file which includes the lovely original illustrations4 ,see #adjef-;h4htm or #adjef-;h4zip3 7https3_/_/www4gutenberg4org_/dirs_/#a_/ d_/j_/e_/adjef_/adjef-;h_/#adjef-;h4htm7 or 7https3_/_/www4gutenberg4org_/dirs_/#a_/ d_/j_/e_/adjef_/adjef-;h4zip7 ,,the ,,french ,,impressionists 7#ahfj-aijj7 by ,,camille ,,mauclair ,author of ,l'art en ,silence1 ,les ,mres ,sociales1 etc4 ,translated from the ,french text of ,camille ,mauclair1 by ,p4 ,g4 ,konody ,london3 ,duckworth ,co4 ,new ,york3 ,e4 ,p4 ,dutton ,co4 ,turnbull and ,spears1 ,printers1 ,edinburgh #aijc ,illustration3 ,,renoir ,,at ,,the ,,piano ,to ,,auguste ,,br,,al ,,to ,,the ,,artist ,,and ,,to ,,the ,,friend ,,as ,a ,,mark ,,of ,,grateful ,,affection ,c4,m4 ,,author',s ,,note ,it should be stated here that1 with the exception of one reproduction after the ,neo-,impressionist ,van ,rysselberghe1 the other forty-nine engravings illustrating this volume ,i owe to the courtesy of ,m4 ,durand-,ruel1 from the first the friend of the ,impressionist painters1 and later the most important collector of their works1 a friend who has been good enough to place at our disposal the photographs from which our illustrations have been reproduced4 ,chosen from a considerable collection which has been formed for thirty years past1 these photographs1 none of which are for sale1 form a veritable and unique museum of documents on ,impressionist art1 which is made even more valuable through the dispersal of the principal masterpieces of this art among the private collections of ,europe and ,america4 ,we render our thanks to ,m4 ,durand-,ruel no less in the name of the public interested in art1 than in our own4 ,,contents ,,author',s ,,note ,i4 ,,the ,,precursors ,,of ,,impressionism--,,the ,,beginning ,,of ,,this ,,movement1 ,,the ,,origin ,,of ,,its ,,name ,,ii4 ,,the ,,theory ,,of ,,the ,,impressionists--,,the ,,division ,,of ,,tones1 ,,complementary ,,colours1 ,,the ,,study ,,of ,,atmosphere--,,the ,,ideas ,,of ,,the ,,impressionists ,,on ,,subject-,,pictures1 ,,on ,,the ,,beauty ,,of ,,character1 ,,on ,,modernity1 ,,and ,,on ,,style ,,iii4 ,,edouard ,,manet3 ,,his ,,work1 ,,his ,,influence ,,iv4 ,,edgar ,,degas3 ,,his ,,work1 ,,his ,,influence ,v4 ,,claude ,,monet3 ,,his ,,work1 ,,his ,,influence ,,vi4 ,,auguste ,,renoir3 ,,his ,,work1 ,,his ,,influence ,,vii4 ,,pissarro1 ,,sisley1 ,,caillebotte1 ,c,,zanne1 ,,berthe ,,morisot1 ,,mary ,,cassatt2 ,,the ,,secondary ,,artists ,,of ,,impressionism--,,jongkind1 ,,boudin ,,viii4 ,,the ,,modern ,,illustrators ,,connected ,,with ,,impressionism3 ,,raffa,,lli1 ,,toulouse-,,lautrec1 ,,forain1 ,,ch,,ret1 ,,etc4 ,,ix4 ,,neo-,,impressionism3 ,,gauguin1 ,,denis1 ,,th,o ,,van ,,rysselberghe--,,the ,,theory ,,of ,,pointillism--,,seurat1 ,,signac ,,and ,,the ,,theories ,,of ,,scientific ,,chromatism--,,faults ,,and ,,qualities ,,of ,,the ,,impressionist ,,movement1 ,,what ,,we ,,owe ,,to ,,it1 ,,its ,,place ,,in ,,the ,,history ,,of ,,the ,,french ,,school--,,some ,,words ,,on ,,its ,,influence ,,abroad ,,list ,,of ,,illustrations ,,renoir4 ,at the ,piano 7,frontispiece7 ,,manet4 ,rest ,,manet4 ,in the ,square ,,manet4 ,young ,man in ,costume of ,majo ,,manet4 ,the ,reader ,,degas4 ,the ,dancer at the ,photographer's ,,degas4 ,carriages at the ,races ,,degas4 ,the ,greek ,dance--,pastel ,,degas4 ,waiting ,,claude ,,monet4 ,the ,pines ,,claude ,,monet4 ,church at ,vernon ,,renoir4 ,portrait of ,madame ,maitre ,,manet4 ,the ,dead ,toreador ,,manet4 ,olympia ,,manet4 ,the ,woman with the ,parrot ,,manet4 ,the ,bar at the ,folies ,bergre ,,manet4 ,djeuner ,,manet4 ,portrait of ,madame ,m4 ,l4 ,,manet4 ,the ,hothouse ,,degas4 ,the ,beggar ,woman ,,degas4 ,the ,lesson in the ,foyer ,,degas4 ,the ,dancing ,lesson--,pastel ,,degas4 ,the ,dancers ,,degas4 ,horses in the ,meadows ,,claude ,,monet4 ,an ,interior after ,dinner ,,claude ,,monet4 ,the ,harbour1 ,honfleur ,,claude ,,monet4 ,the ,church at ,varengeville ,,claude ,,monet4 ,poplars on the ,epte in ,autumn ,,claude ,,monet4 ,the ,bridge at ,argenteuil ,,renoir4 ,djeuner ,,renoir4 ,in the ,box ,,renoir4 ,young ,girl ,promenading ,,renoir4 ,woman's ,bust ,,renoir4 ,young ,woman in ,empire ,costume ,,renoir4 ,on the ,terrace ,,pissarro4 ,rue de l',epicerie1 ,rouen ,,pissarro4 ,boulevard ,montmartre ,,pissarro4 ,the ,boildieaux ,bridge at ,rouen ,,pissarro4 ,the ,avenue de l',opra ,,sisley4 ,snow ,effect ,,sisley4 ,bougival1 at the ,water's ,edge ,,sisley4 ,bridge at ,moret ,c,,zanne4 ,dessert ,,berthe ,,morisot4 ,melancholy ,,berthe ,,morisot4 ,young ,woman ,seated ,,mary ,,cassatt4 ,getting up ,baby ,,mary ,,cassatt4 ,women and ,child ,,jongkind4 ,in ,holland ,,jongkind4 ,view of the ,hague ,,th,o ,,van ,,rysselberghe4 ,portraits of ,madame van ,rysselberghe and her ,daughter ,,note ,,to ,,list ,,of ,,illustrations ,the illustrations contained in this volume have been taken from different epochs of the ,impressionist movement4 ,they will give but a feeble idea of the extreme abundance of its production4 ,banished from the salons1 exhibited in private galleries and sold direct to art lovers1 the ,impressionist works have been but little seen4 ,the series left by ,caillebotte to the ,luxembourg ,gallery is very badly shown and is composed of interesting works which1 however1 date back to the early period1 and are very inferior to the beautiful productions which followed later4 ,renoir is best represented4 ,the private galleries in ,paris1 where the best ,impressionist works are to be found1 are those of ,,mm4 ,durand-,ruel1 ,rouart1 de ,bellis1 de ,camondo1 and ,manzi1 to which must be added the one sold by ,,mm4 ,thodore ,duret and ,faure1 and the one of ,mme4 ,ernest ,rouart1 daughter of ,mme4 ,morisot1 the sister-in-law of ,manet4 ,the public galleries of ,m4 ,durand-,ruel's show-rooms are the place where it is easiest to find numerous ,impressionist pictures4 ,in spite of the firm opposition of the official juries1 a place of honour was reserved at the ,exposition of #ahhi for ,manet1 and at that of #aijj a fine collection of ,impressionists occupied two rooms and caused a considerable stir4 ,amongst the critics who have most faithfully assisted this group of artists1 ,i must mention1 besides the early friends previously referred to1 ,castagnary1 ,burty1 ,edouard de ,goncourt1 ,roger ,marx1 ,geffroy1 ,arsne ,alexandre1 ,octave ,mirbeau1 ,l4 de ,fourcaud1 ,clemenceau1 ,mallarm1 ,huysmans1 ,jules ,laforgue1 and nearly all the critics of the ,symbolist reviews4 ,a book on ,impressionist ,art by ,m4 ,georges ,lecomte has been published by the firm of ,durand-,ruel as an edition-de-luxe4 ,but the bibliography of this art consists as yet almost exclusively of articles in journals and reviews and of some isolated biographical pamphlets4 ,manet is1 amongst many1 the one who has excited most criticism of all kinds2 the articles1 caricatures and pamphlets relating to his work would form a considerable collection4 ,it should be added that1 with the exception of ,manet two years before his death1 and ,renoir last year at the age of sixty-eight1 no ,impressionist has been decorated by the ,french government4 ,in ,england such a distinction has even less importance in itself than elsewhere4 ,but if ,i insist upon it1 it is only to draw attention to the fact that1 through the sheer force of their talent1 men like ,degas1 ,monet and ,pissarro have achieved great fame and fortune1 without gaining access to the ,salons1 without official encouragement1 decoration1 subvention or purchases for the national museums4 ,this is a very significant instance and serves well to complete the physiognomy of this group of independents4 ,i ,,the ,,precursors ,,of ,,impressionism--,,the ,,beginning ,,of ,,this ,,movement ,,and ,,the ,,origin ,,of ,,its ,,name ,it will be beyond the scope of this volume to give a complete history of ,french ,impressionism1 and to include all the attractive details to which it might lead1 as regards the movement itself and the very curious epoch during which its evolution has taken place4 ,the proportions of this book confine its aim to the clearest possible summing up for the ,british reader of the ideas1 the personalities and the works of a considerable group of artists who1 for various reasons1 have remained but little known and who have only too frequently been gravely misjudged4 ,these reasons are very obvious3 first1 the ,impressionists have been unable to make a show at the ,salons1 partly because the jury refused them admission1 partly because they held aloof of their own free will4 ,they have1 with very rare exceptions1 exhibited at special minor galleries1 where they become known to a very restricted public4 ,ever attacked1 and poor until the last few years1 they enjoyed none of the benefits of publicity and sham glory4 ,it is only quite recently that the admission of the incomplete and badly arranged ,caillebotte collection to the ,luxembourg ,gallery has enabled the public to form a summary idea of ,impressionism4 ,to conclude the enumeration of the obstacles1 it must be added that there are hardly any photographs of ,impressionist works in the market4 ,as it is1 photography is but a poor translation of these canvases devoted to the study of the play of light2 but even this very feeble means of distribution has been withheld from them6 ,exhibited at some galleries1 gathered principally by ,durand-,ruel1 sold directly to art-lovers--foreigners mostly--these large series of works have practically remained unknown to the ,french public4 ,all the public heard was the reproaches and sarcastic comments of the opponents1 and they never became aware that in the midst of modern life the greatest1 the richest movement was in progress1 which the ,french school had known since the days of ,romanticism4 ,impressionism has been made known to them principally by the controversies and by the fruitful consequences of this movement for the illustration and study of contemporary life4 ,illustration3 ,,manet ,,rest ,i do not profess to give here a detailed and complete history of ,impressionism1 for which several volumes like the present one would be required4 ,i shall only try to compile an ensemble of concise and very precise notions and statements bearing upon this vast subject4 ,it will be my special object to try and prove that ,impressionism is neither an isolated manifestation1 nor a violent denial of the ,french traditions1 but nothing more or less than a logical return to the very spirit of these traditions1 contrary to the theories upheld by its detractors4 ,it is for this reason that ,i have made use of the first chapter to say a few words on the precursors of this movement4 ,no art manifestation is really isolated4 ,however new it may seem1 it is always based upon the previous epochs4 ,the true masters do not give lessons1 because art cannot be taught1 but they set the example4 ,to admire them does not mean to imitate them3 it means the recognition in them of the principles of originality and the comprehension of their source1 so that this eternal source may be called to life in oneself1 this source which springs from a sincere and sympathetic vision of the aspects of life4 ,the ,impressionists have not escaped this beautiful law4 ,i shall speak of them impartially1 without excessive enthusiasm2 and it will be my special endeavour to demonstrate in each of them the cult of a predecessor1 for there have been few artistic movements where the love for1 and one might say the hereditary link with1 the preceding masters has been more tenacious4 ,the ,academy has struggled violently against ,impressionism1 accusing it of madness1 of systematic negation of the laws of beauty1 which it pretended to defend and of which it claimed to be the official priest4 ,the ,academy has shown itself hostile to a degree in this quarrel4 ,it has excluded the ,impressionists from the ,salons1 from awards1 from official purchases4 ,only quite recently the acceptance of the ,caillebotte bequest to the ,luxembourg ,gallery gave rise to a storm of indignation among the official painters4 ,i shall1 in the course of this book1 enter upon the value of these attacks4 ,meanwhile ,i can only say how regrettable this obstinacy appears to me and will appear to every free spirit4 ,it is unworthy even of an ardent conviction to condemn a whole group of artists en bloc as fools1 enemies of beauty1 or as tricksters anxious to degrade the art of their nation1 when these artists worked during forty years towards the same goal1 without getting any reward for their effort1 but poverty and derision4 ,it is now about ten years since ,impressionism has taken root1 since its followers can sell their canvases1 and since they are admired and praised by a solid and ever-growing section of the public4 ,the hour has therefore arrived1 calmly to consider a movement which has imposed itself upon the history of ,french art from #ahfj to #aijj with extreme energy1 to leave dithyrambics as well as polemics1 and to speak of it with a view to exactness4 ,the ,academy1 in continuing the propagation of an ideal of beauty fixed by canons derived from ,greek1 ,latin and ,renaissance art1 and neglecting the ,gothic1 the ,primitives and the ,realists1 looks upon itself as the guardian of the national tradition1 because it exercises an hierarchic authority over the ,ecole de ,rome1 the ,salons1 and the ,ecole des ,beaux ,arts4 ,all the same1 its ideals are of very mixed origin and very little ,french4 ,its principles are the same by which the academic art of nearly all the official schools of ,europe is governed4 ,this mythological and allegorical art1 guided by dogmas and formulas which are imposed upon all pupils regardless of their temperament1 is far more international than national4 ,to an impartial critic this statement will show in an even more curious light the excommunication jealously issued by the academic painters against ,french artists1 who1 far from revolting in an absurd spirit of parti-pris against the genius of their race1 are perhaps more sincerely attached to it than their persecutors4 ,why should a group of men deliberately choose to paint mad1 illogical1 bad pictures1 and reap a harvest of public derision1 poverty and sterility8 ,it would be uncritical to believe merely in a general mystification which makes its authors the worst sufferers4 ,simple common sense will find in these men a conviction1 a sincerity1 a sustained effort1 and this alone should1 in the name of the sacred solidarity of those who by various means try to express their love of the beautiful1 suppress the annoying accusations hurled too light-heartedly against ,manet and his friends4 ,illustration3 ,,manet ,,in ,,the ,,square ,i shall define later on the ideas of the ,impressionists on technique1 composition and style in painting4 ,meanwhile it will be necessary to indicate their principal precursors4 ,their movement may be styled thus3 a reaction against the ,greco-,latin spirit and the scholastic organisation of painting after the second ,renaissance and the ,italo-,french school of ,fontainebleau1 by the century of ,louis ,,xiv41 the school of ,rome1 and the consular and imperial taste4 ,in this sense ,impressionism is a protest analogous to that of ,romanticism1 exclaiming1 to quote the old verse3 ,qui nous dlivrera des ,grecs et des ,romains8#a ,from this point of view ,impressionism has also great affinities with the ideas of the ,english ,pre-,raphaelites1 who stepped across the second and even the first ,renaissance back to the ,primitives4 ,footnote #a3 ,who will deliver us from the ,greeks and the ,romans4 ,this reaction is superimposed by another3 the reaction of ,impressionism1 not only against classic subjects1 but against the black painting of the degenerate ,romanticists4 ,and these two reactions are counterbalanced by a return to the ,french ideal1 to the realistic and characteristic tradition which commences with ,jean ,foucquet and ,clouet1 and is continued by ,chardin1 ,claude ,lorrain1 ,poussin1 ,watteau1 ,la ,tour1 ,fragonard1 and the admirable engravers of the eighteenth century down to the final triumph of the allegorical taste of the ,roman revolution4 ,here can be found a whole chain of truly national artists who have either been misjudged1 like ,chardin1 or considered as small masters and excluded from the first rank for the benefit of the pompous ,allegorists descended from the ,italian school4 ,impressionism being beyond all a technical reaction1 its predecessors should first be looked for from this material point of view4 ,watteau is the most striking of all4 ,l',embarquement pour ,cythre is1 in its technique1 an ,impressionist canvas4 ,it embodies the most significant of all the principles exposed by ,claude ,monet3 the division of tones by juxtaposed touches of colour which1 at a certain distance1 produce upon the eye of the beholder the effect of the actual colouring of the things painted1 with a variety1 a freshness and a delicacy of analysis unobtainable by a single tone prepared and mixed upon the palette4 ,illustration3 ,,manet ,,young ,,man ,,in ,,costume ,,of ,,majo ,claude ,lorrain1 and after him ,carle ,vernet1 are claimed by the ,impressionists as precursors from the point of view of decorative landscape arrangement1 and particularly of the predominance of light in which all objects are bathed4 ,ruysdael and ,poussin are1 in their eyes1 for the same reasons precursors1 especially ,ruysdael1 who observed so frankly the blue colouring of the horizon and the influence of blue upon the landscape4 ,it is known that ,turner worshipped ,claude for the very same reasons4 ,the ,impressionists in their turn1 consider ,turner as one of their masters2 they have the greatest admiration for this mighty genius1 this sumptuous visionary4 ,they have it equally for ,bonington1 whose technique is inspired by the same observations as their own4 ,they find1 finally1 in ,delacroix the frequent and very apparent application of their ideas4 ,notably in the famous ,entry of the ,crusaders into ,constantinople1 the fair woman kneeling in the foreground is painted in accordance with the principles of the division of tones3 the nude back is furrowed with blue1 green and yellow touches1 the juxtaposition of which produces1 at a certain distance1 an admirable flesh-tone4 ,and now ,i must speak at some length of a painter who1 together with the luminous and sparkling landscapist ,flix ,ziem1 was the most direct initiator of ,impressionist technique4 ,monticelli is one of those singular men of genius who are not connected with any school1 and whose work is an inexhaustible source of applications4 ,he lived at ,marseilles1 where he was born1 made a short appearance at the ,salons1 and then returned to his native town1 where he died poor1 ignored1 paralysed and mad4 ,in order to live he sold his small pictures at the cafs1 where they fetched ten or twenty francs at the most4 ,to-day they sell for considerable prices1 although the government has not yet acquired any work by ,monticelli for the public galleries4 ,the mysterious power alone of these paintings secures him a fame which is1 alas6 posthumous4 ,many ,monticellis have been sold by dealers as ,diaz's2 now they are more eagerly looked for than ,diaz1 and collectors have made fortunes with these small canvases bought formerly1 to use a colloquial expression which is here only too literally true1 for a piece of bread4 ,monticelli painted landscapes1 romantic scenes1 ftes galantes in the spirit of ,watteau1 and still-life pictures3 one could not imagine a more inspired sense of colour than shown by these works which seem to be painted with crushed jewels1 with powerful harmony1 and beyond all with an unheard-of delicacy in the perception of fine shades4 ,there are tones which nobody had ever invented yet1 a richness1 a profusion1 a subtlety which almost vie with the resources of music4 ,the fairyland atmosphere of these works surrounds a very firm design of charming style1 but1 to use the words of the artist himself1 in these canvases the objects are the decoration1 the touches are the scales1 and the light is the tenor4 ,monticelli has created for himself an entirely personal technique which can only be compared with that of ,turner2 he painted with a brush so full1 fat and rich1 that some of the details are often truly modelled in relief1 in a substance as precious as enamels1 jewels1 ceramics--a substance which is a delight in itself4 ,every picture by ,monticelli provokes astonishment2 constructed upon one colour as upon a musical theme1 it rises to intensities which one would have thought impossible4 ,his pictures are magnificent bouquets1 bursts of joy and colour1 where nothing is ever crude1 and where everything is ruled by a supreme sense of harmony4 ,illustration3 ,,manet ,,the ,,reader ,claude ,lorrain1 ,watteau1 ,turner and ,monticelli constitute really the descent of a landscapist like ,claude ,monet4 ,in all matters concerning technique1 they form the direct chain of ,impressionism4 ,as regards design1 subject1 realism1 the study of modern life1 the conception of beauty and the portrait1 the ,impressionist movement is based upon the old ,french masters1 principally upon ,chardin1 ,watteau1 ,latour1 ,largillire1 ,fragonard1 ,debucourt1 ,saint-,aubin1 ,moreau1 and ,eisen4 ,it has resolutely held aloof from mythology1 academic allegory1 historical painting1 and from the neo-,greek elements of ,classicism as well as from the ,german and ,spanish elements of ,romanticism4 ,this reactionary movement is therefore entirely ,french1 and surely if it deserves reproach1 the one least deserved is that levelled upon it by the official painters3 disobedience to the national spirit4 ,impressionism is an art which does not give much scope to intellectuality1 an art whose followers admit scarcely anything but immediate vision1 rejecting philosophy and symbols and occupying themselves only with the consideration of light1 picturesqueness1 keen and clever observation1 and antipathy to abstraction1 as the innate qualities of ,french art4 ,we shall see later on1 when considering separately its principal masters1 that each of them has based his art upon some masters of pure ,french blood4 ,impressionism has1 then1 hitherto been very badly judged4 ,it is contained in two chief points3 search after a new technique1 and expression of modern reality4 ,its birth has not been a spontaneous phenomenon4 ,manet1 who1 by his spirit and by the chance of his friendships1 grouped around him the principal members1 commenced by being classed in the ranks of the ,realists of the second ,romanticism by the side of ,courbet2 and during the whole first period of his work he only endeavoured to describe contemporary scenes1 at a time when the laws of the new technique were already dawning upon ,claude ,monet4 ,gradually the grouping of the ,impressionists took place4 ,claude ,monet is really the first initiator3 in a parallel line with his ideas and his works ,manet passed into the second period of his artistic life1 and with him ,renoir1 ,degas and ,pissarro4 ,but ,manet had already during his first period been the topic of far-echoing polemics1 caused by his realism and by the marked influence of the ,spaniards and of ,hals upon his style2 his temperament1 too1 was that of the head of a school2 and for these reasons legend has attached to his name the title of head of the ,impressionist school1 but this legend is incorrect4 ,to conclude1 the very name ,impressionism is due to ,claude ,monet4 ,there has been much serious arguing upon this famous word which has given rise to all sorts of definitions and conclusions4 ,in reality this is its curious origin which is little known1 even in criticism4 ,ever since #ahfj the works of ,manet and of his friends caused such