Impressionists focused on light and color. But what are Post-Impressionists? They came after the Impressionists anso must be different. But so many of these artists are listed as both. How do they differ?
It's true. The connection between them is strong. Most of the Post-Impressionists were friends with the Impressionists, and like them, loved to play with light and color. The difference is that they thought the Impressionists didn't go far enough. Impressionists were concerned with capturing the moment, looking at reality and interpreting it in terms of the lights and darks. Post-Impressionists went one step farther.
Each of the Post-Impressionists had a different take on where they wanted to go with their art. George Seurat took light and color in a scientific direction. He looked at the latest research that examined how light was reflected or absorbed by a particular color. He combined that information with how the eye sees. He layed dots of different colors next to another, so that the human eye combines them to create a mixture of the colors. Thus, to make a green, he would place a yellow dot next to a blue dot. He still adhered to the Impressionist style of painting with complimentary colors and emphasising lights and shadows, but he did so in a controlled way. He planned his paintings carefully, working out a theme rather than drawing just what he saw. As a result, Seurat's paintings tend to look stiff and calculated, rather than as a glance or an impression.
Students are working on creating a Seurat style scientific drawing by painting with points of color.
just for fun: http://www.ahsd25.k12.il.us/~TriciaFuglestad/VisualArt/flashmovies/whatsthepoint.swf
7th grade students are learning about a radical art style from the 1860's called Impressionism. Artists had the gall to go outside and paint, focusing on light and how it effects color rather than what things actually looked like. No wonder the museums in Paris refused to display their art. Such radical ideas should be ignored, and surely they will disappear...
But Impressionism is one of the most favorite art styles around the world today. By capturing a moment in time, Impressionist artists don't focus on minute details. Instead they capture a broad idea and let your mind's eye fill in the rest of the picture. They ask the viewer to look at the picture with wonder, to notice how reflections dance across a surface or how color changes depending on the time of day.
A way to remember Impressionism and what they cared about, is to remember the word ELBOW.
E- Everyday subjects. This was new as people tended to paint heroic ideals, religious paintings, paintings of rich patrons...not kids on a beach or people at a picnic.
L- Light was the most important element they looked at. How does light change colors? How does your eye mix colors so that we see the combination of them. How do complimentary colors work in shadows as as highlights of light?
B- Brushstrokes. Impressionists used short undefined brushstrokes to give an impression of color, shadow or highlights. Brushstrokes and blending of colors all one into another are two aspects of Impressionism that make it so unique.
O- Outdoor painting was unheard of. But with the invention of paint in tubes, artists were able to paint for long periods without their paint drying up.
W- Water was wonderful. It cast reflections, it was see-through, it floated things on it's surface. And with the newly invented inexpensive blue colors and orange in a tube, painting water was much easier than ever before.
Our seventh grade is working with oil pastels to capture the lights and darks in a fall still-life. By shining a bright light on the still-life, it gives the leaves and pumpkins a very dramatic effect.
