{
    "system": "GoGuides Verified Text",
    "api_version": "verified-text-v1",
    "status": "ok",
    "response_type": "verified_text_record",
    "source_key": "britannica_1926",
    "source_title": "Encyclopaedia Britannica (1926)",
    "license_code": "public_domain",
    "attribution": null,
    "license_url": null,
    "chunk_id": "1926:painting:1de6e50b5dbb",
    "title": "PAINTING",
    "section": null,
    "hash_alg": "sha256",
    "hash_sha256": "b5957f1d31c5f35a14975b4729796ecc14c2d06a8a1e1d1e37aab1efab1f3c44",
    "normalizer": {
        "name": "ggnorm",
        "version": "1.0"
    },
    "verified_text": "the end of the 1cth century saw in painting the triumph of “ impressionism ” in its widest sense.’ with the heterodoxy of the roth century become the orthodoxy of the 20th, a movement developed in revolt against impres- sionism, giving to painting between 1900 and 1926 a distinctive character. this movement, like impressionism, is mainly french in origin, though elsewhere it has taken colour from national characteristics. but changes have been greater in appearance than reality. impressionism is very much a living force; older academic traditions still survive and have even gained strength from a reaction against impressionism; while the practice of the rebels has paid more heed to older standards than have their doctrines. | ) across these main movements cut the influence of the war. at first it threatened to limit artistic output severely, but the check was only temporary. a huge demand arose in the bellig- erent countries from individuals and public bodies for illustra- tive, propagandist or commemorative work, which bore fruit in posters and cartoons; in the formation of official collections such as those in the imperial war museum and in canada; and in decorative paintings for memorial purposes. the chief in- terest of this work is that of a document, showing what men did, felt and thought during the war, and of giving a summary of the condition of art at the time in various countries. the aim of the british and canadian official collections was definitely to preserve a pictorial record of the war in all its aspects, and, consequently, much of the work is primarily the skilful applica- tion of a technique to this task, and not the expression of a new vision or a personal emotion. | the same applies to most memorial decorations, and, though in all countries the posters were the work of prominent artists, their appeal was only in part aesthetic, designed as they were mainly to excite hatred, cupidity, pity and self-sacrifice. yet by putting the production of the poster into the hands of artists, and by helping to revive and stimulate wood engraving and lithography, the war had considerable influence on the graphic arts. otherwise, its immediate effects have been small. it has perhaps strengthened the nationalist spirit in art, as a result of a cessation of international intercourse during the war and of the creation of small independent states. it may also have given a new impulse to a search for structure and design, by reducing life so much into terms of machinery and organisation; and by the depth and variety of the emotions it aroused may have stimulated the tendency to use form and colour for the expression of personal feeling rather than for the rep~oduction of nature. probably, too, by making a definite breach with roth century ideas, the war cleared the way for the development of new aesthetic standards. but the most important modern movements in art were in being before the war. 1 unfortunately for clarity of exposition, the term “ impression- ists,” originally applied to the group of artists round claude monet, painters in a high key using a palette limited to white and the spectral colours, has been extended, especially in england, to include all painters whose main aim is the reproduction of the visual appearance of a scene as a whole. in this wider sense the term is here used throughout. i. the reaction from impressionism lhe later impressionists —of movements which attained full development in the roth century, impressionism in its purest form is still represented in france by claude monet, in belgium by emil claus and in great britain by lucien pissarro. of its many developments and adaptations, the neo-impressionism, based on the analysis of colour in nature into its constituent elements, which are then placed by means of juxtaposed spots of paint upon the canvas, to be recombined by the eye, survived in 1926 only in modified form. paul signac, one of its original exponents, has substituted for spots brick-like rectangles in his oil paintings, and increased use of line in his water-colours. another variation, pointillism, in which colour already mixed on the palette is applied in spots, is represented by henri martin and ifenri le sidaner. paul albert besnard, appointed in 1924 director of the ecole des beaux arts, paris, had adapted the impressionist analysis to deal with complicated problems of double lighting which in england have interested charles sims and ambrose mcevoy in portraits and figure pieces. jacques emile blanche, on the other hand, derives more directly from manet in his bold brushwork and the simplified masses of his design. : in england, the spectral palette and high key has been only a passing phase with most painters. wilson steer in both por- trait and landscape passed to a narrow palette including black, in work marked by much subtlety of tone and colour and great feeling for light and atmosphere. after a period of more positive colour, he returned in his latest work to a limited range of browns, greys, blues and greens, and a simplified direct handling analogous to that of water-colour. george clausen, once the leading disciple of bastien-lepage in england, has interested himself in mural work, and gives increasing attention to design in his sensitive interpretations of misty, sunlit landscape. | study of tone and design based on silhouette gives a common basis to members of the glasgow school, such as sir james guthrie, e. a. walton (1860-1923), sir john lavery and d. y. cameron. these served as starting-point for sir william orpen, combined in later work with vivid colour used decora- tively, ingenious use of double lighting, and a strong bent for satire and caricature. the death of j. s. sargent in april 1925 removed an outstanding figure, witness to whose reputation was the remarkable total (£182,585) realised by a two-days’ sale in july of part of the contents of his studio. vivid realisa- tion of external aspect by singularly direct and forcible means, based on impressionist practice, was his peculiar power. this was best displayed in portraiture and landscape; a series of mural decorations in the boston museum of fine arts, com- pleted just before his death, consisting of mythological scenes executed in golden ochre on a blue ground, are accomplished but lifeless. of the group of painters who, under the influence of millet and bastien-lepage, carried the realism of courbet and manet into the field and workshop, the chief survivors in 1926 were lucien simon and charles cottet in france, max liebermann in