In this section, I will record my maneuvers throughout art realm to seek for an art movement which I would like to use for my Interactive_Storytelling project. I want to elect at least three art movements suitable to my requirements and differing from each other to give me a wider amplitude to choose from. I will use both WEB and PHYSICAL information gathering methods to have a strong idea what this art form is about and how can I use it as a VISUAL tool to deliver the story to my audience.
After intensive meditations, I chose French Impressionism. I was seeking for something which is going to be easy enough to replicate in the INTERACTIVE_STORY and also what would be intriguing as a visual contact with an observer is the most essential feature of this assignment. In the beginning, I chose between Cubism; Surrealism; Abstract art and Fauvism. These art styles are captivating and leave a huge space for personal interpretations which is a great compliment/extension for the art piece. I would never compete with such a great painters like Georges Braque (1882 - 1963) or Robert Antoine Pinchon (1886 - 1943 ) trying to replicate their technique and art vision just because I think it is easier reproduce impressionism than, let's say - HYPER_REALISM.
La Bouille Under Snow by Robert Antoine Pinchon
Bottle and Fishes (1910) by Georges Braque
After I gathered a bit of the information about impressionism I took on aim their KEY features which embody this movement:
The name 'Impressionism' comes from a sarcastic review of Monet's painting, 'Impression, Sunrise' (1873), written by Louis Leroy in the satirical magazine 'Le Charivari'.
Impressionism was a style of painting that used a more scientific analysis of color to capture the effects of light in nature.
The main artists associated with Impressionism were Claude Monet, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas, Alfred Sisley and Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec.
The Impressionists painted with small strokes of pure colours which mixed in the eye of the spectator when viewed from a distance.
The Impressionists were the first group of artists to embrace painting 'en plein air' (painting outside).
The Impressionists had to paint quickly to capture the atmosphere of a particular time of day or the effects of different weather conditions on the landscape.
The speed of the Impressionists' painting technique forced them to sacrifice accurate line and detail in favour of atmospheric effect.
The subject most suited to the Impressionist technique were landscape, but they also painted portraits, still lifes and figure compositions.
Impressionist compositions were strongly influenced by the development of photography and the discovery of Japanese woodcuts.
Impressionism is now seen as the first movement in modern art and had a huge influence on the development of art in the 20th century.
The Impressionists were excited by contemporary developments in color theory which helped their search for a more exact analysis of the effects of color and light in nature. They abandoned the conventional idea that the shadow of an object was made up from its color with some brown or black added. Instead, they enriched their colours with the idea that the shadow of an object is broken up with dashes of its complementary color For example, in an Impressionist painting the shadow on an orange may have some strokes of blue painted into it to increase its vitality.
The Impressionists sought to capture the atmosphere of a particular time of day or the effects of different weather conditions on the landscape. In order to capture these fleeting effects they had to work quickly. They applied their paint in small brightly colored strokes which meant sacrificing much of the outline and detail of their subject. Their painting technique put them at odds with the conservative Académie of the French artistic establishment who valued subtle color and precise detail which was carefully crafted with great skill in the artist's studio. What the Académie failed to appreciate was the freshness of Impressionist color and the energy of their brushwork which revealed a spontaneity that had only previously been valued in the sketches of the old masters. However, the public grew to love the vitality of the Impressionist technique and in time Impressionism grew to become the most popular movement in the history of art.
For a full immersion, I began to study the works of the Father of Impressionism - Claude Monet and irrevocably fell in love with his paintings. I'm not a word virtuoso and I also don't want to fill this blog with useless and depthless thought just to show the amount of work done. Instead, I would like to describe my feelings about IMPRESSIONISM and why I love it. But let's get back to Monet.
He was a founder of French impressionist-painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement’s philosophy of expressing one’s perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein-air landscape painting. The term Impressionism is derived from the title of his painting Impression, Sunrise.
Impression, Sunrise (1872) by Claude Monet
I can only imagine what a furor this painting caused within Art and Culture academies. Anyone who was neighboring with art could easily say - "This painting is not finished! Brush strokes are too obvious, where is the detail? " and he would be absolutely right, except one major aspect - impression. It seems to me that I could easily draw something like that. Couple weeks spent on color theory would benefit my ambitions. But would I be capable of creating the MOOD? It is like a photograph. An expensive camera doesn't make you a good artist. It is the touch which comes from your heart organically merging with the brain. I can feel the moment in this painting - A cool breeze touching cheeks and slightly squinting eyes, the melody of water and rare cries of seagulls.
The essence of this movement is capturing the moment, giving you an impression and feeling about it. Making your brain to finish the painting to leave the option for a personal, intimate thoughts.