a stir1 that they were rejected en bloc by the ,salon jury of #ahfc4 ,the emperor1 inspired by a praiseworthy1 liberal thought1 demanded that these innovators should at least have the right to exhibit together in a special room which was called the ,salon des ,refuss4 ,the public crowded there to have a good laugh4 ,one of the pictures which caused most derision was a sunset by ,claude ,monet1 entitled ,impressions4 ,from this moment the painters who adopted more or less the same manner were called ,impressionists4 ,the word remained in use1 and ,manet and his friends thought it a matter of indifference whether this label was attached to them1 or another4 ,at this despised ,salon were to be found the names of ,manet1 ,monet1 ,whistler1 ,bracquemont1 ,jongkind1 ,fantin-,latour1 ,renoir1 ,legros1 and many others who have since risen to fame4 ,universal ridicule only fortified the friendships and resolutions of this group of men1 and from that time dates the definite foundation of the ,impressionist school4 ,for thirty years it continued to produce without interruption an enormous quantity of works under an accidental and inexact denomination2 to obey the creative instinct1 without any other dogma than the passionate observation of nature1 without any other assistance than individual sympathies1 in the face of the disciplinary teaching of the official school4 ,illustration3 ,,degas ,,the ,,dancer ,,at ,,the ,,photographer',s ,,ii ,,the ,,theory ,,of ,,the ,,impressionists--,,the ,,division ,,of ,,tones1 ,,complementary ,,colours1 ,,the ,,study ,,of ,,atmosphere--,,the ,,ideas ,,of ,,the ,,impressionists ,,on ,,subject-,,pictures1 ,,on ,,the ,,beauty ,,of ,,character1 ,,on ,,modernity1 ,,and ,,on ,,style ,it should be stated from the outset that there is nothing dogmatic about this explanation of the ,impressionist theories1 and that it is not the result of a preconceived plan4 ,in art a system is not improvised4 ,a theory is slowly evolved1 nearly always unknown to the author1 from the discoveries of his sincere instinct1 and this theory can only be formulated after years by criticism facing the works4 ,monet and ,manet have worked for a long time without ever thinking that theories would be built upon their paintings4 ,yet a certain number of considerations will strike the close observer1 and ,i will put these considerations before the reader1 after reminding him that spontaneity and feeling are the essentials of all art4 ,illustration3 ,,degas ,,carriages ,,at ,,the ,,races ,the ,impressionist ideas may be summed up in the following manner3-- ,in nature no colour exists by itself4 ,the colouring of the objects is a pure illusion3 the only creative source of colour is the sunlight which envelopes all things1 and reveals them1 according to the hours1 with infinite modifications4 ,the mystery of matter escapes us2 we do not know the exact moment when reality separates itself from unreality4 ,all we know is1 that our vision has formed the habit of discerning in the universe two notions3 form and colour2 but these two notions are inseparable4 ,only artificially can we distinguish between outline and colour3 in nature the distinction does not exist4 ,light reveals the forms1 and1 playing upon the different states of matter1 the substance of leaves1 the grain of stones1 the fluidity of air in deep layers1 gives them dissimilar colouring4 ,if the light disappears1 forms and colours vanish together4 ,we only see colours2 everything has a colour1 and it is by the perception of the different colour surfaces striking our eyes1 that we conceive the forms1 i4e4 the outlines of these colours4 ,the idea of distance1 of perspective1 of volume is given us by darker or lighter colours3 this idea is what is called in painting the sense of values4 ,a value is the degree of dark or light intensity1 which permits our eyes to comprehend that one object is further or nearer than another4 ,and as painting is not and cannot be the imitation of nature1 but merely her artificial interpretation1 since it only has at its disposal two out of three dimensions1 the values are the only means that remain for expressing depth on a flat surface4 ,colour is therefore the procreatrix of design4 ,or1 colour being simply the irradiation of light1 it follows that all colour is composed of the same elements as sunlight1 namely the seven tones of the spectrum4 ,it is known1 that these seven tones appear different owing to the unequal speed of the waves of light4 ,the tones of nature appear to us therefore different1 like those of the spectrum1 and for the same reason4 ,the colours vary with the intensity of light4 ,there is no colour peculiar to any object1 but only more or less rapid vibration of light upon its surface4 ,the speed depends1 as is demonstrated by optics1 on the degree of the inclination of the rays which1 according to their vertical or oblique direction1 give different light and colour4 ,the colours of the spectrum are thus recomposed in everything we see4 ,it is their relative proportion which makes new tones out of the seven spectral tones4 ,this leads immediately to some practical conclusions1 the first of which is1 that what has formerly been called local colour is an error3 a leaf is not green1 a tree-trunk is not brown1 and1 according to the time of day1 i4e4 according to the greater or smaller inclination of the rays 7scientifically called the angle of incidence71 the green of the leaf and the brown of the tree are modified4 ,what has to be studied therefore in these objects1 if one wishes to recall their colour to the beholder of a picture1 is the composition of the atmosphere which separates them from the eye4 ,this atmosphere is the real subject of the picture1 and whatever is represented upon it only exists through its medium4 ,illustration3 ,,degas ,,the ,,greek ,,dance--,,pastel4 ,a second consequence of this analysis of light is1 that shadow is not absence of light1 but light of a different quality and of different value4 ,shadow is not a part of the landscape1 where light ceases1 but where it is subordinated to a light which appears to us more intense4 ,in the shadow the rays of the spectrum vibrate with different speed4 ,painting should therefore try to discover here1 as in the light parts1 the play of the atoms of solar light1 instead of representing shadows with ready-made tones composed of bitumen and black4 ,the third conclusion resulting from this3 the colours in the shadow are modified by refraction4 ,that means1 f4i4 in a picture representing an interior1 the source of light 7window7 may not be indicated3 the light circling round the picture will then be composed of the reflections of rays whose source is invisible1 and all the objects1 acting as mirrors for these reflections1 will consequently influence each other4 ,their colours will affect each other1 even if the surfaces be dull4 ,a red vase placed upon a blue carpet will lead to a very subtle1 but mathematically exact1 interchange between this blue and this red1 and this exchange of luminous waves will create between the two colours a tone of reflections composed of both4 ,these composite reflections will form a scale of tones complementary of the two principal colours4 ,the science of optics can work out these complementary colours with mathematical exactness4 ,if f4i4 a head receives the orange rays of daylight from one side and the bluish light of an interior from the other1 green reflections will necessarily appear on the nose and in the middle region of the face4 ,the painter ,besnard1 who has specially devoted himself to this minute study of complementary colours1 has given us some famous examples of it4 ,the last consequence of these propositions is that the blending of the spectral tones is accomplished by a parallel and distinct projection of the colours4 ,they are artificially reunited on the crystalline3 a lens interposed between the light and the eye1 and opposing the crystalline1 which is a living lens1 dissociates again these united rays1 and shows us again the seven distinct colours of the atmosphere4 ,it is no less artificial if a painter mixes upon his palette different colours to compose a tone2 it is again artificial that paints have been invented which represent some of the combinations of the spectrum1 just to save the artist the trouble of constantly mixing the seven solar tones4 ,such mixtures are false1 and they have the disadvantage of creating heavy tonalities1 since the coarse mixture of powders and oils cannot accomplish the action of light which reunites the luminous waves into an intense white of unimpaired transparency4 ,the colours mixed on the palette compose a dirty grey4 ,what1 then1 is the painter to do1 who is anxious to approach1 as near as our poor human means will allow1 that divine fairyland of nature8 ,here we touch upon the very foundations of ,impressionism4 ,the painter will have to paint with only the seven colours of the spectrum1 and discard all the others3 that is what ,claude ,monet has done boldly1 adding to them only white and black4 ,he will1 furthermore1 instead of composing mixtures on his palette1 place upon his canvas touches of none but the seven colours juxtaposed1 and leave the individual rays of each of these colours to blend at a certain distance1 so as to act like sunlight itself upon the eye of the beholder4 ,illustration3 ,,degas ,,waiting ,this1 then1 is the theory of the dissociation of tones1 which is the main point of ,impressionist technique4 ,it has the immense advantage of suppressing all mixtures1 of leaving to each colour its proper strength1 and consequently its freshness and brilliancy4 ,at the same time the difficulties are extreme4 ,the painter's eye must be admirably subtle4 ,light becomes the sole subject of the picture2 the interest of the object upon which it plays is secondary4 ,painting thus conceived becomes a purely optic art1 a search for harmonies1 a sort of natural poem1 quite distinct from expression1 style and design1 which were the principal aims of former painting4 ,it is almost necessary to invent another name for this special art which1 clearly pictorial though it be1 comes as near to music1 as it gets far away from literature and psychology4 ,it is only natural that1 fascinated by this study1 the ,impressionists have almost remained strangers to the painting of expression1 and altogether hostile to historical and symbolist painting4 ,it is therefore principally in landscape painting that they have achieved the greatness that is theirs4 ,through the application of these principles which ,i have set forth very summarily1 ,claude ,monet arrived at painting by means of the infinitely varied juxtaposition of a quantity of colour spots which dissociate the tones of the spectrum and draw the forms of objects through the arabesque of their vibrations4 ,a landscape thus conceived becomes a kind of symphony1 starting from one theme 7the most luminous point1 f4i471 and developing all over the canvas the variations of this theme4 ,this investigation is added to the habitual preoccupations of the landscapist study of the character peculiar to the scene1 style of the trees or houses1 accentuation of the decorative side--and to the habitual preoccupations of the figure painter in the portrait4 ,the canvases of ,monet1 ,renoir and ,pissarro have1 in consequence of this research1 an absolutely original aspect3 their shadows are striped with blue1 rose-madder and green2 nothing is opaque or sooty2 a light vibration strikes the eye4 ,finally1 blue and orange predominate1 simply because in these studies--which are more often than not full sunlight effects--blue is the complementary colour of the orange light of the sun1 and is profusely distributed in the shadows4 ,in these canvases can be found a vast amount of exact grades of tone1 which seem to have been entirely ignored by the older painters1 whose principal concern was style1 and who reduced a landscape to three or four broad tones1 endeavouring only to explain the sentiment inspired by it4 ,and now ,i shall have to pass on to the ,impressionists' ideas on the style itself of painting1 on ,realism4 ,from the outset it must not be forgotten that ,impressionism has been propagated by men who had all been ,realists2 that means by a reactionary movement against classic and romantic painting4 ,this movement1 of which ,courbet will always remain the most famous representative1 has been anti-intellectual4 ,it has protested against every literary1 psychologic or symbolical element in painting4 ,it has reacted at the same time against the historical painting of ,delaroche and the mythological painting of the ,ecole de ,rome1 with an extreme violence which appears to us excessive now1 but which found its explanation in the intolerable tediousness or emphasis at which the official painters had arrived4 ,courbet was a magnificent worker1 with rudimentary ideas1 and he endeavoured to exclude even those which he possessed4 ,this exaggeration which diminishes our admiration for his work and prevents us from finding in it any emotion but that which results from technical mastery1 was salutary for the development of the art of his successors4 ,it caused the young painters to turn resolutely towards the aspects of contemporary life1 and to draw style and emotion from their own epoch2 and this intention was right4 ,an artistic tradition is not continued by imitating the style of the past1 but by extracting the immediate impression of each epoch4 ,that is what the really great masters have done1 and it is the succession of their sincere and profound observations which constitutes the style of the races4 ,illustration3 ,,claude ,,monet ,,the ,,pines ,manet and his friends drew all their strength from this idea4 ,much finer and more learned than a man like ,courbet1 they saw an aspect of modernity far more complex1 and less limited to immediate and grossly superficial realism4 ,nor must it be forgotten that they were contemporaries of the realistic1 anti-romantic literary movement1 a movement which gave them nothing but friends4 ,flaubert and the ,goncourts proved that ,realism is not the enemy of refined form and of delicate psychology4 ,the influence of these ideas created first of all ,manet and his friends3 the technical evolution 7of which we have traced the chief traits7 came only much later to oppose itself to their conceptions4 ,impressionism can therefore be defined as a revolution of pictorial technique together with an attempt at expressing modernity4 ,the reaction against ,symbolism and ,romanticism happened to coincide with the reaction against muddy technique4 ,the ,impressionists1 whilst occupying themselves with cleansing the palette of the bitumen of which the ,academy made exaggerated use1 whilst also observing nature with a greater love of light1 made it their object to escape in the representation of human beings the laws of beauty1 such as were taught by the ,school4 ,and on this point one might apply to them all that one knows of the ideas of the ,goncourts and ,flaubert1 and later of ,zola1 in the domain of the novel4 ,they were moved by the same ideas2 to speak of the one group is to speak of the other4 ,the longing for truth1 the horror of emphasis and of false idealism which paralysed the novelist as well as the painter1 led the ,impressionists to substitute for beauty a novel notion1 that of character4 ,to search for1 and to express1 the true character of a being or of a site1 seemed to them more significant1 more moving1 than to search for an exclusive beauty1 based upon rules1 and inspired by the ,greco-,latin ideal4 ,like the ,flemings1 the ,germans1 the ,spaniards1 and in opposition to the ,italians whose influence had conquered all the ,european academies1 the ,french ,realist-,impressionists1 relying upon the qualities of lightness1 sincerity and expressive clearness which are the real merits of their race1 detached themselves from the oppressive and narrow preoccupation with the beautiful and with all the metaphysics and abstractions following in its train4 ,illustration3 ,,claude ,,monet ,,church ,,at ,,vernon ,this fact of the substitution of character for beauty is the essential feature of the movement4 ,what is called ,impressionism is--let it not be forgotten--a technique which can be applied to any subject4 ,whether the subject be a virgin1 or a labourer1 it can be painted with divided tones1 and certain living artists1 like the symbolist ,henri ,martin1 who has almost the ideas of a ,pre-,raphaelite1 have proved it by employing this technique for the rendering of religious or philosophic subjects4 ,but one can only understand the effort and the faults of the painters grouped around ,manet1 by constantly recalling to one's mind their predeliction for character4 ,before ,manet a distinction was made between noble subjects1 and others which were relegated to the domain of genre in which no great artist was admitted to exist by the ,school1 the familiarity of their subjects barring from them this rank4 ,by the suppression of the nobleness inherent to the treated subject1 the painter's technical merit is one of the first things to be considered in giving him rank4 ,the ,realist-,impressionists painted scenes in the ball-room1 on the river1 in the field1 the street1 the foundry1 modern interiors1 and found in the life of the humble immense scope for studying the gestures1 the costumes1 the expressions of the nineteenth century4 ,their effort had its bearing upon the way of representing persons1 upon what is called1 in the studio language1 the mise en cadre4 ,there1 too1 they overthrew the principles admitted by the ,school4 ,manet1 and especially ,degas1 have created in this respect a new style from which the whole art of realistic contemporary illustration is derived4 ,this style had been hitherto totally ignored1 or the artists had shrunk from applying it4 ,it is a style which is founded upon the small painters of the eighteenth century1 upon ,saint-,aubin1 ,debucourt1 ,moreau1 and1 further back1 upon ,pater and the ,dutchmen4 ,but this time1 instead of confining this style to vignettes and very small dimensions1 the ,impressionists have boldly given it the dimensions and importance of big canvases4 ,they have no longer based the laws of composition1 and consequently of style1 upon the ideas relative to the subjects1 but upon values and harmonies4 ,to take a summary example3 if the ,school composed a picture representing the death of ,agamemnon1 it did not fail to subordinate the whole composition to ,agamemnon1 then to ,clytemnestra1 then to the witnesses of the murder1 graduating the moral and literary interest according to the different persons1 and sacrificing to this interest the colouring and the realistic qualities of the scene4 ,the ,realists composed by picking out first the strongest value of the picture1 say a red dress1 and then distributing the other values according to a harmonious progression of their tonalities4 ,the principal person in a picture1 said ,manet1 is the light4 ,with ,manet and his friends we find1 then1 that the concern for expression and for the sentiments evoked by the subject1 was always subordinated to a purely pictorial and decorative preoccupation4 ,this has frequently led the ,impressionists to grave errors1 which they have1 however1 generally avoided by confining themselves to very simple subjects1 for which the daily life supplied the grouping4 ,illustration3 ,,renoir ,,portrait ,,of ,,madame ,,maitre ,one of the reforms due to their conception has been the suppression of the professional model1 and the substitution for it of the natural model1 seen in the exercise of his occupation4 ,this is one of the most useful conquests for the benefit of modern painting4 ,it marks a just return to nature and simplicity4 ,nearly all their figures are real portraits2 and in everything that concerns the labourer and the peasant1 they have found the proper style and character1 because they have observed these beings in the true medium of their occupations1 instead of forcing them into a sham pose and painting them in disguise4 ,the basis of all their pictures has been first of all a series of landscape and figure studies made in the open air1 far from the studio1 and afterwards co-ordinated4 ,one may wish pictorial art to have higher ambitions2 and one may find in the ,primitives an example of a curious mysticism1 an expression of the abstract and of dreams4 ,but one should not underrate the power of nave and realistic observation1 which the ,primitives carried into the execution of their works1 subordinating it1 however1 to religious expression1 and it must also be admitted that the ,realist-,impressionists served at least their conception of art logically and homogeneously4 ,the criticism which may be levelled against them is that which ,realism itself carries in its train1 and we shall see that esthetics could never create classifications capable of defining and containing the infinite gradations of creative temperaments4 ,in art1 classifications have rarely any value1 and are rather damaging4 ,realism and ,idealism are abstract terms which cannot suffice to characterise beings who obey their sensibility4 ,it is therefore necessary to invent as many words as there are remarkable men4 ,if ,leonardo was a great painter1 are ,turner and ,monet not painters at all8 ,there is no connection between them2 their methods of thought and expression are antithetical4 ,perhaps it will be most simple1 to admire them all1 and to renounce any further definition of the painter1 adopting this word to mark the man who uses the palette as his means of expression4 ,thus preoccupation with contemporary emotions1 substitution of character for classic beauty 7or of emotional beauty for formal beauty71 admission of the genre-painter into the first rank1 composition based upon the reciprocal reaction of values1 subordination of the subject to the interest of execution1 the effort to isolate the art of painting from the ideas inherent to that of literature1 and particularly the instinctive move towards the symphonisation of colours1 and consequently towards music1--these are the principal features of the aesthetic code of the ,realist-,impressionists1 if this term may be applied to a group of men hostile towards esthetics such as they are generally taught4 ,,iii ,,edouard ,,manet3 ,,his ,,work1 ,,his ,,influence ,as ,i have said1 ,edouard ,manet has not been entirely the originator of the ,impressionist technique4 ,it is the work of ,claude ,monet which presents the most complete example of it1 and which also came first as regards date4 ,but it is very difficult to determine such cases of priority1 and it is1 after all1 rather useless4 ,a technique cannot be invented in a day4 ,in this case it was the result of long investigations1 in which ,manet and ,renoir participated1 and it is necessary to unite under the collective name of ,impressionists a group of men1 tied by friendship1 who made a simultaneous effort towards originality1 all in about the same spirit1 though frequently in very different ways4 ,as in the case of the ,pre-,raphaelites1 it was first of all friendship1 then unjust derision1 which created the solidarity of the ,impressionists4 ,but the ,pre-,raphaelites1 in aiming at an idealistic and symbolic art1 were better agreed upon the intellectual principles which permitted them at once to define a programme4 ,the ,impressionists who were only united by their temperaments1 and had made it their first aim to break away from all school programmes1 tried simply to do something new1 with frankness and freedom4 ,manet was1 in their midst1 the personality marked out at the same time by their admiration1 and by the attacks of the critics