The History of Modern Painting, Volume 3 (of 4): Revised edition continued by the author to the end of the XIX centuryMuther, Richard
History
The History of Modern Painting, Volume 3 (of 4): Revised edition continued by the author to the end of the XIX century
Muther, Richard
Painting -- History
It is scarcely to be wondered at that the younger generation of the
present day refused to be bound by the principles of art laid down by
their predecessors, notwithstanding the fact that Moreau, as well as
Boecklin, was indebted to the Quattrocento for the mosaic-like
brilliancy of his colours. Impressionism has discovered a whole range of
new colour values by careful and intelligent study of the influence of
light upon colour, and where formerly we saw ten we now find a hundred.
Red, green, blue have lost their meaning in the category of complex and
infinitely differentiated tones. So, as we advance from a realistic
transcript of impressions taken direct from nature to free, symphonic
compositions of the colours to which Impressionism has opened our eyes,
we shall evolve harmonies richer than were ever imagined before, more
melting than we ever dreamed of. This is the goal to which the efforts
of the younger generation are primarily tending. Building upon the
foundations laid by the Impressionists, they seek to ensure for their
pictures both clearness and harmony, by simplification of form, by
beauty of technique, and by subordination of colour to the decorative
scheme. Their confession of faith is comprised in the words of Paterson:
"A picture must be something more than garbled Nature: it must please
the educated eye; and only so far as nature gives the painter his
material can he or dare he follow her."
BOOK V
A SURVEY OF EUROPEAN ART AT THE PRESENT TIME
INTRODUCTION
By what means was the further development of painting in Europe brought
about under the influence of the principles of the two schools, the
Impressionists and the Decorative-Stylists? The following may supply the
answer.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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