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Post-Impressionism (1886-1906)

 

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OVERVIEW

Post-Impressionism is the term coined by the British artist and art critic Roger Fry in 1910 to describe the development of French art since Manet. The exhibition that opened on the 8th of November 1910 was called "Manet and the Post-Impressionists." In a way, it was an explicitly anti-Impressionist manifesto. Fry took Manet as the starting point. Then there was massive representation of Gauguin, Van Gogh, and Cézanne. Seurat, Sérusier, Denis, Vallotton, and Redon were also represented, but not as widely. Admittedly, the Post-Impressionism net has been spread wider than before in the exhibition, but all of the great Post-Impressionist masters have been felt to be associated with the exhibition and its catalogue.

Post-Impressionism was born out of a reaction against Impressionism that occurred in the 1880s. It started developing with Seurat, Cross, and Signac. The emphasis was firmly on Cézanne, Gauguin, and Van Gogh—artists who were "interested in the discoveries of Impressionism only so far as these discoveries helped them to express emotions which the objects themselves evoked." The Post-Impressionists were dissatisfied with 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. Paul Cézanne 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 bright, fresh 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 Impressionism in the last decade of his life. Vincent van Gogh used colour and vibrant swirling brush strokes 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. Younger painters during the 1890s and early 20th century worked in geographically disparate regions and in various stylistic categories, such as Fauvism and Cubism.

 
   
   
   
   
HISTORY

The term "Post-Impressionists" was first used by the English writer Roger Fry when he organized an exhibition in London called "Manet and the Post-Impressionists" in 1910. For the first time, it introduced a wide range of modern French painting to the bewildered British public. The painters most fully represented were Cézanne, Gauguin, and Van Gogh, all of whom were dead but still comparatively unknown. Among the younger painters shown were Matisse, Rouault, Picasso, Derain, and Vlaminck. A second exhibition in 1912 showed pictures by French, English, and Russian painters variously influenced by the older Post-Impressionists. By that date, Fauvism was virtually over and Cubism several years old: non-representational painting was already underway in the work, for example, of Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Kupka. Such developments owed much to the impact of Post-Impressionism, with its renewed concern for the formal possibilities of painting, emphasis on the autonomy of the picture, invariably heightened color detached from mere description, and expression of unfamiliar or previously unexplored emotions.

Within an exceptionally fertile period in the arts, the leading Post-Impressionists were outstanding, and their influence on their immediate contemporaries was no less invigorating than on their great successors. The definition of Post-Impressionism primarily usually includes those painters who reacted against the Impressionism of the 1870s and early 1880s in France, the main figures being Seurat, Gauguin, Van Gogh, and Cézanne. All had their followers, giving rise to various movements within Post-Impressionism. Early on, Seurat attracted Signac, Cross, and Luce, who later on became prominent Pointillists (the Pointillism method of painting suggested by Seurat—the methodical application of paint in dots or small dabs of color clearly evident to the eye). Usually, it is common to use the term Neo-Impressionism to define the style they worked in.

Gauguin and his followers in Brittany constituted another group intent on reforming Impressionism and introducing a wider variety of subject matter through the use of color and emphatic line; their movement was given the loose generic name "Synthetism."

Van Gogh was familiar with Neo-Impressionism (through Seurat and Signac) and even had a few works imitating the style. He was also a close friend of Gauguin (however, the relationships weren’t without some complications), therefore, he was aware of the Synthetism promoted by him and his followers (Anquetin, Bernard).

Cézanne, on the other hand, developed in a more isolated position, uninfluenced by either movement, yet sharing some of their more general characteristics. In the last decade of the century, the Nabi painters, a further group, absorbed various influences, particularly that of Gauguin, but were now seen closer to the Impressionist generation. It is important to remember that there were other forms of painting evolving simultaneously with Post-Impressionism, most notably the Symbolist movement with Moreau, Redon, Lévy-Dhurmer, and Jean Delville.

It is also worth mentioning Toulouse-Lautrec, who can’t be defined merely by one of the art movements mentioned above. Much of his art was derived from older painters such as Daumier and Guys, Manet, and Degas. He did not share to the same degree any of the characteristics of Post-Impressionism, although the evident humanity of his portrayal of contemporary men and women gives him a place beside Van Gogh.

The debate between official art represented by the Salon and unofficial art represented by the Impressionist artists came to a head with the Post-Impressionists. The one-man exhibition or the group show at dealers' galleries or in hired rooms was a relatively new departure in artistic life. In 1884, the Société des Artistes Indépendants eventually came into being, more notable for its exhibition that year of Seurat’s "Une Baignade, Asnières," which had earlier been refused by the Salon. The independent group and societies that sprang up from then onwards in Paris were symptomatic of the artists' increasing isolation within the art world and their separation from the general public. It gave rise to a comparatively new breed—that of a supposedly cultured person devoted to the arts but who could not stand the painting of the day.

The Post-Impressionists began painting under the influence of the Impressionists; the aesthetic and personal relationships between the two groups were as diverse as those found within each group itself. The younger men took over quite naturally the Impressionists' new discoveries in composition, their subjects (urban life), and their use of unadulterated color in which neutral tints were abandoned in favor of closely woven textures of primary colors and their complements. Between about 1880 and 1885, several of the Impressionists recognized some of the shortcomings of their vision and manner. All began to pursue different methods, going back to much earlier phases and themes in their own work or to the study of older painters (such as Ingres in Renoir’s case) or younger ones (such as Seurat in Pissarro’s). During this difficult time for the older generation, younger painters became sure that Impressionism was no longer the style best suited to their vision of the world. It was too materialistic, rooted in everyday life there were no other subjects. It was the superficiality which the Post-Impressionists wished to avoid and rectify; it became not simply a matter of imposing new concepts upon Impressionist methods but of evolving a radically new approach of their own. However, no matter how different their actual work appears, the Post-Impressionists retained an immense admiration for the achievements of older painters, looked to them for support, and were sustained by their example in their own struggles. But the very nature of their reaction against Impressionism, their drive to extend the boundaries of art towards greater freedom, made their isolation from society more acute and the public’s hostility more ferocious. We must think of the Post-Impressionists not just as newcomers in the field of painting, but as men who extended our knowledge and which consciously or unconsciously reflected increasingly complex ways of thinking. Through their investigation of the properties of painting and the expression of emotions new to art, such painters as Seurat and Gauguin, in their rigorous audacity, are forerunners of the simplicity of their imagery. They evoke profoundly exciting emotions through subjects that would have previously been thought too flimsy or even banal to carry such a way of feeling. Yet the often simple imagery of the Post-Impressionists is deceptive; it veils levels of experience and feeling expressed through highly calculated procedures. In their greatest works, there seems to be a sense of tragedy. It is this that marks a return to one of the fundamental preoccupations of European painting.

