In researching Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin and looking at his work, I cam across an unfamiliar term: "Synthetism." It sounded like my kind of word, so I pulled up a definition:
synthetism (ˈsɪnθɪtɪzəm)n1. (Art Terms) (often capital) the symbolism of Gauguin and the Nabis, who reacted against the impressionists and realists by seeking to produce brightly coloured abstractions of their inner experience
I learned that this term was used by the post-impressionists like Paul Gauguin, Émile Bernard and Louis Anquetin to set their work apart from impressionism. Gauguin admired the organic forms and color emphasized in impressionist work, but he felt that the detailed attention to light in nature confined the impressionists and limited their creativity. For this reason, he started a group of artists known as the Synthetists. They focused primarily upon using the elements of line, color, and form in their "pure" states, incorporating natural shapes and surfaces, and representing the artist's feelings and emotions about their subject.
I am drawn to this genre of art because I've been experimenting a lot with developing rich colors and surfaces and figures. Symbolism also played a great role in synthetist art, and I would like it to be a major player in the content of my own paintings. Lately, I've found it increasingly difficult to paint or draw something from my head because I have become so accustomed to looking at that which I am trying to replicate. The Synthetists, on the other hand, tried to paint mostly from memory. There is something to be said for art that spawns from inner observations rather than outward observations. It is an process that I want to put into practice more often, for it provides an interesting, almost introspective and primitive perspective that I find fascinating.
http://www.paul-gauguin.net/
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/578740/Synthetism
synthetism (ˈsɪnθɪtɪzəm)n1. (Art Terms) (often capital) the symbolism of Gauguin and the Nabis, who reacted against the impressionists and realists by seeking to produce brightly coloured abstractions of their inner experience
I learned that this term was used by the post-impressionists like Paul Gauguin, Émile Bernard and Louis Anquetin to set their work apart from impressionism. Gauguin admired the organic forms and color emphasized in impressionist work, but he felt that the detailed attention to light in nature confined the impressionists and limited their creativity. For this reason, he started a group of artists known as the Synthetists. They focused primarily upon using the elements of line, color, and form in their "pure" states, incorporating natural shapes and surfaces, and representing the artist's feelings and emotions about their subject.
I am drawn to this genre of art because I've been experimenting a lot with developing rich colors and surfaces and figures. Symbolism also played a great role in synthetist art, and I would like it to be a major player in the content of my own paintings. Lately, I've found it increasingly difficult to paint or draw something from my head because I have become so accustomed to looking at that which I am trying to replicate. The Synthetists, on the other hand, tried to paint mostly from memory. There is something to be said for art that spawns from inner observations rather than outward observations. It is an process that I want to put into practice more often, for it provides an interesting, almost introspective and primitive perspective that I find fascinating.
http://www.paul-gauguin.net/
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/578740/Synthetism
