ernst gombrich - in search of new standards (ch. 26)

8/17/2019 Ernst Gombrich - In Search of New Standards (Ch. 26)

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6

IN SEARCH OF NEW STANDARDS

The

l te

nineteenth

century

Superficially,

the end of the nineteenth century

was a

period of

great

prosperity and even complacency.

But the

artists

and

writers who

felt

themselves outsiders

were

increasingly dissatisfied

with

the

aims and

methods

of the

art

that

pleased

the

public.

Architecture

provided the

easiest target

for their

attacks.

Building

had developed into an

empty

routine. We remember

how

the

large blocks

of

flats, £tctories

and

public

buildings

of

the

vastly

expanding

cities

were

erected in

a

1notley

of

styles

which lacked any

relation

to the purpose of the

buildings. Often it

seemed as

i

he

engineers had first

erected

a

structure to

suit the natural

requirements of the

building,

and

a

hit of Art had then

been

pasted on

the fac;:ade

in

the form

of

ornament

taken

frmn

one of

the pattern books

on

historical styles . It

is

strange

how long the m ~ o r t y of

architects

were

satisfied

with

this

procedure. This public

demanded these

columns,

pilasters, cornices

and mouldings,

so these architects

provided

then l.

But

towards

the

end

of the nineteenth century an

increasing number

of people

becan le aware

of the

absurdity

of

this £1shion.

In

England

in

particular,

critics

and

artists

were

unhappy about the

general decline

in

craftsmanship

caused

by

the Industrial

Revolution,

and

hated

the

very

sight

of

these

cheap

and tawdry 1nachine-made t ~ l i t a t i o n s of ornament which had once

had a n1eaning and a nobility

of

ts

~ w n .

Men like

John

Ruskin

and

William

Morris

drean1t

of

a

thorough

reform

of the

arts

and

crafts,

and the

replacen1ent

of cheap mass-production by conscientious and meaningful

handiwork.

The

influence

of

their

criticism was

very widespread even

though the humble

handicrafts

which they advocated proved, under

modern

conditions,

to

be the

greatest

ofluxuries.

Their propaganda

could

not

possibly abo1ish industria l

nuss-production, but it helped to open

people s eyes

to the

problcn ls this

had

raised,

and

to

spread a taste for

the

genuine,

sim_ple

and

homespun .

Ruskin

and Morris had

still

hoped that the regeneration of

art

could be

brought about

by

a

return to

medieval

conditions.

But tnany

artists saw

that this was an in lpossibility.

They longed for

a

New Art

based on a new

feeling for design and for

the

possibilities

inherent

in

each material.

This

banner of

a new art

or rt

ouveau was raised in

the

1890s. Architects


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536 IN

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STAND1\RDS

experimented with new types ofmaterial and new types of ornament.

The Greek

orders had

been developed

from prinlltive

titnber

structures,

page 77 and had provided the stock-in-trade

of

architectural decoration

since the Renaissance, pages

224

250.

Wash

not

high titne that

the

new

architecture

of

ron and glass that had grown up almost unobserved in

railway stations,

page 520 and

industrial structures should develop an

ornamental style

of

its

own? And if the

Western tradition was too much

wedded

to the old building methods,

would

the East perhaps provide a

new

set

of

patterns

and new

ideas?

This n1nst have been the reasoning behind the designs

of

the Belgian

architect Victor Horta (1861-1947) that nude an itnmediate hit. Horta

had learned fi-on1japan to discard symrnetry and to relish the effect

of

swerving curves that

we

remember

from

Eastern art, } age 148 But

he was no 111ere imitator. He transposed these lines into iron structures

that

went

well

with

n1.odern requirernents,Jigurc 349· For the first tin1e

since l3runelleschi,

European

builders

were

offered an entirely

new

style. No

wonder that

these

inventions

becan1e identified with

Art Nouveau.

For this self-consciousness

about

style and this hope that Japan might

help

Europe to

get out of the impasse

were not confined to

architecture,

but the feeling

of

uneasiness

and

dissatisf:tction with the achievements

of nineteenth-century

painting which took hold ofyoung

artists towards

the

end

of the

period

is

less easy to explain. Yet it is in1portant that we

should understand its roots, because h was out

of

this feeling

that there

grew the various movernents which are now usually called Modern Art .

Some people may consider the hnpressionists the first

of

the moderns,

because

they

defied certain rules

of painting as taught in the

acadenlles.

