Pierre-Auguste Renoir & Franz Marc

LEGION OF CHRIST COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES Pierre-Auguste Renoir & Franz Marc The Clash between Impression and Expression Professor: Fr. Andreas Kramarz, LC Student: Br. Adolfo Wissar, LC Course: [4] Art History Fourth Semester Paper Cheshire, April 30th, 2014  THE CLASH BETWEEN IMPRESSION AND EXPRESSION The Impressionist movement originated in France in the 19th century and lasted roughly from 1867 to 1886. The group was in opposition to the academic training of the schools.They were in revolt with Romanticism and argued that the primary purpose of art is not to communicate the emotional excitement of the artist. They also affirmed that the recording of nature is secondary. The Impressionists were in symapathy with Realism, which sustains that the primary purpose of art is “to record fragments of nature or life in an objective and scientific spirit as impersonally as possible.” CHILVERS, I & OSBORNE, H. (ed.), The Oxford Dictionary of Art, Oxford University Press, New York, 1988, p. 249 They repudiated imaginative art and were interested rather in the objective recording of contemporary and actual experience. The Expressionist movement existed both in Germany and France from 1905 to 1925. Expressionist paintings are characterized by the abandonment of naturalism in favor of distortion and exaggeration of shape or color that urgently express the artist’s emotion. Their paintings are full of vivid imagery and are often described as showing a touch of the dark side of human nature.The expressionist style makes use of intense color, disjointed spaces, and agitated brushstrokes in order to elevate intense subjective reaction above the observation of the external world. Artists who paint in this style might incorporate fantasy and violence in their subject matter in order to show the extremes of emotion. The present paper will provide a brief exposition on the biography and style of Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Franz Marc, taking into consideration the most important aspects of their lives and works, and in so doing to contrast and assert the value of both the Impressionist and the Expressionist Movements. PIERRE-AUGUSTE RENOIR (1841-1919) “Why shouldn’t art be pretty? There are enough unpleasant things in the world” CHILVERS, I & OSBORNE, H. (ed.), The Oxford Dictionary of Art, Oxford University Press, New York, 1988, p. 418 Pierre-Auguste Renoir was born in February 25, 1841, in the city of Limoges, France. When he was only four, he and his family moved to Paris, where he was to spend the greatest part of his life. Auguste demonstrated his gift at an early age. At age thirteen he worked in a porcelain factory, where he learned to decorate plates with bouquets of flowers. His skill and the great pleasure he took in his work soon convinced him he should study painting in earnest. In 1862 he began to take courses in drawing and anatomy at the École des Beaux-Arts as well as painting lessons at the studio of Charles Gleyre. Although Gleyre’s academic style did not suit him, he accepted its discipline in order to acquire the elementary skills he needed to become a painter. Renoir felt a much greater affinity with three students who entered the studio: Alfred Sisley, Claude Monet, and Frédéric Bazille. All four students dreamed of an art that was closer to life and free from past traditions. Renoir also met Paul Cézanne and Camille Pissarro, who shared with him the same ideas. Different circumstances encouraged Renoir to attempt a new freedom and experimentation in his style. In a time when it was conventional to paint always inside the studio, Renoir, and his friends Sisley, Monet and Bazille moved to the forest of Fontainebleau where they devoted themselves to paint directly from nature; they stressed the observation of modern reality over the repetition of a traditional ideal. In 1874 the first Impressionist exposition was held independently of the official Salon. This date is generally considered to be the point of departure for the Impressionist movement. Renoir’s work is a perfect illustration of this new movement in thought and technique. By using small, multicolored strokes, he evoked the vibration of the atmosphere, the sparkling effect of foliage, and the luminosity of human skin in the outdoors. Renoir also laid emphasis on producing paintings inundated with light, in which he deliberately set out to give the impression, the sensation of something, its generalities, and its glancing life. He also banned black color from his paintings. Because of his fascination with the human figure Renoir was distinctive among other impressionist painters, who were more interested in landscape. Thus, he obtained several orders for portraits, most notably of rich women and children. From 1881 to 1882 Renoir made several trips to Algeria, Italy, and Provence. These trips had a considerable effect on his art and on his life. Renoir became aware that small brushstrokes of contrasting colors placed side by side did not allow him to convey human skin as he wanted. He also realized that in certain cases the black color had a striking effect and gave a great intensity to the other colors. Renoir emphasized volume, form, contour, and line rather than color and brushstroke in paintings from this period. Renoir’s strong reaction against Impressionism continued until about 1890. During these years he made several trips to Aix-en-Provence, Marseille, and Martigues. The seemingly joyous spontaneity of nature in southern France gave him the desire to depart from his newly found adherence to the dictates of classicism. During this period he also married Aline Charigot, with whom he had three children. Towards the end of his life, Renoir suffered from chronic rheumatism, which considerably limited his movements (by 1912 he was confines to a wheelchair); but he continued to paint until the end of his life. During this period, Renoir’s themes became more personal and intimate, focusing on portraits of his wife, his children, and Gabrielle, his maid. Renoir died on December 3rd, 1919, in the French southern town of Cagnes at the age of 