Collecting 101

1.

Impressionist Beginnings

The 19th century art movement, Impressionism, rose to prominence in France during the 1870s with central figures of the artistic movement including Claude Monet, Edgar Degas and Camille Pissarro. Recognised for rejecting traditional, academic norms of painting favoured by the Académie des Beaux Arts in Paris, they instead painted en plein air using rapid brushstrokes to portray everyday, fleeting scenes. A precursor to early 20th century movements such as Fauvism and Cubism, Impressionism was considered the first modern art movement. Its variants, Post-Impressionism and Neo-Impressionism, represented even more extreme departures from painting realistic scenes by exaggerating certain details such as colour, as well as vividly depicting scenes using the new brushwork technique of Pointillism.

2.

Impressionism arrives in Britain

Many Impressionist painters, including Monet and Pissarro, made their way to England in 1870 as a result of the Franco-Prussian War, famously painting London city scenes, from the banks of the River Thames to the suburbs of South London. The techniques and style of the movement were quickly adopted by many British artists including Walter Richard Sickert and Philip Wilson Steer, who were both trained by the American Impressionist painter James Abbott McNeill Whistler.

The movement became increasingly popular and was promoted by the well-respected New English Art Club, a collective that was established in 1886 and offered an alternative to the traditional attitudes of the Royal Academy. Its members included George Clausen, John Singer Sargent and Stanhope Forbes.

In 1885, the American expat, Sargent, had returned to London from France after meeting Claude Monet, who was a huge influence on his painterly styles and technique, as seen in his portraits of British sitters. His painting Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose (1885 – 1886), encapsulates his impact on and contribution to Impressionism in Britain. The first exhibition of Impressionist art in London was held at the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly in 1889 and organised by Walter Richard Sickert and Philip Wilson Steer.

3.

Adoption and Reception

While British artists adopted the Impressionist style as a result of their encounters with the French Impressionists, it was not necessarily considered a movement in Britain. Those who discovered French Impressionism whilst training in France included Sir John Lavery and George Clausen, who travelled to Grez-sur-Loing in Northern France to paint. At a time when Royal Academy artists such as Frederic Lord Leighton and Lawrence Alma-Tadema dominated British art, the Impressionist style was not well received. The art critic, Roger Fry, famously disregarded British Impressionist Art, claiming it was inferior to work being produced on the continent.

4.

Awareness and Recognition

It wasn't until the 1970s, when awareness and education of works by artists such as Philip Wilson Steer and John Singer Sargent began to change attitudes towards this movement.

The appreciation of these works continued into the 1990s, when the Barbican held a landmark exhibition in 1995, Impressionism in Britain, that featured Camille Pissarro, James Abbott McNeill Whistler and George Clausen. This signified a turning point in the reception of British Impressionists, who now have a room dedicated to their style at Tate Britain and are recognised for their important position in the development of modern art. Over the years, Bonhams is proud to have sold British Impressionist works by artists such as George Clausen, Sir John Lavery, Stanhope Forbes, Henry Scott Tuke and Sir Alfred Munnings.

5.

Building a Collection

There are a number of useful resources for those interested in building their collection of British Impressionist art. The writer and curator, Kenneth McConkey’s book Impressionism in Britain, for example, explores the response of artists from Britain and Ireland to the Impressionist movement, and sets all of these against the backdrop of late Victorian and Edwardian Britain. Similarly, his book, The New English, explores the integration of the New English Art Club founded by Sargent, Whistler, Pissarro, and its direct reaction to the traditionalism of the Royal Academy. Tate Britain's impressive and significant collection of Impressionist and British Impressionist artists is also worth a visit when seeking inspiration for one's own collection.

Whilst research is always important, our biannual auctions of 19th Century and British Impressionist Art in London are an excellent place to start your collection as they regularly feature leading artists from this category. With 19th Century Art specialists based in London and Los Angeles, we're well placed to offer the best possible advice, and answer any questions you may have, on buying artwork at auction.

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