Auguste Rodin was born in 1840 and died in 1917, a year before the end of World War I. He was one of the most illustrious artists of his time, and in the eyes of posterity he remains, surely, the greatest name in Western Sculpture since Michelangelo.
His style was both classic and romantic, and to his contemporaries it was also revolutionary, for although Rodin followed routine closely, he presented it exactly as he saw and experienced it, and refused to be bound by the artistic conventions of his day.
Unlike his contemporary sculptors of the 1870's and 1880's, Rodin had both a brilliant technique and something to day. It was Rodin's imaginative modeling that re-established sculpture as exaggeration rather than description or literal imitation. Rodin had realized the purification and elevation of sculptural aesthetic by his use of modeling and light. No sculptor of the age could compete with him in the expressiveness and forcefulness of his modeling. The inspiration of his sketches was preserved in the bronze cast rather than being expunged by the polished style in vogue among other sculptors. To his bronzes he also gave a warmth of touch and humanity that refused to be chilled in the frigid salon air. His sculptures emerged from deepening personal convictions and love for his subjects.
Just as the Impressionists derived inspiration from the life of the city (Paris), so too Rodin was to draw upon the society within he worked for his most important ideas.
He responded to his own "impressions" to use his own word rather than those of others. This should not be taken to mean that Rodin was an Impressionist like Monet and Pissarro. Rodin was not content with sensory stimuli alone. In contrast to Monet's underseeing,...
... middle of paper ...
...of The Gates. In their position above the center lintel they personify the dead described by Dante in The Inferno, who lament their existence in hell.
The Martyr is used at least five times in The Gates of Hell. Rodin gives it wings and turns it face down to represent the fall of Icarus.
The Gates represent the most ambitious undertaking of Rodin's lifetime, and his most remarkable. They became in effect a world of his own making, a panorama of all his ideas and imaginings, and the source of many of his other major works.
Sources
Auguste Rodin. New York: Phaidon Publishers, 1957.
Descharnes, Robert, and Jean-Francois Chabrun. Auguste Rodin. New York: Viking Press, 1967.
Elsen, Albert E. Rodin's Gates of Hell. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1960.
Lampert, Catherine. RODIN, Sculpture and Drawings. London: Yale University Press, 1986.
During Vincent Van Gogh’s childhood years, and even before he was born, impressionism was the most common form of art. Impressionism was a very limiting type of art, with certain colors and scenes one must paint with. A few artists had grown tired of impressionism, however, and wanted to create their own genre of art. These artists, including Paul Gaugin, Vincent Van Gogh, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and Paul Cezanne, hoped to better express themselves by painting ...
...rovence. A year after his death in 1907 his paintings were displayed in Paris in a large museum-like retrospective. This viewing affected the direction of new and upcoming artist, which elevated him to his position as one of the most significant artists of the 19th century and to the creation of Cubism.
Salvador Dali's life and art were very closely related. Everything in his life was reflected in his art. All the major changes in his works and styles represented important turning points for him. When Dali was younger, he experimented with different styles. The first style he used was soft, blurry and seemed a little bit out of focus, although his use shadowing was well from the beginning. Dali's early works were
Seated in his fire-filled chair, the devil dominates the bottom-center of the painting. With the very dark lighting the mood towards this half of the painting is dark, gloomy, lonely, and unpleasing. Frankcen illustrates the true biblical message of hell. What is very interesting about this painting is how hell is extremely large, filled with a mass of people, and takes up about half of the painting. However, some of the people are babies. This alludes to the fact that some people are could possibly be born evil and that their fate is inevitable. A majority of the people set in hell are still looking up worshiping heaven while regretting their mistakes. The painter is trying to illustrate how many people do not make the right choices and end up miserable. The way Fans paints hell in this picture is very similar to the way Dante describes hell in this book The Inferno. Even though there are not nine layers of hell in this painting the descriptions are quite similar. The people standing in line waiting for their punishments, the dark gloomy vibe, and a mixture of young and old souls, are represented in the painting and in Dante’s story (1614-1702). Francken’s goal when interpreting hell is to not only make his viewers fear it, but come to the realization that is where a majority of people end
Before Impressionism came to be a major movement (around 1870-1800s), Neoclassical and Romanticism were still making their impacts. Remembering last week’s lesson, we know that both those styles were different in the fact that one was based on emotion, while the other was practical and serious. However, one thing they both shared was the fact that the artists were trying to get a message across; mostly having to do with the effects of the French Revolution, and/or being ordered to do so. With Impressionism, there is a clear difference from its predecessors.
Impressionist painting was the beginning of a cultural shift away from religious and mythic themes, to subjects and styles that are less static such as everyday life of the general people, and the fleeting moments around them. As history progresses, so does art and the movements they create. The impressionism movement started in an already war-ravaged France where the evolution of ideals and way of life were as impermanent as the subject of the paintings of the time.
The human form transcends throughout time persistently present in art. Dating all the way back to Paleolithic human beings our renderings of idealized forms have served many purposes. Though the Neolithic and Paleolithic purpose of these renderings is widely speculative the range of reason for these depictions ranges from idolization and worship to assertion of aristocratic and economic status even to simply serving as statements of self-expression. Amongst ruins and artifacts, sculptures of ancient cultures demonstrate the ways in which humans perceptions of what is aesthetically desirable have progressed. Two idealized sculptures the Woman from Willendorf and the Khafre statue with approximately 21,500 years separating their individual gestations this demonstrate the stylistic progression of idealized imagery through time.
