Art History Plus: 02/01/2010 - 03/01/2010

Impressionism

>> Tuesday, February 16, 2010

1870s - 1890s

Impressionism (the word) came from a painting by a fellow named Claude Monet. The painting was titled, "Impression Sunrise" and it depicted (among other things) sunlight dancing and shimmering on water. The movement lasted from around 1870 to 1910 and included artists such as Monet, Degas and Pissarro. Light, surface, color and capturing fast fleeting moments... that's what Impressionism was all about. Hard to believe that in the late 1800's, many folks hated the stuff, given all the impressionists art calendars we see today...

Important Artists (selected list):

Bazille, Frederic
Boudin, Eugene
Caillebotte, Gustave
Cassatt, Mary
Cézanne, Paul
Degas, Edgar
Manet Edouard
Monet Claude
Morisot Berthe
Pissarro Camille
Renoir Pierre-Auguste
Sisley Alfred

Recommended Books:
Critical Readings in Impressionism and Post-Impressionism: An Anthology (Ahmanson-Murphy Fine Arts Books)
Impressionism: 50 Paintings You Should Know
The Age of Impressionism at the Art Institute of Chicago

Image:
Claude Monet
Impression: Sunrise

By Andrea Mulder-Slater

Pre-Raphaelites

1848 - 1854

Strange as it may seem, the Pre-Raphaelites came after Raphael. The idea here was to imitate (read: copy) the style that preceded Raphael. Art created during this time had a moral message -- a kind of longing for days gone by.

Important Work:

Ophelia, John Everett Millais

Important Artists (selected list):

Burne-Jones
Millais, John Everett
Morris, William
Rossetti, Dante Gabriel
Whistler, James Abbott

Image:

James Abbott McNeill Whistler
Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl
Oil on canvas, 1862

By Andrea Mulder-Slater

Realism

>> Monday, February 15, 2010

1830s - 1870

With Realism, nature and life was for the first time depicted in an honest and unsentimental way. Instead of taking from the past, artists began to actually paint and create from their own life experiences, based on their observations of the world around them. This was a major stepping stone into the world of modern art.

Important Work:

The Stone Breakers, Gustave Courbet

Important Artists (selected list):

Courbet, Gustave
Corot, Jean-Baptiste-Camille
Daumier, Honoré
Millet, Jean-François

Image: Gustave Courbet

The Stone Breakers

By Andrea Mulder-Slater

Romanticism

1800 - 1880

In Romanticism, violent activity is emphasized in art as bold brush strokes and rich colors take over.

The idea was for art to appeal not so much to the mind, but rather to the senses. Not a new concept, but one which was made unique by the artists of the day.

Important Artists (selected list):

Blake, William
Constable, John
Delacroix, Eugene
Goya y Lucientes, Francisco José de
Turner, Joseph Mallord William

Image: Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851)
Snowstorm: Steamboat off a Harbour's Mouth, 1842 Oil on canvas, 36" x 48"

By Andrea Mulder-Slater

Neo-Classicism

1750-1880

Neo-Classicism originated in Rome and spread like wildfire in reaction to the utter excesses of the early Baroque and especially the Rococo periods. During this time, scenes from Roman history became popular again. Oh how history repeats itself. In a neo-classical work of art, composition is balanced, colors are bright and the work has soul. Artists at this time started to copy and imitate antique art. Aha, the beginning of the reproduction...

Important Works (selected list):

The Oath of the Horatii, Jacques-Louis David
The Death of Marat, Jacques-Louis David

Important Artists (selected list):

Canova, Antonio
David, Jacques-Louis
Ingres , Jean-Auguste-Dominique

Image: Jacques-Louis David

Death of Marat, 1793

Oil on canvas

Musees Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique

By Andrea Mulder-Slater

Rococo Art

1700 - 1750

The Rococo painting style developed in France and was a very relaxed, rather playful style of art. In it, showing brightness was very important as were curves, colors and other tiny details. Rococo artists were particularly concerned with properly depicting things like slippers and ribbons. Also, they created landscapes that looked like they were straight out of fairy tales. Basically, this style was full of fun. Plain and simple.

Important Artists (selected list):

Fragonard, Jean-Honore
Watteau, Jean-Antoine

Recommended Books:
Baroque & Rococo: Art & Culture
Rococo to Revolution: Major Trends in Eighteenth-Century Painting (World of Art)

Image:
Jean-Antoine Watteau
Mezzetin
Oil on canvas
MOMA, New York

By Andrea Mulder-Slater

Baroque Art

1600 - 1700

Baroque works of art were dramatic, emotional and included real people as the primary subject. Looking at a Baroque painting today, you can't help but notice the fact that those portrayed in the work look rather as you would expect people to look. Poor people look poor and wealthy folks look, well-off. It was during this time that art was created to appeal to the average person's sense of emotion. Colors were brighter than bright, dark was darker than dark and light was lighter than light. In other words, even with all the realistic imagery, the more dramatic... the better. In the Netherlands, genre painting - the art of depicting real life everyday subjects - was invented and the idea of painting still-life works became quite popular.

