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| Cloisonnism | |
|---|---|
| Name | Cloisonnism |
| Year | 1887–1890s |
| Country | France |
| Movement | Post-Impressionism |
Cloisonnism is a late 19th-century painting style associated with Post-Impressionism, characterized by bold contours and flat areas of color that evoke the appearance of medieval stained glass and enamelwork. It emerged in France among artists seeking alternatives to Impressionism and is closely linked to developments in Symbolism, Primitivism, and decorative arts movements of the period. Cloisonnist works often emphasize strong outlines, simplified forms, and vibrant palettes used to convey emotional or symbolic content.
Cloisonnism is defined by the use of pronounced, dark contours separating broad, unmodulated color fields, producing a visual effect analogous to medieval vitrail or cloisonné metalwork; artists practicing this approach favored two-dimensionality and surface pattern over illusionistic depth. Characteristics include flattened perspective, schematic figuration, emphasis on silhouette, and limited tonal gradation, aligning it with aesthetic priorities found in Japanese art imports to Europe and late-19th-century decorative trends in Paris. The style often integrates motifs drawn from Fauvism precursors, Primitivism enthusiasts, and proponents of Symbolist imagery, privileging subjective color choices and formal abstraction over optical naturalism.
Cloisonnism originated in the late 1880s within Parisian circles including artists who exhibited at venues such as the Salon des Indépendants and gathered around dealers like Ambroise Vollard and critics such as Édouard Dujardin. Influences trace to medieval Byzantine art, Gothic art, and decorative traditions exemplified by French Art Nouveau designers and Belgian Les XX participants; additional sources include Japanese woodblock prints exchanged via Japonisme collectors, medievalist scholarship promoted at institutions like the Musée du Louvre, and the primitive art interests advocated by Paul Gauguin within his circle on Pont-Aven. Theoretical underpinnings were debated in contemporary journals edited by figures such as Émile Bernard, who corresponded with painters in Arles and Brittany and responded to events like exhibitions hosted by Galerie Durand-Ruel.
Principal practitioners include Émile Bernard, whose paintings such as "Breton Women in Prayer" exemplify sharp contouring and flat planes; Paul Gauguin, whose works from Tahiti and Breton scenes employ simplified forms and symbolic coloration; and Louis Anquetin, whose earlier Paris street scenes show cloisonnist outlines. Other associated artists comprise Vincent van Gogh in correspondences and stylistic cross-influences, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in poster design, Georges Seurat in his structural line use, and members of the Pont-Aven group like Meijer de Haan. Notable works often discussed in museum collections include Bernard's panels, Gauguin's Breton portraits, Anquetin's "Avenue de Clichy", and print-based experiments by Paul Sérusier and Maurice Denis that anticipate decorative theory in institutions such as the Musée d'Orsay and Musée Rodin.
Cloisonnist technique involves laying in color areas bordered by strong pigments, frequently using oil on canvas, gouache on paper, wood panels, and lithography for posters; some artists experimented with tempera and enamel to echo medieval cloisonné processes. Brushes, palette knives, and printmaking tools were employed to achieve flat washes and decisive outlines, while color choices were informed by pigments supplied through Parisian dealers like Goupil & Cie and Boussod, Valadon & Cie. Workshops in Montmartre and studios in Pont-Aven served as sites for collaboration, where paper studies, sketches, and cartoons were transferred into paintings and decorative panels for salons and galleries such as Galerie Bernheim-Jeune.
Contemporary reception was mixed: critics at the Salon and conservative journals often derided the simplification and apparent primitivism, while avant-garde supporters in La Revue Blanche and collectors like Paul Durand-Ruel and Sergei Shchukin praised the decorative clarity. Cloisonnism influenced succeeding movements including Fauvism, Expressionism, and early Modernism, informing colour theory debates at academies and driving tastes in institutions like the Tate Gallery and Musée du Luxembourg. Its legacy persists in poster art, stained glass revivals, and twentieth-century return-to-order aesthetics championed by curators at entities such as the Galerie National du Jeu de Paume.
Compared with Impressionism, Cloisonnism rejects optical light effects and broken brushwork in favor of contour and color plane; relative to Symbolism, it shares allegorical intent but differs in stricter formal simplification. Against Pointillism and Neo-Impressionism, Cloisonnism opposes scientific color division exemplified by Georges Seurat and Paul Signac in favor of unified color fields; compared with Fauvism, it prefigures expressive chromatic freedom found in works by Henri Matisse and André Derain though cloisonnists retained stronger outline control. In relation to decorative currents like Art Nouveau and the output of William Morris-inspired workshops, Cloisonnism aligns through pattern and surface emphasis while retaining a painterly allegiance distinct from applied arts production.