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Module 12
c. 1730-1863 (ish!)
The Baroque period continued into the Spanish and Portuguese empires and was called "The Spanish Golden Age". A golden age is a period when great tasks were accomplished. Do you remember when we referred to the Classical Age of Greece as The Golden Age? The term originated from early Greek and Roman poets, who referred to a time when mankind lived in a better time and was more pure.
In Spain, the monarchies, King Philip II of Spain, Isobel and Ferdinand, and later Ferdinand of Aragon, supported the artists El Greco, Velazques, and Cervantes (Writer of Don Quixote). This was a great time of activity in Spain, which included financing Columbus's sail in 1492 to what was then called a "discovery" of land.
Spanish art contained strong references to mysticism and religion that, at the time, was encouraged by the counter-reformation (remember that means countering the strict/austere visuals of Protestant art) and the patronage of Spain's strongly Catholic monarchs and aristocracy.
Diego Velázquez was the leading visual artist of the Spanish Golden Age, during the Baroque era, but in Spain. The Spanish Golden Age was a period of high artistic activity and achievement that lasted from about 1580 to 1680. During this time period, El Greco and Velázquez painted their masterpieces, and Cervantes wrote his famous, satirical novel Don Quixote.
Before we get to Rococo...
Before we get to Rococo...
I want to share the wonderful Velázquez! Pay attention to this vigorous analysis of Las Meninas.
Velázquez, 1656, Las Meninas, (Spanish for “The Ladies-in-waiting") Oil on Canvas, Dimensions: 10′ 5″ x 9′ 1″
Velázquez, close up from Las Meninas, 1656
A large 10′ 5″ x 9′ 1″ oil on canvas!
Rococo
Rococo
Here is a Rococo-styled pumpkin, recently spotted at a local Ross store! ;)
The Rococo style developed first in the decorative arts and interior design, and its influence later spread to architecture, sculpture, theater design, painting, and music.
This style is characterized by elaborate ornamentation, asymmetrical values, pastel color palettes, and curved or serpentine lines.
Rococo artworks often depict themes of love, classical myths, youth, and playfulness.
Think wedding cakes, Marie Antoinette, and Liberace!
The word Rococo is also seen as a combination of the French rocaille, meaning stone, and coquilles, meaning shell, due to reliance on these objects or motifs of decoration.
The Swing , Jean-Honoré Fragonard c.1767
"A smiling young man, hiding in the bushes on the left, watches her from a vantage point that allows him to see up into her billowing dress, where his arm is pointed with hat in hand. A smiling older man, who is nearly hidden in the shadows on the right, propels the swing with a pair of ropes. The older man appears to be unaware of the young man. As the young lady swings high, she throws her left leg up, allowing her dainty shoe to fly through the air. "
So what is actually going on here? Is that her husband pushing the swing? Her lover hiding and catching her shoe..all in a days' frivolous fun?
Louis XIV by Hyacinthe Rigaud, 1701
Just an ordinary man leading the people..... and we wonder why there was a revolution?
Liberace
Marie-Antoinette with the Rose, 1783, by Marie Louise Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun (a woman artist finally..more on that in the next modules!)
This style of "frivolous" painting soon became the target of the philosophers of the Enlightenment, who demanded a more serious art which would show the nobility of man.
By the way, did you know that those wigs were often full of bugs and the people had special scratchers to itch their crawly scalps....makes me want to scratch!!
Read More here:
Read More here:
The grandiose ensemble of the Hall at Versailles and the rest of the palace, were intended to illustrate the power of the absolutist monarch Louis XIV.
"King Louis was living like a King, but his people were living rotten....." Allen Sherman
Here is a modern example of Rococo found somewhere at Ala Moana Mall!! ;) Can you think of others?
In France, the Rococo style began to decline by the 1750s. It was highly criticized for its triviality and excess of ornamentation.
Neoclassicism began to take over as the dominant style in France and the rest of Europe.
A Philosopher Lecturing on the Orrery, Joseph Wright of Derbyc. 1766 Oil on canvas
Click to read: Beginners Guide to Enlightenment (new page)
What is Neoclassicism?
What is Neoclassicism?
The Neoclassical style was defined by clarity, a methodical technique and a noble subject matter dedicated to reason, virtue and civic responsibility. Academies appeared all over Europe to propagate the intellectual and social standing of artists and men of knowledge. The age of "freedom."
