Post 11: Impressionism and the Revival of Pastels Part I

Line and Colour - Two in One

Mystère ou La Femme à la Mèdaille, 1896
Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer (1865-1953)
35 x 54 cm, pastel and gold highlights on cardboard
Dhurmer La Femme pastel Musee d'Orsay

  I have been curious about the pastel technique since the spring of 2023 when I saw the exhibition: Pastels from Millet to Redon in Musée d'Orsay (the painting above was on the promotional material). We learned then that seeing XVII, XVIII, and XIX-century pastel paintings is a rare occasion, as they are extremely fragile to exhibit and to be borrowed between museums. 

Pastels are basically layers of dry, colored powder on paper. They have to be protected by glass, but the glass must not touch the surface. They have to be stored vertically and not pulled on sliding racks. Humidity, vibration, and even the smallest shock can cause irreparable damage to the pastel painting. Unlike oil paintings whose varnish should be renewed once every generation, pastels pretty much shouldn't be touched ever.

This unique medium provokes a remarkable sensation of particles' vibration in the viewers' eyes, and colors can mimic skin or fabric textures with a chillingly realistic effect. I had a strange feeling of intimacy, and not just seeing but somehow knowing people in the pastel portraits.

So where does the pastel story start...By now, we shouldn't be surprised:

 1499, Milan, Italy. The French invaded Italy, and Louis XII marched into the residence of the Duke of Milan. His court painter met the Duke's court painter, Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo learned from his French colleague, about using colored dry chalk (only white, black, and red at the time) for sketches on prepared paper. He further developed the technique and was the first painter to do pastel painting (none of these have survived). Michelangelo, his lifetime contender used pastels as well. 

In the years and centuries to follow, numerous pastel color nuances were developed, and finally, in the XVIII century, it became the most popular painting method.

Portrait of a Small Girl, Holding Cherries, 1780

John Russell (1745-1806)

62 x 46 cm, pastel on blue paper

Cherry girl Russell Louvre

To pivot for a second from the French and Italian artists, above is an exquisite pastel painting by the British painter John Russell. Watching a Video presentation of 17th and 18th-century Pastel paintings in the Louvre, we can learn that this painting is one of the most popular/ photographed ones by visitors. If you join me deeper in the rabbit hole, you can find out on the Blog by the world's best pastel connoisseur Neil Jeffares who this charming girl was, about her rich family and cherry orchards in England.

Self-portrait as "Winter'" 1730/31

Rosalba Carriera (1673-1757)

46.5 x 34 cm, pastel on paper

Rosalba State Art Collection Dresden

The most popular Rococo pastel painter in Europe in the XVIII century was Rosalba Carriera from Venice. She mastered the pastel technique and made portraits of pretty much every important European royal family member during her lifetime. A hundred and some years later, she will be a great inspiration to the Impressionist Berth Morisot. 

Archduchess Maria Theresa of Habsburg, 1730

Rosalba Carriera (1673-1757)

45 x 34.5 cm, pastel on paper over canvas

M. Theresa State Art Collections Dresden

In this  Video presentation of Rosalba Carriera Exhibition in Dresden  we can learn why were pastel portraits so popular in the 18th century:  there was a big demand for portraits of young girls for the purposes of marriage politics. They had to be promoted and presented to potential contenders (the mother of Maria Antoinette asked King Louis XVI to send his personal painter as she didn't have a good enough one to present the beauty of her daughter). 

Louis XV, King of France, 1720/21

Rosalba Carriera (1673-1757)

50.5 x 38.5 cm, pastel on paper

Louis XV State Art Collection Dresden

Painters had to work fast as the privileged did not want to spend too much time on the sessions and did not want to have many of them. Pastels, easy to pack,  transport, and not messy to use, were the perfect medium for quick portrait sketches which were to be finished later by the painter. Additionally, the rich, women and men, used a lot of makeup at the time and a ton of powder on their faces and wigs. Pastels perfectly reflected that and gave subjects an angelic, idealized image.

In every art history book, we can find that two other great pastelists of the XVIII century are Maurice Quentin de la Tour and Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin, but here, I want to present another woman painter who excelled as a pastelist - Marie Suzanne Roslin. She was accepted into the French Royal Académie of Paintings and Sculptures as one of only 4 women (that was by the rule the maximum number of women artists allowed in Academy at the same time!?). Her life was full of romance and love, but she died young at 38 from breast cancer. 

Self-portrait with Portrait of Maurice-Quentin de la Tour, 1770

Marie Suzanne Roslin (1734-1772)

pastel on paper

Private collection

Augustine Suzanne Roslin, the Artist's Daughter, 1771

Marie Suzanne Roslin (1734-1772)

62 x 48.5 cm, pastel

Roslin in National Museum Sweden

As the end of the XVIII century approached, pastels were falling out of favor. The storms of change were coming with the revolutionary years and pastel painters started losing their "clientele". Royal families, their entourages, and the aristocracy in general were chased either into exile or captured and killed. White powder mixed with sweat and blood. 

