Bold strokes, bright colors, everyday life scenes, frank poses and, most importantly, an accurate description of the light... Just a small fraction of the characteristics of one of the most popular artistic movements. Impressionism appeared in France in the middle of the 19th century. Prior to its emergence, still lifes, portraits and even landscapes were usually created by artists in their studios. The first impressionists broke the traditional canons and literally went out into the fields - they began to create in the open air, capturing realistic scenes of contemporary life. Although initially heavily criticized, Impressionism soon led to a similar trend in music and literature. We offer to admire the most famous paintings of this revolutionary movement in art.
Bar at the Folies Bergère, Édouard Manet, 1882
The last major work of Manet and simply the greatest work of art. The canvas depicts the famous cabaret of Paris, which the artist himself often visited. To convey the atmosphere of that period and to make the scene more complex, he depicted a mirror in the background, which reflects the huge number of people filling the room. Opposite the crowd and the viewer, in contrast, behind the counter stands a lone barmaid absorbed in her own thoughts. One of the researchers of Manet's work notes that the oranges in the picture are direct evidence that we are talking about a prostitute. The date and signature of Manet himself is displayed on the label of one of the bottles, which is in the lower left corner.
A series of "Water lilies" by Claude Monet is called by professionals only as the "Sistine Chapel of Impressionism". The cycle consists of approximately 250 paintings that were created by the artist during the last thirty years of his life on the site of his house in Giverny. Today they are exhibited in museums around the world. It is amazing that Monet wrote most of them when he suffered from cataracts in the eye and lost his left lens.
Ball at the Moulin de la Galette, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1876
The famous masterpiece of impressionism is often described by historians of painting as “the most beautiful artistic canvas of the 19th century.” The painting depicts a typical Sunday afternoon at the Moulin de la Galette in Montmartre. Under the open sky, Renoir depicted a dance floor and a cafe near his house - the artist liked to watch happy graceful couples. For him, it was the ideal environment for creativity. “Ball at the Moulin de la Galette” is a skillful group portrait, still life and landscape at the same time. In addition, this is Renoir's most ambitious work: the artist has never before depicted aspects of everyday life on a canvas of such a scale - 131x175 cm. The reduced version of the painting is among the ten most expensive pieces of art sold.
Impression. Rising Sun, Claude Monet, 1872
An iconic painting that gave a name to the entire artistic movement (from the French impression - “impression”) and became its quintessence. Initially, the canvas, created by Monet in the port of Le Havre, was smashed to smithereens by critics, and the term “impressionism” arose in a satirical review by journalist Louis Leroy, who wrote: “Wallpaper, and those would have looked finished, not like this is an “Impression”!” An interesting detail: if you make a black and white copy of this work, the sun will disappear almost completely.
Luncheon on the Grass Edouard Manet 1862-1863
The scene depicting a naked woman dining with two fully clothed men was initially considered an insult - the artist was accused of decadence and poor taste. The picture was not allowed to participate in the Paris Salon. It was indeed a bold statement in favor of the freedom of the artist's personality.
Parisian street on a rainy day, Gustave Caillebotte, 1877
Considered one of the most celebrated works of urban life in the 19th century. The painting depicts Dublin Square near its intersection with Moskva Street near Paris Saint-Lazare Station. The lantern column and the horizon line, as it were, divide the picture into four quadrants. All people here are moving in different directions, as if emphasizing their impersonality, isolation, loneliness in a developing city. In addition, Caillebotte masterfully conveys the feeling of rain with the help of lighting and the absence of strong shadows on the street.
Breakfast of the Rowers, Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Breakfast of the Rowers, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1880-1881
A romanticized portrait of Renoir's friends enjoying an evening on a balcony along the River Seine. Among the people in the picture, you can see the future wife of the author (the model Alina Sharigo - a lady with a dog), and another famous impressionist - Gustave Caillebotte (on the right in a straw hat). The painting represents the changing nature of French society in the late 19th century as a result of the industrial revolution.
