Precursors to Impressionism “M...-Z...-”, Art History Posters
for history of art and social studies classrooms.

Edouard Manet
Jean-François Millet

Adolphe Joseph Thomas Monticelli
Théodore Rousseau

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.”

• Manet in Impressionist poster series
• music posters
• Emile Zola portrait
• Edouard Manet at Amazon.com

Jean-François Millet
b. 10-4-1814; Paris, France
d. 1-20-1875

Jean-François Millet, a founder of the Barbizon school, was noted for his rural scenes paintings. His style falls into the movements of both “naturalism” and “realism”. Several of Millet's paintings are icons celebrating the working class; The Gleaners is about the practice of collecting leftover crops from farmers' fields after they have been mechanically harvested or where it is not economically profitable to harvest.

Jean-François Millet quotes ~
• “Art will never come except from some small disregarded corner where an isolated and inspired man is studying the mysteries of nature.”
• “It is the treating of the commonplace with the feelings of the sublime that gives to art its true power.”
• “I want to put strongly and completely all that is necessary, for things weakly said might as well not be said at all.”

FYI - Karl Marx published the Communist Manifesto in 1848; gleaning was punishable by death in the former Soviet Union; contemporary humanitarian groups "glean" from restaurants to feed the poor.
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The African American artist, Edward Mitchell Bannister, was influenced by Millet's subject matter and style of painting.

Adolphe Joseph Thomas Monticelli
b. 10-14-1824; Marseille, France
d. 6-29-1886

Adolphe Joseph Thomas Monticelli influenced Paul Cezanne and Vincent van Gogh. He often painted with painters in the Barbizon school.

Théodore Rousseau
b. 4-15-1812; Paris, France
d. 12-22-1867

Rousseau was originally trained in business; when his talent was recognized his family supported his art and sympathized with him in his difficulties with the classically trained art establishment.

J. M. W. Turner -
b. 4-23-1775; London, England
d. 12-19-1851; London

Joseph Mallord William Turner, English painter, printmaker and watercolorist of the Romantic period, was known as the 'painter of light' and laid the foundations for Impressionism.

• J. M. W. Turner at Amazon.com

Félix Ziem
b. 2-26-1821; Burgundy, France
d. 11-10-1911

Félix Ziem was a successful artist who helped young artists over the course of his long life. He was member of the Barbizon school and a regular exhibitor in the Paris Salon.