germany, joaquin sorolla in spain and ettore tito in italy. in great britain the once prominent newlyn group has fallen into obscurity; in sweden anders zorn, best known by his portraits and etchings, is dead; and the hague school of holland has no important living representative. transition painters —between these representatives of im- pressionism in the widest sense and those of the modern move- ment stand many painters combining in varying degrees characteristics of both groups. among these are the decorative painters, who have necessarily never fully accepted impres- sionism and realism. as early as 1892 the rose croix group in france had urged that painting should be idealist and monu- mental in character, with myth and allegory as its subject. these ideas survive, combined with impressionist influences, in the balanced and harmonious compositions of rene menard, whose descent is from puvis de chavannes, in the mural decora- tions of henri martin, and in the work of amand-jean, whose flowing arabesque and pastel tints relate him to the 18th- century decorators. akin to these painters, but closer to the 6 | painting modern movement and more purely decorative in intent, is the broadly handled work of jules flandrin (b. 1871). another group of decorative painters take realism as a starting-point. among these is frank brangwyn (b. 1867), one of the few english painters with considerable european influence and reputation. his later work, such as the eight mural paintings, symbolising the dynamic forms of nature, for the 1915 panama pacific exposition, and the twelve pancls finished in 1925 in the dome of the state house of missouri, is dexterous and schematised in handling, and combines romantic and allegorical treatment of material drawn from the daily life of commerce and industry with a sensuous materialism. a comparable figure is ignacio zuloaga (b. 1870), the leader of a group of basque and castilian painters, including ramon and valentine de zubiaurre, gustavo de maeztu and federico beltran-masses, who consciously aim at expressing spanish national character in their art. with them a romantic concep- tion of subjects drawn from contemporary spanish life is given decorative form by emphasis on silhouette, simplification of form and broad masses of colour, often combined with a low horizon and a panoramic background; though sometimes the realism degenerates into caricature and the decorative treat- ment into the production of cardboard figures against a stage drop-scene. among british painters, augustus john is best known by his portraits, which combine accomplished drawing and power to record a likeness with the decorative use of broad masses of colour, considerable simplification and occasional distortion of forms. his larger subject pieces are apt to be empty and me- chanical. sir c. j. holmes is conspicuous among landscape painters for his emphasis on structure and design; and the well- planned architectural and mountain pieces of sydney lee unite sombre dignity with painstaking study of detail. william rothenstein has abandoned the low key and sombre colour of his earlier work for a decorative treatment and a more vivid palette in his later paintings. the munich decorative school, as seen in its most important product, franz stuck (b. 1863), inherits from becklin the realistic treatment of mythological and allegorical materials. its once important and widespread influence has waned; but it forms part of the bridge between the archaeological and historical painting which formerly dom- inated germany and more modern movements. allied to this school is the swiss ferdinand hodler (1853-1918) by the em- phasised contours and calculated distortions of his later work. but in his symbolic mystical outlook he resembles another important german forerunner of the modern movement, hans von marees (1837-87), neglected in his lifetime but now the object of adulation, who turned from courbet and manet to rubens and delacroix in developing a grandiose decorative art. degas and his influence——another important divergence from the main trend of later roth-century art is seen in france in the art of h. g. e. degas (1834-1917) and pierre auguste renoir (1841-1919). their close association with the impres- sionists was reflected in the choice of subjects from contemporary daily life, and at times in their use of colour. but degas mainly descends from the great draughtsmen of france. a convinced realist, bitterly opposed to the romantic and symbolic, he never sought the ideal beauty of ingres, but turned to use the more absurd and bizarre attitudes of everyday life. his realism is syn- thetic, and represents the building-up, from many sketches and from a retentive memory, of the essential character of a form or movement; and his vision is classic in its impersonal, almost ironic quality. so with his design, which, despite its apparent disregard of the rules of classical composition, yet shows a com- plete balance of strains and stresses round a pictorial centre, revealing the influence of chinese and japanese art. round degas centres a group of realistic draughtsmen, such as henri de toulouse-lautrec (1864-r901)—-whose fevered and _ excited vision inspired much modern work—louis legrand and j. f. raffaelli. jean-louis forain (b. 1852), chiefly known for his political and social cartoons, has the realism and ironic spirit of degas, but less power of design and feeling for colour. as an etcher, however, he is in the front rank. the later work of t. a. steinlen (1859-1923), well known by his journalistic work, is significant of modern tendencies in the increased emphasis given to the third dimension and the use of simplified forms. renoir inspired no special group which calls him master, nor was he the ex- ponent of an aesthetic creed. his earlier work was much under impressionist influence, in its easy vivacity recalling fragonard. later, he grafted impressionism on to a romantic decorative manner inspired by the venetians and rubens, searching for increased solidity and simplicity in his forms, so disposed as to give somewhat the quality of a bas-relief to his paintings. meanwhile, his colour became less naturalistic, ultimately being dominated by the famous renoir carnation. in great britain, the realism and satire of the figure subjects of walter sickert (b. 1860, a.r.a. 1924) are a link with degas, also the growing breadth of treatment in his later work. he adds, however, a characteristically english humour. in land- scape, his search for accurate record of tone relations and an incursion into the use of the spectral palette bring him nearer the impressionists. his influence in transmitting french in- fluence to several younger painters has been considerable. henry tonks (b. 1862), professor at the slade school, has also done much to mould the younger generation, by his enthusiasm for drawing. as a painter, his choice of theme links him to the english painters of domestic genre; his realism and sense of humour to hogarth; his handling of colour to the impressionists. literary and satiric intention is uppermost in the work of max beerbohm but he ts also notable for his delicate linear draughts- manship and skilful design. il. the modern movement post impressionism.