Rococo to Realism

The EnlightenmentEurope started the 18th century in a semi-feudal state

Economic and political power was centrally-basedAristocratic class held most of the power

By the end, industrial manufacturing would shift the economic paradigm

The EnlightenmentThe Enlightenment pushed thinkers, philosophes, to improve the institutions of mankind

Nature is both rational and goodObservation of natural laws could theoretically lead to happiness for mankind

Industrial RevolutionThe Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the socioeconomic, and cultural conditions of the times. It began in the United Kingdom , then subsequently spread throughout Europe, North America, and eventually the world.

Industrial RevolutionThe Industrial Revolution marks a major turning point in human history; almost every aspect of daily life was influenced in some way. Most notably, average income and population began to exhibit unprecedented sustained growth. In the two centuries following 1800, the world's average per capita income increased over 10-fold, while the world's population increased over 6-fold.

Denis Diderot

Jean-Jacques Rousseau• Tranquility is found also in dungeons;

but is that enough to make them desirable places to live in?

• To say that a man gives himself gratuitously, is to say what is absurd and inconceivable; such an act is null and illegitimate, from the mere fact that he who does it is out of his mind. To say the same of a whole people is to suppose a people of madmen; and madness creates no right.

• Even if each man could alienate himself, he could not alienate his children: they are born men and free; their liberty belongs to them, and no one but they has the right to dispose of it.

“Urban Scout”

Jean-Jacques Rousseau• I know that [civilized men] do nothing

but boast incessantly of the peace and repose they enjoy in their chains.... But when I see [barbarous man] sacrifice pleasures, repose, wealth, power, and life itself for the preservation of this sole good which is so disdained by those who have lost it; when I see animals born free and despising captivity break their heads against the bars of their prison; when I see multitudes of entirely naked savages scorn European voluptuousness and endure hunger, fire, the sword, and death to preserve only their independence, I feel it does not behoove slaves to reason about freedom.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau• In reality, the difference is, that the savage lives

within himself while social man lives outside himself and can only live in the opinion of others, so that he seems to receive the feeling of his own existence only from the judgement of others concerning him. It is not to my present purpose to insist on the indifference to good and evil which arises from this disposition, in spite of our many fine works on morality, or to show how, everything being reduced to appearances, there is but art and mummery in even honour, friendship, virtue, and often vice itself, of which we at length learn the secret of boasting; to show, in short, how abject we are, and never daring to ask ourselves in the midst of so much philosophy, benevolence, politeness, and of such sublime codes of morality, we have nothing to show for ourselves but a frivolous and deceitful appearance, honour without virtue, reason without wisdom, and pleasure without happiness.

The Rococo - 1700-1750

• “Rococo” derived from rocaille, (pebble or shell) and barocco. Motifs in Rococo art resemble ornate shell or pebble work popular in gardens.

• Refined, fanciful, and often playful style fashionable in France at turn of century, spread thru Europe in 18th century

• Pastel colors, delicately curving forms, dainty figures, light hearted

• Reaction against rigidity and solemnity of 17th century court

The Swing, Fragonard, 1766

RococoThough Rococo originated in the purely decorative arts, the style showed clearly in painting. These painters used delicate colors and curving forms, decorating their canvases with cherubs and myths of love. Portraiture was also popular among Rococo painters. Some works show a sort of naughtiness or impurity in the behavior of their subjects, showing the historical trend of departing away from the Baroque's church/state orientation. Landscapes were pastoral and often depicted the leisurely outings of aristocratic couples.

37

GERMAIN BOFFRAND, Salon de la Princesse, with painting by CHARLES-JOSEPH NATOIRE

and sculpture by J. B. LEMOINE, Hôtel de Soubise, Paris, France, 1737–1740.

38

FRANÇOIS DE CUVILLIÉS, Hall of Mirrors, the Amalienburg, Nymphenburg Palace park, Munich, Germany, early 18th century.

39

ANTOINE WATTEAU, L’Indifférent, ca. 1716.

41ANTOINE WATTEAU, Return from Cythera, 1717.

44

JEAN-HONORÉ FRAGONARD, The Swing, 1766.

45

FRANÇOIS BOUCHER, Cupid a Captive, 1754.

The Drunken Cobbler, Jean-Baptiste Greuze. Oil on canvas, 1785.

“The Natural” : morality painting expressing real sentiment and honest virtue.

Inspired by the writing of Rousseau and Diderot, father of modern art criticism-wrote that art’s proper function was to improve virtue and purify manners… criticized rococo “immoral” art…

55JEAN-BAPTISTE GREUZE, Village Bride, 1761.

