“When you go out to paint, try to forget what objects you have before you, a tree, a house, a field, or whatever. Merely think, here is a little square of blue, here an oblong of pink, here a streak of yellow.” — Claude Monet 1840 – 1926
The Impressionist style of painting emerged in France in the late 1800s. A radical departure from traditional painting, this movement completely changed the way people made and thought about art. Perhaps one of the reasons for this shift is the parallel emergence of photography. The camera’s ability to accurately record life had a great impact on society and the artistic world. The photographic image easily surpassed painting in its ability to represent reality, and its use and popularity helped push artists in new directions.
Impressionist painters such as Mary Cassatt and Claude Monet strove to capture light, action, and the immediacy of the moment rather than following the traditional practice of carefully planned and finely detailed painting, typically of important people of the day or historical, religious, or mythological subjects. The emphasis for this new school of painters was on what impression a landscape or scene put forth, not on the myriad details within that scene. With high attention to color and light, the Impressionist painters emphasized the importance of painting outdoors, painting everyday life, and painting quickly.
Joyce Kahn’s pastel painting Melinde’s Poppies II is a perfect example of modern Impressionism. We can sense the speed of the color application, and that helps us sense the wind and the light as it shines and flickers through the translucent poppy petals. There is no labored botanical fussiness here, but rather a loud statement about the ephemeral moment – about the now.
Joyce Kahn lives in Montpelier, Vermont. There will be an exhibition of her work at the Central Vermont Medical Center Gallery September 17 through October 28.