LES FAUVES

    "Les Fauves" is a term which is French for nothing less than "The Wild Beasts". This not so flattering term was given to the artists of this movement because of their supposed lack of discipline. However Fauvism today is defined as a short-lived movement of early Modernist art which emphasized paint itself and the use of deep color over the representational values retained by Impressionism, even with its focus on light and the moment. Fauvists strongly believe in the power of color as an emotional force. 
    Les Fauves often used a quote by Paul Gauguin to justify their style: "If the trees look yellow to the artist then painted a bright yellow they must be." The two leaders of Fauvism were Henri Matisse and André Derain. Their paintings use bright, vivid colors to draw the eye. Fauvism had some influence on the later formed Expressionists.

EXPRESSIONISM

     Expressionism was an art movement associated mainly with German painting and film of the early 20th century, particularly following World War I. Expressionism had a strong influence on American film noir, due to the migration of German directors to Hollywood in the 1930s. Hitchcock was very much aware of Expressionism, from his interest in modern art and from having worked in German film industry in the 1920s.
    The goal of Expressionism was to evoke the subjective responses that the artist has to objects or events. It contrasted with impressionism, which sought to capture the outward impression of an object or scene. Expressionism did not attempt a realistic portrayal of the world, but rather the extreme and distorting emotions that the world causes in the sensitive individual.The stylistic premise of Expressionism was that the artist's response to the environment was so intense that it affected the form of the art. Surface elements are distorted or exaggerated by subjective pressures. As a reflection of the times, Expressionist painting tended to be vivid and violent, with jarring images.
                             

LES NABIS

  A group from Paris who called themselves Nabis, Hebrew for “prophets.”  were unified by a dislike of impressionism. The Nabis thought the impressionists wanted only to capture fleeting moments on canvas. The Nabis wanted to create something they felt was more meaningful: they wanted to cause spiritual reactions in the viewers of their work.What the Nabi paintings truly had in common, though, was a use of bold but muted colors used in unexpected ways to show real scenes and objects in unrealistic ways. They were greatly influenced by Paul Gauguin, much of whose work can be described just that way. Below is his Self Portrait with Halo in which you see the bold, primary colors placed next to each other in a way that should be overwhelming but isn’t.

SYMBOLİSM

   "I believe only in what I do not see."

                                                        Gustave Moreau.

  Symbolism originated in France, and was part of a 19th-century movement in which art became infused with mysticism. French Symbolism was both a continuation of the Romantic tradition and a reaction to the realistic approach of impressionism. It served as a catalyst in the outgrowth of the darker sides of Romanticism and toward abstraction.
   The term Symbolism means the systematic use of symbols or pictorial conventions to express an allegorical meaning. Symbolism is an important element of most religious arts and reading symbols plays a main role in psychoanalysis. Thus, the Symbolist painters used these symbols from mythology and dream imagery for a visual language of the soul.
   Not so much a style of art, Symbolism was more an international ideological trend. Symbolists believed that art should apprehend more absolute truths which could only be accessed indirectly. Thus, they painted scenes from nature, human activities, and all other real world phenomena in a highly metaphorical and suggestive manner. They provided particular images or objects with esoteric attractions. There were several, rather dissimilar, groups of Symbolist painters and visual artists. Symbolism in painting had a large geographical reach, reaching several Russian artists, as well as American. The closest to Symbolism was Aestheticism. The  Pre-Raphaelites, also, were contemporaries of the earlier Symbolists, and have much in common with them. Symbolism had a significant influence on Expressionism and Surrealism, two movements which descend directly from Symbolism proper.

   

Pierre Puvis de Chavannes

''Beheading of St. John the Baptist''

           

                

                                                                                                          

                                                                                                         Odilon Redon ''The Light of Day''

 Aubrey Beardsley ''The Dream''

                                                                                                      

NEO-IMPRESSIONISM

    The term Neo-Impressionism refers to a pictorial technique where color pigments are no longer mixed either on the palette or directly on canvas, but instead placed as small dots side by side. Mixing of colors takes place from a suitable distance, in the observor's eye, as an "optical mixture".
    French painter Georges Seurat studied writings on color theory and invented a new painting technique that he named "separation of color" or "Divisionism", the main advantage of which is to give a greater vibrancy of color,in 1880s.Seurat's first large painting  "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" may be considered as the founding masterpiece of Divisionism.