But

it

is

well

to

ren1embcr

that

the Impressionists

did not

differ

in

their

aims from

the

traditions

of

art t l i ~ t

had developed

since the discovery

of

nature in the Renaissance. They, too, wanted to paint nature as we see it,

and their quarrel whh

the

conservative masters was not so rnuch

over the

aim

as over the

means

of

achieving it. Their exploration

of colour

reflexes,

their

experiments with

the effect

ofloose

brushWork, aimed at creating

an

even

more perfect replica

of the

visual impression. It was only in

lmpressionisn1,

in £1ct that the conquest of

nature had becon1e

complete,

that everything that presented itself to

the

painter s eye

could

becon1e

the motif

of

a picture, and that the real world in all its aspects becatne

a worthy object

of the

artist s study. Perhaps

it

was just this

complete

triun1ph

of

their tnethods which

nude

smne

artists hesitate to accept

them. It seemed, for a

mmnent, as if all the

problen1s of an art ainllng at

the inlltation of the visual irnpression had been solved, and as if nothing

was to

be

gained by

pursuing

these ain1.s

any

further.

349

Victor Horta

S aircasc, II


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URY


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538 IN

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But we know

that

in

art

one problem

need only

be

solved for a host

of

new ones to appear in its stead. Perhaps

the

first who had a clear feeling

of the nature of

these

new

probletns was an artist who still

belonged

to

the

sam_e

generation

as

the

Impressionist nusters.

He

was Paul

Cezanne

(r839-I906),

who

was only seven years younger than Manet, and even

two

years

older

than Renoir. In his youth CCzanne took

part n the

Impressionist exhibitions,

but

was so disgusted

by the reception accorded

thetn that

he

withdrew to his native

town ofAix-en-Provence,

where

he

studied the probletns of his art, und-isturbed by the clamour of the critics.

He was a

tnan of

independent n1eans

and

regular habits,

and

was

not

dependent on

finding buyers for his pictures. Thus

he could

dedicate his

whole

life

to the solution of the

artistic problems

he had

set hin1sclf, and

could apply

the most

exacting standards to his own work. Outwardly,

he

lived a life of tranquillity and leisure, but

he

was constantly engaged

in

a

passionate struggle to achieve

in

his

painting

that ideal

of

artistic

perfection

after

which

he

strove. l

le

was

no

friend

of

theoretical talk,

but

as

his

£ n e

among

his few adtnirers

grew he did

son1etimes try to explain to them in

a few words what he wanted to do. One ofhis

reported

remarks was that

he aimed

at

painting

Poussin from

nature'. What he wanted

to say was

that the old classical masters such as Poussin had achieved a wonderful

balance

and

perfection

in

their

work.

A

painting

like Poussin s 'Et

in

Arcadia ego', page 395 figure 254 presents a beautifully harn1onious

pattern

in

which one

shape seen1s

to answer

the other. We feel

that everything is

in

its place,

and

nothing

is

casual or vague. Each

form

stands out clearly

and

one can visualize it

as

a firm, solid body. The

whole

has a natural

simplicity

which

looks restful

and

cahn.

Cezanne

aimed at an art

which

had something

of

this

grandeur and

serenity. But

he

did not think that

it could be achieved

any longe,,

by the methods ofPoussin. The

old

nusters, after all, had accon1plfsbed that balance

and

solidity at a price.

They did

not feel

bound

to respect nature

as they

saw it. Their pictures

are rather arrangements

of

forms they had learned from the study

of

classical antiquity. Even the itnpression

of

space and solidity was

achieved through the application

of

firm traditional rules rather

than

through looking at each object anew. cezanne agreed with his friends

atnong the

Impressionists that these

methods of

academic art were

contrary to nature. He admired the new discoveries n the field

of

colour

and

nwdelling.

He, too, wanted to surrender to

his impressions,

to

paint

the forms

and

colours

he

saw,

not

those

he

knew

about

or

had

learned

about. But

he

felt uneasy

about the direction painting had

taken. The

Impressionists

were

true

nusters in

painting

'nature'.

But was that

really

enough?

Where was

that

striving for a harn1onious design, the

achievement of

solid simplicity and perfect balance

which

had

marked


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54 IN

S

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.•

1

matter

of

calculation it co uld not have been don

e; bu

t

of

course it is

no t . Th is balance and harmony a

bout

which artists worry so much is not

the same

as

the balance of machin es. It suddenly happens , and no o ne

quite knows how or why. Mu ch has been writ ten abo

ut

the secret of

Cezann

e s art . All kinds

of ex

planations have been suggested

of

he

want

ed and what he achieved.

