A Tonalism Demonstration

Sunrise 1887 George Inness

Tonalism was an art style that began in the 1880s in America. It most likely developed out of the work of the French Barbizon artists who created a realist plein air art movement in the 1830s based in the forest of Fontainebleau near the town of Barbizon. Inspired by the paintings of the English artist, John Constable, The Barbizon artists decided to make Nature their primary subject and abandon rigid formalism in their work. The style is notable for its loose brushwork, softness in tonal qualities and forms. The most prominent of the Barbizon artists were Jean-Francois Millet, Theodore Rousseau and Jean-Baptiste-Camille-Corot. By 1860, a younger generation of artists, which included Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley and Frederic Bazille, were also attracted to the work of the Barbizon artists and inspired to paint plein air works in the Fontainebleau forest. By 1870, the next great French art movement…