CHAPTER FORTY-ONE THE VISUAL ARTS Michelle Facos he world of art was never more heterogeneous and international than it was in T1900. Artists, depending on their ideological stance and aesthetic preferences, could choose from a widening array of media, since photography and print making were rapidly gaining the respectability previously accorded only painting and sculpture. With escalating boldness artists adopted experimental approaches to style, subject, and technique, in order to develop visual languages singularly suited to their purposes. In some contexts style was ideologically freighted – in Poland, for instance, Impressionism, Symbolism, and Expressionism were considered equally progressive and modern in contrast to the academic realism that constituted the status quo, while in Germany, Impressionism was considered quintessentially French and signaled the undesirable qualities of frivolity, impatience, and superfi ciality. Artists and the general public were exposed to art more than ever before through the proliferation of art journals and the increasing frequency of exhibitions – from state-sponsored world’s fairs to private initiatives in galleries and newspaper offi ces. Artists also refl ected increasingly on their identity and status, sometimes marketing themselves as misunderstood geniuses or working-class artisans, and opportunities for women to study and to pursue art professionally expanded. The century’s rapid urbanization and industrialization continued to inform much of the subject matter depicted by artists, whether to condone, to condemn, or to ponder. Attitudes toward nature shifted in the decades around 1900, a situation refl ected by the frequent replacement of nude women by nude men in outdoor scenes. This shift in subject matter evidenced the growing conviction that nature constituted an invigorating environment that strengthened men (and weakened women) mentally and physically and was not simply an uncontrolled feminized space defi ned by fertility and sensuality. In keeping with the increasingly egalitarian and participatory character of western societies, many artists also sought ways to actively involve viewers – challenging them to decode obscure meanings, to interpret works based on their own experiences and values, or removing sculptures from their traditional pedestals to promote interaction. The old system of state-sponsored art academies and exhibitions continued to exert signifi cant infl uence, and modernist pioneers like Pablo Picasso, Paul Cézanne, 641 — Michelle Facos — Henri Matisse, and Edvard Munch painted works that conformed to its standard categories of portraiture, landscape, genre, and still life. At the same time, secessionist organizations offered alternatives to the status quo. While state-sponsored institutions sought to preserve tradition, they also instructed artists in the technical aspects of their craft and legitimized their status as artists. For instance, while the percentage of French artists exhibiting at the annual, state-sponsored Paris Salon dwindled during the fi nal decades of the nineteenth century, the percentage of foreigners increased because participation validated one’s status as a successful international artist to audiences at home at the same time as it showcased one’s work to potential clients and dealers in Paris. EXHIBITIONS Beginning with the 1855 Exposition universelle in Paris, world’s fairs provided the fi rst signifi cant venues for international displays of art viewed by visitors from around the globe. The pace of world’s fairs escalated until the early twentieth century, with Paris taking the lead, mounting fairs in 1855, 1867, 1878, 1889, and 1900 (which clocked a record 50 million visitors); in 1898, there were international exhibitions in Bergen, Dunedin, Jerusalem, Munich, and Vienna, and in 1902 in Cork, Hanoi, and Turin. Improved transportation, particularly the rapid expansion of railway networks and of steamship travel, facilitated the mounting of and attendance at these exhibi- tions. For those unable to attend, illustrated exhibition catalogs enabled artists and connoisseurs to keep abreast of the latest artistic developments, as did the media explosion, with increased and illustrated coverage of the arts in newspapers and specialized journals. In fact, the 1890s witnessed the establishment of a number of infl uential, internationally circulating periodicals that tracked the latest international trends in art and design: Jugend (‘Youth’; Munich, 1896–1940), Pan (Berlin, 1895– 1900), The Studio: An Illustrated Magazine of Fine and Applied Art (London, 1893–), and Ver Sacrum (‘Sacred Spring’; Vienna, 1898–1903). In 1900, Paris was the world’s art capital. Not only could artists foreign and domestic study at either the state-sponsored academy (École des