Tonal Impressionism
Encyclopedia
Tonal Impressionism is an art historical term that refers to works of art that are "mood" paintings with simplified compositions, done in a limited range of colors, as with Tonalist
works, but using the brighter, more chromatic palette of Impressionism
. The term or title also refers to an exhibition titled "Tonal Impressionism" which was curated by the art historian Harry Muir Kurtzworth for the Los Angeles Art Association Gallery at the Los Angeles Central Library in June 1937 with the works of a number of prominent California artists. In recent years, the term has also been used to describe a non-linear approach to painting where the subject is massed in with tonal values without the use of underdrawing.
is usually characterized by art historians as paintings of simplified subjects, that are painted in a gauzy, indistinct way with a lack of detail, using a limited palette with variations of the same colors. American painters who are considered Tonalists are James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834–1903), George Inness
(1825–1894), Dwight William Tryon
(1849–1925), Charles Warren Eaton
and often John Twachtman (1853–1922). The French Impressionists adopted a very high key palette that used many of the recently created man made pigments which allowed them to better capture the full intensity of sunlight. The concept of Tonal Impressionism that the art historian Harry Muir Kurtzworth came up with was that that artists could work in lower light conditions, in their studio or out of doors in the moonlight, or at sunrise or sunset, at the times of day that the Tonalists favored, but use the palette of Impressionism.
, known as " The Master of Moonlight," had one work, the portrait and landscape painter Theodore Lukits
had four, J. Mason Reeves Jr. had six and the La Cresenta portrait painter F. Seymour Thomas had four.
seen in a blue moonlight. This work by Lukits surfaced about a decade ago and was exhibited in Father Serra's Garden at the Mission as part of a benefit in 2001. Because of the works we are aware of, it is possible to see what Kurtzworth considered works of "Tonal Impressionism." The moonlights by Theodore Lukits and Frank Tenney Johnson that were in the 1937 exhibition depicted their moonlight scenes enveloped in the blue tones of Impressionism rather than the earth based pigments that would have been used by the artists active in California Tonalism
.
, Diego Valesquez, John Singer Sargent
and Anders Zorn
worked. With this type of approach, the higher the contrast, the stronger the line would be between light and dark, where more subtle gradations would result in "lost" edges. If the original usage is still used, then contemporary artists like Dan Pinkham and Peter Seitz Adams
could be considered "Tonal Impressionists" Of these two, Pinkham has been heavily influenced by Emil Carlsen
and John Twachtman and Adams is a student of Theodore Lukits who was in the original 1937 Los Angeles
exhibit.
Tonalism
Tonalism was an artistic style that emerged in the 1880s when American artists began to paint landscape forms with an overall tone of colored atmosphere or mist. Between 1880 and 1915, dark, neutral hues such as gray, brown or blue, often dominated compositions by artists associated with the style...
works, but using the brighter, more chromatic palette of Impressionism
Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s...
. The term or title also refers to an exhibition titled "Tonal Impressionism" which was curated by the art historian Harry Muir Kurtzworth for the Los Angeles Art Association Gallery at the Los Angeles Central Library in June 1937 with the works of a number of prominent California artists. In recent years, the term has also been used to describe a non-linear approach to painting where the subject is massed in with tonal values without the use of underdrawing.
Tonal Impressionism
TonalismTonalism
Tonalism was an artistic style that emerged in the 1880s when American artists began to paint landscape forms with an overall tone of colored atmosphere or mist. Between 1880 and 1915, dark, neutral hues such as gray, brown or blue, often dominated compositions by artists associated with the style...
is usually characterized by art historians as paintings of simplified subjects, that are painted in a gauzy, indistinct way with a lack of detail, using a limited palette with variations of the same colors. American painters who are considered Tonalists are James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834–1903), George Inness
George Inness
George Inness was an American landscape painter; born in Newburgh, New York; died at Bridge of Allan in Scotland. His work was influenced, in turn, by that of the old masters, the Hudson River school, the Barbizon school, and, finally, by the theology of Emanuel Swedenborg, whose spiritualism...
