Unesco travelling print exhibition: From impressionism till today

a cramped and meticulous, purely enumerative style, in which t h e mass of from his works emanated, like music, all the poetry of t h e inexpressible, which details was of more account t han t he exactitude of the optical image. Manet was t h a t of his unconscious mind. A t t h e same time, Odilon Redon was was regarded as a revolutionary b y this perverted public, as was Courbet, getting away from t h e normal appearance and t h e logic of objects t o plunge because he attempted t o revive the 'pictorial" t r u t h of the old masters. The into t h e unknown and t h e secret mysteries of t h e h uma n heart. Following Impressionists, who adopted him as their leader, were much bolder t h a n he, in their footsteps, Surrealism was already on t he horizon. b u t they none t h e less remained faithful t o realism. The new school went Their works became t h e starting-point of t he great experiments of modern even further, proposing as i t did t o penetrate the secrets of vision, light and art. Between t hem and modern art, however, room must be made for appearances. I t tried t o attack these problems from a point of view more Toulouse-Lautrec, in whom is perpetuated Degas' pungent genius of observa rigorously scientific, taking into account t h e latest discoveries in optics, b u t lion, oriented towards contemporary life, b u t who also, with his boldly t he very rigour of this attitude was soon seen t o be so uncompromising, t he stylized arabesques, and t h e force of character which in his work deforms results so unexpected and so different from all the conventions t o which t he b o t h huma n figures a nd inanimate objects, is t he forerunner of trends to public was accustomed, t h a t people were taken aback b y such unorthodox come. representations of nature and cried aloud in horror. This art, which actually considered itself supremely realistic, and in which a picture was b u t a window opening on t o a landscape, t he public mistakenly believed t o be divorcing painting from reality, because it no longer recognized t h a t reality. By The Impressionists and their contemporaries, therefore, contrary t o their denouncing this divorce which had no t actually taken place, t h e public of t he own doctrines, led t h e wa y for t h e offensive which modern a r t was to day made i t conceivable, helped artists t o imagine it, indeed provoked it. launch against realism. I n the very bosom o f Impressionism itself something seemed t o b e stirring, The first generation o f their descendants is t h a t of t h e " N a b i s " . This was new trends were beginning. Degas, i t is true, regarded painting as a n a r t t h e oriental name (meaning " prophets ") which a t t h e end of t he century of observation, seeking eagerly t o perpetuate scenes of contemporary life i n a group of young painters, influenced mainly b y Gauguin, gave themselves. their most unexpected and sometimes crudest moments. Monet, Pissarro, They were a t once traditionalists, in their love of quiet subjects and of poetry Sisley turned for preference t o open-air scenes bathed in light. only i n order emanating from nature, a n d innovators, in t he simplification of their ara- to give a new extension t o this a r t of observation. Bu t t o this intent and besques a nd splashes of colour. Some, like Maurice Denis and K. X. Roussel, dazzled way their fellow artists had of looking a t things, attempting only t o found their inspiration in religious or classical t h eme s ; others, like Bonnard set down wh a t t h e y perceived so acutely, certain painters added research a nd Vuillard, the former with a radiant and lyric vigour, t he latter more along new lines, and their individual obsessions. They argued t h a t i n t he gently and timidly, portrayed scenes of family life. All began t o interpret composition of a picture, nature, which provides t h e artist's subject and Nature and t o solicit i t t o manifest t he free interplay of line and colour" assem- pretext, is no t t h e only factor : there is also t h e artist himself, who attempts bled in a certain order " , as Maurice Denis describe i t in a phrase t h a t is now through his work t o communicate t o others wh a t he feels and wh a t he is, historic. The greatest of this group is certainly Bonnard, in whom can be t he very essence of his life. There is t h e picture too, t h a t is t o say t h e flat recognized t h e creative vitality and generosity of t he great masters. white surface on which t h e artist's lines a nd colours are arranged. Thus, F r om t h e beginning of t h e twentieth century, Fauvism goes further. It side b y side with realism, a nd discrediting it b y their composition, Expres- does violence t o nature b y bringing in something o f t h e instincts which impel sionism, with all its vehemence, and Plasticism with its structural preoccu- t h e artist, which make u p his "temperament " a nd sensibility: some, like Mar pations, were t o open up t o art new a nd very different possibilities. quet, Dufy or Matisse, still celebrate t he delights of t h e eye and the j oy of Cezanne, whilst respecting t he exactitude of visual images, sought t o living; b u t others, like Rouault a nd Vlaminck, are t h e victims of a tragic reconstitute—to ,think!,, beneath t h e apparent disorder—the elementary genius which deforms reality i n t h e fury of their own psychological storms. forms which are their structure and spirit. He gave colour t he t a s k of render- Marquet remains closest t o Impressionism. H e retains its predilection ing, b y transposition, bo t h intensity of light and solidity of masses. Seurat, for light analysis, bu t , abandoning t he divisionist technique, works with large who was younger, founded Neo-Impressionism, which his friend Signac expanses of straight colour. Dufy, more capricious and Parisian, b u t daring- was t o develop further. He carried t o its extreme t h e principle of divisionism, ly succinct, transforms reality into a n almost stenographic sparkle of colour- as a means of rendering optical impressions, b u t in his arrangement of lines, spots a nd highlights. Matisse goes further in t h e depth of his conceptions colours, their relationships and contrasts, he sought harmony. Thus began a n d t h e total, lucid consciousness he has of the problem of modern art. Faith- the plastic "constructivist" trend, which was t o become, in its extreme forms, ful t o t h e striking optimism of his predecessors, he resolutely aims a t a bold Cubism and abstract art, synthesis o f the means of expression, thereby becoming, with Picasso, the Renoir, meanwhile, forcefully and joyously lyrical was seeking t o express dominating figure of t h e whole contemporary school. On t h e other hand, with luminous human forms, bright flo'vTers, and full and generous contours Rouault and Vlaminck bring forward t h e preoccupations of a different world his own joie de vivre. Van Gogh was much more violent in his torturing o f mental torment. Rouault, particularly, stirred b y a religious genius which o f appearances, tossing t h em like a tempest t o express t he stormy d r ama of casts a spiritual and almost mystic splendour on his most pessimistic moments his own life. Bu t for the one as for t h e other, light was their means of rendering o f violence, opens u p t o painting t he realm of tragedy. t he degree of their intensity, and bo t h painted t h e ardour of their own hearts Younger t h a n Rouault, t h e Italian Modigliani was t o introduce a more rather t h a n objects which were b u t t h e p r e t ex t of their inspiration. This delicate a nd nostalgic form of despair, celebrating t h e female form in a refine- was t he beginning o f t he Expressionnist movement, which was later t o produce me n t of curves. Fauvism. Meanwhile, following t h e same p a t h as Friesz, Derain, a former exponent Gauguin, for his part, with increasing boldness and complete disdain for of Fauvism, who started his career with Vlaminck a t Chatou and took part t he limits imposed b y reality, lavished on his canvases t he suggestive power in his most original experiments, was working on a serious a t t emp t t o re a n d t he harmonious composition of his lines a nd colours. He went further: integrate these new acquisitions into a rejuvenated classical tradition. But 7