Late 19th-century French paintings on view at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art

EUGENE -- (Jan. 30, 2008) -- Five paintings by well-known French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painters will be on exhibit at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art from Jan. 30 to June 8, 2008.

The paintings may be seen in the European Gallery at the museum, 1430 Johnson Lane, on the University of Oregon campus. The paintings include works by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), Paul Cézanne (1839–1906), Camille Pissarro (1830-1903), Paul Signac (1863-1935), and Henri Martin (1860-1943).

The selected paintings include: Pierre-Auguste Renoir's "Vase de Fleurs," which was created with careful attention to light and shadow. "Vase de Fleurs" exhibits the artist's ability to replicate the pure luxuriance of a floral arrangement. Renoir is credited with once saying of his flower pictures, "What seems to me most significant about our movement [Impressionism] is that… I am at liberty to paint flowers and call them flowers, without their needing to tell a story." Renoir's early works were typically Impressionist snapshots of real life, full of sparkling color and light. By the mid-1880s, however, he had broken with the movement to apply a more disciplined, formal technique to portraits and figure paintings.

Paul Cézanne's "Maison dans la verdure," painted circa 1881, was first exhibited in Paris at Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais in 1926 as a part of Trente ans d'art independent. Paul Cézanne is considered to be one of the greatest of the Post-Impressionists, whose works and ideas were influential in the aesthetic development of many 20th-century artists and art movements, especially Cubism. Cézanne's paintings grew out of Impressionism and eventually challenged all the conventional values of painting in the 19th century through its insistence on personal expression and on the integrity of the painting itself.

"Rue des Roches au Valhermeil à Auvers-sur-Oise," painted 1880, by Camille Pissarro, was first exhibited in Paris, 35 Boulevard des Capucines as a part of Sixiéme Exposition de peinture in 1881. He is viewed as one of the founders of impressionism. Pissarro studied painting in Paris at the Barbizon school where he was attracted to the poetic realism of Camille Corot. Pissarro later discarded Corot's dark colors in favor of a more atmospheric treatment of landscape. With Edouard Manet and other avant-garde painters, Pissarro exhibited at the Salon des Refuses (1863), and his connections grew closer with such Impressionists as Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

Paul Signac's "Rue de la Station, Asnières," painted in 1884, was first exhibited in Paris at Salon des Indépendants titled as L'ombre dans la rue de la Station, Asnières. One of the principal Neo-Impressionist painters, Paul Signac, worked with Georges Seurat in creating pointillism. Unlike Seurat, he had virtually no formal training and taught himself to paint by studying the works of Claude Monet and others. After he and Seurat met, they developed their technique of painting with dots or points, which led to the name Pointillism.

"Le Port de Collioure" by Henri Martin, painted circa 1920, is a fine example of Martin's mature style. He began his art studies at the Toulouse School of the Fine Arts in 1877, under the tutelage of Jules Garipuy. In 1879, Martin relocated to Paris and was able to study in Jean-Paul Laurens' studio with the help of a scholarship. Influenced by the Neo-Impressionists, Martin used a Pointillism technique to give his work an ethereal quality.

Museum hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesdays and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for senior citizens and high school students. Free admission is given to ages 13 and under, JSMA members, college students with ID, and university faculty, staff and students. For information, contact the JSMA, 541-346-3027.

About the University of Oregon
The University of Oregon is a world-class teaching and research institution and Oregon's flagship public university. The UO is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), an organization made up of 62 of the leading public and private research institutions in the United States and Canada. Membership in the AAU is by invitation only. The University of Oregon is one of only two AAU members in the Pacific Northwest.

Contact: Debbie Williamson-Smith, 541-346-0942, debbiews@uoregon.edu
Erick Hoffman, 541-346-3162, erickh@uoregon.edu


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