What is Neo Impressionism? [Understanding Modern Art]

[@theartshole311]

We're back with a look at Neo Impressionism today, a thoroughly modern movement that took as much inspiration from its social and political connections as it did from its basis in the scientific discoveries of its day. Hope you enjoy, apologies for the sound and image quality in places, had some technical difficulties with this one! Also a quick announcement, I've set up a donations page at www.buymeacoffee.com/theartshole . If you would like to support us head over there and you can help us out. I've included a bit about this at the end of the video if you want to know more, if you can donate it would be a big help but don't worry if you don't want to, just watching, subscribing and commenting is a huge help, Thanks to everyone for all the support and I'll see you next month.

[@tomfreemanorourke1519]

Incredible commentary...among all the art I have seen, the documentaries and my own artistic evolution over the two centuries I have lived in [I was born in 1953] Your contribution is as clear as the best....A pensioner now so I shall contribute as I can. Love always ..Tom Freeman O'Rourke [Tague]...

[@theartshole311]

Hi Tom, thanks for your comment, glad you liked it!

[@nightinthevuz]

This is such a help every time I have to study art history,thank you so much for taking the time,your channel is grossly underrated and the videos are extremely well researched and informative! Keep them up, I hope they get the recognition you deserve!

[@theartshole311]

That's great to hear, thanks a million! So long as people find them useful and interesting I'll keep at it

[@danielbecker5407]

Thanks!

[@stefanstern3542]

Brilliant text! Love the accent, too!... I'm deeply enjoying this precious and beautiful series!.. Binge-watching, here in a small house on the roof-top of a high building, in Athens, Greece... - Thank you VERY much, Arts Hole!

[@radioactivedetective6876]

16:32 - Woooh! That's a turn I wasn't expecting this video to take! ... Very very interesting! I had no idea about this aspect of the Neo-Impressionist (or Chromoluminaire) Movement. It is so much more significant and influential than it gets credit for now in popular media. I have never come across the more political and radical paintings by Signac, Pissaro and others when I looked into Neo-Impressionism on the internet - it is mostly Seurat's 'Sunday Afternoon at La Grande Jatte', 'Bathers' and 'Circus Sideshow' and some of Signac's landscapes - and the focus is always on the technique, never on the politics. Thanks a ton, as always.

[@theartshole311]

It is a bit odd that the politics gets played down so much, especially since it's so intertwined with the movement. Politics can be a very touchy subject for a lot of folks (especially things like Anarchism!) which may explain the reticence to discuss it more, but you really can't understand Neo Impressionism without exploring this part of it. The techniques are interesting too, and Seurat works are amazing, but they're so much better when you see how incisively they discuss the issues of his day.

[@radioactivedetective6876]

@@theartshole311 There is somehow a reticence or a denial when it comes to the politics of art, culture, literature, drama - especially for canonical works and movements. One reason I find is people are apprehensive the audience/students will be offended if "controversial" issues are discussed. Next, politics always brings up unpleasant, uncomfortable and inconvenient truths & certain artists/writers very consciously and deliberately use political themes, symbols, subtexts to draw attention to these unpleasant truths. In that sense art acts as a disruptive and provocative medium. Glossing over, denying or ignoring the political angles of a single piece or an entire movement helps to a) avoid confronting the unpleasant truths b) cancel out the disruptive power of art - its power to provoce people to think and question. Both popular media and academia are institutions of the status quo. Deliberate and unconscious motivations work at tandem to ignore or whitewash the more provocative political aspects of art/literature, especially if they are relevant today.

[@radioactivedetective6876]

@@theartshole311 Sort of like, ahhh what technical finesse, what brilliant use of colour, why bring up exploitation or race amd make everyone uncomfortable.

[@radioactivedetective6876]

@@theartshole311 And often the speakers/content producers themselves have reservations about the political theme addressed by an artist, or a single piece. And that puts them in a catch 22 situation. U want to admire and appreciate Artist XYZ because he was a genius, a technical master, an innovator, had pioneered aspects that have influenced future genetations, etc. But, u find the politics too radical, or repulsive, or even destructive and harmful to societal order. So, how do u reconcile these two opposing aspect. Easiest way is to be intentionlly blind to the existence of any political subtext or meaning. If u deny the political motivation of the artist u'l not have to confront the political meaning.

[@radioactivedetective6876]

@@theartshole311 We had a teacher in our undergrads who used to deny all suntextual homoerotic references present in Renaissance texts as "it is just deep and true friendship" 😡😹

[@reginaobrien8983]

These videos are so informative and beautifully presented. Thank you!

