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One of the products to come out of the Industrial
Revolution was the camera, which renders realistic representations of
most subjects and at the same time positions realistic painters on the
brink of irrelevance. Unable to compete with this new technology
painters decided to depict movement, color and moments which created
what we know today as Impressionist art. The Impressionism movement was
created by a group of street artists during the Nineteenth Century in
Paris, France. The style of painting used thin, visible brushstrokes,
capturing the change of light, movement, fleeting moments, and focus on
common, routine subjects such as those we see every day; flowers,
lampposts, and storefronts. This art style also focused on gender with
two artists in particular; Thomas Eakins and Mary Cassatt.
Thomas
Eakins and Mary Cassatt were both American artists who moved to Paris
to further their study of art. Unlike Eakins, who had to rely on his
artistic talent alone, Cassatt had the buffer of her wealthy family as
well as her talent and ingenuity to become one of the few women to join
the ranks of the Impressionists. Both Cassatt and Eakins began their
quest as portrait painters who believed that a woman's portrait need not
be flattering for it to be successful. Most of Cassatt's paintings
revolved around women, their day to day lives and the tasks they
performed, but most importantly the relationship between mother and
child. Eakins in the other hand chose to depict nature and how man
interacted with it.
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Mary Cassatt's
Woman in Black at the Opera depicts a woman
watching an opera show without a male escort which was frowned up.
Through the woman in black Cassatt expresses what she is going through
as a female artist in a patriarchal world. The woman watches the show as
other male patrons watch her in disbelief, the woman also doesn't
engage the viewer which was never heard of in painting during those
days, this is done in a way that tells people she doesn't care what they
think about her. She is wearing black because though she is a rebel she
also is a little fearful for her safety and is trying to remind as
incognito as possible.
Both Eakins and Cassatt came from
different backgrounds, studied under different mentors and took
different routes to become very successful Impressionist artists. The
subject of each of this artists' paintings were vastly different based
on what each artist was allowed to depict in that era. However, both
aim to make a mark in society and put into light social issues that
other artist chose to ignore. In the swimming hole Eakins chose to shows
patriotism and the love he feels for America, while Cassatt's Woman in
black at the Opera inspires women to raise above stupid laws put in
place by men to oppressed the female gender. The Impressionist artists
as a group show us that even when faced with a dead end you should never
give up; you should get your tools out and make a new route that will
lead to new possibilities.
Eisenman, Stephen, and Thomas E. Crow. Nineteenth Century Art: A
Critical History. 4th ed. London: Thames & Hudson, 2007. Print.
Kleiner, Fred S., Christin J. Mamiya, Richard G. Tansey, and Helen
Gardner. Gardner's Art through the Ages. 13th ed. Vol. II. Belmont, CA:
Wadsworth, 2004. Print.
Janson, H. W., Joseph Jacobs, and H. W. Janson. Janson's History of Art:
The Western Tradition. Upper Saddle, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2009. Print
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