Australian Impressionists in France Exhibition
Post
Subscribe
Sat 15 Jun 2013 - Sun 06 Oct 2013
When you think of
Impressionist art you probably have a vision of waterlilies in a garden pond by
Monet. You certainly don't picture painters from Australia, making their mark, rubbing shoulders with the big guns in France, painting, exchanging ideas, and partying together as good mates.
Australian artists have always struggled to prove their worth in an international art scene dominated by European masters. Yet the Impressionist Australian painters such as
E Phillips Fox, John Russel and
Charles Condor were carving out their own version of the Impressionist movement, working and socialising alongside such greats as
Vincent Van Gogh and
Henri Toulouse Lautrec.
So what was the big deal about Impressionist art I hear you ask? Some of the images look like something my eleven year old could paint.
Impressionist painters deliberately chose to create works of art that skimmed over fine detail. Often painted quickly, the purpose was to create an impression of the scene as they had witnessed it. Of great importance to them was capturing a feeling, an emotion of being there. So they focused their efforts on depicting the colours that dominated the scene, in particular the way the light created a mood at that exact point in time.
During the nineteenth century painting En Plein Air (meaning outside) was practically unheard of. Previously most paintings were done in studios, often portraits or staged scenes that were painstakingly captured over time. However, with photography rapidly taking over this domain and doing it quickly and more accurately, painters turned to capturing an essence of a moment in time.
There were such dramatic changes happening all around them in the new modern world, these Impressionist painters hoped to capture the fleeting highly charged emotions experienced at that exact time and place, before it was lost forever in their rapidly changing world.
Impressionism had such a lasting impact that it caused a ripple effect that carried over to other creative industries such as film, literature, and ironically, photography.
For the
first time you have the
opportunity to view a huge array of works created by
Australian artists working in France from 1855 to 1915.
Australian Impressionists in France is a compilation of over
120 artworks, including paintings, drawings and prints, that have come from major public and private collections from all around the world.
So grab your family or a couple of close friends and go and be inspired by the emotions of the artists from this unique period in art and Australian history.
#august
#july
#school_holidays
#city
#things_to_see
#learn_something
#history
#galleries
#june
#exhibitions
#city -of-melbourne
#art
#may
#april
#march
#february
#january
#december
#november
#october
#september
!date 15/06/2013 -- 06/10/2013
%wnmelbourne
171602 - 2023-06-15 09:11:44