Philadelphia Museum of Art
April 16 – August 18, 2019
Although they are regarded first and foremost as painters, the Impressionists were equally dedicated to making and exhibiting drawings, pastels, and sculptures. Over a quarter of the work exhibited in their group shows were on paper. The exhibition explores Impressionist paintings, watercolors, drawings, and sculptures together, demonstrating the versatility, experimentation, and innovation of these artists and the fluidity with which they moved from one medium to another.
"A Woman and a Girl Driving,"by Mary Stevenson Cassatt, 1881. Oil on canvas, 35 5/16 × 51 3/8 inches. Purchased with the W. P. Wilstach Fund, 1921. Image courtesy of Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2018.
Approximately 70 Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works by Manet, Degas, Monet, Pissarro, Sisley, Renoir, Morisot, Cassatt, Seurat, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec, Rodin, drawn largely from the collection will be on view.
The exhibition will explore the perspective and originality that the Impressionists brought to landscapes, still lifes, portraits, nudes, and scenes of modern life. Cropping, unusual angles, flattened grounds, vibrant color, and vigorous brushwork are tools these artists used to add a startling modern angle to their painting and drawing.
"In the Loge," around 1879, by Mary Stevenson Cassatt. Philadelphia Museum of Art: Gift of Mrs. Sargent McKean, 1950.
Among the highlights will be a close examination of a major work by Renoir : his The Large Bathers.
Monet's Path on the Island of Saint Martin, Vetheuil, 1881,
Two drawings by Van Gogh—both from 1888 but worked in very different styles—demonstrate how he created large-scale drawings in an exaggerated “painterly” style for the art market or transformed his paintings into meticulous drawings as gifts for friends.
Pages from Cézanne’s sketchbooks, last displayed at the Museum in 1989, will be on view.
Curator
Jennifer Thompson, The Gloria and Jack Drosdick Curator of European Painting and Sculpture, and Curator of the John G. Johnson Collection