The Neoclassical style was defined by clarity, a methodical technique and a noble subject matter dedicated to reason, virtue and civic responsibility. Academies appeared all over Europe to propagate the intellectual and social standing of artists and men of knowledge. The age of "freedom."
•Neoclassicism coincides with the Enlightenment, or Age of Reason, an age of scientific discovery
•Neoclassicism coincides with the Enlightenment, or Age of Reason, an age of scientific discovery
•It privileged reason over emotion
•It privileged reason over emotion
•It believed art should teach a moral lesson, rejecting the “frivolity” of the fashionable rococo style which relegated art to a pleasurable pastime
•It believed art should teach a moral lesson, rejecting the “frivolity” of the fashionable rococo style which relegated art to a pleasurable pastime
•It was inspired by Classical (Greek and Roman) art
•It was inspired by Classical (Greek and Roman) art
•Jacques Louis David became the painter of the Revolution and embraced this new heroic style
•Jacques Louis David became the painter of the Revolution and embraced this new heroic style
•It promoted values of self-sacrifice, patriotism, and national well-being over personal gain – principles, it was hoped, that would shape the new Republic
•It promoted values of self-sacrifice, patriotism, and national well-being over personal gain – principles, it was hoped, that would shape the new Republic
Where did the Enlightenment really come from??????????
According to recent historical scholarship, particularly the book "The Dawn of Everything" by David Graeber and David Wengrow, Native American ideas, particularly regarding governance structures like the Iroquois Confederacy, are considered to have significantly influenced Enlightenment thinkers in Europe, contributing to concepts of democracy, equality, and collective decision-making, challenging the traditional narrative that the Enlightenment solely originated in Europe.
Key points about Native American influence on the Enlightenment:
Iroquois Confederacy:
The political system of the Iroquois Nation, with its checks and balances between different tribes, is often cited as a major inspiration for the US Constitution, with figures like Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson potentially drawing from this model.
Concepts of shared land and collective decision-making:
Native American societies often emphasized communal ownership of land and consensus-based decision-making, which could have influenced Enlightenment ideas about social equality and individual rights.Critique of European society:
Some Native American groups directly critiqued the inequalities and social hierarchies they observed in European societies, which may have indirectly influenced Enlightenment thinkers to question their own systems.
Oath of the Horatii, Jacques-Louis David,
The Painter David (pronounced Da-Veed) was one of the most important Neo-Classical Painters.
Remember this guy?
Caesar Augustus Roman Emperor
27 BC-AD 14
Napoleon Crossing the Alps, is very much in accord with the direction David's art was taking at the time, “a return to the pure Greek” as he put it. In it he moulds the image of an archetype, the sort one finds on medals and coins, instantly recognizable and infinitely reproducible, a hero for all time."
The problem with some people in power, is that it goes to their heads! He envisioned himself as a modern day Roman emperor which is reflected in his portraits. After Napoleon took power,in 1804, there was a lot of disillusion among the people, which gave rise to more unrest.
Napoleon I on his Imperial Throne, by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres 1806
The painter Ingres (pronounced "Ang" portrayed Napoléon with all the trappings of an ancient Roman emperor.
You can relate to the some of the work you see in this class, by walking around any city, wherever you are, including Honolulu. Look for Neoclassical architecture around town, the columns at Iolani Palace, the Hawaii Theater, or the Moana Surfrider Hotel in Waikiki.
The White House, is an obvious. example of Neo Classical architecture.
Can anyone remember the style of these columns at Iolani Palace? Doric, Ionic or Corinthian? And what about inside the Lincoln Memorial at right?........I see two styles....
U.S. Supreme Court
In art, the emphasis on freedom especially from tryanny; created another, alternative response which came to be known as Romanticism.
In art, the emphasis on freedom especially from tryanny; created another, alternative response which came to be known as Romanticism.
Artists, poets, musicians and intellectuals associated with the Romantic movement felt that the freedoms born of the Age of Enlightenment, should not be restricted to the official style of Neoclassicism. Makes sense right? To them, an "official" style was another form of tyranny. They championed freedom in its many forms, including the freedom of personal expression and the imagination. Also, Romanticism can be loosely defined by what it stood against. The movement was about spiritualism over science, instinct over deliberation, nature over industry, democracy over subjugation, and the rusticity over the aristocracy. All of these concepts were open to extremely personalized interpretation.
