The course provides an in-depth study and pictorial survey of Impressionism, its origins and its legacy presented from a general overview of the evolution of painting, with a focus on key elements in the Impressionist movement, such as composition, color and style. It is important to consider the aesthetic evolution of Impressionism through the works of the movement's forerunners, made up of artists who constitute the core group and their immediate descendants. Students study the effects of the Impressionist movement on twentieth century art and the ways in which today's artists reaffirm the legacy by using elements that gave the movement its vitality and energy. Artists studied include Courbet, Millet, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Degas, Seurat, Cezanne, and Gauguin.
Prerequisites:
Previous course in Art History
Attendance policy:
Since IES courses are designed to take advantage of the unique contribution of the instructor and the lecture/discussion format is regarded as the primary mode of instruction, regular class attendance is mandatory. Each student may have no more than one absence in each course for whatever reasons. Your final grade in the course will be reduced by one fraction of a grade (i.e. A becomes A -) after that.
Learning outcomes:
By the end of the course, students are able to:
Relate artistic expression to historical forces and technological change;
Explain how late 19th century art production, marketing and sales were organized;
Organize the main periods and movements of late 19th and early 20th century art;
Demonstrate how artistic technique is related to artistic content;
Research, write ad defend an essay explaining the outlook, techniques and impact of Impressionist artists, both then and now.
Method of presentation:
Lectures, group discussion, museum visits/field study
Required work and form of assessment:
Participation (10%); research paper (30%); mid- term exam (30%); final exam (30%)
content:
1. The French art world before 1850
The Academy and the Salon
Readings: Harrison et al
Field Study: Musée du Louvre
2. Color & Drawing
The last fight: Ingres & Delacroix/Theory of color from Goethe to Chevreul
Field Study: Musée du Louvre
3. Landscape Painting
Naturalist tendencies of the Barbizon School/Millet, Corot, Daubigny, Eugène Boudin, Gustave
Courbet
Readings: Millet, pp. 373-378; Homer, pp. 600-601
Field Study: Musée d’Orsay
4. Painters of Modern Life
Courbet’s realism (1850-1855)/The World’s Fair in Paris, 1855/Le musée des beaux-arts
Field Study: Petit Palais
5. Manet: The First Modern Painter?
Salon des refuses, 1863/Monet in Giverny
Field Study: Monet’s house and the American museum in Giverny
6. The First Impressionism Exhibition boulevard des Capucines, Paris, 1874
Impressionism exhibitions, 1874-1886/Monet in London (1870): Turner & Constable/Monet,
Impression, Soleil levant, 1873,
Field Study: Musée Marmottan
7. New Exhibition Opportunities
Individual carriers/Monet, Degas, Cézanne, Caillebotte, Berthe Morisot/education of the artist
Field Study: Musée d’Orsay
8. Midterm exam
9. New Painting & New Economical Systems
Art dealers: Durand-Ruel, le Père Tanguy
10. Modern Sculpture
Auguste Rodin/Monet’s Nymphéas/The Paul Guillaume collection
Field Study: Rodin museum & Musée de l’Orangerie
11. Post-impressionism
Van Gogh/Gauguin/Seurat and Signac
Field Study: Musée d’Orsay
12. Introduction to a History of Perspective from the Antique to Cézanne and Picasso
Field Study: Musée Picasso
13. Montmartre and la Bohème
Symbolism and Nabi/Maurice Denis/Gustave Moreau
Field Study: Montmartre and Musée Gustave Moreau
14. Fauvism and Cubism
Matisse, Derain, Braque, Picasso
Field Study: Musée national d’art moderne
15. Final Exam
Required readings:
Harrison, C. P. Wood, & J. Gaiger (eds). Art in Theory 1815-1900: An Anthology of Changing Ideas.
Blackwell Publishing, 2005.
Rewald, John. Studies in Impressionism. New York: Harry Abrams, 1986.
Recommended readings:
Clarck, T.J. The Painting of Modern Life: Paris in the Art of Manet and His Followers. Princeton University Press, 1984.
Frascina, Francis, Nigel Blake, et al. Modernity and Modernism: French Painting in the Nineteenth Century. Yale University Press: 1993. Gombrich, H.E. The Story of Art. Phaidon: 1995.
Rewald, John. The History of Impressionism. New York: Harry Abrams, 1990.
Zola, Emile. The Masterpiece. London: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Brief Biography of Instructor:
Anne Catherine Abécassis holds a Doctorate in Art History from the Sorbonne as well as Master of Arts degrees in Art History from both the Sorbonne and the University of Montréal. She has taught Modern Art for almost ten years at the Sorbonne. Additionally, she has taught graduate courses in Aesthetics and Modern Art at the Université de Paris III-Sorbonne Nouvelle and the Université de Rouen- Mont Saint-Aignan. She has also taught courses in Art History to study-abroad students in Paris for NYU and Skidmore College. Before beginning her graduate work, she studied theater and worked in French film and television productions. She continues to be involved in film and television productions in and around Paris.
