Post Impressionism Author(s): Robert Morris Ogden Source: The Sewanee Review, Vol. 20, No. 2 (Apr.

, 1912), pp. 191-200 Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27532535 . Accessed: 15/04/2013 00:38
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POST IMPRESSIONISM
It is a common reproach on our present-day culture that we

are failing to produce to say, any great works of art. Needless The true flower of any civilization this is a serious indictment.
is revealed in its art. Have we not reason, then, to be con

cerned course,

about

and any how them many other periods have misjudged impossible. if there ever was selves ! We may even doubt, with Whistler, an 'artistic period.' All we can say with assurance is that art But now and again. Time wipes has happened away the pseudo merit which survives. while that artistic, possesses So it may be with our own times. At any rate, we should not judge by ductions which
crowd our

the validity is hard to procure,

of

this

accusation?

of Evidence, true perspective is for us

the mass make

and of commonplace the of list 'bestsellers' up

concert-halls, and

pro ephemeral in books, which

If we

theatres,

art-galleries.

would

attempt

anything
art, we must

approaching
search for

an accurate
the few who

judgment
are struggling

of

contemporary

? in new fields ? for expression impelled forward by new ideas their work with sympathy and intel and must try to evaluate is not for us Ripe judgment of the masterpiece ligence alike. but for the future. Only time can tell what shall survive, only
time can answer in full the question of our artistic achieve

ment.
the trend

But

there

is no good
endeavor

reason why we
and, in

should

not
forecast

discern
the

of modern

a measure,

future dictate As

of an art.

Careful for this

our method, the critic.

scrutiny impartial task is surely the true is now dubbed

one. Paris

and

mind

should of

function

a good deal of interest it happens, in a school of painting which has been

sionism. The movement is not a newr

being Post
has

aroused Impres
known

twenty years headed by the veterans of a group of "independents" expressions Van and C?zanne, Gauguin, Germany has been greatly in Gogh. a in for fluenced by its Secessionists scarcely shorter time. Only movement is and remote America the conservative just England

it in a definite

form

for more

than

in the varied

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I?2

The

Sewanee

Review

now meeting which its efforts have warranted the consideration in other lands. Yet we may as well confess at once that nowhere has this attempt such recognition
fads of erratic

to break as

artists and amateurs.

genius

the shackles of tradition met with any to justify its acceptance among orthodox The average critic still ranks it among the
and commercially-minded art-dealers.

But the movement

the Pre-Raphaelite

has not died as so many

movement, for instance,

others
and the

have done?
art nouveau,

with

its perverse

craftsmanship.

are becoming in its theories increasingly more and practices evident. We is becoming need day by day to galvanize into have no fear of being accused of attempting a life the still-born productions For what of fancy. degenerate ever may be urged against it cannot be denied these works, that they are teeming with vitality. What more may be said in
their favor as a permanent contribution to representative art ?

the contrary, Interest conspicuous. On

its productions

In the first place, clear away that prejudice which sees beauty only in its accustomed Two things which at place. are once impress the casual observer of these bizarre productions the absence of any attempt to depict and the the 'beautiful,' We shall allow our dis look of the canvases. frankly unfinished to hinge in the main upon these two points. Concerning the first, the battle was waged loud and long, but there are many the day. To Rodin, that the innovators are winning evidences has perhaps, more than to any other artist of the last generation, our grasp on the true been due the achievement of enlarging nature of beauty. "Pour l'artiste digne de ce nom," he tells cussion
us, "tout est beau dans la nature, parce que ses yeux, acceptant

we must

toute v?rit? ext?rieure, y lisent sans peine, comme intr?pidement ? livre ouvert, toute v?rit? int?rieure." Only with the greatest difficulty, however, has aesthetic theory of art that a true and in convincing the devotees succeeded universal of the artist quite reside in the work beauty may in or absence of any intrinsic beauty regardless of the presence It required a drastic measure the subject which he is depicting. in this important to drive home truth, and the ultra-realists in this service valiant Zola, have rendered little we have come to realize that a feeling of

literature, notably cause. Little by

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Post

Impressionism

193

is not the essential in an aesthetic experience. feature pleasure In literature it has always been evident that such a doctrine was far too narrow to admit an adequate of the tragic. interpretation it in Aristotle realized the fallacy of such a view, and corrected has his theory of aesthetic Katharsis. Only in painting and sculpture it been held up to the artist as a first consideration that he should could with a reflection of things which please his audience as types of perfection. at once be grasped our But no more art is for will have of this. Pictorial independents

a field from which to appeal to feeling, imagi as to literature. is and that which nation, understanding assigned They are firm in the belief that they must break with academic tradition in order that they may take advantage of the manifold opportunities
them.