for the post of standard-bearer4 ,a little older than his friends1 he had already1 quite alone1 raised heated discussions by the works in his first manner4 ,he was considered an innovator1 and it was by instinctive admiration that his first friends1 ,whistler1 ,legros1 and ,fantin-,latour1 were gradually joined by ,marcelin ,desboutin1 ,degas1 ,renoir1 ,monet1 ,pissarro1 ,caillebotte1 ,berthe ,morisot1 the young painter ,bazille1 who met his premature death in #ahgj1 and by the writers ,gautier1 ,banville1 ,baudelaire 7who was a passionate admirer of ,manet's72 then later by ,zola1 the ,goncourts1 and ,stphane ,mallarm4 ,this was the first nucleus of a public which was to increase year by year4 ,manet had the personal qualities of a chief2 he was a man of spirit1 an ardent worker1 and an enthusiastic and generous character4 ,illustration3 ,,manet ,,the ,,dead ,,toreador ,manet commenced his first studies with ,couture4 ,after having travelled a good deal at sea to obey his parents1 his vocation took hold of him irresistibly4 ,about #ahej the young man entered the studio of the severe author of the ,romains de la ,dcadence4 ,his stay was short4 ,he displeased the professor by his uncompromising energy4 ,couture said of him angrily3 ,he will become the ,daumier of #ahfj4 ,it is known that ,daumier1 lithographer1 and painter of genius1 was held in meagre esteem by the academicians4 ,manet travelled in ,germany after the coup d'etat1 copied ,rembrandt in ,munich1 then went to ,italy1 copied ,tintoretto in ,venice1 and conceived there the idea of several religious pictures4 ,then he became enthusiastic about the ,spaniards1 especially ,velasquez and ,goya4 ,the sincere expression of things seen took root from this moment as the principal rule of art in the brain of this young ,frenchman who was loyal1 ardent1 and hostile to all subtleties4 ,he painted some fine works1 like the ,buveur d'absinthe and the ,vieux musicien4 ,they show the influence of ,courbet1 but already the blacks and the greys have an original and superb quality2 they announce a virtuoso of the first order4 ,it was in #ahfa that ,manet first sent to the ,salon the portraits of his parents and the ,guitarero1 which was hailed by ,gautier1 and rewarded by the jury1 though it roused surprise and irritation4 ,but after that he was rejected1 whether it was a question of the ,fifre or of the ,djeuner sur l'herbe4 ,this canvas1 with an admirable feminine nude1 created a scandal1 because an undressed woman figured in it amidst clothed figures1 a matter of frequent occurrence with the masters of the ,renaissance4 ,the landscape is not painted in the open air1 but in the studio1 and resembles a tapestry1 but it shows already the most brilliant evidence of ,manet's talent in the study of the nude and the still-life of the foreground1 which is the work of a powerful master4 ,from the time of this canvas the artist's personality appeared in all its maturity4 ,he painted it before he was thirty1 and it has the air of an old master's work2 it is based upon ,hals and the ,spaniards together4 ,the reputation of ,manet became established after #ahfe4 ,furious critics were opposed by enthusiastic admirers4 ,baudelaire upheld ,manet1 as he had upheld ,delacroix and ,wagner1 with his great clairvoyance1 sympathetic to all real originality4 ,the ,olympia brought the discussion to a head4 ,this courtesan lying in bed undressed1 with a negress carrying a bouquet1 and a black cat1 made a tremendous stir4 ,it is a powerful work of strong colour1 broad design and intense sentiment1 astounding in its parti-pris of reducing the values to the greatest simplicity4 ,one can feel in it the artist's preoccupation with rediscovering the rude frankness of ,hals and ,goya1 and his aversion against the prettiness and false nobility of the school4 ,this famous ,olympia which occasioned so much fury1 appears to us to-day as a transition work4 ,it is neither a masterpiece1 nor an emotional work1 but a technical experiment1 very significant for the epoch during which it appeared in ,french art1 and this canvas1 which is very inferior to ,manet's fine works1 may well be considered as a date of evolution4 ,he was doubtful about exhibiting it1 but ,baudelaire decided him and wrote to him on this occasion these typical remarks3 ,you complain about attacks8 ,but are you the first to endure them8 ,have you more genius than ,chateaubriand and ,wagner8 ,they were not killed by derision4 ,and1 in order not to make you too proud1 ,i must tell you1 that they are models each in his own way and in a very rich world1 whilst you are only the first in the decrepitude of your art4 ,illustration3 ,,manet ,,olympia ,thus it must be firmly established that from this moment ,manet passed as an innovator1 years before ,impressionism existed or was even thought of4 ,this is an important point3 it will help to clear up the twofold origin of the movement which followed4 ,to his realism1 to his return to composition in the modern spirit1 and to the simplifying of planes and values1 ,manet owed these attacks1 though at that time his colour was still sombre and entirely influenced by ,hals1 ,goya and ,courbet4 ,from that time the artist became a chief4 ,as his friends used to meet him at an obscure ,batignolles caf1 the caf ,guerbois 7still existing71 public derision baptized these meetings with the name of ,l',ecole des ,batignolles4 ,manet then exhibited the ,angels at the ,tomb of ,christ1 a souvenir of the ,venetians2 ,lola de ,valence1 commented upon by ,baudelaire in a quatrain which can be found in the ,fleurs du ,mal2 the ,episode d'un combat de taureaux 7dissatisfied with this picture1 he cut out the dead toreador in the foreground1 and burnt the rest74 ,the ,acteur tragique 7portrait of ,rouvire in ,hamlet7 and the ,jsus insult followed1 and then came the ,gitanos1 ,l',enfant l',epe1 and the portrait of ,mme4 ,manet4 ,this series of works is admirable4 ,it is here where he reveals himself as a splendid colourist1 whose design is as vigorous as the technique is masterly4 ,in these works one does not think of looking for anything but the witchery of technical strength2 and the abundant wealth of his temperament is simply dazzling4 ,manet reveals himself as the direct heir of the great ,spaniards1 more interesting1 more spontaneous1 and freer than ,courbet4 ,the ,rouvire is as fine a symphony in grey and black as the noblest portraits by ,bronzino1 and there is probably no ,goya more powerful than the ,torador tu4 ,manet's altogether classic descent appears here undeniably4 ,there is no question yet of ,impressionism1 and yet ,monet and ,renoir are already painting1 ,monet has exhibited at the ,salon des ,refuss1 but criticism sees and attacks nobody but ,manet4 ,this great individuality who overwhelmed the ,academy with its weak allegories1 was the butt of great insults and the object of great admiration4 ,banished from the ,salons1 he collected fifty pictures in a room in the ,avenue de l',alma and invited the public thither4 ,in #ahfh appeared the portrait of ,emile ,zola1 in #ahfj the ,djeuner1 works which are so powerful1 that they enforced admiration in spite of all hostility4 ,in the ,salon of #ahgj was shown the portrait of ,eva ,gonzals1 the charming pastellist and pupil of ,manet1 and the impressive ,execution of ,maximilian at ,queretaro4 ,manet was at the apogee of his talent1 when the ,franco-,german war broke out4 ,at the age of thirty-eight he had put forth a considerable amount of work1 tried himself in all styles1 severed his individuality from the slavish admiration of the old masters1 and attained his own mastery4 ,and now he wanted to expand1 and1 in joining ,monet1 ,renoir and ,degas1 interpret in his own way the ,impressionist theory4 ,illustration3 ,,manet ,,the ,,woman ,,with ,,the ,,parrot ,the ,fight of the ,kearsage and the ,alabama1 a magnificent sea-piece1 bathed in sunlight1 announced this transformation in his work1 as did also a study1 a ,garden1 painted1 ,i believe1 in #ahgj1 but exhibited only after the crisis of the terrible year4 ,at that time the ,durand-,ruel ,gallery bought a considerable series by the innovator1 and was imitated by some select art-lovers4 ,the ,musique aux ,tuileries and the ,bal de l',opra had1 some years before1 pointed towards the evolution of this great artist in the direction of plein-air painting4 ,the ,bon ,bock1 in which the very soul of ,hals is revived1 and the grave ,liseur1 sold immediately at ,vienne1 were the two last pledges given by the artist to his old admirers2 these two pictures had moreover a splendid success1 and the ,bon ,bock1 popularised by an engraving1 was hailed by the very men who had most unjustly attacked the author of the portrait of ,mme4 ,morisot1 a ,french masterpiece4 ,but already ,manet was attracted irresistibly towards the study of light1 and1 faithful to his programme1 he prepared to face once again outbursts of anger and further sarcasms2 he was resolved once again to offer battle to the ,salons4 ,followed by all the ,impressionists he tried to make them understand the necessity of introducing the new ideas into this retrograde ,milieu4 ,but they would not4 ,having already received a rebuff by the attacks directed for some years against their works1 they exhibited among themselves in some private galleries3 they declined to force the gate of the ,salons1 and ,manet remained alone4 ,in #ahge he submitted1 with his ,argenteuil1 the most perfect epitome of his atmospheric researches4 ,the jury admitted it in spite of loud protests3 they were afraid of ,manet2 they admired his power of transformation1 and he revolted the prejudiced1 attracting them at the same time by the charm of his force4 ,but in #ahgf the portrait of ,desboutin and the ,linge 7an exquisite picture1--one of the best productions of open-air study7 were rejected4 ,manet then recommenced the experience of #ahfg1 and opened his studio to the public4 ,a register at the door was soon covered with signatures protesting against the jury1 as well as with hostile jokes1 and even anonymous insults6 ,in #ahgg the defeated jury admitted the portrait of the famous singer ,faure in the part of ,hamlet1 and rejected ,nana1 a picture which was found scandalising1 but has charming freshness and an intensely modern character4 ,in #ahgh1 #ahgi and #ahhj they accepted la ,serre1 the surprising symphony in blue and white which shows ,mr ,george ,moore in boating costume1 the portrait of ,antonin ,proust1 and the scene at the ,pre ,lathuile restaurant1 in which ,manet's nervous and luminous realism has so curious a resemblance to the art of the ,goncourts4 ,in #ahha the portrait of ,rochefort and that of the lion-killer1 ,pertuiset1 procured the artist a medal at the ,salon1 and ,antonin ,proust1 the friend of ,manet's childhood1 who had become ,minister of ,fine ,arts1 honoured himself in decorating him with the legion of honour4 ,in #ahhb appeared a magnificent canvas1 the ,bar des ,folies-,bergre1 in which there is some sparkling still-life painting of most attractive beauty4 ,it was accompanied by a lady's portrait1 ,jeanne4 ,but on ,april #cj1 #ahhc1 ,manet died1 exhausted by his work and struggles1 of locomotor ataxy1 after having vainly undergone the amputation of a foot to avoid gangrene4 ,illustration3 ,,manet ,,the ,,bar ,,at ,,the ,,folies-,,berg,,re ,it will be seen that ,manet fought through all his life3 few artists' lives have been nobler4 ,his has been an example of untiring energy2 he employed it as much in working1 as in making a stand against prejudices4 ,rejected1 accepted1 rejected again1 he delivered with enormous courage and faith his attack upon a jury which represented routine4 ,as he fought in front of his easel1 he still fought before the public1 without ever relaxing1 without changing1 alone1 apart even from those whom he loved1 who had been shaped by his example4 ,this great painter1 one of those who did most honour to the ,french soul1 had the genius to create by himself an ,impressionism of his own which will always remain his own1 after having given evidence of gifts of the first order in the tradition handed down by the masters of the real and the good4 ,he cannot be confused either with ,monet1 or with ,pissarro and ,renoir4 ,his comprehension of light is a special one1 his technique is not in accordance with the system of colour-spots2 it observes the theory of complementary colours and of the division of tones without departing from a grand style1 from a classic stateliness1 from a superb sureness4 ,manet has not been the inventor of ,impressionism which co-existed with his work since #ahfe1 but he has rendered it immense services1 by taking upon himself all the outbursts of anger addressed to the innovators1 by making a breach in public opinion1 through which his friends have passed in behind him4 ,probably without him all these artists would have remained unknown1 or at least without influence1 because they all were bold characters in art1 but timid or disdainful in life4 ,degas1 ,monet and ,renoir were fine natures with a horror of polemics1 who wished to hold aloof from the ,salons1 and were resigned from the outset to be misunderstood4 ,they were1 so to say1 electrified by the magnificent example of ,manet's fighting spirit1 and ,manet was generous enough to take upon himself the reproaches levelled1 not only against his work1 but against theirs4 ,his twenty years of open war1 sustained with an abnegation worthy of all esteem1 must be considered as one of the most significant phenomena of the history of the artists of all ages4 ,this work of ,manet1 so much discussed and produced under such tormenting conditions1 owes its importance beyond all to its power and frankness4 ,ten years of developing the first manner1 tragically limited by the war of #ahgj2 thirteen years of developing the second evolution1 parallel with the efforts of the ,impressionists4 ,the period from #ahfj to #ahgj is logically connected with ,hals and ,goya2 from #ahgj to #ahhc the artist's modernity is complicated by the study of light4 ,his personality appears there even more original1 but one may well give the palm to those works of ,manet which are painted in his classic and low-toned manner4 ,he had all the pictorial gifts which make the glory of the masters3 full1 true1 broad composition1 colouring of irresistible power1 blacks and greys which cannot be found elsewhere since ,velasquez and ,goya1 and a profound knowledge of values4 ,he has tried his hand at everything3 portraits1 landscapes1 seascapes1 scenes of modern life1 still-life and nudes have each in their turn served his ardent desire of creation4 ,his was a much finer comprehension of contemporary life than seems to be admitted by ,realism3 one has only to compare him with ,courbet1 to see how far more nervous and intelligent he was1 without loss to the qualities of truth and robustness4 ,his pictures will always remain documents of the greatest importance on the society1 the manners and customs of the second ,empire4 ,he did not possess the gift of psychology4 ,his ,christ aux ,anges and ,jsus insult are obviously only pieces of painting without idealism4 ,he was1 like the great ,dutch virtuosos1 and like certain ,italians1 more eye than soul4 ,yet his ,maximilian1 the drawings to ,poe's ,raven1 and certain sketches show that he might have realised some curious1 psychological works1 had he not been so completely absorbed by the immediate reality and by the desire for beautiful paint4 ,a beautiful painter--this is what he was before everything else1 this is his fairest fame1 and it is almost inconceivable that the juries of the ,salons failed to understand him4 ,they waxed indignant over his subjects which offer only a restricted interest1 and they did not see the altogether classic quality of this technique without bitumen1 without glazing1 without tricks2 of this vibrating colour2 of this rich paint2 of this passionate design so suitable for expressing movement and gestures true to life2 of this simple composition where the whole picture is based upon two or three values with the straightforwardness one admires in ,rubens1 ,jordaens and ,hals4 ,illustration3 ,,manet ,d,,jeuner ,manet will occupy an important position in the ,french ,school4 ,he is the most original painter of the second half of the nineteenth century1 the one who has really created a great movement4 ,his work1 the fecundity of which is astonishing1 is unequal4 ,one has to remember that1 besides the incessant strife which he kept up--a strife which would have killed many artists--he had to find strength for two grave crises in himself4 ,he joined one movement1 then freed himself of it1 then invented another and recommenced to learn painting at a point where anybody else would have continued in his previous manner4 ,each time ,i paint1 he said to ,mallarm1 ,i throw myself into the water to learn swimming4 ,it is not surprising that such a man should have been unequal1 and that one can distinguish in his work between experiments1 exaggerations due to research1 and efforts made to reject the prejudices of which we feel the weight no longer4 ,but it would be unjust to say that ,manet has only had the merit of opening up new roads2 that has been said to belittle him1 after it had first been said that these roads led into absurdity4 ,works like the ,torador1 ,rouvire1 ,mme4 ,manet1 the ,djeuner1 the ,musique aux ,tuileries1 the ,bon ,bock1 ,argenteuil1 ,le ,linge1 ,en ,bateau and the ,bar1 will always remain admirable masterpieces which will do credit to ,french painting1 of which the spontaneous1 living1 clear and bold art of ,manet is a direct and very representative product4 ,there remains1 then1 a great personality who knew how to dominate the rather coarse conceptions of ,realism1 who influenced by his modernity all contemporary illustration1 who re-established a sound and strong tradition in the face of the ,academy1 and who not only created a new transition1 but marked his place on the new road which he had opened4 ,to him ,impressionism owes its existence2 his tenacity enabled it to take root and to vanquish the opposition of the ,school2 his work has enriched the world by some beautiful examples which demonstrate the union of the two principles of ,realism and of that technical ,impressionism which was to supply ,manet1 ,renoir1 ,pissarro and ,sisley with an object for their efforts4 ,for the sum total of all that is evoked by his name1 ,edouard ,manet certainly deserves the name of a man of genius--an incomplete genius1 though1 since the thought with him was not on the level of his technique1 since he could never affect the emotions like a ,leonardo or a ,rembrandt1 but genius all the same through the magnificent power of his gifts1 the continuity of his style1 and the importance of his part which infused blood into a school dying of the anaemia of conventional art4 ,whoever beholds a work of ,manet's1 even without knowing the conditions of his life1 will feel that there is something great1 the lion's claw which ,delacroix had recognised as far back as #ahfa1 and to which1 it is said1 even the great ,ingres had paid homage on the jury which examined with disgust the ,guitarero4 ,illustration3 ,,manet ,,portrait ,,of ,,madame ,m4,l4 ,to-day ,manet is considered almost as a classic glory2 and the progress for which he had given the impulse1 has been so rapid1 that many are astonished that he should ever have been considered audacious4 ,sight is transformed1 strife is extinguished1 and a large1 select public1 familiar with ,monet and ,renoir1 judge ,manet almost as a long defunct initiator4 ,one has to know his admirable life1 one has to know well the incredible inertia of the ,salons where he appeared1 to give him his full due4 ,and when1 after the acceptance of ,impressionism1 the unavoidable reaction will take place1 ,manet's qualities of solidity1 truth and science will appear such1 that he will survive many of those to whom he has opened the road and facilitated the success at the expense of his own4 ,it will be seen that ,degas and he have1 more than the others1 and with less apparent clat1 united the gifts which produce durable works in the midst of the fluctuations of fashion and the caprices of taste and views4 ,manet can1 at the ,louvre or any other gallery1 hold his own in the most crushing surroundings1 prove his personal qualities1 and worthily represent a period which he loved4 ,an enormous amount has been written on him1 from ,zola's bold and intelligent pamphlet in #ahfe1 to the recent work by ,m4 ,thodore ,duret4 ,few men have provoked more comments4 ,in an admirable picture1 ,hommage ,manet1 the delicate and perfect painter ,fantin-,latour1 a friend from the first hour1 has grouped around the artist some of his admirers1 ,monet1 ,renoir1 ,duranty1 ,zola1 ,bazille1 and ,braquemond4 ,the picture has to-day a place of honour at the ,luxembourg1 where ,manet is insufficiently represented by ,olympia1 a study of a woman1 and the ,balcony4 ,a collection is much to be desired of his lithographs1 his etchings and his pastels1 in which he has proved his diversified mastery1 and also of his portraits of famous contemporaries1 ,zola1 ,rochefort1 ,desboutin1 ,proust1 ,mallarm1 ,clemenceau1 ,guys1 ,faure1 ,baudelaire1 ,moore1 and others1 an admirable series by a visionary who possessed1 in a period of unrest and artificiality1 the quality of rude sincerity1 and the love of truth of a ,primitive4 ,illustration3 ,,manet ,,the ,,hothouse ,,iv ,,edgar ,,degas3 ,,his ,,work1 ,,his ,,influence ,i have said how vain it is to class artistic temperaments under a title imposed upon them generally by circumstances and dates1 rather than by their own free will4 ,the study of ,degas will furnish additional proof for it4 ,classed with the ,impressionists1 this master participates in their ideas in the sphere of composition1 rather than in that of colour4 ,he belongs to them through his modernity and comprehension of character4 ,only when we come to his quite recent landscapes 7#ahif71 can we link him to ,monet and ,renoir as colourist1 and he has been more their friend than their colleague4 ,degas is known by the select few1 and almost ignored by the public4 ,this is due to several reasons4 ,degas has never wished to exhibit at the ,salons1 except1 ,i believe1 once or twice at the beginning of his career4 ,he has only shown his works at those special exhibitions arranged by the ,impressionists in hired apartments 7rue le ,peletier1 rue ,laffitte1 ,boulevard des ,capucines71 and at some art-dealers4 ,the art of ,degas has never had occasion to shock the public by the exuberance of its colour1 because he restricted himself to grey and quiet harmonies4 ,degas is a modest character1 fond of silence and solitude1 with a horror of the crowd and of controversies1 and almost disinclined to show his works4 ,he is a man of intelligence and ready wit1 whose sallies are dreaded2 he is almost a misanthrope4 ,his pictures have been gradually sold to foreign countries and dispersed in rich galleries without having been seen by the public4 ,his character is1 in short1 absolutely opposed to that of ,manet1 who1 though he suffered from criticism1 thought it his duty to bid it defiance4 ,degas's influence has1 however1 been considerable1 though secretly so1 and the young painters have been slowly inspired by his example4 ,illustration3 ,,degas ,,the ,,beggar ,,woman ,degas is beyond all a draughtsman of the first order4 ,his spirit is quite classical4 ,he commenced by making admirable copies of the ,italian ,primitives1 notably of ,fra ,angelico1 and the whole first series of his works speaks of that influence3 portraits1 heads of deep1 mat1 amber colour1 on a ground of black