Dut

these explanations remain crude;

sometimes the

y even so

und

self-

co

ntradictory.

Dut

even if we get

impatient with the critics there arc always

the

pic tures to convince

us.

And

the best advi

ce

here and always is

'go

a

nd

look

at

the

pi

ctur

es

in

the original .

Even our illust

ra

t

ion

s however, should at least convey something of the

greatn

ess

of Ceza

nn

e s tri

um

ph.

Th

e landscape w ith Mont Sainte-

Vi

ctoi re

350

Pau l

Moll/ Sa iute-Victoi t•

seen mu

Helle1

. 885

Oil on c nvas 7 x 9 nn

37Y z x 51 in; Barnes

Fou d l titm, Mnim1,

Jc n lvan ia


7/21

54 i l ~

1 \T lo N I N N T I I U l lY

J5 1

Paul Ccnmnc

Jltwlttaiusiu Pmflt ttn,,

I R - \ 0

Oil l l l

. IW.t i,

6J j

X

7t) .

Jl lll,

X i

I

•

in ;

NJiional G:tlll•ry ondon

·

in southern France,.figure

350

is bathed in light and yet firm and solid. It

presents a lucid pattern and yet gives

the

impre

ss

ion

of

great depth and

distance. There is a sense of order and repose in the way Cezanne marked

the horizontal of the v iaduct and road in the centre and the verticals of the

house in the fin·eground,

but

n

ow

here do we fe

el

tha t it

is

an order which

Cezann e h s imposed on natu re. Even his brushstrokes are so arranged s

to fall in with the

mainlines of the

design and to s

tr

engthen

the

feeling of

natural harmony. The way in which Ceza

nne

altered the direction of his

brushstroke

wit

h

out

ever resorting to outline

drawing

can also

be

seen

i n f i J ~ I I r e

351

wh

ich shows h

ow

deliberately the artist

coun

teracted

the

effect

of

the

flat

pattern which

might

have resulted in

the upper

halfby

emphasizing the solid tangible forms of the rocks in the foregro und. H is


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42

IN SHARC

H

OF

S

I ANilARilS

wonderful portrai t of his

wifc fi;;ure

352 shows how greatly Cezanne s

concentration on simple, clear-cut forms co ntribu tes to the impression

ofpoise and tranquillity. Compared wi

th

such calm masterpieces, the

wo rks of the Impression ists suc h s Manct s portrait of Monet,

pag

e

8

figure

337

often look like merely witty improvisations.

Admittedly

ther

e arc paintings

by

Cezanne

wh

ich are not so easily

un d

erstood. ln

an

illustration, a still life such

s figure

353 may not look

too promising. How awkward it seems if we

compa

re

it wi th

the assured

treatment ofa similar subject by the Dutch seven teenth- centu ry master

Kalf, pa;;e 431 figure

280 Th

e fi:uit

-b owl

is so clumsily

drawn

that its foot

352

Paul Cezanne

1 me

c.:

ezmme

1883- 7

Oil nn canvas 6 x 5 rm

x 2 in:

l hiiJddphi;1

Mnsl umofAn


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543 H L T [ N IN t NT II EN T U RY

353

Pa

ul C

ez

anne

Sti/1 fr c 187y- S2

il

on

C:IIIV,lli, 6 x 1.111.

x

.21

in: privatl

collecr ma

does

not

even res t in the middle.

Th

e table

not

only slopes fi:om left to

rig

ht

, it also looks as

if

t

were

tilted forward.

Wh

ere the

Dut

ch master

excelled in the rendering of soft and flu

ffY

surfaces Cezanne gives us a

patch

wor

k

of

c

olour

dabs

whi

ch

mak

e the napkin look as

if t

were made

of

tinfoil. Small wo

nd

er

that

Ceza

nn

e s

paintinb>s were

at first de

tided

as

path

et

ic daubs. Bu t the reason for this apparent clumsiness is not far to

seek.

Cezan

ne had ceased

to ta

ke any

of

the traditional methods

of

painting for granted. He had dec

ided

to start from scratch as

if

no painting

had been done before him.