 
   
   
   
   
CHRONOLOGY

1880

Durand-Ruel resumes buying paintings from Sisley andPissarro. Exhibitions: April 5th Impressionists group; May outwards Salon; April LaVie moderne offices, Manet; June LaVie moderne offices, Monet.

1881

Durand-Ruel resumes buying paintings from Renoir and Monet. Exhibitions: April 6th Impressionists group; May outwards Salon (new organised, under the control of the artists); LaVie moderne offices, Sisley; June LaVie moderne offices, Redon.

1882

Exhibitions: march 7th Impressionists group; May outwards Salon, May LaVie moderne offices, Redon.

1883

April Death of Manet. Exhibitions: Durand-Ruel, series of one-man shows: Boudin (Feb.), Monet (March), Renoir (April), C.Pissarro(May); May outwards Salon, Sept. outwards Exposition Nationale.

1884

Exhibitions: Jan. Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Manet (retrospective); 4-5 Feb. Manet studio sale; May outwards Salon; May-July Salon des Artistes Independants; Dec. Societe des Artistes Independants, 1st exh.

1885

Exhibitions: May outwards Salon; May-June G. Petit, 4th Exposition Internationale.

1886

March, VanGogharrives in Paris.Gauguinvisits Brittany for first time. Death of Monticelli. First Neo-Impressionists paintings shown at 8th and last Impressionist exhibition. Exhibitions: May outwards Salon; May-June 8th impressionists group, June-July 5th Exposition Internationale; Aug.-Sept. Independants.

1887

Gauguinlives in Martinique. Exhibitions: Feb.-March Le Tambourin café, Japanese prints, organised be Vincent vanGogh. March-May Independants; May outwards Salon; May-June 6th Exposition Internationale; spring (?) Le Tambourin café, Dec.-Jan. 1888 Revue independante.

1888

VanGoghleaves Paris for Arles.Gauguinjoined be Bernard at Pont-Aven in Brittany. Oct.,Gauguinjoins VanGoghin Arles. 1888-9, by Serusier, Denis, Bonnard, Ranson, joined 1889 by Vuillard and Roussel. Exhibitions: Jan. Boussod&Valadon (Theo van Gogh); Durand-Ruel, exh. Inc. Degas; March-May Independants; April Boussod&Valadon (Theo van Gogh); Sept.-Oct. Revue independante offices Dubois-Pillet.

1889

Exhibitions: May outwards Salon; May outwards Exposition Universelle; June-July G.Petit, Monet-Rodin (retrospective), Sept.-Oct. Independants;

1890

Death of Vincent vanGogh, Exhibitions: March-May Independants; May outwards Salon des Artistes Francais; May outwards 1st exh. of the Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts (founded as alternative to the Salon des Artistes Francais, with Meissonier as President, Puvis de Chavannes as Vice-President; often known as the Salon du Champ de Mars).

1891

Deaths of Theo vanGoghandSeurat.Gauguinleaves for Tahiti. Exhibitions: March-April Independants; May outwards Salon des Artistes Francais; May outwards Societe Nationale; Dec. Le Barc de Boutteville, 1st Exposition des Peintres Impressionnistes et Symbolistes.

1892

Exhibitions: Feb. Durand-Ruel, C.Pissarro, Monet; March-April Independants; May Le Barc de Boutteville, 2nd Exposition des Peintres Impressionnistes et Symbolistes; May outwards Salon des Artistes Francais; May outwards Societe Nationale; Nov. Le Barc de Boutteville, 3rd Exposition des Peintres Impressionnistes et Symbolistes;

1893

Death of Pere Tanguy. Vollard opens gallery in rue LaffitteGauguinis back from Tahiti. Exhibitions: March-April Independants; May outwards Salon des Artistes Francais; May outwards Societe Nationale; May (?)Le Barc de Boutteville, 4th Exposition des Peintres Impressionnistes et Symbolistes; Nov. Durand-Ruel,Gauguin,Cassatt, Dec. Le Barc de Boutteville, 5th Exposition des Peintres Impressionnistes et Symbolistes.

1894

Exhibitions: Jan. –Feb. Durand-Ruel, Guillaumin; March Durand-Ruel,Pissarro; March. Le Barc de Boutteville, 6th Exposition des Peintres Impressionnistes et Symbolistes; March-April Durand-Ruel, Redon, April-May Independants; April outwards Societe Nationale; May outwards Salon des Artistes Francais; May Durand-Ruel,Toulouse-Lautrec, Manet, Caillebotte (retrospective), July Le Barc de Boutteville,7th Exposition des Peintres Impressionnistes et Symbolistes; Nov. Le Barc de Boutteville, 8th Exposition des Peintres Impressionnistes et Symbolistes.

