On view July 16-October 9, 2011
Curated by Stanton Thomas
Curator of European and Decorative Arts
Organized
by the High Museum of Art and the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art
Presenting
Sponsor:
The First
Tennessee Foundation
Exhibition
Sponsors:
The Arthur
F. and Alice E. Adams Charitable Foundation
The Brooks
Museum League
Family Day
Sponsor:
Macy’s
Alive with color,
flickering light, and spontaneous movement, Impressionist and Post-Impressionist
paintings are arguably the most recognizable and popular visual art of our time.
Because of their familiarity and immediate appeal, it is easy to forget how
these canvases first shocked and then eventually transformed the art world.
Monet to Cézanne / Cassatt to Sargent: The
Impressionist Revolution offers a
rare chance to rediscover masterworks by celebrated members of the movement.
The exhibition features over 95 paintings and works on paper. It traces
Impressionism as it evolved through the nineteenth century and into the modern
era, both in France and the United States.
Radicals and revolutionaries, the Impressionists broke the
rules of traditional painting. Around 1870, members of the movement such as
Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro began freely brushing oil pigments onto
canvases with little or no under-drawing and using quick dabs of unblended colors.
In addition, the Impressionists took their canvases out of the studio into open
fields and public spaces. These techniques gave their pictures a sense vibrant
energy.
 Their canvases—like Monet’s splendid Autumn on the Seine, Argenteuil (1873)—capture the shifting effects
of sunlight, air, and movement. Avoiding traditional subject matter such as
religious or historical topics, the Impressionists instead focused their
attention upon realistic images of modern life, such as train stations, rustic
landscapes, or casual public gatherings.
Although at first reviled by the public and critics,
Impressionism gradually gained not only acceptance, but French and
international followers. Among them were Mary Cassatt, John Singer Sargent, and
Theodore Robinson, Americans who were drawn to the style’s spontaneity and
fresh approach. Many artists worked side-by-side with French masters. Robinson,
for instance, settled next door to Claude Monet in the French town of Giverny.
Here he painted nuanced, light-filled canvases such as The Lane (ca. 1893-1895). The
American Impressionists also returned to the United States to teach and to advise
collectors, ultimately helping to popularize the style in their native country.
 By the 1880s, some of the original Impressionists and other
artists began to explore new directions of artistic expression. Later called
Post-Impressionists, they continued using
energetic tones, distinctive brush strokes, and everyday subject matter, but
tended to paint in unnatural or arbitrary colors, using geometric shapes and distorting
forms for expressive effects. Emile Bernard’s striking Still-Life with Orange (1887) is a fine example of the movement, as
is Paul Cézanne’s arresting Trees and
Rocks, Near the Château Noir (ca. 1900-1906).
The Impressionist Revolution is jointly organized by the Memphis Brooks Museum of
Art and the High Museum of Art, Atlanta. It also  features works from the Dixon
Gallery and Gardens. The collaborative effort brings together three important
collections of French and American Impressionism and Post-Impressionism,
comprising works from many of the major masters of these schools. Spanning the
1850s through the 1920s, the exhibition will consider the movement as it
evolved and spread, forever redefining the visual arts.
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