—the modern movement has been given various labels, such as post-impressionism and expressionism, but its manifestations are so various that no one term can satis- factorily describe it. these manifestations however, have a common origin and character, in being a reaction against im- pressionism, with its aim of representing visual appearance as a whole at a given time, without reference to shape or appearance as they may be known to exist under other conditions; and in proposing to substitute form arranged into a coherent design to make a new reality and not a reproduction of nature. in this, certain modern painters claim to be returning to the tradition embodied in the work of raphael, poussin, david and ingres, as opposed to the romantics and realists; and to be breaking away from subordination to external and visible things in order to utilise them in expressing the artist’s emotions. from this latter aspect of the movement arises the term ‘expressionism ”’; and divergence as to the kind and quality of emotion to be expressed is one cause of the differences between various modern groups. the general character of the movement helps to account for other distinctive features. colour becomes less naturalistic, and is used to emphasise the solidity of objects, is purely decorative, or assumes a mystical and symbolic char- acter; and anxiety to avoid a transcript of nature has stimulated return to the subject picture, which calls for constructive effort. but the modern movement owes much to the impressionists. it was they who helped to discredit the formulas and aims of academic art; put powerful weapons in the painters’ hands by applying to art scientific discoveries regarding light and colour; and won recognition of the artist’s freedom to express his per- sonal vision of things. it was on this basis that the chief initia- tors of the movement built. these fall into two groups, the one including cezanne, seurat and henri rousseau, whose emphasis tends to be on structure and design; the other including gauguin, van gogh and gustave moreau, in whom symbolist and ex- pressionist elements are more marked. cezanne.—paul cezanne (1849-10906) gives a clue to under- standing of his aims and methods by his own words, that he wished to do poussin over again according to nature, and to make of impressionism something solid and durable like the art of the museums. his sympathies were all with the later venetians, painting puate ii. a= pate ; aoe ee 3 . by permission from the john quinn collection “the way down to the sea” by augustus jonn this painting is one of the best known examples of the earlier work of augustus john. it not only shows the power of his draughtsmanship, but, with its characteristic of definite contours enclosing areas of colour, relates him to the 15th century italian painters. painting 7 rubens, poussin and the baroque masters such as the caracci and e] greco, whose craftsmanship, bravura and well-organised design he admired. these tastes found expression throughout his life, but are most evident in his earlier work. in this he used little colour; but under the influence of the impressionists, especially pissarro, he extended his palette considerably (though still retaining black and the earth colours) and turned to a more intimate study of nature. contemplation of her, he held, reinforced by reflection and study of underlying causes, creates in the artist’s mind a vision of the structure underlying the external, visible world, which to him becomes a series of organic relations between solid forms, which he should seek to realise on canvas. cezanne’s method was to establish the relations be- tween the planes enclosing an object or group of objects by recording all the subtle differences in their colour due to dif- ferences in their relation to the light. but it was the form, not the light around it, which interested cezanne. he worked slowly and painfully; and such was his desire for keeping every element of his work in correct relation that one alteration would often lead to complete repainting. the legend of cezanne’s technical incompetence is partly due to his constant self-depre- ciation and to the amount of work he left unfinished in despair or disgust. though his ultimate rank as a painter is still in the balance, his influence underlies much modern painting. seurat, rousseau and others—georges seurat (1859-91), like cezanne, found inspiration in the 16th- and 17th-century masters. at the same time modern scientific research into colour led him to develop a neo-impressionist technique, which has obscured his power of expressing structure and of welding form into balanced and monumental design. but he has exer- cised much influence, especially on the cubists, whose studio walls often carried reproductions of ‘‘ le chahut,” one of his last pictures. henri rousseau (1844-1910), “‘ le douanier,” a very different figure, was once an octroi official in paris (whence his nickname). he is the type of the primitive who tries to paint things as he knows them to be rather than as they appear. he used, for example, to measure his sitters with a footrule, and transfer these measurements to canvas. his work, which includes por- traits, views of the suburbs of paris, exotic landscapes based on recollections of military service in mexico and figure composi- tions, is marked by emphasis on solidity, precision of handling, adjustment of the relative size of objects according to their importance as elements in design, and at times by a symbolic element. in contrast to rousseau is gustave moreau (1826-1808), a strange figure bred in the strictest academic tradition, who borrowed romantic fire from delacroix and chasseriau, and fed his imagination upon the myths of greece and the east. he emerged from many years’ retirement to become at the end of his life professor at the ecole des beaux arts, where his influence helped to breed a group of young painters with symbolist tend- encies. as a teacher moreau always encouraged self-expression based on close study of the old masters. in his own work moreau stood for the use of painting to express the emotions, and built up a decorative art which sought to combine sombre rich colour with linear arabesque. gauguin and van gogh.