Print this page French Impressionism and the Salon Painters: Myth and Reality

Art history has often presented the French Impressionists as revolutionaries who broke decisively with the artistic establishment of their day. Yet the relationship between Impressionism and the so-called "Salon" painters was far more complex. This course examines the artistic culture of nineteenth-century France and explores the shared themes, interests and influences that connected artists across these supposedly opposing camps. Through examples ranging from Neo-Grec painting to the work of Jean-Léon Gérôme, participants will gain a richer understanding of one of the most significant transformations in European art. Suitable for anyone interested in art history and nineteenth-century culture.

DELIVERY MODE

Face to face

COURSE RESOURCES

• Gerald M. Ackerman, Jean-Léon Gérôme (ACR Edition: 2009).
• Reconsidering Gerome, ed., Scott Allan and Mary Morton (J Paul Getty Museum: 2010).
• Alexandre Cabanel: The Tradition of Beauty, ed.,  Andreas Blühm (Hirmer Publishers: 2011).
• Ross King, The Judgement of Paris: Manet, Meissonier and an Artistic Revolution (Chatto and Windus: 2006).
• Frederic C. Ross and Kara Lysandra Ross, William Bouguereau: The Essential Works (ACC Art Books: 2018).
• Barbara Weinberg, The Lure of Paris: Nineteenth-Century American Painters and Their French Teachers (Abbeville Press: 1991).

COURSE OUTLINE

• The origin and context of French Impressionism: Huysman's Paris and the society, art and culture of the Second Empire
• The eclectic and international nature of the Parisian art world and art education
• The Neo-Grec painters and their influence - the past as genre
• Orientalism and the topographical real and invented - natural light and the everyday

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

• Gain a more nuanced and complex understanding of French art from the Second Empire to c. 1900
• Be able to place the art of the period within its shared context
• Further understand how history is always contingent to the time in which it is written