or grey tones1 remarkable for a severity of intense style1 and for the rare gift of psychological expression4 ,to find the equal of these faces--after having stated their classic descent--one would have to turn to the beautiful things by ,ingres1 and certainly ,degas is1 with ,ingres1 the most learned1 the most perfect ,french draughtsman of the nineteenth century4 ,an affirmation of this nature is made to surprise those who judge ,impressionism with preconceived ideas4 ,it is none the less true that1 if a series of ,degas's first portraits were collected1 the comparison would force itself upon one's mind irrefutably4 ,in face of the idealist painting of ,romanticism1 ,ingres represented quite clearly the cult of painting for its own sake4 ,his ideas were mediocre1 and went scarcely beyond the poor1 conventional ideal of the ,academy2 but his genius was so great1 that it made him paint1 together with his tedious allegories1 some incomparable portraits and nudes4 ,he thought he was serving official ,classicism1 which still boasts of his name1 but in reality he dominated it2 and1 whilst he was an imitator of ,raphael1 he was a powerful ,realist4 ,the ,impressionists admire him as such1 and agree with him in banishing from the art of painting all literary imagination1 whether it be the tedious mythology of the ,school1 or the historical anecdote of the ,romanticists4 ,degas and ,besnard admire ,ingres as colossal draughtsman1 and1 beyond all1 as man who1 in spite of the limitations of his mind1 preserved the clear vision of the mission of his art at a time when art was used for the expression of literary conceptions4 ,who would have believed it8 ,yet it is true1 and ,manet1 too1 held the same view of ,ingres1 little as our present academicians may think it6 ,it happens that to-day ,impressionism is more akin to ,ingres than to ,delacroix1 just as the young poets are more akin to ,racine than to ,hugo4 ,they reject the foreign elements1 and search1 before anything else1 for the strict national tradition4 ,degas follows ,ingres and resembles him4 ,he is also reminiscent of the ,primitives and of ,holbein4 ,there is1 in his first period1 the somewhat dry and geometrical perfection1 the somewhat heavy colour which only serves to strengthen the correctness of the planes4 ,at the ,exposition of #aijj1 there was a ,degas which surprised everybody4 ,it was an ,interior of a cotton factory in an ,american town4 ,this small picture was curiously clear3 it would be impossible to paint better and with a more accomplished knowledge of the laws of painting4 ,but it was the work of a soulless1 emotionless ,realist2 it was a coloured photograph of unheard-of truth1 the mathematical science of which left the beholder cold4 ,this work1 which is very old 7it dates back to about #ahfj71 gave no idea of what ,degas has grown into4 ,it was the work of an unemotional master of technique2 only just the infinitely delicate value of the greys and blacks revealed the future master of harmony4 ,one almost might have wished to find a fault in this aggravating perfection4 ,but ,degas was not to remain there1 and already1 about that time1 certain portraits of his are elevated by an expression of ardent melancholy1 by warm1 ivory-like1 grave colouring which attracts one's eye4 ,before this series one feels the firm will of a very logical1 serious1 classic spirit who wants to know thoroughly the intimate resources of design1 before risking to choose from among them the elements which respond best to his individual nature4 ,if ,degas was destined to invent1 later on1 so personal a style of design that he could be accused of drawing badly1 this first period of his life is before us1 to show the slow maturing of his boldness and how carefully he first proved to himself his knowledge1 before venturing upon new things4 ,in art the difficulty is1 when one has learnt everything1 to forget1--that is1 to appear to forget1 so as to create one's own style1 and this apparent forgetting cloaks an amalgamation of science with mind4 ,and ,degas is one of those patient and reticent men who spend years in arriving at this2 he has much in common with ,hokusai1 the old man mad with painting1 who at the close of his prodigious life invented arbitrary forms1 after having given immortal examples of his interpretation of the real4 ,illustration3 ,,degas ,,the ,,lesson ,,in ,,the ,,foyer ,degas is also clearly related to ,corot1 not only in the silvery harmonies of his suave landscapes1 but also1 and particularly1 in his admirable faces whose inestimable power and moving sincerity we have hardly commenced to understand4 ,degas passed slowly from classicism to modernity4 ,he never liked outbursts of colour2 he is by no means an ,impressionist from this point of view4 ,as a draughtsman of genius he expresses all by the precision of the planes and values2 a grey1 a black and some notes of colour suffice for him4 ,this might establish a link between him and ,whistler1 though he is much less mysterious and diffuse4 ,whenever ,degas plays with colour1 it is with the same restraint of his boldness2 he never goes to excess in abandoning himself to its charm4 ,he is neither lyrical1 nor voluptuous2 his energy is cold2 his wise spirit affirms soberly the true character of a face or an object4 ,since a long time this spirit has moved ,degas to revel in the observation of contemporary life4 ,his nature has been that of a patient psychologist1 a minute analyst1 and also of a bitter ironist4 ,the man is very little known4 ,his friends say that he has an easily ruffled delicacy1 a sensibility open to poetry1 but jealous of showing its emotion4 ,they say that ,degas's satirical bitterness is the reverse side of a soul wounded by the spectacle of modern morality4 ,one feels this sentiment in his work1 where the sharp notation of truth is painful1 where the realism is opposed by colouring of a sober distinction1 where nothing1 not even the portrait of a drab1 could be vulgar4 ,degas has devoted himself to the profound study of certain classes of women1 in the state of mind of a philosopher and physiologist1 impartially inclined towards life4 ,his work can be divided into several great series3 the race-courses1 the ballet-dancers1 and the women bathing count among the most important4 ,the race-courses have inspired ,degas with numerous pictures4 ,he shows in them a surprising knowledge of the horse4 ,he is one of the most perfect painters of horses who have ever existed4 ,he has caught the most curious and truest actions with infallible sureness of sight4 ,his racecourse scenes are full of vitality and picturesqueness4 ,against clear skies1 and light backgrounds of lawn1 indicated with quiet harmony1 ,degas assembles original groups of horses which one can see moving1 hesitating1 intensely alive2 and nothing could be fresher1 gayer and more deliciously pictorial1 than the green1 red and yellow notes of the jockey's costumes strewn like flowers over these atmospheric1 luminous landscapes1 where colours do not clash1 but are always gently shimmering1 dissolved in uniform clearness4 ,the admirable drawing of horses and men is so precise and seems so simple1 that one can only slowly understand the extent of the difficulty overcome1 the truth of these attitudes and the nervous delicacy of the execution4 ,illustration3 ,,degas ,,the ,,dancing ,,lesson--,,pastel ,the dancers go much further still in the expression of ,degas's temperament4 ,they have been studied at the foyer of the ,opera and at the rehearsal1 sometimes in groups1 sometimes isolated4 ,some pictures which will always count among the masterpieces of the nineteenth century1 represent the whole corps de ballet performing on the stage before a dark and empty house4 ,by the feeble light of some lamps the black coats of the stage managers mix themselves with the gauze skirts4 ,here the draughtsman joins the great colourist3 the petticoats of pink or white tulle1 the graceful legs covered with flesh-coloured silk1 the arms and the shoulders1 and the hair crowned with flowers1 offer motives of exquisite colour and of a tone of living flowers4 ,but the psychologist does not lose his rights3 not only does he amuse himself with noting the special movements of the dancers1 but he also notes the anatomical defects4 ,he shows with cruel frankness1 with a strange love of modern character1 the strong legs1 the thin shoulders1 and the provoking and vulgar heads of these frequently ugly girls of common origin4 ,with the irony of an entomologist piercing the coloured insect he shows us the disenchanting reality in the sad shadow of the scenes1 of these butterflies who dazzle us on the stage4 ,he unveils the reverse side of a dream without1 however1 caricaturing2 he raises even1 under the imperfection of the bodies1 the animal grace of the organisms2 he has the severe beauty of the true4 ,he gives to his groups of ballet-dancers the charming line of garlands and restores to them a harmony in the ensemble1 so as to prove that he does not misjudge the charm conferred upon them by rhythm1 however defective they may be individually4 ,at other times he devotes himself to the study of their practice4 ,in bare rooms with curtainless windows1 in the cold and sad light of the boxes1 he passionately draws the dancers learning their steps1 reaching high bars with the tips of their toes1 forcing themselves into quaint poses in order to make themselves more supple1 manoeuvring to the sound of a fiddle scratched by an old teacher--and he leaves us stupefied at the knowledge1 the observation1 the talent profusely spent on these little pictures4 ,furthermore there are humorous scenes3 ballet-dancers chatting in the dark with habitus of the ,opera1 others looking at the house through the small opening of the curtain1 others re-tying their shoe-laces1 and they all are prodigious drawings of movement anatomically as correct as they are unexpected4 ,degas's old style of drawing undergoes modification3 with the help of slight deformations1 accentuations of the modelling and subtle falsifications of the proportions1 managed with infinite tact and knowledge1 the artist brings forth in relief the important gesture1 subordinating to it all the others4 ,he attempts drawing by movement as it is caught by our eyes in life1 where they do not state the proportions1 but first of all the gesture which strikes them4 ,in these drawings by ,degas all the lines follow the impulsion of the thought4 ,what one sees first1 is the movement transmitted to the members by the will4 ,the active part of the body is more carefully studied than the rest1 which is indicated by bold foreshortenings1 placed in the second plane1 and apparently only serves to throw into relief the raised arm or leg4 ,this is no longer merely exact1 it is true2 it is a superior degree of truth4 ,illustration3 ,,degas ,,the ,,dancers ,these pictures of dancers are psychologic documents of great value4 ,the physical and moral atmosphere of these surroundings is called forth by a master4 ,such and such a figure or attitude tells us more about ,parisian life than a whole novel1 and ,degas has been lavish of his intellect and his philosophy of bitter scepticism4 ,but they are also marvellous pictorial studies which1 in spite of the special1 anecdotal subjects1 rise to the level of grand painting through sheer power of draughtsmanship and charm of tone4 ,degas has the special quality of giving the precise sensation of the third dimension4 ,the atmosphere circulates round his figures2 you walk round them2 you see them in their real plane1 and they present themselves in a thousand unexpected arrangements4 ,degas is undoubtedly the one man of his age who has most contributed towards infusing new life into the representation of human figures3 in this respect his pictures resemble no one else's4 ,the same qualities will be found in his series of women bathing4 ,these interiors1 where the actions of the bathers are caught amidst the stuffs1 flowered cushions1 linen1 sponges and tubs1 are sharp visions of modernity4 ,degas observes here1 with the tenacious perfection of his talent1 the slightest shiver of the flesh refreshed by cold water4 ,his masterly drawing follows the most delicate inflexion of the muscles and suggests the nervous system under the skin4 ,he observes with extraordinary subtlety the awkwardness of the nude being at a time when nudity is no longer accustomed to show itself1 and this true nudity is in strong contrast to that of the academicians4 ,one might say of ,degas that he has the disease of truth1 if the necessity of truth were not health itself6 ,these bodies are still marked with the impressions of the garments2 the movements remain those of a clothed being which is only nude as an exception4 ,the painter notices beauty1 but he looks for it particularly in the profound characterisation of the types which he studies1 and his pastels have the massiveness and the sombre style of bronze4 ,he has also painted caf-scenes1 prostitutes and supers1 with a mocking and sad energy2 he has even amused himself with painting washerwomen1 to translate the movements of the women of the people4 ,and his colour with its pearly whites1 subdued blues and delicate greys1 always elevates everything he does1 and confers upon him a distinctive style4 ,finally1 about #ahif1 ,degas has revealed himself as a dreamy landscapist4 ,his recent landscapes are symphonies in colours of strange harmony and hallucinations of rare tones1 resembling music rather than painting4 ,it is perhaps in these pictures that he has revealed certain dreams hitherto jealously hidden4 ,and now ,i must speak of his technique4 ,it is very singular and varied1 and one of the most complicated in existence4 ,in his first works1 which are apparently as simple as ,corot's1 he does not employ the process of colour-spots4 ,but many of the works in his second manner are a combination of drawing1 painting and pastel4 ,he has invented a kind of engraving mixed with wash-drawing1 pastel crayon crushed with brushes of special pattern4 ,here one can find again his meticulous spirit4 ,he has many of the qualities of the scientist2 he is as much chemist as painter4 ,it has been said of him1 that he was a great artist of the decadence4 ,this is materially inexact1 since his qualities of draughtsmanship are those of a superb ,classicist1 and his colouring of very pure taste4 ,but the spirit of his work1 his love of exact detail1 his exaggerated psychological refinement1 are certainly the signs of an extremely alert intellect who regards life prosaically and with a lassitude and disenchantment which are only consoled by the passion for truth4 ,certain water-colours of his heightened by pastel1 and certain landscapes1 are somewhat disconcerting through the preciousness of his method2 others are surprisingly spontaneous4 ,all his work has an undercurrent of thought4 ,in short1 this ,realist is almost a mystic4 ,he has observed a limited section of humanity1 but what he has seen has not been seen so profoundly by anybody else4 ,illustration3 ,,degas ,,horses ,,in ,,the ,,meadows ,degas has exercised an occult1 but very serious1 influence4 ,he has lived alone1 without pupils and almost without friends2 the only pupils one might speak of are the caricaturist ,forain1 who has painted many small pictures inspired by him1 and the excellent ,american lady-artist ,miss ,mary ,cassatt4 ,but all modern draughtsmen have been taught a lesson by his painting3 ,renouard1 ,toulouse-,lautrec and ,steinlen have been impressed by it1 and the young generation considers ,degas as a master4 ,and that is also the unexpressed idea of the academicians1 and especially of those who have sufficient talent to be able to appreciate all the science and power of such an art4 ,the writer of this book happened one day to mention ,degas's name before a member of the ,institute4 ,what6 exclaimed he1 you know him8 ,why didn't you speak to me about him8 ,and when he received the reply1 that ,i did not consider ,degas to be an agreeable topic for him1 the illustrious official answered vivaciously1 ,but do you think ,i am a fool1 and that ,i do not know that ,degas is one of the greatest draughtsmen who have ever lived8--,why1 then1 my dear sir1 has he never been received at the ,salons1 and not even been decorated at the age of sixty-five8--,ah1 replied the ,academician a little angrily1 that is another matter6 ,degas despises glory4 ,it is believed that he has by him a number of canvases which will have to be burnt after his death in accordance with his will4 ,he is a man who has loved his art like a mistress1 with jealous passion1 and has sacrificed to it all that other artists--enthusiasts even--are accustomed to reserve for their personal interest4 ,degas1 the incomparable pastellist1 the faultless draughtsman1 the bitter1 satirical1 pessimistic genius1 is an isolated phenomenon in his period1 a grand creator1 unattached to his time4 ,the painters and the select few among art-lovers know what considerable force there is in him4 ,though almost latent as yet1 it will reveal itself brilliantly1 when an opportunity arises for bringing together the vast quantity of his work4 ,as is the case with ,manet1 though in a different sense1 his powerful classic qualities will become most prominent in this ordeal1 and this classicism has never abandoned him in his audacities4 ,to ,degas is due a new method of observation in drawing4 ,he will have been the first to study the relation between the moving lines of a living being and the immovable lines of the scene which serves as its setting2 the first1 also1 to define drawing1 not as a graphic science1 but as the valuation of the third dimension1 and thus to apply to painting the principles hitherto reserved for sculpture4 ,finally1 he will be counted among the great analysts4 ,his vision1 tenacious1 intense1 and sombre1 stimulates thought3 across what appears to be the most immediate and even the most vulgar reality it reaches a grand1 artistic style2 it states profoundly the facts of life1 it condenses a little the human soul3 and this will suffice to secure for ,degas an important place in his epoch1 a little apart from ,impressionism4 ,without noise1 and through the sheer charm of his originality1 he has contributed his share towards undermining the false doctrines of academic art before the painters1 as ,manet has undermined them before the public4 ,illustration3 ,,claude ,,monet ,,an ,,interior1 ,,after ,,dinner ,v ,,claude ,,monet3 ,,his ,,work1 ,,his ,,influence ,with ,claude ,monet we enter upon ,impressionism in its most significant technical expression1 and touch upon the principal points referred to in the second chapter of this book4 ,claude ,monet1 the artistic descendant of ,claude ,lorrain1 ,turner1 and ,monticelli1 has had the merit and the originality of opening a new road to landscape painting by deducing scientific statements from the study of the laws of light4 ,his work is a magnificent verification of the optical discoveries made by ,helmholtz and ,chevreul4 ,it is born spontaneously from the artist's vision1 and happens to be a rigorous demonstration of principles which the painter has probably never cared to know4 ,through the power of his faculties the artist has happened to join hands with the scientist4 ,his work supplies not only the very basis of the ,impressionist movement proper1 but of all that has followed it and will follow it in the study of the so-called chromatic laws4 ,it will serve to give1 so to say1 a mathematic necessity to the happy finds met by the artists hitherto1 and it will also serve to endow decorative art and mural painting with a process1 the applications of which are manyfold and splendid4 ,i have already summed up the ideas which follow from ,claude ,monet's painting more clearly even than from ,manet's4 ,suppression of local colour1 study of reflections by means of complementary colours and division of tones by the process of touches of pure1 juxtaposed colours--these are the essential principles of chromatism 7for this word should be used instead of the very vague term ,impressionism74 ,claude ,monet has applied them systematically1 especially in landscape painting4 ,there are a few portraits of his1 which show that he might have made an excellent figure painter1 if landscape had not absorbed him entirely4 ,one of these portraits1 a large full-length of a lady with a fur-lined jacket and a satin dress with green and black stripes1 would in itself be sufficient to save from oblivion the man who has painted it4 ,but the study of light upon the figure has been the special preoccupation of ,manet1 ,renoir1 and ,pissarro1 and1 after the ,impressionists1 of the great lyricist1 ,albert ,besnard1 who has concentrated the ,impressionist qualities by placing them at the service of a very personal conception of symbolistic art4 ,monet commenced with trying to find his way by painting figures1 then landscapes and principally sea pictures and boats in harbours1 with a somewhat sombre robustness and very broad and solid draughtsmanship4 ,his first luminous studies date back to about #ahhe4 ,obedient to the same ideas as ,degas he had to avoid the ,salons and only show his pictures gradually in private galleries4 ,for years he remained unknown4 ,it is only giving ,m4 ,durand-,ruel his due1 to state that he was one of the first to anticipate the ,impressionist school and to buy the first works of these painters1 who were treated as madmen and charlatans4 ,he has become great with them1 and has made his fortune and theirs through having had confidence in them1 and no fortune has been better deserved4 ,thirty years ago nobody would have bought pictures by ,degas or ,monet1 which are sold to-day for a thousand pounds4 ,this detail is only mentioned to show the evolution of ,impressionism as regards public opinion4 ,illustration3 ,,claude ,,monet ,,the ,,harbour1 ,,honfleur ,so much has ,monet been attracted by the analysis of the laws of light that he has made light the real subject of all his pictures1 and to show clearly his intention he has treated one and the same site in a series of pictures painted from nature at all hours of the day4 ,this is the principle whose results are the great divisions of his work which might be called ,investigation of the variations of sunlight4 ,the most famous of these series are the ,hay-ricks1 the ,poplars1 the ,cliffs of ,etretat1 the ,golfe ,juan1 the ,coins de ,rivire1 the ,cathedrals1 the ,water-lilies1 and finally the ,thames series which ,monet is at present engaged upon4 ,they are like great poems1 and the splendour of the chosen theme1 the orchestration of the shivers of brightness1 the symphonic parti-pris of the colours1 make their realism1 the minute contemplation of reality1 approach idealism and lyric dreaming4 ,monet paints these series from nature4 ,he is said to take with him in a carriage at sunrise some twenty canvases which he changes from hour to hour1 taking them up again the next day4 ,he notes1 for example1 from nine to ten o'clock the most subtle effects of sunlight upon a hay-rick2 at ten o'clock he passes on to another canvas and recommences the study until eleven o'clock4 ,thus he follows step by step the modifications of the atmosphere until nightfall1 and finishes simultaneously the works of the whole series4 ,he has painted a hay-stack in a field twenty times over1 and the twenty hay-stacks are all different4 ,he exhibits them together1 and one can follow1 led by the magic of his brush1 the history of light playing upon one and the same object4 ,it is a dazzling display of luminous atoms1 a kind of pantheistic evocation4 ,light is certainly the essential personage who devours the outlines of the