[@theartshole311]

Glad you like them!

[@onlibertyjm]

Thanks

[@liamkennedy5301]

Just wanted to say i love what you are doing and look forward to your videos in the future. As a young artist, i find all your videos very interesting and helpful in understanding what makes great art. So yeah just wanted to say thanks for making the great content and keep it up man, hope you're doing well.

[@theartshole311]

Really glad to hear that, I hope that these videos will be helpful, especially for young people interested in art so I'm delighted to hear you got some use out of them. thanks for your nice comment too!

[@gencofilmco]

Cheers for the new video. Another superb one. Bravo mate.

[@theartshole311]

Cheers, glad you liked it!

[@qwertuv8189]

Thank you so much for such an informative and wonderful video.

[@m.i.miller8008]

Excellent video.. Thank you. Really appreciate these .. so helpful

[@theartshole311]

You're very welcome!

[@florenceduchet5116]

Thank you for this amazing video, definitely useful for my essay on Anarchist aesthetics!!

[@theartshole311]

Glad it was helpful! sounds like an interesting topic for an essay

[@user-fv7jb1bd3s]

Mate you’re so sick, love all of these videos, just found them today and am binging them all. Stumbled upon your channel on one of my regular cezanne searches. Have you ever looked at James Ensor? Quite new to that guy and find his mask images quite powerful and he seems like quite an interesting eccentric character. Anyway man, thanks for these videos - looking forward to the next one

[@theartshole311]

Cheers! Glad you enjoy them, I've seen a bit of Ensor's works, they're quite unusual and surreal, he may be a good subject for a video, especially as we get further into expressionism in the near future, thanks for the suggestion!

[@nikinikoo2415]

very helpful but where can I find the reference?

[@radioactivedetective6876]

Chromoluminairism is an awesome name!!! Love it... In terms of popular name-familiarity, Seurat's (and the other Post-Impressionists') works would have perhaps garnered more attention and curiosity had the movement been called Chromoluminairism. For people like me - amateurs and beginners with vague and limited knowledge - Neo-Impressionism seems to imply a revival of Impressionism - but, now knowing all that you have taught in this video, Seurat's Pointilism / Divisionism / Chromoluminairism - in technique and in content and meaning - seems to be as distinct a genre as Post-impressionism, and not a continuation or revival of Impressionism. The critic Felix Fenion did them in with the naming. There is a lot in a name.

[@theartshole311]

Lol, I think it's a better term but I can see why they went with Neo Impressionism. This was still a period where movements with distinct names were only starting to become a thing, and Impressionism already had public recognition from their annual independent shows. I guess for name recognition and marketing purposes Feneon probably felt that It would get better traction. Maybe at some stage we'll take a closer look at Feneon as a critic of the era, he was quite influential himself and as radical as any of the others, he was even tried as a suspected anarchist at one point.

[@virginiak8561]

Great video!

[@capivara6094]

When I was in school, I learned about this art movement as "pontilhismo" (the Portuguese version of pointillism) and not neo-impressionisn.

[@radioactivedetective6876]

8:42 - The original Impressionists too used optical mixing, did they not?

[@theartshole311]

They would have in the same way that any painting uses it, colours will always look different depending on their surroundings. Also much of their mixing was based in observed qualities of light which they mimicked, Seurat and the Neo Impressionists differed in that their optical mixing was based strictly in the colour theories of guys like Chevruel and Blanc and sought to control and heighten the effect.

[@radioactivedetective6876]

@@theartshole311 ok. So, as the colour theory ideas were published and became popular they influenced the art movements that emerged in the following decades of the 19th century to various degress. The Neo-Impressionists/Pointilists like Seurat based their use of colour primarily on the scientific theories, whereas Impressionists had other factors influencing their use of colour. - Have I got it right?

[@theartshole311]

Yes, i think thats more or less accurate. Colour theory is a big topic in itself!

[@radioactivedetective6876]

@@theartshole311 you are so patient witb regards to my dumb questions and clarifications! I really really appreciate that 💞🌷

[@llynhunter]

"...the prospect of being shot at, preferable to drawing any more plaster casts." Yes! I love your scripts.

[@theartshole311]

Lol, I speak from experience (of drawing, not being shot at that is!)

[@nikhilbrahma4134]

Pl i want the answer---- is J.VERMEER a realistic painter?

[@RD-jd3yh]

Thank you again !

[@theartshole311]

You're welcome again!