Th

e Dutch master had painted his still life to

clisplay hi

s stupendous virtuosity. Cezanne had c

ho

sen

his

motifs

to

study

some specific problems tha t he wanted to solve. We know that he was

fascinated by

th

e relation of

co

lour

to

modelling. A brightly

co

loured

round

solid such

as

an apple was an ideal motif to explore this question.

We kn ow that he was interested in

th

e achievem ent

of

a balanced design.

Th

at is why he stretc

hed th

e bowl to the le

ft

so as to fill a void. As

he

w

ant

ed to s

tud

y a

ll

the shapes

on

the table in the

ir

relat

io n

ships he simply

tilted it forward to make them come into view. Perhaps

th

e example

s

ho

ws h

ow

it happened that Ceza

nn

e became the

fat

h

er of mod

ern art .

In

his tremendous effort to achieve a sense

of

de

pth without

s

ac

rificing

the brightness of colou rs to achi eve an orderly arrangement with

out


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544 JN

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5 ~ 5 l l l · I ATE NINETLENI H

C:ENTU1tY

354

(;corgL·s

Scurar

·n . , , . ; , ~ · · m

Cmnbt Jk,

1886-7

o.lun l \ \ ,1\ , 4() -4

)

_\).J nu.

t

1

. x

lt Y•

in:

Courrau\d

Jn

sriUHt

(;.tlll·til. ll, Ltmtlou

a

number

of

years

he

might one

day

be

able

to

sell his pictures

and

repay h

is

generous

brothe

r. ln his self-chosen solin1de in Aries, Vincent set

down

aU

his ideas and hopes in his letters to Theo, which read like a continuous diary.

T hese letters, by a

humb

le and alm ost self-taug

ht

artist who had no idea of

the fame he was to achieve, arc among the most moving and exciting in all

literature. In tbem we can feel the artist s se nse ofmission, his struggle and

triumphs, his desperate loneliness and longing for companionship, and we

become aware of he immense stra

in

under

which he

worked with feverish

energy. After less than a year, in Dece

mb

er 1 88 1, he broke do

wn

and had an

attack of nsanity. In M

ay

Tb39 he

we

nt into a mental asy lum, but he still

had lucid intervals

during

which he

cont

inu

ed

to paint. T he agony lasted for

another fourteen mon ths. InJuly 1890 Van Gogh put an

end

to his life- he

was thirty-seven like Raphael, and his career

as

a p

ai nter had not

lasted

more

than ten years; the paintint,rs

on

which his fame rests were all painted during

three years w hich were intcrrupt

d by crises and despair.

Most

people


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546

IN Sci\RCII 0 1

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STANDAIWS

nowadays know some of hese paintings; the sunflowers, the

empty

chair,

the

cypresses and some of he portraits have

become

popular in coloured

reproductions and can be seen in many a simple

room

That is exactly

what Gogh wanted. H e wanted his pictures to have the direct and

strong effect

of h

e coloured

J

apancse prints, page

525

he admi

red

so mu

ch

.

H e longed for an unsophisticated art which would no t only appeal to

1;ch connoisseurs

but

give

joy

and

co

nsolation

to

every human being.

Nevertheless this is not quite the whole story. No reproduction is perfect.

The

cheaper ones make Van Gogh s pictures

look

cruder than th

ey

really

are, and one may sometimes tire of hem. Whenever that happens, it is

quite a revelation

to

return to Van Gogh s orif,rinal works and to discover

how subtle and deliberate he could be even in his strongest effects

For Van Gogh, too, had absorbed the lessons of Impressionism and of

Seurat s pointillism. He liked the technique ofpainting in dots and strokes

of

pu r

e colour,

but

under his hands it became

something

rather different

from wh

at

these Paris artists had

meant

it

to

be. Van

Gogh

used the

355

Vincent van Gogh

Con

ifi

e/d

with

cyp

res

s

es R9

il

on

a n v ; ~ s

7 2

1 x

90 9

em 2X- x JS Y. in:

Nation

al

Ga

Uc

ry

Lond

on


13/21

5+7 THE LATE NINE TEI .NTII CEN rUHY

Vincent van Gogh

J/icwofL( s

Saintcs-

M a r i c s d c l a M e l ~

r8R \

Quill pm and

indim

ink

on

paper, - L\ x

Go

em,

t?Y

)

2yY. in; Sammlung

Qsbr

Reinhart.

individual brushstrokcs not

only to break up the colour

but also

to convey

his own

excitement.

ln one of his letters from Arles he describes his state

of

inspiration

when the

cn1.otions arc somctin1.es so

strong that one works

without being aware

of

working ... and the strokes cmne with a sequence

and coherence

like words

in

a speech or a letter'. The con1.parison

could

not be

clearer. ln such nwmcnts he painted as

other

n1 en

write.