Pont Boildieu in Rouen on a rainy day, Camille Pizarro, 1896
This famous painting by Degas is an artistic representation of social exclusion in Paris during its booming phase. The painting depicts a woman who looks indifferently at a glass of absinthe in front of her, and, obviously, not the first. Sitting next to her is a man who looks like an alcoholic. In fact, the roles of the “humiliated and insulted” heroes were played by the artist Marcelin Debutin and the actress Ellen Andre. At first, critics were shocked by the atmosphere of degradation and decadence reigning on the canvas. And some saw it as a warning against excessive drinking.
Parquet flooring, Gustave Caillebotte, 1875
One of the first paintings depicting the urban working class. Caillebotte exemplifies an unwavering interest in everyday life. Notice how accurately the artist captured the light coming through the window and the shadows. The painting is as realistic as a photograph, but was nonetheless rejected by the most prestigious art exhibitions and salons: the depiction of semi-naked working-class men was considered a "vulgar subject".
Today, impressionism is perceived as a classic, but in the era of its formation, it was a real revolutionary breakthrough in art. The innovation and ideas of this trend completely changed the artistic perception of art in the 19th and 20th centuries. And modern impressionism in painting inherits the principles that have already become canonical and continues aesthetic searches in the transfer of sensations, emotions and light.
Prerequisites
There are several reasons for the appearance of impressionism, this is a whole complex of prerequisites that led to a real revolution in art. In the 19th century, a crisis was brewing in French painting, it was due to the fact that "official" criticism did not want to notice and let various emerging new forms into galleries. Therefore, painting in impressionism became a kind of protest against the inertia and conservatism of generally accepted norms. Also, the origins of this trend should be sought in the trends inherent in the Renaissance and associated with attempts to convey living reality. The artists of the Venetian school are considered the first progenitors of impressionism, then the Spaniards took this path: El Greco, Goya, Velazquez, who directly influenced Manet and Renoir. Technological progress also played a role in the formation of this school. Thus, the advent of photography gave rise to a new idea in art about capturing momentary emotions and sensations. It is this instant impression that the artists of the direction we are considering strive to “grab”. Also, this trend was influenced by the development of the plein-air school, which was founded by representatives of the Barbizon school.
History of Impressionism
In the second half of the 19th century, a critical situation developed in French art. Representatives of the classical school do not accept the innovations of young artists and do not allow them to the Salon - the only exhibition that opens the way to customers. A scandal erupted when the young Édouard Manet presented his work Luncheon on the Grass. The painting aroused the indignation of critics and the public, and the artist was forbidden to exhibit it. Therefore, Manet participates in the so-called "Salon of the Rejected" along with other painters who were not allowed to participate in the exhibition. The work received a huge response, and a circle of young artists began to form around Manet. They gathered in cafes, discussed the problems of contemporary art, argued about new forms. A society of painters appears, who will be called the Impressionists after one of the works of Claude Monet. This community included Pissarro, Renoir, Cezanne, Monet, Basil, Degas. The first exhibition of artists of this trend took place in 1874 in Paris and ended, like all subsequent ones, in failure. Actually, impressionism in music and painting covers a period of only 12 years, from the first exhibition to the last, held in 1886. Later, the direction begins to break up into new trends, some of the artists die. But this period made a real revolution in the minds of creators and the public.
Ideological principles
Unlike many other areas, painting in impressionism was not associated with deep philosophical views. The ideology of this school was momentary experience, impression. The artists did not set themselves social tasks, they sought to convey the fullness and joy of being in everyday life. Therefore, the genre system of Impressionism was generally very traditional: landscapes, portraits, still lifes. This direction is not an association of people based on philosophical views, but a community of like-minded people, each of whom conducts his own searches in the study of the form of being. Impressionism lies precisely in the uniqueness of the view of ordinary objects, it is focused on individual experience.
