Post Impressionism

A more long lived, if not also more important art movement around this time was Post Impressionism which spanned from 1880-1920 and featured such famous artists as Paul Cezanne, Georges Seurat, Paul Gauguin, and Vincent Van Gogh. Unlike impressionism, post impressionism rejected the limits of impressionism and turned more towards personal expressionism. Post Impressionist artists were often impressionists who grew weary of the confines of impressionism and wished to add a more personal touch to their work. Post Impressionist art was characterized by more expressive use of line and color and forceful brushwork as well as the Impressionistic qualities of vivid color, short thick brush strokes and a focus on how color and light work together. In many ways one could sum up post impressionism as the thin line between Impressionism and Expressionism, another important art movement of this time.

Post Impressionism Paintings

Paul Cezanne Slef Portrait 1895

Vincent Van Gogh Starry Night 1889



Toulouse Lautrec, In Bed 1893





Examples of Nabis

 

Georges Lacombe, Marine bleue, Effet de vagues, 1893

Pierre Bonnard, Self-portrait, c. 1889


Pierre Bonnard, Dining Room in the Country 1913

Nabis

This post impressionist avante garde movement was relatively short lived but is still noteworthy as one of the leading art movement in France from 1888-1899.  Fore fronted by artists such as Pierre Bonnard, Edouard Vuillard, and Maurice Dennis, the group preached that the painting was simply the visual expression of the artist’s synthesis of nature through the use of personal aesthetic, metaphors, and symbols and this view paved the way to the development of the abstract and non-representational art movements in the early 20^th century.   Their goal was to integrate art with daily life, a goal which was common among such rebellious groups of this time period.

Art Movements at the Turn of the Century

Starting around 1890 a burgeoning of artistic movements greatly influenced artists such as Egon Schiele.  Starting with Nabis in 1888 to Dada which ended in the 1920’s this whirl wind of artistic development affected all artists in different ways but most importantly transformed the definition of art from the clear cut academic institution to a an actual creative expression.

Self Edifying Project #1

I always say I love art but when it comes to actual paintings I am embarrassingly ignorant.  I have found an "art box" in my house (it is literally a box that says "art box" on it in very arts letters).  It is full of post card sized paintings which I currently do not recognize but should.  Therefore, for my first blog project I have decided to go through this box, one painting a day.

The first painting is one I do recognize, but only because I have a much larger version of it taped to my bedroom door.

Artist: Egon Schiele

Nationality:  Austrian

b. Vienna, 1890

d. Vienna, 1918

Title: "The Artist's Wife" or "Seated Woman with Bent Knee"

Date: 1917

Schiele led a rather tragic life.  His father contracted Syphilis before marrying his much younger mother and thus caused a great deal of embarrassment for Egon through out his life.  Three days after Schiele married Edith Harms, he was drafted into the army.  Fortunately for him, he did not spend time on the front lines but instead was posted to guard russian POW's which allowed him to paint as well.  It is possible that this experience greatly influenced his dark and often grotesque, emaciated portraits.  This particular painting is of Schiele's wife Edith, a subject of many of his less shocking portraits.  Although Schiele's life was short, he lived during an age of art revolutions including fauvism, cubism and expressionism.  A post on this "age of isms" is coming next.

Day One

For a long time blogs annoyed me.  They seemed to be one more fan for the fire of the current navel gazing  "I am the center of universe" epidemic which seems to be sweeping the planet.  I was one of those cranky people saying, nobody cares!  But that was my feeling about blogs where the blogger or the blogger's ravings are the subject of the blog.  Recently, however, I have come across some more interesting and even useful and inspirational blogs.  While I cannot make any promises I am determined to do my best to make this blog one of those.  It will not be about me, my belly button, or anything else that is better off locked in a diary or floating on the wind.  I will do my best not to rant or rave.  Instead I hope to share my findings in the worlds of art, writing and philosophy as I attempt to fill my brain with as much of these as possible, and hopefully have some fun along the way.