The History of Impressionism - Research Paper Example

What world did they see in the early 1860s, when Impressionism stormed into their lives as the wind of change? Social disruptions at the end of the 18th century, revolutions in France and America, transformed the very essence of Western culture, which cannot but affect the role of art in a rapidly changing society. Accustomed to some social orders from the ruling dynasties or the church, artists suddenly found that all the customers left them. The nobility and clergy experienced serious financial and social troubles.

The era of capitalism came, which changed the art rules and priorities totally. Gradually established republics and democratic powers witnessed the growth of the middle class and this growth caused the development of the new art market. Unfortunately, entrepreneurs and traders usually lacked hereditary culture and education, without which it was impossible to understand the diversity of allegories or skillful mastery, which charmed the aristocracy. Without any aristocratic upbringing and education, the middle-class representatives, who suddenly became the art consumers, had to rely on the opinion of professionals - newspaper critics and official experts.

The artistic academies, the watchers of the classical canons, became the central arbiters in the issue of artistic preferences. So, it’s not a paradox that some young and talented artists rebelled against the conformity and dominance of formal academism in art. The major strongholds of academicism at that time were state patronized exhibitions of contemporary art – the Salons. Participation in the Salon was the only chance to attract the attention of the press and customers. The Salon was a unique opportunity to acquire a customer, to build a career in art.

Auguste Renoir, in his letter to his dealer Durand-Ruel, criticizes the status quo: “In Paris there are scarcely fifteen people who capable of like a painter who doesn’t show at the Salon. There are 80,000 who won’t buy so much as a nose from a painter who is not at the Salon”. A medal from the Salon marked professional recognition. Conversely, if a jury rejected a work, it was equal to aesthetic rejection.