Cambridge Encyclopedia :: Cambridge Encyclopedia Vol. 73

Synthetism - Synthetist paintings

A term sometimes used by art critics to refer to the Symbolist artists, to distinguish them from the Symbolist poets. It is also sometimes applied to the Nabis.

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Synthetism is a term used by post-Impressionist artists like Paul Gauguin, Émile Bernard and Louis Anquetin to distinguish their work from Impressionism.

In 1890, Maurice Denis summarized the goals for synthetism as,

The term was first used in 1876 to distinguish between scientific and naturalistic impressionism, and in 1889 when Gauguin and Emile Schuffenecker organized an Exposition de peintures du groupe impressioniste et synthétiste in the Café Volpini at the Exposition Universelle in Paris.

Synthetist paintings

Paul Serusier - Talisman (Bois d'amour) (1888) Paul Gauguin - Vision After The Sermon (1888), La Belle Angele (1889), The Loss of Innocence (1890) Émile Bernard - Buckwheat Harvest (1888) Cuno Amiet - Breton Spinner (1893)

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