National Gallery Of Art Major Exhibition ~ 'The Forest Of Fontainebleau'

Written by Jimmy Herman Thursday, 12 May 2011 20:14

 

WASHINGTON, DC - The quiet but significant revolution that was launched by artists working outdoors in 19th-century France is explored through some 100 paintings, pastels, and photographs as well as artist and tourist ephemera assembled for the exhibition In the Forest of Fontainebleau: Painters and Photographers from Corot to Monet at the National Gallery of Art, East Building, through June 8, 2008. The exhibition is organized in six sections.

Works by artists such as Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796-1875), Théodore Rousseau (1812-1867), Jean-François Millet (1814-1875), Claude Monet (1840-1926), and photographer Eugène Cuvelier (1837-1900) will showcase the French phenomenon of plein-air (open-air) painting in the region of Fontainebleau, which became a pilgrimage site for aspiring landscapists. Spanning half a century, from the mid-1820s through the 1870s, this artistic movement gave rise to the "Barbizon School" and laid the groundwork for impressionism.

"This exhibition celebrates a fertile relationship between artists and a unique locale that had a critical impact on European and American artists, such as the impressionists, in the decades that followed," said Earl A. Powell III, director, National Gallery of Art. "We are grateful to the many public and private lenders and especially would like to thank the Florence Gould Foundation for its support and its continuing commitment to the National Gallery."

In the Forest of Fontainebleau is organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, in association with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, where the exhibition will be on view July 13 through October 19, 2008. The exhibition in Washington is made possible by The Florence Gould Foundation. The exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

The Forest of Fontainebleau - The Forest of Fontainebleau, some 35 miles southeast of Paris, was formerly a royal hunting ground of kings and emperors, but it became a magnet for artists and tourists in the 19th century. The forest was accessible, beautiful, and visually compelling, with a rare mix of traditional rural French villages and natural landscape features—magnificent old-growth trees, stark plateaus, dramatic rocks, and stone quarries. Best known for the informal artists’ colony centered in the village of Barbizon, Fontainebleau became a nearly obligatory pilgrimage site for French and foreign artists, serving as both subject and sanctuary, "natural studio" and open-air laboratory for investigating nature.

Art, new technologies, and the rise of tourism combined to increase Fontainebleau’s fame and introduce it to an emerging mass market. New rail lines, such as the trains de plaisir that ran convenient Sunday schedules, made the trip from Paris inexpensive and easy, while the introduction of the paper negative process enabled photographers to travel without heavy equipment. The entrepreneurial zeal of Claude-François Denecourt, who established clearly marked sentiers (trails) throughout the forest and published guidebooks describing its highlights, made the forest accessible not only to professional artists but also to amateurs and throngs of day-trippers. As the forest’s popularity and congestion increased, the painter Théodore Rousseau appealed to the emperor Napoleon III, who decreed part of Fontainebleau a nature preserve—the first in history—in 1861, eleven years before Yellowstone became the first American national park.

The Exhibition - From plein-air sketches to impressionist canvases, the exhibition traces the centrality of the Forest of Fontainebleau in the development of naturalistic landscape painting in the 19th century. In addition to paintings, pastels, and photographs, In the Forest of Fontainebleau includes popular 19th-century guidebooks, maps, and souvenirs that reflect Fontainebleau’s history as a tourist destination.

The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden, located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets and Constitution Ave., NW, are open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.  The Gallery is closed on December 25 and January 1.  For information call (202) 737-4215 or the Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD) at (202) 842-6176, or visit the Gallery’s Web site at www.nga.gov.

---

Click on logo below to add this article to your favorite Social Website ~