Ism's

785 Words2 Pages

Throughout all of history and to this present time the arts have been slowly shifting and changing into different styles and uses of certain techniques, the names of many of these styles end in the three letters, ism. Most importantly are these four styles, Neoclassicism, Romanticism, Realism and impressionism. These styles occurred in order and shared certain characteristics transitioning them into the next style. By learning about these different styles we can further understand what was going on in the minds of the artists of the time and how they painted.
Taking place during the period of the Age of Reason and the French revolution, Neo-classicism consisted of artists who valued the old Greek and Roman culture. Straying away from the former Rocco period, the artists of Neo-classicism thought of themselves as new Greeks and Romans. As they admired the simple forms of Greek and Roman antiquity, the Neo-classicists noticed the ancient golden age where order, justice and morality prevailed (Koster 78). Clean lines, perfect contours, virtue and heroism were reflected during the remarkable Neo-classicism period. While demonstrating that frothy art was unnecessary, Neo-classicist artists celebrated history and civic pride (Hodge 73). Because they copied the works of the Greek and Romans, the artists of this period profoundly believed in science, nature and logical thought, they painted scenes from history and mythology with the hero always at the center of the action (Raczka 9). One of the major artists of the Neo-Classicism period was Jacques- Louis David. As he believed in liberty, equality and fraternity David often looked back at the moral values of the Greek and Romans. During the time of the Neo-classicism period artists flouri...

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... artists of Impressionism were Renoir, Morisot, Sisley, Monet, Pissarro and Seurat. Seurat once said that the colors of the Impressionist artists were “mixed by viewer’s eyes rather than artist’s palette” (Usborne 90), meaning that all the colors in the painting were mixed together in the viewers eyes to create what they saw. Also consisting of sudden poses and unusual points of view, the Impressionist period was one of the most famous periods of the arts.
As seen through studying Neo-classicism, Romanticism, Realism and Impressionism, we can learn much more about the art and artists of these periods. In the historical scenes of Neo-classicism, the nature and emotion of Romanticism, the non idealized and ordinary people of Realism and the bright colors of Impressionism the true perfection of the artists of these periods is clearly pointed out through their artwork.

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