Little known outside Italy is the Divisionist painter G. B. Colina (1870-1965.) In Melancholy Twilight the hoarfrost thickens as a woman bends wearily under the weight of her basket at the end of the day.
The Divisionist painters of late 19th century Italy pursued the same goal as American Luminist painters, but used different methods. Rather than blending their pigments to achieve a luminous finish on canvas, the Italians applied colors in separate daubs, relying on the human eye to synthesize them. The short-lived French painter Georges Seurat (1859-1891) is considered to be the inventor of 'chromoluminarism.' The link with France caused some critics to label the Italians Neo-Impressionists, a name that does the Italians scant justice. Intrigued by the new in science and technology, their human sympathies were with the rural poor and the urban refugees. Looked at through this lens, Melancholy Twilight is a moment in the long march to industrialization.
The Divisionist painters of late 19th century Italy pursued the same goal as American Luminist painters, but used different methods. Rather than blending their pigments to achieve a luminous finish on canvas, the Italians applied colors in separate daubs, relying on the human eye to synthesize them. The short-lived French painter Georges Seurat (1859-1891) is considered to be the inventor of 'chromoluminarism.' The link with France caused some critics to label the Italians Neo-Impressionists, a name that does the Italians scant justice. Intrigued by the new in science and technology, their human sympathies were with the rural poor and the urban refugees. Looked at through this lens, Melancholy Twilight is a moment in the long march to industrialization.
Image: Giovanni Battista Colina - Melancholy Twilight, 1899, Gallery Of Modern Art, Novara.
4 comments:
This is new to me, the Divisionists, the Luminists, yet, with a few paragraphs under my belt, I can still absorb the beauty and the sentiments expressed here.
Thank you Jane.
Cette "femme arbre" est étrange; très émouvant en tout cas.
Rosaria, if you are interested in seeing more Divisionist art, the book "Radical Light" published by the National Gallery of London in 2008, should be easy to get from a library. Or if you search this site for links to Italy, there is also more. Thanks for commenting.
Merci, T. G. Je n'avais pas pense d'une femme arbre jusqu'a ce que vous avez commente.
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