▶ Paris 1874: The Impressionist Moment-National Gallery, Washington DC
▶ Impressionism’s first exhibition… The beginning of modernism
How did impressionism begin? We examine the origins of the French art movement through the radical ‘1874 Exhibition‘ in Paris, which is considered the birth of modern painting. The 130 works submitted were from art movements that were first introduced at the time. In this exhibition, you can revisit works by Paul Cézanne, Claude Monet, Berthe Morisot, and Camille Pissarro, as well as works by contemporary artists. The artistic norms they rebelled against make us think about what political and social changes sparked a new approach to art.
This exhibition is a special opportunity to get a glimpse into the dynamic Parisian art world of 1874 and commemorates the 150th anniversary of the first Impressionist exhibition.
Impressionism is the school that promoted impressionist art that arose mainly in France in the late 19th century. Impressionism, under the influence of positivism and realism in the 19th century, was a movement to reproduce objects as they appear to the eye, capturing the colorful changes in nature under the sun. In this process, people emerged who valued new techniques of expression and reflection of subjective senses. They viewed nature as a phenomenon and painted pictures that emphasized the impression of objects with colors that changed depending on changes in light and atmosphere.
The name Impressionism became common after Monet, Degas, Morisot, Guillaume, Gauguin, Sisley, Renoir, and Cézanne held an exhibition at Nadal’s Photo Studio in 1874. Their expressions and painting styles were all different without unity. They were also inspired by Ukiyo-e, a Japanese genre painting, in terms of color and composition.
After France suffered a humiliating defeat in the Franco-Prussian War in 1871, the National Guard and Parisian working-class revolutionaries took control of the city. They formed the Paris Commune, an independent socialist government. As the French attempted to regain control, a brutal civil war broke out and many members of the Commune were killed. As they rebuilt their city from ashes, Parisians sought cultural transformation to revitalize the city. Art was the answer. The Paris Salon was the center of this conversation. France’s most prominent cultural event, the Salon’s annual exhibitions attracted people from all walks of life. They preferred dramatic paintings depicting biblical, mythological, and historical stories. However, the Salon refused to exhibit the works of other artists.
Frustrated with the salon’s conservative tastes and monopoly on patronage, they created a incorporated business. Sisley, Morisot, and Camille Pissarro painted with loose brushstrokes and a luminous pastel palette, while Degas and Cézanne devoted themselves to depicting everyday life in dark tones. What united them as a diverse group was their rejection of the status quo adhered to by the Salon, and they all saw themselves as independent people. In 1874, the Salon welcomed 500,000 visitors, and they finally became known as the Impressionists.
Paris escaped war and civil strife and was born as a modern city. The city became the setting for middle-class leisure activities such as boating, horseback riding, ballet, and opera. The new railway became a gateway to enjoying nature in the countryside, and they wore new ready-made clothes instead of extravagant fashions. They are not wealthy benefactors but friends, relatives or workers. To viewers accustomed to grandiose paintings of important people and dramatic events, this type of work felt thoroughly modern.
Even now, more than a century later, these works still feel refreshing to us. Impressionism forever changed the trajectory of Western art and the way we view paintings.
This exhibition proves that their paintings remain among the most recognized and loved works in Western art today.
The exhibition continues until January 19th next year.
Do Jeong-suk>
