A Celebration of French Impressionism, Now Showing Near Portland

A new exhibit “A Celebration of French Impressionism” has just opened at J D Smith Fine Art. This tribute to one of the most venerated movements in the history of art includes affordable and highly-collectable etchings, lithographs, and woodblock prints by historic French Impressionists.

French Impressionism is arguably the most popular movement in the history of art. With their free brush strokes, use of colors to depict changing light and movement, and focus on everyday subject matter, the Impressionists rose to popularity in the late 19th Century. Many of the most recognizable names in the history of art come from the French Impressionist movement. They typically lived, met, and worked in smaller towns outside Paris, but showed their work at Impressionist exhibits inside the city.

The perennial popularity of the movement is demonstrated by the numerous Impressionist exhibits held each year at museums around the world. In 2011 alone, the following museums in the United States are holding Impressionist exhibits: Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City; Saint Louis Art Museum, Saint Louis.

The primary medium used by the Impressionists was oil paint. But many Impressionists also produced graphic works, including etchings, wood engravings, and lithographs. These works on paper by Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec, Manet, Tissot, Forain, Cassatt, Pissarro, Cezanne, Cheret, and others are an important part of their overall body of work. Often scenes from their paintings also appear in their prints, such as Renoir’s The Dance in the Country. Some artists from this period, such as Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, produced hundreds of different graphic works over his career. Because fine art prints exist in multiple copies, they are an affordable way for collectors to bring the beauty of French Impressionism into their own homes. A Celebration of French Impressionism makes graphic works by and after these artists available to avid collectors of Impressionist art.

Visit A Celebration of French Impressionism! The exhibit is on now through the end of June.

J D Smith Fine Art is an Internet-based art gallery specializing in fine art prints by well-known artists of the 19th and 20th centuries. J D Smith Fine Art is located outside Portland, Oregon in the community of Happy Valley.