In art, method
of painting evolved by
Gauguin Paul
,
Bernard Emile,
Anquetin Louis,
Maurin
Charles and others in the 1880s to emphasize
two-dimensional flat patterns, thus breaking with
Impressionist art and theory. The styleshows a
conscious effort to work less directly from nature
and to rely more upon memory.
It was Gauguin who used the word Synthetism, by
which hemeant a style of art in which the form
(colour planes and lines) is synthesized with the
major idea or feeling of the subject. Although he
had exhibited
with the Impressionists until 1886, he
did not share their disregard for defined forms or
compositional elements. He felt that their
preoccupation with the study of light effects in
nature was confining, superficial, and neglectful of
thought and ideas. He sought todevelop a new
decorative style in art based on areas of pure
colour (e.g., without shaded areas or modeling), a
few strong lines, and an almost two-dimensional
arrangement of parts. He spent the summers of 1886
and 1888 in Pont-Aven and Le Pouldu, Brittany,
France, with Bernard and other disciples, where he
founded the Synthetist group. An example of this new
decorative style is Gauguin's “Vision After the
Sermon” (1888; National Gallery of Scotland,
Edinburgh). This large work includes peasant
women leaving the church in thelower part of the
canvas; above them is the vision of Jacob wrestling
with the angel, which was the sermon of the day.
Gauguin attempts to combine in one setting two
levels of reality, the everyday world and the dream
world. The lower figures are reduced to areas of
flat patterns, without modeling or perspective. The
large colour areas are intense and without shadows.
The design is so strong that the two realities fuse
into one visual experience.
Bernard and Anquetin used the name Cloisonnism to
describe their painting method, equating the design
effect oflarge areas of pure colour and wide black
outlines to the medieval cloisonné enamel technique.
In addition to his interest in medieval art, Bernard
enjoyed Japanese prints (ukiyo-e) and the art of
primitive cultures. Synthetism was to influence the
Nabis, a group of artists in the next decade, and,
for a while, the work of Vincent van Gogh.
Cloisonne
in the decorative arts, an enameling technique
or any product of that technique, which consists of
soldering toa metal surface delicate metal strips
bent to the outline of a design and filling the
resulting cellular spaces, called cloisons (French:
“partitions,” or “compartments”), with vitreous
enamel paste. The object then is fired, ground
smooth, and polished. Sometimes metal wire is used
in place of the usual gold, brass,silver, or copper
strips.
Among the earliest examples of cloisonné are six
Mycenaean rings of the 13th century BC. The great
Western period of cloisonné enameling was from the
10th to the 12th century, especially in the
Byzantine Empire. In China cloisonné was widely
produced during the Ming (1368–1644) and Ch'ing
(1644–1911/12) dynasties. In Japan, it was
especially popular during the Tokugawa (1603–1868)
and Meiji (1868–1912) periods.
