and 1914, and re-considering the altered positions of '' impressionist'' painters like

Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, ; ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of Impressionism painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During his ...

, Camille Pissarro,

Auguste Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; ; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French people, French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionism, Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially femininity, fe ...

, and others—as well as all new schools and movements at the turn of the century: from Cloisonnism to

. The declarations of war, in July/August 1914, indicate probably far more than the beginning of a

World War A world war is an international War, conflict that involves most or all of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World War I ...

—they signal a major break in European cultural history, too. Along with general art history information given about "Post-Impressionism" works, there are many museums that offer additional history, information and gallery works, both online and in house, that can help viewers understand a deeper meaning of "Post-Impressionism" in terms of fine art and traditional art applications.

Post-Impression in specific countries

''The Advent of Modernism: Post-impressionism and North American Art, 1900-1918'' by Peter Morrin, Judith Zilczer, and William C. Agee, the catalogue for an exhibition at the

High Museum of Art The High Museum of Art (colloquially the High) is the largest museum for visual art in the Southeastern United States. Located in Atlanta, Georgia (on Peachtree Street in Midtown, the city's arts district), the High is 312,000 square feet (28, ...

, Atlanta in 1986, gave a major overview of Post-Impressionism in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

Canada

Canadian Post-Impressionism is an offshoot of Post-Impressionism. In 1913, the Art Association of Montreal's Spring show included the work of Randolph Hewton, A. Y. Jackson and John Lyman: it was reviewed with sharp criticism by the ''Montreal Daily Witness'' and the ''Montreal Daily Star''. Post-Impressionism was extended to include a painting by Lyman, who had studied with

Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual arts, visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, ...

. Lyman wrote in defence of the term and defined it. He referred to the British show which he described as a great exhibition of modern art.

Canadian artists and exhibitions

A wide and diverse variety of artists are called by this name in Canada. Among them are James Wilson Morrice, John Lyman, David Milne, and Tom Thomson, members of the

Group of Seven The Group of Seven (G7) is an Intergovernmentalism, intergovernmental political and economic forum consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States; additionally, the European Union (EU) is a "non- ...

, and Emily Carr. In 2001, the Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa organized the travelling exhibition ''The Birth of the Modern: Post-Impressionism in Canada, 1900-1920''.

Gallery of major Post-Impressionist artists

File:Odilon Redon - The Cyclops, c. 1914.jpg,

Odilon Redon Odilon Redon (born Bertrand Redon; ; 20 April 18406 July 1916) was a French Symbolist painting, Symbolist draftsman, printmaker, and painter. Early in his career, both before and after fighting in the Franco-Prussian War, Redon worked almost exc ...

(1840–1916) File:Henri Rousseau - Le Rêve - Google Art Project.jpg,

Henri Rousseau Henri Julien Félix Rousseau (; 21 May 1844 – 2 September 1910)
at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, Gug ...

(1844–1910) File:Paul Gauguin 128.jpg,

(1848–1903) File:Vincent Willem van Gogh 132.jpg,

(1853–1890) File:Charles Théophile Angrand 001.jpg, Charles Angrand (1854–1926) File:Henri-Edmond Cross, 1908, Les cyprès à Cagnes, oil on canvas, 81 x 100 cm, Musée d'Orsay, Paris.jpg, Henri-Edmond Cross (1856–1910) File:Maximilien Luce - 'Montmartre, de la rue Cortot, vue vers saint-denis', oil on canvas painting, c. 1900.jpg, Maximilien Luce (1858–1941) File:Georges Seurat - A Sunday on La Grande Jatte -- 1884 - Google Art Project.jpg, Georges Seurat (1859–1891) File:Eugène Chigot (French, 1860-1927) Jeune femme au bord de l'étang (c1905).jpg, Eugène Chigot (1860-1923) File:Schutzenberger Iles du Rhin.jpg, René Schützenberger (1860–1916) File:Intérieur aux deux verres.jpg, Marius Borgeaud (1861–1924) File:WLANL - artanonymous - Zelfportret (1).jpg,

Charles Laval Charles Laval (; 17 March 1862 – 27 April 1894) was a French painter associated with the Synthetic movement and Pont-Aven School. Laval was born in Paris, and was a contemporary and friend of Paul Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh. Gauguin cre ...

(1862–1894) File:Théo van Rysselberghe - Portrait of Alice Sèthe.jpg,

Théo van Rysselberghe Théophile "Théo" van Rysselberghe (23 November 1862 – 13 December 1926) was a Belgian Neo-impressionism, neo-impressionist Painting, painter, who played a pivotal role in the European art scene at the turn of the twentieth century. Bi ...

(1862–1926) File:Signac - Portrait de Félix Fénéon.jpg, Paul Signac (1863–1935) File:Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec 036.jpg,

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Count, ''Comte'' Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa (24 November 1864 – 9 September 1901), known as Toulouse-Lautrec (), was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, caricaturist, and illustrator whose immersion in the colour ...

(1864–1901) File:Serusier - the talisman.JPG, Paul Sérusier (1864–1927) File:Deborne Church.jpg, Robert Deborne (1870–1944) File:Paesaggio nabi paul ranson.jpg, Paul Ranson (1864–1909) File:Georges Lemmen - Plage à Heist.jpg, Georges Lemmen (1865–1916) File:Valloton Frau mit Dienstmagd beim Baden.jpg,

Félix Vallotton Félix Édouard Vallotton (; December 28, 1865December 29, 1925) was a Swiss and French painter and printmaker associated with the group of artists known as '. He was an important figure in the development of the modern woodcut. He painted portra ...

(1865–1925) File:The dining room in the country by Pierre Bonnard (1913).jpg, Pierre Bonnard (1867–1947) File:Édouard Vuillard 001.jpg,

Édouard Vuillard Jean-Édouard Vuillard (; 11 November 186821 June 1940) was a French painter, decorative artist, and printmaker. From 1891 through 1900, Vuillard was a member of the avant garde artistic group Les Nabis, creating paintings that assembled areas ...

(1868–1940) File:Émile Bernard 1888-08 - Breton Women in the Meadow (Le Pardon de Pont-Aven).jpg, Émile Bernard (1868–1941) File:Maurice Denis - Wave - Google Art Project.jpg,

Maurice Denis Maurice Denis (; 25 November 1870 – 13 November 1943) was a French painter, decorative artist, and writer. An important figure in the transitional period between impressionism and modern art, he is associated with '' Les Nabis'', symbolism, ...

(1870–1943) File:SCHMITZ-PLEIS Dame in Aquamarin 1911.jpg, Carl-Schmitz-Pleis (1877– 1943) File:Robert Antoine Pinchon, Le Pont aux Anglais, soleil couchant, 1905, oil on canvas, 54 x 73 cm, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen.jpg, Robert Antoine Pinchon (1886–1943)

References and sources

References

Sources

*Bowness, Alan, et alt.: ''Post-Impressionism. Cross-Currents in European Painting'', Royal Academy of Arts & Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London 1979

External links

"Post-Impressionists"
Walter Sickert's review in '' The Fortnightly Review'' of the "Manet and the Post-Impressionists" exhibition at the Grafton Galleries
"Post-Impressionism"
Roger Fry's lecture on the closing of the "Manet and the Post-Impressionists" exhibition at the Grafton Galleries, as published in '' The Fortnightly Review''
''Georges Seurat, 1859–1891''
a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art
''Toulouse-Lautrec in the Metropolitan Museum of Art''
a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art
"Roger Fry, Walter Sickert and Post-Impressionism at the Grafton Galleries"
a reflection by Marnin Young on the 1910–1911 exhibition {{Authority control Modernism Art movements