WHISTLER AND ART FOR ART’S SAKE Part Three Whistler was unusual among artists of his time in that he answered back to critics and took pains to establish his own discourse on his own art. His unique way of painting, without the meticulous detail of the...
IMPRESSIONISM AND THE QUESTION OF CAPITALISM “Great art,” Honoré Balzac wrote, “is impossible without large fortunes, without secure and private means.” Emile Zola also bowed to the power of money, saying, “…money has emancipated the writer; money as created modern...
WHISTLER AND THE PEACOCK ROOM Part Two The term “artistic freedom” may seem like a given but for nearly a century after Kant established the principal, “freedom” was rarely practiced. But Whistler took the concept seriously and set out to test...
THE SUBJECT MATTER OF THE IMPRESSIONISTS Gender and Class in Impressionism The Impressionists were unusual in that they were a group of artists. For artists to function as a group or as a whole, outside the traditional art establishment. was a new phenomenon. ...
HOW THE IMPRESSIONISTS PAINTED The concept of the “impression” is central to Impressionist practice. As early as 1742, the British philosopher, David Hume, distinguished between “impressions” and “ideas:” “..lively...
