Caillebotte and modernity

There are 3 main characteristics working together to influence Caillebotte’s work toward the modernity style. They are isolation, gender roles, and perspective distortion. These characteristics can be seen clearly in many of his paintings. For the purpose of this discussion we will focus on his Floorscrapers 1875.

Here we see three men working seemingly together to accomplish the task at hand. Yet there is one man that is on his own in the middle to background of the painting. He is working alone paying attention to only the floor and the scraper. His two companions are it would appear working while conversing with each other. On the right side of the painting we can see the bottle and glass displayed that would have made this job more tolerable. It is also isolated in the scene as the men are working away from it and the viewer. This direction of travel also gives the viewer the impression of being isolated as they are not a part of the limited interactions of the men.

 These men are depicted in a woman’s domain they are working indoors while being painted by a male artist at a time when only female artists painted domestic scenes in the home and men were commonly painted out of doors, at work or play. The men are nude from the waist up and although the artist did not paint the men in an idealized anatomical style he painted them true to life. This gender role reversal and the realism in this painting of a realistic scene bespeak modernity.

The long lines on the floor from the men working with the scrapers along with the closely cropped scene cause the perspective to be expanded and distorted. According to the reading and our lecture the artists of this time were interested in Japanese prints and this distortion of perspective can be partially attributed to this. Another reason could be the near photographic style of the painting. The scene gives additional room for the men to occupy. However, this painting would not be the same without the space that is created by the distorted perspective as it would have the feeling of being cramped and crowded.

The “Floorscrapers” is a beautiful painting that gives a feeling of being smooth and complete while depicting the task for what it really is hard labor. It uses isolation to describe how we are all together but each of us live our own lives separately and alone. We interact to accomplish daily tasks and earn our keep but in reality when the day is over we may not be friends. By exploring gender roles in an indoor setting showing the men on their knees doing the hard labor we get to see the other side of daily life for the poor. Combined with an distorted perspective we can get close up without losing the space of an empty room. Since the brush strokes are smooth and the daily reality is being exposed this painting is a clear study in what it means to be modern.

Monet and Manet Festival paintings

The first thing that I notice is the colors are very similar when the paintings are looked at side by side it is as if both men were dipping their brushes into the same palette of paint. Then my eye is drawn to the movement that is so hurried pulling the viewer into the background. Monet’s paint is movement and feeling personified. The open sky is pushing the back ground down into the painting and your eye follows the crowd. This and the moving flags cause the effect of the painter being high above the street painting quickly to catch the movement below.

Manet’s painting on the other hand gives us a view that could only occur before the storm of movement on Monet’s. There are clean streets and the only human close to the painter is a disabled man on crutches. There are buggies in movement and one parked by the road. We see people walking down the street and the image is painted at ground level in comparable calm. Each of these paintings is treated differently by the artist. Each seems to have a very different idea of the meaning of this festival. Manet is quiet and speaks to the beginning or end of the day when the rest of the world is safely ensconced into their homes for the most part safe and sound. Monet shows the rush of humanity that is involved in the festivities.

The flags in both paintings seem to splash color but in Monet’s painting the color is pushed and pulled by the wind. It is as if Mother Nature herself had come to have a good time as well. Manet uses the flags more judicially to show depth and push the viewer back down to the nearly empty street and its few occupants. It is the cold blues in Manet’s painting that give an impress of the calm that comes when the world is at rest.

We can see the light and dark shadows in the paintings that show the movement of time in the day. In Monet’s painting the largest shadows are on the right side of the work and Manet’s work they are coming from the left. This passage of time is tracked by the light of the sun as these are paintings of the out of doors. It is the depth of the shadows closest to the buildings that give Monet the perception of a deep depth between the artist and the street.

I really like the painting by Monet because the movement invites the viewer to join in the fun. One gets the feeling that they are there as swept along with the participants. There is the warmth of the sun, the rush of the crowds, and windows that appear to be overflowing with flags. The patriotism being shown in this scene is a little overwhelming. Manet created a work that invites the viewer to stop and contemplate the stillness of the street before him. There is movement but it is not the central figure in this work it is a partner to the nearly deserted location. People are not rushing about neither are they in a great hurry and patriotism can be saved for another day or those that are wealthy enough to afford it.

These two paintings are very interesting when looked at side by side. They have a lot to say about the importance to movement to create a work that speaks to how we should feel and perhaps do feel about the world around us. When we are moving we are working together to make life work. 

Week 3 Impressionism Claude Monet

Claude Monet’s Impression: Sunrise

To quote our book by Stokstad and Cothern on page 984, “While their exhibition received some positive reviews, one critic, Louis Leroy, writing in the satirical journal Charivari, seized upon the title of Monet’s painting Impression: Sunrise (SEE FIG. 30-26 page 985), and dubbed the entire exhibition “impressionist.” Leroy sought to ridicule the fast, open brushstrokes and unfinished look of some of the paintings, but Monet and his colleagues liked the name and kept it as it aptly described their aim to render the fleeting moment in paint.” This is a great credit for a work of art to claim. And it is these very brushstrokes and unfinished look that makes this painting so truly an impressionist work of color and light.

