The Impressionists Art History Posters

Jean Frédéric Bazille
b. 12-6-1841; Montpellier, France
d. 11-28-1870; Franco-Prussian war casualty

Bazille came from a wealthy family of art patrons and, even as a student of Swiss painter Charles Gleyre in Paris, was able to give support to some fellow students such as Renoir, Sisley and Monet. Bazille's best known painting is Family Reunion (1867-68).

• Bazille: Purity, Pose, and Painting in the 1860s

Marie Bracquemond
b. 12-1-1840; near Quimper, Finistère, France
d. 1-17-1916; Paris

Marie Bracquemond was a French Impressionist painter overshadowed, and pushed into the shadows, by her better known artist husband, Felix.

Gustave Caillebotte
b. 8-19-1848; Paris, France
d. 2-21-1894; France

Caillebotte was best remembered as a stamp collector, yacht engineer and supporter of the arts. He is now recognized as having made signifcant contributions as a painter in his own right.

The piece Paris Street on a Rainy Day depicts the Place de Dublin, an intersection near the Gare Saint-Lazare, a railroad station in north Paris. Photography influenced the work - the closest figures were painted to appear out of focus, the middle ground figures with sharper edges, and the background is less distinct.

• Gustave Caillebotte

Mary Cassatt
b. 5-22-1844; Allegheny City, Pennsylvania
d. 6-14-1926; France

Mary Cassatt, best known for her work depicting mothers, children and domestic situations, was the only American to exhibit with the Impressionists.

• more Mary Cassatt posters
• more women artists posters

Paul Cezanne
b. 1-19-1839; Aix-en-Provence
d. 10-22-1906; France

Paul Cezanne is most often thought of as a post-Impressionist, and the bridge between the Impressionists and Cubism, however he had a deep friendship with Camille Pissarro and painted with Renoir.

• Cezanne at Amazon.com

Edgar Degas
b. 7-19-1834; Paris, France
d. 9-27-1917

Though Degas thought of himself as a “Realist” with Corot and Courbet, he is regarded as one of the founders of Impressionism because of his experimentation with color and form, “off-centered” compositions, scenes of daily life, and friendship with Mary Cassatt and Edouard Manet. Over half of Degas large body of works of art were of dancers.

Edgar Degas quotes ~
• “Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.”
• “It is all very well to copy what one sees, but it is far better to draw what one now only sees in one's memory. That is a transformation in which imagination collaborates with memory.”
• “No art is less spontaneous than mine. What I do is the result of reflection and the study of the great masters.”
• “It is all very well to copy what one sees, but it is far better to draw what one now only sees in one's memory. That is a transformation in which imagination collaborates with memory.”
• “Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.”
• “One must do the same subject over again ten times, a hundred times. In art nothing must resemble an accident, not even movement.”

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Giuseppe De Nittis
b. 2-25-1846; Barletta, Italy
d. 8-12-1884 (stroke)

Giuseppe De Nittis, an Italian painter whose work merged the styles of Salon art and Impressionism, was invited to exhibit at the first show of the Impressionists.

After being expelled from the Instituto di Belle Arti in Naples for insubordination, De Nittis exhibited two paintings at the 1864 Neapolitan Promotrice. He painted several views of Vesuvius' 1872 eruption.

Edouard Manet -
b. 1-23-1832; Paris, France
d. 4-30-1883; Paris

Manet's body of work is evidence of the transition of seeing and expression from Realism to Impressionism. He choice of subjects from the events of the day and emphasis on the arrangement of space and form, mark the beginning of modern art.

Edouard Manet quotes ~
• “You would hardly believe how difficult it is to place a figure alone on a canvas, and to concentrate all the interest on this single and universal figure and still keep it living and real.”
• “It is not enough to know your craft - you have to have feeling. Science is all very well, but for us imagination is worth far more.”
• “No one can be a painter unless he cares for painting above all else.”
• “There are no lines in nature, only areas of colour, one against another.”
• “Black is not a color.”
• “The attacks of which I have been the object have broken the spring of life in me... People don't realize what it feels like to be constantly insulted.”
• “This woman's work is exceptional. Too bad she's not a man.”

• Edouard Manet at Amazon.com
• 'The Fifer' print