Just as

the appearance of a handwritten page, the traces left by the

pen

on the

paper, in1part something of the gestures of the writer, so that we feel

instinctively when a

letter

was written under great stress of en1.otion- so

the brushstrokes

of

Van Gogh tell us son1.ething

of the

state

of

his

mind.

No artist before hirr1 had ever used this n1eans

with

such consistency

and

effect. We remen1.ber

that

there is bold and loose

brushwork

in earlier

paintings, in

works

by

Tintorctto,

page 37o,figure

237, by

Hals,

pa} e 417,

_figure

270,

and

by Manet, page

518,figure

337, but in these it

rather

conveys

the artist's sovereign

nustcry,

his

quick perception and nugic

capacity for

conjuring

up

a vision.

In

Van

Gogh

it

helps to

convey

the exaltation

of

the

artist's

mind.

Van Gogh liked

to paint

objects

and

scenes which gave this

new

means full

scope-

rnotif')

in which he could

draw as well as

paint with

his brush, and lay on the

colour thick just

like a

writer who

underlines his

words. That is why he was the first

painter to

discover the beauty of

stubble,

hedgerows and

cornfields,

of the

gnarled branches

of

olive trees

and the dark, flamelikc shapes of the cypress, igure 355.

Van Gogh was

in

such a fi-cnzy

of

creation that he felt the urge not

only

to

draw the radiant sun itself ,figure 356, but also to paint hun1blc, restful


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It

was rather different

wi

th a third artist who was also

to

be found in

so

uth

ern France in

1888 -

Paul Gauguin

(r

848-I903). Van Gogh had a

great desire for companionship; he dream

ed

ofa brotherh

oo

d

of

artists

such

as

the

Pre-R

aphaclites had fo

und

ed in

En

gland,

p g

es 511

2

and

he persuaded Gauguin , w

ho

was five years older, to jo in him in Arles .

As a

man

, Gau guin was vety different ·om Van

Gog

h. He had none of

his humility and sense

of

mission.

On

the contrary, he was proud and

ambitious. But there

were

some points ofcon ta

ct

between the

two

. Like

Van

Gog

h, Gauguin had started painting comparatively late in life (he had

been

a well-

to-do

stockbroker); like him , he was almost self- taught.

The

companionship of the two, h

oweve

r, ended in disaster Van Gogh, in a fit

of

madness, attacked Gauguin , w

ho

fl

ed

to Patis.

Two

years later, Gauguin

left

Europe

altogether and

went

to one of the proverbial

'Sou

th Sea

Islands , Tahiti , in sea rch of the simple

li f

e. For he had

more

and

more

become

c

on

vinced th

at art

was in

dan

ger

of

b

ecoming

slick and superficia l,

that all the cleverness and knowledge which had

bee

n accumulated in

Europe had deprived

men

of the gre

at

est gift - strength and in tensity of

feeling, and a direct way

of

expressing it.

358

Paul Gauguin

l e Rerioa (Day·

dreamiug),

1897

Q j

011

Coln\ fl i,

C ) ~ . l

X

1J 0.2 nn

7 Y .

x

in

C:mJrt;tU)d

lnstitlltl

G a l l c r i ~ o . : s .

Lu1Jdm1


17/21

551 ' 'HE Lt\TE NINETEENTH CENTURY

Gauguin, of course, was not the first artist

to

have these qualms about

civilization.

Ever

since artists

had

become self-conscious

about

style

they

felt distrustful

of

conventions

and

impatient

ofmere

skill. They

longed

for an art

which did

not

consist

of

tricks

which

can

be

learned,

for a style which was

no mere

style, but

something strong and

powerful

like

hunun

passion. Dclacroix had gone to Algiers

to

look for n1ore

intense colours

and

a life of1ess restraint, page 506 The Pre-Raphaclites in

England hoped to

find this directness and simplicity in the unspoilt art

of

the Age

of

Faith .

The

Impressionists

admired

the Japanese, but theirs was

a sophisticated art compared with the intensity

and

sitnplicity for

which

Gauguin

longed.