57WILLIAM HOGARTH, Breakfast Scene, from Marriage à la Mode, ca. 1745.

Light = Scientific discovery

60JOSEPH WRIGHT OF DERBY, A Philosopher Giving a Lecture at the Orrery, ca. 1763–1765.

61

JEAN-BAPTISTE-SIMÉON CHARDIN, Saying Grace, 1740.

63

BENJAMIN WEST, Death of General Wolfe, 1771.

Italy and Classical Revival

• The Grand Tour – the completion of an aristocratic education was a tour of the major cultural sites of Europe

• Paris, Venice, Florence, Naples, and Rome

• This heavily inspires the growth of Neoclassicism during the Enlightenment

• Pleased the senses and taught moral lessons

• Was a reaction to frivolity of Rococo• Pompeii and Herculaneum

discovered in 1738

ANTONIO CANALETTO, Riva degli Schiavoni, Venice, ca. 1735-1740. 65

veduta (Italian for "view"; plural vedute) is a highly detailed, usually large-scale painting of a cityscape or some other vista.

The History of Ancient Art

• Published by Johann Joachim Winckelmann

• “A noble simplicity and calm grandeur…”

• Greek art is hailed for its beauty and moral character– Response to Rococo frivolity

• Became the focus and agenda for Neoclassical art

1789French Revolution Causes

• Enlightenment (knowledge & observation)

• Economic crisis• Clash between the Third Estate

and the First and Second Estates– 3rd = peasants, workers,

bourgeoisie– 1st & 2nd = clergy & nobility

• Fought over issue of representation in the legislative body, the Estates-General– Convened to discuss taxation

Jacques Louis David

• Started as a Rococo painter (relative of Boucher)

• Spent time in Italy and turned to academic painting– Declared Rococo “artificial

taste”– Exalted classical art as the

imitation of nature in the most beautiful and perfect form

70JACQUES-LOUIS DAVID, Oath of the Horatii, 1784.

Neoclassicism

• A reaction against both the Baroque and Rococo styles, and as a desire to return to the perceived "purity" of the arts of Rome, the more vague perception ("ideal") of Ancient Greek arts (where almost no western artist had actually been) and, to a lesser extent, 16th century Renaissance Classicism.

• Stimulated by widespread interest and enthusiasm among the literati for the findings at archaeological excavations at Herculaneum and Pompeii and by the interpretative writings of J. J. Winckelmann, especially his History of Ancient Art (1764).

Neoclassical Art Training• Tended to continue to dominate

academies

• Teachers stressed the study of ancient sculpture and great artists from the past – Raphael, Michelangelo

• Art was for the universal and the beautiful, meant to shape public thinking towards virtue and taste

• Art was for cultural indoctrination

• Paris was the center of the cultural world

• Ecole des Beaux-Arts renowned academy

• Ateliers – private studios offering instruction

• Paris Salon was preeminent place to show art– Controlled by juries that stressed

conservative views of art

• Gradually alternatives begin to appear to meet needs for different forms of art (see Impressionists)

74

JACQUES-LOUIS DAVID, The Death of Marat, 1793.

1”.

• Different variations on great slain leaders of the time

• Grandiose vs. sparse

Jacques Louis David and Napoleon• David’s political agenda was highly

successful through the influence of his art

• Was imprisoned in 1794 after supporting a regime which fell out of favor

• Pulled back from center stage, painted portraits and classical events

• Napoleon, upon being crowned emperor in 1804, sought David’s artistic abilities

• David enthusiastically accepted, depicted Napoleon as an invincible hero

Napoleon and Art

• Napoleon used art to help push his ambitious agenda

• Arc de Triomphe was based on Arch of Titus

• His political order combined with the art ushered in the Romantic era of art

• Created a model for how modern politicians and leaders could use the power of art and images for political means.

Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres

• Spokesman for the traditional style of painting

• Intellect and draftsmanship– Never let the brushstroke

show• His intricate line work

influenced Picasso, Matisse, and Degas

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Large Odalisque

“Odalisque”

• Reclining female nude• Turkish word for “harem girl”• Found throughout Western art

• Mannerist influence– Small head, elongated head– Languid pose– Cool colors

• David• Ingres

Edmund Burke

• 18th c. English politician and philosopher – wrote A Philosophical Enquiry

into the Origins of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful

• Sublime = feelings of awe mixed with terror

• The most intense human emotions are evoked by pain or fear and that when these emotions are distanced they can be thrilling

RomanticismLiterary, artistic, and philosophical movement that began in Europe in the 18th century and lasted roughly until the mid-19th century. In its intense focus on the individual consciousness, it was both a continuation of and a reaction against the Enlightenment. Romanticism emphasized the individual, the subjective, the irrational, the imaginative, the personal, the spontaneous, the emotional, the visionary, and the transcendental.

