The Birth of the Modern Age: 19th Century Art History

Flashcards covering the Birth of the Modern Age, focusing on 19th-century art movements (Pre-Raphaelites, Realism), major works by Turner, Courbet, and Manet, and the impact of industrialization and photography.

Modern Art (American/British Definition)

A periodization of art spanning from the mid-19th century to the end of World War II.

Contemporary Art (European/Italian Definition)

Term used in Europe and Italy to describe the period from the mid-19th century to the end of World War II, which American/British contexts refer to as modern art.

Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

An art movement founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti that sought to return to the artisan approach, religious topics, and workshop-style community of the Middle Ages.

The Aesthetic Relations of Art to Reality

A work published in 1853 by Nikolai Chernyshevsky.

Painter of the Modern Life

An 1863 work by Charles Baudelaire that influenced the understanding of the modern era.

Salon des Refusés

An exhibition held in Paris in 1863 to showcase artworks that had been rejected by the official Salon organized by the Academy of Fine Arts.

Arts and Crafts Movement

An international movement in the decorative and fine arts that began in 1888, emphasizing artisan production over industrialization.

Louis Daguerre

The inventor who presented the complete photographic process to the French Academy of Sciences in 1839.

The Crystal Palace

An innovative iron and glass structure built for the 1851 World Exhibition in London, designed by Joseph Paxton using techniques inspired by greenhouses.

Academic Art System

A formalized method of art education beginning in the late 16th century where students were taught to copy old masters like Raphael and Michelangelo before creating their own work.

William Turner

An artist considered a predecessor of the Impressionists, known for paintings like 'Rain, Steam, and Speed' ($1844$) which captured abstract impressions of industrial innovations.

William Morris

The socialist founder of Morris & Co. who believed that living in a beautiful environment with artisanal objects would improve both individuals and society.

Realism

An art movement that focused on depicting reality, simple people, and everyday life without celebration, often using a rougher representation of subjects.

Gustave Courbet

The first Realist painter, known for large-scale works like 'A Burial at Ornans' ($315\,cm \times 660\,cm$) and 'The Stone Breakers'.

Edouard Manet

A revolutionary painter whose work, such as 'The Absinthe Drinker' and 'Olympia', used 'sincerity' as an act of social protest and often featured socially insignificant or controversial figures.

Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe

An 1862-1863 painting by Edouard Manet that caused a scandal at the Salon because the representation of the nude woman was considered 'too real' and 'too true' for classical standards.

Emile Zola

A protagonist of realism in literature and an art critic who sustained the idea of art as a critique of social justice and promoted the work of Edouard Manet.

Japonisme (Interest in Japanese Prints)

A trend in Western art sparked by the exhibition of Japanese prints in Paris in 1867, influencing artists like Manet who incorporated Japanese screens and engravings into their work.

Positivism

The 19th-century philosophical period characterized by a strong faith in the power of knowledge, science, and human reason.

Special Theory of Relativity

A scientific theory published by Albert Einstein in 1905.