The Nineteenth century: Birth of the “-isms”

Introduction

• A time of upheaval for the Western civilization• The church lost its grip; monarchies toppled; new

democracies suffered growing pains• Tradition lost its luster; the future was up for grabs• Industrialization and urbanization made cities

bulge with masses of dissatisfied poor• The fast pace of scientific progress and the ills of

unrestrained capitalism caused more confusion

In art• The art world of the 1800s seethed with factions• No dominating style• Movements and counter-movements• “Isms” – trends in art• Major trends:

NeoclassicismRomanticismRealismImpressionism, Post-Impressionism, Art Nouveau, Symbolism (end of the century)

Neoclassicism (1780-1820): Roman fever• Values• Tone• Subjects

• Technique

• Role of art

• Founder

• Order, solemnity• Calm, rational• Greek and Roman

history, mythology• Stressed drawing with

lines, not color; no trace of brushstrokes

• Morally uplifting; inspirational

• David

Neoclassicism in music: Igor Stravinsky(1882-1971) Symphony in C - Allegretto

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTkSH0KG4sg

Neoclassicism• Archeology-mania swept Europe (excavations of Pompeii and

Herculaneum offered the first glimpse of well-preserved ancient art) – clones of Greek and Roman temples multiplied from Russia to America (Mona Lisa: 68)

• Reflected “the glory that was Greece,/ And the grandeur that was Rome.” (E. Poe)

• A reaction against the ornate Rococo style• Preached the gospel of reason and logic (the 18th century = the

Age of Enlightenment)• Orderliness and “ennobling” virtues of Art• Emphasis on moral virtues, patriotism, not pleasures• The trend setter – Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825)

Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825)

• A French painter and democrat• Imitated Greek and Roman art to inspire the new French

republic• Style:

Severe, precisely drawn figuresThe foreground without the illusion of death, as in Roman relief sculptureSmooth brushworkSimple composition to avoid Rococo melodramaBackgrounds generally include Roman touches such as arches and columnsSymmetry and straight lines replaced irregular curves

David’s art

• Inspired by his trip to Rome• Breakthrough vision (“I want to work in a

pure Greek style.”)• Avidly drew hands, eyes, ears, and feet from

every antique sculpture he encountered

David, “Death of Marat”, 1793

David, “Oath of the Horatii”, 1784

Auguste Dominique Ingrès (1798-1867),“La Grande Odalisque”, 1814

Ingrès, “Portrait of the Princesse de Broglie”, 1853

Romanticism (1800-1850)• “Feeling is all!” (Goethe)• Rebelling against the Neoclassic period’s Age of Reason• The Age of Sensibility (choice of emotion and intuition over

rational objectivity)• Interest in Medieval tales called romances• “Gothic horror” stories combining the elements of the

macabre and occult in vogue • The cult of nature worship (Turner and Constable’s

landscape; natural scenes given heroic overtones: both man and nature were seen as touched buy the supernatural)

E. Poe, “The Raven” (1845) American Late Romanticism

STYLISTIC POETIC DEVICES• Alliteration - the repetition of a

consonant sound, usually at the beginning of words

• Assonance – the repetition of a vowel sound, usually within words

• Internal rhyme – rhyming of words within a line of poetry, not just at the end of lines

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore--While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door."'Tis some visiter," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door--Only this and nothing more."

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.Eagerly I wished the morrow;--vainly I had sought to borrowFrom my books surcease of sorrow--sorrow for the lost Lenore--For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore--Nameless here for evermore.

And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtainThrilled me--filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating"'Tis some visiter entreating entrance at my chamber door--Some late visiter entreating entrance at my chamber door;This it is and nothing more."

Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,"Sir," said I, "or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,That I scarce was sure I heard you"--here I opened wide the door--Darkness there and nothing more.

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before;But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, "Lenore?"This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, "Lenore!"--Merely this and nothing more.

Back into the chamber turning, all my sour within me burning,Soon again I heard a tapping something louder than before."Surely," said I, "surely that is something at my window lattice;Let me see, then, what there at is and this mystery explore--Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore;--'Tis the wind and nothing more.

Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore.Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he,But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door--Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door--Perched, and sat, and nothing more.

Then the ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,"Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou," I said, "art sure no craven,Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the Nightly shore--Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!"Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,Though its answer little meaning--little relevancy bore;For we cannot help agreeing that no living human beingEver yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door--Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,With such name as "Nevermore."

But the Raven, sitting lonely on that placid bust, spoke onlyThat one word, as if its soul in that one word he did outpourNothing farther then he uttered; not a feather then he fluttered--Till I scarcely more than muttered: "Other friends have flown before--On the morrow he will leave me, as my Hopes have flown before."Then the bird said "Nevermore."

Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,"Doubtless," said I, "what it utters is its only stock and store,Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful DisasterFollowed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore--Till the dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden boreOf 'Never--nevermore.'"

But the Raven still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling,Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird and bust and door;Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linkingFancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore--What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yoreMeant in croaking "Nevermore."

