ARTH 2 Quiz #3: Neo-Classicism, Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism, and Post-Impressionism

David
The Oath of the Horatii
Neo-Classicism
1785, France
Set of oppositions: Republicanism vs Aristocracy, male vs female, reason vs emotion, civic virtue vs family ties, public sphere vs private sphere, contract vs obligation. Other terms: importance of the salon/art public, opposite of Rococo, republican ideals surrounding French revolution, interested in order, Enlightenment, rationality, learning, patriotism, models of secular government, Enlightenment ideals to have moral message, fighting for state/nationalism

Kauffman
Cornelia Pointing to Her Children as Her Treasures
Neo-Classicism
1785, Austria
Backwards from Rococo artistocratic/educational empowering of women (women kicked out of art academies), Women return to being viewed as mothers first, Engaging republican roles of women, interest in theme of classical antiquity (architecture), the most previous things to a woman are her children not the jewelry (virtue, moral message here), virtuous womanhood, motherhood, Roman story

Vigee-Lebrun
Portrait of Marie Antoinette with Her Children
Neo-Classicism
1787, France
Classic Rococo aristocratic woman, Marie wanted to be portrayed as a loving, virtuous mother with her children, propaganda piece, using the empty crib as a symbol of her dead child to win sympathy, very sober interior meant to show that she was not living too excessively (not true), subdued palette, not portraying opulence (her main critique), trying to calm down criticism in the pre-French revolution years

Vigee-Lebrun
Portrait of Marie Antoinette (a la Rose)
Neo-Classicism
1783, France
Marie is wearing a silk court gown and headdress, trimmed with lace, ribbons and plumes. She is wearing pearls, as befits a Queen, with hair powdered and face rouged, in accord with court etiquette. She looks as if she has just stepped into her garden on a summer evening, bathed in moonlight. The nocturnal quality of the portrait softens the formality of her attire, alluding to Marie-Antoinette's love of nature, and the fact that she was much more at ease in her gardens than she was in the Hall of Mirrors

David
The Oath of the Tennis Court
Neo-Classicism
1791, France
The Tennis Court Oath was a pivotal event during the first days of the French Revolution. The Oath was a pledge signed by 576 of the 577 members from the Third Estate who were locked out of a meeting of the Estates-General on 20 June 1789. The oath was both a revolutionary act, and an assertion that political authority derived from the people and their representatives rather than from the monarch himself. Large scale drawing, epic size of a history painting (unusual), its scale gives it importance, representing recent moments in French history, Patronized through a subscription process (3,000 people bought a share in it) representative of the power of the people/republican ideals, paid for by a revolutionary group

David
Death of Marat
Neo-Classicism
1793, France
Representing a contemporary event in a classical way (as if he were Christ dying for a noble cause), tragic martyr of the Jacobin revolutionary, murdered in his medicinal bath, his skin condition has been miraculously smoothed in order to present him heroically, Baroque influence, Pieta resemblance,Although the painting displays severe Neoclassical sparseness, its convincing realism conveys pain and outrage

Girodet
Portrait of Jean-Baptiste Belley
Neo-Classicism
1797, France
Belley (c. 1746 - 1805) was a native of Senegal and former slave from Saint-Domingue in the French West Indies who during the period of the French Revolution became a member of the National Convention and the Council of Five Hundred of France. He was a symbol of the campaign against French colonialism and granting former colonial subjects with French citizenship. He is dressed in French uniform to symbolize his dedication to the state, shown with the bust of the philosopher Raynal (a priest and prominent 18th century abolitionist. There is no doubt that both Belley and Girodet were making a powerful anti-slavery statement), Enlightenment ideals, revolutionary portrait and bold to paint a black man, enlightenment values to abolish slavery in the name of citizenship and morality

Houdon
George Washington
Neo-Classicism
1788-92, USA
Neoclassicism became the preferred style for public sculpture in the new American republic. Makes Roman references in scultpure - Houdon portrayed Washington in contemporary garb, but he incorporated the Roman fasces (column) and Cincinnatu's plow in the statue, because Washington similarly had return to his farm after his war services.

