A Different Impressionism

International Printmaking from Manet to Whistler

• 

  Johan Barthold Jongkind, Abendsonne – Hafen von Avers, Detail, 1868, Radierung

• Camille Corot, Bäume am Berg, 1856, Cliché Verre

• Paul Signac, In Holland – Die Boje, Detail, 1894, Farblithographie

• Eugène Carrière, Der Schlaf (Jean-René Carrière), Detail, 1897, Lithographie

• Joseph Pennell, Von der Cortlandt-Street-Fähre, 1908, Sandpapier-Aquatinta, Kaltnadel

Sunrises, water lilies, light and shadow effects: Almost everyone has an idea of what constitutes an impressionist painting. But what most people don't think about are works of printmaking - can there even be Impressionist art in this medium? In black and white, in editions and with the technical challenges that make the spontaneity so characteristic of Impressionism seemingly impossible? In its exhibition, the Berlin Kupferstichkabinett is showing treasures of "other" Impressionism, most of which have never or rarely been shown before - with 110 works by 40 artists, including Édouard Manet, Auguste Renoir, James Whistler and Lesser Ury.
Using new or rediscovered techniques, the "other" Impressionism brought atmospheric moods to paper: impressions of shadows, steam and smog, haze and rain, night and electric light. As original prints, they had the magic and dynamism of hand drawings and were therefore regarded as the epitome of artistic individuality. Some of them were created directly in front of nature.
From the mid-1850s, artists such as Camille Corot and Charles-François Daubigny met in the forest of Fontainebleau. They experimented with the proto-photographic technique of cliché verre, using the sun itself to expose their hand-drawn glass plate negatives. From 1862 onwards, painters such as Édouard Manet, Johann Barthold Jongkind and Francis Seymour Haden were inspired by Rembrandt's etchings and used them to create their own works. Some, such as Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas or later the Dutchman Charles Storm van's Gravesande, reworked their printing plate after each printing process. This resulted in "state prints", i.e. new originals within a series. From the 1880s onwards, lithographers such as Paul Signac and Eugène Carrière were fascinated by shadows, by immateriality, and created picturesque and mysterious impressions.
modern prints in Berlin museums for the first time in 1881
Printed or exposed, black and white or in color: the new prints paved the way for Impressionism in museums. in 1881, this international art was brought to Berlin's museums for the first time with an exhibition of "Painter etchings by French and English artists of the modern era": The incredible quantity of 740 prints was presented at the time - all on loan - including some that can also be seen in the exhibition now, such as masterpieces by Édouard Manet, Charles-François Daubigny, Camille Corot, Francis Seymour Haden and James McNeill Whistler.
This was a revolution in seeing, a coup, as Impressionist art was by no means considered worthy of a museum at the time. With this exhibition, the public became enthusiastic about modernism, contemporary artists in Germany received new, international impulses and a new collection focus began at the Berlin Kupferstichkabinett with modern prints. At the time, the museum was able to purchase the 300 or so English etchings on loan directly from the exhibition; this was not possible for the French works, so the art market was subsequently monitored in search of other prints of these works.
Artists represented in the exhibition
The Berlin Kupferstichkabinett presents its selection of this "other", printmaking Impressionism and shows rarely shown works by famous artists that were already on display in 1881, but also new discoveries by previously unknown artists or Impressionist works that were only created after 1881: in addition to those already mentioned, including In addition to the aforementioned works by Alfred Sisley, Mary Cassatt, Berthe Morisot, Albert Besnard, Henri Fantin-Latour, Joseph Pennell, Anders Zorn, Frank Brangwyn, Anna Duensing, Lovis Corinth, Max Liebermann and Max Slevogt, among others. Individual etchings by Rembrandt from the 17th century - the greatest painter-etcher of Impressionist light and shadow effects before Impressionism - as well as photographs of Pictorialism accompany and expand the selection. Between these two poles - Rembrandt and Pictorialist photography - the broad spectrum of Impressionist printmaking can be spread out.
Seeing the world in an Impressionist way was therefore not just the finding of a stylistic epoch, nor was it a method limited to painting. Rather, it is a certain way of seeing. In the "other" Impressionism, this view of the world, this way of seeing, is taken at its word.
Exhibition catalog
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog published by Michael Imhof Verlag.
Curator
The exhibition is curated by Anna Marie Pfäfflin, curator of 19th century art at the Kupferstichkabinett.

A special exhibition of the Kupferstichkabinett of the Staatliche Museen zu BerlinTranslated with DeepL

Runtime: Wed, 25/09/2024 to Sun, 12/01/2025

Takes place here:

• Kulturforum - Kupferstichkabinett