(1825–1894), Dwight William Tryon
Dwight William Tryon
Dwight William Tryon was an American landscape painter in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His work was influenced by James McNeill Whistler, and he is best-known for his landscapes and seascapes painted in a tonalist style.-Biography:Tryon was born in Hartford, Connecticut...
(1849–1925), Charles Warren Eaton
Charles Warren Eaton
Charles Warren Eaton was an American artist best known for his tonalist landscapes. He earned the nickname "the pine tree painter" for his numerous depictions of Eastern White Pine trees....
and often John Twachtman (1853–1922). The French Impressionists adopted a very high key palette that used many of the recently created man made pigments which allowed them to better capture the full intensity of sunlight. The concept of Tonal Impressionism that the art historian Harry Muir Kurtzworth came up with was that that artists could work in lower light conditions, in their studio or out of doors in the moonlight, or at sunrise or sunset, at the times of day that the Tonalists favored, but use the palette of Impressionism.
1937 Tonal Impressionism Exhibition
The first use of this term seems to be in a catalog for an exhibition titled "Tonal Impressionism" which he curated for the Los Angeles Art Association Gallery at the Los Angeles Central Library in June 1937. Kurtzworth, who chose the paintings and wrote the catalog preface stated that: "By tone or tonal painting is meant the feeling of harmony, either in high or low key, brought about by carefully adjusting values and colors, with the result that instead of a brilliant, powerful impression of the atmosphere of subdued light out of doors in the early morning, late afternoon, or a quietly lighted interior is conveyed by the artist's skill."Artists in the Exhibition
Harry Muir Kurtzworth selected a number of well known California painters for the June, 1937 exhibition. Hungarian-born Charles Bensco was represented with a single painting, Frank Tolles Chamberlain, a Pasadena painter who had studied with the Tonalist painter Dwight Tyron, had six works, Alson Clark, another Pasadena artist and student of Whistler, had six as well, the San Marino desert painter Clyde Forsyth had two, the Los Angeles painter Ralph Holmes has six, the western painter Frank Tenney JohnsonFrank Tenney Johnson
Frank Tenney Johnson was a painter of the american west, and he popularized a style of painting cowboys which became known as "The Johnson Moonlight Technique". Somewhere on the Range is an example of Johnson's moonlight technique...
, known as " The Master of Moonlight," had one work, the portrait and landscape painter Theodore Lukits
Theodore Lukits
Theodore Nikolai Lukits was a California portrait and landscape painter. His initial fame came from his portraits of some of the most glamorous actresses of the Silent Film era, but since his death, his Asian-inspired works, figures drawn from Hispanic California and his pastel landscapes have all...
had four, J. Mason Reeves Jr. had six and the La Cresenta portrait painter F. Seymour Thomas had four.
Paintings in the Exhibition
It is difficult to have a precise idea of what the assembled exhibition would look like because many of the works cannot be located. Frank Tenney Johnson's loan entry was in the possession of a prominent gallery recently, so it is known that it as a moonlit painting of a cowboy smoking a cigarette, a common subject for the artist. Three of the works by Theodore Lukits have been seen in recent years as well. "Idle Hour" was a much exhibited nude depicted in a lowly lit, "smokey" atmospheric interior. This work was frequently exhibited, in the 1920s and 1930s as well as in recent years and is now in the collection of a prominent gallery. The portrait work "Gesture" is a sensual portrait of the artist's wife, done in much higher key, but still with a limited palette. This painting resides in the collection of the Jonathan Art Foundation. "Spirit of the Missions" is a mystical depiction of an apparition of Father Serra in his private garden at Mission San Juan CapistranoMission San Juan Capistrano
Mission San Juan Capistrano was a Spanish mission in Southern California, located in present-day San Juan Capistrano. It was founded on All Saints Day November 1, 1776, by Spanish Catholics of the Franciscan Order...
