Artists are goal oriented people who attract attention and recognition because they resist the rules presented upon them and do the things that no other person dares to do. Neoclassicism is a form of art that deals with literature, music, architecture, and visual arts. Neoclassicism coincided with the Age of Enlightenment, inevitably competing with Romanticism. Romanticism was a movement in art and literature that took place in the early 1800s throughout 1850. Romanticism focused on individualism and emotion, along with nature and the glorification of the past. The painting by French artist Baron Pierre-Guerin, “Aurora and Cephalus”, has a very tight and controlled handling of paint and consumption that possess a heroic figure, unlike, Albert Bierstadt’s romantic painting of “A Storm in the Rocky Mountains, Mt. …show more content…
Neoclassical paintings have tightly controlled brushstrokes, and their compositions are ordered and balanced. Unlike the Romantic Art Movement, these paintings show very little emotion. Baron Pierre-Guerin’s painting, “Aurora and Cephalus,” is an excellent example of Neoclassical art in Europe because the context and composition of the artwork are very simple and symmetric, and it portrays three nude heroic figures. Also, this painting is construed with tight brush strokes that allow for the narrative to be represented with an appropriate perspective. All of the figures are separated in a sharp manner with bright lights and a dark background. If you closely look at this painting, you will notice that every figure has a blank face, which is a critical component of Neoclassicism in Europe. Also, we can see that all the figures in this painting are pale, which was a sign of purity. The brightness the women is bestowing upon the man is the focus point of the painting which shows the quality of life for a man, and how unfortunate it was to be a female during this time
Contextual Theory: This painting depicts a portrait of life during the late 1800’s. The women’s clothing and hair style represent that era. Gorgeous landscape and a leisurely moment are captured by the artist in this work of
Male artists were the only people who were producing art at that time, with women being their preferred subject matter. Because of this, it was easy to identify that the portrayal of women in these works was actually how men perceived women to be in reality. The art produced reflects the dominant patriarchal values formed in Europe in this era. The binary opposition evident in the artwork was a reflection of the male
The 18th century is well known for its complex artistic movements such as Romantism and Neo-classical. The leading style Rococo thrived from 1700-1775 and was originated from the French words rocaille and coquille which meant “rock” and “shell”; used to decorate the Baroque gardens1. Identified as the age of “Enlightenment”, philosophers would ignite their ideas into political movements1. Associated with this movement is England’s John Locke who advanced the concept of “empiricism”. This denotes that accepting knowledge of matters of fact descends from experience and personal involvement1. Locke’s concept assisted the improvements of microscopes and telescopes allowing art students in the French academy to observe real life1. Science and experience influenced painting more so in Neo-Classicalism. Locke fought for people’s rights and the power or “contract” between the ruler and the ruled. Reasoning that “the Light in Enlightenment referred to the primacy of reason and intellect…and a belief in progress and in the human ability to control nature”1. Hence, the commence of experimental paintings such as Joseph Wright’s (1734-1797) oil on canvas painting: Fig.1 An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump. This image was developed through science by placing a bird in glass container and pumping air to see the effects it would have on the bird (White cockatoo)1. Throughout the late 18th and early 19th century in Western Europe, Neo-Classical art became the “true Style” and was accepted by the French Revolution under Louis XIV. Neo-Classical art was a reaction to Rococo’s light hearted, humour and emotion filled pieces.
I chose a painting currently on display in The Eleanor D. Wilson Museum by Scott Noel named “Danae II”. I chose this painting because I was simply spellbound by the woman lying on her back; the subject was beautiful and her environment was entrancingly portrayed. When I realized the true subject was the mythological being I had assumed she was (the theme of the exhibition proved my assumption correct) I truly set my sights on this painting for this paper. Although this a contemporary piece I firmly believe it follows in the tradition of the Renaissance. I argue this because the presence of the Renaissance ideals in the artist's subject and his treatment of perspective, color and light and are too great to be ignored.
The painting depicts two figures, the one of a woman and of a man. The dominating central figure is the one of the woman. We see her profile as she looks to the left. Her hands are crossed in a graceful manner. She has blonde hair and her figure is lit by what seems to be natur...
...retation of the painting some aspects were surprising to how dark and heavy hearted she could speak, she took an interesting perspective. However in her interpretative poem she found a perspective of the painting that connected with her. As she used every stroke of darkness painted into the canvas an opportunity to have it symbolize this darkness and evil that resides in the world. It told her story and her experience of a starry night. Similarly Van Gogh had used every stroke of light painted into the canvas to be a symbol of beauty, and a symbol of his fascination of the night sky and its illuminating lights. He uses swift movements of his brush to depict a sky that seem to be able to sweep the mind away from the frustrations of this world in to the dreamy night light. A single painting worth a million words tells many stories through every perspective.
