Post`-im*pres"sion*ism, n.
(Painting)
In the broadest sense, the theory or practice
of any of several groups of recent painters, or of these groups taken
collectively, whose work and theories have in common a tendency to
reaction against the scientific and naturalistic character of
impressionism and neo-impressionism. In a strict sense the term post-
impressionism is used to denote the effort at self-expression, rather
than representation, shown in the work of Cezanne, Matisse,
etc.; but it is more broadly used to include cubism, the theory
or practice of a movement in both painting and sculpture which lays
stress upon volume as the important attribute of objects and attempts
its expression by the use of geometrical figures or solids only; and
futurism, a theory or practice which attempts to place the
observer within the picture and to represent simultaneously a number
of consecutive movements and impressions. In practice these theories
and methods of the post-impressionists change with great rapidity and
shade into one another, so that a picture may be both cubist and
futurist in character. They tend to, and sometimes reach, a condition
in which both representation and traditional decoration are entirely
abolished and a work of art becomes a purely subjective expression in
an arbitrary and personal language.
© Webster 1913.