Impressionism

The group of artists who became known as the Impressionists did something ground-breaking in addition to painting their sketchy, light-filled canvases: they established their own exhibition. This may not seem like much in an era like ours, when art galleries are everywhere in major cities, but in Paris at this time, there was one official, state-sponsored exhibition—called the Salon—and very few art galleries devoted to the work of living artists.

For most of the nineteenth century then, the Salon was the only way to exhibit your work (and therefore the only way to establish your reptutation and make a living as an artist). The works exhibited at the Salon were chosen by a jury—which could often be quite arbitrary.

The artists we know today as Impressionists—Claude Monet, August Renoir, Edgar Degas, Berthe Morisot, Alfred Sisley (and several others)—could not afford to wait for France to accept their work. They all had experienced rejection by the Salon jury in recent years and felt that waiting an entire year between exhibitions was too long. They needed to show their work and they wanted to sell it.

Best artists in this genre:

• Claud Manet
• Renoir
• Degas

Instructor for this class:

Janine Walters-Instructor

Favorite painting style: minimalism

Janine is a talented artist who is predominantly trained as a painter. In her artwork, Janine is interested in using methods of humor and nostalgia through imagery. She is most inspired by painting with gouache and oil paint, and she also creates art through printmaking. With her warm presence and fun-filled attitude, Janine likes to have a lot of fun while teaching. Humor is a strong element in her own artwork, and she brings laughter to her art classes and to her students. Janine participated in the Cercca Residency Program in Llorenç del Penedés, Spain where she also organized a large international workshop for children. She received her education from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Janine has exhibited her artwork in several group art gallery exhibitions, and she also been featured in the publication “The ArtBlog.”