DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.67683#0671
IN EUROPE AND AMERICA 469
such as Cubism, Futurism, Synchromism. Closely associated with
Cezanne as strong influences toward a new art expression were
Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890 a.d.) and Paul Gauguin (1848-
1903 a.d.). In Van Gogh we see an intensely individual ex-
pression; whether of an overwrought mind or not is a moot
point. One feels the strained emotions and the passionate con-
fidence he placed in pigment as a medium of expression; so that
in his Sunflowers, for example, or his Landscape near Arles we
have not only a simple elemental revelation of the life of the
plant itself and of the scene, but a vibrating surface of great
decorative beauty. Decorative pattern is a characteristic of
Gauguin also, but of a very different kind. For here it depends
upon rhythmic line, pure, brilliant color laid on in flat masses
and selected arbitrarily as far as natural appearance is concerned,
in the manner of the twelfth century glassworkers; beautiful
drawing of essentials only; and elimination of detail. In this
accomplished use of essential line and also in a certain quietude
that pervades the work of Gauguin, one is made to think of
Giotto. It was in the South Sea Islands that Gauguin found
types of people and of life that suited his mode of expression
(Pl. 175 d). This desire for a more elemental kind of life has
led to the present enthusiasm for archaic and primitive art,
for exotic savage art, and for negro sculpture. In Gauguin we
see a more reasonable fusion of primitive life and European
tradition than in most of the followers of “primitivism.” For
many forget that primitive or archaic art is the honest mani-
festation of a certain period of man’s experience or development;
that its outward form is determined by that experience; and that
to copy the outward form without being impelled by the inner
experience is destined to lead into emptiness and artificiality.
The innovations of Cezanne, Van Gogh, and Gauguin1 be-
came accentuated in Henri Matisse (1869- ) and Pablo Picasso
(1881- ). This we note in their spirit of experimentation, in
their definite tendency toward design, in their recognition of
the mathematical principle in nature, in their distortions, and
in their manifestation of intensely individual emotional expres-
sion. Matisse carries simplification of drawing — and his
draughtsmanship is highly accomplished — to the point of dis-
tortion and unintelligibility, declaring that he is attempting to
give not a complete visual impression, but an emotional experi-
ence. This is the creed of Picasso also, who, incited by Cezanne’s
1 Another tendency of the day is the unusual amount of writing on the part of the artists
themselves about their art: by Whistler, Rodin, Gauguin, Seurat, Matisse, to mention a few.
such as Cubism, Futurism, Synchromism. Closely associated with
Cezanne as strong influences toward a new art expression were
Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890 a.d.) and Paul Gauguin (1848-
1903 a.d.). In Van Gogh we see an intensely individual ex-
pression; whether of an overwrought mind or not is a moot
point. One feels the strained emotions and the passionate con-
fidence he placed in pigment as a medium of expression; so that
in his Sunflowers, for example, or his Landscape near Arles we
have not only a simple elemental revelation of the life of the
plant itself and of the scene, but a vibrating surface of great
decorative beauty. Decorative pattern is a characteristic of
Gauguin also, but of a very different kind. For here it depends
upon rhythmic line, pure, brilliant color laid on in flat masses
and selected arbitrarily as far as natural appearance is concerned,
in the manner of the twelfth century glassworkers; beautiful
drawing of essentials only; and elimination of detail. In this
accomplished use of essential line and also in a certain quietude
that pervades the work of Gauguin, one is made to think of
Giotto. It was in the South Sea Islands that Gauguin found
types of people and of life that suited his mode of expression
(Pl. 175 d). This desire for a more elemental kind of life has
led to the present enthusiasm for archaic and primitive art,
for exotic savage art, and for negro sculpture. In Gauguin we
see a more reasonable fusion of primitive life and European
tradition than in most of the followers of “primitivism.” For
many forget that primitive or archaic art is the honest mani-
festation of a certain period of man’s experience or development;
that its outward form is determined by that experience; and that
to copy the outward form without being impelled by the inner
experience is destined to lead into emptiness and artificiality.
The innovations of Cezanne, Van Gogh, and Gauguin1 be-
came accentuated in Henri Matisse (1869- ) and Pablo Picasso
(1881- ). This we note in their spirit of experimentation, in
their definite tendency toward design, in their recognition of
the mathematical principle in nature, in their distortions, and
in their manifestation of intensely individual emotional expres-
sion. Matisse carries simplification of drawing — and his
draughtsmanship is highly accomplished — to the point of dis-
tortion and unintelligibility, declaring that he is attempting to
give not a complete visual impression, but an emotional experi-
ence. This is the creed of Picasso also, who, incited by Cezanne’s
1 Another tendency of the day is the unusual amount of writing on the part of the artists
themselves about their art: by Whistler, Rodin, Gauguin, Seurat, Matisse, to mention a few.