80. FRANZ MARC (1880-1916) “The ungodly human beings who surrounded me did not arouse my true emotions, whereas the inherent feel for life in animals made all that was good in me come out” CHILVERS, I & OSBORNE, H. (ed.), The Oxford Dictionary of Art, … p. 312 Franz Marc was born in February 8th, 1880 in Munich. He became one of the leading Expressionist artists and a founding member of Der Blaue Reiter (“The Blue Rider”). By 1900, Marc began to study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, where his teachers included Gabriel von Hackl and Wilhelm von Diez. In 1903 and 1907, he spent time in France, particularly in Paris, visiting the city's museums and copying many paintings. Marc’s early works were painted in a naturalistic academic style. This style changed when he discovered French Impressionist painting; consequently, he adopted a more modern approach, using simplified lines and vivid colors. During a trip to Paris in 1907 he encountered the work of Vincent van Gogh, whose vigorous, emotional brushwork profoundly influenced him. In 1910 Marc met Wassily Kandinsky, who was a member of a group of Expressionist artists known as the Neue Künstlervereinigung THE NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. 15th ed., Micropaedia, Marc, Franz, vol. 7, pp. 818-819, (tr.) “New Artists’ Association” . Marc joined the group in 1911 and worked closely with another member, August Macke, whose distinctive use of broad areas of rich color led Marc to experiment with similar techniques. Marc, Kandinsky and Jawlenski split from the Neue Künstlervereinigung in 1911, forming a rival group of artists named Der Blaue Reiter Ibid. “The Blue Rider”. Together they edited a journal of the same name, which was published in 1912. Marc and Kandinsky believed that art should lay bare the spiritual essence of natural forms instead of copying their objective appearance. They also developed the idea that mystical energy is best revealed through abstraction. Marc deemed civilization as a destructive force that marred the human awareness of the spiritual force of nature; this being the main reason why he usually painted animals and was passionately interested in the art of “primitive” peoples. About this Becket says: “Marc saw animals as the betrayed but uncontaminated guardians of what was left of innocence and unspoiled nature” BECKETT, W. & WRIGHT, P., The Story of Painting, Dorling Kindersley, New York, 1994, p. 353 Franz translated his own philosophy into the powerfully simplified and rounded outlines of his figures. These figures are echoed in the rhythms of the landscape background, which unites both animals and setting into a vigorous and harmonious organic whole. In most of his paintings Marc used colors as well-defined symbols: blue, yellow, and red each stood for specific emotional qualities. Blue was used to portray “the color of the male principle of spirituality” STOKSTAD, M., Art History, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, New York, 1995, p. 1047, yellow represented feminine joy, and red enclosed the sound of violence. Marc showed several of his works in the first Der Blaue Reiter exhibition at the Thannhauser Galleries in Munich between December 1911 and January 1912. During the last period of his life Marc began to use his compositions to express the brutal power and timorous fragility of various forms of animal life. “He tried to paint animals not as we see them, but as they feel their own existence”. CHILVERS, I & OSBORNE, H. (ed.), The Oxford Dictionary of Art, … p. 312 In 1912 Marc’s admiration for the works of the French painter Robert Delaunay and for the Italian Futurists made his art increasingly abstract. These last paintings are considered the culmination of that stream of German Expressionism, which free from social and didactic preoccupations, moved in the direction of expressive abstraction. With the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, Marc enlisted in the German Army as a cavalryman; he was struck in the head and killed instantly by a shell splinter during the Battle of Verdun in 1916. A BATTLE OF STYLES The century between 1850 and 1950 has witness one of the most revolutionary, important, and spectacular artistic explosion history has ever seen. Renoir, with his luminous and tender representations of real people and settings, exemplified (at least during the greatest period of his career) the ideal of the Impressionist painter. His paintings convey beautiful landscapes and portraits with an emphasis on composition, which is brought about by means of fairly neutral colors. His paintings could be perceived as quick snapshots taken in an instant by the artist which produce an immediate and unforgettable impression upon the viewer. Marc, in the other hand, achieved great results following the ideas of the surging Expressionist movement. His paintings convey more abstract images, which powerfully express his personal moods, emotions, and convictions. His use of bright exaggerated colors is also full of symbolism. Through his works, Marc strove to represent the “being”, that is, the ontological essence of his subjects, rather than their mere physical appearance. His view upon art can be perceived more as an expression of his mind than as the impression of the environment upon him. Impressionism and Expressionism are two artistic revolutionary movements which took shape after the dire need of modern man to respond to the reality of old in a modern way. One of them embraced the exterior and sought for beauty. The other rushed for the interior looking for meaning. Together, they gave birth to modern art. BIBLIOGRAPHY The New Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. 15th ed., Micropaedia, Renoir, Pierre-Auguste, vol. 9, pp. 1028-1029 The New Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. 15th ed., Micropaedia, Marc, Franz, vol. 7, pp. 818-819 Beckett, W. & Wright, P., The Story of Painting, Dorling Kindersley, New York, 1994 Chilvers, I & Osborne, H. (ed.), The Oxford Dictionary of Art, Oxford University Press, New York, 1988 Stokstad, M., Art History, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, New York, 1995 1 8