The act of capturing landscape on canvas and how to best achieve this was changing. The Impressionists, and the term is used here in no way to suggest complete unity of thought, wanted new ways. Initially shocking to the 'untrained eye' of their contemporaries the Impressionist artists gradually came to be appreciated and this is summed up in the words of Jules Laforgue. This is what he wrote in his introduction to the 1883 show, comprising work by Pissarro, Degas and Renoir:
'In a landscape bathed with light....entities are modelled as if in coloured grisaille, the academic painter sees ...white light spreading everywhere, whilst the Impressionist sees it bathing everything, not in dead whiteness ...in a thousand conflicting vibrations. Where the academic sees only lines at the edge of things... the Impressionist sees real living lines without geometric form, built from thousands of touches. Where the academic sees things set down in regular, separate positions... the Impressionist sees perspective established by thousands of imperceptible tones and touches, by the variety of atmospheric states, with each plane not immobile, but shifting. ' (The Impressionists', R. Katz and C. Dars)
Finally Laforgue sums up this by explaining that the Impressionist sees and renders nature as it is which is by means of colour-not by light or by modelling or perspective or chiaroscuro. This then is the challenge faced by the painters of this group, how to depict nature in a completely new way and in a way, that to them, was truthful.
Monet (1840-1926)
In keeping with Laforgue's thoughts on their work Monet strove to capture the very act of
'perceiving' nature. Close observation and naturalistic representation was important and he worked out of doors on large scale canvasses which were then reworked in his studio. His interest in recording perceptual changes reached a peak in the 'Grainstack' series of paintings in 1891; but he worked on further series, Poplars in 1892 and Rouen Cathedral in 1894 as well as the famous water lillies.
The grainstacks were a symbol of Normandy and much appreciated by Monet. In deciding to paint them, initially, he asked for two canvases to be brought but fairly soon they were being delivered by a wheelbarrow as he needed more and more canvases on which to work. He was ambitious to capture the transience of the light and soon realised that the light could change every few minutes; eventually he was working on ten or twelve paintings a day moving from one to another depending upon whether it matched the conditions. Often he would rise at 3.30 am to catch the sunrise which he said was a time of day in which the light didn't change so rapidly although he recognised that the sunrise, in itself, could offer different light conditions. Obviously weather and time of year would provide different light conditions too. It's easy to imagine Monet frantically working in all weather conditions in order to achieve his aim. But this work carried on for several months and the paintings were eventually in an exhibition where they proved popular and sold well.
Grainstack
White Frost
Sunset
Of the many grainstack paintings just three are shown above but they indicate Monet's aim in trying to capture different perceptions of nature.
'These painting breathe contentment', said Pissarro when he saw them ; an artist similarly working in series.
Pissarro (1830-1903)
In 1897 Pissarro began his series of paintings of the intersection of Blvd. Montmartre in Paris. He is quoted as saying:
'I have always loved the immense streets of Paris, shimmering in the sun, the crowds of all colours, those beautiful linear and aerial perspectives, those eccentric fashions etc. But how to do it? To install oneself in the middle of the street is impossible in Paris.'
Indeed difficult with traffic and distractions but his friend suggested that Pissarro should elevate himself and in due course a hotel was found with a room that looked down upon the streets below. The subject of his work is the changing condition of the streets below.
Above are a few of Pissarro's paintings looking down upon the Blvd. Montmartre. As can be seen they reflect the changing conditions of weather and time of day- he covered foggy mornings, winter mornings rainy weather as well as lovely images of the night time.
Sometimes these canvases varied by just a few strokes of paint here and there in his quest for capturing the essence of the street and commentators have argued that the high view point gives an extra vibrancy to the scene.
Cezanne (1839-1906)
Cezanne and Pissarro met in 1861 and had a friendship that spanned over 25 years. Their working relationship reached a climax in 1875 as they both explored new ways of working beyond impressionism. Working side by side they were both interested in the tension between receding spaces and foregrounds and these paintings show their joint interest in turning roads and how these interacted with the plane surface of the canvas.
Cezanne-Road to Pontoise 1875
Pissarro- Quarry Pontoise 1875
These two paintings clearly show the mutual undertakings of the two artists as well as being a useful way of introducing Cezanne's interest and challenge in thinking about perspective.
Cezanne wanted to show perspective through colour itself and in over 200 still lifes he struggled to find a solution to this problem. He abandoned traditional distinctions of foreground/background believing that our eyes do not really 'see space' but have become trained to see through the laws of perspective. Cezanne focussed on constructed form and argued that all of nature could be shown through the shapes of the sphere, the cone and the cylinder. Consequently, we see in his work the geometric shapes and the influence that was to bear on the creation of later genres such as Cubism.
One of Cezanne's great loves was the Mont St Victoire and he spent many years trying to overcome the challenge he had set himself of representing this area. Whereas the Impressionists were trying to dissolve form Cezanne focussed on arrangements of constructed form and wanted to create this through flat planes of colour.
It's possible to see in this painting not only the turning road motif that Cezanne had studied before but also the flat planes of colour and the lack of a perceptible middle ground.
I think it's clear to see in these three pictures the increasing obscurity of the scene. It's almost as though everything merges or loses its definition in this last painting. 'Passage', a term used by art historians is the blending of overlapping planes into one another. This has the effect of integrating the figure with its background thus emphasising the 2D nature of the canvas.
Cezanne's further thoughts on the nature of Western perspective were that perspective depends on the viewer specifically having: one eye, one place and one point in time. These are not real conditions and he was absorbed by this for over 30 years.
In his still lifes, Cezanne considered that the movement of the viewer had to be taken into account. In order to avoid a horizon line he used patterned wallpaper as a backdrop and made the contours separate from the forms. Some critics argue that this slight distance has the effect of making the forms shiver slightly.
Cherries
Overall the challenges faced by these artists as they created paintings has had a lasting impact on the techniques of art. Various viewpoints, perspective, theories of colour and light to name a few have been incorporated and developed by the work of others with significant impact.