Impressionism is very pretty and complicated. It was from 1860 to 1910. Monet is the perfect Impressionist. Impressionism had its basic tenants. Their subject matter was the middle upper class, the city, and leisurely activities. They painted on en plein air which means they painted outdoors. They painted in snow, rain, storm, just in order to record directly the effects of light and atmosphere. They painted with strokes and touches of pure color by using a great deal of white and rarely black. They recorded the shifting play of light on the surface of objects and the effect light has on the eye without concern for the physicality of the object being painted. They were influenced by Japanese art and photography. One of Monet’s works is titled Water Lilies. The medium of this work is oil on canvas. Monet is an impressionist. He puts up pure color just describe the water. He said, when you go out paint, the impression of the scene not the exact scene.
The masculine and idealized form of the human body is an ever-present characteristic of Michelangelo’s sculpture. Many people over the years have speculated why this may be, but there has never been a definitive answer, and probably never will be. Through all of his sculpture there is a distinct classical influence, with both his subject matter and his inclination to artistically create something beautiful. In most cases, for Michelangelo, this means the idealized human figure, seeping with contraposto. This revival of classical influences is common for a Renaissance artisan, but the new, exaggerated form of the human body is new and unique to Michelangelo’s artistic style.
Claude Monet is often considered one of greatest most dedicated of the Impressionist painters. His aim was to catch the light and atmosphere, something that was scarcely done before. He enjoyed painting outdoors and developed a free and spontaneous painting technique. His brushwork is remarkably flexible and varied. He often changed his technique, sometimes broad and sweeping other times dappled and sparkling.
Born in a cold winter day of 1841, in Lomoges, France, Pierre Augustine Renoir lived a long and happy life of more than eight decades. Being one of the six children in the poor family of a tailor and seamstress, Renoir from childhood understood what he is up to in his future life. From early age he was drawing and self studied art in free time. Renoir’s parents arranged him to work in a Porcelain Factory, where he was working as a decorator of plates and other objects. The fortune came up in such a way that when Renoir was five his family moved to Paris and lived in a house right by the famous French Louvre. Most of his free time, Renoir spent in Louvre trying to copy the famous works from the walls of the museum. As the time passed more and more people started recognising his talent which made him many wealthy friends. His talent of great drawing allowed him to enter the famous during
French sculptor Auguste Rodin was born in Paris in 1840. Rodin is considered the forerunner of modern sculpting; however, he was trained in traditional art styles, and never set out to become a prominent modern sculptor. There has been much debate on the modernism of Rodin’s art. While painting was becoming a more modern art, sculpting was lagging behind; however, Rodin was one of the only sculptors who was considered to be intriguing. In 1875, Rodin traveled to Italy in order to examine closely the work of Michelangelo. The work of Michelangelo would have a large impact on the works that Rodin would produce after 1875; one of the first and most notable works for Rodin was The Age of Bronze. Rodin was able to be a catalyst for modernizing sculpting
Impressionism is the name given to the art movement that changed art forever. Starting in France in the 1860's, Impressionism was considered a radical break from tradition.1 Through the work of artists including Édouard Manet, Claude Monet, Pierre Renoir, Camille Pissarro and Edgar Degas impressionism was born. Impressionists painted outside and focused greatly on light and its reflection. They painted quickly on primed white canvas with short visible brushstrokes and placed separate colours side by side letting the viewer’s eyes mix them. (Techniques uncommon to art at this time) Regarding their subject they again broke with tradition and painted anything they wanted including the modernity of Paris and the everyday life of its citizens. This new found freedom regarding subject along with unconventional techniques greatly displeased the L’École des Beaux-Arts where academic artists would have worked on subjects such as history, royalty and mythology.2 In contrast to the impressionists their work had a smooth varnished finish, showing little to no evidence of the artist’s presence. Having introduced Impressionism, I aim to in this essay analyse why the city of Paris is at the heart of the impressionist movement. Firstly by looking at how Paris helped create the impressionist movement and secondly how Paris fuelled it.
This exhibit was put on in a studio in Paris that was owned by the famous photographer Nadar and featured around 30 different Impressionist artists (Lewis 149). In the beginning of the impressionist 's “career” as impressionists, they were mocked and not always credited as real artists, but they accepted the name of Impressionist 's, turning the derogatory term into one to identify themselves with. The entire Impressionist art movement was “an unthinking form of naturalism” and also “… the fruitful renovation of the French schools…” (Lewis 23, 155). This oppression can be seen as synonymous with that of the actual oppressed people of France of which Karl Marx was calling to change their future. Impressionists took control of their own art and didn 't back down when mocked, they found the passion inside themselves. They were mocked since Impressionism was a shift of creativity that was now “…identified with the individual, not within the social…” (Lewis 26). When one looks at an impressionism painting from that period of time, the passion and emotions of the scene come through the painting causing the viewer to feel how the artist felt when they experienced this scene while painting
The Impressionist Age was a movement in which all types of people were affected. People like Claude Monet and William Butler Yeats made a difference in their own lives, the lives of others, and in history by redefining their areas of art. The old ways and popular styles of the time were challenged and eventually changed by the studies of the people who expressed their thoughts through the unique use of their talents. The people of the impressionism movement brought about change.