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Impressionism was a 19th Century Art Movement that began as a loose association of Paris -based Artist s who began publicly Exhibiting their art in the 1860s . The name of the movement is derived from Claude Monet 's '' Impression, Sunrise (Impression, soleil levant)''. Critic Louis Leroy inadvertently Coined the term in a satiric review published in '' Le Charivari ''. The influence of Impressionist thought spread beyond the art world, leading to Impressionist Music and Impressionist Literature . Characteristics of Impressionist painting include visible brushstrokes, light colors, open composition, emphasis on light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage of time), ordinary subject matter, and unusual visual angles. Impressionism also describes art done in this style, but outside of the late 19th Century time period. OVERVIEW Radicals in their time, early Impressionists broke the picture-making rules of academic painting. They began by giving colors, freely brushed, primacy over line, drawing inspiration from the work of painters such as Eugene Delacroix . They also brought the act of painting outside of the studio, not only painting Landscape s outdoors but also, when it suited, Still Life s and Portrait s. The techniques of Impressionism gradually grew more specific to the movement, and encompassed what its adherents argued was a different way of seeing. They painted " En Plein Air " (outdoors) rather than in a studio as was the custom, capturing the momentary and transient aspects of sunlight. By the last years of the 19th century, the public came to believe that these artists had captured a fresh and original vision, even if it did not meet with approval of the artistic establishment. The Impressionists looked to beauty in candid poses and compositions, in the play of light and in a bright and varied use of colour. Impressionist paintings feature short, "broken" brush strokes of pure, untinted and unmixed colour. Compositions are sometimes innovative, and the emphasis is on overall effect rather than upon details. The brushstrokes remain visible and part of the composition, as opposed to the then current technique of smoothly modeling without visible brush strokes. Impressionism rose in France at the same time that painters in other countries were similarly exploring new methods of painting. For example, the artists known as the Macchiaioli in Italy, Edvard Munch in Norway and Winslow Homer in the United States were all exploring the subject of modern life in ways which dismayed traditionalists. By recreating the sensation in the eye that views the subject, rather than recreating the subject, and by creating a welter of techniques and forms, Impressionism became seminal to various movements in painting which would follow, including Post-Impressionism , Fauvism , Cubism and individual painters such as Paul Gauguin , Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Cezanne who are loosely described as Impressionists but defy easy categorization. BEGINNINGS In an atmosphere of change as Emperor Napoleon III rebuilt Paris and waged war, the Académie Des Beaux-arts dominated the French art scene in the middle of the 19th century. Art at the time was considered a conservative enterprise whose innovations fell within the Académie's defined borders. The Académie set the standards for French painting. In addition to dictating the content of paintings (historical subjects, religious themes, and portraits were valued), the Académie commanded which techniques artists used. They valued somber, conservative colours. Refined images, mirroring reality when closely examined, were esteemed. The Académie encouraged artists to eliminate all traces of brush strokes — essentially isolating art from the artist's personality, emotions, and working techniques. The Académie held an annual art show — Salon De Paris , and artists whose work displayed in the show won prizes and garnered commissions to create more art. Only art selected by the Académie jury was exhibited in the show. The standards of the juries about suitable art for the salon reflected the values of the Académie. The young artists painted in a lighter and brighter style than most of the generation before them, extending the Realism style of Gustave Courbet and the Barbizon School . They submitted their art to the Salon, and the juries rejected the pieces. A core group of them, Claude Monet , Pierre Auguste Renoir and Alfred Sisley , who had studied under Charles Gleyre , became friends and often painted together. In 1863 , the jury rejected '' The Luncheon On The Grass '' ''(Le déjeuner sur l'herbe)'' by Édouard Manet primarily because it depicted a nude woman with two clothed men on a picnic. According to the jury, nudes were acceptable in historical and allegorical paintings, but to show them in common settings was forbidden. Manet felt humiliated by the sharply worded rejection of the jury, which