By Claude Monet – wartburg.edu, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5504881
I’m an optimist.
Now that that’s off my chest, let me tell you why I always think of the impressionist painters in times of uncertainty and economic challenges.
In the late 1830s a new technology called photography had big break. It allowed you to capture images on a metal plate or glass (and later, on film). The word photography itself was coined in 1939, the same year as Louis Daguerre’s new invention. Painters had already been using a device called the camera obscure (literally: dark chamber). As with any new technology, it met with much resistance. After all generations of rich and powerful people had spent fortunes on hiring painters to make them look slimmer, fitter, more muscular, or more beautiful. Now the ‘daguerreotype’ machine had crashed that party. But of course it took hold, and steady improvements in image capture took place. In 1870s, dry plates were introduced, which meant that they could be stored and used whenever needed. And in 1888 Kodak sold its first camera.
You can probably imagine the plight of painters at the time and no doubt the profession itself suffered. As it grew in popularity through the But it hugely impacted the job of portrait painters. Why would you pose stiffly for hours, and get an approximation when you could get an exact version almost instantly? Even images of things – landscapes, and houses could be better captured by photography. But a few pondered whether interpreting reality was more artistic than replicating it. Monet and others came together in the 1860s to create what we know as impressionism. They had their debut exhibition in 1874. It wasn’t popular. The critics compared it unfavourably to wallpaper. The name itself came from a criticism of Monet’s painting “Impression of a Sunrise”. But the movement included Renoir, Gauguin, Lautrec, Cezanne, Pisarro, and a line that of course, led to the post impressionists including Van Gogh, and ultimately to Henry Matisse, the fauvist and father of ‘modern art’. And throughout this period, many artists actually used photography in more innovative ways to enhance, support and elevate their art.
My point is that when things crumble, and livelihoods are being challenged. When our skills are no longer required and our purpose has gone, that’s when we need to look deeper and harder for another purpose, and a new way of applying our skills for new value. It may not be easy, but it’s a much more worthwhile pursuit than giving up and walking away. #findthenew.
What are your new purposes and skills for today’s crisis?
#findyournew
Staccato Signals 