1895

Exhibitions: April-May Independants; April-May Le Barc de Boutteville, 9th Exposition des Peintres Impressionnistes et Symbolistes; April outwards Societe Nationale; May outwards Salon des Artistes Francais; May Durand-Ruel, Monet; Sept. Le Barc de Boutteville, 10th Exposition des Peintres Impressionnistes et Symbolistes; Dec.-Jan. 1896 Bing. Salon de l’Art Nouveau.

1896

Exhibitions: Jan. Durand-Ruel, Bonnard, Guillaumin, Morisot (retrospective); c. March. Le Barc de Boutteville, 11th Exposition des Peintres Impressionnistes et Symbolistes; April-May Independants; April-May Durand-Ruel, C.Pissarro, Renoir; April outwards Societe Nationale; May outwards Salon des Artistes Francais; Summer Le Barc de Boutteville, 12th Exposition des Peintres Impressionnistes et Symbolistes; Sept. Durand-Ruel, Puvis de Chavannes; Nov. Le Barc de Boutteville, 13th Exposition des Peintres Impressionnistes et Symbolistes.

1897

Exhibitions: April-May Independants; April outwards Salon des Artistes Francais; April outwards Societe Nationale; June-July Le Barc de Boutteville, 14th Exposition des Peintres Impressionnistes et Symbolistes; Dec. Le Barc de Boutteville, 15th Exposition des Peintres Impressionnistes et Symbolistes.

1898

Exhibitions: Feb.-March Durand-Ruel, Zandomeneghi; April Durand-Ruel, Guillaumin; April-June Independants; May outwards Salon des Artistes Francais; May outwards Societe Nationale; May Durand-Ruel, Moret; June Durand-Ruel, C.Pissarro.

1899

Exhibitions: April Durand-Ruel, C.Pissarro, Renoir, Sisley; May outwards Salon des Artistes Francais; May outwards Societe Nationale; May-June Durand-Ruel , Jongkind (retrospective); June-July Durand-Ruel, Puvis de Chavannes; Oct.-Nov. Durand-Ruel, Luce; Oct.-Nov. Independants.

1900

Picasso first visits Paris. Exhibitions: April Durand-Ruel , Redon; April outwards Salon des Artistes Francais; April-Oct. Exposition Universelle; Nov.-Dec. Durand-Ruel, Monet; Dec. . Independants.

1901

Death ofToulouse-Lautrec. Exhibitions: Jan. Feb. Durand-Ruel, C.Pissarro; March Societe Nouvelle; April Durand-Ruel, Valtat; April-May Independants; April-June Societe Nationale; May outwards Salon des Artistes Francais; May Durand-Ruel, Moret.

1902

Exhibitions: Match-May Independants; April-June Societe Nationale; May outwards Salon des Artistes Francais; May Durand-Ruel,Toulouse-Lautrec. June Durand-Ruel, Renoir, Roussel.

1903

Death ofGauguinin Marquesas Island and of CamillePissarro. Exhibitions: March Durand-Ruel, Redon; Match-May Independants; April-June Societe Nationale; May outwards Salon des Artistes Francais; Oct.-Dec. Salon d’Automne (1st exh.), Nov. Durand-Ruel, Zandomeneghi.

1904

Bernard visits Cezanne at Aix. Exhibitions: Feb-March Durand-Ruel, Moret, Feb.-March Independants; April Durand-Ruel, C.Pissarro; April-June Societe Nationale; May outwards Salon des Artistes Francais; Oct.-Nov. Salon d’Automne.

1905

Exhibitions: March-April Independants; April outwards Societe Nationale; May outwards Salon des Artistes Francais; Oct.-Nov. Salon d’Automne.

1906

Denis and Roussel visit Cezanne at Aix. Death of Cezanne and Carriere. Exhibitions: Feb.-March Durand-Ruel, Redon, Manet, Monet; March-April Independants; April outwards Societe Nationale; May outwards Salon des Artistes Francais; Oct.-Nov. Salon d’Automne .

1907

Exhibitions: March-April Independants; April Durand-Ruel,, Moret; April-June Societe Nationale; May outwards Salon des Artistes Francais; Oct.-Nov. Salon d’Automne.

1908

Exhibitions: March-May Independants; April-June Societe Nationale; Oct.-Nov. Salon d’Automne.

 
   
   
   
   
EXHIBITIONS

1883

Oct., Les XXfounded in Brussels by O. Maus and 20 Belgian artists.

1884

Brussels, Feb.-March 1st Les XX, inc.: (members) Ensor, Finch, Knopff, Rysselberghe; (invitees): Chase, Gervex, Heymans, J.Israela, Maris, Mauve.

1885

Brussels, Feb.-March 2nd Les XX, inc.: (members) Ensor, Finch, Knopff, Rysselberghe, Toorop, Vogels; (invitees): Cazin, Fantin-Latour, Mellery, Mesdag, Raffaëlli, Uhde.

1886

Brussels, Feb.-March 3rd Les XX, inc.: (members) Ensor, Finch, Knopff, Rysselberghe, Vogels; (invitees) Besnard, Breither, Degas (but refused to send), Monet, Monticelli, Redon, Renoir, Whistler, Zandomeneghi.

1887

March-May, Idependants, inc.: Angrand, Cross, Dubois-Pillet, Luce, Maurin, L. Pissarro, Redon, Henry Rousseau,Seurat,Signac.

Brussels, Feb.-March 4th Les XX, inc.: (members) Ensor, Finch, Knopff, Rysselberghe, Toorop, Vogels;(invitees) Cazin, C.Pissarro, Raffaëlli, Rodin,Seurat, Sickert.

1888

March-May, Idependants, inc.: Angrand, Anquetin, Cross, Dubois-Pillet, Van Gogh, Luce, Maurin, L. Pissarro, Rousseau, Seurat,Signac.

Brussels, Feb.-March 5th Les XX, inc.: (members) Ensor, Finch, Knopff, Rysselberghe, Toorop, Vogels;(invitees) : Anquetin, Blanche, Burne-jones (but refused to send), Degas (but refused to send), Dubois-Pillet, Forain, Guillaumin, Helleu, Mellery,Signac, Whistler.