Greenough
George Washington
Neo-Classicism
1840, USA
IN his posthumous portrait, Greenough likened Washington to a god by depicting him seminude and enthroned in the manner of Phidias's Olympian statue of Zeus, king of the Greek gods. "Father of the country" = god, enormous (11 feet tall sitting), however Neoclassicism was out of style by the time this was finished

Goya
The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters
Romanticism
1798, Spain
Goya = asleep amidst his drawing tools, his reason dulled by slumber and bedeviled by creatures that prowl in the dark. owls (symbol of folly) and bats (symbol of ignorance). Goya depicted himself asleep while threatening creatures converge on him, revealing his embrace of the Romantic spirit - the unleashing of imagination, emotions, and nightmares. The artist's nightmare reflected his view of Spanish society, which he portrayed in the Caprichos as demented, corrupt, and ripe for ridicule, Goya slumped over his desk, besieged by creatures during his sleep, what happens when reason/enlightenment values/human solutions for social problems go to sleep? They get besieged by dark forces of society, Debunking values of Church, absolutism, putting faith in human abilities (also highlights darkness of mankind), Goals of reason, rational action, goals of individual, Goya lived through atrocities/monarchies/revolutions/Napoleon, hypocrisy, pessimistic view of society

Gros
Napoleon in the Plague House at Jaffa
Romanticism
1804, France
In his depiction of Napoleon as a Christlike healer, Gros foreshadowed Romanticism by recording the exotic people, costumes, and architecture of Jaffa, including the striped horseshoe arches of the mosque-hospital (orientalism = key term), Bubonic plague on colonial missions, exoticism of the Muslim world evident, huge contrast between the dark Muslims and the light Frenchman, Napoleon = christ + healer, Napoleon propaganda, nudity is presented as a weakness, It was an attempt to quell unsavory rumors after Napoleon ordered that 50 incurable dying plague victims in Jaffa be poisoned during his retreat from his Syrian expedition, This painting uses elements of the composition of David's Oath of the Horatii such as the 3 arcades from Oath which defined 3 different worlds (the three sons making the oath in the left one; the father brandishing the swords in the middle; the women abandoned to sadness in the right-hand one), a principle taken up in this painting too.

Gericault
Raft of the Medusa
Romanticism
1818, France
Rejects Neoclassicism, presented a jumble of writhing bodies in every attitude of suffering, despair, and death 23 feet wide, Apex: heroic Afro-french man waves a tattered garment in the hope of attracting the attention of the rescue ship Argus, which would eventually rescue Medusa's 15 survivors/150, who told Gericault the story of the captain's incompetence and described the horrors of the raft, Captain = incompetent monarch appointee who drove ship into reef, they safely abandoned the ship, French Revolution symbol, 1816 recent historical event, human craziness (cannibalism, murder), moral grand history painting, mass of writhing bodies, dead and alive, white and black, confusion, jumbled, no compositional clarify, not stable, tumultuous sky, moody atmosphere, darker color palette, movement, diagonal raft, obscure faces, wants this to be a political allegory for the incompetence of the Bourbon regime, "surviving horrors of Bourbon monarchy" symbol, asking audience to condemn the regime, support new French democratic republic with racial mixing, see old colonial nationals as victims who deserve place in French society, emancipation/support of formerly enslaved populations (controversial)

Delacroix
Death of Sardanapalus
Romanticism
1826, France
Inspired by Lord Byron's 1821 poem, Delacroix painted the Romantic spectacle of the Assyrian king Sardanapalus on his funeral pyre. The king ordered his possessions destroyed and concubines murdered before immolating himself, once he learned that he was faced with military defeat.The richly colored and emotionally charged canvas is filled with exotic and writhing figures, waiting for all of his favorite possessions to be burned: horses, women, gold, jewelry, slaves. Exotic, erotic, violent, rich, emotional, orientalist. No sense of organized composition, emotional, No rational relationships, swirls, madness, rich colors, dramatic lighting, no clarity or linearity, Rejection of neo-classicism, allegory for romantic artists (radical politics, sexual, bold, societal outliers), Alienated from political order = symbolic of critique

