Impressionism and Naturalism by Robert Herbert - Essay Example

Impressionism and Naturalism" by Robert Herbert During the 19th century, there emerged from the artist community a breed of impressionists and naturalists termed as flaneurs. Robert Herbert in his article "Impressionism and Naturalism" defined the flaneur as, “the purposeful male stroller, (who) was a principal performer in the theater of daily life in Paris.. A journalist, writer or illustrator, he looked about with the acute eye of a detective, sizing up persons and events with a clinical detachment as though natural events could tell him their own stories, without his inference.

" (Herbert 33). Herbert went on to prove that painters like Manet, Degas and Caillebotte were flaneurs who richly contributed to our understanding of life in Paris during the 19th century. Through their paintings these flaneurs overrode romanticism of earlier artists and declaimed emotions, feelings and artists’ romantic notion of life. They were interested in daily life activities yet remained detached from the contemporary urban settings. They were known as impressionists because their works were their impression and understanding of situations, people, places, and things around them.

To Herbert these artists effectively reproduced daily life in Paris because they were living it. The artist flaneur is intuitive of Paris life because he dressed, lived, and felt the essence of the streets, cafes, theaters, parks and saloons of the city. Flaneurs walked the boulevards, displayed himself to public in beautiful garb, and met people from every walk of life with the intention of interacting with the environment. Degas portrait of James Tissot (1868) and The Place de la Comcorde (1875) (Herbert 35) were illustrative of this type of dandyism popular among flaneurs.

Manet, according to Herbert was a different sort of flaneur. He was obtuse in reproducing the flaneurs experience of destruction, transformation and desolation because he was an active observer. His work The Street Singer (1862) and The Balloon (1862) were examples of the artists silent commentary in the upheaval of the city and its people (Herbert 36). He exemplified realism through artifice and caricature. Flaneurs were keen in capturing the moment of life in its pure form which was why later works offered glimpses of contemporary urban life not through detailed oil paints but caricatures speedily drawn and executed as in Manets Rue Mosnier Decorated with Flags and Degass Martelli.

Flaneurs therefore were inventors and responsible for innovation in art during the 19th century. Flaneurs were also investigators of history for they were keen observers of urban life, noting spectators, daily occupations, behaviors, professions, and intimate and domestic life of that time. Degass Women on a Cafe Terrace, Evening and Manets Railroad which the artists investigated to the extent of scientific naturalism could be said to denote this aspect of flaneurs. Flaneurs were also observers of domestic manners.

Their detachment from the public and private arena offered them the advantage of narrating emotions and feelings without romantic interference. This could be observed in Cassatts Cup of Tea (1880) and Morisots Interior both depicted the artists detachment yet interactivity with domestic life. Flaneurs in the contexts of the above works and evaluation by Herbert were the windows through which we today observe people of the past and enjoy their everyday life interactions. Reference Herbert, Robert.

"Impressionism and Naturalism" in Impressionism by Robert Herbert, Yale University Press, 1991.