The French Impressionists 
(1860-1900) 
 
The Project Gutenberg eBook, The French Impressionists (1860-1900), 
by 
Camille Mauclair, Translated by P. G. Konady 
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Title: The French Impressionists (1860-1900) 
Author: Camille Mauclair 
Release Date: November 15, 2004 [eBook #14056] 
Language: English 
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 
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THE FRENCH IMPRESSIONISTS (1860-1900) 
by 
CAMILLE MAUCLAIR 
Author of L'art en Silence, Les Mères Sociales, etc. 
Translated from the French text of Camille Mauclair, by P. G. Konody 
London: Duckworth & Co. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co. Turnbull 
and Spears, Printers, Edinburgh 
1903 
 
[Illustration: RENOIR 
AT THE PIANO] 
 
To 
AUGUSTE BRÉAL 
TO THE ARTIST AND TO THE FRIEND 
AS A MARK OF GRATEFUL AFFECTION 
C.M.
AUTHOR'S NOTE 
It should be stated here that, with the exception of one reproduction 
after the Neo-Impressionist Van Rysselberghe, the other forty-nine 
engravings illustrating this volume I owe to the courtesy of M. 
Durand-Ruel, from the first the friend of the Impressionist painters, and 
later the most important collector of their works, a friend who has been 
good enough to place at our disposal the photographs from which our 
illustrations have been reproduced. Chosen from a considerable 
collection which has been formed for thirty years past, these 
photographs, none of which are for sale, form a veritable and unique 
museum of documents on Impressionist art, which is made even more 
valuable through the dispersal of the principal masterpieces of this art 
among the private collections of Europe and America. We render our 
thanks to M. Durand-Ruel no less in the name of the public interested 
in art, than in our own. 
 
CONTENTS 
AUTHOR'S NOTE 
I. THE PRECURSORS OF IMPRESSIONISM--THE BEGINNING 
OF THIS MOVEMENT, THE ORIGIN OF ITS NAME 
II. THE THEORY OF THE IMPRESSIONISTS--THE DIVISION OF 
TONES, COMPLEMENTARY COLOURS, THE STUDY OF 
ATMOSPHERE--THE IDEAS OF THE IMPRESSIONISTS ON 
SUBJECT-PICTURES, ON THE BEAUTY OF CHARACTER, ON 
MODERNITY, AND ON STYLE 
III. EDOUARD MANET: HIS WORK, HIS INFLUENCE 
IV. EDGAR DEGAS: HIS WORK, HIS INFLUENCE 
V. CLAUDE MONET: HIS WORK, HIS INFLUENCE
VI. AUGUSTE RENOIR: HIS WORK, HIS INFLUENCE 
VII. PISSARRO, SISLEY, CAILLEBOTTE, CÉZANNE, BERTHE 
MORISOT, MARY CASSATT; THE SECONDARY ARTISTS OF 
IMPRESSIONISM--JONGKIND, BOUDIN 
VIII. THE MODERN ILLUSTRATORS CONNECTED WITH 
IMPRESSIONISM: RAFFAËLLI, TOULOUSE-LAUTREC, FORAIN, 
CHÉRET, ETC. 
IX. NEO-IMPRESSIONISM: GAUGUIN, DENIS, THÉO VAN 
RYSSELBERGHE--THE THEORY OF POINTILLISM--SEURAT, 
SIGNAC AND THE THEORIES OF SCIENTIFIC 
CHROMATISM--FAULTS AND QUALITIES OF THE 
IMPRESSIONIST MOVEMENT, WHAT WE OWE TO IT, ITS 
PLACE IN THE HISTORY OF THE FRENCH SCHOOL--SOME 
WORDS ON ITS INFLUENCE ABROAD 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
RENOIR. At the Piano (Frontispiece) 
MANET. Rest 
MANET. In the Square 
MANET. Young Man in Costume of Majo 
MANET. The Reader 
DEGAS. The Dancer at the Photographer's 
DEGAS. Carriages at the Races 
DEGAS. The Greek Dance--Pastel
DEGAS. Waiting 
CLAUDE MONET. The Pines 
CLAUDE MONET. Church at Vernon 
RENOIR. Portrait of Madame Maitre 
MANET. The Dead Toreador 
MANET. Olympia 
MANET. The Woman with the Parrot 
MANET. The Bar at the Folies Bergère 
MANET. Déjeuner 
MANET. Portrait of Madame M. L. 
MANET. The Hothouse 
DEGAS. The Beggar Woman 
DEGAS. The Lesson in the Foyer 
DEGAS. The Dancing Lesson--Pastel 
DEGAS. The Dancers 
DEGAS. Horses in the Meadows 
CLAUDE MONET. An Interior after Dinner 
CLAUDE MONET. The Harbour, Honfleur 
CLAUDE MONET. The Church at Varengeville 
CLAUDE MONET. Poplars on the Epte in Autumn
CLAUDE MONET. The Bridge at Argenteuil 
RENOIR. Déjeuner 
RENOIR. In the Box 
RENOIR. Young Girl Promenading 
RENOIR. Woman's Bust 
RENOIR. Young Woman in Empire Costume 
RENOIR. On the Terrace 
PISSARRO. Rue de l'Epicerie, Rouen 
PISSARRO. Boulevard Montmartre 
PISSARRO. The Boildieaux Bridge at Rouen 
PISSARRO. The Avenue de l'Opéra 
SISLEY. Snow Effect 
SISLEY. Bougival, at the Water's Edge 
SISLEY. Bridge at Moret 
CÉZANNE. Dessert 
BERTHE MORISOT. Melancholy 
BERTHE MORISOT. Young Woman Seated 
MARY CASSATT. Getting up Baby 
MARY CASSATT. Women and Child 
JONGKIND. In Holland
JONGKIND. View of the Hague 
THÉO VAN RYSSELBERGHE. Portraits of Madame van 
Rysselberghe and her Daughter 
 
NOTE TO LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
The illustrations contained in this volume have been taken from 
different epochs of the Impressionist movement. They will give but a 
feeble idea of the extreme abundance of its production. 
Banished from the salons, exhibited in private galleries and sold direct 
to art lovers, the Impressionist works have been but little seen. The 
series left by Caillebotte to the Luxembourg Gallery is very    
    
		
	
	
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