Week 6

In this final lecture we saw a number of examples of the "legacy of Impressionism/ Post-Impressionism"- most notably the art movements that came after, and the photography and cinematic movements impacted by the work of these artists. Finally we discussed early collectors of the Impressionists (and other pioneering artists of modernism) and viewed trailers for a number of films set in 19th century Paris and the world of the Impressionists.

MODERN ART AND VALUES (money, community, legacies, wealth and power!)

In the following clips Jeff Koon's tries to sell the idea of "artistic community", Christie's trumpets its record sales, Alice Walton feels she's contributing to culture, Bill Maher disagrees with her, and  Maria Altmann- the niece of Adele Bloch-Bauer finally gets her Klimts back.

 

Movements in French art AFTER the Impressionists/Post-Impressionists:
Fauvism & Cubism & short documentary on Henri Matisse

Photography and Painting: 
Short essay on Pictorialism in photograhy and Secessionism in America.

Read more about the Pictorialism of Julia Margaret Cameron 
(influenced by Romantic art and the Pre-Raphaelites in particular.)

The Photo Secession movement in America was founded by Alfred Stieglitz.

Documentary on the Photo Secession and other photo clubs in America

Impressionism in Cinema

• What is French Impressionist Cinema? (Wikipedia)
• Article on French Impressionist Cinema: 1918-1929 (cinecollage.net)

Several examples of French Impressionist Cinema in the 1920's

Abel Gance's "Napoleon" 

Jean Epstein's "The Fall of the House of Usher"

Marcel L'Herbier's "L'Inhumaine"

Henri Chommette's "Games of Reflection and Speed" & "Five Minutes of Pure Cinema"

The Impressionists, Post-Impressionists and their world of late 19th century Paris in the cinema

“Moulin Rouge” (1952)  

“Moulin Rouge!” (2001)  

“French Can-Can” (1954)  

“Lust for Life” (1956)  

“Vincent and Theo (1990)”  

“The Yellow House” (2007)  

“Renoir” (2013)  

“Gigi” (1958)  

“House of Pleasures” (2011)  

Final ballet sequence of "An American in Paris" using imagery and decor based on the artworks of the Impressionists & Post-Impressionists!

Week 5

 

A great lecture on Musical Impressionism and Exoticism from Yale 

(be sure to check out the many other lectures in this musicology series as well as all of the courses available online through 

Yale Open Courses)

Links on Musical Impressionism and the connection between art and music

• Impressionism in Music (Wikipedia)
• Musical Impressionism (Princeton)
• Impressionist Music (Classical Archives)
• Debussy: "Between Impressionism and Symbolism"

-- Videos and Links on Symbolism in Literature the Visual Arts ---

• Symbolism in Literature and Visual Arts (Wikipedia)

• Text to Stephene Mallarme's poems including "The Afternoon of a Faun
•  

The "Afternoon of a Faun" danced by Nureyev (after choreography by Nijinksy) 

Costumes and sets by Leon Bakst (Victorian and Albert Museum pages)

Gustave Moreau and Odilon Redon--- two incredibel Symbolist artists! 

Impressionist Music of Claude Debussy: 

(Tone poems: La Mer, The Sunken Cathedral, Pagodas)

The Symbolist Music of Claude Debussy 
(operas: Pelleas and Melisande/ Fall of the House of Usher/ Martyrdom of St. Sebastian)

Michael Tilson Thomas on Debussy's St Sebastiane

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Early recording of the full work

Section of a ballet version designed by Robert Wilson (rare footage)

Impressionist Music of Maurice Ravel

Max Reger's tone poems after paintings by Swiss Symbolist painter Arnold Böcklin 

Synesthesia and Music

Links about musical and artistic synesthesia

• Synesthesia- (main article on Wikipedia)
• Visualization of Music (from BrainPickings)
• Alexander Scriabin (Wikipedia)
• Podcast on Scriabin and Synesthesia

Complete full orchestra-multi-media performance of Scriabin's "Prometheus: Poem of Fire" at Yale

Week 4

-Videos from class and related links to Paris & Exoticism- 

Two 3-D recreations of the Chinese Pavilions from two of the Paris World's Fairs

Information on the Universal Expositions of Paris

• Wikipedia list of links to the Expos in Paris from 1844-1937
• Info on the Paris Fairs from Brown University
• The Online Expo Museum

Videos on Van Gogh and Japanese prints 

Short article: Japanese Influences on Vincent van Gogh

Whistler's Peacock Room at the Smithsonian- hour long lecture

 

More videos on Youtube of the Peacock Room!

Links on Orientalism and Chinoiserie

• An introduction to Edward Said's "Orientalism"
• Orientalism in 19th century French art (from the Metropolitan Museum)
• Japonisme in Impressionist Art (from the Metropolitan Museum)
• Chinoiserie in European art (from the Metropolitan Museum)

Lectures on Orientalism in European Art

BBC Documentary on Gauguin

Week 3

 

Here is an article from the NYT on Renoir and faded-colors due to the chemical breakdown of his paints.

