Maurice de Vlaminck, The Village, 1908-9
No conclusion was appended to the book because it’s not a monograph on art history --
it’s the catalog for an exhibition of French landscape painting between 1830 and 1870.
Kermit Champa never wrote a history of French painting from that period - or the one that followed - perhaps because it could not be published. He somewhat suggested that below:
"Sociological, political, and psychological analyses, because of their presumed basis in solid written documentation, have increasingly come to dominate the study of what is arguably the most art-full of all moments in the history of Western painting: the period from the mid-1870s to the mid-1890s in France."
He went even further when he wrote:
..There is a conception of art history which sees nothing more in art than a "translation of life" (Hippolyte Taine) into pictorial terms, and which attempts to interpret every style as an expression of the prevailing mood of the age. Who would wish to deny that this is a fruitful way of looking at the matter? Yet it takes us only so far--as far, one might say, as the point at which art begins.
But he may never have written such a book anyway. He shows a preference to focus on individual paintings as he does in this catalog. Broad, sweeping generalizations appeal to him less than actual works of art - though he does offer a recurring theme throughout this catalog: the connection between painting and concert hall music of that era. I'm familiar with Brahms, Wagner, Berlioz etc - and though I can see an occasional connection - it's at a level of generality that doesn't really engage me.
So much of the text in this catalog sailed right past me.
Corot, Festival of Pan, Taft Museum
It was good, however, to re-visit my old friends from this era and think about the ongoing civilization that continues to encompass them.
The title of the exhibit is what mostly provoked me : are we really seeing " the rise of landscape painting in France " - or are we witnessing its spectacular sunset ? or both ?
Andre Derain, 1907
I’ve posted the landscapes of two major museum artists who
still tethered their their paintings to the observed world.
But after the Fauves —- then who ?
Robert Antoine Pinchon (1886-1943)
A fine painter from the same period -
but good luck finding his work outside France.
Georges Charles Robin (1903-2003)
A more academicized variant who lived into the new millennium.
Nicolas Curmer, b. 1974, Face a la Mer, 2021
And here’s work from a contemporary Frenchman. It’s offered online for a thousand Euros.
For me, it’s as compelling as many of the pieces in Champa’s catalog,
but at that price, the artist is hardly making a living.
French observational landscape painting may be alive and well -
but it’s being practiced way outside the mainstream artworld. It's probably hard to see in France, and impossible to see in Chicago.
Courbet, The Painter's Studio, 1855
Why did the artworld soon turn away ?
I blame Courbet! -- not really -- but he's an early example of an artist who attracts attention by intentionally confronting or even shocking the public.
Courbet, Origin of the World, 1866
This was the birth of the avant garde and its domination of artworld economics. Fifty years later, Picasso made it perpetual - as well as amassing more wealth than any artist before him.
With his uniquely forceful approach to landscape painting, Courbet might have been the founder of a great tradition in painting instead of self-promotion. There certainly are contemporary painters who are inspired by his work -- but they are way off the radar of the artworld.
Art needs to look great when it confirms the prestige of tribe, king, priest, or state.
It only needs to appear surprising, challenging, or innovative
when sold as an investment to the business class.
Catalog essays did somewhat address the business side of landscape painting back then - entry in the Salon was much prized. It probably increased the prices that artists could demand - much more, say, than an MFA might do today. But there was no discussion about the collectors. Were any institutions buying for themselves? How was the secondary market handled? And I wonder whether anything like a CV of exhibitions and buyers was used for promotion.
The French Academy typically plays the role of the stodgy enemy of creativity in most of these artist’s biographies. Yet eventually most (if not all) of them are admitted. Perhaps it deserves some credit for drawing so much attention to standards of excellence - even as they are continually evolving.
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Christopher Campbell, Deluge #16, 2022
This contemporary artist is in the aesthetic tradition of the painters in this catalog.
As a PHD candidate, he assisted Professor Champa in putting it together. A footnote tells us that his thesis queried the personal relationship between Pissarro and Cezanne.
As it turns out, he eventually decided he's rather make art history than teach it.
He has a rather innovative practice in observational landscape painting.
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Anne Horus
..and here’s a local artist ( Baraboo, Wi.)
He’s not French (Frisian actually)
but he does seem to represent the European tradition rather well.
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If you’re reading this post,
you probably recognize a difference
between landscape paintings that are only a pleasant inventory of details,
and those of exceptional form.
Our world needs a website that collects images of the latter -
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