—paul gauguin (1848-1903) was more definitely a chef d’ecole than any of the group now under consideration. after an impressionist phase, he became in brittany the centre of the well-known pont-aven group, and there developed theorigs which were to govern all his later work. in 1891 he went to the pacific is., and, except for a brief return to france, spent the rest of his life there. admiration of the primitive was at the base of gauguin’s art. rejecting impres- sionism as a mere reproduction of nature not inspired by thought, he held that study of nature awakes emotions in the artist which he has to express by bringing into relation symbols, con- - sisting of forms and colours. though these colours and forms in his pictures might not actually exist in nature, he claimed them to be the pictorial equivalent of the grandeur, profundity and mystery of tahiti. his latest work most completely embodies these ideas in its use of boldly simplified contours enclosing areas of rich purples, greens, reds and oranges. his art is pri- marily decorative and intellectual, revealing a less strenuous effort to express a third dimension than does cezanne’s. his symbolism, though not primarily literary, towards the end moved in that direction. akin to gauguin in his outlook and use of colour is vincent van gogh (1853-90). born in holland, his early work shows the influence of the older dutch masters and of the hague school; association with the impressionists in paris and with gauguin at arles led him to develop the use of heavy masses of vivid colour arranged in bold patterns, emphasised by black outlines and writhing arabesques of paint. a passionate lover of nature, and a mystic and idealist by temperament, van gogh believed that the artist’s creative power was given to him to make men happy. vehement personal passion is the note of his work. his colour ultimately became quite non-naturalistic, and was solely directed towards expressing his emotions in the face of nature; and his surface texture serves to increase the arrest- ing, disquieting quality of his work. the third dimension did not play a dominant part in van gogh’s work. his design, in which decorative simplification became increasingly marked, shows strongly the influence of japanese art. symbolism and fauvism.—the characteristic aims of the pre- ceding group of painters—rejection of naturalistic representa- tion, emphasis on solidity and structure, organised design, and the symbolic use of form and colour—appears in varying degrees in the work of their successors. the influence of cezanne, which has modified or supplanted that of others, took some time to develop, and the first well-marked group appeared round gauguin at pont-aven. prominent therein was paul serusier (b. 1864), who was one of the first to formulate a doc- trine based on the ideas of gauguin, cezanne and odilon redon. he drew round him a group of symbolistes which included maurice denis (b. 1870), ‘pierre bonnard, k-xavier roussel and edouard vuillard. this doctrine declares that a work of art must aim at the expression of an idea. since it uses form for this purpose, it must be symbolic; and since the form as to be organised, it must be synthetic and decorative. the basis of the doctrine is a belief in correspondence between external forms and subjective states—not by association, but direct. serusier and denis have given these ideas a mystical and religious appli- cation, largely under the influence of the quatfrecento italians. in bonnard (b. 1867) and vuillard (b. 1867), however, the purely decorative element is uppermost, in a graceful and refined but over-precious treatment of material drawn from everyday life, influenced by japanese art, and marked by elusive and delicate harmonies of green, blue, rose and yellow combined with grey. closely akin to this symboliste group is another, whose best-known members were pupils of gustave moreau. the religious symbolic pictures of george desvallieres (b. 1861) are characterised by the use of arabesque and rich exotic colour; the more realistic art of charles guerin (b. 1874) by its decora- tive aim and search for tonal rather than for linear unity. the influence of moreau, modified by the pupil’s own temperament, is well seen in the fantastic, savagely distorted nudes and mysterious, sombre landscapes of georges roualt. amutisse.—far better known is his fellow-pupil henri matisse (b. 1869), who represents the expressionist side of symbolism. academic and neo-impressionist phases never obscured a very personal use of line and colour whose decorative quality relates him to the chinese and japanese. a period of arbitrary dis- tortions of the human figure, partly inspired by the study of negro art, marked a further stage in breaking away from repre- sentational art. these distortions, his apparently anarchic design and his decorative use of colour earned for matisse the title of ‘‘ chef des fauves,” though he has not formed the centre of a well-marked group, despite his wide influence. it is difficult to acquit him sometimes of painting pour epatcr le bourgeois; but his latest work shows increased discipline and restraint, and is notable for the use of a sensitive contour en- closing delicate and harmonious colour. 8 painting somewhat the same power is seen in the italian painter and sculptor amedee modigliani (1884-1920), though his work is far more mannered than that of matisse and lacks feeling for colour. kees van dongen (b. 1877 in holland) mingles the in- fluence of matisse with that of toulouse-lautrec, and mainly shows the application of a fazviste recipe to the painting of fashionable parisian society. different from the sywebolistes and fauves, but equally in reaction against impressionism, are the painters who return to the outlook and methods of the quatirocento italians. among these are jean frelaut (b. 1879), notable for his sincere inter- pretations of the country and people round morbihan in brit- tany; and felix vallotton (1865-1926), whose angular, precise contours and definite colour pattern relate him to the primitives, and have won him the nickname of the “ cabanel of the salon d’automne.” a definite pre-raphaelite tendency is represented in england by joseph southall, head of the birmingham school of art. henry lamb combines the influence of the itaiian primitives with that of gauguin and augustus john, in a dig- nified and sensilive art whose emphasis is largely on design. he has influenced among others stanley and gilbert spencer, whose work is delicate and sincere, but tends to a conscious archaism. eric kennington, whose war paintings attracted much atten- tion, has pre-raphaelite leanings, but is primarily academic in outlook. . | cubism.—to the manifestations of the modern movement so far considered, cubism is a marked contrast. it was a reaction not only against impressionism but against fauvism, and pro- fessed to stand for the introduction of order and discipline into painting. some opponents of cubism, indeed, saw therein a return offensive of the academics. it owes its name and in part its origin to matisse, from whose association with picasso and others the movement took shape in 1908; and in conjunction with a similar group which included albert gleizes and jean metzinger, cubism won its first public recognition in the salon d’automne of 1913. to the influence of cezanne and seurat, which mainly inspired the movement, was joined that of negro and polynesian art, in which there is a simplified treatment of the human form which emphasises its bulk and solidity, and a complete disregard of normal appearance in the effort to express an idea. thus the cubists came to reject the reproduction ol natural appearance. nature, they hold, merely serves to awaken in the artist emotions which he expresses by a series of abstract forms, ordered and arrayed by his will. thus cubism aims at creating a kind of visual music. in its most austere form it avoids curved lines and colour as pretty and sentimental; and even holds that a picture is not a