Important Works (selected list):

The Calling of St. Matthew, Carravaggio
Self Portrait (1660), Rembrandt

Important Artists (selected list):

Carravaggio
Rembrandt
Rubens, Peter Paul
Vermeer, Jan

Recommended Books:

Baroque: Architecture, Sculpture, Painting

Image:

Caravaggio

The Calling of Saint Matthew, 1599-1600

Oil on canvas

Contarelli Chapel, Church of San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome

By Andrea Mulder-Slater

Renaissance

1400 - 1600

The Renaissance is defined as the revival or rebirth of the arts. Beginning in Italy in 1400, it spread throughout Western Europe, lasting until 1600. There were several phases or periods of the Renaissance. The period from 1420 to 1500 is most often referred to as the Early Renaissance whereas the term High Renaissance is used to describe anything that happened from 1500 through 1530 -- involving pure, classical, balanced harmony. It was then that artists were in complete control of their materials and were capable of executing masterful works of art. Beyond that, a period known as Mannerism came into play -- although still technically part of the Renaissance, Mannerism marked a time when elegance was key.

Generally speaking, the main elements of the Renaissance were:

Oil paint was used for the first time. Prior to this point, egg tempera was the medium of choice.
Both symbols and real-life events were represented together in the same art works.
Chiaroscuro (the balance of light and dark was for the first time shown within a picture by using shadows rather than blocky outlines).
Balanced compositions. The arrangement of things like lines, colors and form were seemingly "correct".
Ancient Roman ideals were the inspiration for many works in Italy.
Larger than life figures appear in German art.
Dutch works of art began to show hints of daily life (hunting, farming) rather than religious themes.
French art featured clean simplicity.

Important Works (selected list):

The Betrothal of the Arnolfini (Arnolfini and His Bride), Jan van Eyck
David, Michelangelo
Mona Lisa, Leonardo Da Vinci
Self Portrait (1500), Albrecht Durer
The Hunters in the Snow, Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Important Artists (selected list):

Bosch, Heironymus
Botticelli, Sandro
Bruegel, Pieter
da Vinci, Leonardo
Donatello
Dürer, Albrecht
El Greco
Michelangelo Buonarroti
Raphael
Van Eyck, Jan

Image:

Jan and Hubert Van Eyck

Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and his Wife, 1434
Oil on oak, 82 x 60 cm
National Gallery, London

By Andrea Mulder-Slater

Gothic Style

1140 - 1500

The Gothic style was marked by the following:

Cathedrals, cathedrals and more cathedrals.
Bright colors were very common in paintings.
Figures portrayed in artworks appeared more natural than in the earlier Romanesque style.
Warmth and emotion "flowed" from most art pieces.
Flying buttresses, pointed arches, stained glass windows and illuminated manuscripts were the important creations of the day.

The Gothic style was one rooted in architecture and any other forms of art were basically created to help embellish the houses of the Lord. Gothic churches were - in contrast to the Romanesque churches - very "light". The belief in divine light and the powers it contained had a great deal to do with how Gothic cathedrals were constructed. Gothic architects solved the problem of very little light coming through the windows (as in Romanesque churches), by conceiving of a superior form of building. How'd they do that? Well, instead of having large walls with large interior support - as in Romanesque style - the Gothic churches were made of "exoskeletons". In other words, the church itself was like a skeleton with the walls and windows hanging as skin, off of this skeleton. Also, the weight of the construction was transferred from the interior to the exterior by way of what is known as the "flying buttress" system - massive piers on the outside of the church.

With heavy walls no longer needed, walls were freed up for large, light colored stained glass windows. The sun could finally shine in...

Important Artists:

Giotto di Bondone
Duccio di Buoninsegna
Pisano, Nicola

By Andrea Mulder-Slater

Romanesque Style

1000 - 1140

The Romanesque style was marked by the following:

Art contained a great deal of symbolism in the form of colors and shapes.
Artists were not at all concerned with perspective or even of depicting events or people in a realistic way.
Figures that were depicted were quite large - especially the important ones.
Lines were combined to create patterns of all sorts.
There was a sense of urgency in both painting and sculpture.
The great French cathedrals were born.

Romanesque churches tended to be somewhat dark and "heavy". Reason being that the churches were made out of masonry and thus needed rather large support systems. These supports were located in the interior of the church and because of this location, light from the few windows - to put it simply - just didn't shine through very well. The problem was that the architects of the time did not quite know how they could place larger windows in the walls without the walls collapsing...

Important Artist:

Gislebertus

Image: Last Judgement by Gislebertus in the west tympanum at Autun Cathedral. Source: Photograph taken by Lamettrie

By Andrea Mulder-Slater

Ottonian Art

900 - 1050

The Ottonian period included the art and architecture produced in Germany under the Saxon rulers of the Holy Roman Empire. Processional crosses covered with jewels were not uncommon, nor were paintings which showed an understanding of naturalistic forms and illusions of space.

