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Post-Impressionism in France
(1880-1905)
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Following Impressionism, an art movement driven
by a loose confederation of young "outsider" painters
whose motivation was a rebellion against the established
French Salon de Paris influence on
art and an insistence on new techniques and styles,
it was probably inevitable that not long after their
success in breaking with tradition that the younger
artists that followed used this hard won freedom
of expression to rebel in turn against what they
saw as the limitations of Impressionism.
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In many ways they were also the natural extension
of Impressionism. Impressionists such as Cezanne
and Surat experimented with geometry and mathematics
in their work in an effort to give it meaning beyond
a mere 'impression', thus breaking with the pure
Impressionism.
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Where the Impressionists had sought to create visual
effects as they met the eye, painters such as van
Gogh and Gauguin sought to inject psychological
depth, emotion, and social significance using the
iconographic power of symbols and color.
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Post-Impressionism saw the final stripping away
of traditional conventions of modeling, perspective
and use of color and a movement towards a new simplification
of structure and form favoring pure colors and gestures
calculated to enhance emotional impact.
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The Driving Forces
This immensely creative forces at work in France
during this period were not limited to the art world.
The intellectual avant garde of philosophers,
writers, and social leaders interacted in a spirit
of organized artistic anarchy. Their influence was
felt throughout Europe and in the West, not always
favorably but inevitably.
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The era was characterized by an increasing intellectual
awareness of the individual and his place in the
social structure and the importance of his intimate
relationship to Nature. The rise in industrialization
together with political and economic repression
brought social inequities and unrest which found
expression among the intellectual bohemian class,
not least of whom were the Post-Impressionists painters.
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Techniques and Materials
Post-Impressionist continued to use broken brushstrokes,
a bright color palette, and the everyday subject
matter favored by Impressionists, but sought more
abstract techniques which emphasized style over
fidelity to detail.
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There was much experimentation in the mixing and
application of paint using scientific methods (Georges
Seurat and Paul Signat's divisionist techniques)
and in applying scientific principles of mathematics
and optics (Cezanne's geometric references).
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The Artist as Icon
Post-Impressionist artists reveled in their individually,
some with personally devastating personal consequences.
Risking everything to explore the individual artist's
narcissistic connection to his genius, his emotions,
and his impressions became the admirable goal of
an aspiring artist. A search for an 'authentic vision'
and to create art that would transcend Man and Nature
to achieve a life of its own became the lifelong
passion of many post impressionist painters.
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Some of the liveliest and most daring paintings
were created in a prevailing climate of critical
distain, even personal mockery, generally unaided
by patronage and with no official support, and under
conditions of personal poverty.
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Features such as Cézanne's geometric planes, Gauguin's
distinctive color harmonies, Seurat's dots, and
van Gogh's bombastic brushwork are instantly recognized
today as hallmarks of these great artist's individual
styles, but with the artistic freedom almost universally
enjoyed today we often don't appreciate at what
great personal cost this art was achieved. George
Seurat, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, and Paul
Cézanne were all dead by 1910.
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If Impressionism was in fact the great revolution
in art, then Post-Impression was a high peak in
the highly individualized expression of that artistic
freedom. The bravery of those artists and the risks
they took opened the doors to the free development
of later artist movements throughout Europe and
throughout the world.
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