decoration since that term implies dependence upon external objects. from the first, great emphasis was laid on the expression of a third dimension. this aroused difficulties, which have sepa- rated the cubists into distinct groups. expression of a third dimension introduced an element of resemblance to nature. some painters accepted this so that their pictures are i ttle more than arrangements of realistically painted cubes and cvlin- ders; others rebelled against such a restricted art, and made of cubism merely an exercise in the expression of three-dimensional form. the purists, however, argued that art is not concerned with euclidean space but with a special pictorial space, which we feel by our whole personality expanding or contracting before a picture; and that it is not the painter’s business to create an illusion of a third dimension but to make live on a two-dimen- sional surface a reality of three dimensions. further difficulties have been caused by development of a theory of simultaneity which justifies presenting on the same canvas several aspects of the same object. this often only comes to a mechanical arrange- ment of a number of separate impressions, whose disentangle- ment may be a source of interest, but makes cubism descriptive rather than pictorial. picasso—pablo picasso (b. 1881 at malaga) has been the dominating force in the movement, but by no means typifies it. with him cubism has been only a phase. to a realistic period, mainly influenced by toulouse-lautrec, succeeded a group of reddish nudes, solidly constructed from simplified planes, which ushered in the cubist period. the earlier work in this showed some conlormity to natural appearance, and was mainly in grisaille; later the forms became more abstract, the design more arbitrary and the colour more brilliant, sand and similar sub- stances being embedded in the paint to give relief and variety of surface. later came the influence of ingres, especially in pi- casso’s drawings, some of which conform closely to natural ap- pearance, with only enough distortion to give flow and rhythm. the chief characteristic of picasso is his versatility. but it is doubtful whether he has achieved more than a series of exercises in different manners. other cubists have also reverted to representation. georges braque, whose long adherence to geometric forms, straight lines and sombre colour made him the purist of the movement, has | executed admirable settings for the russian ballet, and turns still life groups into flat patterns of attractive colour. metzinger, one of the popularisers of cubism, paints artificial arrangements of natural forms, coarsely modelled with emphatic local colour; auguste herbin has become a heavy-handed landscape painter in the cezanne tradition; leopold survage in his treatment of the figure has become almost academic. of the leading figures in the movement, juan gris and fernand leger alone still exem- plify its doctrines; and in general the influence of cubism may be said to have passed, save in giving a solid and mechanical quality to the work of those who once practised it. between the extremes of cubism and fauvism stands a con- siderable group of artists who derive something from both, but mainly witness the influence of cezanne. of these albert mar- quet (b. 1875) is primarily a painter of paris and of the seine, whose use of well-defined planes, with their tonal relations accurately expressed, is apt to degenerate into an ingenious system of notation. jean puy (b. 1876), in his landscapes of wide-stretching countrysides, has notable feeling for subtle variations in colour and tone. with othon frieza (b. 1879) the organising instinct is uppermost, but he shows considerable power of retaining fresh and unspoiled his original conception. more consciously decorative than cezanne, his mural paintings sometimes show the influence of gauguin. jean marchand (b. 1883) and dunoyer de segonzac (b. 1884) are among those to whom cubism has been a gymnastic to develop understanding of form, but who rely on colour and tone to give solidity and a sense of space. marchand’s early promise has scarcely been fulfilled, his recent work being empty and its colour forced. segonzac has developed the use of the palette knife and thick impasto, work- ing in a scheme of dark browns, greys and greens which are apt to be monotonous. his war paintings, which reflect a very per- sonal emotion based on his own experience, are themselves the colour of flanders mud. andre derain (b. 1880) is one of the most influential of younger painters. after a period influenced by van gogh and the neo-impressionists, he produced a series of truculent nudes and landscapes, which showed cubist and fauve influence in their simplified and distorted forms. his later work is more sober and naturalistic, though apt to be heavy and mannered. amannerism also marks the dramatic landscapes of maurice vlaminck (b. 1876), with their heavy skies and contrast of sombre greens with vivid reds and pinks. maurice utrillo (b. 1883) mingles impressionist influence with that of cezanne in his landscapes. before the war, a limited palette, including black and white, and considerable attention to atmosphere and texture marked his work; replaced latex by greater definition of forms and forcing of local colour. marie laurencin mingles the influence of matisse and renoir in her paintings of women and children, whose sprightliness does not conccal the lifeless formula on which they are based. futurism.— modern art in most countries is an extension or adaptation of french ideas and methods. spain has produced picasso, but cubism is entirely parisian in origin; and so much of the modern spirit as appears in catalan painters such as sunyer and casals is derived from france. futurism, however, is indigenous to italy. the term has been loosely used, especially painting | peate iti. wa © bets} “a > | . lo ae es oar } \"v2 i; a - ' from the john quinn collection ““arlequin” by pablo picasso picasso has been a major influence in recent painting. his spanish heritage of irony and his dazzling french facility have sparkled now in blue, now wn pink, with prismatic brilliance. this harlequin from his “blue” period shows picasso's mastery of linear composition and spatial relations before he undertook to show in one canvas all the facets of a subject conceived as a moving, variable idea. painting __ 9 in england, to denote the modern movement as a whole; but strictly it applies to the doctrines of a group of italian poets, sculptors and painters, first presented to the world in 1909 in a manifesto signed by f. t. marinetti, the poet and high priest of the movement. these doctrines apply to art a general philos- ophy of life, based on the modern scientific theories which express all matter in terms of energy; and while denouncing all that the past has done (whence the name futurism) holds that movement and conflict are the dominant characteristics of modern life. cubism, as dealing only with the static aspects of life, it rejects; impressionism it takes as a starting point, but claims to have surpassed. the futurist’s aim is to represent, not the appearance of objects