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Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Local Impressions
By Ritchie Landis Doner Quijano
When impressionism started in the late 19th century Europe, it was primarily a radical reaction to the academic norms of formalist salon painting.
The French, who pioneered the movement, were particularly interested in the play of light and its effect on objects. The pioneers were rebellious bohemians roaming the countryside in search of inspiration, hence their works were most often outdoor scenes. If to Shakespeare the world was a stage, certainly the world to the impressionists was their studio. Decades later, the Americans further sanitized the style by rendering paintings as a much clearer picture, closer to reality. This made it easier to appreciate, and be more acceptable to a layman’s perception.
Generally, impressionism is an art movement concerned with expressions of feelings by visual impression, appearing like a burst of emotions given forms in daubs of colors. Impressionist paintings are usually characterized by pure colors in bold brushstrokes.
During its infancy, the style was less understood and was reviled by public and academic authorities alike. It struggled for acceptance and was collected only by a small circle of progressive-minded connoisseurs. A century after, the early impressionist works are considered masterpieces, fetching record high prices at auctions.
In the context of contemporary Cebuano painting, the style is still very much alive as it is practiced by a healthy number of local painters. The movement that revolutionized painting history and eventually gave birth to modernism dies hard.
Locally, one of the very faithful followers of impressionism is the painter Raul Agas. Having grown up in an artistically inclined household, Agas was exposed at a very young age through the work of his father. But his brand of expression moves further and gravitates towards a painting mode of neatly placed dots and dashes.
The artist achieves this by devising an improvised spatula to apply paint instead of the widely-used brush-and-palette knife.
While impressionist in concept and form, it appears to be on the verge of pointillism, closely related to a Seurat painting, true to the movement’s original form and concern. Agas’ paintings instantly capture the mood of the moment in the backdrop of endemic scenery and pastoral activities.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (June 20, 2006 issue)
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