Study Day

Most of us know about the Impressionist Movement in France, but in fact by the 1890’s Impressionism had become an international art form and many outstanding Impressionist painters emerged from America, Australia, Italy and Spain. This study day looks at Impressionism outside France.

1. Impressionism in Britain

The first lecture starts with a reminder about how Impressionism changed painting traditions – how new pigments and materials developed in the 19th century, how photography influenced artists, and above all how artists searched for new subjects, in particular modern life including railway stations, boulevards, cafes and dance halls. We then explore how French Impressionism slowly influenced painting in Britain replacing Pre-Raphaelitism as the preferred style. We study the role of Whistler and his legal battle with John Ruskin and discuss Walter Sickert’s links with Paris and the French Impressionists, looking at the paintings of Wilson Steer, Wynford Dewhurst and John Lavery.

2. Impressionism in America

In this session we examine how John Singer Sargent and Mary Cassatt, along with the dealer Paul Durand-Ruel, helped to popularise Impressionism in America. A number of American artists settled in Giverny to be close to Monet, while in America a group of Impressionist artists established ‘The Ten’ which included such brilliant painters as William Merritt Chase, Childe Hassam, Willard Metcalf, Robert Reid, John Twachtman and Frank Benson. These artists adapted French Impressionism to suit the American landscape and climate, in particular winter snow landscapes which the American Impressionists painted brilliantly.

3. Worldwide Impressionism

Within 10 years of the First Impressionist Exhibition in Paris, the style had spread around the world. We look at some brilliant Australian Impressionist paintings including Arthur Streeton, Tom Roberts and Charles Conder. Then we head for Spain to look at the dynamic Impressionist canvases of Joaquin Sorolla, a painter of seascapes, landscapes and his own garden in Madrid. We examine the work of Italian expatriates painting in Paris including Giuseppe de Nittis and Giovanni Boldini. Finally we look North to Scandinavia to see the luminous paintings of P.S.Kroyer and Anders Zorn.

This is an opportunity to look at many wonderful paintings which are unfamiliar to most of us. It is a study day which will have considerable appeal.