Jan 28, 2008 3:17 pm US/Mountain
Co.Springs Arts Center Hosts Impressionist Exhibit
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (CBS4) ―
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The Fine Arts Center in Colorado Springs
CBS
A trip to the Fine Arts Center in Colorado Springs offers a journey tracing the development of the Impressionist movement in art.
It's an exhibit on loan from the New Orleans Museum of Art, and it's that city's connection to French culture which motivates the collection.
According to FAC curator Blake Milteer, "these aren't second rate works by any stretch of the imagination."
The exhibit begins in the 1600's with art from the European masters which reflects the world of the aristocracy and the church, art unrelated to the ordinary world at the time. One painting is from 1630, done by Giovanni Martinelli called "Death Comes to the Banquet Table."
"What this artist is doing is showing us the virtuosity with which he can handle painting. This is almost a catalog of facial features. He's showing you he can paint hands like nobody else. He's showing he can pain light, shadow and every different kind of fruit and tart and beverage you could want to see."
Milteer said this is the type of art the Impressionists grew up with, the works they studied and ultimately changed. Those changes really began with the French Revolution when royalty lost power. Impressionists began appealing to the rising middle class of Europe.
"Painters like Monet often were taking their canvasses out into the world, putting them on easels. Monet felt that this was the best way to represent the immediacy of everyday life."
Monet and his fellow French Impressionists Degas and Pizarro form the core of the exhibit and the collection. The gallery stretches to include today's modern art, taking the lesson full circle, ending with paintings from artists who grew up on the Impressionists.
"Twenthieth century artists owe to the Impressionists the recognition that when you translate a subject from the real world to a painted surface, it's subjective. It's not true reality, it's very much based on the intuitive qualities of the artist."
"Impressionists and Modern Masters" runs through March 9.
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