1. 19th century: Modernism and Impressionism Vocabulary
Bourgeois
Salon
Salon des Refusés
Flanneur
Courtesan
La Tache
Impasto
En pleine aire
Haussmanization
Grands Boulevards
Voyeur
Japonisme

2. Edouard Manet, Déjeuner sur l’Herbe, Modernism, France, 1863

5. Edouard Manet, Olympia, Modernism, France, 1863

8. Claude Monet, Impression: Sunrise, Impressionism, France, 1872
Purely an attempt to depict light rather than moral lessons
1874 Paris exhibition gained the movement its name
Group of artists who rejected the academy and caused a stir in the art world
Attempt to solve the problem of figures in natural light after having seen Manet’s Dejeuner sur l’herbe
Two tenets in Impressionism: 1. Paint from the empirical method, report just what can be observed
2. There can be no objectivity because vision is filtered through the mind. Goal: paint objectively as possible and hold the mind’s interpretation at bay
2 major components of painting: brushstroke and color-much spontaneity in the stroke
NO line, rather small blotches of paint- “La Tache”
Creates modeling by applying taches of different color adjacent to the surface reflecting light.
Monet’s eyes told him that shadow is not black or gray, but different shades of purple, green, blue, etc.
To achieve this effect he studied nature and painted en pleine aire rather than in a studio
Impressionism is about the moment at hand, not memory, but he instantaneous translation of 3d on to a 2d surface
Claude Monet, Impression: Sunrise, Impressionism, France, 1872

9. Claude Monet, Gare Sainte-Lazarre, Impressionism, France, 1877
Image shows his interest in texture, shadows, and Perspective
Interest in the moment: not just the style but also the subject
Train in the glass and iron station in Paris is a tribute to the fleeting nature of modern life.
Steam train is one of the greatest inventions of the 19th century
Turns a day-long trip into just a few hours, people could travel greater distances in shorter periods
Industrialization and urbanization had taken hold of Paris- swanky new area of Paris near the Grands Boulevards
Paris starts moving at a faster pace-searching for efficiency
Claude Monet, Gare Sainte-Lazarre, Impressionism, France, 1877

10. Effects of light and air and ways of representing them with broken color
Haze of light coming through the trees at this open air café dance hall gives it the effect of atmosphere
Renoir wants to express the “Joie de Vivre” in modern life-according to all classes
He grew up poor and chose to champion the working classes-a section of society who did not stroll down the streets as flanneurs with top hats and canes and fancy clothing
He shows them at leisure, not working or looking impoverished, but enjoying life, dressed in their best
Sunday nights at this club they were able to pay lower fares to dance-Straw hats, less flamboyant dresses, men and women together flirting with one another showing them as regular people. They enjoy themselves with out being demure or concerned with their reputations
They dance closely and actively, We see their faces, they are identified as individuals
Sexuality is nothing to be ashamed of here, they are wholesome in their flirting-something that is an aspect of human nature, and instinctual.
He glorifies the working classes to have the same desires for leisure and fun as everyone else
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Le Moulin de la Galette, Impressionism, France, 1876

11. Dancing woman’s dress is a conglomeration of yellow, pink, purple, but we understand this as an intricate play of light that has to struggle through the leaves

12. Here we can see the Hausmannization in Paris
Difference in how Monet and Caillebotte see modernity in the city
Order and organization in the image-composition quartered
Not single-point perspective-relationship to photography
Statement on the Efficiency and hurried nature of modern life
Streets lack any sort of warmth, anonymity of modern life
Figures lack gestures and emotions and are products of a mechanically ordered environment
Couple is even separated from each other by the narrow strip of wet cement
Modernity is not an exiting liberating experience but a cold and isolating one
Gustave Caillebotte, Paris Street, Rainy Day, Impressionism, France, 1877

13. Edgar Degas, Ballet Rehearsal, Impressionism, France, 1876
Opera house-favored spot for Impressionists like Degas
He didn’t focus on the typical sights such as the loge or the balcony or the grand staircase
Where it was see and be seen-trendy, social life of fashion and appearances
He was more concerned with the backstage areas-where the performers were
Nature of Balerinas was lower class girls
Many middle class men approached ballerinas as their “patrons”
Male dancers are never shown, but the dance master clearly has control of the scene
Weirdness of this lifestyle: More attention is given to odd things-seated dancer, girl arranging her costume
Staicase-perspective is askew, we are shows an odd view of the room
Obscured bodeis and faces-limbs bellow
We don’t see the beauty of the ballerina, but the strangeness of her-referred to as “rats”
They are not innocent little girls in pink tutus and pigtails, but young adolescents that will grow up and become the object of desire for upper class men. Here we see them as though through the perspective of a man who is choosing.
Very often Degas suggests the sexuality between the two classes
Edgar Degas, Ballet Rehearsal, Impressionism, France, 1876

14. Edgar Degas, The Tub, Impressionism, France, 1886
He has been branded a misogynist for images such as these because he gives us a new sort of female nude
She is in a very private moment, here and it appears as though we have a voyeuristic viewpoint.
Far cry from goddesses
Not masked by mythology, not even in the same posture
She is a prostitute in the brothel, bathing between clients
She is shown at a bird’s eye view like we’re looking in through the keyhole-gives us an odd perspective
Table is askew, shapes are flattened out to abstract looking entities.
The body is an aesthetic form with harsh angles and shapes within it
Color pulls the piece together thanks to pastel one can offer a good quality of line and color
Very tactile strokes of pastel, bringing back a quality of line to impressionsim
Is this misogynist? Not necessarily Lots of symbolism-red hair, pottery, tub Only place where artists could get nude female models at this time was in the brothel
He treats the body as a form, there is no flirtatious exchange of gazes, if anything it’s showing us how desperate times have become-the reason for the out of control prostitution was the social restrictions placed on women according to their social class
Edgar Degas, The Tub, Impressionism, France, 1886

15. Mary Cassatt, At the Opera, American, Impressionism, 1880
Bourgeois Women in Paris have a very different view of modern life than men do. They have these restrictions. They are not allowed to go back stage and hang out with the dredges of society
Here we see the woman seated in the balcony at the Opera, a very fashionable place to be.
She is looking at the stage through binoculars and is unaware that she is being watched herself
Cassatt was from a wealthy Philadelphian family and went to paris alone to study art in the 1870s
She befriended Degas and exhibited with the Impressionists in 1874

16. Mary Cassatt, The Bath, American, Impressionism, 1880
Here we see the sort of Tub that Mary Cassatt had access to. The moments shown are very different. There is a very tender intimate moment shown here between this woman and this child
Women

17. Mary Cassatt, American, The Letter, 1891
Draws from Japanese Woodcut prints
Japonisme

19. Edouard Manet, Bar at the Follies-Bergère, Impressionism, France, 1882
Manet relaxes in his confrontation of the middle class and focuses more on the working classes
A barmaid, a young woman who has come in from the countryside to make her living in the city
Folies-Bergere was a popular night club (café-Concert) in Paris where different classes would come and mix
Live acts of music and comedy, drama and dancing became a favored scene for impressionists
Perspective is off on the miror
Apathetic look on her face, She’s disassociated from the environment. Confronted by a patron with a top hat
Propositions her sexually perhaps-common for upper class men and lower class women to have affairs
Sexual stereotypes of women required them to not frequent these establishments and not be desirous
Lower class women however, didn’t have the same set of sexual standards and they could be flirtatious and lusty
Again here there’s a paradox-along with the joie de vivre, life in the city can be psychologically alienating.
Edouard Manet, Bar at the Follies-Bergère, Impressionism, France, 1882