This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressingTo the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core;This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease recliningOn the cushion's velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o'er,But whose velvet violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o'erShe shall press, ah, nevermore!

Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censerSwung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor."Wretch," I cried, "thy God hath lent thee--by these angels he hath sent theeRespite--respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore!Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!"Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil!--prophet still, if bird or devil!--Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,Desolate, yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted--On this home by Horror haunted--tell me truly, I implore--Is there--is there balm in Gilead?--tell me--tell me, I implore!"Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil!--prophet still, if bird or devil!By that Heaven that bends above us--by that God we both adore--Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore--Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore."Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

"Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!" I shrieked, upstarting--"Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul has spoken!Leave my loneliness unbroken!--quit the bust above my door!Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!"Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sittingOn the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreamingAnd the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadows on the floor;And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floorShall be lifted--nevermore!

Romanticism: the Power of Passion• Values: intuition, emotion, imagination• Inspiration: Medieval and Baroque eras; Middle and

Far East• Tone: subjective, spontaneous, nonconformist• Color: unrestrained; deep, rich shades• Subjects: legends, exotica, nature, violence• Genres: narratives of heroic struggle, landscapes, wild

animals• Technique: quick brushstrokes, strong light-and-shade

contrasts• Composition: use of diagonal

Romanticism in music:Ludwig van Beethoven, “Moonlight Sonata”, 1801

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQVeaIHWWck (6.5 minutes)

Niccolo Paganini Paganini's Caprice no.24 performed by Alexander Markov:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZ307sM0t-0 (5.09 minutes)

Frederic ChopinNocturne no. 20 C-sharp minor

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHeQbnCbOOE (3.24 minutes)

French RomanticismThéodore Géricault (1791-1824), “The Raft of the Medusa”, 1818-19

E. Delacroix • Leader of the Romantic movement after Géricault’s

death• Believed that the artist should feel the agony of creation and

be consumed by the flame of genius (like Frederic Chopin, his composer friend)

• Delacroix was “passionately in love with passion”(Baudelaire)• Visit to Morocco in 1832 changed his life : he infiltrated a

harem and made a hundred sketches (was fascinated by the colorful costumes and characters)

• For the next 30 years, he stuck to lush colors, swirling curves, and animals like lions, tigers, and horses knotted in combat.

Delacroix, “Death of Sardanapalus”, 1827 (Mona Lisa: 77)

Discuss the differencesIngres, “Paganini”, 1819

Delacroix, “Paganini”, 1832

English RomanticismConstable (1776-1837), The Hay Wain”, 1821

The Lake District poetsWilliam Wordsworth (1770-1850)

Other Romantic poets

Turner (1775-1851), “Crossing the Brook”, 1815

American RomanticismCole, “The Oxbow (The Connecticut River near Northampton)”, 1836

Realism• Dominated in the second half of the century• With the first grindings of the Machine Age,

Neoclassicism’s anachronisms and Romanticism’s escapism were of no match for Realism’s hard edge.

• The “new” Realism insisted on precise imitation of visual perceptions without alteration

• Subjects: peasants and the urban working class• Realism brought a sense of muted sobriety to art

Daumier, “The Third-Class Carriage”, c. 1862

Art Nouveau (between1890 and WWI)

• Ornamental style opposite to the sterility of the Industrial Age

• Relied on twining, flowering forms to counter the unaesthetic look of machine-made products

Aubrey Beardsley (1872-98), “Salome”, 1892

Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933), “Grape Vine”, 1905

Birth of Photography• First picture made by French chemist Niépce

(1826)• The process of photography further improved

Talbot (1839)• Further advances in the domain (Daguerre,

1851)• Instant photography (1858)

Types of popular photography

• Travel photography• War photography• Documentary photography• Portrait photography• Art photography

Travel photographyO’Sullivan, “Canyon de Chelly, Arizona,” 1867

War photographyBrady, “Ambulance Wagons and Drivers at Harewood

Hospital,” 1863

Documentary photographyRiis, “Street Arabs in the Area of Mulberry Street,” c. 1889

Portrait photographyNadar, “Sarah Bernhardt,” 1859

Art photographyMargaret Cameron,

“Call, I follow; I follow; let me die,” c. 1867

Impressionism (1880-1886)• Radically departed from tradition rejecting Renaissance

perspective, balanced composition, idealized figures, and chiaroscuro

• Instead, the Impressionists represented immediate visual sensations through color and light

• Their main goal was to present an “impression”, or the initial sensory perceptions recorded by an artist in a brief glimpse

• They discovered the changeability of color perception due to the effects of light, reflection, or weather

• Short, choppy brushstrokes to portray fleeting qualities of light (these brightly colored spots formed a mosaic of irregular daubs throbbing with energy like the pulsebeat of life or the shimmer of light on water)

Impressionism: names to rememeber

• Manet• Monet• Renoir• Degas

How to tell them apart?

