FRENCH ART OF THE 19th CENTURY

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 65, 9 December 1938, Page 13

FRENCH ART OF THE 19th CENTURY

Lecture To Sketch Club A lecture on “French Art of the Nineteenth Century” was given by Dr. A, D. Carbery before a well-attended meeting of the Wellington Sketch Club. Dr. Carbery. who was introduced by Mr. Carl T. Laugesen. said he had chosen the nineteenth century of French art. as his subject, because the later half of this century had influenced all art which had come after that period. Before that art, had been fitted into social and political surround- | lugs. The art of Hie beginning of flic century was steeped in Classicism. Classicism involved splendid draughtmunship bur was concerned with line and form only. Colour was lacking. Classicism died in about 1825, to be I followed by .Romanticism and the pro- I Raphaelites. ' In 1850, during a period of general ; upheaval, there was a rebellion against ■ the traditional forms of art, also ag.'iinsl. the Salon itself. A new style! was evolved, using a new colour tech- ;

uique and a new method of handling the iiiediinii. These artists were known as Hie Realists. Several outside influences. which included the influence of colour woodcuts from Hie East, were at work at that time, which gave rise to the school of Impressionism. Working on a new theory of colour, these painters made colour the principal theme of their work. Such artists as Cezanne, van Gogh and Gauguin presented yet another new vision and presentation and were known as the Neo-Impressionisis and it: was the tiie work of those artists., specially Cezanne, which had left: an indelible mark in all artists and schools.