at some particular point in their course, but the sensa- tion of movement and growth itself. one method, which con- nects futurism with cubism, is to combine on one canvas not only what the artist sees, but what he knows and remembers about an object. another, peculiar to futurism, is the use of “ force lines.” every object, it is argued, is at a given moment the temporary outcome of continuously acting forces, whose char- acter is indicated by the lines and planes enclosing it. thus an object becomes simply the beginning or prolongation of rhythms conveyed to the artist by contemplation thereof; and these he represents in his picture by lines arranged to clash, harmonise or interplay in order to express states of mind such as chaotic excitement, happiness or interest. colour the futurists use arbitrarily to assist in conveying these sensations. luigi russolo is the most logical and orthodox of the futurists. the work of others, such as carlo carra, is little more than a catalogue of information about a number of different objects; though umberto boccioni, who has applied futurist theories also to sculpture, sometimes redeems his work by an interesting design. the gaily coloured, tapestry-like patterns of gino severini were among the more attractive futurist paintings; but his recent work under cubist and academic influences has be- come entirely commonplace. his career typifies the fate of futurism, which has found no new recruits, and has had but transient influence. ill. national tendencies great britain.—the british vorticists share some doctrines with the futurists; but the main forces shaping the modern move- ment in great britain are french. this movement first took shape in the studio of walter sickert, and resulted in the forma- tion of the camden town group under the presidency of spencer frederick gore (1878-1914), which developed into the more eclectic london group whose first president was harold gilman (1876-19019). at the same time roger fry (b. 1866), by his writings and by assisting to organise post-impressionist exhibi- tions in 1910 and rg12 at the grafton galleries, did much to make known the character of the modern movement in france. and to assimilate more closely thercto the english movement. gore and gilman represent the movement in its earlier stages. gore’s earlier impressionism was modified under the influence of cezanne and van gogh by increased attention to structure and design, which for a time obscured his charming sense of colour. this reappeared in his latest work, done mainly at richmond. gilman emerged from a period influenced by whistler and painters of the vuillard type to one which gave increased emphasis to the third dimension and showed the in- fluence of van gogh in the use of brilliant colour and the tex- ture of paint. charles ginner, whose work 1s akin to gilman’s, though without its vitality, describes their art as aiming at “ the plastic interpretation of life through intimate research into nature.” the emotions aroused by nature in the artist he must express by deliberate and objective transposition of nature on to canvas, so that he reveals the qualities in her which have moved him. the variety of line and colour in nature, joined to the artist’s personality, will produce a decorative composition. this neo- realism (as ginner calls it) is based on the attitude of cezanne and van gogh towards nature; but gives an english turn to that attitude by emphasising the part played by nature as com- pared with that of the artist. the french point of view is more evident in the work of the london group. some of its members are still slaves to a i'rench formula; others have based on french teaching a more individual art, notably w. b. adeney, roger fry, duncan grant and vanessa bell. grant’s feeling for deli- cate and harmonious colour and for pattern gives his art char- acteristic quality, which over-absorption in problems of three dimensional form has at times obscured. c. w. r. nevinson, having explored in turn impressionism, futurism and cubism, abandoned the geometric convention which marked his war paintings, to reveal an academic art masked by previous ex- periments. distinct in character is the vorticist movement, which had its origin in 1913 among certain members of the camden town group, and had as its leading figures the painters percy wyndham lewis, cuthbert hamilton, frederick etchells, edward wads- worth and william roberts, the poet ezra pound and the sculptor henri gaudier-brzeska (1891-1915). like futurism, it holds that modern art must be based on the character of mod- ern industrial civilisation, whose features are complexity and dominance of the machine; and, since england is pre-eminently the type of the modern industrial country, this art will be an english art. but it rejects futurism as merely the cinemato- graphic representation of a series of impressions; and joins the modern movement as a whole in claiming that the artist’s work is not to copy nature, but to create new realities. every phase of emotion has its appropriate means of expression in some particular form of some particular material, whose appeal is direct and not by association or allegory. these forms take shape and proceed out of the artist’s “‘ vortex ”’ (hence the name of the movement), which is a general conception in his mind of relations in the universe through which ideas pass and take concrete shape, just as the general equation of a circle in analyt- ical geometry becomes one particular circle when definite quantitics are substituted for the algebraic symbol. in 1920 the vorticists seceded from the london group to form the x group; but their first exhibition showed some modi- fication in their practice. the earlicr vorticist work was gcome- tric and abstract, and owed much to cubism. hamilton repre- sents this phase; but others have turned towards expressing the structure of natural forms in the way exemplified by the work of wyndham lewis, while j. mcknight kauffer has exploited geometric conventions with much success in posters. the in- terest of the earlier vorticist painting lies in disentangling in sequence the elements from which it is constructed; otherwise, though sometimes showing new and interesting combinations of shapes and colours, it presents only a barren world of geometri- cal forms. u'itited states —in the united states, cubism, futurism and vorticism have all had their exponents among the younger painters, but have inspired no work of permanent interest or value. modern french art has nevertheless materially modified the impressionism which had become a dominant force in amcrican painting. impressionist ideas had marked the work of the society of national artists, once representative of the advanced elements in american painting. on the dissolution of this body, many of its members joined the older national academy, thereby establishing impressionism as one form of orthodoxy, exemplified in the landscapes of twachtman and robinson among the older men. problems of light and atmos- phere are likewise the main interest of dewing, childe hassam and j. alden weir (d. 1920), and of the sea painters carlsen, dougherty and waugh. the