MODERNISM 3: ROMANTICISM &

REALISM

Delacroix, Mephistopheles in Flight, 1828

REVIEW : CHARACTERISTICS OF MODERNITY

•Accelerating change in all aspects of life- lifestyle; transport; work.•Increase in technology•Enlightenment ideas – reason; progress; universality of mankind; democracy; knowledge; truth. Less emphasis on the Church.•Rise of middle classes•Development of emphasis on the individual; the genius.•

Fox Talbot: Nelson’s column under construction, 1844.

Last session we discussed Neoclassicism….

• Looked to the art of Classical Greece and Rome – this was seen as perfection in art

• An idealisation of the human form; of landscape… ‘better than’ reality.

• Ideas of balance; proportion; harmony.

David, Death of Socrates, 1787

Another example of Neoclassicism – use of classical mythology; grace; harmony; smooth, modelled forms.

Canova Psyche revived by Cupid’s kiss, marble 17973

But at the same time, there was another way of looking at the world, which became very influential: – ROMANTICISM.

Emphasis on emotion; drama; imagination. Power of nature to be unpredictable; extreme; terrifying or magnificent.Special mood of the changing of the light at end of day.

Gericault, Evening, landscape with an aqueduct, 1818

The poet Charles Baudelaire wrote in 1846, "Romanticism is precisely situated neither in choice of subject nor in exact truth, but in a way of feeling.” This concern with feeling and with the subjectivity of the artist is characteristic of Romantic art.

IMAGE HERE

Gericault, The Raft of the Medusa, 1819 Salon. Size of work: 4.9 m x 7.16m

Delacroix, Death of Sardanapolus 1827-7

Delacroix, like many artists of the time, was interested in other cultures and peoples. They were considered very exotic, usually with erotic undertones. Using the cultural frame, what can we say about this work?

Ok so let’s get real: RealismStarted half way through 19th century…desire to create (a form of) reality that was not idealised (as both Neoclassicism and Romanticism were, each in their own way.)Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) – not interested in Romantic imagination and fantasy - ‘show me an angel and I’ll paint one…’

Gustave Courbet, Burial at Ornans, 1849-50

Courbet’s concerns with ordinary people, describing their everyday life, was very influential on the Impressionists.

Courbet, The Stone-breakers, 1849-50

Tom Roberts, Shearing the Rams, 1899-90

Edouard Manet (1832-1883) - an important precursor to Impressionist art.

Manet, Luncheon on the Grass, 1863

This work was presented and refused at the Salon for 1863 – was shown at the Salon Des Refuses and the public were NOT impressed. The woman is naked rather than a ‘nude’…what do we mean by that?

Titian or Giorgioni, Fete Champetre, 1508/9

“Year one of the Modern movement”(with its roots in tradition)….

Manet, Olympia, 1863

Titian, Venus of Urbino 1538

The Manet image is of a prostitute: highly inappropriate subject matter! The Manet nude is not posing as a passive object for a viewer. She is sitting upright, addressing us. She is a human, rather than an object of desire or an Mythical/bibical figure.

Useful resourcesJohn McDonald essay on Manet: http://johnmcdonald.net.au/2011/manet/