By Andrea Mulder-Slater

Carolingian Art

732 - 900

One of the more important types of art created during this period was the illuminated manuscript. These manuscripts were picture books - literally. They told stories of the Bible through easy to understand pictures of humans who were shown in a somewhat realistic manner - some of the time. Just as an example, St Matthew - depicted by two different artists in two different ways can be found in the Coronation and Ebbo Gospels. The St. Matthew in the Coronation Gospels is an objective, clear and somewhat realistic work. The St. Matthew in the Ebbo Gospels however is a very subjective, expressionistic piece of work. Go figure.

Coronation Gospels

Ebbo Gospels

by Andrea Mulder-Slater

Islamic Art

622 - 900

Islamic art was and is unique in that it does not depict any living religious figures. Instead, geometric patterns and decorative florals are used as a form of artistic expression. Islamic architecture had an immense influence on later styles and there is no doubt as to the beauty of the elaborate manuscripts, carpets, metalwork and tiles created in Islamic lands.

by Andrea Mulder-Slater

Byzantine Art

400 - 1453

From the early Byzantine era to the late Byzantine era, a transformation took place. In the beginning, people depicted in art were large and solemn. Later, those immortalized in artworks, started to look somewhat more noble, while at the same time succeptable to suffering. It was during this time that many glorious mosaics, paintings and miniature sculptures were created.

Recommended Books:
Byzantine Art (Oxford History of Art)
Art of the Byzantine Era (World of Art)

by Andrea Mulder-Slater

Hiberno-Saxon & Various Styles

200 - 732

Many years ago - in what is now known as Europe - there were many folks who were essentially nomads meaning they roamed the earth with no real home base. There were Vikings - Scandinavian folks who carved incredible ships. There were also the Huns - a Germanic people known for their so-called "Animal Style" art in which they depicted, well, animals. Then of course there were the Celts who lived on an island off the coast of Ireland. The Celts were best known for large stone crosses, incredible metalwork and of course, illuminated manuscripts.

by Andrea Mulder-Slater

Euro-Christian/Early Middle Ages

373 - 1453

The Middle Ages (specifically from 600 - 1350) marked an era where the chief subject matter was the Christian religion. As a result, art was almost always created as a way to serve the church and thus, share religious experiences. To be truthful, this mentality was not that far off from what Paleolithic man was doing in 25,000 BC when he created art as a way to share feelings of magic, fertility and great hunts.

The Middle Ages saw the construction enormous cathedrals complete with decorations (sculptures, paintings, mosaics). Decorated books known as illuminated manuscripts were also a common sight.

The Middle Ages included Hiberno-Saxon & Various Styles (200 - 732); Byzantine Art (400 - 1453); Islamic Art (622 - 900); Carolingian Art (732 - 900); Ottonian Art (900 - 1050); Romanesque Style (1000 - 1140) and Gothic Style (1140 - 1500)

Let's back up and begin with Hiberno-Saxon ...

by Andrea Mulder-Slater

Roman Art

509 BC - 337 AD

Roman art was characterized by the following:

Very large-scale creations
Events of a historical nature were depicted as were mythical scenes
Every work of art told a tale
Paintings were created by working on fresh plaster -- otherwise known as fresco painting.
Statues were made of marble
Mosaics appear most everywhere

In terms of style, when Rome conquered Greece, they "adopted" and "borrowed" their artistic concepts - thus continuing the tradition of cultural greatness. By this time, people were in the habit of collecting art and placing it in their villas so it was best not to rock the boat - so to speak.

Generally speaking, Roman artworks (specifically those works which are now considered to have been the first civic sculptures) were created to glorify those in charge. It was thought that the best way to do this was to make the art big --- really big. And so, arches, buildings and statues (eight and a half foot tall busts were not uncommon), dwarfed most everything around them. Another interesting aspect of the art of Rome is that it depicted people as they really were. After years of "faking it", portraits were crafted to look like the people they represented rather than idealized versions of the same. What a concept.

Important Roman Work:

Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius

Recommended Books:
Roman Art
Roman Art
Roman Art (The Yale University Press Pelican History of Art)

Image: Replica statue of Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Photo by: Radomil 28.09.2004

by Andrea Mulder-Slater

Etruscan Art

6th - 5th century BC

Mystery surrounds the Etruscans. No one knows where they originally came from and only a few of their "words" have ever been deciphered. What we do know is that the artwork the Etruscans created was influenced by earlier Greek and eastern Mediterranean constructions. Even so, the Etruscans had a style and flair all their own. Much of the ceramicware and sculptures they spent hours working on were made specifically for funerary reasons --- not unlike the earlier Egyptians - and the pieces left behind show a great deal of passion and an intense love of life.

Important Etruscan Work:

Painted Tombs of Tarquinia

Recommended Books:
Etruscan Art (World of Art)
Etruscan Art (The Yale University Press Pelican History of Art)
The Etruscans: Art, Architecture, and History
Etruscan Civilization: A Cultural History

by: Andrea Mulder-Slater

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