Goya
The Third of May, 1808
Romanticism
1814, Spain
Goya sought to commemorate Spanish resistance to Napoleon's armies during the occupation of 1808 in the Peninsular War. The painting's content, presentation, and emotional force secure its status as a groundbreaking, archetypal image of the horrors of war. The Third of May 1808 marks a clear break from convention, the traditions of Christian art and traditional depictions of war, it has no distinct precedent, and is acknowledged as one of the first paintings of the modern era. Coloristic, emotional liberties, extremely moral cause, refers to Napoleon's french massacre of Spanish peasants, Christ like rendering to the main victim, loose brushtrokes, compare to David's glorification of war, horrified expressions on their faces

Goya
Disasters of War
Romanticism
1810-14, Spain
Aquatint etchings, depicting a series on atrocities, critical of French and Spanish war crimes, Art put in the service of reporting on war results, Morality of war, intentional names of drawings as messages, Casualness of violence, moral confusion, what is humanity doing to itself?? cruelty of mankind, questioning humanity + civilization, brutal violence and gore, critique of war

Goya
Saturn Devouring One of his Sons
Romanticism
1821-23, Spain
One of 14 "Black Paintings" Goya painted on the walls of his home at the end of his life, disturbing fresco from Goya's farmhouse uses a mythological tale to express the aging artist's despair over the passage of time. Saturn's Greek name, Kronos, is similar to the Greek word for "time", Goya was blind, paralyzed, aging horribly, pessimistic, increasingly dark, shows Wildness, brutality, boldness, evoked an emotional response, loose brushtrokes, deeply pessimistic, skepticism of enlightenment + society + political society of Spain, Saturn eating son to grow his own power, symbolic of citizenry abuse, consuming of citizenry, cannibalism of society, corrupt, violence, abusing citizens humanity

Friedrich
Traveler Overlooking Sea of Misty Mountain Tops (Wanderer above the Sea of Fog)
Romantic landscape ???
1818, Germany
Shows a solitary man on a rocky promontory gazing at a vast panorama of clouds, mountains, and thick mist perfectly expresses the Romantic notion of the sublime in nature. Viewer has a sensation of hovering above him, mystery, emergence of viewer, well educated, can appreciate land, can draw moral lessons from the landscape, self-reflection, man can appreciate view

Lorrain
Pastoral Landscape
Romantic landscape ??
1638, France
Classical landscape, renderings of landscape organized through cultural codes, Lorrain and Poussin = key, Naturalism, but not a real place, projection of ideal space, imaginary landscape, divided midline between sky and land = pleasing and balance. Horizon line is key to position of the viewer, classical architecture, meandering river that leads the eye to the distance, Viewer is invited to imagine wandering into the distance, features classical architecture

Constable
The Hay Wain
Pastoral Landscape
1821, English
Pastroal landscape of English countryside, Controlled composition but there is a wild sky/atmosphere, Simple subjects: dog, horses, farm, pond, Balance between sky and land, Nostalgic view of the disappearing English countryside during the Industrial Revolution, Constable had a special gift for capturing the texture that climate and weather give to landscapes, Serene, pastoral scene, tranquility, oneness with nature, Significant for precisely what it does not show - the civil unrest of the agrarian working class and the resulting outbreaks of violence and arson, Disappearing rural pastoralism

Joseph Mallord William (JMW) Turner
Rain, Steam, and Speed: The Great Western Railroad
Romantic landscape
1844, England
Key term = sublime landscape, Celebrating the advent of railroads/industrialization in the western world, Juxtaposed steamboat/railroad (past and future), Swirling atmosphere effect, makings the scene seem moving + unstable, Experience of change, symbolic, Sublime vs Pastoral, Change vs permanence, Does not respect landscape conventions or painting norms, v expressive, colors/craziness = romantic

JMW Turner
The Slave Ship (Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and the Dying, Typhoon Coming On
Romantic landscape
1840, England
The essence of Turner's innovative style is the emotive power of color. He released color from any defining outlines to express both the forces of nature and the painter's emotional response to them. Frenzied emotion, tossing slaves overboard in chaos, barbaric, very sublime landscape, violent, gruesome, using color to convey emotion, sun, Very disorienting, violent, grim, nature = horror, slaves writhing in water, darkness of humanity

