Class 15

In class, we discussed the Enlightenment meaning that the idea of all knowledge springing forth from religion was being questioned and knowledge was being founded in reason.  The prominent figures of Issac Newton and John Lock. The idea of seeing as believing and knowing is experiencing came to be. Logic and Morality gained great importance. Neoclassicism is the first ISM to come about and is based on the Grand Tour which was the final stage of education like studying abroad. The Nobel simplicity and calm grandeur of classic art were appealing and it inspired much architecture of the time as the Wigs came to power they embraced neoclassicism as a form of showing a connection to democracy as they were a more democratic political party in England’s parliament. The Pantheon is seen inspiring many buildings as an example of this. Taking a design from a book that documents classical artwork, a factory man makes Wedgwood (blue and white relief vases) Paintings start to adopt a strong composition saying a lot but not focusing on emotion. 

Class 14 

In class we discussed the new idea of the Hotel particulier… essentially a townhouse with the idea of private living in mind. The idea of this building idea is in opposition to something like the Palace of Versailles where the entire construction is created for the purpose of bringing people too it and showing it off. 

The exterior of these townhouses had no extreme facade. The furniture in the rooms was smaller and more individual, easier to move around to be able to re arrange the set up of a room. With smaller rooms came light furnishings on the walls as to not overpower the space. C schools and arabesque adornment are used in these rooms. The name Rococo comes from rock gardens as many natural forms inspire the frilly natural adornment style.  In the 1700’s Rubenists are on top as they are color and emotion people which is flourishing in paintings. As posed to Poussinists who leaned into line and intellect within art. As art is displayed more artists start using titles as they are hog in Salon style(main pieces of art completely covering the wall. Rococo art has prominent pastel colors. There are more paintings made for private consumption as well to accompany smaller private rooms. More intimate things like a man getting a look under a woman’s dress. 

In class on Wednesday, we began our discussion of neoclassicism. As we discussed in the previous class, the neoclassicism movement coincided with the publication of the Encyclopédie, a multivolume reference book that represents the ideals of the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was a resurgence in the interest of logic and morality and a prioritization of knowledge. These new ideas resulted in new art as well as a shift towards art movements rather than periods of stylistic trends that defined art in the previous centuries. We learned that a movement is classified by intentional choices artists make somewhat collaboratively.

Neoclassicism was the first of the shifts towards movements rather than periods of style. During this period, there was a revival of interest in classical art and ideals partially field by The Grand Tour where wealthy young men would travel Europe as the last stage of their education. As there was an interest in antiquity, students would often travel to Italy on the Grand Tour which influenced art and style in Western Europe.

For example, we looked at Chiswick House which William Kent designed for Lord Burlington. Lord Burlington had gone on the Grand Tour and returned to England with inspiration from Roman architecture. He wanted to model the house after Renaissance buildings he saw abroad which were ultimately inspired by antiquity. We compared the Chiswick House to Andrea Palladio’s Villa Rotunda, as the Chiswick House is almost identical to Palladio’s 16th-century work. During the Renaissance, Palladio drew inspiration for his Villa Rotunda from the Pantheon and therefore both the Villa Rotunda and the Chiswick House are drawing from antiquity.

In addition to modeling art and architecture directly off Renaissance and Classical works, the Neoclassicism movement involved an interest in revisiting classical ideals. David’s Oath of the Horatii is a scene from French classical theater. The scene shows the three Horatii brothers who have been chosen to represent the Romans in their war against the Albans. However while the three brothers are taking their oath to fight, three women in the corner are grieving their inevitable loss, as one of the Horatii brothers is married to an Alban woman. The work ultimately is about morality which is a very neoclassical idea.

In today’s class, we spent time in the museum looking at paintings and artifacts that we could use for our take-home exam. All of the items were from the Baroque period, though I think some were better representations than others. Jacques Courtois Bourguignon’s paintings stuck out to me as being good representations of the period. Particually his Battle Scene (with riderless horse) stuck out to me and is the painting that I chose for part 1 of the exam.

I generally enjoyed our time in the museum, where we got to see close-up examples of what we had been studying over the past few weeks.

In today’s remote class we covered the last -ism, Romanticism. Romanticism was a movement that dominated the West. The dramatic change in art was a result from the French revolution, Napoleonic wars and beginning of industrialization and urbanization. The conflict and uproar from the wars caused writers and artists to put a sense of emotion into their writings and paintings. Emotions of violence, suffering, war, chaos were exemplified into an “ideal beauty”. The creations produced in the Romanticism movement were not only exotic but extreme and terrorizing.

Grande Odalisque an exotic painting, created by Jean-Auguste- Dominique Ingres is a painting of a Turkish women. The elongated neck, is a tie to the mannerist style along with the small feet and the scarf wrapped around the women’s face. This painting was made to make viewers dream rather than think.

