Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 March 1893 — Impressionism. [ARTICLE]

Impressionism.

From an illustrated article on “Claude,” by Theodore Robiusou, in the Century, the following is Quoted: “One cause of the popular prejudice against impressionism is the supposed willful exaggeration of color. No doubt restrained, negative color pleases better the average mind, and only a colorist and searcher can use pure, vivid color with good effect,

as Monet certainly does. That there 11 more color in nature than tha average observer is aware of, I believe any one not color-blind can prove for himself by taking the time and trouble to look for it. It is a plausible theory that our forefather* saw fewer tones and colors than we; that they had, in fact, a simpler and more naive vision; that the modem eye is being educated to distinguish a complexity of shades and varieties of color before unknown. And for a comparison, take the sense of taste, which is susceptible of cultivation to such an extraordinary degree that the expert can distinguish not only different varieties and ages of wine, but mixtures as well; yet this sense in the generality of mankind, in comparison, hardly exists. In like manner a painter gifted with a fine visual perception of things spends years in developing and educating that sense; then comes the man who never in his life looked at nature but in a casu&l and patronizing way, and who swears he ‘never saw such color as that. Which is right, or nearest right? “Another cause has been its supposed tendency toward iconoclasticism and eccentricity. But in reality, while bringing forward new discoveries of vibration and color, in many ways the impressionists were returning to first principles. Monet’s ‘Boy tvith a Sword’ and the much discussed ‘Olympia’ may claim kinship with Velasquez for truth of values, and for largeness and simplicity of modeling, while the best Monets rank with Daubigny’s or, to go farther hack, with Constable’s art in their selfrestraint and breadth, combined with fidelity to nature.” '