1889

May onwards Societe Nationale, inc.: Aman-Jean, Beraud, Besnard,Carriere, Cazin, Dagnan-Bouveret, Fantin-Latour, Guillou, La Touche, Maignan, Martin, Maurin, Puvis de Chavannes, Raffaëlli, Roll, Tissot.

Sept.-Oct. Idependants, inc.: Anquetin, Dubois-Pillet, Filiger, Van Gogh, Hayet, Luce, O'Conor, L. Pissarro, Rousseau,Seurat,Signac,Toulouse-Lautrec.

Brussels, Feb.-March 6th Les XX, inc.: (members) Ensor, Finch, Knopff, Lemmen, Rodin, Rysselberghe, Toorop, Van de Velde; (invitees) : Besnard, Cross,Gauguin, Klinger, Luce, Monet, C.Pissarro,Signac, Steer, W.Stott.

1890

March-April, Idependants, inc.: Angrand, Anquetin, Boch Anna, Cross, Dubois-Pillet, Filiger, Finch, Van Gogh, Guillaumin, Luce, O'Conor, L. Pissarro, Rousseau, Rysselberghe,Seurat,Signac,Toulouse-Lautrec, Van de Velde.

Brussels, Feb.-March 7th Les XX, inc.: (members) Ensor, Finch, Knopff, Rodin, Rysselberghe, Toorop, Van de Velde, Vogels; (invitees) : Cezanne, Dubois-Pillet, Van Gogh, Hayet, Mellery, L. Pissarro, Redon, Renoir, Segantini, Signac, Sisley,Toulouse-Lautrec.

1891

May onwards Societe Nationale, inc.: Beraud, Besnard, Blanche, Boldini, Carriere, Cazin, Claus, Cottet, Cross, Dagnan-Bouveret, Harrison, Hodler, La Touche, Liebermann, Puvis de Chavannes, Raffaëlli, Roll, Sargent, Whistler.

Dec. Le Barc de Boutteville, 1st. Exposition des Peintres Impressionistes et Symbolistes, inc.: Anquetin, Bernard, Bonnard, Cross, Denis, Filiger,Gauguin, Van Gogh, Luce, Manet, Ranson, Roussel, Serusier,Signac,Toulouse-Lautrec, Vuillard.

Brussels, Feb.-March 8th Les XX, inc.: (members) Ensor, Finch, Knopff, Rodin, Rysselberghe, Toorop, Van de Velde; (invitees) :Angrand, Chéret, Grane, Filiger,Gauguin, Van Gogh, Guillaumin, C.Pissarro,Seurat, Steer, Verster.

1892

March-April, Idependants, inc.: Angrand, Anquetin, Bernard, Bonnard, Boch Anna, Cross, Denis, Luce, Moret, O'Conor, L. Pissarro, Ranson, Rousseau, Rysselberghe,Seurat(retrospective),Signac, Toorop,Toulouse-Lautrec.

May onwards Societe Nationale, inc.: Aman-Jean, Beraud, Besnard, Blanche, Boldini, Carriere, Cazin, Claus, Conder, Cottet, Cross, Dagnan-Bouveret, Guthrie, Harrison, Helleu, Hodler, La Touche, Lhermitte, Liebermann, Puvis de Chavannes, Raffaëlli, Whistler.

May, Le Barc de Boutteville, 2nd. Exposition des Peintres Impressionistes et Symbolistes, inc.: Bernard, Bonnard, Cross, Denis, Luce, C.Pissarro, Serusier,Signac,Toulouse-Lautrec.

Nov. Le Barc de Boutteville, 3nd. Exposition des Peintres Impressionistes et Symbolistes, inc.: Cross, Denis,Gauguin, C.Pissarro, Roussel, Serusier,Toulouse-Lautrec.

Brussels, Feb.-March 9th Les XX, inc.:(members) Ensor, Finch, Knopff, Rodin, Rysselberghe, Signac, Toorop, Van de Velde, Vogels; (invitees) : Besnard,Cassatt, Denis, Horne, Image, Luce, Mellery, L.Pissarro,Seurat,Toulouse-Lautrec.

1893

March-April, Idependants, inc.: Amiet, Angrand, Anquetin, Bonnard, Cross, Denis, Luce, Moret, O'Conor, L. Pissarro, Ranson, Rousseau, Rysselberghe,Signac, Steinlen,Toulouse-Lautrec, Vallotton, Valtat.

May onwards Societe Nationale, inc.: Aman-Jean, Blanche, Carriere, Claus, Conder, Cottet, Cross, Dagnan-Bouveret, Guthrie, Harrison, Helleu, Hodler, La Touche, Lavery, Liebermann, Puvis de Chavannes, Raffaëlli, Roll, Rothenstein, Simon, Tissot.

May (?) Le Barc de Boutteville, 4th. Exposition des Peintres Impressionistes et Symbolistes, inc.: Angrand, Anquetin, Bonnard, Cottet, Denis, Filiger, Guillaumin, C.Pissarro, Roussel, Serusier,Signac, Toorop,Toulouse-Lautrec, Vallotton, Vuillard.

Dec. Le Barc de Boutteville, 5th. Exposition des Peintres Impressionistes et Symbolistes, inc.: Angrand, Anquetin, Bonnard, Chéret, Conder, Cottet, Denis,Gauguin, Guillaumin, Lacombe, Luce, Moret, Ranson, Roussel, Serusier,Toulouse-Lautrec, Vuillard.

Brussels, Feb.-March 10th Les XX, inc.: (members) Ensor, Finch, Knopff, Rodin, Rysselberghe,Signac, Toorop, Van de Velde; (invitees) : Bernard, Besnard, Cross, Madox Brown, Steer, Thorn Prikker,Toulouse-Lautrec.