On the other hand we looked at a painting with a different type of setting. “The Raft of Medusa” created by Theodore Géricault. The suffering, and gruesome portrait of all the men trying to stay afloat on the sunken ship is the other style of romantic art. It allows the viewer to feel for the people portrayed rather than depict symbols out of it.

In today’s virtual class, we finished discussing some artworks from the Neoclassical period, and then transitioned into the Romanticism era. This transition consisted of a shift in emphasis from reason to feeling, and from objective nature to subjective emotion. The shift to Romanticism was in large part a widespread reaction against the spread of industrialism. It was also a criticism against the aristocratic social and political norms, with a call for more attention toward nature. Etienne-Louis Boullee’s Project for a Tomb of Isaac Newton represented this shift in artistic values. This tomb represented a shift to abstract and emotion in artworks.

The Romanticism era was defined largely by contemporary times. Paintings were made based on current events, as opposed to ancient Greek and Roman scenes portrayed throughout the Neoclassicism era. Paintings were displayed in large part to persuade people to believe something, and were used as propaganda throughout European society. Many of the works were influenced by Napoleon, the powerful ruler of France at the time. Ingres’ “Grande Odalisque” is a good example of this period. The painting’s goal is to have viewers fantasize about the exotic places being shown. It’s very light-hearted and has a sense of dreaminess, which was representative of the Romanticism era.

The ‘exotic’, style-based, unearthly spirit of Romanticism was discussed in this lecture through examining works by contemporary artists of this era, as well as its relationship with previous periods’ artistic styles. For example, Ingres’ Grande Odalisque were put into comparison with Titian’s nude paintings, paralleling the idealistic and erotic depiction of the female body, which evoke emotional response from its viewer. With the underlying unfamiliar subject of ‘woman in a Turkish harem’, we could also start to sense the beginning of an interest towards the strange and, again, exotic, perhaps rooted from the traveling practice of the previous era. 

Even historical subjects are treated differently in this period, as artists seem to put more and more interest into expressing and invoking emotions, rather than stoically presenting an event in a matter-of-fact and/or moralizing manner, which artists of the Neoclassicism movement probably would have done. In Géricault’s Charging Chasseur or Gros’s Napoleon at Jaffa, we sense an otherworldly, somewhat exaggerated depiction of reality, with the artists, intentional or not, elongating or composing the figures in unnatural ways, stark contrast of light which intensify the scene. In Gros’s case, this painting also had underlying messages to it: The artist, and in relation, the commissioner, was comparing/ or equating Napoleon, to the king of France, with him having the ability to dispel an illness just by touch.Perhaps the most important, and impressive piece of art made during this era for me was Géricault’s The Raft of Medusa. Gros managed to capture the chaotic, somewhat theatrical atmosphere of the moment when the raft’s passengers realize that there is a (albeit very slim) chance for them to be saved, with the mixture of despair and unbridling hope. With the knowledge that this is done through extensive research with the real survivors of the incident, as well as the fact that Gros was an abolitionist, we could see the intentionality behind the initial pile of mesmerizing chaos of the world depicted under his brush.

In today’s lecture (virtual), we wrapped up the discussion of Neoclassicism with a discussion of The Death of Marat before shifting to a discussion of Romanticism. This period showed a very clear shift in ideals from Neoclassicism, focusing more on capturing the intensity of the art than showing a moral message. This is clear in many of the works discussed in the lecture, like Géricault’s Charging Chasseur and The Raft of the Medusa. This painting clearly emulates this period, making a social commentary while also showing an incredibly intense scene that greatly impacts the viewer of the art.

Today we began our discussion of Neoclassicism, starting by touching on the Grand Tour, a common trend for the period. We spent the majority of the time today discussing various works of architecture, including the very classical-looking Chiswick House, looking at its striking comparison to the Pantheon in Rome with its very similar dome look. I was very interested in the discussion of Jefferson’s work at the University of Virginia, as I have previously visited there and was very interested in the architecture. Finally, we closed with a discussion of a work by Jacques-Louis David, The Oath of the Horatii. The shapes that David used in his painting were very interesting to examine, and the painting draws on many themes from previous Classical works.

In this lecture, we finished up Neoclassicism and discussed Romanticism. Romanticism saw a shift from the rationality of Neoclassicism to more emotional and raw art pieces. Unlike Neoclassicism, which often taught the viewer a lesson on morality through the piece, Romanticism focused more on capturing the viewer’s attention through the intensity of the art. In some of the pieces we looked at, the influence of Rococo was evident. For example, the painterly blend used by John Constable in Cloud Study: Stormy Sunset, is very reminiscent of the Rococo period.