As a result Romanticism and Neoclassicism became diametrically opposed in technique and subject matter. Neoclassicism favored a linear style of painting (smooth, blended, highly detailed) that attempted to hide the 'materiality' of paint and emphasize the illusion of the image. Neoclassicism favored portraiture and historical events that sought to portray the virtues and timeless lessons of history. Romanticism on the other hand, favored a painterly style (sketchy, loose approach with lots of brushstrokes and use of impasto) – that favored imaginary, visionary subjects and exotic lands. The differences in the two styles can be seen by comparing these images.
Left: Jacques-Louis David, Oath of the Horatii, oil on canvas, 3.3 x 4.25m, commissioned by Louis XVI, painted in Rome, exhibited at the salon of 1785 (Musée du Louvre); right: Francisco Goya, The Third of May, 1808, 1814-15, oil on canvas, 8' 9" x 13' 4" (Museo del Prado, Madrid)
Neoclassicism was favored by the older more ‘mature’ generations whereas Romanticism became the movement of youth, and seen by the older generations as wild, undisciplined and escapist. History however fell on the side of Romanticism, and it was the Romantic tradition of the visionary genius that created new and shocking forms of art that came to define the role of the arts and the artist in society. This split between the misunderstood artist and the status quo gave birth to the concept of the avant-garde. Avant-garde, originally a French term, meaning "advance guard" (the part of an army that goes forward ahead of the rest). Artists wanting to spread new ideas are often classified this way. The door was opened to a great variety of styles and approaches, of which Realism and Impressionism became two of the most influential.
Neoclassical painting features a linear style outlines of objects are sharply defined, carefully controlled brushstrokes.
Influence: Greek/Roman
Cause: Reaction against Rococo
Theme: Age of Reason
This was all true of Ingres, except for the subject matter. Not a reclined nude, that had been around since the Greeks, but a Non Western subject matter. The Odalisque.
Two very different Odalisques..can you see the difference between the two styles??
Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres Neoclassicism, 1814
Eugène Delecroix, Romanticism, 1825
Romantic painting favored a painterly style (freedom of color takes precedence over sharply-defined forms; brushstrokes are less restrained, messy.)
Influence: Medieval/Non Western
Cause: Reaction against Neo Classicism
Theme: Age of Passion
The “Odalisque” which literally means female slave or member of a harem, has a long history in art. This is a fact. However, it is also a fact that female nudity in art is related to the concept of objectification. We will discuss this in next week's Module Women in Art.
Re-cap...David remained a committed Neo classicist, while his former student Ingres retained his Neo classical line to embrace, a geographically distant and romantic subject. This tension between Neoclassicism and Romanticism will continue throughout the first half of the nineteenth century as painters will tend to side with either Ingres and his precise linearity or the painterly (Romantic) style of the younger painter Eugène Delacroix.
-Realism, with a capital R, is the next art movement in nineteenth-century French art that attempts to capture everyday life.
Most art before this was considered too "noble" to deal with the everyday. Art, which was now firmly under the control of the powerful Academies, was primarily about themes from history, religion, mythology, or portraiture of the great the rich, and the powerful. Art was meant to commemorate, educate, and provide 'culture' to the masses through exposure to refined and lofty themes and ideals. To paint what was merely seen outside the window, on the city street, or in the field was seen as a slap in the face of the great and noble tradition of painting. One of the leaders of the movement, Gustave Courbet, was once quoted as saying, "Show me an angel with wings and I'll paint it." This sums up the philosophy of his art and realism in general in contrast to much of the academic art of the time, obsessed as it was with all things classical, mythological, angelic and perfect. Courbet's Apples with all their realistic imperfections were seen as too ugly and brutish at the time, to be worthy of 'Art" - a modern-day analogy might be to compare your perfect Foodland apple, all idealized, perfect, and shiny, to an organic one, imperfect, bumpy and discolored - but real.
Gustave Courbet, The Stonebreakers, 1849
Courbet, Still Life with Apples, 1871
Napolean's reach was far and wide before his downfall, and no reference to Realism would be complete without mentioning the astounding work of Francisco de Goya, Third of May, 1808.