At

first

he

studied peasant art,

but

it

did not hold him

for long. He needs n1ust get away from

Europe and

live anwng the

natives

of

the

South

Seas as

one of them to work

out his

own

salvation.

The

works

he

brought

back from there puzzled even some of

his forn1er

fi·iends. They seemed so savage

and

prin1itive. That was just

what

Gauguin

wanted.

He

was

proud

to

be

called barbarian .

Even

his

colour

and

draughtsmanship should be barbaric

to

do justice to the unspoilt

children

of

nature

he had come

to adtnire

during

his stay

in

Tahiti.

Looking

at one

of

these pictures today,.figure

_358

we

may

not quite

succeed in

recapturing

this

mood.

We have becmne used to

much

greater savagery in art. And

yet

it is not difficult

to

realize

that

Gauguin

struck a new

note.

It is not only the subject-matter of his pictures

that

is

strange

and

exotic. He tried

to enter

into

the

spirit

of the

natives

and to

look at things

as

they

did.

He

studied the methods of native craftsmen

and

often

included

representations

of their

works

in

his pictures. He strove

to

bting his own portraits of the natives into hannony

with

this plin1itive

art. So

he

simplified the outlines

of

forms

and

did

not

shrink

from

using

large patches

of

strong

colour.

Unlike

CCzanne, he

did

not mind

if

these

simplified forms

and c o l o u r - s c h e n l - ~ s made

his pictures

look

flat. He

gladly ignored the centuries-old

problems of Western

art

when he thought

that this helped him to render the unspoilt intensity of nature s children.

He tnay

not

always have fully

succeeded in

his

aim of

achieving directness

and

sitnplicity.

But

his longing for it was

as

passionate

and

sincere

as

that

ofCCzanne

for a

new

harmony

and that

ofVan

Gogh

for a

new

message; for Gauguin

too

sacrificed his life

to

his ideal. He felt himself

misunderstood in

Europe

and

decided to

return to the South

Sea

Islands for

good.

After years

ofloneliness and

disappointment,

he

died

there ofill-health and

privation.

Cezanne

Van

Gogh and Gauguin

were

three desperately lonely

men

who worked

on

with little hope of ever being

understood.

But the

problems

of

their art

about which

they felt so strongly

were

seen by more

and more

artists of he

younger generation

who found

no

satis£1-ction in


18/21

55

IN Sl.:ARC

II 0 1 N W S

TA

NDr\lt D S

359

Pierre

ilonnard

I f

tile

rn l

, I y

Oil o boJrd. x 70 em

x 27X in: l i t u n

SJnunlung E C. rl

< .

Zurich


19/21

553 ·1HI ' lATE N I

NF.TE

I,NTII ClNTlJ I Y

j 0

Fadinand l-lodlcr

J..,tkt

•num

19

05

•l

11

<

lllV· · xo .l

)

IOO l llt,

j i } M

X

j y

l;l in:

d Art

l

ci H i,wirc.

c:,•m• f.l

the

skills they acquired at the art schools. They had learn

ed

how to

represent nature, how to draw co rrectly and how to usc paint and

brush; they

had

eve n abs

orbed

the le

ssons of

the Impressionist

Revolution and became deft in conveying th e flicker ofsunlight and air.

Some

great artists ind

eed

persevered along this pa th , and champion ed

these new m etho ds in countries where resistance against Imp r

ess

ionism

was still strong, but nuny painters

of the

yo

un

ger generation

sea

r

ched

for new methods to solve, or at least to bypass, the diffic ulties that

Cezanne had felt. Basically these difficulties arose fi·om that clash

(discussed earlier, pa.( eS 494

-

5 between

the

n

ee

d for tonal gradation to

suggest depth and the desire to preserve the beauty of the colours we see.

