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
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POST IMPRESSIONISM
is a common

It

on

reproach

our

culture

present-day

we

that

are failing to produce

to say,
any great works of art. Needless
The true flower of any civilization
this is a serious indictment.
in

is revealed

its

art.

we

Have

the validity
is hard to procure,

cerned

of

about

not

this

reason,

to

then,

con

be

accusation?

of
Evidence,
true perspective
is for us

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
course,

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
the mass

not

judge by
ductions which
our

crowd

would

and
of commonplace
the
of
list
'bestsellers'
up

make

theatres,

attempt

anything

approaching

we

search

art,

contemporary

and

concert-halls,

must

pro
ephemeral
in books, which
If we

art-galleries.

an accurate

for

the

few

of

judgment
are

who

struggling

?
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
can

time

ment.
the

answer

But
trend

future

in

there

the

our method,
the critic.

and,

in

for this

The

it in a definite

movement

form

is not

for more

than

newr

is now
dubbed
one.

discern

forecast

mind

scrutiny
impartial
task is surely the true

a good deal of interest

it happens,
in a school of painting which has been

achieve

not

a measure,

As

sionism.

artistic

should

and

Careful

dictate

our

of

question

reason why we

endeavor

of modern

of an art.

full

is no good

Paris

the

should

function

being
Post
has

of

aroused
Impres
known

in the varied

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

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The

I?2

Review

Sewanee

now meeting
which
its efforts have warranted
the consideration
in other lands.
Yet we may as well confess at once that nowhere
as

artists and amateurs.

of

fads

erratic

genius

But the movement

the

and

its perverse

art-dealers.

commercially-minded

has not died as so many

for

movement,

Pre-Raphaelite

with

the shackles of tradition met with any

to justify
its acceptance
among orthodox
The average critic still ranks it among the

to break

has this attempt

such recognition

and

instance,

the contrary,
Interest
conspicuous.

craftsmanship.

have done?

others

On

the

art

nouveau,

its productions

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

permanent

to

contribution

representative

art

we must

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

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
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

universal

literature,
notably
cause.
Little by

in this
service
valiant
Zola, have rendered
little we have come to realize that a feeling of

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Post

193

Impressionism

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
his theory of aesthetic Katharsis.
Only in painting and sculpture
it been held up to the artist as a first consideration
that he

has

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

should
could

them as broad

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
of

opportunities

which

expression

hitherto

have

been

denied

them.

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

new

essentially
anything
It discovered,
first,
In

form-values.

the

discoveries.

scientific
certain
except
use of contrasting
colors
that

noting

the

to enhance
color

contrasting

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

which
as were

would

the resultant

quite as
the colors are

combination

the original colors; whereas when

the combination
suffers a considerable

on the palette
in vividness ? mixed

mixed

leave

loss

and muddy.
light and color

colors

dull

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

The

with

such

nature's
much

technical
effects.

devices
have

and idealizing
for capturing
upon
not so
devoted
their attention,

They
to the means
of producing

'effects,'

which

always

have

13

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The

194

them an element

about

Sewanee
of

Review

instability

and

transience,
it here that

as to the

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

means

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

at

aimed

these

artists,

to emphasize
second point
namely,

this truth.
of criticism
the

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

as

of Heaven."
this

brief

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

195

Impressionism

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

which

artistic

ingly.
realize
ends

virtue

to

But

one

that

see

as

as much

simply
than a sham and a delusion.

more

and

possible,

to

render

accord

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

of art, surely,
the method

function

is quite other than this. Representation

of painting,
but not for the sake of being

is no doubt
true

to nature.

to be true to the minds

The

to which

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
artist's

makes

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
detail

We

have

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

meaning

Now

the artist

Without

these,

nothing

that we

see

has

us.

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

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

of

relevant

in successive
in a chain

of

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.
A

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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The

196

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
elements

first of these desiderata

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
exercised

artists

freedom

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

which

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.

solve

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

and

childlike

which

no

amount

of

and meticulous

detail

finish

is able

to

effect.

?
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

artist.

He

says

essence

on the Problem

: "If we but consider

idea is in

that the artistic

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

more

the child's

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
hours

only when

he reaches

full maturity

that the artist

learns

to think

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Post

197

Impressionism

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

the method

that

express
they may
have
directly,
they
given

forcibly and more

touch of childish brevity.

The

of the Post
themselves
to

Impres
more

their work

the flat masses

broad

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,?
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

fully
Thus

rendering
otherwise
because

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

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

to

that more

object in per
form which
it as

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

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
akin

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
actual

relation

which

to sink

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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The

198
lipse is an abstraction
round.
The oblong
the

forms

are

the work

of

to

also

and

which

are more

is actually
justice both to

does
real

the

surface-content,

met

frequently

as surface

with

ellipses.

we have

Thus

is a compromise

as oblongs

than

Review
from a surface which

obtained

view

perspective

inasmuch

Sewanee

seen

that the criticism

the Post

which

because

to discredit

tends
of

its ugliness
and
The intrinsically

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

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
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

beauty

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
short of this ideal the modern

realized
sculptor
that an infinite

Greek

namely,
this living result.
cases

no

soul,

The

what

imitator

in surface

variety
smooth texture

no

suggests

his modern

of the modern
while

animation,

the

did

is essential

values

minute

not,
to

stone

en

but

al

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

ingly in evidence
Indeed, so much

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

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Post
unaccustomed

199

Impressionism

of their treatment.

breadth

seems

What

at first

to be

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
it offers, as by the significance
of the
Instead
of being
these
artisans,
bungling
who
chosen
have
superb draughtsmen
simply

by the abundance
resultant whole.

which

painters are often

to depict
the minimum
the maximum
ceeded
we

look

tion for which

That

for in their work

they have
must
We

in painting.
What
they have
their

they have always suc

be folly to maintain.
What
is rather the thought and ac

of expressiveness.
it would
attempt

in their

should

successors

in their effort to achieve

of form values

so much

sacrificed
not

look

to

of

the conventional

for masterpieces.
tentative.
It remains
for
them

is necessarily
given
who have learned more

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

is soundly

fully to comprehend
to manipulate
these
factors
into
results.
if what

be,
that

has been
and

the

in their

said
aims

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,

For,

spirit.
universal
among

the

narrower

The

acceptance.
which

is only

after all, the classic

classic

is treated

that which
of

artistic

but

minor

meanings
as

one,

are

has

with

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

these

artistic

pioneer

efforts

towards

an

their way

but

enlargement

of

imagine
enthusi
our

own

horizon.

Innovations

in art win

slowly,

for artistic

tradi

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200

The

Sewanee

Review

in a sense

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
tion

is conservative

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

restless,

in the manifold

aimless

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

Morris

Ogden.

of Tennessee.

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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions