The transition from Neoclassicism to Romanticism arose from a desire for freedom of thought. Romantics truly believed that the pathway to freedom was through imagination rather than logic and functioned based on emotion rather than on cognition. The Romantic Movement recognized passion and sentiment as genuine sources of aesthetic experience, and placed a new emphasis on sensations such as apprehension, awe, horror and the sublimity of untamed nature. Théodore Géricault, who is most famously known for The Raft of the Medusa, was a prominent French painter and one of the most influential pioneers of the Romantic Movement. In The Raft of the Medusa, Géricault, unlike most artists during this stylistic time period, rejected the Neoclassical principles of classical antiquity and embraced the histrionics of Romanticism through the use of natural color, anatomy, emotion and position.
Although the painting itself displays many impressive artistic styles, it is also important to consider the artwork’s historical context. The Raft of the Medusa depicts the aftermath of the shipwreck of the French naval frigate Médusa, which crashed off the African coast. The desperate passengers then built a makeshift raft from the pieces of the destroyed ship, which is the moment depicted in Géricault’s painting. Particularly, The Raft of the Medusa was a contemporary piece that commented on the practice of slavery and the incompetence of the new French government in the early 19th century. Géricault, an abolitionist, sought ways to end the slave trade in the colonies. The anti-slavery cause was well known at the time and was highly promoted by the abolitionists throughout France. Thus, due to Géricault’s repugnance towards slavery, it is only fitting ...
... middle of paper ...
...enthal, Donald. "Gericault's Expenses for the Raft of the Medusa." Art Bulletin 62.4 (1980): 638-40. Ebscohost. Web. Mar. 2014. http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.sju.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=b2489ec8-2b69-4fa6-bdb1-42d1d7b1b3d2%40sessionmgr198&vid=7&hid=109
Books (Both Interlibrary Loans)
1) Eitner, Lorenz. Géricault's Raft of the Medusa. London: Phaidon, 1972. Print.
2) Athanassoglou-Kallmyer, Nina M. Théodore Géricault. London: Phaidon, 2010. Print.
Other Online Sources
1) Spiegelman, Willard. "Revolutionary Romanticism." The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, Aug. 2009. Web. Mar. 2014. http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052970204119704574236393080650258
2) Jefferis, Phil. "'Raft of the Medusa' - Theodore Gericault (1819)." Thompson Dunn. Thompson Dunn, May 2005. Web. Mar. 2014. http://www.thompsondunn.co.uk/newsletter2/page16.html
Bass, George F. "Oldest Shipwreck Reveals the Splendors of the Bronze Age." National Geographic 1987. Print.
In late 1912 Charles Schaeffer, founded the Dayton Canoe Club, and in 1913, they broke the ground for their new club to be built (Stoecker). Schenck & Williams Company, hired by Schaeffer, to be built with “all modern improvements,” commissioned Oliver Ritzert, who also designed and built the Ohio Theatre, for the building of the club (Hover 95). During the Great Dayton Flood of 1913, in the midst of construction, people rushed to the club to see if it was still standing, and to great amazement it was, one pamphlet stating, “…Possibly Neptune, understanding that we three, the water, the canoe and the individual, were inseparable friends, interceded and had the angry waters pass up, around, and even through our uncompleted Clubhouse, doing but little damage," (Stoecker). The club was almost finished only three months later, on the Eleventh of June, 1913 (Stoecker). Oliver designed the building in prairie style, with the building to seem to come naturally out of the bank of the confluence of t...
Web. 19 Aug 2013.Holmgren, Virginia C. "The Unheralded Story of Columbus." Sea Frontiers. Feb. 1992: 34-41. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 19 Aug 2013.
Romanticism was a movement in art and literature in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in revolt against the Neoclassicism of the previous centuries. The romanticism movement in literature consists of a few of the following characteristics: intuition over fact, imagination over fact, and the stretch and alteration of the truth. The death of a protagonist may be prolonged and/or exaggerated, but the main point was to signify the struggle of the individual trying to break free, which was shown in “The Fall of the House Usher” (Prentice Hall Literature 322).
Without a doubt, Géricault's most famous piece of work is The Raft of the Medusa. Painted with oil paint on a canvas 491 cm x 716 cm (Theodore Gericault, artrenewal.org) and released 1817, The Raft of the Medusa was based off an actual event; in 1816 a French naval Méduse became a shipwreck off the shores of northwest Africa. All but a small fraction of the survivors died before help came to their aid. The members of this survivor group turn to shocking acts, like cannibalism, that left the story covered in shame. Géricault painted this realistic memorial to arouse government negligence, but in no way meant to criticize the government itself. (The J.Paul Getty Museum, getty.edu) In order to get the realistic aspects right, the artist interviewed
The romanticism era was a movement in history that mainly focused on visual arts, music, and literature. This era was happening between 1800 and 1860. The romanticism period is sometimes observed as a reaction to the Industrial Revolution. One of this era’s longest lasting effects was its effect on politics and nationalism. Paintings during this time had an emotional appeal. Bringing light to the feelings of horror, wonder, and apprehension/fear. The modern term “romantic” is said to be derived from the romanticism period.
The structure of the painting fits the example given on page 58 of open composition “in which the eye can wander off the canvas or escape the frame, as disunified.” perfectly. The line structure deals with curved lines only, the focus being the center of the water. If focus is shifted from the water to the surrounding area, it is not without effort. The subject of th...
Romanticism has been described as a “‘Protestantism in the arts and letters’, an ideological shift on the grand scale from conservative to liberal ideas”. (Keenan, 2005) It was a movement into the era of imagination and feelings instead of objective reasoning.
Originating in Europe in the late 18th century, the Romanticism Era characterized an interest in nature and emphasized the individuals emotion and imagination. The sudden change in attitudes formed an age of classicism and rebellion against established social rules and conventions. Praising imagination over reason, emotions over logic and intuition over science, this made way for a vast body of literature of great sensibility and passion. The variety of this impressive romanticism literature can be focused on by specific authors, works of literature, and how romanticism influenced their writing.
Therefore, Theodore Gericault’s “Raft of the Medusa” presents great characteristics of idealization, which was influenced by his love for Romanticism. With having had painted the figures as Romanesque sculptures through the use of muscular definition and white illuminating skin, brings forward the notion of an idealized piece. Finally Gericault had also rejected the realism in the piece by adding to the composition, in order to adhere to the drama and tragedy between human and nature of the Romantic style.
In the Wallach Gallery exhibition of Anna Hyatt Huntington’s sculpture (1876-1973), the viewer gets to discover different versions of the emblematic figure that is Joan of Arc, from small bronze medals, to much bigger works of art. A digital replication of the initial statue that was unveiled at Riverside Drive and 93rd Street in December 1915 is also available the public in the gallery. The success of the Joan of Arc – or The Maid of Orleans’s depictions results from the symbol that she fosters in European and American culture: a French medieval patriotic heroine who received visions directly from God and who was told to help France combat the English domination and who died burned at the stake, as a martyr.
Romanticism was an artistic and literary movement that began in the late 18th century Europe that stressed the individual’s expression of emotion and imagination, glorification of the past and nature, and departure from forms of classicism. The movement emerged as a reaction against the ideas
Frey, Charles. The Tempest and the New World. (1979): page 30-41. JSTOR. Web. 04 Feb 2011
Robinson, David M. "Romanticism." American History Through Literature 1820-1870. Ed. Janet Gabler-Hover and Robert Sattelmeyer. Vol. 3. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2006. 1000-1007. Student Resources in Context. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
Davidson, Frank. "The Tempest: An Interpretation." In The Tempest: A Casebook. Ed. D.J. Palmer. London: Macmillan & Co. Ltd., 1968. 225.