Technique
It is quite easy to recognize painting in impressionism by some characteristic features. First of all, it is worth remembering that the artists of this direction were furious lovers of color. They eschew black and brown almost entirely in favor of a rich, vibrant palette, often heavily highlighted. Impressionist technique is characterized by short strokes. They strive for the overall impression, rather than careful drawing of details. The canvases are dynamic, intermittent, which corresponds to human perception. Painters strive to arrange colors on the canvas in such a way as to obtain coloristic intensity or affinity in the picture, they do not mix colors on the palette. Artists often worked in the open air, and this was reflected in the technique, in which there was no time to dry the previous layers. Paints were applied side by side or one on top of the other, using a opaque material that made it possible to create the effect of an "inner glow".
The main representatives in French painting
The birthplace of this trend is France, it was here that impressionism first appeared in painting. The artists of this school lived in Paris in the second half of the 19th century. They presented their works at 8 impressionist exhibitions, and these canvases became classics of the direction. It is the French Monet, Renoir, Sisley, Pissarro, Morisot and others who are the progenitors of the trend we are considering. The most famous impressionist, of course, is Claude Monet, whose work fully embodied all the features of this trend. Also, the current is rightly associated with the name of Auguste Renoir, who considered his main artistic task to be the transmission of the play of the sun; in addition, he was a master of the sentimental portrait. Impressionism also includes such prominent artists as Van Gogh, Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin.
Impressionism in other countries
Gradually, the direction is spreading in many countries, the French experience has been successfully picked up in other national cultures, although they have to talk more about individual works and techniques than about the consistent implementation of ideas. German painting in Impressionism is represented primarily by the names of Lesser Uri, Max Liebermann, Lovis Corinth. In the USA, the ideas were implemented by J. Whistler, in Spain - by J. Sorolla, in England - by J. Sargent, in Sweden - by A. Zorn.
Impressionism in Russia
Russian art in the 19th century was significantly influenced by French culture, so Russian artists also could not avoid being carried away by the new trend. Russian impressionism in painting is most consistently and fruitfully represented in the work of Konstantin Korovin, as well as in the works of Igor Grabar, Isaac Levitan, Valentin Serov. The peculiarities of the Russian school consisted in the etude nature of the works.
What was impressionism in painting? The founding artists sought to capture the momentary impressions of contact with nature, and the Russian creators also tried to convey a deeper, philosophical meaning of the work.
Impressionism today
Despite the fact that almost 150 years have passed since the appearance of the direction, modern impressionism in painting has not lost its relevance today. Due to the emotionality and ease of perception, paintings in this style are very popular and even commercially successful. Therefore, many artists around the world are working in this direction. Thus, Russian impressionism in painting is presented in the new Moscow museum of the same name. There are regular exhibitions of contemporary authors, such as V. Koshlyakov, N. Bondarenko, B. Gladchenko and others.
Masterpieces
Modern lovers of fine art often call impressionism in painting their favorite direction. Paintings by artists of this school are sold at auctions at fabulous prices, and collections in museums enjoy great public attention. The main masterpieces of impressionism are considered to be the paintings of C. Monet "Waters" and "Rising Sun", O. Renoir "Ball at the Moulin de la Galette", C. Pissarro "Boulevard Montmartre at night" and "Bouldieu Bridge in Rouen on a rainy day", Degas "Absinthe", although this list can be continued almost endlessly.
Alexey Zaitsev- one of the prominent representatives impressionism. The works of this contemporary artist are well known not only in Russia but also abroad. The master paints in oils, generously applying strokes, but the paintings are light and sunny. Perhaps this is the secret of the charm of his paintings.
Alexey Zaitsev is from Ryazan. He developed a love for painting from childhood - Alexei's own aunt was an honored artist of the union, she was happy to introduce her nephew to the world of art. Perhaps, children's observations of how paintings are born became the starting point for the creative quest of the future artist.
