Study Notes on Art Movements in the Late 18th and Early 19th Centuries

Chapter 21a: Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries Vocabulary

• Painterly
• Academic Art

Outline

• Neoclassicism
  • Jacques-Louis David
  • Monticello (architecture)
• Romanticism
  • Francisco Goya
  • JMW Turner
  • Eugene Delacroix
• The Salon and Academic Art
• Realism
  • Henri Ossawa Tanner
  • Edouard Manet

Key Concepts

Artist, Title, Style

• Style refers to:
  • Technique
  • Influence (or rejection)
  • Common Subjects
• Underlined artists are in focus; additional notes are encouraged as they may appear on tests and possibly essay questions.

Neoclassicism

• Jacques-Louis David:
  • Title: Oath of the Horatii
  • Year: 1784
  • Dimensions: 10'10" × 14' (Oil on canvas)

Rococo vs. Neoclassical

• Jean-Honoré Fragonard:
  • Title: Happy Accidents of the Swing
  • Year: 1767
• Jacques-Louis David:
  • Title: Oath of the Horatii
  • Year: 1784

French Rococo

Notable Works

• Self Portrait in a Straw Hat: 1782
• Self Portrait with Her Daughter Julie: 1789
• Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun: Work produced before and after the French Revolution

Neoclassical Art in a Nutshell

• Themes include:
  • Greco-Roman Mythology
  • Historical subjects
  • Fashion: Togas and evening gowns with "Empire silhouette"

Monticello

• Thomas Jefferson:
  • Monticello, located in Charlottesville, Virginia
  • Construction years: 1793–1806

Rococo vs. Neoclassical Decoration

• Germain Boffrand:
  • Title: Salon de la Princesse, Hôtel de Soubise
  • Location: Paris
  • Began: 1732
• Thomas Jefferson:
  • Monticello interior (Parlor)
  • Years: 1793–1806

Monticello Architectural References

• Inspiration drawn from classical architecture:
  • The Pantheon
  • Villa Rotonda

Romanticism

Key Works and Artists

• Francisco Goya:
  • Title: The Third of May, 1808
  • Year: 1814
  • Dimensions: 8'9" x 13'4" (Oil on canvas)

Concept of Romance

• Derived from Old French: Romanz, stories written in the vernacular rather than Latin
• Definition: A movement in the arts and literature originating in the late 19th century
  • Emphasizes inspiration, subjectivity, and the primacy of the individual
  • Romantic art contrasts with Neoclassical art:
  • Emotion over rationality
  • Nature over architecture, civilization, and government
  • Focus on current events over mythology
  • Depicts common man instead of heroes

Goya's Additional Works

• Title: Charles IV of Spain and his Family
  • Year: c. 1800
• Los Desastres de la Guerra (The Disasters of War):
  • A series of 82 prints created between 1810-1820 depicting the Peninsular War
  • Key Titles:
    • "Y no hai remedio" (And there’s nothing to be done)
    • "Esto es malo" (This is bad)
    • "Esto es peor" (This is worse)
    • "No se puede mirar" (One can’t look)
    • "Grande hazaña! Con muertos!" (An incredible feat! With dead men!)
    • "Enterrar y callar" (Shut up and bury them)
• Francisco Goya:
  • Title: The Second of May, 1808
  • Year: 1814
  • Dimensions: 104" x 135" (Oil on canvas)

Prado Museum

• Location: Madrid, Spain

Neoclassical vs. Romanticism

• Jacques-Louis David:
  • Title: Oath of the Horatii
  • Year: 1784
• Francisco Goya:
  • Title: The Third of May, 1808
  • Year: 1813

Painting Techniques

• Painterly Defined:
  • A painting characterized by an openness of form where shapes are defined by loose brushwork in light and dark color areas instead of by outline or contour
  • Techniques include:
  • Loose, less controlled application of paint
  • Visible brushstrokes
  • Examples:
    • "Van Gogh executed this landscape in a painterly manner…"
    • "Sargent’s loose, painterly brushwork…"
    • "Monet’s painterly technique in his seascapes evokes…"

