The Post-Impressionist school

a. Read the text and do the exercises:

The term Post-Impressionism was never used by the postimpressionist painters; it was coined ret­rospectively in 1910 by the Eng­lish art critic Roger Fry when he mounted an exhibition in London of the work of the French painters Paul Cezanne (1839—1906) and Paul Gauguin (1848—1903) and the Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh (1853—1890).

Post-Impressionism describes a school of painting that flourished in France in the last two decades of the 19th century. Most post-impressionist artists began as impressionists and continued to base their style on the colour innovations of the impressionist movement. However, they moved away from the objectivity of the impressionists, who tried to represent what the eye actually sees. The post-impressionists painted pictures that were entirely sub­jective and that captured the artists' own highly personalized ideas, emotions, and imagination.

Still life by P. Cezanne

This individualistic and intellectual approach to art led to an in­creased interest in ways of showing emotion in its most dramatic and compelling form and in the structural qualities of a subject. And it heralded the surrealist, futurist, cubist, expressionist, and fauvist movement of the 20th-century art.

Exercises

1. Transcribe the following words:

Post-impressionism

retrospectively

exhibition

to flourish

innovation

subjective

imagination

futurist

2. Sum up what new facts, if any, you learned from this text.

3. Match the names of the post-impressionist painters and their paintings;

Van Gogh

Cezanne

Gauguin

- painted Conies Barbares in 1902 in the Marquesas Islands. He died there a year later. His style, one of the most dis­tinctive, uses large areas of strong unbroken colour to cre­ate a direct emotional effect. His paintings are full of sym­bolic and psychological depth; one of his main themes is the contrast between the primitive and civilized world, the painting Mont Sainte-Victoire reveals his striving to give a feeling of monumental permanence to his subject matter instead ofportraying a fleeting moment, as im­pressionist art did. He juxtaposed subtle colours to create the illusion of depth and volume in his work. He painted many landscapes and still lifes, but also figure groups and some portraits.

- painted Poppy Field in 1890 at Saint-Remy, near Aries in France. The artist moved to France in 1866, and there, inspired by the landscape, created his most outstanding work. His rich, energetic brushstrokes and dynamic use of brilliant colour portray his innermost perceptions.

4. Read the text and insert the correct prepositions:

The eldest son... a Protestant clergyman, Vincent Willem van Gogh was born... Groot-Zundert, the Netherlands. From childhood he seemed to have had the trouble tempering his ideals — whether... love, friendship, religious sincerity, social justice, or his own artistic vision — with any touch... compromise. His life was marked... depressions alternating with bursts... happiness and creative surges. Later came bouts... self-destructive madness that led him to cut off part... his right ear and, a year and a half later... the age of 37, to end his life... shooting himself.

5. Read this text and insert the correct articles:

Van Gogh set out to become... minister like his father, bringing com­fort to... poor and sick; but that dream ended when his antiestablish-ment evangelism alienated church officials. Deeply despirited, he turned to painting in 1880. Over... final 10 years of his life he poured out more... 1,500 paintings and drawings. Dark canvases of peasants typified his early work; then in... rush he discovered Japanese prints, the impasto technique, and... masters of Impressionism. Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin, George Seurat, and others, became his friends in Paris. Then, at Aries in Provence, he did his greatest work; but there, too, his depressions reached... breaking point, as mental illness eroded his ability to paint and, finally, his will to live.

6. Work in pairs

Speak with your group-mate about Gauguin, his fate and paintings.

Here are some facts:

Paul Gauguin (1848—1903) is a French post-impressionist painter. Going beyond the Impression­ists' notion of reality, he sought a more direct experi­ence of life in the rich colours of the South Sea is­lands and the magic rites of its people. His work, of­ten heavily symbolic and decorative, is characterized by his sensuous use of pure colours. Among his painting is Le Christe Jaune exhibited in Albright-Knox Art Galleiy, Buffalo, New York State.

Motherhood

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