Manet, “Bar at the Folies-Bergère”, 1882

Manet, “Bar at the Folies-Bergère”, 1882

Subjects: updated Old Masters themes, contemporary scenes with hard edge

Colors: dark patches against light; used black as accent; early: somber; late: colorful

Style: simplified forms with minimal modeling, flat color patches outlined in black

Advice: not much of a theorist but did say artist “simply seeks to be himself and no one else”

Monet, “Rouen Cathedral,” 1892-94

Monet, “Rouen Cathedral,” 1892-94Subjects: landscapes, waterfront scenes,

series on field of poppies, cliffs, haystacks, poplars, Rouen Cathedral; late work: near-abstract water lilies

Colors: sunny hues, pure primary colors dabbed side by side

Style: dissolved form of subject into light and atmosphere, soft edges, classic Impressionist look

Advice: “try to forget what objects you have before you, a tree, a house, a field or whatever. Merely think, here is a little square of blue, here an oblong of pink, here a streak of yellow, and paint it just as it looks to you.”

Renoir, “Le Moulin de la Galette,” 1876

Renoir, “Le Moulin de la Galette,” 1876

Subjects: café society, children, flowers; voluptuous, peach-skinned female nudes

Colors: rich reds, primary colors, detested black- used blue instead

Style: early: quick brushstrokes, blurred figures blended into hazy background; late: more Classical style, solidly formed nudes

Advice: “Paint with joy, with the same joy that you would make love to a woman.”

Degas, “Prima Ballerina,” c. 1876

Degas, “Prima Ballerina,” c. 1876

Subjects: pastel portraits of human figure in stop-action pose; ballerinas, horse races, café society, laundresses, circus; late work: nudes bathing

Colors: gaudy hues side by side for vibrancy; early: soft pastel; late: broad smears of acid-colored pastels

Style: offbeat angels with figures cropped at edge of canvas, asymmetrical composition with void at center

Advice: “Even working from nature, one has to compose.”

Late Romanticism in music:Camille St. Saens (1835-1921), “The Swan,” 1886

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWtu5os9lFc

Impressionismhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQVUudfXIdoAccessed on February 4, 2013

Post-Impressionism (1880-1905)

• A French phenomenon• A reaction to Impressionism• Post-Impressionists wanted art to be more

substantial, not dedicated wholly to capturing a passing moment, which often resulted in paintings that seemed slapdash and unplanned

• Their response to this problem split the group in two camps

The two camps

Seurat and Cézanne

• Concentrated on formal, near- scientific design:

Cézanne (color planes)Seurat (his dot theory)

Gauguin, van Gogh, Lautrec

• Emphasized expressing their emotions and sensations through color and light

How to tell them apart?

Seurat vs. Cézanne

Seurat, “A Sunday on La Grande Jatte,” 1884-86Subjects: leisure activities

in ParisSignature: bright colors in

tiny dots (pointillism)Moods: scientific, logicalConcerns: system of optical

blending in eye of beholder

Hallmarks: grainy surface, stylized figures in halo of light (“irradiation”); flat; precise design

Cézanne, “Large Bathers,” 1906

Subjects: still lifes with fruit, landscapes

Signature: Proto-Cubist stress on geometric structure

Moods: analytical, stableConcerns: underlying

permanent orderHallmarks: balanced design;

flat, squarish patches of color in graduated tones; simple geometric shapes

Gauguin vs. Van Gogh

Gauguin, “Vision after the Sermon, or Jacob Wrestling with an Angel,” 1888

Subjects: Tahiti natives, peasants in Brittany

Signature: exotic primitivism

Moods: symbolic, mysterious

Concerns: brilliant color to express emotion

Hallmarks: simplified forms in unnatural colors, strong outlines in rhythmic patterns

Gauguin, “La Orana Maria,” 1892

Van Gogh, “Self-Portrait with a Straw Hat,” 1887

Subjects: self-portraits, flowers, landscapes, still lifes

Signature: agitated, swirling brushstrokes

Moods: passionate, vibrantConcerns: emotional reaction to

subject through color, brushwork

Hallmarks: this impasto in choppy strokes or wavy ribbons; simple forms in pure, bright colors; curling rhythms suggesting movement

Van Gogh, “The Starry Night,” 1889

Watch a slide show:Starry Night: Don McLeanhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsxfvwuCqxo&feature=fvwrel

The Power of Art - Van Gogh (53 minutes)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LG1zGY7lE1U&feature=related

Lautrec, “At the Moulin Rouge,” 1892

Subjects: cabaret nightlifeSignature: first art posters

used for publicityMoods: decadent, hecticConcerns: Fin-de-siècle

malaiseHallmarks: sketchy drawing,

empty center, and cutoff figures at edges; eerie, indoor lighting and off-key colors, caricatures, masklike features

Synthesishttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQLwVtb8kDo (8.5 minutes)

References• Adventures in English Literature. New York:

Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc. 1973. Print• Prentice Hall Literature The English Tradition.

New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1989. Print• Strickland, Carol. The Annotated Mona Lisa. A

Crash Course in Art History from Prehistoric to Post-Modern. Kansas City: Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC, 2007. Print