1894

March Le Barc de Boutteville, 6th. Exposition des Peintres Impressionistes et Symbolistes, inc.: Anquetin, Bonnard, Conder, Cottet, Denis, Filiger,Gauguin, Guillaumin, Hayet, Lacombe, O'Conor, Ranson, Seguin, Serusier, Vuillard.

April-May, Idependants, inc.: Amiet, Angrand, Cross, Denis, Luce, Moret, L. Pissarro, Rousseau, Signac,Toulouse-Lautrec, Valtat.

May onwards Societe Nationale, inc.: Aman-Jean, Beraud, Besnard, Blanche, Carriere, Cazin, Claus, Conder, Cottet, Dagnan-Bouveret, Dauchez, Guthrie, Harrison, Helleu, Hodler, La Touche, Lavery, Liebermann, Puvis de Chavannes,Roll, Sargent, Simon, Tissot, Whistler.

July Le Barc de Boutteville, 7th. Exposition des Peintres Impressionistes et Symbolistes, inc.: Angrand, Anquetin, Bonnard, Chéret, Conder, Denis, Guillaumin, Hayet, Moret, O'Conor,Toulouse-Lautrec.

Nov. Le Barc de Boutteville, 8th. Exposition des Peintres Impressionistes et Symbolistes, inc.: Angrand, Anquetin, Bonnard, Chéret, Cottet, Denis, Filiger, Forbes-Robertson, Guillaumin, Hayet, Lacombe, Maurin, Moret, O'Conor, Seguin, Serusier,Toulouse-Lautrec.

1895

April-May, Idependants, inc.: Angrand, Cross, Forbes-Robertson, Lacombe, Luce, Moret, Rousseau, Rysselberghe, Serusier,Signac,Toulouse-Lautrec.

April-May, Le Barc de Boutteville, 9th. Exposition des Peintres Impressionistes et Symbolistes, inc.: Anquetin, Denis, Forbes-Robertson, Hayet, Moret, Ranson, Serusier.

April onwards Societe Nationale, inc.: Aman-Jean, Besnard, Blanche, Carriere, Cazin, Claus, Cottet, Dauchez, Denis, Evenepoel, Guthrie, Harrison, Helleu, Hodler, La Touche, Lavery, Liebermann, Puvis de Chavannes,Roll, Simon, W. Stott.

Sept. Le Barc de Boutteville, 10th. Exposition des Peintres Impressionistes et Symbolistes, inc.: Angrand, Anquetin, Forbes-Robertson, Hayet, Maillol, O'Conor, Seguin.

1896

March, Le Barc de Boutteville, 11th. Exposition des Peintres Impressionistes et Symbolistes, inc.: Denis, Lacombe, Maillol, Serusier.

April-May, Idependants, inc.: Cross, Luce, Munch, Rousseau,Signac, Valtat.

April onwards Societe Nationale, inc.: Aman-Jean, Beraud, Blanche, Boldini, Cazin, Claus, Cottet, Dagnan-Bouveret, Dauchez, Denis, Evenepoel, Guthrie, Harrison, La Touche, Lavery, Le Sidaner, Liebermann, Matisse, Puvis de Chavannes, Raffaëlli, Roll, Sargent, Simon, W. Stott.

Summer, Le Barc de Boutteville, 12th. Exposition des Peintres Impressionistes et Symbolistes, inc.: Denis, Guillaumin, Roussel.

Nov. Le Barc de Boutteville, 13th. Exposition des Peintres Impressionistes et Symbolistes, inc.: Roussel.

1897

April-May, Idependants, inc.: Cross, Luce, Munch, Rousseau,Signac,Toulouse-Lautrec, Valtat.

April onwards Societe Nationale, inc.: Aman-Jean, Besnard, Blanche, Boldini, Carriere, Cazin, Claus, Cottet, Dagnan-Bouveret, Denis, Evenepoel, Guthrie, Harrison, Helleu, Hodler, La Touche, Lavery, Le Sidaner, Matisse, Raffaëlli, Roll, Simon, W. Stott, Whistler.

June-July, Le Barc de Boutteville, 14th. Exposition des Peintres Impressionistes et Symbolistes.

Dec. Le Barc de Boutteville, 15th. Exposition des Peintres Impressionistes et Symbolistes,inc.:Toulouse-Lautrec.

1898

April-June, Idependants, inc.: Cross, Luce, Rousseau,Signac.

May onwards Societe Nationale, inc.: Aman-Jean, Anquetin, Besnard, Blanche, Carriere, Cazin, Claus, Conder, Cottet, Dagnan-Bouveret, Dauchez, Denis, Evenepoel, La Touche, Le Sidaner, Levy-Dhurmer, Puvis de Chavannes, Raffaëlli, Sargent, Simon.

1899

May onwards Societe Nationale, inc.: Beraud, Besnard, Blanche, Carriere, Cazin, Claus, Cottet, Dagnan-Bouveret, Dauchez, Denis, Evenepoel, Guthrie, La Touche, Le Sidaner, Matisse, Puvis de Chavannes, Raffaëlli, Roll, Simon, W. Stott.

Oct.-Nov. Idependants, inc.: Cezanne, Cross, Luce,Signac.