The Face of the Moon, 1795/97

John Russell (1745-1806)

163.5 x 160.5 cm, pastel

Moon by Russell History of Science Museum, Oxford University

There was no blood in the United Kingdom at the end of the 18th century, but the Enlightenment wind blew lace, makeup, and wigs into the background. Here is an extraordinary (in size and in true to the facts) pastel painting of the 'gibbous moon' by John Russell (yes, the cherries girl painter). He came a long way from being a court painter to one of "The Lunatics" as the members of the Lunar Society called themselves, watching the moon through a telescope for twenty years and using pastels in exceptional precision to depict it.

This leaves us in no doubt that the 19th century will bring many innovations, so, about the ones considering pastels, in the next post

Sources:

Exhibition Pastel paintings, from Millet to Redon | Musée d'Orsay

Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer — Wikipédia

Mystery and Glitter. Pastels in the Musée d'Orsay. | Musée d'Orsay

Pastels & pastellists: The Dictionary of pastellists before 1800

Conservation of pastels

Pastel Artists : From Masters to Modern Creators (Must follow)

Pastel | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Histoire de la Société des Pastellistes de France | Société des Pastellistes de France

Bing Videos - 12 techniques for pastel

Le Bouquet de marguerites - Jean-François Millet | Musée d'Orsay

Mère et enfant sur fond vert - Mary Cassatt | Musée d'Orsay

Degas The Pastel Artist | Musée d'Orsay

prog salle_ManetDegas_ANG.pdf

Around the exhibition Pastels paintings from Millet to Redon | Musée d'Orsay

Exhibition Manet / Degas | Musée d'Orsay

Post 10: Landscapes - True Colours

Turner in Provence - Monet in London

    

        The earliest examples of landscape (natural scenery) art are found in Roman Empire ruins of the Hellenistic period (323BC-30 AC). On the east side of the world, China also had a strong tradition in landscape art, with artists painting water and mountains to provide images for reflection and meditation in the 12th and 13th centuries. Landscapes were a highly regarded genre by artists and patrons from the XVI century onwards. During the 17th century in Italy, so-called "arcadia" landscapes were highly praised. Nothing to do with reality, they depicted the imaginary "paradise lost" often surrounding ancient ruins. 

And then, like lightning, J. M. W. Turner (1775-1851) came to the stage and changed everything:

The Lake Petworth, Sunrise, 1827-8
Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851)
64.8 x 125.7 cm, oil on canvas
Turner Sunrise Tate Museum

Britain and France were the two strongest colonial empires in the XIX century and their artists enjoyed social wealth by traveling, discovering, and influencing each other. They found beauty in landscapes and seascapes on the other side of La Manche but they also learned lessons from their peers on the other side. All this was possible with industrialization and increasingly frequent steamer boat traffic over the Canal. 

J.M. Turner visited France many times between his first trip to Paris in 1802 and the last one in the north of France in 1845 (see sources TATE and Carnets de voyage de Turner links). Another rare pearl I found in Turner's sketchbook is that he was in the region of Provence (where I am writing this) in 1828-29 and again in 1838. He approached Avignon by boat on the Rhone and made rapid croquis of the castles he was passing by. 

La Neige (Snow), 1873

Charles-Francois Daubigny (1817-1878)

100.5 x 201.5 cm, oil on canvas

Daubigny Musee d'Orsay

When talking about French landscape painting in the XIX century, it must be noted that two groups of painters, before the Impressionists, left their ateliers to sketch scenes outside (they couldn't paint outside as oil paints in tubes didn't yet exist): the Barbizon group (started in 1830) and the Normandy group (started in the 1850s). Charles-Francois Daubigny (landscape above) was attached to the famous Barbizon group.  

As the Impressionist landscape paintings are innumerable, to help myself for this January post I am choosing only winter scenes, mostly inhabited.  

London, 1870. A large French community is there in exile from the raging Franco-Prussian war. Some to avoid conscription, like Monet and Pissarro, and some to expand their business, like gallerist and collector Paul Durand-Ruel. He organized nine exhibitions in London presenting hundreds of, mostly Barbizon school (with its biggest stars: Millet et Corot), landscape paintings between 1870-74. The Times critic wrote: "French landscape painters, unlike the reigning English school, as a rule, paint impressions and not transcripts...Elaboration of detail is avoided."

Rabbit Warren at Pontoise, Snow, 1879
Camille Pissarro (1830-1903)
59.2 x 72.3 cm, oil on canvas
Pissarro Winter Art Institute Chicago

While witnessing older compatriots enjoy accolades and sell their work, our two young Impressionists are visiting the National Gallery and standing in front of powerful Turner scenes. Is it a coincidence that the two of them and Alfred Sisley, a British living in Paris but visiting London, became the most dedicated landscape painters among the Impressionists?