set off a firestorm among many French artists. Although Manet did not consider himself an Impressionist, he led discussions at Café Guerbois where the Impressionists gathered, and influenced the explorations of the artistic group. After seeing the rejected works in 1863, Emperor Napoleon III decreed that the public be allowed to judge the work themselves, and the Salon Des Refusés (Salon of the Refused) was organized. For years art critics rebuked the Salon des Refusés, and in April of 1874 the Impressionists (though not yet known by the name) organized their own exhibition, the first of eight that the group would present between 1874 and 1886. After seeing the show, critic Louis Leroy (an engraver, painter, and successful playwright), wrote a scathing review in the ''Le Charivari'' newspaper. Targeting a painting by a then obscure artist he titled his article, ''The Exhibition of the Impressionists''. Leroy declared that '' Impression, Sunrise '' ''(Impression, soleil levant)'' by Claude Monet was at most a sketch and could hardly be termed a finished work. Leroy wrote, in the form of a dialog between viewers, Impression — I was certain of it. I was just telling myself that, since I was impressed, there had to be some impression in it … and what freedom, what ease of workmanship! Wallpaper in its embryonic state is more finished than that seascape. The term "Impressionists" gained favor with the artists, not as a term of derision, but as a badge of honor. A spirit of rebellion and independence bound the movement together, even though the individual artists differed in style and temperament. Monet, Sisley, Berthe Morisot and Camille Pissarro may be considered the "purest" Impressionists, in their consistent pursuit of an art of spontaneity, sunlight, and color. Edgar Degas rejected much of this, as he believed in the primacy of drawing over color and preferred painting indoors. Renoir turned against Impressionism for a time in the 1880s, and never entirely regained his commitment to its ideas. Although thirty-one artists participated in the first Impressionist exhibition, the number and the personnel varied widely in subsequent years. Disagreements grew over the invitation of outsiders like Gauguin and Seurat to exhibit with the group, and Pissarro was the only artist to show at all eight Impressionist exhibitions. IMPRESSIONIST TECHNIQUES
Painters throughout history had occasionally used these methods, but Impressionists were the first to use all of them together and with such boldness. Earlier artists whose works display these techniques include Frans Hals , Diego Velázquez , Peter Paul Rubens , John Constable , and J. M. W. Turner . Other examples include Theodore Rousseau , Gustave Courbet , Camille Corot , Eugene Boudin , and Eugène Delacroix , French painters of the generation preceding the Impressionists. Impressionists took advantage of the mid-century introduction of premixed paints in tubes (resembling modern toothpaste tubes) which allowed artists to work more spontaneously both outdoors and indoors. Previously, each painter made his or her own paints by grinding and mixing dry pigment powders with linseed oil. CONTENT AND COMPOSITION Before the Impressionists other painters, such as 17th century Dutch painters like Jan Steen , had focused on common subjects, but according to traditional composition. The Impressionists were also interested in mundane subject matter, but their work differed because of new influences. Photography was gaining popularity, and as cameras became more portable, photographs became more candid. Photography inspired impressionists to capture the moment, not only in the fleeting lights of a landscape, but in the day-to-day lives of people. Another major infuence was Japanese art prints ( Japonism ), which had originally come into the country as wrapping paper for imported goods. The art of these prints, also contributed significantly to the "snapshot" angles, and unconventional compositions, which are a characteristic of the movement. Edgar Degas ' ''The Dance Class'' ''(La classe de danse)'' shows both influences. A dancer is caught in adjusting her costume, and the lower right quadrant of the picture contains empty floor space. POST-IMPRESSIONISM : ''See main article Post-impressionism '' Post-Impressionism developed from Impressionism. From the 1880s several artists began to develop different precepts for the use of color, pattern, form and line, derived from the Impressionist example: Vincent Van Gogh , Paul Gauguin , Georges Seurat , Paul Cezanne and Henri De Toulouse-Lautrec . Their work is known as Post-impressionism. Some of the original Impressionist artists also ventured into this new territory, particularly Camille Pissarro , and even Monet abandoned strict "plein air" painting. Despite this, the work of the original Impressionist painters is categorised under Impressionism. PAINTERS KNOWN AS IMPRESSIONISTS
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