Impressionism Grade 4 Art

Christine Shonk, ©2014

Impressionism was an art movement popular in the late 19th century.

It was practiced by artists in Europe such as Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, and Edgar Degas.

Americans were influenced by French painters joined the new art movement.

Let’s review some key art terms. Click on this flower.

Microsoft Office Clip Art

Artists used short brushstrokes to create an “image”.

They highlighted beautiful, soft colors with white, to add “light”.

Artists painted a variety of themes, including women and children, animals, houses and outdoor scenes.

REALISM IMPRESSIONISM

Notice the picture by Gustave Courbet. This is a picture of “realism”, an art movement where artists painted real-life pictures. The pictures were darker, and the images painted true-to-life.

Gustave Courbet, The Stonebreakers, 1849.

Theodore Robinson, Watching the Cows, 1892.In this piece, animals and people are painted in the picture. This is a “gentle” scene, where the young child is looking at the viewer. The light green color accents the brown animals and the blues in the clothing.

Mrs. Knowles and Her Children, 1902.

Click on the above picture to see more works. Find two more works by this artist and the dates of these works.

Agatha and Her Child, 1891

What do you notice in this painting? Which theme is painted here? What can you tell about the colors? Are there highlights in this piece?

Click on the image for more information on Mary Cassatt.

Read paragraph 3 and find out where Mary Cassatt was from.

Afternoon Fun

In this picture, notice the light highlighting the central figures, formed by painting white on the soft pink, orange and green.

Landscape

In this image, you can see the trees painted in different hues with short brushstrokes. The tree closest to you has golds and greens, portraying an “image” of rustling leaves.

Notice how “images” of the buildings are painted with no definite lines. The background buildings are “faded” into the backspace, with a “foggy” feeling. This contrasts with the highlighted colors in the sky.

My Garden, 1900-03.

In this painting, we cannot “see” the exact faces of the servants in the mid-ground, only “impressions”. Notice the soft, pastel blue-green, orange and pink color of the shutters, roof, and tree leaves.

Brooklyn Museum (2014) Collections: John Singer Sargent. Retrieved June 9, 2014 from http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/artists/11/John_Singer_Sargent

Creative Commoms (2014). Mary Cassatt Biography: Early Life. Retrieved June 12, 2014 from http://www.marycassatt.org/biography.html

Impressionism in the Visual Arts. (2012) Retrieved June 8, 2014 from http://www.impressionism.org/

Khan Academy (2014). The Stonebreakers. Retrieved June 12, 2014 from http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/the-stonebreakers.html

Microsoft Corporation (2010). Microsoft Office Clipart. Seattle, Washington.

Shonk, Christine (June 2, 2014). “Photos from the Butler. “ Youngstown, Ohio.

The Butler Institute of American Art (2014). The Butler Institute of American Art Online Collection Database. Retrieved June 10, 2014 http://www.butlerartcollection.com/

Weinberg, H. Barbara (October 2004). " American Impressionism. Retrieved June 13, 2014 from http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/aimp/hd_aimp.htm