them as broad

of

expression

which

hitherto

have

been

denied

first step on the way toward this wider reach was taken But it is questionable if impressionism, by the Impressionists. as it is generally into pictorial art introduced understood, The essentially anything It discovered, first,
form-values. In

new the
noting

scientific certain except use of contrasting colors

that the contrasting

discoveries. to enhance
color always

the shadow cast by an object, and that in nature the pervades in a purplish haze?as distant vistas are enveloped contrasted ? and of the with the predominant greens yellows foreground con to revolutionize the Impressionists preexisting proceeded and atmospheric effects generally. ceptions of aerial perspective also that discovered raw, opaque colors in close by placing They a be fusion could effected by the eye, at a certain juxtaposition, distance, brilliant mixed The which as were would leave the resultant combination the original colors; whereas when the combination suffers a considerable colors dull quite as the colors are loss

being invariably art of landscape painting, where values of play so large a part, owes its true inspiration to these discoveries. have not contented themselves But the Post Impressionists such technical effects. devices have They to the means of producing

on the palette in vividness ? mixed

and muddy. light and color

with much

nature's 13

and idealizing for capturing upon not so devoted their attention, 'effects,' which always have

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194 about means

The them an element

Sewanee of

Review and transience, it here that as to the

instability

their work of fixing a type or symbol. It a variation so marked from the orthodox productions no necessity to those of the Academies. for adherence Finding indicates

the stock and situation which have become types of figure seen material of the studios, have the by en they possibility, means even of their abstract truths range, by larging depicting of symbolic expressions. in nature Yet it is not to the strange and freakish that they the contrary, the truths which On go for their suggestions. attract them are suggested and frequent by the most ordinary a is therefore of daily experience. Their objects symbolism are and concrete their Not truths vibrant with life. one, very or in the carefully wrought in the ideal figure of a nymph, portrait of some psychological type do they find that suggestion a con of character which makes the artistic study of humanity a far stant source of inspiration. it in But rather do they find of a type drawn simpler and, as it were, more na?ve exposition with much greater emphasis upon fundamental lines and surfaces than upon those details of lineament which in nature suggests a as such complex The result may be distorted abundance. figure, and ugly as an object, but it is real and true as an is the secret of their perversity. This It is not expression. it is that they care for the representation of the ugly because nor a to nature. that seek distort they ugly, wilfully Only is aimed at is rather superficial view can so interpret it. What or the depiction of an object, whether of the no, because ugly of its and this truth. And involves beauty simple expressive of material, and just such a distortion of just such a selection the object as may be necessary We may now consider the
has been aimed at these artists,

to emphasize second point

namely, the

this truth. of criticism

apparent

which
incom

To understand of their work. this we must probe a pleteness into the artistic attitude of these painters. little deeper utterances The Lord Jesus in one of His most profound said : ye "Except the kingdom densed into become this as brief of Heaven." children, ye shall not enter into con There is a world of philosophy one and truth it is the of statement, little

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Post which

Impressionism

195

to see. is always slow obvious-minded your person of Pictorial art is said to deal primarily with the representation an as seen. reason For it been this has often things regarded
artistic virtue to see as much as possible, and to render accord

ingly. realize ends more

But that

one

simply than a sham and a delusion.

to need not go far on this line of argument and clever it may be, however minute imitation, in stultification. The result can never be aught The function true is no doubt of art, surely, the method The to which

is quite other than this. Representation of painting, but not for the sake of being artist's makes

to nature.

he is, rather, problem his appeal. The model which he selects is always before and studied with the greatest care; him, and may be observed its every but this fact does not signify that he must represent detail have

to be true to the minds

We

it all into a single glance. in an attempt to compress see to prove that what we actually abundant evidence an we we at is far than that which when look less suppose object we see. And yet, if we were to represent only that which we at a glance, be so surprisingly the result would meagre to us. What that in many cases it would be quite unintelligible to interpret the eye has gleaned is needed these bits which are furnished by our preceding in certain clues which consists sense attitude
any

and thought.
for us.