Deciding to connect his life with the fine arts, Alex enters Moscow University and receives an education in the specialty "book graphics". He never became a professional illustrator, but the knowledge and skills gained at the university allowed Alexei Zaitsev to develop his artistic talent.
A distinctive feature in the character of Alexei Zatsev is selfless love for the Motherland. Traveling around Moscow and its suburbs, he enthusiastically observes the everyday life of ordinary people, often making sketches in the open air, and then, returning to the studio, finalizing the images. The artist is equally good at urban sketches, natural landscapes, and genre scenes. Everything breathes life, full of colors. The artist masterfully combines work with a palette knife and drawing details with a brush, as a result, the paintings do not lose their sophistication, but acquire a special saturation of colors.
texture painting by Dmitry Kustanovich, a St. Petersburg artist whose work is also loved all over the world.
Impressionism is a trend in art of the late 19th - early 20th century. The birthplace of the new direction of painting is France. Naturalness, new methods of conveying reality, ideas of style attracted artists from Europe and America.
Impressionism developed in painting, music, literature, thanks to famous masters such as Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro. The artistic techniques used to paint the paintings make the canvases recognizable and original.
Impression
The term "impressionism" originally had a disparaging connotation. Critics used this concept to refer to the creativity of representatives of the style. For the first time the concept appeared in the magazine "Le Charivari" - in the feuilleton about the "Salon of the Outcast" "Exhibition of the Impressionists". The basis was the work of Claude Monet “Impression. Rising Sun". Gradually, the term took root among painters and acquired a different connotation. The essence of the concept itself does not have a specific meaning or content. Researchers note that the methods used by Claude Monet and other impressionists took place in the work of Velasquez and Titian.
Details Category: A variety of styles and trends in art and their features Posted on 01/04/2015 14:11 Views: 10587Impressionism is a trend in art that arose in the second half of the 19th century. His main goal was to convey fleeting, changeable impressions.
The emergence of impressionism is associated with science: with the latest discoveries of optics and color theory.
This direction affected almost all types of art, but it manifested itself most clearly in painting, where the transfer of color and light was the basis of the work of impressionist artists.
Term meaning
Impressionism(fr. Impressionnisme) from impression - impression). This style of painting appeared in France in the late 1860s. He was represented by Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Berthe Morisot, Alfred Sisley, Jean Frederic Bazille. But the term itself appeared in 1874, when Monet's painting “Impression. Rising Sun (1872). In the title of the painting, Monet meant that he conveys only his fleeting impression of the landscape.
C. Monet “Impression. Sunrise" (1872). Marmottan Monet Museum, Paris
Later, the term "impressionism" in painting began to be understood more broadly: a careful study of nature in terms of color and lighting. The goal of the Impressionists was to depict instantaneous, as it were, “random” situations and movements. To do this, they used various techniques: complex angles, asymmetry, fragmentation of compositions. The picture of the Impressionist artists becomes, as it were, a frozen moment of a constantly changing world.
The artistic method of the Impressionists
The most popular genres of the Impressionists are landscapes and scenes from urban life. They were always written "in the open air", i.e. directly from nature, in nature, without sketches and preliminary sketches. The Impressionists noticed and were able to convey colors and shades on canvas, usually invisible to the naked eye and an inattentive viewer. For example, rendering blue in shadows or pink at sunset. They decomposed complex tones into their constituent pure colors of the spectrum. From this, their painting turned out to be light and quivering. Impressionist painters applied paint in separate strokes, in a free and even careless manner, so their paintings are best viewed from a distance - it is with this look that the effect of a lively flickering of colors is created.
The Impressionists abandoned the contour, replacing it with small separate and contrasting strokes.
K. Pissarro, A. Sisley and C. Monet preferred landscapes and urban scenes. O. Renoir liked to depict people in the bosom of nature or in the interior. French Impressionism did not raise philosophical and social issues. They did not turn to biblical, literary, mythological, historical subjects that were inherent in official academism. Instead, on the picturesque canvases appeared the image of everyday life and modernity; the image of people in motion, while relaxing or having fun. Their main subjects are flirting, dancing, people in cafes and theaters, boat trips, beaches and gardens.