objects1 and is thrown like a translucent veil between our eyes and matter4 ,one can see the vibrations of the waves of the solar spectrum1 drawn by the arabesque of the spots of the seven prismatic hues juxtaposed with infinite subtlety2 and this vibration is that of heat1 of atmospheric vitality4 ,the silhouettes melt into the sky2 the shadows are lights where certain tones1 the blue1 the purple1 the green and the orange1 predominate1 and it is the proportional quantity of the spots that differentiates in our eyes the shadows from what we call the lights1 just as it actually happens in optic science4 ,there are some midday scenes by ,claude ,monet1 where every material silhouette--tree1 hay-rick1 or rock--is annihilated1 volatilised in the fiery vibration of the dust of sunlight1 and before which the beholder gets really blinded1 just as he would in actual sunlight4 ,sometimes even there are no more shadows at all1 nothing that could serve to indicate the values and to create contrasts of colours4 ,everything is light1 and the painter seems easily to overcome those terrible difficulties1 lights upon lights1 thanks to a gift of marvellous subtlety of sight4 ,illustration3 ,,claude ,,monet ,,the ,,church ,,at ,,varengeville ,generally he finds a very simple motif sufficient2 a hay-rick1 some slender trunks rising skywards1 or a cluster of shrubs4 ,but he also proves himself as powerful draughtsman when he attacks themes of greater complexity4 ,nobody knows as he does how to place a rock amidst tumultuous waves1 how to make one understand the enormous construction of a cliff which fills the whole canvas1 how to give the sensation of a cluster of pines bent by the wind1 how to throw a bridge across a river1 or how to express the massiveness of the soil under a summer sun4 ,all this is constructed with breadth1 truth and force under the delicious or fiery symphony of the luminous atoms4 ,the most unexpected tones play in the foliage4 ,on close inspection we are astonished to find it striped with orange1 red1 blue and yellow touches1 but seen at a certain distance the freshness of the green foliage appears to be represented with infallible truth4 ,the eye recomposes what the brush has dissociated1 and one finds oneself perplexed at all the science1 all the secret order which has presided over this accumulation of spots which seem projected in a furious shower4 ,it is a veritable orchestral piece1 where every colour is an instrument with a distinct part1 and where the hours with their different tints represent the successive themes4 ,monet is the equal of the greatest landscape painters as regards the comprehension of the true character of every soil he has studied1 which is the supreme quality of his art4 ,though absorbed beyond all by study of the sunlight1 he has thought it useless to go to ,morocco or ,algeria4 ,he has found ,brittany1 ,holland1 the ,ile de ,france1 the ,cote d',azur and ,england sufficient sources of inspiration for his symphonies1 which cover from end to end the scale of perceptible colours4 ,he has expressed1 for instance1 the mild and vaporous softness of the ,mediterranean1 the luxuriant vegetation of the gardens of ,cannes and ,antibes1 with a truthfulness and knowledge of the psychology of land and water which can only be properly appreciated by those who live in this enchanted region4 ,this has not prevented him from understanding better than anybody the wildness1 the grand austereness of the rocks of ,belle-,isle en mer1 to express it in pictures in which one really feels the wind1 the spray1 and the roaring of the heavy waters breaking against the impassibility of the granite rocks4 ,his recent series of ,water-lilies expressed all the melancholic and fresh charm of quiet basins1 of sweet bits of water blocked by rushes and calyxes4 ,he has painted underwoods in the autumn1 where the most subtle shades of bronze and gold are at play1 chrysanthemums1 pheasants1 roofs at twilight1 dazzling sunflowers1 gardens1 tulip-fields in ,holland1 bouquets1 effects of snow and hoar frost of exquisite softness1 and sailing boats passing in the sun4 ,he has painted some views of the banks of the ,seine which are quite wonderful in their power of conjuring up these scenes1 and over all this has roved his splendid vision of a great1 amorous and radiant colourist4 ,the ,cathedrals are even more of a tour de force of his talent4 ,they consist of seventeen studies of ,rouen ,cathedral1 the towers of which fill the whole of the picture1 leaving barely a little space1 a little corner of the square1 at the foot of the enormous stone-shafts which mount to the very top of the picture4 ,here he has no proper means to express the play of the reflections1 no changeful waters or foliage3 the grey stone1 worn by time and blackened by centuries1 is for seventeen times the monochrome1 the thankless theme upon which the painter is about to exercise his vision4 ,but ,monet finds means of making the most dazzling atmospheric harmonies sparkle upon this stone4 ,pale and rosy at sunrise1 purple at midday1 glowing in the evening under the rays of the setting sun1 standing out from the crimson and gold1 scarcely visible in the mist1 the colossal edifice impresses itself upon the eye1 reconstructed with its thousand details of architectural chiselling1 drawn without minuteness but with superb decision1 and these pictures approach the composite1 bold and rich tone of ,oriental carpets4 ,illustration3 ,,claude ,,monet ,,poplars ,,on ,,the ,,epte ,,in ,,autumn ,monet excels also in suggesting the drawing of light1 if ,i may venture to use this expression4 ,he makes us understand the movement of the vibrations of heat1 the movement of the luminous waves2 he also understands how to paint the sensation of strong wind4 ,before one of ,manet's pictures1 said ,mme4 ,morisot1 ,i always know which way to incline my umbrella4 ,monet is also an incomparable painter of water4 ,pond1 river1 or sea--he knows how to differentiate their colouring1 their consistency1 and their currents1 and he transfixes a moment of their fleeting life4 ,he is intuitive to an exceptional degree in the intimate composition of matter1 water1 earth1 stone or air1 and this intuition serves him in place of intellectuality in his art4 ,he is a painter par excellence1 a man born for painting1 and this power of penetrating the secrets of matter and of light helps him to attain a kind of grand1 unconsciously lyrical poetry4 ,he transposes the immediate truth of our vision and elevates it to decorative grandeur4 ,if ,manet is the realist-romanticist of ,impressionism1 if ,degas is its psychologist1 ,claude ,monet is its lyrical pantheist4 ,his work is immense4 ,he produces with astonishing rapidity1 and he has yet another characteristic of the great painters3 that of having put his hand to every kind of subject4 ,his recent studies of the ,thames are1 at the decline of his energetic maturity1 as beautiful and as spontaneous as the ,hay-ricks of seventeen years back4 ,they are thrillingly truthful visions of fairy mists1 where showers of silver and gold sparkle through rosy vapours2 and at the same time ,monet combines in this series the dream-landscapes of ,turner with ,monticelli's accumulation of precious stones4 ,thus interpreted by this intense faculty of synthesis1 nature1 simplified in detail and contemplated in its grand lines1 becomes truly a living dream4 ,since the ,hay-ricks one can say that the work of ,claude ,monet is glorious4 ,it has been made sacred to the admiring love of the connoisseurs on the day when ,monet joined ,rodin in an exhibition which is famous in the annals of modern art4 ,yet no official distinction has intervened to recognise one of the greatest painters of the nineteenth century4 ,the influence of ,monet has been enormous all over ,europe and ,america4 ,the process of colour spots#a 7let us adhere to this rudimentary name which has become current7 has been adopted by a whole crowd of painters4 ,i shall have to say a few words about it at the end of this book4 ,but it is befitting to terminate this all too short study by explaining that the most lyrical of the ,impressionists has also been the theorist par excellence4 ,his work connects easel painting with mural painting4 ,no ,minister of ,fine ,arts has been found1 who would surmount the systematic opposition of the official painters1 and give ,manet a commission for grand mural compositions1 for which his method is admirably suited4 ,it has taken long years before such works were entrusted to ,besnard1 who1 with ,puvis de ,chavannes1 has given ,paris her most beautiful modern decorations1 but ,besnard's work is the direct outcome of ,claude ,monet's harmonies4 ,the principle of the division of tones and of the study of complementary colours has been full of revelations1 and one of the most fruitful theories4 ,it has probably been the principle which will designate most clearly the originality of the painting of the future4 ,to have invented it1 is enough to secure permanent glory for a man4 ,and without wishing to put again the question of the antagonism of realism and idealism1 one may well say that a painter who invents a method and shows such power1 is highly intellectual and gifted with a pictorial intelligence4 ,whatever the subjects he treats1 he creates an aesthetic emotion equivalent1 if not similar1 to those engendered by the most complex symbolism4 ,in his ardent love of nature ,monet has found his greatness2 he suggests the secrets by stating the evident facts4 ,that is the law common to all the arts4 ,footnote #a3 ,procd de la tache4 ,illustration3 ,,claude ,,monet ,,the ,,bridge ,,at ,,argenteuil ,,vi ,,auguste ,,renoir ,,and ,,his ,,work ,the work of ,auguste ,renoir extends without interruption over a period of forty years4 ,it appears to sum up the ideas and methods of ,impressionist art so completely that1 should it alone be saved from a general destruction1 it would suffice to bear witness to this entire art movement4 ,it has unfolded itself from #ahfe to our days with a happy magnificence1 and it allows us to distinguish several periods1 in the technique at least1 since the variety of its subjects is infinite4 ,like ,manet1 and like all truly great and powerful painters1 ,m4 ,renoir has treated almost everything1 nudes1 portraits1 subject pictures1 seascapes and still-life1 all with equal beauty4 ,his first manner shows him to be a very direct descendant of ,boucher4 ,his female nudes are altogether in eighteenth century taste and he uses the same technique as ,boucher3 fat and sleek paint of soft brilliancy1 laid on with the palette knife1 with precise strokes round the principal values2 pink and ivory tints relieved by strong blues similar to those of enamels2 the light distributed everywhere and almost excluding the opposition of the shadows2 and1 finally1 vivacious attitudes and an effort towards decorative convention4 ,nevertheless1 his ,bathers1 of which he has painted a large series1 are in many ways thoroughly modern and personal4 ,renoir's nude is neither that of ,monet1 nor of ,degas1 whose main concern was truth1 the last-named even trying to define in the undressed being such psychologic observations as are generally looked for in the features of the clothed being4 ,nor is ,renoir's nude that of the academicians1 that poetised nude arranged according to a pseudo-,greek ideal1 which has nothing in common with contemporary women4 ,what ,renoir sees in the nude is less the line1 than the brilliancy of the epidermis1 the luminous1 nacreous substance of the flesh3 it is the ideal clay2 and in this he shows the vision of a poet2 he transfigures reality1 but in a very different sense from that of the ,school4 ,renoir's woman comes from a primitive dream-land2 she is an artless1 wild creature1 blooming in perfumed scrub4 ,he sets her in backgrounds of foliage or of blue1 foam-fringed torrents4 ,she is a luxuriant1 firm1 healthy and nave woman with a powerful body1 a small head1 her eyes wide open1 thoughtless1 brilliant and ignorant1 her lips blood-red and her nostrils dilated2 she is a gentle being1 like the women of ,tahiti1 born in a tropical clime where vice is as unknown as shame1 and where entire ingenuousness is a guarantee against all indecency4 ,one cannot but be astonished at this mixture of ,japanism1 savagism and eighteenth century taste1 which constitutes inimitably the nude of ,renoir4 ,illustration3 ,,renoir ,d,,jeuner ,illustration3 ,,renoir ,,in ,,the ,,box ,m4 ,renoir's second manner is more directly related to the ,impressionist methods3 it is that of his landscapes1 his flowers and his portraits4 ,here one can feel his relationship with ,manet and with ,claude ,monet4 ,these pictures are hatchings of colours accumulated to render less the objects than their transparency across the atmosphere4 ,the portraits are frankly presented and broadly executed4 ,the artist occupies himself in the first place with getting correct values and an exact suggestion of depth4 ,he understands the illogicality of a false perfection which is as interested in a trinket as in an eye1 and he knows how to proportion the interest of the picture which should guide the beholder's look to the essential point1 though every part should be correctly executed4 ,he knows how to interpret nature in a certain sense2 how to stop in time2 how to suggest by leaving a part apparently unfinished2 how to indicate1 behind a figure1 the sea or some landscape with just a few broad touches which suffice to suggest it without usurping the principal part4 ,it is now1 that ,renoir paints his greatest works1 the ,djener des ,canotiers1 the ,bal au ,moulin de la ,galette1 the ,box1 the ,terrace1 the ,first ,step1 the ,sleeping ,woman with a ,cat1 and his most beautiful landscapes2 but his nature is too capricious to be satisfied with a single technique4 ,there are some landscapes that are reminiscent of ,corot or of ,anton ,mauve2 the ,woman with the broken neck is related to ,manet2 the portrait of ,sisley invents pointillism fifteen years before the pointillists2 ,la ,pense1 this masterpiece1 evokes ,hoppner4 ,but in everything reappears the invincible ,french instinct3 the ,jeune ,fille au panier is a ,greuze painted by an ,impressionist2 the delightful ,jeune ,fille la promenade is connected with ,fragonard2 the ,box1 a perfect marvel of elegance and knowledge1 condenses the whole worldliness of #ahge4 ,the portrait of ,jeanne ,samary is an evocation of the most beautiful portraits of the eighteenth century1 a poem of white satin and golden hair4 ,illustration3 ,,renoir ,,young ,,girl ,,promenading ,renoir's realism bears in spite of all1 the imprint of the lyric spirit and of sweetness4 ,it has neither the nervous veracity of ,manet1 nor the bitterness of ,degas1 who both love their epoch and find it interesting without idealising it and who have the vision of psychologist novelists4 ,before everything else he is a painter4 ,what he sees in the ,bal au ,moulin de la ,galette1 are not the stigmata of vice and impudence1 the ridiculous and the sad sides of the doubtful types of this low resort4 ,he sees the gaiety of ,sundays1 the flashes of the sun1 the oddity of a crowd carried away by the rhythm of the valses1 the laughter1 the clinking of glasses1 the vibrating and hot atmosphere2 and he applies to this spectacle of joyous vulgarity his gifts as a sumptuous colourist1 the arabesque of the lines1 the gracefulness of his bathers1 and the happy eurythmy of his soul4 ,the straw hats are changed into gold1 the blue jackets are sapphires1 and out of a still exact realism is born a poem of light4 ,the ,djener des ,canotiers is a subject which has been painted a hundred times1 either for the purpose of studying popular types1 or of painting white table-cloths amidst sunny foliage4 ,yet ,renoir is the only painter who has raised this small subject to the proportions and the style of a large canvas1 through the pictorial charm and the masterly richness of the arrangement4 ,the ,box1 conceived in a low harmony1 in a golden twilight1 is a work worthy of ,reynolds4 ,the pale and attentive face of the lady makes one think of the great ,english master's best works2 the necklace1 the flesh1 the flounce of lace and the hands are marvels of skill and of taste1 which the greatest modern virtuosos1 ,sargent and ,besnard1 have not surpassed1 and1 as far as the man in the background is concerned1 his white waistcoat1 his dress-coat1 his gloved hand would suffice to secure the fame of a painter4 ,the ,sleeping ,woman1 the ,first ,step1 the ,terrace1 and the decorative ,dance panels reveal ,renoir as an intimiste and as an admirable painter of children4 ,his strange colouring and his gifts of grasping nature and of ingenuity--strangers to all decadent complexity--have allowed him to rank among the best of those who have expressed childhood in its true aspect1 without overloading it with over-precocious thoughts4 ,finally1 ,renoir is a painter of flowers of dazzling variety and exquisite splendour4 ,they supply him with inexhaustible pretexts for suave and subtle harmonies4 ,illustration3 ,,renoir ,,woman',s ,,bust ,his third manner has surprised and deceived certain admirers of his4 ,it seems to mix his two first techniques1 combining the painting with the palette knife and the painting in touches of divided tones4 ,he searches for certain accords and contrasts almost analogous to the musical dissonances4 ,he realises incredible false impressions4 ,he seems to take as themes oriental carpets3 he abandons realism and style and conceives symphonies4 ,he pleases himself in assembling those tones which one is generally afraid of using3 ,turkish pink1 lemon1 crushed strawberry and viridian4 ,sometimes he amuses himself with amassing faded colours which would be disheartening with others1 but out of which he can extract a harmony4 ,sometimes he plays with the crudest colours4 ,one feels disturbed1 charmed1 disconcerted1 as one would before an ,indian shawl1 a barbaric piece of pottery or a ,persian miniature1 and one refrains from forcing into the limits of a definition this exceptional virtuoso whose passionate love of colour overcomes every difficulty4 ,it is in this most recent part of his evolution1 that ,renoir appears the most capricious and the most poetical of all the painters of his generation4 ,the flowers find themselves treated in various techniques according to their own character3 the gladioles and roses in pasty paint1 the poor flowers of the field are defined by a cross-hatching of little touches4 ,influenced by the purple shadow of the large flower-decked hats1 the heads of young girls are painted on coarse canvas1 sketched in broad strokes1 with the hair in one colour only4 ,some little study appears like wool1 some other has the air of agate1 or is marbled and veined according to his inexplicable whim4 ,we have here an incessant confusion of methods1 a complete emancipation of the virtuoso who listens only to his fancy4 ,now and then the harmonies are false and the drawing incorrect1 but these weaknesses do at least no harm to the values1 the character and the general movement of the work1 which are rather accentuated by them4 ,illustration3 ,,renoir ,,young ,,woman ,,in ,,empire ,,costume ,surely1 it would be false to exclude ideologist painting which has produced wonders1 and not less iniquitous to reproach ,impressionism with not having taken any interest in it6 ,one has to avoid the kind of criticism which consists in reproaching one movement with not having had the qualities of the others whilst maintaining its own1 and we have abandoned the idea of ,beauty divided into a certain number of clauses and programmes1 towards the sum total of which the efforts of the eclectic candidates are directed4 ,m4 ,renoir is probably the most representative figure of a movement where he seems to have united all the qualities of his friends4 ,to criticise him means to criticise ,impressionism itself4 ,having spent half of its strength in proving to its adversaries that they were wrong1 and the other half in inventing technical methods1 it is not surprising to find that ,impressionism has been wanting in intellectual depth and has left to its successors the care of realising works of great thought4 ,but it has brought us a sunny smile1 a breath of pure air4 ,it is so fascinating1 that one cannot but love its very mistakes which make it more human and more accessible4 ,renoir is the most lyrical1 the most musical1 the most subtle of the masters of this art4 ,some of his landscapes are as beautiful as those of ,claude ,monet4 ,his nudes are as masterly in painting as ,manet's1 and more supple4 ,not having attained the scientific drawing which one finds in ,degas's1 they have a grace and a brilliancy which ,degas's nudes have never known4 ,if his rare portraits of men are inferior to those of his rivals1 his women's portraits have a frequently superior distinction4 ,his great modern compositions are equal to the most beautiful works by ,manet and ,degas4 ,his inequalities are also more striking than theirs4 ,being a fantastic1 nervous improvisator he is more exposed to radical mistakes4 ,but he is a profoundly sincere and conscientious artist4 ,illustration3 ,,renoir ,,on ,,the ,,terrace ,the race speaks in him4 ,it is inexplicable that he should not have met with startling success1 since he is voluptuous1 bright1 happy and learned without heaviness4 ,one has to attribute his relative isolation to the violence of the controversies1 and particularly to the dignity of a poet gently disdainful of public opinion and paying attention solely to painting1 his great and only love4 ,manet has been a fighter whose works have created scandal4 ,renoir has neither shown1 nor hidden himself3 he has painted according to his dream1 spreading his works1 without mixing up his name or his personality with the tumult that raged around his friends4 ,and now1 for that very reason1 his work appears fresher and younger1 more primitive and candid1 more intoxicated with flowers1 flesh and sunlight4 ,,vii ,,the ,,secondary ,,painters ,,of ,,impressionism--,,camille ,,pissarro1 ,,alfred ,,sisley1 ,,paul ,c,,zanne1 ,,berthe ,,morisot1 ,,miss ,,mary ,,cassatt1 ,,eva ,,gonzal,s1 ,,gustave ,,caillebotte1 ,,bazille1 ,,albert ,,lebourg1 ,,eug,,ne ,,boudin4 ,manet1 ,degas1 ,monet and ,renoir will present themselves as a glorious quartet of masters1 in the history of painting4 ,we must now speak of some personalities who have grown up by their side and who1 without being great1 offer nevertheless a rich and beautiful series of works4 ,of these personalities the most considerable is certainly that of ,m4 ,camille ,pissarro4 ,he painted according to some wise and somewhat timid formulas1 when ,manet's example won him over to ,impressionism to which he has remained faithful4 ,m4 ,pissarro has been enormously productive4 ,his work is composed of landscapes1 rustic scenes1 and studies of streets and markets4 ,his first landscapes are in the manner of ,corot1 but bathed in blond colour3 vast cornfields1 sunny woods1 skies with big1 flocking clouds1 effects of soft light--these are the motifs of some charming canvases which have a solid1 classic quality4 ,later the artist adopted the method of the dissociation of tones1 from which he obtained some happy effects4 ,his harvest and market scenes are luminous and alive4 ,the figures in these recall those of ,millet4 ,they bear witness to high qualities of sincere observation1 and are the work of a man profoundly enamoured of rustic life4 ,m4 ,pissarro excels in grouping the figures1 in correctly catching their attitudes and in rendering the medley of a crowd in the sun4 ,certain fans in particular will always remain delightful caprices