For the “Radici” cycle, conceived and coordinated by the National President of AIPar.C., Dr. Salvatore Timpano, the meeting entitled: “Impression Soleil Levant On the 150th anniversary of the first Impressionism exhibition in Nadar’s Parisian studio” was held on Friday 3 May 2024 at the National Archaeological Museum of Magna Grecia in Reggio Calabria. . The meeting is part of a series of conferences, precisely called “Roots”, also an expression of an agreement stipulated with the National Archaeological Museum of Reggio Calabria, aimed at promoting and valorising the foundations of culture with the prospect of uniting facts from the past and of the present, also contributing to framing the events of the near future.
The introduction of the event was entrusted to the AIPar.C. National Councilor, Dr. Emira Dal Moro who then gave the floor to Dr. Salvatore Timpano who brought the greetings of the Director of the Museum, absent due to unexpected and unpostponable commitments .
With the help of slides projected on a large screen, Dr. Timpano produced a suggestive excursus on the history of Impressionism from its dawn to the first half of the last century.
From that April 15, 1874, when at the photographer Nadar’s studio at number 35 Boulevard des Capucines, Monet and a group of his painter friends set up a collective exhibition, presenting over 160 of their works to the public.
Precisely on that occasion the word “Impressionism” was coined, used in a derogatory sense by the art critic of the “Charivari” Louis Leroy.
The Dr. Timpano wanted to divide his fascinating story into three distinct moments: the sources, the subjects and finally the technique.
We ranged from “The Beach of Trouville” by Eugene Boudin which in every respect can be considered among the precursors of the new art to the “Port of Le Havre immersed in the mist of dawn painted by Monet.
The comparison between Impressionism and Japanese art is interesting, as is the comparison between Manet’s “Meeting of Cats” and Utagawa Kuniyoshi’s “Cats in Various Poses”.
A careful examination which took into consideration the advent of the first inorganic pigments derived from industrial processes which will contribute to the affirmation of the new and revolutionary painting technique, Manet’s nudes, “Olympia” and “Le dejeunier sur l’erbe” considered scandalous , the portrait genre in which all the members of the group tried their hand, focusing in particular on “The Bellelli family” by Degas.
There is also space for the urban reality of Paris at the time depicted by Caillebotte in works such as “Pont de l’Europe” and “Street of Paris, rainy weather” or in Renoir’s “Moulin de la Gallette”.
Degas’s dancers, milliners and prostitutes who would characterize his painting could not be missing.
During the meeting we focused on the birth of painting “En plein-air” rather than in the confines of the studios with Monet who was one of its most convinced supporters, even going so far as to have a studio-boat built.
A large and attentive audience actively participated thanks to the involvement and suggestion generated by the analysis carried out by the speaker.
At the end of the splendid and enthralling evening, before taking his leave, President Timpano made a point of announcing the next event which will be held on Monday 20 May in the Gilda Grisolini room of Palazzo Alvaro and which will have as its theme “The Macchiaioli”.
