In 1841 An American Artist John Rand Invented Collapsible Metal... part 1 Essay - 5,229 words

In 1841 an American artist John Rand invented collapsible metal tubes for oil paints. For impressionists, who often painted out-of-doors, this new convenience was indispensable. Before the invention of tubes, painters would have carried bladders (see image below left) to store the paint that they would have made in their studio. The bladders would have been made from pig membrane and tied at the top with strong twine to exclude air. About the same time, railway expansion was making the countryside more accessible: new lines connected Paris with Normandy and with towns along the Seine that became home and subject for many impressionist painters. Our strongest image of these artists is out-of-doors, hats shading their eyes, easels alongside a riverbank as they transcribed fleeting effects of light and atmosphere on the landscape.


By the middle of the century, open-air painting was an established tradition, though most artists maintained the distinction between oil sketches made outdoors and finished works painted in the studio. Bolder painting styles were starting to blur these differences, and realism, which emphasized "truth," prompted many artists to paint nature with unembellished directness instead of "enhancing" raw sensation through representations of myth or allegory. Landscape artists Corot and Boudin were strong influences on young impressionist painters. Corot made many oil sketches from nature, outdoors, but there was no market for them in his lifetime. The paintings he exhibited and sold were painted in the studio. Boudin, however, began to paint his landscapes entirely en plein air - in the open air. By about 1870, impressionists Pissarro, Sisley, Monet, and Renoir had made a touchstone of open-air painting. Asked by an interviewer about his studio, Monet flung his arms open before the Seine and its buttercup-covered banks, saying "That's my studio." This vision of impressionism was part myth - in fact, many pictures show signs of studio work -- but it underscores the importance these artists placed on direct observation, speed, and spontaneity as they tried to capture the look of changing weather, seasons, and times of day. Millet, Jean-Francois (1814-75), the son of a small peasant farmer of Greville in Normandy, Millet showed a precocious interest in drawing, and arrived in Paris in 1838 to become a pupil of Paul Delaroche.


He had to fight against great odds, living for long a life of extreme penury. He exhibited at the Salon for the first time in 1840, and married two years later. At this time, the main influences on him were Poussin and Eustache Le Sueur, and the type of work he produced consisted predominantly of mythological subjects or portraiture, at which he was especially adept (Portrait of a Naval Officer, 1845; Musee des Beaux-Arts, Rouen). His memories of rural life, and his intermittent contacts with Normandy, however, impelled him to that concern with peasant life that was to be characteristic of the rest of his artistic career. In 1848 he exhibited The Winnower (now lost) at the Salon, and this was praised by Theophile Gautier and bought by Alexandre Ledru-Rollin, the Minister of the Interior. In 1849, when a cholera epidemic broke out in Paris, Millet moved to Barbizon on the advice of the engraver Charles-Emile Jacque (1813-94) and took a house near that of Theodore Rousseau.


Devoted to this area as a subject for his work, he was one of those who most clearly helped to create the Barbizon School. His paintings on rural themes attracted growing acclaim and between 1858 and 1859 he painted the famous Angelus (Musee d'Orsay), which 40 years later was to be sold for the sensational price of 553,000 francs. Although he was officially distrusted because of his real or imaginary Socialist leanings, his own attitude towards his chosen theme of peasant life was curiously ambivalent. Being of peasant stock, he tended to look upon farm workers as narrow-minded and oblivious of beauty, and did not accept the notion that `honest toil' was the secret of happiness. In fact, his success partly stemmed from the fact that, though compared with most of his predecessors and, indeed, his contemporaries, he was a `Realist', he presented this reality in an acceptable form, with a religious or idyllic gloss. Nevertheless, he became a symbol to younger artists, to whom he gave help and encouragement. It was he who, on a visit to Le Havre to paint portraits, encouraged Boudin to become an artist, and his work certainly influenced the young Monet, and even more decidedly so Pissarro, who shared similar political inclinations.


Although towards the end of his life, when he started using a lighter palette and freer brushstrokes, his work showed some affinities with Impressionism, his technique was never really close to theirs. He never painted out-of-doors, and he had only a limited awareness of tonal values, but his draughtsmanship had a monumentality that appealed to artists such as Seurat and van Gogh, who was also enthralled by his subject-matter, with its social implications. Millet's career was greatly helped by Durand-Ruel. One particular piece of art stands out and catches the eye. That piece of art is The Shepherdess and Her Flock constructed and perfected by Jean Francois Millet. When one makes a certain judgment on a piece of art, one must be precise and certain about that judgment.


When observing Millets piece I will take in to consideration three things to make my judgment: use of color, theme, and meaning. The Shepherdess and Her Flock catches the eye very quickly. The painting consists of a shepherdess tending to her sheep in some remote hills perhaps and most likely in Western Europe. The shepherdess herself is standing just a few paces ahead of her flock while they are all grouped together tightly apparently feeding. She is holding a staff while studying the ground. The look on her face makes her seem like she is disturbed for some unknown reason.


The shepherdess is wearing many articles of clothing. Her first layer is blue and reaches down to her ankles. The next layer appears to be some kind of shawl. The shawl is cream colored and only reaches just past her waist. The final piece of clothing is red and only covers her head. The grass beneath the shepherdess, which covers the entire land, has bald spots and contains dandy lions giving it great character. This is the grass on which the flock is feeding on.


Watching over the sheep is a shepherd dog stand just to the right of the flock. The dog stands very proudly and has a great pride in his job. The sky in this work is covered entirely with clouds. The only bare spot in the sky is at the very top of the painting where the clouds begin to split. Millets work appears to be set early in the morning. Looking beyond the flock as far as the painting will allow, one can see some hills and trees and perhaps a small village or town. This painting is overwhelming with beauty and style and elegance.


Millet comes to the edge of perfection is his work. When an artist creates a piece, in this case a painting, the artists must take into consideration the colors that he/she uses. For example, if the artist were to paint his work only using the colors black and white, that would suggest the painting was meant to be bleak and somewhat hollow. If the artist were to use the color red often, it would indicate that he intended the object to seem powerful or strong. The Shepherdess and Her Flock uses color very diligently and boldly. The object that most stands out in this work is the shepherdess head cover. The head cover is red. This object is colored red to show that ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

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Essay Tags: painting, landscape, artist, millet, claude

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