Decorative Impressionism

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Decorative Impressionism is an art historical term that is credited to the art writer Christian Brinton, who first used it in 1911^[where?]. Brinton titled an article on the American expatriate painter Frederick Carl Frieseke, one of the members of the famous Giverny Colony of American Impressionists, "The Decorative Impressionist."

However, use of the term has been revived in recent decades by the influential and prolific art historian William H. Gerdts to describe the figurative works of not only Frieseke, but some of his Giverny compatriots including Richard E. Miller, Louis Ritman and Robert Reid. The same term has been applied to other Giverny school painters who painted the figure including Guy Rose, Karl Anderson and Karl Albert Buehr. Decorative Impressionism describes a way of painting the human figure that attempts to reconcile academic techniques with Impressionist and Post-Impressionist influences.

The works of these artists tend to be either high-key outdoor depictions of women in languid poses, or interior scenes with the figures illuminated by natural light from windows. Many of these highly decorative paintings have a recognizable influence from Japanese art or Japonisme, with the strong use of patterns in the backgrounds. The work of the originators of first Decorative Impressionists was popular from about 1905 until the mid-1920s, but the style continued until at least the middle of the 20th century through the work of some of the students of the Giverny painters and, the style has been revived in recent years by some contemporary figurative painters.