Impressionist Pain ting
First comes the practice of painting and finishing etc. Yet, to-day, it finds honoured place in the
pictures entirely out of doors. Constable, Turner, Royal Academy, and justifies itself in the eyes of
and many men of their time occasionally did all beholders. Public taste has now become
this also. tolerant, if not wholly appreciative of impres-
Secondly, the placing side by side upon the sionist work. Like many another painter in
canvas of spots, streaks, or dabs, of more or less pure advance of his time, Constable found greater
colour, in accordance with certain scientific prin- appreciation in Paris than in London, and the
ciples. Turner, and especially Watts, made habitual Salon gave hearty welcome to works rejected by
use of this powerful method of work. Then the use the Academy, as it does to this day.
of pure white, in impasto, throughout the picture, Bonington's Boulogne Fish Market, shown in
high light and shadow equally; Constable and the same Academy Winter Exhibition, must have
Turner did this long before the advent of these had an enormous influence, especially upon Manet;
Frenchmen, as witness, one instance among many, its blonde harmony and distinct flat rich values
the large Opening of Waterloo Bridge, by Constable. within a general tone being such a distinguishing
Here almost the whole surface of the canvas, and feature of the Frenchman's style,
particularly the foreground, is dragged over by a The modern impressionist worships light, and is
full-charged brush of pure white paint, which, never so happy as in recording some beautiful
catching the rugosities of the underlying dry atmospheric effect or coup de soleil. The same
impasto work, produces an illusion, and the applies to Turner, as many a fine canvas proclaims,
vibratory effect of brilliant light is simply and What, then, will be asked, have the Frenchmen
successfully attained. History records the manner done to justify our admiration and the honoured
in which that particular work was received by the and pre-eminent position they now hold? In the
contemporary press and public. It was regarded first place, to them belongs the great merit of having
as a bad joke, called a snowstorm, and likened perceived the value of the Englishmen's discovery,
unto Berlin woolwork—a frequent and favourite of having revived its practice, of having carried it
simile this—the creation of a disordered brain, to its logical conclusion, whilst grafting on to
1 SAinte adresse" (By permission of M. Durand-Ruel) by JONGKind-
160
First comes the practice of painting and finishing etc. Yet, to-day, it finds honoured place in the
pictures entirely out of doors. Constable, Turner, Royal Academy, and justifies itself in the eyes of
and many men of their time occasionally did all beholders. Public taste has now become
this also. tolerant, if not wholly appreciative of impres-
Secondly, the placing side by side upon the sionist work. Like many another painter in
canvas of spots, streaks, or dabs, of more or less pure advance of his time, Constable found greater
colour, in accordance with certain scientific prin- appreciation in Paris than in London, and the
ciples. Turner, and especially Watts, made habitual Salon gave hearty welcome to works rejected by
use of this powerful method of work. Then the use the Academy, as it does to this day.
of pure white, in impasto, throughout the picture, Bonington's Boulogne Fish Market, shown in
high light and shadow equally; Constable and the same Academy Winter Exhibition, must have
Turner did this long before the advent of these had an enormous influence, especially upon Manet;
Frenchmen, as witness, one instance among many, its blonde harmony and distinct flat rich values
the large Opening of Waterloo Bridge, by Constable. within a general tone being such a distinguishing
Here almost the whole surface of the canvas, and feature of the Frenchman's style,
particularly the foreground, is dragged over by a The modern impressionist worships light, and is
full-charged brush of pure white paint, which, never so happy as in recording some beautiful
catching the rugosities of the underlying dry atmospheric effect or coup de soleil. The same
impasto work, produces an illusion, and the applies to Turner, as many a fine canvas proclaims,
vibratory effect of brilliant light is simply and What, then, will be asked, have the Frenchmen
successfully attained. History records the manner done to justify our admiration and the honoured
in which that particular work was received by the and pre-eminent position they now hold? In the
contemporary press and public. It was regarded first place, to them belongs the great merit of having
as a bad joke, called a snowstorm, and likened perceived the value of the Englishmen's discovery,
unto Berlin woolwork—a frequent and favourite of having revived its practice, of having carried it
simile this—the creation of a disordered brain, to its logical conclusion, whilst grafting on to
1 SAinte adresse" (By permission of M. Durand-Ruel) by JONGKind-
160