                                

    At the start of the movement, neo-Impressionism was not welcomed by the art world and the general public. In 1886, when Seurat first exhibited his now most famous work, there was an overwhelming effect of negative feelings. The commotion evoked by this artwork could only be described with words like "bedlam" and "scandal".

   From 1892 on, Signac, a sailing lover, regularly sejourns in Saint-Tropez. His style becomes more intuitive and his color touches larger, his palette more luxuriant."Compared with Signac's luminous and light paintings, Seurat's paintings seem grey and immobile", contemporary art critics Julius Meier-Graefe writes to describe the chromatic intensity of Signac's paintings.Thus Signac gives birth to a second Neo-impressionism.

                                

                                Saint-Tropez, l'orage - 1895

    Neo-Impressionists’ use of tiny dots to compose a whole picture was considered even more controversial than its preceding movement, impressionism. Impressionism had been notorious for its spontaneous representation of fleeting moments and roughness in brushwork.Neo-impressionism provoked similar responses for opposite reasons. The meticulously calculated regularity of brush strokes was deemed to be too mechanical.This style of painting was far from the commonly accepted notions of creative processes set for the nineteenth century.

IMPRESSIONISM

     A French 19th century art movement which marked a momentous break from tradition in European painting. The Impressionists incorporated new scientific research into the physics of colour to achieve a more exact representation of colour and tone.The sudden change in the look of these paintings was brought about by a change in methodology: applying paint in small touches of pure colour rather than broader strokes, and painting out of doors to catch a particular fleeting impression of colour and light. The result was to emphasise the artist's perception of the subject matter as much as the subject itself. 

    ''Impression—I was certain of it. I was just telling myself that, since I was impressed, there had to be some impression in it ... and what freedom, what ease of workmanship! Wallpaper in its embryonic state is more finished than that seascape.''                                                                               

                                                                                                                                      Louis Leroy                                      

     Impressionism is a depiction of an artist’s impression. It does not aim to be accurate in detail which one finds in the realist and neo-realist style. But the impression often elicits a stronger emotional appeal which is variously triggered in the beholder. Many impressionist paintings have a soft nebulous rendering of its subject, almost dream-like. Rules about perspective, clean definite lines and interplay of light and shadows no longer apply. It is a spontaneous expression, often discarding the basic ability to draw correctly and becomes more an interplay of colors. Because it is an impression, every impressionist painting becomes more an expression of the heart.

     Impressionist art is a style in which the artist captures the image of an object as someone would see it if they just caught a glimpse of it. They paint the pictures with a lot of color and most of their pictures are outdoor scenes. Their pictures are very bright and vibrant. The artists like to capture their images without detail but with bold colors. Some of the greatest impressionist artists were Edouard Manet, Camille Pissaro, Edgar Degas, Alfred Sisley, Claude Monet, Berthe Morisot and Pierre Auguste Renoir.Manet influenced the development of impressionism. He painted everyday objects. Pissaro and Sisley painted the French countryside and river scenes. Degas enjoyed painting ballet dancers and horse races. Morisot painted women doing everyday things. Renoir loved to show the effect of sunlight on flowers and figures. Monet was interested in subtle changes in the atmosphere

             Camille Pissarro

Edouard Manet

    

      Many Impressionists painted pleasant scenes of middle class urban life, extolling the leisure time that the industrial revolution had won for middle class society. In Renoir's luminous painting Luncheon of the Boating Party, for example, young men and women eat, drink, talk, and flirt with a joy for life that is reflected in sparkling colors. The sun filtered through the orange striped awning colors everything and everyone in the party with its warm light. The diners' glances cut across a balanced and integrated composition that reproduces a very delightful scene of modem middle class life. 

     In its day, Impressionism was considered a radical departure from tradition. Looking back, we can see that Impressionism was more than a departure – It changed the very nature of the way people think about art today. Thanks to all the very Impressionists for striving to push forward in what they believe in we would not have this very fine art style we call Impressionism today.
    When the Impressionists began painting, Ideals of art were not only controlled, but also looked down upon and rejected by academic institutions such as the French academy of fine arts and the Salon, which had great power over the careers of artists. Even through the hardships, the Impressionists did not give up on the art that they believed in.