moment in time, not atmosphere reduced
to squares of blue and streaks of yellow.
This is a laborious study of the surface of
things observed as opposed to Monet’s
dictum that you needn’t study these
things—simply put down a patch of paint
that gives an impressionism of that thing.
And, this is why Fantin-Latour’s work
is not impressionistic. He does not wish
to convey an “impression” of the thing
observed, he wants to convey a palpable
and tangible representation of that thing—
the measurable reality of a peach, not a
swath of red orange. We would call FantinLatour’s work academic because it harks
back to the schools of art that taught that
2
truth is in the perfect rendering of all that
can be known about an object.
It is fascinating that a Monet, with all of its
various reductions of detail and simplistic
strokes, almost always feels as real as an
elegantly painted, highly detailed FantinLatour. One painting is not better than
the other, but they are definitely different
approaches to conveying something about
the world. Monet’s art speaks to the
tenuous shifting moment in time, while
Fantin-Latour seeks a stillness and clarity
that are forever unchanging.
Pierre Auguste Renoir’s The Wave (pictured
on the front cover) is highly Impressionistic
with its rollicking and restless broken brush
strokes of high-keyed color rushing across
the canvas. Compare this with Gaston La
Touche’s impressive The Joyous Festival
(see page 10), a painting very carefully
drawn and composed—not at all a quickly
realized chance view such as Degas’ seated
dancer. La Touche’s painting was done
in a studio, whereas Impressionists most
often worked outdoors, at the scene. Its
lighting effects feel pulled right out of a
movie set and its figures are staged like
actors. The result is a cinematic image that
is big, bold and action-packed. While it
may seem to capture a moment in time,
the artist’s methods are carefully calculated
and painstakingly carried out. It is a riot of
Claude Monet, French, 1840–1926, Port of Dieppe, Evening, 1882, oil on canvas. Collection of the Dixon Gallery and Gardens; Gift of Montgomery H.W. Ritchie in 1996.
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