Today’s lecture was recorded and we focused on several topics. We started the lecture by discussing early examples photography and its emergence as a medium. It was noted that photos were important for Realism artists to capture exactly what they saw when painting. In this section of the lecture we also discussed portrait photography and photojournalism.
We then began our discussion of Impressionism, starting with the work of Manet. Manet was well-read and sought to bring a modern art style in to capture the change and vitality of mid-1800’s Paris. Manet took themes from old masters but avoided their naturalism and balanced compositions. He was painterly and used thick brushstrokes and bright color palettes. Manet’s style was revolutionary and brought on a new period. Other impressionists include artists like Monet. They also captured the world they saw in a dreamy, new way. Monet specifically played a lot with light conditions and rendering the feeling/impression of landscapes/cityscapes. Monet painted outdoors, which was interesting yo me, and painted one color at a time. This allowed for optical mixing that provides a shimmering effect to many of his paintings.