Neo-Impressionist

Refers to a painting style and art theory identified with a group of French artists between 1886 and 1906. The term was coined by the art critic Félix Fénéon in a review of the eighth and last Impressionist exhibition (1886), in which Camille Pissarro, Lucien Pissaro, Paul Signac and Georges Seurat exhibited their work in one room, asserting a shared vision. Other artists who practiced the style were Charles Angrand, Louis Hayet, Henri Edmond Cross, Léo Gausson, Hippolyte Petitjean, Albert Dubois, and Maximilien Luce. Seurat is considered the outstanding artist of the movement. Neo-Impressionism both developed out of Impressionism and was a reaction against it. Like Impressionism, Neo-Impressionism was concerned with light and color but while the former was typically spontaneous and empirical, the later was based more on scientific principles and resulted in formalized compositions. The associated technique is referred to as pointillism and the associated theory is referred to as divisionism, although the two terms are often used interchangably and are also both used to refer to the style and movement. While relatively short-lived, the movement had a large impact on other artists and movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.