seen in a blue moonlight. This work by Lukits surfaced about a decade ago and was exhibited in Father Serra's Garden at the Mission as part of a benefit in 2001. Because of the works we are aware of, it is possible to see what Kurtzworth considered works of "Tonal Impressionism." The moonlights by Theodore Lukits and Frank Tenney Johnson that were in the 1937 exhibition depicted their moonlight scenes enveloped in the blue tones of Impressionism rather than the earth based pigments that would have been used by the artists active in California Tonalism
California Tonalism
California Tonalism was art movement that existed in California from circa 1890 to 1920. Tonalist are usually intimate works, painted with a limited palette. Tonalist paintings are softly expressive, suggestive rather than detailed, often depicting the landscape at twilight or evening, when...
.
Contemporary term
Today, a number of contemporary painters use the term Tonal Impressionism in a different way. The painter Domenic Vignola is one advocate of this approach. These artists use the term Tonal Impressionism to describe an approach by which they paint the figure without drawing, that is without using the brush or charcoal to draw the outlines of the figure or subject in on the canvas. Instead they see the masses as light and dark tones. Essentially, it is a way of using the light, the gradations of light and dark to outline the shape of what the artist is painting rather than line. With this approach, the artist lays in the broadest masses first and then refines the painting as he works, gradually bringing the figure "into focus." Advocates of this method claim that this is the way that historic artists like TitianTitian
Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio (c. 1488/1490 – 27 August 1576 better known as Titian was an Italian painter, the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near...
, Diego Valesquez, John Singer Sargent
John Singer Sargent
John Singer Sargent was an American artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian era luxury. During his career, he created roughly 900 oil paintings and more than 2,000 watercolors, as well as countless sketches and charcoal drawings...
and Anders Zorn
Anders Zorn
Anders Leonard Zorn was one of Sweden’s foremost artists who obtained international success as a painter, sculptor and printmaker in etching.-Biography:...
worked. With this type of approach, the higher the contrast, the stronger the line would be between light and dark, where more subtle gradations would result in "lost" edges. If the original usage is still used, then contemporary artists like Dan Pinkham and Peter Seitz Adams
Peter Seitz Adams
Peter Seitz Adams is one of California’s most recognized landscape and figurative painters and an important figure in contemporary Southern California art. He is the longest serving President of the California Art Club and a member of the Board of Directors of the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena...
could be considered "Tonal Impressionists" Of these two, Pinkham has been heavily influenced by Emil Carlsen
Emil Carlsen
Soren Emil Carlsen was an American Impressionist painter who emigrated to the United States from Denmark...
and John Twachtman and Adams is a student of Theodore Lukits who was in the original 1937 Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
exhibit.
See also
- TonalismTonalismTonalism was an artistic style that emerged in the 1880s when American artists began to paint landscape forms with an overall tone of colored atmosphere or mist. Between 1880 and 1915, dark, neutral hues such as gray, brown or blue, often dominated compositions by artists associated with the style...
- Category: Tonalism - tonalist artists links
- California Plein-Air PaintingCalifornia Plein-Air PaintingThe term California Plein-Air Painting describes the large movement of 20th century California artists who worked out of doors, directly from nature in California, United States. Their work became popular in the San Francisco Bay Area and Southern California in the first three decades after the...
- California Art ClubCalifornia Art ClubThe California Art Club , founded in 1909, is one of the oldest and most active arts organizations in California. It celebrated its centennial in the spring of 2010. The California Art Club originally evolved from the Painters Club of Los Angeles...
- Early California ArtistsEarly California ArtistsEarly California Artists are a subset of American Western artists, painting in the mid-to-late 19th century. Their styles varied from realistic representation to the imagined....
- American ImpressionismAmerican ImpressionismImpressionism, a style of painting characterized by loose brushwork and vivid colors, was practiced widely among American artists in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.-An emerging artistic style from Paris:...
- French Impressionism
- Barbizon schoolBarbizon schoolThe Barbizon school of painters were part of a movement towards realism in art, which arose in the context of the dominant Romantic Movement of the time. The Barbizon school was active roughly from 1830 through 1870...