Neo-impressionism

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A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte
Georges Seurat, 1884–1886
Oil on canvas
207.6 × 308 cm, 81.7 × 121.3 in
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago

Neo-Impressionism is a term coined by the French art critic Félix Fénéon in 1887[1] to characterise the late-19th century art movement led by Georges Seurat and Paul Signac, who first exhibited their work in 1884 at the exhibition of the Société des Artistes Indépendants in Paris. Fénéon's term pointed to the roots of this recent development in the visual arts in Impressionism, but offered at the same time a fresh reading of artistic means like color and line based on the practice of Seurat and Signac, and its theoretical background in the writings of Chevreul and Charles Blanc.

Portrait of Félix Fénéon
(in front of an enamel of a rhythmic background
of measures and angles, shades and colors)
Paul Signac, 1890
Oil on canvas
73.5 × 92.5 cm, 28.9 × 36.4 in
Museum of Modern Art

Contents

[edit] Review

A technique of the Neo-Impressionists, called Chromoluminarism or Divisionism, involves breaking color into its basic elements, by painting in very small and regular dots. From a distance the multiple dots form an optical mixture of color. The best known example is Seurat's A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (1884-1886).

The definition Seurat and Signac provided for their way to analyze - vulgo, to see - and to reproduce reality is consistent. Hostile critics coined the term Pointillism to humiliate the artists working in this way; a century later, this term is relevant for the evaluation of former critical positions. The term "Pointillism" can also describe the work of later followers and imitators of the Neo-Impressionists who paint in dots, though not necessarily with the aim of breaking color.

[edit] List of Neo-Impressionists

[edit] Concise gallery of Neo-Impressionists

Charles Angrand, 1887

Henri Edmond Cross, c.1900

Theo van Rysselberghe, 1888

Camille Pissarro, 1889

Henri Matisse, 1904

[edit] The Group of Néo-Impressionist Painters

Neo-Impressionism was first presented to the public, in 1884, at the Société des Artistes Indépendants. The Indépendants remained their main exhibition space for decades with Signac acting as president of the association. But with the success of Neo-Impressionism, its fame spread quickly. In 1886, Seurat and Signac were invited to exhibit in the 8th and final Impressionist exhibition, later with Les XX and La Libre Esthétique in Brussels.

Finally, in 1892, a group of Néo-Impressionist Painters united to show their works in Paris, "in the Salons of the Hôtel Brébant, 32, boulevard Poissonnière." The following year they exhibited at "20, rue Laffitte". The exhibitions were accompanied by catalogues, the first with reference to the printer: Imp. Vve Monnom, Brussels; the second refers to "M. Moline", secretary.[2]

[edit] 2 December 1892 - 8 January 1893

[edit] December 1893 - January 1894

  • Participants: Charles Angrand - Henri-Edmond Cross - Maximilien Luce - Hippolyte Petitjean - Lucien Pissarro - Georges Pissarro - Félix Pissarro - Antoine de la Rochefoucauld - the late Georges Seurat - Paul Signac - Theo Van Rysselberghe

[edit] Resources

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Félix Fénéon: Les Impressionistes en 1886, Revue indépendante
  2. ^ For reprints see Modern Art in Paris, ed. Theodore Reff, vol.

[edit] References

  • Rewald, John: Post-Impressionism
  • Herbert, R. L.: Neo-Impressionism
  • Lee, Ellen Wardwell: The Aura of Neo-Impressionisme: The T. W. Holliday Collection, Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1983; expanded Dutch edition: Neo-impressionisten: Seurat tot Struycken, Waanders, Zwolle 1988 ISBN 90-6630-132-5
  • Budde, Rainer (ed.): Pointillisme. Sur les traces de Seurat, Prestel-Verlag, Munich & New York 1998 ISBN 2-940191-01-8


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Post-Impressionism
Late 19th century
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Neo-impressionism · Chromoluminarism · Pointillism · Cloisonnism · Les Nabis · Synthetism · Symbolism · Art Nouveau · Jugendstil
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Early 20th century
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See also Impressionism · Modernism · Modern art · Secessionism
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