Cole
The Oxbow (View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, After a Thunderstorm
Romantic Landscape
1836, USA
Cole's Hudson River School, as well as his own work, was known for its realistic and detailed portrayal of American landscape and wilderness, which feature themes of romanticism. Cole championed the idea of America having a landscape distinct from Europe's, Here he contrasted dark wilderness on the left and sunlit civilization on the right, with a minicular painter at the bottom center, Highlighted the unknown, wild, untouched nature of American wilderness, Hudson River School, Nature in its raw state, endless landscape in America, not like Europe, They saw native peoples as nomadic, part of nature, what it means to civilize the natural world, Nature = untamed, river bending/meandering, cultivation/order vs untamed nature, wild space, disorienting space, sublime rendering of natural landscape, using compass directions to establish east to west movement, which talks about development from east

Gast
American Progress
Romantic Landscape
1872, USA
Key term: manifest destiny, displacing native peoples, gold rush, movement east to west, doctrine of manifest destiny in this painting, star of progress, allegorical female figure, stringing electrical wire across continent with bible and trains and settlers and justice, Light to dark, utopian fantasy of land, Propaganda, manifest destiny propaganda, god given right to expand, literally image of settlers driving out indians/livestock, civilization vs untamed, light to dark, expanding west

Bierstadt
Immigrants Crossing the Plains
Romantic landscape
1867, USA
Settlers going west, patronized art by industrialist, brilliant colors, beautiful sunset, elaborate western landscape, wagon, horses, settlers, sublime landscape, Goes into mysterious woods, sun rising? Off into the horizon, unknown destiny (romantic red haze), Dramatic and holy depiction of western expansion, manifest destiny, the light = holy sign, opportunity

Moran
Cliffs of the Upper Colorado
Romantic landscape
1882, USA
Hudson River School, Colorado river, famous citadel rock = spectacular monument of western landscape, He got there by railroad, painting it with people on horses, Natural vs realistic image, He painted it untouched by man, but photographs prove otherwise, Sublime, destabilizing, imbalanced composition, he didn't paint it with the effects of industrialization (railroad) chose to paint it as an wild, untamed land untouched by mankind

Smithson
Spiral Jetty
1970
650 tons of material from the site bulldozed
and reorganized into a spiral 1,500 feet long and 15 feet wide, Great Salt Lake, Utah
Key terms: Entropy, geological timescale, molecular structure of the salt-crystal

Daumier
Rue Transonian
Realism
1834, France
Lithograph decrying the massacre of peasants in France, highlighting the brutality of the state without cause or proof, Dead baby smothered by murdered father, graphic, violent, social protest print, Print, can be easily distributed in order to spread ideas

Millet
The Gleaners
Realism
1857, France
Millet and the Barbizon School painters specialized in depictions of French country life. Here, Millet portrayed three impoverished women gathering the scraps left in the field after a harvest, School: focused on countryside, simplicity, forest, Tedious, time-consuming work, impact of Socialism growing movement + Marx,
Millet's sympathetic portrayal of the poor seemed to much of the public to be a political manifesto, rural French peasants, back breaking labor, scavenging after harvest, focusing on their labor, noble-ing that labor, large painting (expanding scale), grander, importance of subject matter, presents them as noble, golden glow of landscape, heroicizing their profession

Courbet
The Stone Breakers
Realism
1849, France
Key words: Revolution of 1848, Avante-garde, Courbet = the leading Realist movement figure. Using a palette of dirty browns and grays, he conveyed the dreary and dismal nature of menial labor in mid 19th century France. He neither romanticized or idealized work but depicted their thankless toil with directness and accuracy, focusing on down-trodden, exploited by elite, backbreaking labor, radical anti-classicism, massive elevation of the genre painting, taking a low subject matter and given it a large scale (sign of importance) normally reserved for history paintings, forces a salon audience to take this subject matter seriously , symbol of the young boy turning into the old man, hard work gets you nowhere, bleak, Compare to David's Horatii (social equality, valor, glory) Compare Stone breakers to Goya Third of May (using subjects to appeal to national sentiments) Supposed to be proud of france? NO! Figures are not heroized, Anti-academic, Courbet: dramatic, harsher appearance, rendered the subject matter to menial, crude nature of work, crude paint application, not blended/ rounded forms, rude/cruddy line, flattens them out, we are really close to the subject matter, drawing inspiration through popular culture, dangerous and political, Images Epinale: popular woodcuts/illustrated stories/games from 19th century france, flat + nonemotional, lack of high art ambition, he's trying to address working/middle class, not educated bourgeois salon audience, legible to popular audience in order to radically reorganize relationships between artists and the public

