The Impressionist Era at The Carnegie Museum

Written by Candy Dunlop Wednesday, 22 December 2010 23:19

Pittsburgh, PA - In April 1874, a group of artists in Paris abandoned academic traditions and organized a public exhibition of work independently from the Salon, the government-sanctioned, official exhibition associated with the Academy of Fine Arts.

It was belittled by French art critic Louis Leroy as an exhibition of “Impressionists” referring to the loose, unorthodox approach to composition and the modern subject matter of many of its artists. This was the first of eight pivotal exhibitions featuring the aesthetics and thematic content of what became one of the world’s most renowned art movements. Through June 18, 2006, Carnegie Museum of Art will display 70 prints and drawings in The Impressionist Era: Works on Paper from the Collection, by Impressionists and also by their artistic forerunners, friends, and competitors. The exhibition situates the Impressionists within the broader context of their art world and features artistic trends, ranging from the 1860s through the turn of the century.  “The rebellious spirit of Impressionism versus academic art and new approaches to constructing images had an enormous impact on art world practices and aesthetic trends that reverberates to this day,” says Amanda Zehnder, Carnegie Museum of Art assistant curator of fine arts and organizer of the exhibition. “The vibrancy of this strikingly rich period is reflected in aesthetic and thematic innovation and technical skill in works on paper.”  At the center of the exhibition is a core section of works by Mary Cassatt, Edgar Degas, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Paul Cézanne, Camille Pissarro, and others who exhibited in one or more of the eight Impressionist exhibitions. The section is preceded by a group featuring works by artists including Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot and Jean François Millet, who are often thought of as forerunners of Impressionism. Artists such as Edouard Manet and James Tissot declined to participate in the Impressionist exhibitions, but were friendly competitors and colleagues to the Impressionist artists and are included in the exhibition.A final section features works by Pierre Bonnard, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Edouard Vuillard and other artists associated with the generation that immediately followed Impressionism. Visit The Carnegie Museum of Art

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