CASE STUDY 1 – FOUNDATIONS OF MODERNISMAll art is built on previous traditions and practices. Recently we’ve focussed on thegenre of Landscape, and you have already learnt quite a bit about art history and how to look at art. This will help you through your HSC Case Studies, as you will already be a little familiar with some ideas.

Foundations of Modernism helps explain how Modernism came about. Contemporary practices are built on these foundations. This Case Study will go over 5 sessions, up to the end of Term 1. (OMG)(!!!)

At the end of this Case Study, we’ll review what we’ve covered, and what you can take from it to help you with your Final Exam.

Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (French, 1780 – 1867) La Grande Odalisque, 1814, oil on canvas , 91 × 162 cm .

The Modern era (“Modernity”) could be said to have started around the 18th Century. This period is known as The Enlightenment era (aka The Age of Reason) Enlightenment ideas themselves have earlier roots in the Renaissance (14th century.)

Denis Diderot (French 1713 – 1784) Map of human muscles,Enclycopedia, mid 1700s

Some key Enlightenment ideas included:

• Faith in Science rather than superstition;

• Increase in scientific discoveries;

• The importance of truth and authenticity;

• The importance of the rational over the emotional;

• The idea of Democracy (people voting on how they want their country to be run, rather than a king or emperor telling them what to do.)

• Love of the sophisticated Classical cultures of Rome and Greece.

• Ideas about Democracy strengthened. • The movement for the abolition of Slavery

began during this period.• The Industrial Revolution started in England

at this time and spread to Europe.• The French Revolution occurred 1789. • The American Revolution occurred 1775.

There were changes in how people thought Society should be run…

Jacques-Louis David ( French,1748-1825) Death of Marat, 1793,oil on canvas,165 × 128 cm.

David, like Ingres, was a well-known Academy painter from this period. This image is ofMarat, a real, contemporary figure rather than an historic or mythical one, as was conventional (History painting.) This makes it somewhat Modern, like the Impressionist painters who would come later, in the second half of the 19th century.

Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (French, 1780 – 1867 )The Valpincon Bather, 1808, Oil on canvas ,146 cm × 97 cm

In the 18th and 19th centuries there was an important Art Institution called the Academy. There were Academies in France, England and Italy. These places taught art and exhibited art, and were regarded as the centre of knowledge about what art was Hot and what was Not. The Academies were very powerful during this period.

It was important for artists to have their work accepted and exhibited at the Academy’s huge annual Exhibition, called the Salon. These shows attracted thousands of people, and could make or break an artist’s career.

Ingres became an important person in the Academy. He respected tradition and looked to the art ofClassical Greece and Rome, which was the way theAcademy taught art.

The Salon, the annual Exhibition held by the Academy of Painting and Sculpture in Paris during 18th / 19th centuries. Note the way the paintings were hung, right up high on the walls. Generally we don’t see work hung in this way in today’s Galleries. If curators DO use this format, it’s referred to as a Salon hang.

Academy ideas…tradition, tradition, tradition.

• Respect for the “hierarchy of genres” (in order: History paintings ; then scenes of everyday life (called genre painting), portraits, landscapes and finally still-lifes.

• Drawing is more important than colour. Art should be all about human creation; the human mind. (Remember

linear perspective?) Nature just of itself was not satisfactory. Because a line is not found in nature, it is an artificially created thing, it is therefore superior to colour. A line is a human thing; a way of describing forms. A line was more spiritual and abstract and artful than concentrating on colours, which are found in nature normally.

Antonio CANOVA (1757 – 1822)Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss, marble –1787-1793; 1800-1803, 155 x 168 x 101 cm

• Emphasis on the study of the nude. This was seen as the highest virtue; and not merely to copy it, but to idealize it. This is to put your interpretation over the reality of what you see.

• Work in the workshop, not en plein air (as became popular in the second half of the 19th century with the Impressionists.)

• The artist’s hand (brush marks; chisel marks) is not to be noticed. The

illusion must remain intact. (Remember the ‘window on the world’ illusion that was created by linear and atmospheric perspective in the Renaissance.)

More Academy ideas…

Alexandre Cabanel (French, 1823–1889)The Birth of Venus, 1863,oil on canvas106 x 183 cm.

This Academic style, which looked to the art of Classical Greece and Rome, was called Neoclassical art. This ancient art had been dug up at archeological sites during the 18th century and inspired many people. David and Ingres were both Neoclassical artists. Neoclassical work was characterised by balance and a sense of dignity. It was based on ideas about virtue, and what was good about humanity. Figures were typically idealised. This contrasted with Romantic art.

Jacques-Louis David (French, 1748–1825) The Death of Socrates, 1787, oil on canvas , 129 x 196 cm.

We may recall that Romantic art was concerned with emotions. It often describedA world where the power, terror or beauty of Nature was present. Rather thanIdeas about the nobility of being human, it speaks to our feelings, fears and passions.

Jean-Louis André Théodore Géricault (French,1791 –1824) The Raft of the Medusa, 1818 -1819, oil on canvas, 491 × 716 cm