1900

April-Oct. Exposition Universelle. Exposition centennale de i'art francais, 1800-1889,inc.: Bastien-Lepage, Beraud, Besnard, Boudin, Carriere, Cazin, Cezanne, Degas, Fantin-Latour,Gauguin, Guillaumin, Maignan, Manet, Maurin, Monet, Monticelli, Moreau, Morisot, C.Pissarro, Puvis de Chavannes, Raffaëlli, Renoir, Roll,Seurat, Sisley, Vallotton,

Exposition decennale des Beaux-Arts, 1889-1900, inc.: Adler, Aman-Jean, Beraud, Besnard, Blanche, Carriere, Cazin, chabes, Cheret, Cottet, Dagnan-Bouveret, Dauchez, Guillou, La Touche, Le Sidaner, Levy-Dhurmer, Maignan, Martin, Raffaëlli, Roll, Simon.German sectioninc.: Klackreuth, Liebermann, Slevogt, Von Stuck.Austrian sectioninc.: Klimt, Kupka.Belgian sectioninc.: Claus, Ensor, Evenepoel, Khnopff, Vogels.Dutch sectioninc.:Toorop.American sectioninc.: Harrison, Sargent, Whistler. British sectioninc.: Clausen, Stanhope, La Thangue, Lavery, Melville, Osborne, Rothenstein,E. Stott.Italian sectioninc.: Boldini, Morbelli, Pellizza, Segantini.Swiss sectioninc.: Amiet, Hodler.

Dec. Idependants, inc.: Luce, Puy, Schuffenecker,Signac.

1901

April-May, Idependants,inc.: Angrand, Boch Anna, Bonnard, Cezanne, Cross, Denis, Ensor, Lacombe, Luce, Matisse, Ranson, Rousseau, Roussel, Rysselberghe, Schuffenecker, Serusier, Sigmac, Vallotton, Valtat, Vuillard.

April-June Societe Nationale,inc.: Aman-Jean, Anquetin, Beraud, Bernard, Blanche, Carriere, Cazin, Claus, Cottet, Dagnan-Bouveret, Dauchez, Denis, La Touche, Lavery, Le Sidaner, Raffaëlli, Simon

1902

March-May, Idependants, inc.: Bernard, Bonnard, Cezanne, Cross, Denis, Luce, Marquet, Matisse, Rousseau, Roussel, Rysselberghe,Signac,Toulouse-Lautrec(retrospective), Vallotton, Valtat, Vuillard.

April-June Societe Nationale, inc.: Aman-Jean, Anquetin, Bernard, Besnard, Blanche, Carriere, Claus, Cottet, Dagnan-Bouveret, Dauchez, Harrison, Hodler, La Touche, Lavery, Le Sidaner, Raffaëlli, Roll, Sargent, Sickert, Simon, Whistler.

1903

March-May, Idependants, inc.: Angrand, Bonnard, Camoin, Cross, Denis, Dufy, Forain, Friesz, Luce, Marquet, Matisse, Munch, O'Conor, Ranson, Rousseau, Roussel, Rysselberghe, Schuffenecker, Sickert,Signac, Vallotton, Vuillard.

April-June, Societe Nationale, inc.: Aman-Jean, Anquetin, Beraud, Bernard, Besnard, Blanche, Boldini, Bonnard, Claus, Cottet, Dagnan-Bouveret, Dauchez, Denis, Harrison, La Touche, Le Sidaner, Maillol, Raffaëlli, Roll, Sargent, Sickert, Simon, Vallotton.

Oct.-Dec. Salon d'Automne (1st exh.), inc.: Adler, Aman-Jean, Besnard, Blanche, Bonnard, Carriere,Gauguin, Guillaumin, Harrison, Marquet, Matisse, Moret, O'Conor, Rouault, Von Stuck, Vallotton, Vuillard.

1904

Feb.-March, Idependants, inc.: Bonnard, Camoin, Cross, Delaunay, Denis, Van Dongen, Dufy, Friesz, Luce, Marquet, Matisse, Munch, O'Conor, Ranson, Rousseau, Roussel, Rysselberghe, Schuffenecker, Serusier,Signac, Vallotton, Valtat, Vuillard.

April-June, Societe Nationale, inc.: Aman-Jean, Bakst, Beraud, Bernard, Besnard, Blanche, Boldini, Carriere, Claus, Conder, Cottet, Dagnan-Bouveret, Dauchez, Denis, Harrison, La Touche, Lavery, Le Sidaner, Raffaëlli, Roll, Rouault, Sargent, Simon, Whistler.

Oct.-Nov. Salon d'Automne,inc.: Adler, Bonnard, Camoin, Carriere, Cezanne, Delaunay, Denis, Guillaumin, Kandinsky, Lavery, Liebermann, Maillol, Marquet, Matisse, Moret, O'Conor, Puvis de Chavannes, Redon, Renoir, Rouault, Roussel,Toulouse-Lautrec, Vallotton, Valtat, Van Dongen, Vuillard, Zandomeneghi.

1905

March-April, Idependants, inc.: Angrand, Bernard, Bonnard, Camoin, Cross, Delaunay, Denis, Derain, Van Dongen, Dufy, Friesz, Van Gogh, Herrmann, Kollwitz, Lacombe, Luce, Marquet, Matisse, Munch, O'Conor, Rouault, Rousseau, Roussel, Rysselberghe, Serusier,Seurat, Sickert,Signac, Vallotton, Valtat, Vlaminck, Vuillard.

April, Societe Nationale, inc.: Aman-Jean, Anquetin, Beraud, Besnard, Boldini, Carriere, Claus, Cottet, Dagnan-Bouveret, Dauchez, Denis, Guthrie, Harrison, Henry, La Touche, Lavery, Le Sidaner, Raffaëlli, Roll, Sargent, Simon.

Oct.-Nov. Salon d'Automne, inc.: Bonnard, Camoin, Carriere, Cezanne, Derain, Van Dongen, Duchamp-Villon, Friesz, Guillaumin, Ingres, Jawlensky, Kandinsky, Lavery, Maillol, Manet, Marquet, Matisse, Moret, O'Conor, Picabia, l.Pissarro, Raffaëlli, Redon, Renoir, Rouault, Rousseau, Roussel, Sickert, Vallotton, Valtat, Vlaminck, Vuillard.