of fresh colour1 but it would be vain to look in this attractive1 animated and clear painting for the psychologic gifts1 the profound feeling for grand silhouettes1 and the intuition of the worn and gloomy soul of the men of the soil1 which have made ,millet's noble glory4 ,at the time when1 about #ahhe1 the neo-,impressionists whom we shall study later on invented the ,pointillist method1 ,m4 ,pissarro tried it and applied it judiciously1 with the patient1 serious and slightly anxious talent1 by which he is distinguished4 ,recently1 in a series of pictures representing views of ,paris 7the boulevards and the ,avenue de l',opra7 ,m4 ,pissarro has shewn rare vision and skill and has perhaps signed his most beautiful and personal paintings4 ,the perspective1 the lighting1 the tones of the houses and of the crowds1 the reflections of rain or sunshine are intensely true2 they make one feel the atmosphere1 the charm and the soul of ,paris4 ,one can say of ,pissarro that he lacks none of the gifts of his profession4 ,he is a learned1 fruitful and upright artist4 ,but he has lacked originality2 he always recalls those whom he admires and whose ideas he applies boldly and tastefully4 ,it is probable that his conscientious nature has contributed not little towards keeping him in the second rank4 ,incapable1 certainly1 of voluntarily imitating1 this excellent and diligent painter has not had the sparks of genius of his friends1 but all that can be given to a man through conscientious study1 striving after truth and love of art1 has been acquired by ,m4 ,pissarro4 ,the rest depended on destiny only4 ,there is no character more worthy of respect and no effort more meritorious than his1 and there can be no better proof of his disinterestedness and his modesty1 than the fact that1 although he has thirty years of work behind him1 an honoured name and white hair1 ,m4 ,pissarro did not hesitate to adopt1 quite frankly1 the technique of the young ,pointillist painters1 his juniors1 because it appeared to him better than his own4 ,he is1 if not a great painter1 at least one of the most interesting rustic landscape painters of our epoch4 ,his visions of the country are quite his own1 and are a harmonious mixture of ,classicism and ,impressionism which will secure one of the most honourable places to his work4 ,illustration3 ,,pissarro ,,rue ,,de ,l',,epicerie1 ,,rouen ,illustration3 ,,pissarro ,,boulevarde ,,montmartre ,illustration3 ,,pissarro ,,the ,,boildieaux ,,bridge ,,at ,,rouen ,illustration3 ,,pissaro ,,the ,,avenue ,,de ,l',,op,,ra ,there has1 perhaps1 been more original individuality in the landscape painter ,alfred ,sisley4 ,he possessed in the highest degree the feeling for light1 and if he did not have the power1 the masterly passion of ,claude ,monet1 he will at least deserve to be frequently placed by his side as regards the expression of certain combinations of light4 ,he did not have the decorative feeling which makes ,monet's landscapes so imposing2 one does not see in his work that surprising lyrical interpretation which knows how to express the drama of the raging waves1 the heavy slumber of enormous masses of rock1 the intense torpor of the sun on the sea4 ,but in all that concerns the mild aspects of the ,ile de ,france1 the sweet and fresh landscapes1 ,sisley is not unworthy of being compared with ,monet4 ,he equals him in numerous pictures2 he has a similar delicacy of perception1 a similar fervour of execution4 ,he is the painter of great1 blue rivers curving towards the horizon2 of blossoming orchards2 of bright hills with red-roofed hamlets scattered about2 he is1 beyond all1 the painter of ,french skies which he presents with admirable vivacity and facility4 ,he has the feeling for the transparency of atmosphere1 and if his technique allies him directly with ,impressionism1 one can well feel1 that he painted spontaneously and that this technique happened to be adapted to his nature1 without his having attempted to appropriate it for the sake of novelty4 ,sisley has painted a notable series of pictures in the quaint village of ,moret on the outskirts of the ,forest of ,fontainebleau1 where he died at a ripe age1 and these canvases will figure among the most charming landscapes of our epoch4 ,sisley was a veteran of ,impressionism4 ,at the ,exhibition of #aijj1 in the two rooms reserved for the works of this school1 there were to be seen a dozen of ,sisley's canvases4 ,by the side of the finest ,renoirs1 ,monets and ,manets they kept their charm and their brilliancy with a singular flavour1 and this was for many critics a revelation as to the real place of this artist1 whom they had hitherto considered as a pretty colourist of only relative importance4 ,illustration3 ,,sisley ,,snow ,,effect ,illustration3 ,,sisley ,,bougival1 ,,at ,,the ,,water',s ,,edge ,illustration3 ,,sisley ,,bridge ,,at ,,moret ,paul ,czanne1 unknown to the public1 is appreciated by a small group of art lovers4 ,he is an artist who lives in ,provence1 away from the world2 he is supposed to have served as model for the ,impressionist painter ,claude ,lantier1 described by ,zola in his celebrated novel ,l',oeuvre4 ,czanne has painted landscapes1 rustic scenes and still-life pictures4 ,his figures are clumsy and brutal and inharmonious in colour1 but his landscapes have the merit of a robust simplicity of vision4 ,these pictures are almost primitive1 and they are loved by the young ,impressionists because of their exclusion of all cleverness4 ,a charm of rude simplicity and sincerity can be found in these works in which ,czanne employs only just the means which are indispensable for his end4 ,his still-life pictures are particularly interesting owing to the spotless brilliancy of their colours1 the straightforwardness of the tones1 and the originality of certain shades analogous to those of old faience4 ,czanne is a conscientious painter without skill1 intensely absorbed in rendering what he sees1 and his strong and tenacious attention has sometimes succeeded in finding beauty4 ,he reminds more of an ancient ,gothic craftsman1 than of a modern artist1 and he is full of repose as a contrast to the dazzling virtuosity of so many painters4 ,illustration3 ,c,,zanne ,,dessert ,berthe ,morisot will remain the most fascinating figure of ,impressionism1--the one who has stated most precisely the femineity of this luminous and iridescent art4 ,having married ,eugne ,manet1 the brother of the great painter1 she exhibited at various private galleries1 where the works of the first ,impressionists were to be seen1 and became as famous for her talent as for her beauty4 ,when ,manet died1 she took charge of his memory and of his work1 and she helped with all her energetic intelligence to procure them their just and final estimation4 ,mme4 ,eugne ,manet has certainly been one of the most beautiful types of ,french women of the end of the nineteenth century4 ,when she died prematurely at the age of fifty 7in #ahie71 she left a considerable amount of work3 gardens1 young girls1 water-colours of refined taste1 of surprising energy1 and of a colouring as distinguished1 as it is unexpected4 ,as great grand-daughter of ,fragonard1 ,berthe ,morisot 7since we ought to leave her the name with which her respect for ,manet's great name made her always sign her works7 seemed to have inherited from her famous ancestor his ,french gracefulness1 his spirited elegance1 and all his other great qualities4 ,she has also felt the influence of ,corot1 of ,manet and of ,renoir4 ,all her work is bathed in brightness1 in azure1 in sunlight2 it is a woman's work1 but it has a strength1 a freedom of touch and an originality1 which one would hardly have expected4 ,her water-colours1 particularly1 belong to a superior art3 some notes of colour suffice to indicate sky1 sea1 or a forest background1 and everything shows a sure and masterly fancy1 for which our time can offer no analogy4 ,a series of ,berthe ,morisot's works looks like a veritable bouquet whose brilliancy is due less to the colour-schemes which are comparatively soft1 grey and blue1 than to the absolute correctness of the values4 ,a hundred canvases1 and perhaps three hundred water-colours attest this talent of the first rank4 ,normandy coast scenes with pearly skies and turquoise horizons1 sparkling ,nice gardens1 fruit-laden orchards1 girls in white dresses with big flower-decked hats1 young women in ball-dress1 and flowers are the favourite themes of this artist who was the friend of ,renoir1 of ,degas and of ,mallarm4 ,illustration3 ,,berthe ,,morisot ,,melancholy ,illustration3 ,,berthe ,,morisot ,,young ,,woman ,,seated ,miss ,mary ,cassatt will deserve a place by her side4 ,american by birth1 she became ,french through her assiduous participation in the exhibitions of the ,impressionists4 ,she is one of the very few painters whom ,degas has advised1 with ,forain and ,m4 ,ernest ,rouart4 7,this latter1 a painter himself1 a son of the painter and wealthy collector ,henri ,rouart1 has married ,mme4 ,manet's daughter who is also an artist47 ,miss ,cassatt has made a speciality of studying children1 and she is1 perhaps1 the artist of this period who has understood and expressed them with the greatest originality4 ,she is a pastellist of note1 and some of her pastels are as good as ,manet's and ,degas's1 so far as broad execution and brilliancy and delicacy of tones are concerned4 ,ten years ago ,miss ,cassatt exhibited a series of ten etchings in colour1 representing scenes of mothers and children at their toilet4 ,at that time this genre was almost abandoned1 and ,miss ,cassatt caused astonishment by her boldness which faced the most serious difficulties4 ,one can relish in this artist's pictures1 besides the great qualities of solid draughtsmanship1 correct values1 and skilful interpretation of flesh and stuffs1 a profound sentiment of infantile life1 childish gestures1 clear and unconscious looks1 and the loving expression of the mothers4 ,miss ,cassatt is the painter and psychologist of babies and young mothers whom she likes to depict in the freshness of an orchard1 or against backgrounds of the flowered hangings of dressing-rooms1 amidst bright linen1 tubs1 and china1 in smiling intimacy4 ,to these two remarkable women another has to be added1 ,eva ,gonzals1 the favourite pupil of ,manet who has painted a fine portrait of her4 ,eva ,gonzals became the wife of the excellent engraver ,henri ,gurard1 and died prematurely1 not1 however1 before one was able to admire her talent as an exquisitely delicate pastellist4 ,having first been a pupil of ,chaplin1 she soon came to forget the tricks of technique in order to acquire under ,manet's guidance the qualities of clearness and the strength of the great painter of ,argenteuil2 and she would certainly have taken one of the first places in modern art1 had not her career been cut short by death4 ,a small pastel at the ,luxembourg ,gallery proves her convincing qualities as a colourist4 ,illustration3 ,,mary ,,cassatt ,,getting ,,up ,,baby ,illustration3 ,,mary ,,cassatt ,,women ,,and ,,child ,gustave ,caillebotte was a friend of the ,impressionists from the very first hour4 ,he was rich1 fond of art1 and himself a painter of great merit who modestly kept hidden behind his comrades4 ,his picture ,les raboteurs de parquets made him formerly the butt of derision4 ,to-day his work1 at the ,luxembourg ,gallery seems hardly a fit pretext for so much controversy1 but at that time much was considered as madness1 that to our eyes appears quite natural4 ,this picture is a study of oblique perspective and its curious ensemble of rising lines sufficed to provoke astonishment4 ,the work is1 moreover1 grey and discreet in colour and has some qualities of fine light1 but is on the whole not very interesting4 ,recently an exhibition of works by ,caillebotte has made it apparent that this amateur was a misjudged painter4 ,the still-life pictures in this exhibition were specially remarkable4 ,but the name of ,caillebotte was destined to reach the public only in connection with controversies and scandal4 ,when he died1 he left to the ,state a magnificent collection of objets-d'art and of old pictures1 and also a collection of ,impressionist works1 stipulating that these two bequests should be inseparable4 ,he wished by this means to impose the works of his friends upon the museums1 and thus avenge their unjust neglect4 ,the ,state accepted the two legacies1 since the ,louvre absolutely wanted to benefit by the ancient portion1 in spite of the efforts of the ,academicians who revolted against the acceptance of the modern part4 ,on this occasion one could see how far the official artists were carried by their hatred of the ,impressionists4 ,a group of ,academicians1 professors at the ,ecole des ,beaux-,arts1 threatened the minister that they would resign en masse4 ,we cannot1 they wrote to the papers1 continue to teach an art of which we believe we know the laws1 from the moment the ,state admits into the museums1 where our pupils can see them1 works which are the very negation of all we teach4 ,a heated discussion followed in the press1 and the minister boldly declared that ,impressionism1 good or bad1 had attracted the attention of the public1 and that it was the duty of the ,state to receive impartially the work of all the art movements2 the public would know how to judge and choose2 the ,government's duty was not to influence them by showing them only one style of painting1 but to remain in historic neutrality4 ,thanks to this clever reply1 the ,academicians1 among whom ,m4 ,grme was the most rabid1 resigned themselves to keeping their posts4 ,a similar incident1 less publicly violent1 but equally strange1 occurred on the occasion of the admission to the ,luxembourg ,gallery of the portrait of ,m4 ,whistler's mother1 a masterpiece of which the gallery is proud to-day1 and for which a group of writers and art lovers had succeeded in opening the way4 ,it is difficult to imagine the degree of irritation and obstruction of the official painters against all the ideas of the new painting1 and if it had only depended upon them1 there can be no doubt that ,manet and his friends would have died in total obscurity1 not only banished from the ,salons and museums1 but also treated as madmen and robbed of the possibility of living by their work4 ,the ,caillebotte collection was installed under conditions which the ill-will of the administrators made at least as deplorable as possible4 ,the works were crowded into a small1 badly lighted room1 where it is absolutely impossible to see them from the distance required by the method of the division of tones1 and the meanness of the opposition was such that1 the pictures having been bequeathed without frames1 the keeper was obliged to have recourse to the reserves of the ,louvre1 because he was refused the necessary credit for purchasing them4 ,the collection is however beautiful and interesting4 ,it does not represent ,impressionism in all its brilliancy1 since the works by which it is composed had been bought by ,caillebotte at a time1 when his friends were still far from having arrived at the full blossoming of their qualities4 ,but some very fine things can at least be found there4 ,renoir is marvellously represented by the ,moulin de la ,galette1 which is one of his masterpieces4 ,degas figures with seven beautiful pastels1 ,monet with some landscapes grand in style2 ,sisley and ,pissarro appear scarcely to their advantage1 and finally it is to be regretted1 that ,manet is only represented by a study in black in his first manner1 the ,balcony1 which does not count among his best pictures1 and the famous ,olympia whose importance is more historical than intrinsic4 ,the gallery has separately acquired a ,young ,girl in ,ball ,dress by ,berthe ,morisot1 which is a delicate marvel of grace and freshness4 ,and in the place of honour of the gallery is to be seen ,fantin-,latour's great picture ,hommage ,manet1 in which the painter1 seated before his easel1 is surrounded by his friends2 and this canvas may well be considered the emblem of the slow triumph of ,impressionism1 and of the amends for a great injustice4 ,it is in this picture that the young painter ,bazille is represented1 a friend and pupil of ,manet's1 who was killed during the war of #ahgj1 and who should not be forgotten here4 ,he has left a few canvases marked by great talent1 and would no doubt have counted among the most original contemporary artists4 ,we shall terminate this all too short enumeration with two remarkable landscapists2 the one is ,albert ,lebourg who paints in suave and poetic colour schemes1 with blues and greens of particular tenderness1 a painter who will take his place in the history of ,impressionism4 ,the other is ,eugne ,boudin4 ,he has not adopted ,claude ,monet's technique2 but ,i have already said that the vague and inexact term ,impressionism must be understood to comprise a group of painters showing originality in the study of light and getting away from the academic spirit4 ,as to this1 ,eugne ,boudin deserves to be placed in the first rank4 ,his canvases will be the pride of the best arranged galleries4 ,he is an admirable seascape painter4 ,he has known how to render with unfailing mastery1 the grey waters of the ,channel1 the stormy skies1 the heavy clouds1 the effects of sunlight feebly piercing the prevailing grey4 ,his numerous pictures painted at the port of ,havre are profoundly expressive4 ,nobody has excelled him in drawing sailing-boats1 in giving the exact feeling of the keels plunged into the water1 in grouping the masts1 in rendering the activity of a port1 in indicating the value of a sail against the sky1 the fluidity of calm water1 the melancholy of the distance1 the shiver of short waves rippled by the breeze4 ,boudin is a learned colourist of grey tones4 ,his ,impressionism consists in the exclusion of useless details1 his comprehension of reflections1 his feeling for values1 the boldness of his composition and his faculty of directly perceiving nature and the transparency of atmosphere3 he reminds sometimes of ,constable and of ,corot4 ,boudin's production has been enormous1 and nothing that he has done is indifferent4 ,he is one of those artists who have not a brilliant career1 but who will last1 and whose name1 faithfully retained by the elect1 is sure of immortality4 ,he may be considered an isolated artist1 on the border line between ,classicism and ,impressionism1 and this is unquestionably the cause of the comparative obscurity of his fame4 ,the same might be said of the ingenuous and fine landscapist ,hervier1 who has left such interesting canvases2 and of the ,lyons water-colour painter ,ravier who1 almost absolutely unknown1 came very close to ,monticelli and showed admirable gifts4 ,it must1 however1 be recognised that ,boudin is nearer to ,impressionism than to any other grouping of artists1 and he must be considered as a small master of pure ,french lineage4 ,finally1 if a question of nationality prevents me from enlarging upon the subject of the rank of precursor which must be accorded to the great ,dutch landscapist ,jongkind1 ,i must at least mention his name4 ,his water-colour sketches have been veritable revelations for several ,impressionists4 ,eugne ,boudin and ,berthe ,morisot have derived special benefit from them1 and they are valuable lessons for many young painters of the present day4 ,illustration3 ,,jongkind ,,in ,,holland ,illustration3 ,,jongkind ,,view ,,of ,,the ,,hague ,we do not pretend to have mentioned in this chapter all the painters directly connected with the first ,impressionist movement4 ,we have confined ourselves to enumerating the most important only1 and each of them would deserve a complete essay4 ,but our object will have been achieved1 if we have inspired art-lovers with just esteem for this brave phalanx of artists who have proved better than any aesthetic commentaries the vitality1 the originality1 and the logic of ,manet's theories1 the great importance of the notions introduced by him into painting1 and who have1 on the other hand1 clearly demonstrated the uselessness of official teaching4 ,far from the traditions and methods of the ,school1 the best of their knowledge and of their talent is due to their profound and sincere contemplation of nature and to their freedom of spirit4 ,and for that reason they will have a permanent place in the evolution of their art4 ,,viii ,,the ,,modern ,,illustrators ,,connected ,,with ,,impressionism3 ,,raffa,,lli1 ,,toulouse-,,lautrec1 ,,forain1 ,,ch,,ret1 ,,etc4 ,not the least important result of ,impressionism has been the veritable revolution effected by it in the art of illustration4 ,it was only natural that its principles should have led to it4 ,the substitution of the beauty of character for the beauty of proportion was bound to move the artists to regard illustration in a new light2 and as pictorial ,impressionism was born of the same movement of ideas which created the naturalist novel and the impressionist literature of ,flaubert1 ,zola and the ,goncourts1 and moreover as these men were united by close relations and a common defence1 ,edouard ,manet's modern ideas soon took up the commentary of the books dealing with modern life and the description of actual spectacles4 ,the ,impressionists themselves have not contributed towards illustration4 ,their work has consisted in raising to the style of grand painting subjects1 that seemed at the best only worthy of the proportion of vignettes1 in opposition to the subjects qualified as noble by the ,school4 ,the series of works by ,manet and ,degas may be considered as admirable illustrations to the novels by ,zola and the ,goncourts4 ,it is a parallel research in modern psychologic truth4 ,but this research has remained confined to pictures4 ,it may be presumed that1 had they wished to do so1 ,manet and ,degas could have admirably illustrated certain contemporary novels1 and ,renoir could have produced a masterpiece in commenting1 say1 upon ,verlaine's ,ftes ,galantes4 ,the only things that can be mentioned here are a few drawings composed by ,manet for ,edgar ,a4 ,poe's ,the ,raven and ,mallarm's ,l',aprs-,midi d'un ,faune1 in addition to a few music covers without any great interest4 ,but if the ,impressionists themselves have neglected actively to assist the interesting school of modern illustration1 a whole legion of draughtsmen have immediately been inspired by their principles4 ,one of their most original characteristics was the realistic representation of the scenes1 the mise en cadre1 and it afforded these draughtsmen an opportunity for revolutionising book illustration4 ,there had already been some excellent artists who occupied themselves with vignette drawings1 like ,tony ,johannot and ,clestin ,nanteuil1 whose pretty and smart frontispieces are to be found in the old editions of ,balzac4 ,the genius of ,honor ,daumier and the high fancy of ,gavarni and of ,grvin had already announced a serious protest of modern sentiment against academic taste1 in returning on many points to the free tradition of ,eisen1 of the two ,moreaus and of ,debucourt4 ,since #ahde the draughtsman ,constantin ,guys1 ,baudelaire's friend1 gave evidence1 in his most animated water-colour drawings1 of a curious vision of nervous elegance and of expressive skill quite in accord with the ideas of the day4 ,impressionism1 and also the revelation of the ,japanese colour prints1 gave an incredible vigour to these intuitive glimpses4 ,certain characteristics will date from the days of ,impressionism4 ,it is due to ,impressionism that artists have ventured to show in illustration1 for instance1 figures in the foreground cut through by the margin1 