Tonal Impressionism

Tonal Impressionism is an art historical term that refers to works of art that are "mood" paintings with simplified compositions, done in a limited range of colors, as with Tonalist works, but using the brighter, more chromatic palette of Impressionism. The term or title also refers to an exhibition titled "Tonal Impressionism" which was curated by the art historian Harry Muir Kurtzworth for the Los Angeles Art Association Gallery at the Los Angeles Central Library in June 1937 with the works of a number of prominent California artists. In recent years, the term has also been used to describe a non-linear approach to painting where the subject is massed in with tonal values without the use of underdrawing.

Tonalism is usually characterized by art historians as paintings of simplified subjects, that are painted in a gauzy, indistinct way with a lack of detail, using a limited palette with variations of the same colors. American painters who are considered Tonalists are James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834–1903), George Inness (1825–1894), Dwight William Tryon (1849–1925), Charles Warren Eaton and often John Twachtman (1853–1922). The French Impressionists adopted a very high key palette that used many of the recently created man made pigments which allowed them to better capture the full intensity of sunlight. The concept of Tonal Impressionism that the art historian Harry Muir Kurtzworth came up with was that that artists could work in lower light conditions, in their studio or out of doors in the moonlight, or at sunrise or sunset, at the times of day that the Tonalists favored, but use the palette of Impressionism.

The first use of this term seems to be in a catalog for an exhibition titled "Tonal Impressionism" which he curated for the Los Angeles Art Association Gallery at the Los Angeles Central Library in June 1937. Kurtzworth, who chose the paintings and wrote the catalog preface stated that: "By tone or tonal painting is meant the feeling of harmony, either in high or low key, brought about by carefully adjusting values and colors, with the result that instead of a brilliant, powerful impression of the atmosphere of subdued light out of doors in the early morning, late afternoon, or a quietly lighted interior is conveyed by the artist's skill."

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