ARTISTS
Monet and the Impressionist Revolution, 1860鈥1910
With broad strokes, Monet and the Impressionist Revolution, 1860鈥1910 highlights the transformation of Claude Monet's (French, 1840鈥1926) visual practice. He brought painting to the brink of abstraction, but on no occasion crossed over into completely nonrepresentational imagery. One of the founders of French Impressionism, Monet painted outside en plein air (in the open air), where he refined his use of color to reveal the ambiance of natural light. Monet worked alongside artists including Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841鈥1919), 脡douard Manet (French, 1832鈥1883), Camille Pissarro (French, 1831鈥1903), and Alfred Sisley (British, born France, 1839鈥1899), while leading and serving as an inspirational figure within the movement. Using visible brushstrokes and developing open compositions, the Impressionists were the pioneers of 鈥渁ction painting鈥 long before the time of Abstract Expressionism in the mid-twentieth century.
Monet embraced the unpredictability of nature. With this, he broke away from linear perspective, refined forms, and other techniques associated with the synthesized style of academic painting. Instead, he experimented with the introduction of bold pigments, a looser handling of paint, and an emphasis on the interplay of color and light. In this exhibition, the evolution of Monet鈥檚 ingenuity is presented alongside a similar trajectory of works from the Albright-Knox鈥檚 Collection of modern art. Spanning five decades鈥攆rom the heyday of Realism in Western art in the 1860s toward the landfall of abstract painting in the early part of the 1900s鈥擬onet鈥檚 works are considered alongside those of other contemporary rebels.
The impetus behind Monet and the Impressionist Revolution arose in midwinter 2015. The museum decided, as part of an unexpected reciprocal loan arrangement, to mount a small spotlight presentation dedicated to Monet within a larger body of synchronous artists鈥 works from the museum鈥檚 Collection. While the Albright-Knox is home to myriad late-nineteenth-century masterpieces, it owns only one painting by Monet鈥擟hemin de Halage 脿 Argenteuil (Towpath at Argenteuil, Winter)鈥攁 delightful river scene painted on the banks of the Seine in Argenteuil, France, around 1875. Ultimately, the loan of seven additional paintings by Monet and one by Manet (an artist who is not significantly represented in the museum鈥檚 Collection) from six American museums came to fruition, and serve as the exhibition鈥檚 basis. These important loans allow for a contemplative space within the exhibition dedicated solely to the course of Monet's practice from the mid-1860s to circa 1910. Together, they are framed by the work of artists such as Eug猫ne Boudin (French, 1824鈥1898), Gustave Caillebotte (French, 1848鈥1894), Paul C茅zanne (French, 1839鈥1906), Gustave Courbet (French, 1819鈥1877), Charles Fran莽ois Daubigny (French, 1817鈥1878), Edgar Degas (French, 1834鈥1917), Berthe Morisot (French, 1841鈥1895), Pissarro, Renoir, and Sisley, as well as post-Impressionist masters Andr茅 Derain (French, 1880鈥1954), Raoul Dufy (French, 1877鈥1953), Paul Gauguin (French, 1848鈥1903), Henri Matisse (French, 1869鈥1954), Georges Seurat (French, 1859鈥1891), Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853鈥1890), and 脡douard Vuillard (French, 1868鈥1940).
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With broad strokes, Monet and the Impressionist Revolution, 1860鈥1910 highlights the transformation of Claude Monet's (French, 1840鈥1926) visual practice. He brought painting to the brink of abstraction, but on no occasion crossed over into completely nonrepresentational imagery. One of the founders of French Impressionism, Monet painted outside en plein air (in the open air), where he refined his use of color to reveal the ambiance of natural light. Monet worked alongside artists including Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841鈥1919), 脡douard Manet (French, 1832鈥1883), Camille Pissarro (French, 1831鈥1903), and Alfred Sisley (British, born France, 1839鈥1899), while leading and serving as an inspirational figure within the movement. Using visible brushstrokes and developing open compositions, the Impressionists were the pioneers of 鈥渁ction painting鈥 long before the time of Abstract Expressionism in the mid-twentieth century.
Monet embraced the unpredictability of nature. With this, he broke away from linear perspective, refined forms, and other techniques associated with the synthesized style of academic painting. Instead, he experimented with the introduction of bold pigments, a looser handling of paint, and an emphasis on the interplay of color and light. In this exhibition, the evolution of Monet鈥檚 ingenuity is presented alongside a similar trajectory of works from the Albright-Knox鈥檚 Collection of modern art. Spanning five decades鈥攆rom the heyday of Realism in Western art in the 1860s toward the landfall of abstract painting in the early part of the 1900s鈥擬onet鈥檚 works are considered alongside those of other contemporary rebels.
The impetus behind Monet and the Impressionist Revolution arose in midwinter 2015. The museum decided, as part of an unexpected reciprocal loan arrangement, to mount a small spotlight presentation dedicated to Monet within a larger body of synchronous artists鈥 works from the museum鈥檚 Collection. While the Albright-Knox is home to myriad late-nineteenth-century masterpieces, it owns only one painting by Monet鈥擟hemin de Halage 脿 Argenteuil (Towpath at Argenteuil, Winter)鈥攁 delightful river scene painted on the banks of the Seine in Argenteuil, France, around 1875. Ultimately, the loan of seven additional paintings by Monet and one by Manet (an artist who is not significantly represented in the museum鈥檚 Collection) from six American museums came to fruition, and serve as the exhibition鈥檚 basis. These important loans allow for a contemplative space within the exhibition dedicated solely to the course of Monet's practice from the mid-1860s to circa 1910. Together, they are framed by the work of artists such as Eug猫ne Boudin (French, 1824鈥1898), Gustave Caillebotte (French, 1848鈥1894), Paul C茅zanne (French, 1839鈥1906), Gustave Courbet (French, 1819鈥1877), Charles Fran莽ois Daubigny (French, 1817鈥1878), Edgar Degas (French, 1834鈥1917), Berthe Morisot (French, 1841鈥1895), Pissarro, Renoir, and Sisley, as well as post-Impressionist masters Andr茅 Derain (French, 1880鈥1954), Raoul Dufy (French, 1877鈥1953), Paul Gauguin (French, 1848鈥1903), Henri Matisse (French, 1869鈥1954), Georges Seurat (French, 1859鈥1891), Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853鈥1890), and 脡douard Vuillard (French, 1868鈥1940).
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