LEARNING JOURNAL UNIT 7

Please respond to the following:

1. Discuss how both Matisse’s Bonheur de Vivre (Joy of Life) and Picasso’s Les
Demoiselles d’Avignon can be simultaneously seen as inspired by and
breaking free of Paul Cézanne’s, The Large Bathers. Describe the three
paintings and refer to specific visual references in your discussion as part of
your comparison. Use art vocabulary and terminology (such as descriptions
of style, color and form) to support your arguments.

I have read through out the different art movements and I have observed that all artists
are inspired in one way or another by artworks from other artists so as to be able to create
their work showing the different perspectives people have when they look at the same
similar objects in creation of their. ‘The Large Bathers’ I can observe that it is painted
around the time of the post-impressionism period. There impressionism elements like
where the capture of the image is mainly a glimpse without much details. It also used
many and bold colors from the many naked woman painted (The Art Story, n.d.). Then
also the outdoor scene is also drawn in very brief without much details. While in the
Bonheur De Vivre, I can also find that naked bodies have been used as a subject of
painting which is a true reflection of the natural human body. Though in Matisse, the
treatment and perspective to draw the painting. This shows that the composition and the
theme is similar in both (The Art Story, n.d.).

Both artists are tried their best to show us how they see this world by creating different
artwork. It is not shame to draw from the same idea or to get inspiration from other
artists, but we have to add our own perspective to create originality for the work.

2. Impressionism is often referred to as the beginning of modern art. How are

the modern styles you studied this week descended from Impressionism?

Most of the modern styles studied this week are seen as a reaction against impressionism
because they were more concerned with the dissolution of impressionism's form and
therefore tried through more trials to reinvest substance and information obtained from
the paintings (The Art Story, n.d.). The main modern art style that descended from
impressionism is post-impressionism. Led by Paul Cezanne, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van
 Gogh, and George Seurat, these post-impressionists rejected impressionism’s concern
with the spontaneous and naturalistic rendering of light and color (The Art Story, n.d.).
With post-impressionism, the colors, lighting, and also the brushstrokes all merge to
create one piece of art that can match impressionism, I would say. Also, the Pine Tree
State is a bit influenced by impressionism once it involves brightness and color (The Art
Story, n.d.).

Do you think the modern styles are also a reaction against Impressionism?
Please explain your answer and support it with sources (citations) and
evidence

From all the modern styles of art I have read this week, it’s easy for me to say that the
Dada art style was not a reaction to impressionism. One can definitively observe that the
Dada art style puts more emphasis on political and current affairs without much
consideration for the outcome of the painting (The Art Story, n.d.). Having been
developed as a reaction to World War I, Dadaist artists put more emphasis on nonsense,
irrationality, and anti-bourgeois protest in their work. This is in contrast to
impressionism, which cared about the accurate depiction of natural light using small,
visible brushstrokes that would offer a bare impression of form together with unblended
colors (The Art Story, n.d.). The other style that might not have been a reaction to
impressionism is cubism. This is because, it was a completely different kind of
perspective. Cubism used more geometric shapes in depictions of humans and other
forms, unlike impressionism, which didn’t have defined shapes. It also focused more on
having multiple perspectives. The Cubists wanted to show the whole structure of objects
in their paintings without many modifications (The Art Story, n.d.).

REFERENCE
The Art Story, (n.d.). Movements: DADA. Retrieved from
https://www.theartstory.org/movement/dada/
The Art Story, (n.d.). Movements: CUBISM. Retrieved from
https://www.theartstory.org/movement/cubism/

The Art Story, (n.d.). Movements: POST-IMPRESSIONISM. Retrieved from

https://www.theartstory.org/movement/post-impressionism/

The Art Story, (n.d.). Movements: EXPRESSIONISM. Retrieved from

https://www.theartstory.org/movement/expressionism/