Illlusion and photo-realism
Now, returning to my initial classification of Bouguereau as a "Clasical-Illusionist". It is not my
intention to suggest at all that he was an imitator of (or slave to) the camera; I have merely
latched on here to the term most familiar to us to describe a representation of reality which is
extraordinarily life-like. Bewarned, though - never mistake Bouguereau's supreme illusionistic
skill for a barrenness of invention or a servitude to the minutae (which implies the
*irrelevancies*) of reality. Bouguereau stands prominently in the long line of Illustionists who
made magic out of the mundane, who distilled the Beauty out of Truth, and who feeds our eyes
and our souls on a feast of life-affirming verdor.Emphasizing the "academism" of the non-Impressionist painters is to do them a disservice.
These people didn't just execute works for the state, the Second Empire or whatever. To
declare that their 'style' marks them as oppressors of the Impressionists or enemies of "true
art" is to make a grave error in judging their importance in art history.Therefore, I object to them being described as "Pompiers" -- I understand that the terms
"baroque" and "rococo" also previously had a negative connotation, but if we are try and
ressurect the reputations of men like Gerome, Bouguereau and Meissonier, why should we
make our task thrice as difficult by referring to them in what we have all acknowledged is a
derogatory term? It may be that in the future the term "Pompier art" can be applied with
equanimity and fairness by some generation of art historians -- but at the present we would be
playing right into their hands by asserting (quite falsely) that Bouguereau and Gerome were
merely academics or pedagogues'.STUDENT ACTIVITY:Use the library or the internet to make a list of 8 impressionist artists of
1890 and a list of 15 academy artists of the same period. Include any Orientalists and the Pre-Rahpaelites in the latter group. Also name a painting by each artist listed. Allow 40min.
GO TO .... the eye, the grape and the cherry
advanced lesson menuhttp://www.geocities.com/~jlhagan/advanced/IianNeil.htm (3 of 3)1/13/2004 3:33:14 AM