Eakins
The Gross Clinic
Realism
1875, USA
American Dream a thing because "there is no aristocracy" or state sanctioned art academies, America = republic of middle class people, Growing professional middle class emphasized, make their money through work, not inheritance, doctors back then are not nearly as valued in society (viewed as butchers) not as esteemed in society then, Gross: heroic, professional figure, emphasizing with artist (work for living, engaging with human body, dealing with nude) Blood + gore = harshly realistic + forces viewer to look at it, Radical progressive figure, surrounded by attentive students, engaged + involved, anatomy lesson of Dr. Tulp similarities, Originally rejected: gruesome, gross, dark, nasty (physicians accepted it, was a huge sensation), Patient's mother shrinking in horror in the corner

Homer
Prisoners from the Front
Realism
1866, USA
American Civil War scene (history/allegorical painting), conflict between realism and history painting (painted a year after war ended), When a commitment to realism comes into conflict with historical accuracy, is this a history painting or an allegory about the civil war? Can it be both? Classic confrontation scene, but its not a war between countries, it's a civil war (like brothers, both Americans) Homer expertly characterized the range of personalities involved in the war, from the young, uncertain boy being captured to the bearded old man, humbly submitting to his fate, to the proud challenging stance of the third man still dressed in Confederate uniform, Other confrontations show the moral victor (Goya Third of May, Velazquez Surrender at Breda) focuses on leaders, Homer's figures are not all officers, not identifiable, no historical moment of Barlow meet up, Mysterious, unfinished looking figure (African American man?) Southern figures looking at the northern man

Manet
Luncheon on the Grass
Impressionism/Modern/Realist?
1863, France
Refused by Salon Jury so exhibited in the Salon de Refuses, How does Manet's treatment of the nude differ from Academic nudes?The rejection was occasioned not so much by the female nudes in Manet's painting, a classical subject, as by their presence in a modern setting, accompanied by clothed, bourgeois men. The incongruity suggested that the women were not goddesses but models, or possibly prostitutes. Middle class consumers, picnic scene, Parisian parks, wine, food, Inserts a nude, confusion for audience, high horizon line, compressed space, disorienting, crudely modeled figures, not idealized bodies, working class body, not refined, Manet's model, Prostitution at play? Nude woman casually eating lunch with fully dressed males was very controversial for the conservative French society, contemporary nude body, despite the mundane subject, Manet deliberately chose a large canvas size normally reserved for historical, religious, and mythological subjects. The style of the painting breaks with the academic traditions of the time. He did not try to hide the brush strokes; the painting even looks unfinished in some parts of the scene. The nude is also starkly different from other idealized, smooth, flawless figures

Manet
Olympia
Realist/Modern?
1863, France
Most famous painting, muddy distinction: officially realist but its also impressionist, scandalous and rejecting by art world structures, exhibited in salon, Subject: modern brothel in Parisian nightlife, recognizable woman, Olympia = pseudanoym for prostitute, rejects academic style, shallow, special compression, uneven brushwork, darker edges, flattens shape, not rounded, 2D, confrontational in the viewer needing to deal with prostitutes/black people/directness of gaze, unashamed look, shocking nudity quite scandalous and shocking to society, reference to prostitution in high public spheres shocking, consumer of prostitution = borgeouis man, race relations in modern France (utterly appalled by maid) apparent, even in prostitution ring, a black woman is still lesser, What shocked contemporary audiences was not Olympia's nudity/the presence of her fully clothed maid, but her confrontational gaze and a number of details identifying her as a or prostitute (her name, the orchid in her hair, her bracelet, pearl earrings and the oriental shawl on which she lies, symbols of wealth and sensuality. The black ribbon around her neck, in stark contrast with her pale flesh, and her cast-off slipper underline the voluptuous atmosphere). Painting inspired by Titian's Venus of Urbino (1538). Whereas the left hand of Titian's Venus is curled and appears to entice, Olympia's left hand appears to block, which has been interpreted as symbolic of her sexual independence from men and her role as a prostitute, granting or restricting access to her body in return for payment. Manet replaced the little dog (symbol of fidelity) in Titian's painting with a black cat, which traditionally symbolized prostitution. Olympia disdainfully ignores the flowers presented to her by her servant, probably a gift from a client. Some have suggested that she is looking in the direction of the door, as her client barges in unannounced.