RENOIR SHOWS HIS TRUE COLORS

One of things that I am quite fascinated by is the material and technological bases for art-making. As we talked about last week- industrially manufactured paint in tubes made "en plein air" painting a lot more convenient. It also seems to have contributed to the growth of rich impasto bush-strokes, thick daubs of paint right out of the tube were placed directly on to the canvas by people like Van Gogh who sought to communicate the energy of their feelings through the force of the placement of the paints (at least that's how we often understand these works).

This week the umbrella topics will be LIGHT/ COLOR/ PHOTOGRAPHY and their relationship to the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painters.

Here is the link to GOOGLE CULTURAL INSTITUTE where you can look up thousands of paintings or painters and ZOOM IN on the details of their work. It's a truly exciting resource.

Here is a short article and video on a recent exhibit in Michigan of a number of Impressionist painters and the photographs that either influenced or inspired them, or were simply a part of the popular visual world in which they were living.

Reexamining Link between Rise of Photography and Impressionism

The following are the videos we watched in class as well as a three part French made documentary on Pointilism and Seurat

Consider how the Impressionists and the artists after them working in Paris were fascinated by urban life and the modern elements of speed, crowds and luminosity! This energy is certainly captured by the use of time-lapse.

As we discussed in class- LOIE FULLER was an American expatriate dancer who took Paris by storm using new technologies of stage lighting, many of which she pioneered and patented. Here is Jody Sperling of Time Lapse Dance performing as Loie Fuller.

Claude Monet was constantly striving to understand how light changed the experience of material reality. His studies of Rouen Cathedral are a prime example of this life-long fascination with the play of light on the surfaces of the natural and human-made world.

This charming French film uses LIGHT as its major theme to explore the world of Seurat and the Pointilists. The intergenerational differences between Seurat and the older gents of the Impressionist movement are also shown.

Week 2

Renoir, "Ball at the Moulin de la Galette", 1876

WEEK 2: Impressionist Visions: New Worlds, New Subjects, New Effects/Affects

This week we'll explore the remaking/rebuilding of Paris through the destructive brilliance of Baron Haussmann and the Imperial ego of Napoleon III-- sample new modes of living, consuming, looking and loving from cafés-concert and les maisons closes (brothels) to the Hippodrome and les expositions universelles (world's fairs)-- and finally we'll listen in to the response of critics and collectors alike as they declaim on this radical new way of ENVISIONING THE MODERN METROPOLE!

Also- last week I mentioned a website that shows the paintings in each of the eight annual Impressionist exhibitions-- that site is here

If you scroll down to the bottom of the page found at the link above,  you will see a link to each of the exhibitions!

Learn more about the painter Caillbotte and the rebuilding of Paris with Prof. Kenney Mencher (check out his many wonderful art history videos on Youtube)

Learn more about Belle Epoque Paris from Yale professor John Merriman, a world authority on France in the 19th century.

Week 1:

Georges Seurat, "Circus Side Show" 1887

I am very much looking forward to meeting you all today and beginning our adventure into the rich world of the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists.

Teaching at OLLI will be a new experience for me. I am excited about working with all of you to create a mutually rewarding and enriching atmosphere where we can learn from one another.

Although we'll have no official textbook I want to share a few recommendations for texts that I've used to prepare my lectures and that I think you'll find helpful. All of them are quite inexpensive and can be easily purchased either used or new on Amazon.com

1.) Impressionism: Art, Leisure and Parisian Society by Robert L. Herbert

2.) Impressionism edited by Ingo F. Walther (this can be bought in two volumes or in one small
volume- be aware the print is small in the one volume set- although its compactness makes it fairly easy to carry around.)

3.) The Impressionists at First Hand edited by Bernard Denvir

I am also very big on using new media resources and will certainly be sending you links and websites that I find helpful as we go along.

Please be aware of the Kahn Academy's Smart History Videos. These are mini-lectures on artworks from across history- with short articles to flesh out basic ideas or give helpful overviews of particular movements.

Smarthistory Impressionism page

Here are two articles that will (I hope) illuminate today's lecture and also help us think about the important concept of modernity as we go through the class. One is from Baudelaire's essays on modern art the other is a short essay on the history of the terms "Intransigents" and "Impressionists"- two terms used to describe the artists we now call Impressionist. The author shows us how both of these words were entangled with ideas concerning "Revolution" which was certainly much on the mind of Parisians in the 19th century.

1.) Baudelaire's The Painter of Modern Life

2.) Intransigents -- article on the origin of the word "Impressionism"

3.) Click here to find an article discussing the Baudelaire essay in detail

For those of you eager to dig more deeply into the topic check out this rather exhaustive website for a course on Impressionism at Michigan State University.

Not all of the links work- but there are many that do and you can easily download PDFs of articles that you find interesting or of help regarding this rather inexhaustible subject.