§¥ЖβΘĿ!$ΜIn Paintings

Miss Lalipat Farmpiboon 4902640194 Miss Kornkarun Wattaninwong 4902640491 Miss Jeannie Sthavornmanee 4902640558Mr. Kuan Wen Lin 4902640533

TU 110 Integrated HumanitiesTuesday March 25, 2008

§¥ЖβΘĿ!$ΜIn Paintings

Miss Lalipat Farmpiboon 4902640194 Miss Kornkarun Wattaninwong 4902640491 Miss Jeannie Sthavornmanee 4902640558Mr. Kuan Wen Lin 4902640533

TU 110 Integrated HumanitiesTuesday March 25, 2008

Introduction

Originated in France (late 19th century)

Loosely defined movement in art… (darker sides of Romanticism)

“Art should show more absolute truths which could only be seen indirectly”

Mysterious, ambiguous interpretations of emotions using symbols

Romanticism Surrealism

Significant influence on expressionism, surrealism

Dreams

Imagination

Spirituality

Introduction

Source of

inspiration

Borrowed images from symbolist

writings

Biblical references & ancient myth

Traditional Approach

Common themes

Sexuality/Nudity Biblical events Angels Women/Motherhood Bright colors/graphics Dark spirits/ Death Gods/Goddess Ancient Myth

Characters

Symbolism: death, evil, mysterious

Well-known artists for this type of symbolisms

Jean Delville Arnold Bocklin

Symbolist painter, writer, occultist,

Belgian symbolist: 1867-1953

“Mysteriosa” Jean Deville (1892)(Portrait of Mrs. Stuart Merrill)

Aura: Enlighten, developed to another stage

Upward gaze

Hot colors: earthly fires of passion & sensuality

Upward triangle: perfect human knowledge,

achieved through magic

Mood: mystery, intrigue, magical, supernatural

Mediumistic character

Symbolism: death, evil, mysterious

Well-known artists for this type of symbolisms

He had 11 children and 5 of them died in infancy

Swiss-German symbolist: 1827-1901

Jean Delville Arnold Bocklin

Self-Portrait with Death playing the fiddle (1872)

Skeleton: death, dark spirit, mortality life?

Fiddle vs. Violin

Darker colors: mysterious, unexplained, secretive

Gaze: entranced, worried, stressful , determined

Art is what keeps him going.. (pleasant-feeling)

Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 4 in G Major

Island of the Dead (1883)

Cypress Tree

Title of the picture(tranquil place)

White-drape coffin on the boat

Immobility, withdrawal, disassociation

Contrasting colors

Symbolism and “Mythology”

• Biblical and Greek mythology continues• Symbolists

- mythology &dream >> visual language of soul- symbols >> personal, private, obscure, and ambiguous

Gustave Moreau (1826-1898) - symphonic poems - bright, jewel-like color, luxurious effect - woman >> destruction and chaos (mostly)

Jason and Medea

Butterflies

Broken spear and the beast

Clenched hand and Size of medea

Vial of magic, serpent, garland of flowers

• Title : Jason and medea (1865) oil on canvas

Oedipus and the sphinx

• Title : Oedipus and the sphinx (1864) Oil on canvas

• The position of sphinx : more prominent than Oedipus, full of details, latches on Oedipus’ s chest

• Oedipus’s immobile and expressionless : the man is too helpless to fight in the world full with terrible things

• The sphinx’s expression : anxious

•The cloudy bluish-gray sky : the fate of Oedipus

Salome dancing before Herod

• Salome dancing before Herod (1876) oil on canvas

The lotus

Bracelet with the open eye

• The act of dancing

The panther

Sexual Symbolism

• “God” designed sex, not man or society. • Sex is a Big Thing. • What it means is so big that we will never

exhaust it, only discover more facets of its diamond.

• The relationship between symbolism and sexuality was not always degrading to women.

• Sex was a source of liberation with the potential to unite humanity with God.

Félicien Rops

• (July 7, 1833 - August 23, 1898)• Belgian artist• Lover of the fantastic and the supernatural• Symbolic themes such as the devil,

skeletons, the prostitute, and death dominated his work

• Many demonstrated his belief that women dominated men and the devil dominated women....

• Woman is Satan’s accomplice, provokes the most extreme vices and torments in Man

"Pornokrates" (1896)

Pig with the golden tail

Men

Blindfolded

"Pornokrates" or«La Dame au cochon»  (1896)

• For some the pig with the golden tail represents the image of luxury and lucre steering the woman, whose only excuse is her blindness

• For others, it is the image of man, bestial and stupid, kept in check by the woman

• Pornokrates imply the advent to the art world of the contemporary woman which Rops glorified

• She is characterised by her arrogance, her composure and her ruthlessness

Franz Stuck• (February 24, 1863 - August 30, 1928)• German Symbolist/Art Nouveau painter,

sculptor, engraver, and architect

• His seductive female nudes, in the role of the femme fatale, are a prime example of popular Symbolist content

Femme Fatale

• “Deadly woman" • Alluring and seductive woman whose

charms ensnare(lure) her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire..

• Leading them into dangerous and deadly situations

• She is an archetypal character of literature and art

The Sin (1893)

The Sin (1893)• Femme Fatale dangers of the destructive

female temptation• The snake has a threatening open mouth, while

the woman looks provocatively at the viewer • The symbolic content implies the danger of

sexual desire as personified by the mysterious seductress

• The title invokes a reminder of the repression of sexual desire caused by religious mandate

Symbolism & Women

1. Femme Fatale versus Angelic woman– seductive woman whose charms spurs irresistible desire,

often leading them into compromising, dangerous and deadly situations

– Naïve, angel-like woman who portrays a sense of purity

2. Female biological life-cycle– Virginity– Motherhood

Angelic Woman

Maurice Denis – Annunciation (1912)

• Wings of angels is a symbol of Sainthood • Sunlight is the opposite meaning of darkness

Femme Fatale

Sphinx or leopard body:Represents a hybrid monster, sin, and cruelty

Scepter: Power and statusFernand Khnopff -The Caresses (1896)

Virgin girl as a symbol

Puvis de Chavannes - Hope

Nakedness: pure, simple, and nothing to disguise

Olive & White robe: Peace

Background:Ruin city walls in the midst of devastation after the Franco-Prussian war

Association of Virginity with:- Truth- Purity- Strength

Motherhood

Eugene Carriere – Tendresse

• Woman & child constitutes an equally prevalent, time honored theme• Individual identities are transformed to become symbols of emotional state of motherhood

Roses: Love that can defeat everything and unfaltering

Femme Fatale

• Tempting feminine figure• Poised in her dance holding a lotus flower• Powerfully mysterious & exotic

Gustave Moreau – Salome (1876)

• The use of attractive female imagery to suggest lust, death, and destruction

• Fertility goddess Diana of Ephesus