impressionismn.

1839 J. Rogers Antipopopriestian vi. ii. 202 All hail to Berkeley who would have no matter, and to Hume who would have no mind; to the Idealism of the former, and to the Impressionism of the latter!

1882 Athenæum 10 June 737/2 M. Duez, one of the fathers of Impressionism, seems to have modified and refined his practice.

1884 Contemp. Rev. July 141 The influence of impressionism is on the whole decreasing.

1888 Church Times 29 June 575/4 Impressionism is an excellent thing in its proper place, which is the artist's own sketch-book, not the completed canvas.

1899 Q. Rev. Apr. 536 In the case of Velasquez, Mr. R. A. M. Stevenson claims this ultimate development as distinct ‘Impressionism’.

1883 V. Lee in Academy 29 Dec. 426 Complete negation of all the elements most common in modern writing—namely, realism..and, if I may use an artist's word, impressionism in execution.

1892 Pall Mall Gaz. 24 Mar. 6/1 A delightful freshness and vividness—a touch of unconscious literary impressionism, if the phrase may stand.

1889 G. B. Shaw in Star 29 May 2/6 There is a great deal in Mefistofele that is mere impressionism; and like impressionism in painting it is enchanting when it is successful.

1908 W. H. Daly Debussy 31 So far as one can classify Debussy's use of a ‘programme’ at all, it is necessary to return to the comparison with painting, and style it impressionism.

1922 Musical Opinion May 698/1 Let it be thoroughly understood that impressionism is no more a matter of technique, of using dots, blobs and squares..any more than musical impressionism means the use of the whole-tone scale with its implied harmonies.

1934 C. Lambert Music Ho! 1. 25 Impressionism, as I have said, is a term easily misused, and one may doubt the logic of its use as a musical term at all; but its association with the work of Debussy and his followers is so widespread that one may conveniently use it as a generic label for that period of disruption in music of which Debussy was the dominating figure.

1947 A. Einstein Music Romantic Era xi. 149 His first symphonic poem Les Éolides (1876), inspired by Leconte de Lisle's poem, is rather a precursor of Impressionism.

1952 B. Ulanov Hist. Jazz in Amer. xii. 133 It was another sixteen years before the impact of Impressionism was again so directly felt in jazz.

1956 M. W. Stearns Story of Jazz (1957) xiii. 146 The Debussyesque impressionism of Smith's ‘Morning Air’.

1970 Times 27 Feb. 13/1 Mr. Fon..was keenly aware that impressionism for Debussy was not just a vague wash.