1906

March-April, Idependants, inc.: Angrand, Bernard, Bonnard, Braque, Camoin, Cross, Delaunay, Denis, Derain, Van Dongen, Dufy, Friesz, Herrmann, Lacombe, Leger, Luce, Marquet, Matisse, Munch, O'Conor, Ranson, Rouault, Rousseau, Roussel, Rysselberghe, Schuffenecker, Serusier, Vallotton, Valtat, Vlaminck, Vuillard.

April onwards, Societe Nationale, inc.: Aman-Jean, Beraud,Bernard, Besnard, Blanche, Boldini, Carriere, Claus, Cottet, Dagnan-Bouveret, Dauchez, Denis, Harrison, La Touche, Lavery, Le Sidaner, Roll, Simon.

Oct.-Nov. Salon d'Automne, inc.: Bonnard, Brancusi, Camoin, Carriere, Cezanne, Delaunay, Derain, Van Dongen, Dufy, Friesz,Gauguin, Guillaumin, Kandinsky, Kupka, Lavery, Marquet, Matisse, Moret, O'Conor, Redon, Renoir, Rossi, Rouault, Rousseau, Roussel, Sickert, Vallotton, Valtat, Vlaminck, Vuillard; plus exh. of Russian art, organized by Diaghilev.

1907

March-April, Idependants, inc.: Amiet, Angrand, Braque, Camoin, Cross, Delaunay, Derain, Dufy, Gilman, Gore, Herrmann, Kandinsky, Luce, Matisse, O'Conor, Ranson, Rousseau, Roussel, Schuffenecker, Serusier,Signac, Vallotton, Vuillard.

April-June, Societe Nationale, inc.: Aman-Jean, Anquetin, Beraud, Besnard, Blanche, Claus, Dagnan-Bouveret, Dauchez, Denis, Harrison, La Touche, Lavery, Le Sidaner, Raffaëlli, Roll, Simon.

Oct.-Nov. Salon d'Automne, inc.: Bakst, Bonnard, Braque, Camoin, Cezanne, Delaunay, Derain, Dufy, Fergusson, Friesz, Guillaumin, Kandinsky, Kupka, Lavery, Leger, Marquet, Matisse, Moret, Redon, Rouault, Rousseau, Sickert, Vallotton, Valtat, Vlaminck; plus belgian exh. inc.: Claus, ensor, Evenelopoel, Finch, Khnopff, Mellery, Rops, Rysselberghe.

1908

March-April, Idependants, inc.: Amiet, Angrand, Braque, Camoin, Cross, Derain, Finch, Gilman, Gore, Kandinsky, Luce, Munch, O'Conor, Rousseau, Roussel, Schuffenecker, Serusier, Sickert,Signac, Vallotton, Vlaminck.

April-June, Societe Nationale, inc.: Aman-Jean, Anquetin, Beraud, Bernard, Blanche, Claus, Cottet, Dauchez, Denis, Fergusson, Harrison, La Touche, Lavery, Le Sidaner, Raffaëlli, Roll, Simon.

Oct.-Nov. Salon d'Automne, inc.: Bakst, Bonnard, Camoin, Denis, Derain, Van Dongen, Duchamp, Fergusson, Friesz, El Greco,Kandinsky, Lavery, Leger, Marquet, Matisse, Monticelli, Moret, O'Conor, Ranson, Rouault, Sickert, Vallotton, Valtat, Vuillard, Vlaminck.

Later Exhibitions

29 September 2013 - 6 January 2014Peggy Guggenheim Collection,THE AVANT-GARDES OF FIN-DE-SIéCLE PARIS: SIGNAC, BONNARD, REDON, AND THEIR CONTEMPORARIES

16 September 2016 - 8 January 2017Albertina, Vienna,Seurat, Signac, Van Gogh. Ways of Pointilism.

11 August 2017– 11 March 2018Kunstmuseum Bern,VAN GOGH TO C3ò4ZANNE, BONNARD TO MATISSE THE COLLECTION HAHNLOSER

 
   
   
   
   
ARTISTS

Cezanne, Paul

Cézanne grew up in Aix-en-Provence and trained as a lawyer. In 1861, he began to study painting at the Académie Suisse in Paris. Between 1862 and 1865, he met and became good friends with several Impressionist painters. Until about 1870, his work varied in style and motif. In some works, he used thick impasto and a palette knife, while for others he used more traditional brushwork; his palette was always dark. Despite these differences in style and content, his work reveals an early interest in the relationships between different planes and the balance between form and color. During this period, he painted still lifes, portraits, and semi-historical and erotic subjects, all infused with an internal violence. Under the influence of his mentor Pissarro, Cézanne painted in the Impressionist style between 1870 and 1879. From 1880, however, he developed a new style.

Cézanne’s later works, most of which he painted in Aix-en-Provence, are dominated by figure compositions, landscapes, and still lifes. In these paintings, he attempted not to imitate nature, but rather to construct a harmony parallel to nature. Naturalistic modeling of the human body as taught at the academies, utilizing light and dark tones to represent brightness and shadow, represented for him a dead end. He developed his own color theory, which he described with the musical term “modulation.” According to this system, colors follow one another based on the hue and luminance of similar but clearly distinct tones. Patches of color can therefore be arranged in a structure based on the modulation and repetition of tones. With this system, Cézanne turned against the momentary nature of Impressionism. He also broke down classical perspective, which creates the illusion of space by interweaving all the motifs of a composition—such as the mountain in the background or the twigs in the foreground—with equal emphasis. At the same time, the objects’ boundaries are indicated such that the zones of transition can still be identified. In this way, the canvas starts to take on a practically autonomous structural significance and abandons illusion.

