The French Impressionists (1860-1900)

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The French Impressionists (1860-1900)

The Project Gutenberg eBook, The French Impressionists (1860-1900), by
Camille Mauclair, Translated by P. G. Konady
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Title: The French Impressionists (1860-1900)
Author: Camille Mauclair
Release Date: November 15, 2004 [eBook #14056]
Language: English
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THE FRENCH IMPRESSIONISTS (1860-1900)
by
CAMILLE MAUCLAIR
Author of L'art en Silence, Les Mères Sociales, etc.
Translated from the French text of Camille Mauclair, by P. G. Konody
London: Duckworth & Co. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co. Turnbull and Spears, Printers, Edinburgh
1903

[Illustration: RENOIR
AT THE PIANO]

To
AUGUSTE BRéAL
TO THE ARTIST AND TO THE FRIEND
AS A MARK OF GRATEFUL AFFECTION
C.M.

AUTHOR'S NOTE
It should be stated here that, with the exception of one reproduction after the Neo-Impressionist Van Rysselberghe, the other forty-nine engravings illustrating this volume I owe to the courtesy of M. Durand-Ruel, from the first the friend of the Impressionist painters, and later the most important collector of their works, a friend who has been good enough to place at our disposal the photographs from which our illustrations have been reproduced. Chosen from a considerable collection which has been formed for thirty years past, these photographs, none of which are for sale, form a veritable and unique museum of documents on Impressionist art, which is made even more valuable through the dispersal of the principal masterpieces of this art among the private collections of Europe and America. We render our thanks to M. Durand-Ruel no less in the name of the public interested in art, than in our own.

CONTENTS
AUTHOR'S NOTE
I. THE PRECURSORS OF IMPRESSIONISM--THE BEGINNING OF THIS MOVEMENT, THE ORIGIN OF ITS NAME
II. THE THEORY OF THE IMPRESSIONISTS--THE DIVISION OF TONES, COMPLEMENTARY COLOURS, THE STUDY OF ATMOSPHERE--THE IDEAS OF THE IMPRESSIONISTS ON SUBJECT-PICTURES, ON THE BEAUTY OF CHARACTER, ON MODERNITY, AND ON STYLE
III. EDOUARD MANET: HIS WORK, HIS INFLUENCE
IV. EDGAR DEGAS: HIS WORK, HIS INFLUENCE
V. CLAUDE MONET: HIS WORK, HIS INFLUENCE
VI. AUGUSTE RENOIR: HIS WORK, HIS INFLUENCE
VII. PISSARRO, SISLEY, CAILLEBOTTE, CéZANNE, BERTHE MORISOT, MARY CASSATT; THE SECONDARY ARTISTS OF IMPRESSIONISM--JONGKIND, BOUDIN
VIII. THE MODERN ILLUSTRATORS CONNECTED WITH IMPRESSIONISM: RAFFA?LLI, TOULOUSE-LAUTREC, FORAIN, CHéRET, ETC.
IX. NEO-IMPRESSIONISM: GAUGUIN, DENIS, THéO VAN RYSSELBERGHE--THE THEORY OF POINTILLISM--SEURAT, SIGNAC AND THE THEORIES OF SCIENTIFIC CHROMATISM--FAULTS AND QUALITIES OF THE IMPRESSIONIST MOVEMENT, WHAT WE OWE TO IT, ITS PLACE IN THE HISTORY OF THE FRENCH SCHOOL--SOME WORDS ON ITS INFLUENCE ABROAD

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

RENOIR. At the Piano (Frontispiece)
MANET. Rest
MANET. In the Square
MANET. Young Man in Costume of Majo
MANET. The Reader
DEGAS. The Dancer at the Photographer's
DEGAS. Carriages at the Races
DEGAS. The Greek Dance--Pastel
DEGAS. Waiting
CLAUDE MONET. The Pines
CLAUDE MONET. Church at Vernon
RENOIR. Portrait of Madame Maitre
MANET. The Dead Toreador
MANET. Olympia
MANET. The Woman with the Parrot
MANET. The Bar at the Folies Bergère
MANET. Déjeuner
MANET. Portrait of Madame M. L.
MANET. The Hothouse
DEGAS. The Beggar Woman
DEGAS. The Lesson in the Foyer
DEGAS. The Dancing Lesson--Pastel
DEGAS. The Dancers
DEGAS. Horses in the Meadows
CLAUDE MONET. An Interior after Dinner
CLAUDE MONET. The Harbour, Honfleur
CLAUDE MONET. The Church at Varengeville
CLAUDE MONET. Poplars on the Epte in Autumn
CLAUDE MONET. The Bridge at Argenteuil
RENOIR. Déjeuner
RENOIR. In the Box
RENOIR. Young Girl Promenading
RENOIR. Woman's Bust
RENOIR. Young Woman in Empire Costume
RENOIR. On the Terrace
PISSARRO. Rue de l'Epicerie, Rouen
PISSARRO. Boulevard Montmartre
PISSARRO. The Boildieaux Bridge at Rouen
PISSARRO. The Avenue de l'Opéra
SISLEY. Snow Effect
SISLEY. Bougival, at the Water's Edge
SISLEY. Bridge at Moret
CéZANNE. Dessert
BERTHE MORISOT. Melancholy
BERTHE MORISOT. Young Woman Seated
MARY CASSATT. Getting up Baby
MARY CASSATT. Women and Child
JONGKIND. In Holland
JONGKIND. View of the Hague
THéO VAN RYSSELBERGHE. Portraits of Madame van Rysselberghe and her Daughter

NOTE TO LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
The illustrations contained in this volume have been taken from different epochs of the Impressionist movement. They will give but a feeble idea of the extreme abundance of its production.
Banished from the salons, exhibited in private galleries and sold direct to art lovers, the Impressionist works have been but little seen. The series left by Caillebotte to the Luxembourg Gallery is very badly shown and is composed of interesting works which, however, date back to the early period, and are very inferior to the beautiful productions which followed later. Renoir is best represented. The private galleries in Paris, where the best Impressionist works are to be found, are those of MM. Durand-Ruel, Rouart, de Bellis, de Camondo, and Manzi, to which must be added the one sold by MM. Théodore Duret and Faure, and the one of Mme. Ernest Rouart, daughter of Mme. Morisot, the sister-in-law of Manet. The public galleries of M. Durand-Ruel's show-rooms are the