The Impressionists tried to catch a fleeting impression, the smallest changes in each subject, depending on the lighting and time of day. In this regard, Monet's cycles of paintings "Haystacks", "Rouen Cathedral" and "London's Parliament" can be considered the highest achievement.
C. Monet "Cathedral in Rouen in the sun" (1894). Musee d'Orsay, Paris, France
"Rouen Cathedral" is a series of 30 paintings by Claude Monet, which represent views of the cathedral depending on the time of day, year and lighting. This cycle was written by the artist in the 1890s. The cathedral allowed him to show the relationship between the constant, solid structure of the building and the changing, easily playful light that changes our perception. Monet concentrates on individual fragments of the Gothic cathedral and chooses the portal, the tower of St. Martin and the tower of Albane. He is only interested in the play of light on stone.
C. Monet "Rouen Cathedral, West Portal, Foggy Weather" (1892). Musee d'Orsay, Paris
C. Monet “Rouen Cathedral, portal and tower, morning effect; white harmony" (1892-1893). Musee d'Orsay, Paris
C. Monet "Rouen Cathedral, portal and tower in the sun, harmony of blue and gold" (1892-1893). Musee d'Orsay, Paris
Following France, impressionist artists appeared in England and the USA (James Whistler), in Germany (Max Lieberman, Lovis Corinth), in Spain (Joaquin Sorolla), in Russia (Konstantin Korovin, Valentin Serov, Igor Grabar).
About the work of some impressionist artists
Claude Monet (1840-1926)
Claude Monet, photograph 1899
French painter, one of the founders of impressionism. Born in Paris. He was fond of drawing since childhood, at the age of 15 he proved to be a talented cartoonist. Eugene Boudin, a French artist, a forerunner of impressionism, introduced him to landscape painting. Monet later entered the university at the Faculty of Arts, but became disillusioned and left him, enrolling in the painting studio of Charles Gleyre. In the studio, he met the artists Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley and Frédéric Bazille. They were practically peers, held similar views on art, and soon formed the backbone of the Impressionist group.
Monet's fame was brought by the portrait of Camille Donsier, written in 1866 ("Camille, or a portrait of a lady in a green dress"). Camilla in 1870 became the artist's wife.
C. Monet "Camilla" ("The Lady in Green") (1866). Kunsthalle, Bremen
C. Monet "Walk: Camille Monet with her son Jean (Woman with an umbrella)" (1875). National Gallery of Art, Washington
In 1912, doctors diagnosed K. Monet with a double cataract, he had to undergo two operations. Having lost the lens in his left eye, Monet regained his sight, but began to see ultraviolet light as blue or purple, which is why his paintings acquired new colors. For example, when painting the famous "Water Lilies", Monet saw lilies bluish in the ultraviolet range, for other people they were just white.
C. Monet "Water Lilies"
The artist died on December 5, 1926 in Giverny and was buried in the local church cemetery.
Camille Pissarro (1830-1903)
C. Pissarro "Self-portrait" (1873)
French painter, one of the first and most consistent representatives of impressionism.
Born on the island of St. Thomas (West Indies), in a bourgeois family of a Sephardic Jew and a native of the Dominican Republic. Until the age of 12 he lived in the West Indies, at the age of 25 he moved to Paris with his whole family. Here he studied at the School of Fine Arts and at the Academy of Suisse. His teachers were Camille Corot, Gustave Courbet and Charles-Francois Daubigny. He began with rural landscapes and views of Paris. Pissarro had a strong influence on the Impressionists, independently developing many of the principles that formed the basis of their style of painting. He was friends with the artists Degas, Cezanne and Gauguin. Pizarro was the only participant in all 8 Impressionist exhibitions.
He died in 1903 in Paris. He was buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery.