Woman with a Parasol (1875)
This is my favorite Monet's painting - Woman with a Parasol. This masterpiece truly awakes abandoned chambers of feelings which have been lost in our tense, grey-scaled metropolis live. I don't know much about the social aspects of these paintings, I don't know what exactly people felt in those years looking at the painting like this. The world has changed so much so feelings summoned during the contact with the canvas must differ. I think that paintings which enclose the feel of freedom, warmth and a massive portion of romanticism are influencing our hearts in a very beautiful way. I want to see the original Woman with a Parasol, but seems like this wouldn't happen in the nearest future as, despite the fact that I am located in London, the painting is located in Washington ( The National Gallery of Art)
Another outstanding painter, Edgar Degas, brought not a small part in the development of impressionism despite the refusal of this status and the preference to be called a Realist. A superb draughtsman, he is especially identified with the subject of the dance, and over half his works depict dancers. These display his mastery in the depiction of movement, as do his racecourse subjects and female nudes. His portraits are considered to be among the finest in the history of art.
Dance Class At the Opera Rue Le Peletier by Edgar Degas
Degas has his own distinct style, one reflecting his deep respect for the old masters and his great admiration for Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres and Eugène Delacroix. He was also a collector of Japanese prints, whose compositional principles influenced his work, as did the vigorous realism of popular illustrators such as Daumier and Gavarni.
Dancers
Degas skillfully disposed of the dynamics in his paintings. A strong feeling of the movement which involuntarily ends the ADAGIO in your yead
The Death of Leonardo Da Vinci by Jean Auguste Dominique
After the research, I have collected some of the most famous Impressionism artist works which really had an impact on me.
Photography as an Influence
With the invention of photography, painters were released from having to spend their time and talents solely on paintings dictated by the church or noblesse. The Impressionist Movement was born in Paris in 1874 and included Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, and Camille Pissarro among its founding members.
The Little Country Maid (1882) by Camille Pisarro
These painters were free to explore emotions, light, and color. Along with the invention of the paint tube in 1841, the invention and popularity of photography freed painters to paint en plein air and to capture everyday scenes of common people. Some Impressionists enjoyed being able to paint quickly and boldly, while others, such as Edgar Degas, enjoyed painting in more of a deliberate and controlled manner, as can be seen in his many paintings of ballet dancers.
Street in the Snow by Camille Pisarro
Many street photographers are trying to express themselves through the impressionism to capture the moment to leave it for others.
Music
The Impressionism also influenced the realm of music and created the Music Impressionism:
Paintings accomplished with impressionist compositors. I can safely confess, that I would never find this beauty if I wouldn't know about this assignment. Beautiful and full of emotions music that froze me for a good half an hour.
Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel are two leading figures in impressionism, though Debussy rejected this label (he mentioned in his letter that "imbeciles call 'impressionism', a term employed with the utmost inaccuracy") and Ravel displayed discomfort with it, at one point claiming that it could not be adequately applied to music at all. Debussy's impressionist works typically "evoke a mood, feeling, atmosphere, or scene" by creating musical images through characteristic motifs, harmony, exotic scales (e.g., whole-tone and pentatonic scales), instrumental timbre, large unresolved chords (e.g., 9ths, 11ths, 13ths), parallel motion, ambiguous tonality, extreme chromaticism, heavy use of the piano pedals, and other elements. Some impressionist composers, Debussy and Ravel, in particular, are also labeled as symbolist composers. One trait shared with both aesthetic trends is "a sense of detached observation: rather than expressing deeply felt emotion or telling a story," as in symbolist poetry, the normal syntax is usually disrupted and individual images that carry the work's meaning are evoked.
-Wiki
Central figures and primary research: I went to the British National Galery to see some of these paintings. And when I get there I was imagining that they are bigger than they actually appear to be. From the very first look, after many halls which I went through, these paintings really look "Unfinished" compare to Canaletto for example. I did not find all paintings in the National galery listed here, so most of them (my favorite collection) are going to be outsorced
Etudes pour une Vendage 1869-70
Frédéric Bazille (1841–1870)
Gustave Caillebotte: Norman Landscape
Gustave Caillebotte (1848–1894)
Mary Cassatt paintings · Two Women Seated by a Woodland Stream
Mary Cassatt (1844–1926)
Mont Sainte-Victoire seen from Gardanne
The Painter's Father, about 1865
Paul Cézanne (1839–1906)
Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando, 1879
Edgar Degas (1834–1917)
La Niege a Crozant, 1895 by Armand Guillaumin
Armand Guillaumin (1841–1927)
In the Conservatory, 1879 Edoardo Manet
Édouard Manet (1832–1883)
The Gare St_Lazare, 1877
Snow Scene at Argenteuil, 1875
Claude Monet] (1840–1926)
Dans le Blé (In the Wheatfield) (1875) by Berthe Morisot