This piece has been called the first and greatest anti-war painting, of all time. A painting of revolution. It has been called the first modern work of art, and is unquestionably Goya's masterpiece.
The painting's content, presentation, and emotional force secure its status as a ground-breaking, archetypal image of the horrors of war. Although it draws on many sources from both high and popular art, The Third of May marks a clear break from convention. "Diverging from the traditions of Christian art and traditional depictions of war, it has no distinct precedent and is acknowledged as one of the first paintings of the modern era. " (Goya in Perspective Fred Licht editor)
According to the art historian Kenneth Clark, (British Historian) The Third of May 1808 is "the first great picture which can be called revolutionary in every sense of the word, in style, in subject, and in intention".
Watch this video carefully, it will help to understand analyzing a painting.
And while we are on the subject.....Art has always and will always be an important addition to society, whether in parlors or in reporting on wars. Art Matters and can bring to the public eye things of importance.
Realism challenged the philosophical underpinnings of art which was founded on the idealism of the classical. Art was supposed to be about eternal truths and principles. By focusing on the here and now, the emphasis had shifted to the particular and the transient, this shift sent shock - waves through the establishment. Nineteenth century Europe was seeing a revolution like no other, and this focus on the everyday was seen as a threat to the establishment.
Realism challenged the philosophical underpinnings of art which was founded on the idealism of the classical. Art was supposed to be about eternal truths and principles. By focusing on the here and now, the emphasis had shifted to the particular and the transient, this shift sent shock - waves through the establishment. Nineteenth century Europe was seeing a revolution like no other, and this focus on the everyday was seen as a threat to the establishment.
Edouard Manet was famous for challenging this emphasis on modernity from within the tradition of Art. His painting Olympia was scandalous when seen at the yearly Salon, the annual exhibition for any body who is anybody in Parisian society and where reputations are made (and unmade!). Olympia borrowed the well known artistic convention of the reclining Venus, and modernized it by making Venus somebody particular, someone that many people in the gallery can recognize, Victorine Meurent, a famous model and painter in her own right. To cap it off, Manet portrayed her with the disarming gaze of a woman in full control of her demeanor and position, and not the coy passivity often associated with naked women in art. Manet's women were often too much for the French public, especially the men, who are used to seeing such women, though not staring back at them in such a public arena! Manet was lifting the lid on the venerable tradition of the 'nude in art.'
Édouard Manet's Olympia, 1863
Just for fun......Here is Olympia and our daughter's dog Bentley..;
Manet's, Luncheon on the Grass ("Dejeuner sur l'Herbe," 1863)
Edouard Manet (1832-83)
During his time Manet considered himself to be a Realist artist and he classed his work as sincere. However, his radical painting style and modern subject matter highly influenced the work of the Impressionists, which has led to him being perceived as the father of Impressionism.
Artist of the Week..... Kehinde Wiley
Artist of the Week..... Kehinde Wiley
Kehinde Wiley is a Los Angeles native and New York-based visual artist. He is a contemporary painter who is a descendant of a long line of portraitists--including David, Titian, Ingres, and others--Wiley engages the signs and visual rhetoric of the heroic, powerful, and majestic in his representation of black and brown men found throughout the world. His subjects range from Hip Hop artist LL Cool J, ordinary urban men, and Michael Jackson to President Obama.
Please review these paintings and watch video below.
Look Familiar? Napoleon Leading the Army Over the Alps, Kehinde Wiley, 2005
How might Kehinde's work be seen as both Romantic and Neo-Classical? Is that possible?
Remember the meaning of Romanticism? "While the word “Romanticism” may call up visions of Cupid or declarations of eternal love, this period of art has far less to do with actual romance than it does with notions of passion, sensitivity, and imagination".
The Three Graces by Kehinde and Raphael.
Art History Timeline so far:
Be sure to look up and write down the characteristics of these movements.
· Prehistoric Art ~40,000–4,000 B.C.
· Ancient Art 30,000 B.C.–A.D. 400
Egypt 5000 BCE to 300 CE
Greece c. 1100-31 BCE
Rome c. 500 BCE - 500 CE
· Medieval 500– 1400
· Renaissance 1400–1600
· Mannerism 1527–1580
· Baroque 1600–1750
· Rococo 1699–1780
· Neoclassicism 1750–1850
· Romanticism 1780–1850
· Realism 1848–1900
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