Already in his early works, the artist paid special attention to the depiction of illuminated objects in the air. Light and air have since become the leading theme in the work of Pissarro.
C. Pissarro “Boulevard Montmartre. Afternoon, sunny" (1897)
in 1890, Pizarro became interested in the technique of pointillism (separate application of strokes). But after a while he returned to his usual manner.
In the last years of his life, Camille Pissarro's eyesight deteriorated noticeably. But he continued to work and created a series of views of Paris, filled with artistic emotions.
K. Pissarro "Street in Rouen"
The unusual angle of some of his paintings is explained by the fact that the artist painted them from hotel rooms. This series was one of the highest achievements of Impressionism in the transfer of light and atmospheric effects.
Pissarro also painted in watercolor and created a series of etchings and lithographs.
Here are some of his interesting statements about the art of impressionism: "The Impressionists are on the right track, their art is healthy, it is based on sensations and it is honest."
“Happy is he who can see beauty in ordinary things, where others see nothing!”
C. Pissarro "The First Frost" (1873)
Russian impressionism
Russian impressionism developed from the end of the 19th to the beginning of the 20th century. It was influenced by the work of the French Impressionists. But Russian impressionism has a pronounced national specificity and in many respects does not coincide with the textbook ideas about classical French impressionism. Objectivity and materiality predominate in the painting of the Russian Impressionists. It has a greater load of meaning and less dynamization. Russian impressionism is closer than French impressionism to realism. The French Impressionists emphasized the impression of what they saw, while the Russians also added a reflection of the artist's inner state. The work was to be completed in one session.
Some incompleteness of Russian Impressionism creates the "awe of life" that was characteristic of them.
Impressionism includes the work of Russian artists: A. Arkhipov, I. Grabar, K. Korovin, F. Malyavin, N. Meshcherin, A. Murashko, V. Serov, A. Rylov and others.
V. Serov "Girl with peaches" (1887)
This picture is considered the standard of Russian impressionism in the portrait.
Valentin Serov "Girl with Peaches" (1887). Canvas, oil. 91×85 cm State Tretyakov Gallery
The picture was painted in the estate of Savva Ivanovich Mamontov in Abramtsevo, which he acquired from the daughter of the writer Sergei Aksakov in 1870. The portrait depicts 12-year-old Vera Mamontova. The girl is drawn sitting at the table; she is wearing a pink blouse with a dark blue bow; on the table is a knife, peaches and leaves.
“All I wanted was freshness, that special freshness that you always feel in nature and you don’t see in pictures. I wrote for more than a month and exhausted her, poor thing, to death, I really wanted to preserve the freshness of painting with complete completeness - that's how the old masters ”(V. Serov).
Impressionism in other art forms
In literature
In literature, impressionism as a separate trend did not take shape, but its features were reflected in naturalism And symbolism .
Edmond and Jules Goncourt. Photo
Principles naturalism can be traced in the novels of the Goncourt brothers and George Eliot. But Emile Zola was the first to use the term "naturalism" to refer to his own work. The writers Guy de Maupassant, Alphonse Daudet, Huysmans and Paul Alexis were grouped around Zola. After the publication of the collection Medan Evenings (1880) with frank stories about the disasters of the Franco-Prussian war (including Maupassant's story Dumpling), the name of the Medan group was assigned to them.
Emile Zola
The naturalistic principle in literature has often been criticized for its lack of artistry. For example, I. S. Turgenev wrote about one of Zola's novels that "there is a lot of digging in chamber pots." Gustave Flaubert was also critical of naturalism.
Zola maintained friendly relations with many impressionist painters.
Symbolists used symbols, understatement, hints, mystery, mystery. The main mood captured by the symbolists was pessimism, reaching to despair. Everything “natural” seemed to be only “appearance”, which had no independent artistic value.
Thus, impressionism in literature was expressed by the author's private impression, the rejection of an objective picture of reality, the image of every moment. In fact, this led to the absence of plot and history, the replacement of thought with perception, and reason with instinct.
