Post-Impressionism

Question 1

What was post Impressionism a reaction against

Answer 1

Naturalism and the issue of light and colour that had inspired the impressionists.

Question 2

What trends does post Impressionism embrace

Answer 2

Neo-classism of Seurat. It was never a cohesive movement, so it embraces many groups who were trying to replace Impressionism as t,ending art movement.

Question 3

Where does the word ‘post-Impressionism’ come from

Answer 3

An English critic, Roger Fry

Question 4

Who are 4 main post-impressionist artists

Answer 4

Cézanne
Van Gogh
Gauguin
Stern

Question 5

How were these artists united

Answer 5

By their desires to overturn the superficiality of Impressionism. They felt impressionists had allowed their technique and effects of natural light to overshadow the subject matter

Question 6

How did Cézanne overcome the problem

Answer 6

He sought greater pictorial structure

Question 7

How did Van Gogh overcome the problem

Answer 7

He focused on an emotional response to a scene

Question 8

How did Gauguin solve the problem

Answer 8

He sough a deeper engagement with expressive and symbolic content

Question 9

How does Irma stern’s work relate to post-Impressionism

Answer 9

Pictorial structure, emotional response and expressive symbolic content

Question 10

Cezanne’s background

Answer 10

Was the son of a wealthy banker. He was sent to study law in Paris, but convinced his father to let him study art. He became aware of the weakness of Impressionism and wanted to make a strong and durable movement. He was a fierce and solitary person who worked in dedicated seclusion.

Question 11

What did cezanne’s early paintings look like

Answer 11

They were dark n tone and often sinister or violent in subject matter (murder, dwarfed painter friend)to erotic and macabre

Question 12

What influenced cezanne’s works

Answer 12

Artists and the old masters
Impressionism
Mont Sainte- Victoire

Question 13

How did artists influence Cezanne’s works

Answer 13

Pisarro introduced him to landscape painting. He was influenced by Delacroix and Courbet because of the structure in the work. Cezanne also studied the old masters

Question 14

How did Impressionism influence Cezanne’s works

Answer 14

The bright pallet that impressionists used. He did however feel that they neglected structure and shape in the emphasis on colour and brush stroke.

Question 15

What did Cezanne want to do to Impressionism

Answer 15

He wanted to make it something solid and everlasting, “like the art in museums”

Question 16

How did Mont Sainte- Victoire influence Cezanne’s works

Answer 16

It was a mountain near his home and was one of his favourite subjects. He painted it more than 60 times. He was fascinated by the rugged architectural forms. He pained it from many angles.

Question 17

Cezanne: subject matter

Answer 17

Limited subjects: landscapes, bathers, still lives and portraits.
He revived the tradition of the still life
He liked still lives because he could arrange his own objects for a concentrated study. He didn’t like people because they moved too much.

Question 18

Cezanne: space and depth

Answer 18

Rejected one point perspective. He used a variety of viewpoints on one object allowing the viewer to see it from multiple perspectives.
He created a shallow depth by a succession of different colour planes and by overlapping paint in certain areas.
He never denied the 2-dimensionality of the canvas.
He didn’t want to copy nature, but make a construction according to nature by only representing the essentials
His perspective was often incorrect

Question 19

Cezanne: colour

Answer 19

Modulation- one colour area should be related to the next.
Flat colour areas are broken into separate colour facets (mosaic)
Shapes are often outlined with darl contour lines

Question 20

Cezanne: brushstroke

Answer 20

Every brushstroke was a building block and was placed with thought.
He used rectangular brushstrokes which do not express emotion, but form a rhythmic pattern

Question 21

Cezanne : composition

Answer 21

Emphasis is on underlying structure.
He said that everything in nature is based on the cylinder, the sphere and the cone.
He never completely reduced natural objects to geometric shapes, but he left out detail and accidental effect.

Question 22

Cezanne: approach

Answer 22

He can be classified as a formalist because he worked intellectually and the arrangement of line colour and shape were highly important to him.
He was interested in the underlying, never changing structure.
There was no school of Cezanne, but very few artist were NOT influenced by him, so he is given the title, “father of modern art”

Question 23

What title was Cezanne given

Answer 23

The father of modern art

Question 24

Where is Cezanne’s influence seen

Answer 24

Cubism

Question 25

Van Gogh’s background

Answer 25

He was the son of a preacher. He began painting at 27. H

Question 26

What were Van Gogh’s early works like

Answer 26

They were sombre and dark. They portrayed the drudgery and colourlessness of the lives of the mineworkers and farm labourers.