The viewer does not even notice at the very first look that this painting appears to be a color blocking for the real modeled work. It is not the lack of refinement that makes the viewer either stop and stare, or walk quickly away. This is not because the work is clearly incomplete to the realist eye it is the colors that do this little trick. The way the colors interact with the light how the density of the shadows give a flat appearance to the overall work. This unfinished state is perfect for the intense effect on the viewer that causes the bones to become chilled with the new day.

The colors of this painting run a chill up your spine. You can feel the intense cold created by the blues and greens. The world is just beginning to come to life again and it is bitterly cold. The travelers on the boats in near blackness are no more than shape and shadow do nothing to alleviate the impression of freezing temperatures. The blue and green in the sky and waters create a mist which deepens into a fog. You’re lost and alone in the cold.

Your eyes are attracted to the one promise of warmth in the painting that is the coming of the sun. It is this red, yellow, orange orb and its streak across the water that begins to ting the sky with the faintest of peach coloring. Telling the viewer the day will be warm and here on the water just might not be such a bad place to be. But what truly make the colors work is not how cold or warm the viewer is made to feel it is the light that is captured at that moment in time. There is no true white or black in this painting so you are forced to accept the shading that hints at the structure of the world in the distance. These values that are captured in the gaining light bring the colors to life.

It is the quick loose stokes of the brush that allowed for Monet to capture the different tones and hues of light as it began to spread out from the dawning of the sun. On the right where the sun is most bright in the sky we seen the beginnings of the dark shadows hold their ground against the coming light. These structures start to tell their shape and use because of the ability to paint in the outdoors. These lights were truly from the sun in the sky not some memory or snapshot. Although the edges run off of the canvas leaving the viewer at a strange angle to the composition.

The composition is a perspective of great expanse yet it is visually flatter than it should or could have been at any other time of day. Shapes are vague lines or splotches of color there is no realism in this work the artist is interested in the light alone. In the foreground there is an impression for the eye of the waves in the water. Even they only speak to the lights, darks and shades of gray in between that this brilliant color scheme speaks so clearly. With the coming of the light into the world comes color and the dark of night begins to wash away. The world begins to become recognizable again.

This lack of completion and loose brush strokes that apply one color against the next in no certain pattern are the telling marks of impressionism. The study of light and color in this work are helped by an ability to work en plein air thanks to a new invention the oil paint tube. Monet captured the moment in time when the world was just being to be born again in color and light. No more than a mere impression of the day at its beginning. 

Week 2 Courbet

Not only is the subjects ones that could be seen any day of the week Courbet forced the viewer to confront hardships of life which they would gladly turn away from. It is for this reason that this realist was such a thorn in the side of the bourgeoisie. At a time when the people of France were fighting for their independence the ruling class was being forced to take a clear look at life in its purest form.

The Stone Breakers depicts a task that by the differences of the men’s clothing shows that it has been going on for a very long time and will not stop soon. The older man seems to depict how from the beginning he has worked a hard job for little pay and less recognition. The younger man is new to this life. His clothing shows that he once had a higher paying job and could afford finer things. The job of providing stone dust for roads was hard labor and no man wanted to have it or pay attention to those that did.

The Burial at Ornans depicts the burial of a revolutionary and although the book refers to it as a homage to his maternal grandfather it seems to respect the deaths of all revolutionaries. The inclusion of a portrait of the man when he was alive seemingly in attendance of his own funeral surrounded by the clergy whom seem not to care shows how little the revolution to meant to the rich and wealthy. This burial is better attended by the men closest to the grave as it seems they are the only ones who care and are willing to give their lives just as quickly.

These paintings speak of everyday life amongst the poorest and yet most willing to fight for their freedom.  They force the government to take a close and clear look at how they treat the people they rule. Realism is a recording of everyday events through the eye of the artist whom lives them. The bourgeoisie would have rather lived in their world of ease and wealth without having to acknowledge the suffering around them. 

Avant-garde

Avant-garde seems to mean that something is new, different from the expected, and pays little attention to how smooth the texture is expected to be. In the documentary clips it was very important to how the work by Manet the "Luncheon on the Grass" was received by the public and also a huge reason that he became the sensation that he was in the art world. This time consuming work of complete contradictions seems to make the viewer the main character in the work. 
For the first time the painting did not have to tell as story historical or imagined. This is a huge challenge to the viewer. Suddenly they are part of the work and have to make up the story line for themselves. By focusing on the rough strokes, varied gazes of the men, the woman doing something in the water, a picnic that does not seem to be complete or edible by the group. What stands out in the painting is the nude woman whom stares boldly at the viewer. This grouping does not go together but seems rather to invoke an inner perspective of the viewer.
In basics Manet broke all the rules of the time and he kept breaking them. This is what made him and his work avant-garde.