work of these men is primarily an echo of european ideas and the methods of an older generation. more recently, however, various forces have tended to shape a distinctly american school. among these is the rapid increase in the number of important art galleries throughout the country, which permits art students to study at first hand the old masters; the development of american art schools, with teachers of personality and originality, such as la farge and chase; and the consequent increase in the number of painters who remain in io america and find their material in characteristically american scenes. such influences, combined: with modern aesthctic theories, have resulted in more attention to problems of form and design, with greater breadth of treatment. among figure and portrait painters, robert henri is notable for his versatility and vigorous, direct handling; john sloan for his intensely realistic treatment of new york slum life; george bellows (d. 1925) for his well designed and sympathetic interpretation of many phases of contemporary life, work and sport. among landscapes the broadly decorative studies of suburban new york by ernest lawson and the vivacious rural and beach scenes of william j. glackens may be mentioned. less concerned than any of these with problems of natural appearance was albert ryder (d. 1916), whose landscapes and figure studies are inspired by a highly romantic and very pcr- sonal emotion, which links him to such painters as delacroix. the mystical decorative compositions of arthur b. davies are conceived in the vein of a fantin latour, but are weak in design and drawing. in contrast is the strongly realistic approach of g. b. luks, who produced several remarkable war paintings. mural painters have also been active in amcrica, the example set by sargent in boston being paralleled in public buildings at pittsburgh, baltimore, st. paul, minneapolis and elsewhere by the work of such painters (among others) as la farge, blash- field, and alexander. germany.—in germany the modern movement has been mainly inspired by that side of modern french art represented by matisse and derain. cubism has not gained a firm footing there; though the russian jew, marc chagall, shows cubist influence in the sharply defined planes and angular design of his fantastic, vividly coloured decorations; and lyonel [einiger has adopted the cubist method of extension and development of planes. but arbitrary distortion and writhing arabesque have proved more congenial means of expression in an art which has always tended towards the romantic and symbolic. native influences, such as hans von marees and the munich decorative school, joined the study of e] greco and matthias griinewald in paving the way for an expressionist art in the full sense of the term—one which gives vent to every kind of emotion with un- restrained vehemence. a mystical temper and a mass of con- fused aspirations induced by the war have stimulated this development; but the movement was in being before the war, chiefly under the leadership of wassily kandinsky (b.1866 at moscow), a prominent member of a munich group of painters, poets and musicians, whose aim was the cxpression through art of the “ znnerer kiang ’’—the soul of nature and humanity. according to kandinsky, colour and form have the power of producing spiritual vibrations quite apart from their ordinary meaning and associations; and a picture consists of an arrange- ment of form and colour whose spiritual values are in harmony with it and unite to express the artist’s spiritual conceptions. thus painting ceases to have representation as its purpose, and becomes analogous to music in its rhythmical arrangements of forms and colours. these may be borrowed from nature, but must have no external associations, and may be frecly adapted and distorted to suit the artist’s aim. thus kandinsky has points of contact both with the symbolistes and cubists; but he criticises the latter for reducing the construction of a picture to rules and formulas, and for paying overmuch attention merely to representing three-dimensional form. kandinsky’s own work has become increasingly abstract in character, and consists of some early flat decorations, com- bining russian and munich influences; a group of more or less direct impressions of nature, inspired by matisse; ‘‘ improvisa- tions ’”’ which represent spontaneous expressions of inner char- acter; and “‘ compositions ”’ which, he claims, express a slowly formed and mature spiritual feeling. his most important dis- ciple is franz marc (1880-1916), whose animal compositions, boldly designed in arbitrary colour, are his most typical work. the influence of kandinsky has declined rapidly in recent years; and more relation to natural appearance is preserved in the work of the younger men. prominent among these is oskar painting kokoschka (b. 1886 in austria),in whose early work appears the free distortion, sharp contrasts of light and shade, bold con- tours and thick impasto worked into arabesques, by which he conveys his excited and very personal vision. in his later work emphasis by these meansis even more emphatic and merciless. the heads of his figures are balanced on tiny bodies, bizarre monsters are introduced, and the paint is literally thrown on to the canvas, with great channels made therein to mark the dominant lines of the design. painters of similar tendencies are emil nolde, karl hofer (whose work has affinities to that of derain), and karl schmidt- rottluff. the last, under the influence of negro sculpture, has become a coarser matisse. the influence of an earlier generation of frenchmen is seen in max pechstein (b. 1881), a founder of the “ brucke” expressionist group in dresden, whose work owes much to gauguin; and in albert werszgerber and carl caspar, both of whom base their design and use of colour on cezanne. max slevogt (b. 1868) and lovis corinth (1858-1925) were among the leaders of the berlin secession, a split in the berlin kunstverein which marked the rise there of the modern movement. both owe much to matisse; slevogt as a figure painter, corinth in landscape. associated with them in the secession was edward munch (b. 1862 in norway), who stands somewhat apart in his combination of realism and fantasy 1n- fluenced by manet, toulouse-lautrec and seurat. russia.