 

Gauguin, Paul

Gauguin, the son of a French father and a Creole mother, began painting in the early 1870s while working as a stockbroker. In 1883, he became a full-time artist. He was a friend of Pissarro and exhibited in the last four Impressionist exhibitions, but his painting did not bring financial success. In 1886, he left his family and moved to Pont-Aven in Brittany. There, he assembled a group of followers called the “Pont-Aven School.” In 1888, he shared a studio with Van Gogh until their friendship came to a bloody end. Gauguin moved to Tahiti in 1891, where he believed he became one with nature, a feeling reflected in his later works, which were influenced by the art of primitive peoples. When he first sailed to Tahiti, he had put more than just a large geographic distance between himself and France. Since the 1880s, when he first exhibited with the Impressionists, he had undertaken a step-by-step reworking of his opinions about light, color, and form. He reacted to the increasingly scientific theories of the Impressionists and their followers (especially the pointillists) with an emphatic turn to the “primitive.”

He achieved this by abandoning perspective, sculptural modeling, and conventional coloring. On the island of Tahiti, discovered 125 years previously, hardly anything of the indigenous culture and way of life had survived French colonial domination. Many of the pictures executed by Gauguin in the South Pacific hearken back to a lost harmony between man and nature. Gauguin could only realize his dream of a primitive life with the help of an artistic device: the lining up of figures with few overlaps, the juxtaposition of frontal and profile views, the immobile faces and “talking” hands of the women all recall Egyptian and Javanese art. By superimposing the forms of a seemingly foreign and mysterious culture on the sober and mundane reality of the island, he was able to give expression to his exotic, primitive vision. He created for the viewer (and for himself) a simulated world full of mystery and wonder.

 

Gogh, Vincent van

Van Gogh discovered his artistic vocation in 1880, having worked previously as an art dealer and a lay preacher. Vincent lived and painted in the Netherlands until 1886, producing dark images of peasants that emphasized their hardship. In 1886, he moved to Paris, where his palette became brighter and more intense. In 1888, Van Gogh settled in Arles in the south of France, but the years 1888-90 were tumultuous for him. He was driven by a dream of founding an artists’ colony in Arles with Paul Gauguin. During this period, Van Gogh created landscape paintings in which his expressive, turbulently brushed representations of nature (having replaced the fleeting moment of Impressionism) reflected his personal feelings.

The color combination of blue and yellow, with its primal manifestation appearing as the sun in the sky, was crucial for Van Gogh’s palette and can be seen everywhere in his paintings from this period. As if overcome by powerful surges of emotion, Van Gogh’s passionate brushwork swirls through the spectrum in massive rings and eddies. However, by the end of the Arles period, his mental health became unstable; he quarreled with Paul Gauguin and famously cut off part of his own ear. Subsequently, he spent time in an asylum at Saint-Rémy before moving to Auvers in 1890 to be near his brother, Theo, who supported him financially throughout his life. On 29 July 1890, he committed suicide. He left behind over 800 paintings and drawings, and his work had an enormous influence on Expressionism, Fauvism, and Abstract art.

 

Seurat, Georges

Seurat came from a wealthy background and was a highly intelligent, methodical man. He began painting around 1881 and exhibited at the last Impressionist exhibition in 1886. He took Impressionism a step further when he developed pointillism, or as he referred to it, divisionism. For the most part, he applied pure colors to the canvas. Due to an optical process perceived by the viewer, these "pixels" merge together into mixed colors, provided the viewer stands far enough away from the canvas. This painstaking technique is evident when observing shadows; from close up, the viewer can see that an aquamarine tint results not from a mixture of blue and green on the palette, but from blue points positioned over and next to green points. Whereas the Impressionists tried to capture transitory images of ever-changing interactions between light and atmosphere with ephemeral brushstrokes, Seurat's paintings represent the logical conclusion of a formal process in which everything coincidental is reworked and all correlations are carefully balanced. Like the Impressionists, he conducted outdoor studies of scenery, light, and color, but he completed his larger canvases in the studio.

 

Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri de

Toulouse-Lautrec came from an aristocratic family. In his teens, he broke both of his legs, and unfortunately, they ceased to grow while his torso continued to mature. He began to paint in the studio of Léon Bonnat in 1882 and had his own studio in Montmartre by the age of 21. His early influences included the Impressionists, particularly Degas, who shared his interest in theatrical performers, as well as the prints of Japanese artists Hokusai and Hiroshige, which were popular in Paris at that time. Lautrec also painted brothels, even living in one in 1894, as well as racecourses. Van Gogh, whom he met in 1886, was another significant influence, particularly for his use of cross-hatching. Gauguin’s approach to broad, flat color and graphic outlines also influenced the posters and lithographs that Lautrec began to produce in the 1890s, which brought him instant recognition. Unfortunately, Lautrec became an alcoholic and died young, either from the effects of alcoholism or from syphilis, which he contracted in his twenties.

 
   
   
   
   
GALLERY  
 
  Georges-Pierre Seurat,Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, 1884–1886, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
   
 
  Vincentvan Gogh, The Starry Night, June 1889, Museum of Modern Art, New York City
   
 
  Paul Signac,Portrait of Félix Fénéon,1890, Museum of Modern Art, New York City
   
 
  Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, At the Moulin Rouge: The Dance, 1890, Philadelphia Museum of Art
   
 
  Paul Gauguin, Woman Holding a Fruit (Where Are You Going / Eu haere ia oe),1893, Hermitage Museum
   
 
  Paul Cézanne, Les Grandes Baigneuses, 1898-1905, Philadelphia Museum of Art
 
   
   
   
   
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Art: Architecture, Painting, Sculpture, Graphics, Techniques, Bath, 2011.

Essential History of Art, Bath , 2001.

Jalard, Michel-Claude: Post-Impressionism, Paris, 1966.

Shone, Richard: The Post-Impressionism, London, 1979.

 
   
   
   
   
BOOKS

Section POST-IMPRESSIONISM in LIBRARY

 

 
   
   
   
   
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BARBIZON SCHOOL
FAUVISM
IMPRESSIONISM
NABIS
NEO-IMPRESSIONISM
POST-IMPRESSIONISM
SYMBOLISM
SYNTHETISM