When Camille Pissarro came back to Paris he found that out of 1500 paintings he left, all but 40 were destroyed by soldiers during the war. Pissarro moved to Pontoise (outside of Paris) and lived there from 1872 to 1884 with his wife and their 7 children, 6 of whom became painters.  His friend Cezanne spent a lot of time with him there and the two painted many Pontoise scenes, like the one above. 

Rue Eugene Moissoir at Moret: Winter, 1891
Alfred Sisley (1839-1899)
46.7 x 56.5 cm, oil on canvas
Sisley Winter Met Museum

Sisley was the most devoted landscape painter among the Impressionists, throughout his life, he finished around 900 paintings and 100 pastels and they were rarely of any other subject than landscape.  He also stayed loyal to the original idea of finishing the painting outdoors and catching the effects of light through the air in the scene. 

 

Boulevard Saint-Denis, Argenteuil in Winter, 1875
Claude Monet (1840-1926)
60.9 x 81.6 cm, oil on canvas
Argenteuil Monet MFA Boston

Monet lived with his family in Argenteuil from 1871 until 1878. This painting represents an everyday scene of that time, people in Argenteuil approaching the train station on a winter snowy day. Boulevard Saint-Denis was situated close to Monet’s atelier and the train station.

Here, the study of light IS the subject matter. Instead of focusing on people, buildings, fences, or trees, he conveys the truth of the moment and how all those surfaces absorb and reflect light. “The materiality of the scene is its least important feature”.(Monet p.95, Smith)

One thing by which we can always recognize an Impressionist painting is that shadows are rarely grey but usually blue, purple, or reflected colors around them. Today, this effect is called "the diffuse reflection", in their time Monet and Co didn't know about that scientific effect they just painted honestly what they saw. 

Some other Monet's winter scenes: 

La Pie, 1868/9
Claude Monet (1840-1926)
89 x 130 cm, oil on canvas
The Magpie Monet Orsay

Coming into Giverny in Winter, 1885
Claude Monet (1840-1926)
65 x 81 cm, oil on canvas
Giverny Monet Barberini Museum

To really enjoy the color and brush movements, you need to click on the link under the painting and explore with the zoom-in.

Sandvika, Norway, 1895
Claude Monet (1840-1926)
73.4 x 92.5 cm, oil on canvas
Monet Norway AI Chicago

While visiting Norway in 1895, Monet painted 29 landscapes during that 2-month visit. This painting was bought by Art Institute Chicago in November 2023 for $6,7 million

Why are landscapes the most loved genre of paintings to this day? As our modern days speed up, they provide an escape and bring nature into our rooms. Even when we look at the Impressionist cityscapes, they are usually with small barely recognizable human figures, in my mind, that makes us look at 'the bigger picture', and whenever we do that our troubles become smaller. 

Connection to Modern Art: Nicholas de Stael and his search for the essence in a landscape. Mondrian's ultra-minimalistic landscapes reduced to a relationship between horizontals and verticals in the natural world. Landscape paintings can also send the message - Paul Nash.

Connection to contemporary art:

Winter Tunnel with Snow, March, 2006
David Hockney (1937- )
91.44 x 121.92 cm, oil on canvas
Hockney Winter DH Foundation

David Hockney, one of the most loved contemporary artists, always talks about his admiration of Impressionism. He also dedicated a vast amount of his time to the studies of light and color in nature through the changing seasons. 

In other posts, find out about Impressionism and film as well as Impressionism and music

Sources:

Nationalmuseum | Arcadia – A paradise lost 

18 (1). au terme de ces voyages de turner (France du sud-est et LIGURIE): les dessins des carnets | Carnets de voyage de Turner

?South of France and Italy c.1820-41 (J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours) | Tate

Art History landscapes - Search Videos

 Via Christies - Norway by Monet 

Page:Byvanck - Un Hollandais à Paris en 1891, 1892.djvu/195 - Wikisource Monet's letters to Pissarro on Paysages

The EY Exhibition: Impressionists in London, French Artists in Exile (1870-1904) – Press Release | Tate

Landscape painting - Wikipedia

Art History News: THE OPEN-AIR STUDIO The Impressionists in Normandy

Impressionists at Argenteuil

The Origins of the Taste for Barbizon Painting in Britain: Paul Durand-Ruel’s Exhibitions of the Society of French Artists

Christies - Barbizon School artists whose work influenced the Impressionists

The Transformation of Landscape Painting in France | Essay | The Metropolitan Museum of Art | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

'I find London lovelier to paint each day' – Tate Etc | Tate   - Monet's letters from London

Camille Pissarro - Wikipedia

Plein Air Painting - A Detailed History of Open Air Painting

 Alfred Sisley Alfred Sisley - Wikipedia

Images Renoir Landscapes: 1865-1883

Impressionism, Landscapes | The Art Institute of Chicago

The Beginnings of Impressionist Landscape