rising perspectives1 figures in the background that seem to stand on a higher plane than the others1 people seen from a second story2 in a word1 all that life presents to our eyes1 without the annoying consideration for style and for arrangement1 which the academic spirit obstinately insisted to apply to the illustration of modern life4 ,degas in particular has given many examples of this novelty in composition4 ,one of his pastels has remained typical1 owing to the scandal caused by it3 he represents a dance-scene at the ,opera1 seen from the orchestra4 ,the neck of a double bass rises in the middle of the picture and cuts into it1 a large black silhouette1 behind which sparkle the gauze-dresses and the lights4 ,that can be observed any evening1 and yet it would be difficult to recapitulate all the railleries and all the anger caused by so natural an audacity4 ,modern illustration was to be the pretext of a good many more outbursts6 ,we must now consider four artists of great importance who are remarkable painters and have greatly raised the art of illustration4 ,this title illustrator1 despised by the official painters1 should be given them as the one which has secured them the best claim to fame4 ,they have restored to this title all its merit and all its brilliancy and have introduced into illustration the most serious qualities of painting4 ,of these four men the first in date is ,m4,j4,f4 ,raffalli1 who introduced himself about #ahge with some remarkable and intensely picturesque illustrations in colours in various magazines4 ,he gave an admirable series of ,parisian ,types1 in album form1 and a series of etchings to accompany the text of ,m4 ,huysmans1 describing the curious river la ,bivre which penetrates ,paris in a thousand curves1 sometimes subterranean1 sometimes above ground1 and serves the tanners for washing the leather4 ,this series is a model of modern illustration4 ,but1 apart from the book1 the entire pictorial work of ,m4 ,raffalli is a humorous and psychological illustration of the present time4 ,he has painted with unique truth and spirit the working men's types and the small bourgeois1 the poor1 the hospital patients and the roamers of the outskirts of ,paris4 ,he has succeeded in being the poet of the sickly and dirty landscapes by which the capitals are surrounded2 he has rendered their anaemic charm1 the confused perspectives of houses1 fences1 walls and little gardens1 and their smoke1 under the melancholy of rainy skies4 ,with an irony free from bitterness he has noted the clumsy gestures of the labourer in his ,sunday garb and the grotesque silhouettes of the small townsmen1 and has compiled a gallery of very real sociologic interest4 ,m4 ,raffalli has also exhibited ,parisian landscapes in which appear great qualities of light4 ,he excels in rendering the mornings in the spring1 with their pearly skies1 their pale lights1 their transparency and their slight shadows1 and finally he has proved his mastery by some large portraits1 fresh harmonies1 generally devoted to the study of different qualities of white4 ,if the name ,impressionist meant1 as has been wrongly believed1 an artist who confines himself to giving the impression of what he sees1 then ,m4 ,raffalli would be the real ,impressionist4 ,he suggests more than he paints4 ,he employs a curious technique3 he often leaves a sky completely bare1 throwing on to the white of the canvas a few colour notes which suffice to give the illusion4 ,he has a decided preference for white and black1 and paints very slightly in small touches4 ,his very correct feeling for values makes him an excellent painter2 but what interests him beyond all1 is psychologic expression4 ,he notes it with so hasty a pencil1 that one might almost say that he writes with colour4 ,he is also an etcher of great merit1 and an original sculptor4 ,he has invented small bas-reliefs in bronze which can be attached to the wall1 like sketches or nick-nacks2 and he has applied his talent even to renewing the material for painting4 ,he is an ingenious artist and a prolific producer1 a roguish1 but sympathetic1 observer of the life of the small people1 which has not prevented him from painting very seriously when he wanted to1 as is witnessed among other works by his very fine portrait of ,m4 ,clemenceau speaking at a public meeting1 in the presence of a vociferous audience from which rise some hundred of heads whose expressions are noted with really splendid energy and fervour4 ,henri de ,toulouse-,lautrec1 who died recently1 insane1 leaves a great work behind him4 ,he had a kind of cruel genius4 ,descended from one of the greatest families of ,france1 badly treated by nature who made him a kind of ailing dwarf1 he seemed to take a bitter pleasure in the study of modern vice4 ,he painted scenes at caf-concerts and the rooms of wantons with intense truth4 ,nobody has revealed better than he the lowness and suffering of the creatures of pleasure1 as they have been dubbed by the heartrending irony of life4 ,lautrec has shown the artificiality of the painted faces2 the vulgarity of the types of the prostitutes of low origin2 the infamous gestures1 the disorder1 the slovenliness of the dwellings of these women2 all the shady side of their existence4 ,it has been said that he loved ugliness4 ,as a matter of fact1 he did not exaggerate1 he raised a powerful accusation against everything he saw4 ,but his terrible clairvoyance passed for caricature4 ,this sad psychologist was a great painter2 he pleased himself with dressing in rose-coloured costumes the coarsest and most vulgar creatures he painted1 such as one can find at the cabarets and concerts1 and he enjoyed the contrast of fresh tones with the faces marked by vice and poverty2 ,lautrec's two great influences have been the ,japanese and ,degas4 ,of the former he retained the love for decorative arabesques and the unconventional grouping2 of the other the learned draughtsmanship1 expressive in its broad simplification1 and one might say that the pupil has often been worthy of the masters4 ,one can only regret that ,lautrec should have confined his vision and his high faculties to the study of a small and very ,parisian world2 but1 seeing his works1 one cannot deny the science1 the spirit and the grand bearing of his art4 ,he has also signed some fine posters1 notably a ,bruant which is a masterpiece of its kind4 ,degas's deep influence can be found again in ,j4,l4 ,forain1 who has made himself known by an immense series of drawings for the illustrated papers1 drawings as remarkable in themselves as they are1 through their legends1 bitterly sarcastic in spirit4 ,these drawings form a synthesis of the defects of the bourgeoisie1 which is at the same time amusing and grave4 ,they also concern1 though less happily1 the political world1 in which the artist1 a little intoxicated with his success1 has thought himself able to exercise an influence by scoffing at the parliamentary rgime4 ,forain's drawing has a nervous character which does1 however1 not weaken its science3 every stroke reveals something and has an astonishing power4 ,in his less known painting can be traced still more clearly the style and influence of his master ,degas4 ,they are generally incidents behind the scenes and at night restaurants1 where caricatured types are painted with great force4 ,but they are insistently exaggerated1 they have not the restraint1 the ironical and discreet plausibility1 which give so much flavour1 so much value to ,degas's studies4 ,nevertheless1 ,forain's pictures are very significant and are of real interest4 ,he is decidedly the most interesting newspaper illustrator of his whole generation1 the one whose ephemeral art most closely approaches grand painting1 and one of those who have most contributed towards the transformation of illustration for the contemporary press4 ,jules ,chret has made for himself an important and splendid position in contemporary art4 ,he commenced as a lithographic workman and lived for a long time in ,london4 ,about #ahgj ,chret designed his first posters in black1 white and red2 these were at the time the only colours used4 ,by and by he perfected this art and found the means of adding other tones and of drawing them on the lithographic stone4 ,he returned to ,france1 started a small studio1 and gradually carried poster art to the admirable point at which it has arrived4 ,at the same time ,chret drew and painted and composed himself his models4 ,about #ahhe his name became famous1 and it has not ceased growing since4 ,some writers1 notably the eminent critic ,roger ,marx and the novelist ,huysmans1 hailed in ,chret an original artist as well as a learned technician4 ,he then exhibited decorative pictures1 pastels and drawings1 which placed him in the first rank4 ,chret is universally known4 ,the type of the ,parisian woman created by him1 and the multi-coloured harmony of his works will not be forgotten4 ,his will be the honour of having invented the artistic poster1 this feast for the eyes1 this fascinating art of the street1 which formerly languished in a tedious and dull display of commercial advertisements4 ,he has been the promoter of an immense movement2 he has been imitated1 copied1 parodied1 but he will always remain inimitable4 ,he has succeeded in realising on paper by means of lithography1 the pastels and gouache drawings in which his admirable colourist's fancy mixed the most difficult shades4 ,in ,chret can be found all the principles of ,impressionism3 opposing lights1 coloured shadows1 complementary reflections1 all employed with masterly sureness and delightful charm4 ,it is decorative ,impressionism1 conceived in a superior way2 and this simple poster-man1 despised by the painters1 has proved himself equal to most4 ,he has transformed the street1 in the open light1 into a veritable ,salon1 where his works have become famous4 ,when this too modest artist decided to show his pictures and drawings1 they were a revelation4 ,the most remarkable pastellists of the period were astonished and admired his skill1 his profound knowledge of technique1 his continual tours-de-force which he disguised under a shimmering gracefulness4 ,the ,state had the good sense to entrust him with some large mural decorations1 in which he unfolded the scale of his sparkling colours1 and affirmed his spirit1 his fancy and his dreamy art4 ,chret's harmonies remain secrets2 he uses them for the representation of characters from the ,italian comedy1 thrown with fiendish verve upon a background of a sky1 fiery with the ,bengal lights of a fairy-like carnival1 and he strangely intermingles the reality of the movements with the most arbitrary fancy4 ,chret has also succeeded in proving his artistic descent by a beautiful series of drawings in sanguine3 he descends from ,watteau1 ,boucher and ,fragonard2 he is a ,frenchman of pure blood2 and when one has done admiring the grace and the happy animation of his imagination1 one can only be surprised to see on what serious and sure a technique are based these decorations which appear improvised4 ,chret's art is the smile of ,impressionism and the best demonstration of the decorative logic of this art4 ,these are the four artists of great merit who have created the transition between ,impressionist painting and illustration4 ,it would be fit to put aside ,toulouse-,lautrec1 who was much younger1 but his work is too directly connected with that of ,degas for one to take into account the difference of age4 ,he produced between #ahhg and #aijj works which might well have been ante-dated by fifteen years4 ,we shall study in the next chapter his ,neo-,impressionist comrades1 and we shall now speak of some illustrators more advanced in years than he4 ,the oldest in date is the engraver ,henri ,gurard1 who died three years ago4 ,he had married ,eva ,gonzals and was a friend of ,manet's1 many of whose works have been engraved by him4 ,he was an artist of decided and original talent1 who also occupied himself successfully with pyrogravure1 and who was happily inspired by the ,japanese colour-prints4 ,his etchings deserve a place of honour in the folios of expert collectors2 they are strong and broad4 ,as to the engraver ,flix ,buhot1 he was a rather delicate colourist in black and white2 his ,paris scenes will always be considered charming works4 ,in spite of his ,spanish origin1 the painter1 aquarelliste1 and draughtsman ,daniel ,vierge1 should be added to the list of the men connected with ,impressionism4 ,his illustrations are those of a great artist--admirable in colour1 movement and observation2 all the great principles of ,impressionism are embodied in them4 ,but there are four more illustrators of the first rank3 ,steinlen1 ,louis ,legrand1 ,paul ,renouard and ,auguste ,lepre4 ,steinlen has been enormously productive3 he is specially remarkable for his illustrations4 ,those which he has designed for ,aristide ,bruant's volume of songs1 ,dans la rue1 are masterpieces of their kind4 ,they contain treasures of bitter observation1 quaintness and knowledge4 ,the soul of the lower classes is shown in them with intense truth1 bitter revolt and comprehensive philosophy4 ,steinlen has also designed some beautiful posters1 pleasing pastels1 lithographs of incontestable technical merit1 and beautifully eloquent political drawings4 ,it cannot be said that he is an ,impressionist in the strict sense of the word2 he applied his colour in flat tints1 more like an engraver than a painter2 but in him too can be felt the stamp of ,degas1 and he is one of those who best demonstrate that1 without ,impressionism1 they could not have been what they are4 ,the same may be said of ,louis ,legrand1 a pupil of ,flicien ,rops1 an admirably skilful etcher1 a draughtsman of keen vision1 and a painter of curious character1 who has in many ways forestalled the artists of to-day4 ,louis ,legrand also shows to what extent the example of ,manet and ,degas has revolutionised the art of illustration1 in freeing the painters from obsolete laws1 and guiding them towards truth and frank psychological study4 ,legrand is full of them1 without resembling them4 ,we must not forget that1 besides the technical innovation 7division of tones1 study of complementary colours71 ,impressionism has brought us novelty of composition1 realism of character and great liberty in the choice of subjects4 ,from this point of view ,rops himself1 in spite of his symbolist tendencies1 could not be classed with any other group1 if it were not that any kind of classification in art is useless and inaccurate4 ,however that may be1 ,louis ,legrand has signed some volumes resplendent with the most seductive qualities4 ,paul ,renouard has devoted himself to newspaper illustration1 but with what surprising prodigality of spirit and knowledge6 ,the readers of the ,graphic will know4 ,this masterly virtuoso of the pencil might give drawing-lessons to many members of the ,institute6 ,the feeling for the life of crowds1 psychology of types1 spirited and rapid notation1 astonishing ease in overcoming difficulties--these are his undeniable gifts4 ,and again we must recognise in ,renouard the example of ,degas and ,manet4 ,his exceptional fecundity only helps to give more authority to his pencil4 ,renouard's drawings at the ,exhibition of #aijj were1 perhaps1 more beautiful than the rest of his work4 ,there was notably a series of studies made from the first platform of the ,eiffel ,tower1 an accumulation of wonders of perspectives framing scenes of such animation and caprice as to take away one's breath4 ,finally1 ,auguste ,lepre appears as the ,debucourt of our time4 ,as painter1 pastellist and wood-engraver he has produced since #ahgj1 and has won for himself the first place among ,french engravers4 ,it would be difficult to recount the volumes1 albums and covers on which the fancy of his burin has played2 but it is particularly in wood-engraving that he stands without rival4 ,not only has he produced masterpieces of it1 but he has passionately devoted himself to raising this admirable art1 the glory of the beautiful books of olden days1 and to give back to it the lustre which had been eclipsed by mechanical processes4 ,lepre has started some publications for this purpose2 he has had pupils of great merit1 and he must be considered the master of the whole generation of modern wood-engravers1 just as ,chret is the undisputed master of the poster4 ,lepre's ruling quality is strength4 ,he seems to have rediscovered the mediaeval limners' secrets of cutting the wood1 giving the necessary richness to the ink1 creating a whole scale of half-tones1 and specially of adapting the design to typographic printing1 and making of it1 so to say1 an ornament and a decorative extension for the type4 ,lepre is a wood-engraver with whom none of his contemporaries can be compared2 as regards his imagination1 it is that of an altogether curious artist4 ,he excels in composing and expressing the life1 the animation1 the soul of the streets and the picturesque side of the populace4 ,herein he is much inspired by ,manet and1 if we go back to the real tradition1 by ,guys1 ,debucourt1 the younger ,moreau and by ,gabriel de ,saint-,aubin4 ,he is decidedly a ,realist of ,french lineage1 who owes nothing to the ,academy and its formulas4 ,it would be evidently unreasonable to attach to ,impressionism all that is ante-academical1 and between the two extremes there is room for a crowd of interesting artists4 ,we shall not succumb to the prejudice of the ,school by declaring1 in our turn1 that there is no salvation outside ,impressionism1 and we have been careful to state repeatedly that1 if ,impressionism has a certain number of principles as kernel1 its applications and its influence have a radiation which it is difficult to limit4 ,what can be absolutely demonstrated is1 that this movement has had the greatest influence on modern illustration1 sometimes through its colouring1 sometimes simply through the great freedom of its ideas4 ,some have found in it a direct lesson1 others an example to be followed4 ,some have met in it technical methods which pleased them1 others have only taken some suggestions from it4 ,that is the case1 for instance1 with ,legrand1 with ,steinlen1 and with ,renouard2 and it is also the case with the lithographer ,odilon ,redon1 who applies the values of ,manet and1 in his strange pastels1 the harmonies of ,degas and ,renoir1 placing them at the service of dreams and hallucinations and of a symbolism which is absolutely removed from the realism of these painters4 ,it is1 finally1 the case with the water-colour painter ,henri ,rivire1 who is misjudged as to his merit1 and who is one of the most perfect of those who have applied ,impressionist ideas to decorative engraving4 ,he has realised images in colours destined to decorate inexpensively the rooms of the people and recalling the grand aspects of landscapes with a broad simplification which is derived1 curiously enough1 from ,puvis de ,chavannes's large decorative landscapes and from the small and precise colour prints of ,japan4 ,rivire1 who is a skilful and personal poetic landscapist1 is not exactly an ,impressionist1 in so far as he does not divide the tones1 but rather blends them in subtle mixtures in the manner of the ,japanese4 ,yet1 seeing his work1 one cannot help thinking of all the surprise and freedom introduced into modern art by ,impressionism4 ,everybody1 even the ignorant1 can perceive1 on looking through an illustrated paper or a modern volume1 that thirty years ago this manner of placing the figures1 of noting familiar gestures1 and of seizing fugitive life with spirit and clearness was unknown4 ,this mass of engravings and of sketches resembles in no way what had been seen formerly4 ,they no longer have the solemn air of classic composition1 by which the drawings had been affected4 ,a current of bold spontaneity has passed through here4 ,in modern ,english illustration1 it can be stated indisputably that nothing would be such as it can now be seen1 if ,morris1 ,rossetti and ,crane had not imposed their vision1 and yet many talented ,englishmen resemble these initiators only very remotely4 ,it is exactly in this sense that we shall have credited ,impressionism with the talents who have drawn their inspiration less from its principles1 than from its vigorous protest against mechanical formulas1 and who have been able to find the energy1 necessary for their success1 in the example it set by fighting during twenty years against the ideas of routine which seemed indestructible4 ,even with the painters who are far removed from the vision and the colouring of ,manet and ,degas1 of ,monet and ,renoir1 one can find a very precise tendency3 that of returning to the subjects and the style of the real national tradition2 and herein lies one of the most serious benefits bestowed by ,impressionism upon an art which had stopped at the notion of a canonical beauty1 until it had almost become sterile in its timidity4 ,,ix ,,neo-,,impressionism--,,gauguin1 ,,denis1 ,,th,o ,,van ,,rysselberghe--,,the ,,theory ,,of ,,pointillism--,,seurat1 ,,signac ,,and ,,the ,,theories ,,of ,,scientific ,,chromatism--,,faults ,,and ,,qualities ,,of ,,the ,,impressionist ,,movement1 ,,what ,,we ,,owe ,,to ,,it1 ,,its ,,place ,,in ,,the ,,history ,,of ,,the ,,french ,,school--,,some ,,words ,,on ,,its ,,influence ,,abroad ,the beginnings of the movement designated under the name of ,neo-,impressionism can be traced back to about #ahhj4 ,the movement is a direct offshoot of the first ,impressionism1 originated by a group of young painters who admired it and thought of pushing further still its chromatic principles4 ,the flourishing of ,impressionism coincided1 as a matter of fact1 with certain scientific labours concerning optics4 ,helmholtz had just published his works on the perception of colours and sounds by means of waves4 ,chevreul had continued on this path by establishing his beautiful theories on the analysis of the solar spectrum4 ,m4 ,charles ,henry1 an original and remarkable spirit1 occupied himself in his turn with these delicate problems by applying them directly to aesthetics1 which ,helmholtz and ,chevreul had not thought of doing4 ,m4 ,charles ,henry had the idea of creating relations between this branch of science and the laws of painting4 ,as a friend of several young painters he had a real influence over them1 showing them that the new vision due to the instinct of ,monet and of ,manet might perhaps be scientifically verified1 and might establish fixed principles in a sphere where hitherto the laws of colouring had been the effects of individual conception4 ,at that moment the criticism which resulted from ,taine's theories tried to effect a rapprochement of the artistic and scientific domains in criticism and in the psychologic novel4 ,the painters1 too1 gave way to this longing for precision which seems to have been the great preoccupation of intellects from #ahhj to about #ahhi4 ,their researches had a special bearing on the theory of complementary colours and on the means of establishing some laws concerning the reaction of tones in such manner as to draw up a kind of tabula4 ,georges ,seurat and ,paul ,signac were the promoters of this research4 ,seurat died very young1 and one cannot but regret this death of an artist who would have been very interesting and capable of beautiful works4 ,those which he has left us bear witness to a spirit very receptive to theories1 and leaving nothing to chance4 ,the silhouettes are reduced to almost rigorously geometrical principles1 the tones are decomposed systematically4 ,these canvases are more reasoned examples than works of intuition and spontaneous vision4 ,they show ,seurat's