Without

these,

nothing

that we

see

has

meaning

Now

the artist

simply confronted a picture is quite in a sequence finds its proper place only which is given of The experience meaning experiences. are states of mind ; the visual factors but elements A

a past. We are gives us a view without it. Evidently by it and asked to understand a a different from momentary glance thing of relevant of in successive in a chain

its meaning within picture, however, must contain thought. of this, the picture is something In consequence itself. quite But it is also different different from a casual view of nature. A photograph contains both from a photographic transcription. and too little to give us an adequate impression of full too much, in that it renders It contains artistic significance. to the sensi with entire impartiality all that has been exposed too much tized plate. It contains too little, in that it fails to arouse those

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196 elements

The

Sewanee

Review

a of adjustment and expectancy which play so large we see. in of the of what the It is part interpretation problem art to represent two things : all that is essential of the object, and all that is essential to a proper understanding of it. The have have long realized. They com in and their great arranging simplifying in order that distracting details might be eliminated positions, and important factors duly emphasized. But what they have not always realized in so great a degree is the need for suggesting artists exercised freedom which in a perfectly definite manner the precise attitude of expectancy to place the spectator in direct rapport with is necessary to express. the idea which This second they have chosen more to is in order much difficult than the and first, problem solve to the it satisfactorily the artist must bring his conception lowest possible level of human intercourse. It is precisely this fact which gives us the key to the say It is precisely this which accounts for the naive ing of Jesus. childlike first of these desiderata

and

to be found in the work of the Post quality at times, yet how it Almost appears Impressionists. jejune ever ridiculously seem on first view, it may bare and crude a veracity a it frequently and possesses quality living no amount of detail and meticulous finish is able to
effect.

which

? one of the few essays of Form way at the by an artist which really strike in an intelligible of eminent art?Adolf the Hildebrand, underlying principles has note vision made childlike of the of the essentially sculptor, In his volume on the Problem artist. essence He says : "If we but consider more that the artistic idea is in in the natural than a further evolution nothing ? a see one of us to of each which process process learning we to in and if remember that in childhood ; perform begins we most childhood visual imagery is vivid ; then may gain some idea of the sudden end to all this play of fancy which must follow the child's hours entrance into school. For school turns the and disciplines of youth to activities inimical much-prized the child de to art. Deflected thus from his natural course, and it is rather than his natural resources, velops his artificial only when he reaches full maturity that the artist learns to think

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Post

Impressionism

197

in terms of the natural in his forces and ideas which again were his happiest childhood possession." manner to regain this childlike of Jt is a definite attempt which apprehensions In order sionists. characterizes that the method of the Post themselves to express they may have directly, they given The broad Impres more a

outlines, or "repeats," of solid color, the simple rhythms, in the some what formal pattern of their design, all emphasize these long discarded efforts of a youthful in its first imagination craving for But itwould be futile to attempt a return to pictorial expression. such manifest crudities, were it not for the fact that a suggestive an elusive something which is power truth lurks among them,? fully Thus to the imagination and the understanding. stimulating we find, to our surprise, that the broad and realistic strokes used to set off a figure from its background, instead of and inartistic, give it an emphasis which it to lack, and a reality which is all the more real it is quite distinct from the realism which we associate it false seems to that more

forcibly and more touch of childish brevity.

their work the flat masses

rendering otherwise because with

as it belongs inasmuch rather naturalism, fundamental realism of the mental concept. a circular It has been noted that in painting a dish?the

for instance, spective? elliptical sumes in geometrical is to give us the unsuited projection essential quality of its actual rotundity. on the other hand, If, as an oblongish it is depicted we seem to derive from it a form, more akin This fact is closely acute, realization of its spatial import. to the child's method of picturing. In drawing a table he is apt to represent first the square top, because that is the most essential feature of his knowledge about tables. The legs which he adds at the four corners are necessarily from their displaced actual relation to sink

object in per form which it as

which

to the top, because he has no third dimension in them. But the fact remains that the essential features of the table are there, though a satisfactory representa tion is not achieved. The use of an oblongish form to represent what would be geometrically as an ellipse, gains its projected from the fact that the real surface-content of the dish is veracity better depicted in this manner than it is by an ellipse. The el

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198 lipse is an abstraction round. The oblong

the perspective view

The

Sewanee

Review from a surface which which

the

obtained

is a compromise
and also to

does
real

is actually justice both to as surface to discredit

surface-content,

inasmuch
forms than

as oblongs
are ellipses.