It appears to me that pictures have been over-valued; held up by a blind admiration as ideal things, and almost as standards by which nature is to be judged rather than the reverse; and this false estimate has been sanctioned by the extravagant epithets that have been applied to painters, and "the divine," "the inspired," and so forth. Yet in reality, what are the most sublime productions of the pencil but selections of some of the forms of nature, and copies of a few of her evanescent effects, and this is the result, not of inspiration, but of long and patient study, under the instruction of much good sense…
In this essay, I shall try to examine how great a role colour played in the evolution of Impressionism. Impressionism in itself can be seen as a linkage in a long chain of procedures, which led the art to the point it is today. In order to do so, colour in Impressionism needs to be placed within an art-historical context for us to see more clearly the role it has played in the evolution of modern painting. In the late eighteenth century, for example, ancient Greek and Roman examples provided the classical sources in art. At the same time, there was a revolt against the formalism of Neo-Classicism. The accepted style was characterised by appeal to reason and intellect, with a demand for a well-disciplined order and restraint in the work. The decisive Romantic movement emphasized the individual’s right in self-expression, in which imagination and emotion were given free reign and stressed colour rather than line; colour can be seen as the expression for emotion, whereas line is the expression of rationality. Their style was painterly rather than linear; colour offered a freedom that line denied. Among the Romanticists who had a strong influence on Impressionism were Joseph Mallord William Turner and Eugéne Delacroix. In Turner’s works, colour took precedence over the realistic portrayal of form; Delacroix led the way for the Impressionists to use unmixed hues. The transition between Romanticism and Impressionism was provided by a small group of artists who lived and worked at the village of Barbizon. Their naturalistic style was based entirely on their observation and painting of nature in the open air. In their natural landscape subjects, they paid careful attention to the colourful expression of light and atmosphere. For them, colour was as important as composition, and this visual approach, with its appeal to emotion, gradually displaced the more studied and forma, with its appeal to reason.
While trying to break away from Great Britain, and find their own way of living they turned to neoclassicism. Neoclassicism is the Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome. When early national writers and artists spoke of America as a “new Rome” they usually meant it in terms of borrowing ideas as a sort of base
The lack of control within the painting, conveyed by the broken up outlines and roughened contours is somewhat reminiscent of Delacroix’s fantasy of the Orient and how he wanted it to be depicted as a crazed, chaotic place. The sense of violence, confusion and savage chaos are invoked by the shocking imagery of the painting. Not only are we faced with the expression on the horse’s face of terror, but the delicate bodies of three concubines, who have or are being slaughtered. Such violent imagery caused critics to view Delacroix as overstepping the boundaries of proper decorum in the 20th century world of art. The unstructured composition of the painting such as rough contouring and broad brushstrokes points to the shared view that the painting was produced through an emotional reaction to the original poem of Lord Byron rather than a careful masterpiece of work sticking to painterly guidelines, as Delacroix seemingly attempts
The gestural and heavy working of the paint and the contrasting colors make the painting appear active yet are arduous to follow. The defining element of Woman and Bicycle is the presence of the black lines that do most of the work in terms of identifying the figure. Through the wild nature of the brushwork, color, and composition of the painting, it can be implied that the artist is making an implication towards the wild nature of even the most proper of women.
Perspective is based on Jesus in this painting due to his outward “radiant glow of divine light” (1) extending to the other people in the painting. The main focus is on Jesus and the rest of the figures are diffused in an outward fashion from Jesus himself. The artist himself expresses an emphasis on individualism by implementing himself within the painting by appearing “twice in the Last Judgement: in the flayed skin which Saint Bartholomew is carrying in his left hand, and the figure… who is looking encouragingly at those rising from their graves” (2). This is an action that only a Renaissance painter would do, which is displaying individuality through a self-portrait because of the possibility of being judged for selfishness. Light and shadowing is prominent within the art which is shown in the painting when the lighter, more brighter colors are focused in the middle and then fade into darker tones while moving outward into the
One of the visual elements of this painting is the color he really uses the color to get people's attention because he uses watercolors to blend them together to make such a wonderful painting. He blends many different colors together to make new ones there is not a spot in this painting that there isn’t color. The second visual element is the people in the painting they are naked and dancing around like nobody's looking. The people in the painting are relaxing and enjoying one another and various ways. Some are even having sexual contact in the painting it’s expressing themselves from one to
Artist in the Neoclassical and Romantic period played a significant role in French Revolution, this was evident in the propaganda they portray in their work; prior to the revolution, most artists used their paintings and other forms of artwork to convey their message to the public. The Neoclassical style painting drew inspiration from ancient Greece and Rome for their work. The depiction of heroic figures was apparent in this style. Romanticism on the other hand, used contemporary events to get ideas for their work and involves more emotion compared to Neoclassicism.
In conclusion, the art of the 19th century was composed of a sequence of competing artistic movements that sought to establish its superiority, ideologies and style within the artistic community of Europe. These movements, being Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, ultimately spread far beyond the confines of Europe and made modern art an international entity which can still be felt in today’s artistic world.