19Th Century Art: Impressionism And Post-Impressionism
The course provides an in-depth study and pictorial survey of Impressionism, its origins and its legacy presented from a general overview of the evolution of painting, with a focus on key elements in the Impressionist movement, such as composition, color and style. It is important to consider the aesthetic evolution of Impressionism through the works of the movement's forerunners, made up of artists who constitute the core group and their immediate descendants. Students study the effects of the Impressionist movement on twentieth century art and the ways in which today's artists reaffirm the legacy by using elements that gave the movement its vitality and energy. Artists studied include Courbet, Millet, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Degas, Seurat, Cezanne, and Gauguin.
Previous course in Art History
Since IES courses are designed to take advantage of the unique contribution of the instructor and the lecture/discussion format is regarded as the primary mode of instruction, regular class attendance is mandatory. Each student may have no more than one absence in each course for whatever reasons. Your final grade in the course will be reduced by one fraction of a grade (i.e. A becomes A -) after that.
By the end of the course, students are able to:
Lectures, group discussion, museum visits/field study
Participation (10%); research paper (30%); mid- term exam (30%); final exam (30%)
1. The French art world before 1850
The Academy and the Salon
Readings: Harrison et al
Field Study: Musée du Louvre
2. Color & Drawing
The last fight: Ingres & Delacroix/Theory of color from Goethe to Chevreul
Field Study: Musée du Louvre
3. Landscape Painting
Naturalist tendencies of the Barbizon School/Millet, Corot, Daubigny, Eugène Boudin, Gustave
Courbet
Readings: Millet, pp. 373-378; Homer, pp. 600-601
Field Study: Musée d’Orsay
4. Painters of Modern Life
Courbet’s realism (1850-1855)/The World’s Fair in Paris, 1855/Le musée des beaux-arts
Field Study: Petit Palais
5. Manet: The First Modern Painter?
Salon des refuses, 1863/Monet in Giverny
Field Study: Monet’s house and the American museum in Giverny
6. The First Impressionism Exhibition boulevard des Capucines, Paris, 1874
Impressionism exhibitions, 1874-1886/Monet in London (1870): Turner & Constable/Monet,
Impression, Soleil levant, 1873,
Field Study: Musée Marmottan
7. New Exhibition Opportunities
Individual carriers/Monet, Degas, Cézanne, Caillebotte, Berthe Morisot/education of the artist
Field Study: Musée d’Orsay
8. Midterm exam
9. New Painting & New Economical Systems
Art dealers: Durand-Ruel, le Père Tanguy
10. Modern Sculpture
Auguste Rodin/Monet’s Nymphéas/The Paul Guillaume collection
Field Study: Rodin museum & Musée de l’Orangerie
11. Post-impressionism
Van Gogh/Gauguin/Seurat and Signac
Field Study: Musée d’Orsay
12. Introduction to a History of Perspective from the Antique to Cézanne and Picasso
Field Study: Musée Picasso
13. Montmartre and la Bohème
Symbolism and Nabi/Maurice Denis/Gustave Moreau
Field Study: Montmartre and Musée Gustave Moreau
14. Fauvism and Cubism
Matisse, Derain, Braque, Picasso
Field Study: Musée national d’art moderne
15. Final Exam
Harrison, C. P. Wood, & J. Gaiger (eds). Art in Theory 1815-1900: An Anthology of Changing Ideas.
Blackwell Publishing, 2005.
Rewald, John. Studies in Impressionism. New York: Harry Abrams, 1986.
Clarck, T.J. The Painting of Modern Life: Paris in the Art of Manet and His Followers. Princeton University Press, 1984.
Frascina, Francis, Nigel Blake, et al. Modernity and Modernism: French Painting in the Nineteenth Century. Yale University Press: 1993. Gombrich, H.E. The Story of Art. Phaidon: 1995.
Rewald, John. The History of Impressionism. New York: Harry Abrams, 1990.
Zola, Emile. The Masterpiece. London: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Anne Catherine Abécassis holds a Doctorate in Art History from the Sorbonne as well as Master of Arts degrees in Art History from both the Sorbonne and the University of Montréal. She has taught Modern Art for almost ten years at the Sorbonne. Additionally, she has taught graduate courses in Aesthetics and Modern Art at the Université de Paris III-Sorbonne Nouvelle and the Université de Rouen- Mont Saint-Aignan. She has also taught courses in Art History to study-abroad students in Paris for NYU and Skidmore College. Before beginning her graduate work, she studied theater and worked in French film and television productions. She continues to be involved in film and television productions in and around Paris.