G. Courbet "Portrait of P. Verlaine" (circa 1866)
A striking example of poetic impressionism is Paul Verlaine's collection Romances Without Words (1874). In Russia, the influence of impressionism was experienced by Konstantin Balmont and Innokenty Annensky.
V. Serov "Portrait of K. Balmont" (1905)
Innokenty Annensky. Photo
These sentiments also affected dramaturgy. In the plays there is a passive perception of the world, an analysis of moods, mental states. Dialogues concentrate fleeting disparate impressions. These features are characteristic of the work of Arthur Schnitzler.
In music
Musical impressionism developed in France in the last quarter of the 19th century. - the beginning of the XX century. It was most clearly expressed in the works of Eric Satie, Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel.
Eric Satie
Musical impressionism is close to impressionism in French painting. They have not only common roots, but also cause-and-effect relationships. Impressionist composers sought and found not only analogies, but also expressive means in the works of Claude Monet, Paul Cezanne, Puvis de Chavannes and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Of course, the means of painting and the means of musical art can be connected with each other only with the help of special, subtle associative parallels that exist only in the mind. If you look at the vague image of Paris "in the autumn rain" and the same sounds, "muffled by the noise of falling drops", then here you can only talk about the property of the artistic image, but not the real image.
Claude Debussy
Debussy writes "Clouds", "Prints" (the most figurative of which, a watercolor sound sketch - "Gardens in the rain"), "Images", "Reflections on the water", which evoke direct associations with the famous painting by Claude Monet "Impression: Sunrise ". According to Mallarmé, the Impressionist composers learned to “hear the light”, to convey in sounds the movement of water, the vibration of leaves, the breath of wind and the refraction of sunlight in the evening air.
Maurice Ravel
M. Ravel has direct connections between painting and music in his sound-pictorial "The Game of Water", the cycle of pieces "Reflections", the piano collection "Rustle of the Night".
The Impressionists created works of refined art and at the same time clear in expressive means, emotionally restrained, conflict-free and strict in style.
In sculpture
O. Rodin "The Kiss"
Impressionism in sculpture was expressed in the free plasticity of soft forms, which creates a complex play of light on the surface of the material and a feeling of incompleteness. In the poses of the sculptural characters, the moment of movement and development is captured.
O. Rodin. Photograph 1891
This direction includes the sculptural works of O. Rodin (France), Medardo Rosso (Italy), P.P. Trubetskoy (Russia).
V. Serov "Portrait of Paolo Trubetskoy"
Pavel (Paolo) Trubetskoy(1866-1938) - sculptor and artist, worked in Italy, USA, England, Russia and France. Born in Italy. The illegitimate son of a Russian emigrant, Prince Pyotr Petrovich Trubetskoy.
Since childhood, I have been sculpting and painting on my own. He had no education. In the initial period of his work, he created portrait busts, works of small plastic arts, and participated in competitions for the creation of large sculptures.
P. Trubetskoy "Monument to Alexander III", St. Petersburg
The first exhibition of Paolo Trubetskoy's works took place in the USA in 1886. In 1899 the sculptor came to Russia. He takes part in the competition for the creation of a monument to Alexander III and, unexpectedly for everyone, receives the first prize. This monument caused and continues to cause conflicting assessments. It is hard to imagine a more static and heavy monument. And only a positive assessment of the imperial family allowed the monument to take the appropriate place - they found similarities with the original in the sculptural image.
Critics believed that Trubetskoy worked in the spirit of "obsolete impressionism".
Trubetskoy’s image of the brilliant Russian writer turned out to be more “impressionistic”: there is clearly movement here - in the folds of the shirt, the flowing beard, the turn of the head, there is even a feeling that the sculptor managed to catch the tension of L. Tolstoy’s thought.
P. Trubetskoy "Bust of Leo Tolstoy" (bronze). State Tretyakov Gallery