Question 27

Who was van Gogh’s brother

Answer 27

Theo

Question 28

Why did Van Gogh cit off his ear

Answer 28

He confronted gaugin with s razor blade, but panicked and went to a brothel. While he was there he cut off his ear.

Question 29

Which painting did Van Gogh sell during his life

Answer 29

Red vines

Question 30

Van Gogh: influences

Answer 30

Social commentary and empathy with the poor that he saw in Daumier’s and Millet’s works Delacroix’ use of complementary colours next to each other Japanese prints- simplicity, bright colours and clear outlines Bright colours and informal technique of Impressionism. Own personality in its humanity and need to express himself.

Question 31

Van Gogh: subject mater

Answer 31

Landscape, portraits, interiors | Worked from reality but portrayed his emotions

Question 32

Van Gogh: space and depth

Answer 32

Always has depth Often placed large masses in the middle Usually used line perspective and often the horizon is 3/4 of the canvas

Question 33

Van Gogh: colour

Answer 33

Known for his emotional use of colour. At first the colours were sombre Colours were over-emphasised to portray emotions Pallet characterised by strong, pure colours and often yellow were placed against blues and violets.

Question 34

Van Gogh: brushwork

Answer 34

Brushstrokes are a physical indication of his emotional state and they create rhythmic movements. Strong linear character Paint was often applied with brush, palette knife or tube

Question 35

Van Gogh: Composition

Answer 35

Always worked from reality Simplified and distorted Traditional composition Only gave the essence of the scene

Question 36

Van Gogh: approach to his work

Answer 36

He was an expressionist and his art and life form a unity No artist before his gave such a portrayal of inner feeling His art is personal and subjective Regarded as the father of 20th century expressionism as he influenced Munch and the German Expressionists

Question 37

Paul Gauguin: history

Answer 37

Successful stockbroker. Wife, Mette and 5 children Became an art collector and Sunday-painter after meeting pisarro and looking at impressionists works. Gave up work and devoted himself to painting. His wife went to live with family and Gauguin lived alone, in poverty, ill and unhappy

Question 38

What was Gauguin’s style

Answer 38

Sythetism

Question 39

Where did Gauguin decide to visit

Answer 39

The Martinique islands but only got as far as panama. He worked as a labourer and continued his journey

Question 40

Why did Gauguin go to the Polynesian islands

Answer 40

To escape European civilisation and everything artificial and conventional. He felt that the civilised society was sick and dying. He hoped to find artistic rejuvenation by living in a primitive culture. Had conflicts with the colonial authorities and Catholic Church

Question 41

Gauguin: influences

Answer 41

Early works- Impressionism Exotic places. Preferred the lifestyle and art of non-western society because they were not polluted by western ideas and values.

Question 42

Gaugin: subject matter

Answer 42

Believed that an artist should work from memory to create an imaginative work Often used religious and spiritual themes Portrayal of man was important. He later filled his works with idealised figures from the South Sea Islands

Question 43

Gaugin: space/ depth

Answer 43

Used flat spaces created by different horizontal bands of colour Background as bright as foreground No attempt to create a naturalistic portrayal

Question 44

Gaugin: colour

Answer 44

He believed that colour was symbolic and imaginative. No modelling was represented Flat decorative shapes with bright colours Backgrounds and bright as foreground Used cloisonism

Question 45

What is cloisonism

Answer 45

Where bright colours areas are separated by dark contour lines (stained glass window)

Question 46

Gaugin: brushwork

Answer 46

Avoided modelling in flat areas using contour lines. | Used broad parallel brushstrokes

Question 47

Gauguin: composition

Answer 47

Placed = importance on +ve and -ve space Often divided comp. with rhythmic decorative lines to create strong 2D shapes Didn’t copy nature, worked from imagination Monumental simplified figures

Question 48

Gauguin: approach to his work

Answer 48

Called his style synthetism Strongly opposed to naturalism Works are mysterious and exotic Had a direct influence on fauvism

Question 49

What is synthetism

Answer 49

A type of symbolism where the artist uses their imagination. They must work from their imagination because the memory only remembers that which meaningful/ symbolic. The final work is thus a synthesis of the original idea. It is characterised by flat colour, no shadows, colonialism and the freedom to interpret shapes and to simplify them.