An ‘extraordinary change’ in the Climate: The Transformative Power of Impressionism in George Moore’s Art Criticism

Oscar Wilde’s essay ‘The Decay of Lying’ introduces the idea of the transformative power of Impressionist painting, ‘this extraordinary change that has taken place in the climate of London’. Another Anglo-Irish writer, George Moore, underlined in his art criticism written in the 1880s and 1890s the...

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Main Author: Fabienne Gaspari
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée 2019-06-01
Series:Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens
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Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/cve/5325
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author Fabienne Gaspari
author_facet Fabienne Gaspari
author_sort Fabienne Gaspari
collection DOAJ
description Oscar Wilde’s essay ‘The Decay of Lying’ introduces the idea of the transformative power of Impressionist painting, ‘this extraordinary change that has taken place in the climate of London’. Another Anglo-Irish writer, George Moore, underlined in his art criticism written in the 1880s and 1890s the radical transformations brought about by this pictorial movement. This article examines how George Moore responded to the disruptive nature of works by Whistler, Monet and Manet. It shows that the mutations generated by technological advances created new ways of seeing reflected in this new art. In a very insightful way announcing more recent studies, Moore’s texts focus on the shock produced by Impressionism and analyze its effects on the observer’s body. These writings try to transform the impression of disorientation felt in front of the pictures into an essential component of aesthetic experience. This feeling is also central to Impressionist literature and this article aims to study to what extent Moore’s ideas on the epistemological uncertainties characteristic of what he called ‘modern painting’ influenced the field of literature at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th.
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spelling doaj-art-c4fa95662ba844cdb323f36df6afb98e2025-01-30T10:22:21ZengPresses Universitaires de la MéditerranéeCahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens0220-56102271-61492019-06-018910.4000/cve.5325An ‘extraordinary change’ in the Climate: The Transformative Power of Impressionism in George Moore’s Art CriticismFabienne GaspariOscar Wilde’s essay ‘The Decay of Lying’ introduces the idea of the transformative power of Impressionist painting, ‘this extraordinary change that has taken place in the climate of London’. Another Anglo-Irish writer, George Moore, underlined in his art criticism written in the 1880s and 1890s the radical transformations brought about by this pictorial movement. This article examines how George Moore responded to the disruptive nature of works by Whistler, Monet and Manet. It shows that the mutations generated by technological advances created new ways of seeing reflected in this new art. In a very insightful way announcing more recent studies, Moore’s texts focus on the shock produced by Impressionism and analyze its effects on the observer’s body. These writings try to transform the impression of disorientation felt in front of the pictures into an essential component of aesthetic experience. This feeling is also central to Impressionist literature and this article aims to study to what extent Moore’s ideas on the epistemological uncertainties characteristic of what he called ‘modern painting’ influenced the field of literature at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th.https://journals.openedition.org/cve/5325Moore (George)modernityart criticismimpressionismurban spacesbody
spellingShingle Fabienne Gaspari
An ‘extraordinary change’ in the Climate: The Transformative Power of Impressionism in George Moore’s Art Criticism
Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens
Moore (George)
modernity
art criticism
impressionism
urban spaces
body
title An ‘extraordinary change’ in the Climate: The Transformative Power of Impressionism in George Moore’s Art Criticism
title_full An ‘extraordinary change’ in the Climate: The Transformative Power of Impressionism in George Moore’s Art Criticism
title_fullStr An ‘extraordinary change’ in the Climate: The Transformative Power of Impressionism in George Moore’s Art Criticism
title_full_unstemmed An ‘extraordinary change’ in the Climate: The Transformative Power of Impressionism in George Moore’s Art Criticism
title_short An ‘extraordinary change’ in the Climate: The Transformative Power of Impressionism in George Moore’s Art Criticism
title_sort extraordinary change in the climate the transformative power of impressionism in george moore s art criticism
topic Moore (George)
modernity
art criticism
impressionism
urban spaces
body
url https://journals.openedition.org/cve/5325
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