Art in Focus

Chapter 22: Art of the Later Nineteenth Century

Lesson Summaries-English

          By the end of the nineteenth century, some artists began to find fault with Impressionism. Feeling limited by always trying to capture the momentary effects of sunlight on forms and colors, they explored new ways of creating art.

Lesson 1
Europe in the Late Nineteenth Century

          Artists in the 1880s and 1890s looked for ways to represent a more personal, expressive view of life. While they continued to consider the effect of light on color, they used more intense hues and returned to stronger contours and more solid forms. The updated style created by these artists was known as Post-Impressionism. Though Paul Cézanne began as an Impressionist, he later developed a technique of painting objects as separate planes, or surfaces, of color. Cézanne’s still lifes make objects look solid and heavy, and the mountains in his landscapes look monumental and durable.

          Another Post-Impressionist, Vincent van Gogh, drew from a painful life to make powerfully expressive paintings. In his Self-Portrait, he used the dots and dashes of paint common to Impressionism to represent himself at a difficult time. In his Bedroom at Arles, he used the rich colors and flat planes of Japanese prints to express his inner loneliness. Eventually he developed a personal style marked by twisting lines and bold brushstrokes, as seen in his famous work The Starry Night.

          The last great Post-Impressionist was Paul Gaugin. He searched for exotic settings in which to paint and eventually settled in Tahiti. His works have flat areas of bright colors that produce rich, decorative patterns. Cézanne, van Gogh, and Gaugin inspired future artists by using their individual views of the world to express inner feelings.

Lesson 2
America in the Late Nineteenth Century

          The United States went through many changes during the nineteenth century. Change and growth were also noted in American art. Some artists became part of European art movements, while others developed uniquely American styles. The artist Winslow Homer worked as a magazine illustrator and later painted American scenes. His powerful paintings of the sea make dramatic use of line and contrasting color values. Homer and Thomas Eakins are considered American Realist painters. Inspired by Rembrandt’s solid, lifelike figures, Eakins painted the people and scenes of Philadelphia. Works such as The Gross Clinic are strongly realistic and were criticized by many. Albert Pinkham Ryder, in contrast, was inspired by the Bible and European writers. Using rich colors and textures, Ryder created exciting scenes from his imagination.

          African-American artists contributed to the growth of art in the United States. Edward Mitchell Bannister overturned claims that African Americans could not paint well. He painted soft portraits and romantic interpretations of nature. The most famous African-American artist was Henry Tanner. He became friends with Eakins and began to paint simple, honest genre scenes. Later he moved to Paris and gained recognition for his depiction of a Bible story, Daniel in the Lion’s Den. The sculptor Edmonia Lewis was half Native American and half African American. She went to live in Rome, where she enjoyed brief fame as a marble sculptor.