Both regarded themselves as figure painters, and the art historian George Shackelford suggests they were influenced by the art critic Louis Edmond Duranty's appeal in his pamphlet The New Painting for a revitalization in figure painting: "Let us take leave of the stylized human body, which is treated like a vase.
Begge opfattede de sig som figurmalere, og det er kunsthistorikeren George Shackelfords opfattelse, at de var inspireret af kunstkritikeren Louis Edmond Durantys opfordring i sit skrift La nouvelle peinture til en revitalisering af figurmaleriet: "Lad os forlade den stiliserede menneskekrop, som behandles som var den en vase.