Th

e art

of

the

Japanese had

co

nvin

ce

d them

that

a picture

cou

ld

mak

e a

much str

onger imp

ression i modelling and

ot h

er details

we

re sacrificed

to bold simplification. Both Van

Go g

h

and

Gauguin

ha

d gone a certa

in

way along this road, enhancing their colours and disregarding the

impress ion of depth, a

nd

Seurat

had gone

even fu

rt

her in his experimen

ts

with poin tillism. Pierre Bon nard (T867- r947) sho wed particu lar skill

and sensitivity in suggesting a sense oflight and colour flickering o n the

canvas as if it were a tapestry. H

is

pai

nting of

a sp read table,ji,( lll'e

359

illustrates how he avoided a stress on perspective and depth in order to

make

us

enjoy a colourful pattern. The Swiss painter Ferd inand H

odlcr

( r85 3-19I 8) boldly simplified his native scenery eve n fur ther to achieve a

poster- like claJi ty,AQ /Ire360

lt is

no

accide

nt

that this paint

ing

re

mind

s us

of

poster

s,

for it t

urned

out that the approach which Europe had learned fi·om theJapanese

proved particu larly suited to the art of advertising. It was before the


20/21

554

IN SEAI C II O F

NEW

STANDARDS

turn

of the century

that

the gifted follower ofD cgas,

page 526,

Henri de

Toulouse-Lautrec

(rR64

-19

01), resorted

to

such an econom y

of means

for

the new art of the

postcr,JiJttHe

361.

The

art

of

llu

stration profited

equally

from the development of

su

ch

effects. R

emembering the lo

ve

and

c

ar

e

whic

h earlier ages had

bestowed

on

th

e production ofbooks , men such

as

William

Morris,

page 535, would

not want to

tolerate badly

produced books

or illustrations

that merely told

a story regardless

of

their

effect

on

the printed

page

.

In

sp

ired

by

Whistler

and

the

Japanese,

the

young

prodigy Aubrey

Beardsley

(r872-1 R9R

rose

to immediat

e fam e all

over Europe

wi th

hi

s sophisticat

ed

black a

nd

w hi te

illustrations,jigure

362.

Th e word of praise much used in this

period

of

rt

Nou/Jeau was

'decorati

ve .

Paint

ings

and

prints

sho

uld

present

a pleasing

pattern to the

eye lo n

g

be

fore

we

can sec w h

at they

represent. Slowly, but surely,

this fashion for the decorative t

hus

paved the

way

for a new

appro

ach

to

art. Fidelity

to

the m otif

or the

telling

of

a

moving

sto ry

no

lo

ng

er

mattered

so much , provided the

picture or

print

made

a pleasing effect.

And yet, some

artists felt increasingly

that in

all

th i

s sear

ch something

had

go

ne out of rt something they desper

at

ely tried

to

retrieve. We

remembe

r

th

at

Cezann

e had felt

that

w hat h

ad been

l

ost

was

th

e sense

of

order

and balance; that

the

lmprcssionist

preoccupa

ti

on with

the

fl

ee

ting

moment had made

them

neg

le

ct the

solid

and

en

during

forms

of

nature.

J6 l

H cmi de

Toulou

s

e-L

a

utrcc

Les A111bas

sadeu

n:

Aristide Rruaut , IS92

Lilho gr ph postc r; t p 2 x

98.

em Y1x in

J6

2

Aubrey Be

ar

ds ley

Illustmtiou to Oscar

' li/de s 'Salome', 894

:md

ha

l rom:

on

J

t

p;m

csc ve

llum:

J4 J

x

27 3 em 13

Vl

x in


21/21

555 Ti l L TE NINETEENTH CEN TURY

Vn11 Gc>j h i 1 1 ~

sui lowe

RR

a i m i n ~ by Paul GauKuin:

o l on

c:mvas 73

x

y z

em x

36V.

in;

Hijk

smusc

un1

Vincent v;m

~ : ; l

Am st

t rc.l;un

Van

Gogh

had felt that

by

surrendet;ng

to

visu

l

impressions, and

by explming nothing but the optical qualities of light and co lour, art was

in danger oflosing that intensity and passion through which alone the

artist can express his fe e

ling

to his fellow men. Gauguin, fmally, was

altogether dissatisfied w

ith lif

e

and

art as he found them. He longed for

something much simpler and

more

direct and hoped to find it among

the primitives. What we call modern art grew out of these feelings

of

dissatisfaction; and th e various soluti

ons

after

which

these three painters

had

been groping became

th

e ideals

of

three

mo vemen ts

in

modern

art.

Ce

zanne s solution ultim.atcly led to Cubism, which or iginated in France;

Van Gogh s

to

Expressionism, which fo

und

its main response in Germany;

and Gauguin s to the vat;ous forms ofPrimitivism. However mad these

m o v e m e n t ~ may have seemed at first, today it is not difficult to show that

they

we

re consistent

at t

empts to escape

fi·o

m a deadlock in which artists

found themselves.

- -

ernst gombrich - in search of new standards (ch. 26)

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