Chap 20 notes

Chapter 20 Late Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries

Three Revolutions – All 3 revolutions launched the period of great social and technological change that we call the Modern Age.
- Industrial revolution – began in Britain about 1760 brought about significant changes in the way people lived.
- American Revolution began in 1776
- French Revolution began in 1789

In art, the Enlightment was during the late 1700’s and held a more rational and scientific approach to religious, political, social and economic issues. Artists both embraced and impeded these changes. With artistic freedom from constraints by their traditional patrons (royalty, aristocracy, wealthy merchants, bankers and the church), artists were left to struggle financially until a new system of patronage emerged. Eventually, support came from galleries, collectors and museums.

There were three basic styles of art that held sway throughout the 19th century -

Neoclassicism - Led by Jacques Louis David, was a reaction to the frivolous style of the French Rococo.

Ingres - one of David's followers and his paintings have the clearly delineated forms of the classical style

Romanticism - Those who followed this trend felt that portrayal of emotion was more important than rationality. They generally preferred a more dramatic and painterly approach.

Goya – a Romantic painter and contemporary of David painted the well known “The Third of May 1808” a protest against the brutality of tyrannical governments.

Delacroix – leading French Romantic painter

Realism - The realists were opposed to the often mythological character of many Neoclassical and Romantic artworks. Their basic philosophy is that one should paint what one sees with their own eyes and leave any mythological or overly dramatic content out of the picture.

Courbet – French painter of the everyday life worked outdoors directly from nature as a realist painter.

Rosa Bonheur – French painter of rural scenes with animals. pg 358

Edouard Manet – controversial artist in Paris in the 1860s broke away from the traditional teaching masters and painted realism with a bit of influence from Japanese prints. Manet’s paintings were a precursor to Impressionism.

Two important American portrait painters were Sargent and Whistler.

Pre-Raphaelites. This style might be considered a variant of Romanticism, for it favors subjects of mythological and literary subjects. They preferred symbolic representations with a certain poetic appeal.

John William Waterhouse - often classified as a Pre-raphaelite for his style and themes, but he is truly a Neo-Classic painter.

Landscape painting is also very popular during the 19th century, and there are small schools of painters who work in specific regions. The Hudson River Painters are a group who concentrated on painting scenes west of the Hudson River. These are generally done on huge canvases. Though realistic in one sense, they also have a grandiose effect, and they preferred dramatic lighting conditions.

John James Audubon is probably the most famous illustrator of animals in America, especially known for his hundreds of representations of birds.

Henri Rousseau, a French painter - The psychological and fantastic nature of this Rousseau's "naively inspired" works will be of influence to a 20th century movement called Surrealism.

camera obscura had been in existence for at least four hundred years, but its use was limited to its purpose as an aid to drawing.

Photography - Most people embraced this new technology of the camera with great enthusiasm. A few religious zealots, however, claimed that it was the work of the devil. Many artists who had trained for years in the techniques of portrait painting also found it a threat to their livelihood. Some painters dubbed the new invention "the foe-to-graphic art." A number of artists turned to photography for their livelihood, while others cashed in on the fact that the images were in monochrome and began coloring them. Some painters also used photography to assist them in painting, some of these artists were Gauguin, Cezanne, Courbet, Lautrec, Delacroix and Degas. Photography would eventually change the purpose of painting from one which focused on outward facts of reality to more emphasis on personal vision.

Impressionism – about 1874, a group of painters had been denied the right to exhibit in the Salon of 1873 being rejected by critiques and the general public because of the nontraditional appearance of painting, they organized an independent exhibition of their work. These artists opposed academic doctrines and romantic ideals and instead painted contemporary life. They sought to paint “impressions” of what the eye actually sees rather than what the mind knows. Landscape and ordinary scenes painted outdoors in different atmospheric conditions, seasons and time of day were the main subjects of this style. From the perspective of our time, Impressionism was the most important artistic movement of the 19th century but in the 1870’s – 80’s, was frowned upon by the academy and critics. It is perhaps the most loved and reproduced style of painting of the past 300 years.

Claude Monet – leading Impressionist. Painted “en plein air” to capture the mood and qualities of light at different times of day and different seasons.

- en plein air – to paint outdoors capturing the changing light

Renoir – Impressionist more concerned with composition than with light contrasts

Degas – Impressionist that painted expression and contemporary life but often cut off figures at the edge of the canvas

Mary Cassatt – the most famous American female artist of her time. She was a painter and printmaker and was the only American to be accepted into the Impressionist group and exhibit with them. Edgar Degas was one of her early supporters and proved to be one of her biggest influences along with Japanese prints of simplicity and bold design. Cassatt produced many images of friends, family, and mothers with children partly because it was difficult for a woman to frequent the same theaters and night spots as her male counterparts.

Auguste Rodin – best know for his sculpture “The Thinker”, one in front of DIA. First sculptor since Bernini to return sculpture to the status of a major art form with emotional and spiritual depth. Considered an Impressionist sculptor.

Post-Impressionist – started about 1885 following Impressionism. Painters did not share a single style rather they built on or reacted to Impressionism in individual ways. Some Post-Impressionist painters were van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat, and Cezanne.
Gauguin and van Gogh were expressive, emotional painters that had a desire to make their thoughts and feelings visible with strong contrasts, clear contoured shapes, bold brushwork and texture. Their art vastly influenced expressionist styles.

Seurat and Cezanne were interested in formal structure to achieve clarity of design. Their paintings influenced formalist styles and were based on the observation of nature and using separate strokes of color to build the surface.
- Divisionism notably known as Pointillism – developed by Seurat was a scientific technique of applying paint in tiny dots of color based on optical mixing.

Seurat - most known for the painting “A Sunday on La Grande Jatte” at the Art Institute of Chicago uses pointillism.

Cezanne –used color to show form and space using simplified forms on a flat surface building on and departing from Impressionism. Cezanne’s style of painting had the most lasting effect on painting in the 20th century.

Van Gogh – used open brushwork and pure color to express feelings. The textural brushwork gave a rhythmic movement to his work and the colors used clearly expressed emotions.

Gauguin –used many symbols to communicate in his art. The visual form carrying memory, feelings, and ideas lead to Symbolism that developed around 1885.

Symbolism – a trend rather than a style was an out growth of Romanticism leading to Surrealism.

Odilon Redon - was a Symbolist painter and printmaker. His work represents an exploration of his internal feelings and psyche

Edvard Munch – known for his painting of “The Scream” is an expressive image full of anxiety, isolation, fear and loneliness.