curious desire to give a scientific and classic basis to ,impressionism4 ,the same idea rules in all the work of ,paul ,signac1 who has painted some portraits and numerous landscapes4 ,to these two painters is due the method of ,pointillism1 i4e4 the division of tones1 not only by touches1 as in ,monet's pictures1 but by very small touches of equal size1 causing the spheric shape to act equally upon the retina4 ,the accumulation of these luminous points is carried out over the entire surface of the canvas without thick daubs of paint1 and with regularity1 whilst with ,manet the paint is more or less dense4 ,the theory of complementary colours is systematically applied4 ,on a sketch1 made from nature1 the painter notes the principal relations of tones1 then systematises them on his picture and connects them by different shades which should be their logical result4 ,neo-,impressionism believes in obtaining thus a greater exactness than that which results from the individual temperament of the painter who simply relies on his own perception4 ,and it is true1 in theory1 that such a conception is more exact4 ,but it reduces the picture to a kind of theorem1 which excludes all that constitutes the value and charm of an art1 that is to say3 caprice1 fancy1 and the spontaneity of personal inspiration4 ,the works of ,seurat1 ,signac1 and of the few men who have strictly followed the rules of ,pointillism are lacking in life1 in surprise1 and make a somewhat tiring impression upon one's eyes4 ,the uniformity of the points does not succeed in giving an impression of cohesion1 and even less a suggestion of different textures1 even if the values are correct4 ,manet seems to have attained perfection in using the method which consists in directing the touches in accordance with each of the planes1 and this is evidently the most natural method4 ,scientific ,chromatism constitutes an ensemble of propositions1 of which art will be able to make use1 though indirectly1 as information useful for a better understanding of the laws of light in presence of nature4 ,what ,pointillism has been able to give us1 is a method which would be very appreciable for decorative paintings seen from a great distance--friezes or ceilings in spacious buildings4 ,it would in this case return to the principle of mosaic1 which is the principle par excellence of mural art4 ,the ,pointillists have to-day almost abandoned this transitional theory which1 in spite of the undeniable talent of its adepts1 has only produced indifferent results as regards easel pictures4 ,besides ,seurat and ,signac1 mention should be made of ,maurice ,denis1 ,henri-,edmond ,cross1 ,angrand1 and ,tho ,van ,rysselberghe4 ,but this last-named and ,maurice ,denis have arrived at great talent by very different merits4 ,m4 ,maurice ,denis has abandoned ,pointillism a few years ago1 in favour of returning to a very strange conception which dates back to the ,primitives1 and even to ,giotto4 ,he simplifies his drawing archaically1 suppresses all but the indispensable detail1 and draws inspiration from ,gothic stained glass and carvings1 in order to create decorative figures with clearly marked outlines which are filled with broad1 flat tints4 ,he generally treats mystic subjects1 for which this special manner is suitable4 ,one cannot love the parti pris of these works1 but one cannot deny ,m4 ,denis a great charm of naivete1 an intense feeling for decorative arrangements and colouring of a certain originality4 ,he is almost a ,french pre-,raphaelite1 and his profound catholic faith inspires him nobly4 ,illustration3 ,,th,o ,,van ,,rysselberghe ,,portraits ,,of ,,madame ,,van ,,rysselberghe ,,and ,,her ,,daughter ,m4 ,tho ,van ,rysselberghe continues to employ the ,pointillist method4 ,but he is so strongly gifted1 that one might almost say he succeeds in revealing himself as a painter of great merit in spite of this dry and charmless method4 ,all his works are supported by broad and learned drawing and his colour is naturally brilliant4 ,m4 ,van ,rysselberghe1 a prolific and varied worker1 has painted nudes1 large portraits1 landscapes with figures1 seascapes1 interiors and still-life1 and in all this he evinces faculties of the first order4 ,he is a lover of light and understands how to make it vibrate over flesh and fabrics4 ,he is an artist who has the sense of style4 ,he has signed a certain number of portraits1 whose beautiful carriage and serious psychology would suffice to make him be considered as the most significant of the ,neo-,impressionists4 ,it is really in him that one has to see the young and worthy heir of ,monet1 of ,sisley1 and of ,degas1 and that is why we have insisted on adding here to the works of these masters the reproduction of one of his4 ,m4 ,van ,rysselberghe is also a very delicate etcher who has signed some fine works in this method1 and his seascapes1 whether they revel in the pale greys of the ,german ,ocean or in the warm sapphire and gold harmonies of the ,mediterranean1 count among the finest of the time2 they are windows opened upon joyous brightness4 ,to these painters who have never taken part at the ,salons1 and are only to be seen at the exhibitions of the ,indpendants 7except ,m4 ,denis71 must be added ,m4 ,pierre ,bonnard1 who has given proof to his charm and fervour in numerous small canvases of ,japanese taste2 and ,m4 ,edouard ,vuillard1 who is a painter of intimate scenes of rare delicacy4 ,this artist1 who stands apart and produces very little1 has signed some interiors of melancholic distinction and of a colouring which revels in low tones4 ,he has the precision and skill of a master4 ,there is in him1 one might say1 a reflection of ,chardin's soul4 ,unfortunately his works are confined to a few collections and have not become known to the public4 ,to the same group belong ,m4 ,ranson1 who has devoted himself to purely decorative art1 tapestry1 wall papers and embroideries2 ,m4 ,georges de ,feure1 a strange1 symbolist water-colour painter1 who has become one of the best designers of the ,new ,art in ,france2 ,m4 ,flix ,vallotton1 painter and lithographer1 who is somewhat heavy1 but gifted with serious qualities4 ,it is true that ,m4 de ,feure is ,dutch1 ,m4 ,vallotton ,swiss1 and ,m4 ,van ,rysselberghe ,belgian2 but they have settled down in ,france1 and are sufficiently closely allied to the ,neo-,impressionist movement so that the question of nationality need not prevent us from mentioning them here4 ,finally it is impossible not to say a few words about two pupils of ,gustave ,moreau's1 who have both become noteworthy followers of ,impressionism of very personal individuality4 ,m4 ,eugne ,martel bids fair to be one of the best painters of interiors of his generation4 ,he has the feeling of mystical life and paints the peasantry with astonishing psychologic power4 ,his vigorous colouring links him to ,monticelli1 and his drawing to ,degas4 ,as to ,m4 ,simon ,bussy who1 following ,alphonse ,legros's example1 is about to make an enviable position for himself in ,england1 he is an artist of pure blood4 ,his landscapes and his figures have the distinction and rare tone of ,m4 ,whistler1 besides the characteristic acuteness of ,degas4 ,his harmonies are subtle1 his vision novel1 and he will certainly develop into an important painter4 ,together with ,henri le ,sidaner and ,jacques ,blanche1 ,simon ,bussy is decidedly the most personal of that young generation of ,intimists who seem to have retained the best principles of the ,impressionist masters to employ them for the expression of a psychologic ideal which is very different from ,realism4 ,outside this group there are still a few isolated painters who are difficult to classify4 ,the very young artists ,laprade and ,charles ,gurin have shown for the last three years1 at the exhibition of the ,indpendants1 some works which are the worthy result of ,manet's and ,renoir's influence4 ,they1 too1 justify great expectations4 ,the landscapists ,paul ,vogler and ,maxime ,maufra1 more advanced in years1 have made themselves known by some solid series of vigorously presented landscapes4 ,to them must be added ,m4 ,henry ,moret1 ,m4 ,albert ,andr and ,m4 ,georges d',espagnet1 who equally deserve the success which has commenced to be their share4 ,but there are some older ones4 ,it is only his due1 that place should be given to a painter who committed suicide after an unhappy life1 and who evinced splendid gifts4 ,vincent ,van ,gogh1 a ,dutchman1 who1 however1 had always worked in ,france1 has left to the world some violent and strange works1 in which ,impressionism appears to have reached the limits of its audacity4 ,their value lies in their nave frankness and in the undauntable determination which tried to fix without trickery the sincerest feelings4 ,amidst many faulty and clumsy works1 ,van ,gogh has also left some really beautiful canvases4 ,there is a deep affinity between him and ,czanne4 ,a very real affinity exists1 too1 between ,paul ,gauguin1 who was a friend and to a certain extent the master of ,van ,gogh1 and ,czanne and ,renoir4 ,paul ,gauguin's robust talent found its first motives in ,breton landscapes1 in which the method of colour-spots can be found employed with delicacy and placed at the service of a rather heavy1 but very interesting harmony4 ,then the artist spent a long time in ,tahiti1 whence he returned with a completely transformed manner4 ,he has brought back from these regions some landscapes with figures treated in intentionally clumsy and almost wild fashion4 ,the figures are outlined in firm strokes and painted in broad1 flat tints on canvas which has the texture almost of tapestry4 ,many of these works are made repulsive by their aspect of multi-coloured1 crude and barbarous imagery4 ,yet one cannot but acknowledge the fundamental qualities1 the beautiful values1 the ornamental taste1 and the impression of primitive animalism4 ,on the whole1 ,paul ,gauguin has a beautiful1 artistic temperament which1 in its aversion to virtuosoship1 has perhaps not sufficiently understood that the fear of formulas1 if exaggerated1 may lead to other formulas1 to a false ignorance which is as dangerous as false knowledge4 ,gauguin's symbolical intentions1 like those of his pupil ,emile ,bernard1 are sincere1 but are badly served by minds which do not agree with their technical qualities1 and both ,gauguin and ,emile ,bernard are most happily inspired when they are painters pure and simple4 ,next to ,gauguin1 among the seniors of the present generation and the successors of ,impressionism1 should be placed the landscapist ,armand ,guillaumin who1 without possessing ,sisley's delicate qualities1 has painted some canvases worthy of notice2 and we must1 finally1 terminate this far too summary enumeration by referring to one of the most gifted painters of the ,french ,school of the day1 ,m4 ,louis ,anquetin4 ,his is a most varied talent whose power is unquestionable4 ,he made his dbut among the ,neo-,impressionists and revealed the influence upon him of the ,japanese and of ,degas4 ,it may be seen that these two influences predominate in the whole group4 ,then ,m4 ,anquetin became fascinated by the breadth and superb freedom of ,manet's works1 and signed a series of portraits and sketches1 some of which are not far below so great a master's4 ,they are works which will surprise the critics1 when our contemporary painting will be examined with calm impartiality4 ,after these works1 ,m4 ,anquetin gave way to his impetuous nature which led him to decorative painting1 and he became influenced by ,rubens1 ,jordaens1 and the ,fontainebleau ,school4 ,he painted theatre curtains and mythological scenes1 in which he gave free rein to his sensual imagination4 ,in spite of some admirable qualities1 it seems as though the artist had strayed from his true path in painting these brilliant1 but somewhat declamatory works1 and he has since returned to a more modern and more direct painting4 ,in all his changed conditions ,anquetin has shown a considerable talent1 pleasing in its fine vigour1 impetuosity1 brilliancy and sincerity4 ,his inequality is perhaps the cause of his relative want of success2 it has put the public off1 but nevertheless in certain of this brave and serious painter's canvases can be seen the happy influence of ,manet4 ,it seems to us only right to sum up our impartial opinion of ,neo-,impressionism by saying that it has lacked cohesion1 that ,pointillism in particular has led painting into an aimless path4 ,it has been wrong to see in ,impressionism too exclusive a pretext for technical researches1 and a happy reaction has set in1 which leads us back to-day1 after diverse tentative efforts 7amongst others some unfortunate attempts at symbolist painting71 to the fine1 recent school of the ,intimists and to the novel conception which a great and glorious painter1 ,besnard1 imposes upon the ,salons1 where the elect draw inspiration from him4 ,we can here only indicate with a few words the considerable part played by ,besnard3 his clever work has proved that the scientific colour principles of ,impressionism may be applied1 not to realism1 but to the highest thoughts1 to ideologic painting most nobly inspired by the modern intellectual preoccupations4 ,he is the transition between ,impressionism and the art of to-morrow4 ,of pure ,french lineage by his portraits and his nudes1 which descend directly from ,largillire and ,ingres1 he might have restricted himself to being placed among the most learned ,impressionists4 ,his studies of reflections and of complementary colours speak for this4 ,but he has passed this phase and has1 with his decorations1 returned to the psychical domain of his strangely beautiful art4 ,the ,intimists1 ,c4 ,cottet1 ,simon1 ,blanche1 ,mnard1 ,bussy1 ,lobre1 ,le ,sidaner1 ,wry1 ,prinet1 and ,ernest ,laurent1 have proved that they have profited by ,impressionism1 but have proceeded in quite a different direction in trying to translate their real perceptions4 ,some isolated artists1 like the decorative painter ,henri ,martin1 who has enormous talent1 have applied the ,impressionist technique to the expression of grand allegories1 rather in the manner of ,puvis de ,chavannes4 ,the effort at getting away from mere cleverness and escaping a too exclusive preoccupation with technique1 and at the same time acquiring serious knowledge1 betrays itself in the whole position of the young ,french ,school2 and this will furnish us with a perfectly natural conclusion1 of which the following are the principal points3-- ,what we shall have to thank ,impressionism for1 will be moral and material advantages of considerable importance4 ,morally it has rendered an immense service to all art1 because it has boldly attacked routine and proved by the whole of its work that a combination of independent producers could renew the aesthetic code of a country1 without owing anything to official encouragement4 ,it has succeeded where important but isolated creators have succumbed1 because it has had the good fortune of uniting a group of gifted men1 four of whom will count among the greatest ,french artists since the origin of national art4 ,it has had the qualities which overcome the hardest resistance3 fecundity1 courage and sure originality4 ,it has known how to find its strength by referring to the true traditions of the national genius1 which have happily enlightened it and saved it from fundamental errors4 ,it has1 last1 but not least1 inflicted an irremediable blow on academic convention and has wrested from it the prestige of teaching which ruled tyrannically for centuries past over the young artists4 ,it has laid a violent hand upon a tenacious and dangerous prejudice1 upon a series of conventional notions which were transmitted without consideration for the evolution of modern life and intelligence4 ,it has dared freely to protest against a degenerated ideal which vainly parodied the old masters1 pretending to honour them4 ,it has removed from the artistic soul of ,france a whole order of pseudo-classic elements which worked against its blossoming1 and the ,school will never recover from this bold contradiction which has rallied to it all the youthful4 ,the moral principle of ,impressionism has been absolutely logical and sane1 and that is why nothing has been able to prevent its triumph4 ,technically ,impressionism has brought a complete renewal of pictorial vision1 substituting the beauty of character for the beauty of proportions and finding adequate expression for the ideas and feelings of its time1 which constitutes the secret of all beautiful works4 ,it has taken up again a tradition and added to it a contemporary page4 ,it will have to be thanked for an important series of observations as regards the analysis of light1 and for an absolutely original conception of drawing4 ,some years have been wasted by painters of little worth in imitating it1 and the ,salons1 formerly encumbered with academic pastiches1 have been encumbered with ,impressionist pastiches4 ,it would be unfair to blame the ,impressionists for it4 ,they have shown by their very career that they hated teaching and would never pretend to teach4 ,impressionism is based upon irrefutable optic laws1 but it is neither a style1 nor a method1 likely ever to become a formula in its turn4 ,one may call upon this art for examples1 but not for receipts4 ,on the contrary1 its best teaching has been to encourage artists to become absolutely independent and to search ardently for their own individuality4 ,it marks the decline of the ,school1 and will not create a new one which would soon become as fastidious as the other4 ,it will only appear1 to those who will thoroughly understand it1 as a precious repertory of notes1 and the young generation honours it intelligently by not imitating it with servility4 ,not that it is without its faults6 ,it has been said1 to belittle it1 that it only had the value of an interesting attempt1 having only been able to indicate some excellent intentions1 without creating anything perfect4 ,this is inexact4 ,it is absolutely evident1 that ,manet1 ,monet1 ,renoir and ,degas have signed some masterpieces which did not lose by comparison with those in the ,louvre1 and the same might even be said of their less illustrious friends4 ,but it is also evident that the time spent on research as well as on agitation and enervating controversies pursued during twenty-five years1 has been taken from men who could otherwise have done better still4 ,there has been a disparity between ,realism and the technique of ,impressionism4 ,its realistic origin has sometimes made it vulgar4 ,it has often treated indifferent subjects in a grand style1 and it has too easily beheld life from the anecdotal side4 ,it has lacked psychologic synthesis 7if we except ,degas74 ,it has too willingly denied all that exists hidden under the apparent reality of the universe and has affected to separate painting from the ideologic faculties which rule over all art4 ,hatred of academic allegory1 defiance of symbolism1 abstraction and romantic scenes1 has led it to refuse to occupy itself with a whole order of ideas1 and it has had the tendency of making the painter beyond all a workman4 ,it was necessary at the moment of its arrival1 but it is no longer necessary now1 and the painters understand this themselves4 ,finally it has too often been superficial even in obtaining effects2 it has given way to the wish to surprise the eyes1 of playing with tones merely for love of cleverness4 ,it often causes one regret to see symphonies of magnificent colour wasted here in pictures of boating men2 and there1 in pictures of caf corners2 and we have arrived at a degree of complex intellectuality which is no longer satisfied with these rudimentary themes4 ,it has indulged in useless exaggerations1 faults of composition and of harmony1 and all this cannot be denied4 ,but it still remains fascinating and splendid for its gifts which will always rouse enthusiasm3 freedom1 impetuousness1 youth1 brilliancy1 fervour1 the joy of painting and the passion for beautiful light4 ,it is1 on the whole1 the greatest pictorial movement that ,france has beheld since ,delacroix1 and it brings to a finish gloriously the nineteenth century1 inaugurating the present4 ,it has accomplished the great deed of having brought us again into the presence of our true national lineage1 far more so than ,romanticism1 which was mixed with foreign elements4 ,we have here painting of a kind which could only have been conceived in ,france1 and we have to go right back to ,watteau in order to receive again the same impression4 ,impressionism has brought us an almost unhoped-for renaissance1 and this constitutes its most undeniable claim upon the gratitude of the race4 ,it has exercised a very appreciable influence upon foreign painting4 ,among the principal painters attracted by its ideas and research1 we must mention1 in ,germany1 ,max ,liebermann and ,kuehl2 in ,norway1 ,thaulow2 in ,denmark1 ,kroyer2 in ,belgium1 ,tho ,van ,rysselberghe1 ,emile ,claus1 ,verheyden1 ,heymans1 ,verstraete1 and ,baertson2 in ,italy1 ,boldini1 ,segantini1 and ,michetti2 in ,spain1 ,zuloaga1 ,sorolla y ,bastida1 ,dario de ,regoyos and ,rusiol2 in ,america1 ,alexander1 ,harrison1 ,sargent2 and in ,england1 the painters of the ,glasgow ,school1 ,lavery1 ,guthrie and the late ,john ,lewis ,brown4 ,all these men come within the active extension of the ,french movement1 and one may say that the honour of having first recognised the truly national movement of this art must be given to those foreign countries which have enriched their collections and museums with works that were despised in the land which had witnessed their birth4 ,at the present moment the effects of this new vision are felt all over the world1 down to the very bosom of the academies2 and at the ,salons1 from which the ,impressionists are still excluded1 can be witnessed an invasion of pictures inspired by them1 which the most retrograde juries dare not reject4 ,in whatever measure the recent painters accept ,impressionism1 they remain preoccupied with it1 and even those who love it not are forced to take it into account4 ,the ,impressionist movement can therefore now be considered1 apart from all controversies1 without vain attacks or exaggerated praise1 as an artistic manifestation which has entered the domain of history1 and it can be studied with the impartial application of the methods of critical analysis which is usually employed in the study of the former art movements4 ,we shall not pretend to have given in these pages a complete and faultless history2 but we shall consider ourselves well rewarded for this work1 which is intended to reach the great public1 if we have roused their curiosity and sympathy with a group of artists whom we consider admirable2 and if we have rectified1 in the eyes of the readers of a foreign nation1 the errors1 the slanders1 the undeserved reproaches1 with which ,frenchmen have been pleased to overwhelm sincere creators who thought with faith and love of the pure tradition of the national genius1 and who have for that reason been vilified as much as if they had in an access of anarchical folly risen against the very common sense1 taste1 reason and clearness1 which will remain the eternal merits of their soil4 ,this small1 imperfect volume will perhaps find its best excuse in its intention of repairing an old injustice and of affirming a useful and permanent truth3 that of the authenticity of the classicism of ,impressionism1 in the face of the false classicism of the academic world which official honours have made the guardian of a ,french heritage1 whose soul it denied and whose spirit it deceived with its narrow and cold formulas4