[@alibenmansour6777]

Thank you شكرا

[@theartshole311]

You are very welcome!

[@user-et3xn2jm1u]

Just fyi, the violent chaos pop culture understanding of anarchism is basically a photo-negative of how most anarchists would describe it. Anarchism and communism used to be best buds, and both hinge on organizing. And anarcho-capitalists are shunned by most anarchists, as ancaps tend to have shallow ideology which does not withstand scrutiny -- nor does it need to, as it is basically does not challenge existing centers of power in any way. Anyway. I understand this was a video on art history so perhaps you weren't as enthusiastic to do a bunch of research on political philosophy :) I enjoyed the video, I didn't know about the political beliefs of the chromoluminairies but I've always been fond of Signac's paintings.

[@theartshole311]

While I don't relish the thought of running my mouth about something so big and complicated as Anarchist political theory, I thought it was a very interesting aspect of the Neo Impressionists that doesn't get brought up nearly enough. And I know what you mean about the violent pop culture perception of anarchism too, especially given this particular era. Probably very convenient for all those industrialists to portray their critics as bomb throwing madmen. I probably shouldn't feed into that perception too much.

[@radioactivedetective6876]

@@theartshole311 Philosophy Tube has a great introductory video on Anarchy, Power and Violence, in case u are interested: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mHSkhqCebp6bg6s

[@theartshole311]

Thanks, I'll check it out. I'm no expert on this particular ideology but I think I'll have to learn more since it will most likely come up again in the future. Also apologies to wwwaldo, for some reason this comment got moved to the "held for review" tab. KZbin's algorithm seems very nervous of anything mentioning these topics! I've moved it back to the comments section so should be visible again

[@cuebj]

7 minutes in. Missed Seurat's 2 pictures are opposite banks of the river: working class men on left bank wrt painter, middle class mixed on right bank

[@radioactivedetective6876]

Check out the following link at 20:28 for a fantastic demonstration of Seurat's colour theory: kzbin.info/www/bejne/l6nJYXScgZmZqqs

[@lkhlkhlkhfghjtv1]

Great channel

[@theartshole311]

Cheers!

[@undake30]

thank you!

[@gabrielavalencia416]

Excelente!

[@jazw4649]

Michel Eugène Chevreul (1786-1889) France - On the Law of Simultaneous Contrast of Colors: And Its Timeless Applications in All the Visual Arts FROM EUGENE DELACROIX TO NEO-IMPRESSIONISM - SIGNAC Anarchists: Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809-1865) French politician Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin Jean Graves - The Wreckers

[@sabrinanascimento1267]

This is informative

[@theartshole311]

Thanks!

[@lonelycloud4773]

What's with the font? Barely readable.

[@dianas-space]

I think we'd enjoy a Duchamp video that is 6 hours long. Okay, split into parts.

[@MarcoDollenz]

❤

[@YR_rythem]

Good....

[@renzo6490]

1. I believe this video was narrated by a robot. 2. “Neo Impressionism” is a fancy term for a long recognized style known as Pointillism.

[@lisengel2498]

I am very attracted from the Way of using color in neoimpressionism and not so much to the choice of social and political Themsen, … but the video is so interesting and so very Well done and informative - I really enjoy follow you 🎶💙🧡🎵🎶

[@Felicia_m]

SEURAT, not "Serra".

[@El_Hicks]

I don't know who this "We" is that you keep talking about in the present day that supposedly has your "chaotic" and "violent" definition of Anarchy, but it certainly doesn't involve any of the actual Anarchists I know, including myself. Speak for yourself. There is no "We". Otherwise, thumbs up.

[@theartshole311]

Apologies, didn't mean to imply all anarchists are violent, I was perhaps oversimplifying or being too flippant. I'm not without sympathy for their ideas, considering the circumstance of the times they weren't exactly wrong in their opposition to the effects of industrialization, hence why I find views like Signac's so compelling, even if they are somewhat idealistic. In the future I will probably have to touch on some of these ideas again so I'll do my best not to fuck it up too bad when I do, thanks for letting me know!

[@AmarSingh-jq5hh]

Catch

[@markknego5743]

I hate to say it but in this video series their pronunciation of French words is ridiculous!

[@AmarSingh-jq5hh]

Do u have to cath a train... In what hurry u are

[@lisengel2498]

Wonderfull examples of paintings. I really enjoy the color palet of Paul Signac 🩵💛🩶

[@reginaobrien8983]

These videos are so informative and beautifully presented. Thank you!

[@theartshole311]

Thanks, glad you like them!