Cloisonnism
Description
Cloisonnism is a style of post-Impressionist painting with bold and flat forms separated by dark contours. The term was coined by critic Édouard Dujardin on the occasion of the Salon des Indépendants, in March 1888. Artists Émile Bernard, Louis Anquetin, Paul Gauguin, Paul Sérusier, and others started painting in this style in the late 19th century. The name evokes the technique of cloisonné, where wires (cloisons or "compartments") are soldered to the body of the piece, filled with powdered glass, and then fired. Many of the same painters also described their works as Synthetism, a closely related movement. Read more ↗
Key Artists
Émile Bernard
Pioneering young theorist and painter who developed the bold, dark contour lines and flat color fields of Cloisonnism in Pont-Aven, profoundly influencing Paul Gauguin.
Louis Anquetin
Co-originator of Cloisonnism who collaborated closely with Bernard at the Atelier Cormon, using thick dark outlines and monochrome atmospheric color overlays inspired by stained glass.
Paul Gauguin
Post-Impressionist master who adopted Bernard and Anquetin's cloisonnist techniques in Brittany, elevating the style into worldwide masterpieces of symbolic, anti-naturalistic painting.
Paul Sérusier
Disciple of Gauguin whose cloisonnist landscape 'The Talisman' served as the fundamental technical bridge connecting Cloisonnism and Synthetism with the Nabis movement.
Jacob Meyer de Haan
Dutch painter who joined Gauguin and Bernard in Le Pouldu, Brittany, applying simplified cloisonnist contours and intense color patches to intimate portraits and still lifes.
Famous Artworks
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Fun Facts
The term 'Cloisonnism' was coined in March 1888 by French art critic Édouard Dujardin in the journal 'Revue Indépendante' because the heavy black outlines isolating flat patches of paint reminded him of medieval 'cloisonné' enamels, where metal wires solder separate colored glass compartments together.
↗ Source: en.wikipedia.org
Paul Gauguin and Émile Bernard engaged in a bitter lifelong rivalry over who truly invented Cloisonnism and Synthetism; Bernard felt Gauguin stole the credit for the bold outlined style after seeing Bernard's painting 'Breton Women in the Meadow' at Pont-Aven in 1888.
↗ Source: britannica.com
