Synthetic impressionism
Synthetic Impressionism is a style of painting that combines the carefully observed color and expressive paint handling of impressionist painters with the abstraction of space and multiple exaggerated viewpoints of cubist painters. Its painters observe color directly from the subject, then bend and compress the space around it, so that feeling reshapes what the eye measured. Van Gogh, Cézanne, and Chaïm Soutine are usually named as forerunners, since each pushed observed color and distorted form past naturalism. Contemporary proponents include the American artists James Michalopoulos, known for his colorful interpretations of New Orleans, and Charles Tersolo, a Boston painter who works largely en plein air and whose largest public work, a painting of the Harvard Footbridge, hangs in a Boston hotel lobby. The label remains a small, current one rather than a historical movement.
Defining characteristics
- Color carefully observed from the subject, in the impressionist manner
- Abstraction of space with multiple exaggerated viewpoints, in the cubist manner
- Expressive, visible paint handling rather than a smooth finished surface
- Tilted or compressed architecture and landscape over a recognizable subject
Key figures
- Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) — Forerunner whose expressive color and paint handling anticipate the style
- Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) — Forerunner who fractured pictorial space and viewpoint
- Chaïm Soutine (1893-1943) — Forerunner whose distorted, thickly painted landscapes pushed form past naturalism
- James Michalopoulos (b. 1951) — Contemporary proponent known for colorful interpretations of New Orleans
- Charles Tersolo (b. 1974) — Contemporary Boston proponent painting observed color en plein air
Example works
- Natural Science, Night. In Boston. — Charles Tersolo
- Harvard Footbridge — Charles Tersolo
Sources
- Synthetic impressionism - Wikipedia encyclopedia