It isn’t easy to believe that Impressionist art, now ubiquitous, was ever considered revolutionary. Claude Monet’s “Water Lilies,” for example, is now regarded as lovely and inoffensive, and emblazoned on shirts, coffee mugs, socks, umbrellas and even cellphone covers.
When these avant-garde artists mounted their first Paris exhibition in 1874, however, a cultural bomb exploded. When labeled “Impressionists” by a French critic, it was not a compliment. “Since I was impressed, there must be some impression in there …,” he scornfully wrote, coining the term.
“The first exhibitions were thought to be a joke at best and grotesque at worst,” said Nicole Myers, chief curatorial and research officer at the Dallas Museum of Art. “It’s hard to see them that way with modern eyes.”
Myers was at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art for last week’s opening of “The Impressionist Revolution: Monet to Matisse from the Dallas Museum of Art,” which she curated. It’s the only western U.S. stop on a tour that includes Mexico City; Nashville, Tennessee; Richmond, Virginia; Ontario, Canada; and others.
Here, it is paired with “Encore: 19th-Century French Art from the Santa Barbara Museum of Art,” featuring works from the local institution’s extensive collection of paintings, photographs and works on paper from the Impressionist period. They serve as a guide to a visual tour of Paris, its famous sites, bohemian hangouts and other French regions popular with artists, plus a jaunt to London.
Both exhibitions are on view through Jan. 25, making them a “must-see” for holiday visitors. Admission to the special shows requires an additional fee, and reservations for timed tickets. Many related programs and performances are also scheduled. For details, visit sbma.net.
The elements of Impressionism found pleasing today were a radical departure from the art world of 1870s Paris. In their eyes, the works appeared unfinished and crude, the bright colors garish, and the scenes of ordinary life, modern industry and even still-lifes were considered offensive. This was ultramodern contemporary art.
“‘How dare you!’ the critics seemed to say, as this didn’t reflect what they considered French culture,” Myers said. “A boat under a bridge? Flowers in an everyday house? That was just not done.”
They also dared to tie fine art to commerce by offering their works for sale directly to the public. C’est outrageux!
‘Impressionist Revolution’ Comes to Town
The Dallas museum’s exhibition traces the birth of Impressionism and reveals how it served as a foundation for the next generation of avant-garde artists, and even those working in the early 20th century.
“Any ‘ism’ that followed had its roots in Impressionism, including Cubism, Abstract Expressionism and Modernism,” Myers said. “It was an important break from the norm, which still had a massive impact 40 years later. We end the show with a Matisse still-life from 1924, cutting edge for its time, that continued to challenge the perception of space.”
The 47 paintings and two sculptures are organized roughly chronologically, with some thematic groupings. Strolling through the galleries is like a visual time-lapse of creative evolution, as the painters pushed boundaries.
There are luscious still-lifes of Pierre-Auguste Renoir (“Roses and Peonies in a Vase”) and Gustave Caillebotte (“Yellow Roses in a Vase”), Parisian street scenes by Camille Pissarro (“Place du Théâtre François, Fog Effect”) and Monet (“The Pont Neuf”), and plenty of paintings of the ocean, seasides, rivers and ponds, including two Monet water lilies (including one that is round).
Eye candy includes examples of Pointillism by Pissarro and Paul Signac, including the latter’s 2-foot-by-3-foot dazzling “Mont Saint-Michel, Setting Sun.”
Myers pointed out that pointillism was divisive among the Impressionists. Some among the younger generation saw it as simply an optical trick and advocated for more emotions, ideas and personal expression in their works. Paul Gauguin was among them.
“Gauguin had a foot in both camps,” she said. “His painted drum from around 1884 is in with works by other Impressionist founders, but once he went to Tahiti, his work changed. It was him saying, ‘I want to express more, I want to connect with the subjects.’”
“I Raro to Oviri” (“Under the Pandanus”) from 1891 is a radical departure, and is on view in a gallery of works by his contemporaries and artists that he influenced, including Emile Bernard (“Bridge at Pont Aven”), Paul Sérusier (“Celtic Tale”) and Vincent van Gogh (“Sheaves of Wheat”).
The final gallery depicts how the seeds of Impressionism bloomed into new and bold art movements throughout Europe in the early 19th century.
“Abstract Head: Two Elements” by Alexei Jawlensky shows the German Expressionist artist, still influenced by the bright colors and brushwork of the Impressionists, but moving toward abstract art.
Two early landscapes by Dutch painter Piet Mondrian are more traditionally Impressionist, while two later works reveal the influence of Cubism, which he famously embraced later in his career.
Norwegian Edvard Munch’s “View from Hisøya Near Arendal” was painted in 1886, eight years before his iconic painting “The Scream” (not on exhibit), and painted “Thuringian Forest” 10 years after.
The contrast between the two, in fact, in the entire exhibition, visually demonstrates the fundamental and long-lasting impact of the early Impressionist “revolutionaries.”
Santa Barbara Prepares an ‘Encore’
“Encore: 19th-Century French Art from the Santa Barbara Museum of Art” is a delightful counterpart to the Dallas museum exhibition, and handily demonstrates the depth of the local museum’s collection.
A wall-size, vibrant pink and purple map of Paris from the Impressionist period greets visitors. Landmarks are depicted using paintings, photographs, posters, sheet music and other items from the period, of which the museum has an abundance — so many that it created an energetic five-minute film, played on a loop, featuring 104 artworks by 49 artists.
“We have more than 2,500 French works on paper from 1850 through 1950, and many of them have not been seen in a long time,” said Andrew Witte, the museum’s curatorial assistant of photography and new media, who oversaw the film. “Some are very delicate, so the film was a good solution. It gives the visitor the experience of looking through the archives.”
He joined chief curator James Glisson and former curator of photography and new media Charles Wylie to curate the show.
The galleries present a visual walking tour of Parisian locales, such as bohemian Montmartre, the Louvre, Île de la Cité, and Notre-Dame (painted by Matisse as seen through his studio window).
Artworks follow the path of the Seine into agricultural areas, jump over to regions popular with Impressionist painters, such as Normandy and Brittany, and to London, referred to as an “Impressionist second city,” and seen in two views of the River Thames by Monet.
These two paintings are among the museum’s four Monets, which are all on view together for the first time, along with a Matisse, a Sisley, a Caillebotte, a painting and a pastel by Morisot, and much more.
The paintings, carefully curated photographs, and works on paper all give views of the places where the Impressionists lived and drew inspiration, and of everyday life in their changing world.
The Santa Barbara Museum of Art is located at 1130 State St.