are more

frequently

met

with tends

Thus the work

we have of

seen

that the criticism

which of

Impressionists its incompleteness is unintelligent and invalid. to artistic treatment, may possess a quality ugly, when subjected of aesthetic interest which far surpasses the interest awakened by types of perfection. and action depends most sake. of states of mind the suggestion Indeed, are al in large measure which factors upon in the representation of form for its own totally eliminated Yet this does not mean that beauty of form is a neg

the Post

because

its ugliness and The intrinsically

ligible factor in art, but only that it is one among many other are its own peculiar significance. We factors, each possessing to as acme to accustomed refer of formal Greek sculpture the beauty in representation. Our ideals of classic form have been derived from Greek One needs, however, largely productions. a to imita Greek Venus with her compare average modern only in the 'classic manner,' to realize how far tion constructed short of this ideal the modern

The sense of sculptor has come. the flesh which the Greek clothes life, vibrating, palpitating is in and absent the austere stone of the cold statue, entirely ? ? this modern. And it because it is Rodin who noticed the Greek realized sculptor that an infinite The what his modern in surface imitator values
the

did stone
but

namely, this living result.

cases no soul,

variety smooth texture

animation,

is essential

not, to en
al

of the modern
while minute

suggests

no

variations in the surface of a Greek torso are ways meaningful even a fragment the very factors which make of the original statue alive in every part. It is just these living qualities to be
derived from texture, line, surface, and color which are so strik

in the paintings of the Post Impressionists. are they in evidence that often a great deal has been sacrificed in the way of formal beauty in an effort to drive their meaning home. So, too, with regard to the scantness of their detail and the

ingly in evidence Indeed, so much

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Post unaccustomed to be breadth

Impressionism What seems

199
at first

of their treatment.

glance only the result of poverty of invention, giving rise to the often-heard comment that a child could do as well, will not so much bear a closer scrutiny. A work of art is measured by the abundance resultant whole. it offers, as by the significance of the Instead of being these artisans, bungling who chosen have superb draughtsmen simply which of form values That in their effort to achieve they have always suc be folly to maintain. What is rather the thought and ac so much to of the conventional for masterpieces. tentative. It remains for them

painters are often to depict the minimum the maximum ceeded we should in their

of expressiveness. it would attempt for in their work sacrificed not look

look

tion for which

in painting. What they have their their successors

they have must We

is necessarily given who have learned more

point of view unique more and monumental bigger But fairly certain we may is soundly

fully to comprehend to manipulate these factors into results. if what the has been and said aims in their

ideas of this defense argued, artists bear the impress of a real contri group of contemporary not be surprising It would if future generations bution to art. should look back upon the surviving remnants of these curious as the foundation-stones of an art which for them expressions the distinction of orthodoxy, will have long since achieved and about which will have long been hung the ample mantle of the classical
gained genres,

be, that

spirit.
universal among

For,
which

after all, the classic

The classic narrower is treated the

is only
as one,

that which
of are but

has

acceptance.

meanings

artistic minor

the all-embracing concept of artistic compared all Art one both lesser makes truth, which, differences, levelling we as achievement. in aim and Just to-day look back upon the not only for the of the early Italian Renaissance, primitives of our art of painting, but also for fresh and crude beginnings affairs when of truth and beauty,?so may we inspiring suggestions with those of a later generation admiring unprejudiced
asm artistic these pioneer efforts towards an enlargement of horizon.

with

imagine enthusi
our own

Innovations

in art win

their way

but

slowly,

for artistic

tradi

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200 tion is conservative

The

Sewanee

Review

than less emphatic only slightly time inevitably modifies of religion. Yet elements of the true, discarding the false. And both, selecting truth, even of a new truth, half realized though it be, are surely to be found in the works which we have been discussing. It is is the conservatism too much to ask that we should find in them now that perhaps we but have so long associated which only with formal beauty, a with it is also too little to ask that we should them regard
mere tolerance as the half-mad utterances of a restless, aimless

in a sense

these here, possibilities precisely spirit. a our scant achievements, rests age may yet be classed hope that which the narrow confines of those have among pushed beyond academic tradition into the unexplored regions of the Art which For of is to be. Robert
University of Tennessee.

in the manifold

Morris

Ogden.

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