Monet
Impression: Sunrise
Impressionism
1872, France
Key Term: plein aire painting
Fascinated by reflected sunlight on water, Monet broke with traditional studio practice and painted his impression en plein air, using short brushstrokes of pure color on canvas without any preliminary sketch, Light and color, transitionary and momentary, Characterize impressionism, exhibited painting that critic hated, used "impressionism" as their own term, used by critics negatively, owned the term, not subjecting themselves to academic constraints, became super popular by middle class audiences, Effect of sunlight on water, unmodulated brushstrokes, dashes of paint, not mixed pigments, no rules on how one uses colors, water, sky, no distinct identity, informal treatment, using color as form

Renoir
Moulin de la Galette
Impression
1876, France
Renoir's painting of this popular Parisian dance hall is dappled by sunlight and shade, artfully blurred into the figures to produce the effect of floating and fleeting light that many impressionists cultivated, leisure, artists actively seeking new forms, not subjecting themselves to academic constraints, odd composition/short compressed space, weird angle, blur of people and happiness

Caillebotte
Paris, A Rainy Day
Impressionism
1877, France
Key term = Flaneur (idler, stroller, lounger, leisure) HaousmannizaIon (The reorganization of the Paris) Although Caillebotte did not use Impressionistic broken brushstrokes, in his view of the new Haussmannized Paris, the composition featuring cutoff buildings and figures suggests the transitory nature of modern life, Assymmetrical, violates all sorts of art laws, bizarre composition and angle, fleeting moment (impression), Spaces of modernity, Boulevards, Caillebotte's interest in photography is evident. The figures in the foreground appear "out of focus", those in the mid-distance (the carriage and the pedestrians in the intersection) have sharp edges, while the features in the background become progressively indistinct. The severe cropping of some figures - particularly the man to the far right - further suggests the influence

Caillebotte
Boulevard Haussmann, Snow
Impressionism
1879-81, France
High vantage point = new theme, different feeling of space, key terms: HaousmannizaIon (The reorganization of the Paris), Flaneur (idler, stroller, lounger, leisure) Rue Halévy, From the 6th Floor (1878)

Morisot
On the Balcony
Impressionism
1871-72, France
Her works are generally characterized by their focus on female subjects and their experience in contemporary Paris. This is an Impressionist paint technique with coarse, expressive brushstrokes and an extraordinary skill in generating light. She openly questions and laments the social restrictions imposed upon women in late 19th-century French society. A young girl and an older woman, mother and daughter, are pictured on the balcony of their suburban house, looking at the bustling city in the distance. One of the key features = the railings that they lean on, it is clear that they hold a much greater metaphorical meaning. For Morisot, a middle-class 19th century woman, these are not only railings which protect; they are railings which restrict: they act as a barrier between the domestic prison of the small, confined house (the female space) and the liberation of the wide, open city( the male space). Their looking on = a gaze of longing for a taste of the freedom that husbands, fathers, brothers and sons can enjoy, but which women are denied. Feminism = key

Manet
Bar at the Folies Bergere
Impressionism
1881-82, France
Key terms: café concert, the gaze, modernity, gender and class dynamics
Popular café and music hall where Parisians enjoyed their leisure - a characteristic impressionist subject that broke sharply with tradition, as did Manet's sketchy application of paint. The central figure in this painting is a young barmaid who looks out from the canvas but seems detached both from the viewer and the gentleman in a top hat who may be propositioning her. In accord with modernist principles, Manet called attention to the canvas surface by creating spatial inconsistencies, such as the relationship between the barmaid and her apparent reflection in the mirror

Cassatt
In the Loge
Impressionism
1871-78, France (American)
Both Manet and Cassatt make the viewer's gaze conspicuous, how? How does Cassatt play with the gaze? Woman at the theater, engrossed in activity, leisure pursuits, well-appointed bourgeois woman, respectable, not responding to the viewer's gaze, not interested. A man in the corner is looking at her with his binoculars (women are hyper visible, women become object of male gaze, it is uncomfortable) His gaze aligns with ours, we are both looking at the woman, but she is looking away. She is not responding. We are making her the object and she is simply not responding. Cassatt commenting on gender, sex, class politics