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AMERICAN IMPRESSIONISM II: 1870s-1920s
Set Number: 446 [PURCHASE
SET 446] American artists were generally introduced to French impressionism during the late 1880s. By the 1890s an active group of American painters had adopted the impressionist technique in one way or another. Impressionism involved the awareness that light is perceived as color sensations which constantly change. The form is perceived only as light reflected from a surface while shadow is merely light at lower intensity. The manner of painting light takes prominence over subject matter. Since only color is perceived, line is not used nor is the traditional studio chiaroscuro. Depth too is sacrificed in the interest of the effect of a continuous, flattened surface of color patches. Color is applied in small brushstrokes because light as color is analyzed into its component parts. Mary Cassatt (1845-1926) was the first American associated with the French impressionists. As early as 1874 she was using the palette of the group, and though her work took on many aspects of impressionism such as spontaneity of composition, painting outdoors and emphasis on light filled environments, she never dissolved form as completely as did Monet or Pissarro. Remaining true to the solidity of the object was characteristic of all the American impressionists. This tendency is due perhaps to the inherent American interest in realism. Theodore Robinson (1852-96) and John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) were the first Americans to paint under the direct influence of Monet after visiting him in Giverny in 1887-88. Childe Hassam (1859-1935) had in the meantime adapted impressionist techniques. When he returned to America in 1889 he consciously sought to spread the influence of the new style with him. In 1886 the Durand-Ruel Gallery in New York had presented an exhibit of French impressionist works which was generally well received. When Hassam and Robinson, however, tried to mount shows featuring American impressionists through the Society of American Artists, there was resistance by the conservative leaders of that academic institution. The Society and many critics at the time regarded history painting, classicism and romantic realism (e.g. the Hudson River School) as "true art". Impressionism was considered a fad and the impressionist painters were resented in part because of their following a French style which negated the importance of subject matter. Tensions came to a head in 1898 when Hassam and nine other artists resigned from the Society and formed an impressionist group known as The Ten American Painters, or, The Ten. By that date, though, the pioneering phase of impressionism in America was past. These impressionists evolved their own styles and belonged to no definite school. Experiment with other European-influenced modernism such as cubism and abstraction, and controversial subject matter in the first two decades of the 20th century caused impressionism to rapidly seem a conservative style. The artists who had introduced impressionism to America, however, had established a foundation upon which many subsequent movements would build, because they had exhibited outside "official" institutions. They helped ensure the downfall of the autocratic power of the Society of American Artists (dissolved in 1905) and National Academy of Design. The style itself has remained popular with the American public to the present day. [Source: "Britannica Encyclopedia of American Art", Encyclopedia Britannica Corp, Chicago, p. 296] This slide set contains the following individual slides:
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