—in russia the influence of french art has been no less marked than elsewhere, but has taken peculiar and char- acteristic shape. towards the end of the roth century western, and in particular french, influence was represented by the realistic historical painters such as ilya repin and by a group of plctn-air landscape painters. in reaction against their natu- ralism a decorative school developed, corresponding somewhat to the english pre-raphaelites, basing its work on old russian art, and represented by vassily surikov (1848-1916) and victor vasnetzov, of this reaction the modern movement ts really a development. one form it has taken is represented by mikhail vrubel (d. rgro), whose mystical symbolism recalls that of gustave moreau in its search to express things of the spirit in pictorial form; while petroff-wodkin is nearer to the french faves in his simplified and distorted nudes and arbitrary use of colour. more impor- tant is a petrograd group, consisting of historical painters whose aim is to reconstruct in decorative form a past epoch; not from living models dressed in costume of the period, but from the close study of every form of contemporary record. thus the movement is primarily intellectual and literary, and has pro- duced an art which, for all its refinement and delicacy, is in- clined to be precious and a mere rechauffe of already used material. within the movement one group looks to the west. alex- ander benois has concentrated on the age of louis x1v.; kon- stantine somov, the most individual of all, upon the period of 1830; and eugene lanceray upon the court of elizabeth and peter the great. stelletsky and count komatovsky, on the other hand, have gone to old russia for their motives. stelletsky is the purist of the group, his reconstructions of russian me- diaeval life being based on minute archaeological study of ikons, service books and similar sources. nicolas rocrich has departed from strictly documentary methods in secking to reconstruct primeval and prehistoric russia in his fantastic flat decorations based on russian legends, and thereby joins hands with the group represented by vasnetzov. rather apart is boris anrep (working now in england), who studied byzan- tine art and the ikon, not in an archaeological spirit, but as exemplifying a means for the expression of human emotion. his work is principally in mosaic, submission to whose limita- tions, he holds, makes for the simplicity and directness which are often lost amid the technical possibilities of oil paint. the close connection of modern russian art with the theatre is another important characteristic, which has grown directly out of the decorative reaction against realism. leon bakst (d. 1925) represents one side of this. originally associated with painting platee iv. courtesy of the buffalo fine arts academy, albright art gallery, buffalo “elinor, jean and anna” by george bellows (the artist’s aunt, daughter and mother) george bellows set down fearlessly—and quite against the traditions—life as he saw it. his searching analysis and observation, and great originality in fig- ure composition, give his work a vitality, a virility, that americans like to call typically national. palaeobotany the petrograd historical group, he came into touch with serge diaghilev and became one of the chief designers of settings for the russian ballet. his use of line and colour relates him to the east; but, like benois and somov, his outlook and method are those of the west. distinct in character is the art of nathalie gontcharova and m. larionov. using the methods of the petrograd group, they took their material from russian peasant art, as represented in the decoration of articles in daily use and in the “ lubok,” the russian equivalent of the “ images d’epinal.” this gives their earlier work notable simplicity and directness. french influence was not to be denied, however, and gontcharova’s setting for the 1914 production of the “coq d’or” and larionov’s ‘‘ les contes russes”’ of 1915 mark the invasion of the theatre by cubist ideas. the colour scheme was still that of russian peasant art; but the design was based on abstract forms, and aimed at a rhythm in harmony with the music and the danccs. to this development the name of rayonnisme has been given. settings by french painters (notably derain, braque and picasso) have strengthened french influence. other countries though the modern outlook in painting has had influence in scandinavia, america and australia, it has not taken a form specially characteristic of local conditions or national temper. painting in australia is mainly a backwash from english impressionism: and the accomplished pen draw- ings of norman lindsay, which attracted much attention when exhibited in london in 1923, are little more than skilful pas- tiches on rops and beardsley. in canada, on the other hand, has developed a distinct local school of landscape painting marked by decorative breadth of handling and feeling for the distinctive character of the country. norwegian and swedish painting is also mainly derivative, combining impressionist or expressionist ideas from france with flat decorative treatment in broad masses of colour inspired from germany. much of the criticism levelled at the modern movement, like that once directed against impressionism, is mercly a violent statement of personal preference. weighticr arguments point out that the emphasis given in the modern movement to the third dimension merely exalts one element in natural appcar- ance, and urge that since the painter works on a flat surface design must ultimately be based on the play of contour. also, it is said, modern methods of simplification and distortion tend to become formulas which prevent sincere and spontancous expression no less than older conventions. but contention chiefly centres round the question of representation. it is ar- gued that a purely abstract art, which takes no account of the ideas and emotions conveyed by the objects represented, is a limited and empty affair. rhythm in the plastic arts, no less than in literature, must emphasise some meaning; and form takes on a significance by association, if not with specific objccts, yet with general ideas of mass, space and movement. recent work has to some extent justified and admitted these criticisms, partly by the greater tendency to flat patterning as compared with expression of volume, partly by the increasing weight given to representations of natural appearance. bibliography.—see also: vincent van gogh, lettres d emile bernard (1911); maurice denis, theories, 1890-1910 (1912); fritz burger, cezanne und hodler (1913); v. kandinsky, the art of spiritual harmony (1914); ambroise vollard, paul cezanne (1914); w. h. wright, modern painting (1916); p. westheim, die welt als vorstellung (1918); charles morice, paul gauguin (1919); roger fry, vision and design (1920); g. coquiot, les independants (1920); a. salmon, l’art vivant (1920);,j. gasquet, cezanne (1921); julius merer graefe, vincent (1923); elie faure, l'art moderne (1923); jan gordon, modern french painters (1923); three series by various authors, les artistes nouveaux, junge kunst, contemporary british artists. (w. g. c.*)",
    "source_url": "https://archive.org/details/encyclopaedia-britannica-encyclopaedia-britannica.-3-encyclopaedia-britannica-inc.-1926",
    "observed_at": "2026-05-17 12:14:21",
    "integrity": {
        "hash_check": "match",
        "hash_scope": "full_normalized_text",
        "computed_sha256": "b5957f1d31c5f35a14975b4729796ecc14c2d06a8a1e1d1e37aab1efab1f3c44"
    },
    "machine_use": {
        "read": true,
        "cite": true,
        "decision": "verified_public_domain_text"
    },
    "goguides_data_license": "https://www.goguides.com/data-license",
    "goguides_data_license_version": "2.0",
    "documentation": {
        "white_paper_url": "https://www.goguides.com/white-paper.php",
        "pdf_url": "https://www.goguides.com/whitepapers/goguides-ai-source-clearance-white-paper.pdf"
    }
}