RomanticismAmong its attitudes were a deepened appreciation of the beauties of nature; a general exaltation of emotion over reason and of the senses over intellect; a turning in upon the self and a heightened examination of human personality; a preoccupation with the genius, the hero, and the exceptional figure; a new view of the artist as a supremely individual creator; an emphasis on imagination as a gateway to transcendent experience and spiritual truth; a consuming interest in folk culture, national and ethnic cultural origins, and the medieval era; and a predilection for the exotic, the remote, the mysterious, the weird, the occult, the monstrous, the diseased, and even the satanic.

Romanticism:Emerged from a desire to be freeDesire for freedom in: politics; feelings; thought; action; worship; speech; tasteFreedom is the right and property of all.Path to freedom was through imagination, not reasonFreedom functioned through feeling not accepted wisdomOriginated among German literary groups (ironically)

Neoclassicism v. RomanticismReasons FeelingsCalculation IntuitionObjective Nature Subjective emotionsInterest in Classical Interest in Medieval art and literature and sublime

Eugène Delacroix

• French Romantic artist regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic school. Delacroix's use of expressive brushstrokes and his study of the optical effects of color profoundly shaped the work of the Impressionists, while his passion for the exotic inspired the symbolists.

Neoclassicism vs. Romanticism

Neoclassicism• Values: Order• Tone: Rational, calm• Subjects: Greek and Roman

history, myth• Technique: Stressed use of

lines, no trace of brushstrokes

• Role: Morally uplifting, inspiring

• Key Artist: David

Romanticism• Values: Emotion, imagination• Tone: Spontaneous• Subjects: Legends, exotic,

nature, violence• Technique: Quick

brushstrokes, chiaroscuro, tenebrism

• Genre: Heroic struggle, landscape, wild animals

• Key Artists: Gericault, Delacroix

Ingres vs. Delacroix

Ingres• Brushstrokes should be as

smooth “as the skin of an onion”

• Intellect and craftsmanship• Conservative• Technical skill• Strong, warm colors were

“antihistorical”

Delacroix• “The real man is the savage”• “Passionately in love with

passion”• Exotic images charged with

violence• Lush colors, swirling curves• Animals and human figures

swirling, knotted in combat

Delacroix in Morocco

• Visit to Morocco changed his life/subject matter, color expression

• Renewed his conviction that beauty exists in the fierceness of nature, especially animals

Eugene Delacroix, THE DEATH OF SARDANAPALUS, 1827.

Théodore Géricault

THÉODORE GÉRICAULT, Raft of the Medusa, 1818–1819.

Theodore Gericault, Insane Woman, 1822-1823, Oil on Canvas

Henry Fuseli, THE NIGHTMARE, 1802.

Henry Fuseli, THE SHEPHERDS DREAM, 1793.

William Blake, God Creating the Universe (Ancient of Days), Frontispiece of Europe: A Prophecy, 1794, metal relief etching, hand colored with watercolor and gouache.

William Blake, PITY.

Francisco de Goya

• Defines Spanish Romantic movement

• Started off painting cartoons for Rococo tapestries

• French Revolution (1789) inspired his art

• Political enlightenment and the freedom of the individual

• Disillusionment sets in as reforms in France were short-lived

EUGÈNE DELACROIX, Liberty Leading the People, 1830. Oil on canvas, approx. 8’ 6” x 10’ 8”. Louvre, Paris.

Francisco Goya, Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters, from Los Caprichos (The Caprices) Plate 43, 1798, etching and aquatint.

Francisco Goya, THE GREAT GOAT, 1797.

Francisco Goya, SATURN DEVOURING HIS SON, 1819-23.

Francisco Goya, DUEL WITH CUDGELS, 1820-23.

Romantic Landscapes

• Rather than just describing the scene, Romantic artists colored it by mood and used nature as allegory

• Artists comment on spiritual, moral, historical, or philosophical issues– Allows the artist to

“naturalize” conditions – make them appear normal, acceptable, or inevitable

Caspar David Friedrich, TWO MEN BY THE SEA.

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John Martin, MANFRED AND THE ALPINE WITCH, 1837.

The Fighting Téméaire, 1838

Sun setting on the past – last days of the sailboat, historical changes

Orientalism• European art patrons wanted

landscapes of more exotic, unfamiliar places

• The lands of the east tended to capture the imagination of Western Europeans

• Romantic fascination with foreign culture

• Oriental subjects engaged both Romantic and Neoclassical artists

• Stressed sex and violence• Who is depicting whom?