RichieC Loc: Adirondacks

With the advent of widespread photography taking over the niche of recording people, events and things artists always had in the world, artists turned toward something photography could not deliver. They had to just to survive. Some movements were manufactured precisely for this purpose. Others were a natural progression. But then the public was more accommodating to this. For portraits and such, very few could afford the time to pay for a month in front of an artist for a portrait or a landscape, when a photo was just a few dollars away and relatively instant. Everyone could afford a photo. Note that artists in a particular movement jealously and sometimes violently sought to control who was an official expert of it and who was not. The signature at the bottom was what made something worth anything- they were protected. I read somewhere that Picasso would pay for mundane things with checks, as only a few would ever be cashed. Art is a notoriously nonviable profession, at least while one was alive, and the more is not the merrier.

Monet is perhaps my favorite as is the impressionist movement. I will be interested in seeing where this post leads.

On a side note. To appreciate these series of paintings for full effect, one has to visit one. They are giant! wall sized. The effect is profound. There are a lot of them in the world! Like 250 I think. Still, I have only seen a few of them. One resided in Pittsburgh when I was at art school there, another in a Impressionist exhibition at the national gallery of art in Washington DC, and MoMA in NYC (https://www.moma.org/collection/works/80220) - you just can't get the importance and effect by looking at 5" x 3" plates in books. You gotta go see them in person.

https://www.claude-monet.com/waterlilies.jsp

artBob Loc: Near Chicago

The need for speed had been met 50 years before the Impressionists exhibited, with the invention of photography. One of the influences on Impression was photography, especially the capturing of the contemporary moment. The Impressionists were reacting against classlcal subject matter by painting the contemporary mundane as transient light.

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

I think there is a lot of truth in your statement that impressionism may be broader than is generally construed.

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

Thanks for joining the discussion Richie. You have made some interesting points about the path of art after the advent of photography. Considering the correlations and overt or less obvious relationships between traditional art and photography has always been one of the intents of this thread. This month I went out on a limb with the newest thread and attempted to launch a discussion on the connections between photography and literature.