Beaux-Arts) or any of a number of private art schools such as the Académie Colarossi or Académie Julian, but they could also hope to have works accepted for display at the prestigious Salon, where more than 5,000 works of art were exhibited annually. In addition, a variety of alternative exhibition societies had emerged by 1900 due to artists’ frustration regarding limited exhibition opportunities. Most of these groups were inspired by (and more fi nancially successful than) the French Impressionists’ Société Anonyme Coopérative des Artistes Peintres, Sculpteurs, Graveurs (‘Anonymous Cooperative Society of Painters, Sculptors, Engravers’; eight exhibitions, 1874–86), whose bylaws were based on those of the Pontoise Bakers’ Union, a situation signaling the group’s solidarity with the labor movement, a political stance held by many secessionist groups. In France, the politically conservative, Roman Catholic and mystically oriented Order of the Rose + Cross (under the leadership of Joséphin Péladan) held six international exhibitions between 1892 and 1897, while the more ecumenical Société National des Beaux-Arts, founded in 1862 by Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863) and Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (1824–98), among others, held annual exhibitions – Salon du Champ-de-Mars – beginning in 1890. Anti-establishment, 642 — The visual arts — secessionist groups proliferated, motivated by common aesthetic goals (Nabis in Paris), ideological purposes (Les XX in Brussels, Mánes in Prague, Mɫoda Polska in Krakow, Secession in Munich and Vienna), or simply the desire to provide greater exhibition opportunities for members (Den Frie Udstilling – ‘the Free Exhibition’ – in Denmark, Konstnärsförbund – ‘Artists’ Union’ – in Sweden). STYLE Since 1886, when art critic Jean Moréas published his ‘Symbolist Manifesto’ in the Parisian newspaper Le Figaro, Symbolism reigned as the foremost avant-garde movement. Its goal – to express the inexpressible, to suggest ideas through visual imagery, to give form to dreams and imaginings – fostered a broad range of subjects and visual imagery. Still, in 1900, it was less a matter of one dominant artistic style than of newly emerging styles increasing the range of choices available to artists: Romanticism accentuated dynamism, emotion, and exoticism; Realism placed a premium on exacting detail; Naturalism emphasized fi delity to normative visual experience; Impressionism sought to convey the rapid pulse of urban life and the mutable effects of light and atmosphere; Neoimpressionism (Divisionism, Pointillism) offered a scientifi c prescription for capturing Impressionism’s nuances. Boundaries between these styles were fl uid and many artists pursued hybrid strategies, with thinking ‘outside the box’ increasingly acceptable. OBJECTIVES Throughout the nineteenth century progressive artists were motivated by the twin concerns of picturing truth (however that was interpreted) and formulating visual languages that would effectively communicate their ideas, shared objectives that led to increasing heterogeneity, as each artist sought a personally satisfying strategy. Symbolism’s expansion of viable subject matter to beyond the visible world increased exponentially the possibilities open to artists and encouraged experimentation. This complemented the desire to formulate a recognizable individual style, since success in the marketplace was closely aligned with ‘brand recognition’. This situation marked a signifi cant transformation of conditions existing a century earlier. In 1800, government and religious patronage, along with portrait commissions, constituted the mainstays of artists’ incomes. However during the course of the nineteenth century ‘free’ market mechanisms combined with new categories of collectors – from educated middle class individuals with disposable incomes to nouveau riche eager to demonstrate their wealth and taste – to generate new demands for art. Now displayed in homes rather than palaces, paintings diminished in size as did the demand for historical, religious, and mythological subjects – landscapes, cityscapes, and scenes of everyday life became more prevalent and photography replaced painting as the preferred means of portrait making. PAINTING A career as an artist was complicated in 1900. On the one hand, artists felt pressured to develop signature styles, on the other, many felt misunderstood by their public 643 — Michelle Facos — and persecuted by critics. As a result, some identifi ed with Jesus and portrayed themselves as the suffering Christ. In Golgotha (1900, Munch-Museet, Oslo), Edvard Munch (Norwegian, 1863–1944) represented himself crucifi ed alone on a hill overlooking a crowd of sorrowful women and mask-like male faces along the painting’s lower edge. Munch