Notable Works in Romanticism

• Joseph Mallord William Turner:
  • Title: The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons
  • Year: 1834
  • Dimensions: 36 ¼” x 48 ½” (Oil on canvas)

Alternate Versions

• Cleveland Museum of Art: Versions of The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons

• Philadelphia Museum of Art: Versions of The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons

• Eugène Delacroix:

  • Title: The Death of Sardanapalus
  • Year: 1827
  • Dimensions: 12'1-1/2" × 16'2-7/8" (Oil on canvas)

Neoclassical vs. Romanticism Recap

• Jacques-Louis David:
  • Title: Oath of the Horatii
  • Year: 1784
• Eugene Delacroix:
  • Title: The Death of Sardanapalus
  • Year: 1826

Academic Art

• Definition:
  • Tradition-minded works that follow formulas laid down by an official institution (the Academy)
• Johann Zoffany:
  • Title: Academicians of the Royal Academy (London)
  • Year: 1771
• Francois-Joseph Heim:
  • Title: Charles X Distributing Awards to Artists Exhibiting at the Salon of 1824 at the Louvre
  • Year: 1827

The Salon

• Description:
  • Annual art exhibition featuring works selected by members of the Academy
  • Influential in determining artistic success and trends

Hierarchy of Artistic Subjects

1. History Paintings:
   • Subjects include:
     • History
     • Classical Mythology
     • Biblical stories
     • Allegory
2. Portraiture
3. Genre Painting
4. Landscapes
5. Still Life

Telfair Academy of Arts & Sciences

• Julian Story
  • Artistic contribution represented: The Black Prince at Crecy, 1888 in the Rotunda gallery.

Academic Art vs. Realism

• Jean-Léon Gérôme:
  • Title: Pygmalion and Galatea
  • Year: c. 1860
  • Dimensions: 35” x 27” (Oil on canvas)
• Thomas Eakins:
  • Title: William Rush Carving His Allegorical Figure of the Schuylkill River
  • Year: 1876–1877
  • Dimensions: 20-1⁄8" × 26-1⁄8" (Oil on canvas on masonite)

Criticism of Artistic Representation

• What ruins the picture is much less the want of beauty in the model (as has been suggested in the public prints) than the presence in the foreground of the clothes of that young woman, cast carelessly over a chair. This gives the shock which makes one think about the nudity—and at once the picture becomes improper.

Realism

• Definition:
  • Rejects idealism, grandeur, exaggeration, or sentimentality
  • Represents real life, as experienced by real people
• Henry Ossawa Tanner:
  • Title: The Banjo Lesson
  • Year: 1893
  • Dimensions: 49" x 35 ½" (Oil on canvas)
• The Thankful Poor:
  • Year: 1894

Tanner's Identity as an Artist

• Quote: "In America, I’m ‘Henry Tanner, Negro artist,’ but in France I’m ‘Monsieur Tanner, l’artiste américaine.’"
• Tanner faced racial prejudice which influenced his artistic expression: "I cannot fight prejudice and paint at the same time."

Tanner's Techniques and Themes

• Predominantly biblical paintings that were immensely popular.
• The works often featured Orientalism as a theme, which contemporary scholarship criticizes for its exoticism of the East.
• Notable style described as painterly, with realism exhibiting poetic visions of subjects.

Notable Works by Tanner

• Study of an American Soldier: c. 1917-1918
• Additional notable works include Untitled, 1880 (Oil on canvas, part of Telfair Museums).

Edouard Manet

• Title: Luncheon on the Grass (Le Déjeuner Sur l'Herbe)
• Year: 1863
• Dimensions: 7' x 8'10" (Oil on canvas)

Controversy Surrounding Manet's Work

• Public reaction included comments such as:
  • “My God! What indecency.”
  • “This is a young man’s practical joke – a shameful, open sore.” (Emile Zola)
• Contextual Comparison:
  • The Birth of Venus by Alexandre Cabanel, a huge success purchased by Emperor Napoleon III, raises questions on the differing receptions of similarly themed works.

Historical Context References in Manet's Work

• Historical pose and theme borrowed from:
  • Raphael: - Judgment of Paris, Engraving (original lost) c. 1510
  • Titian: - Pastoral Concert c. 1509

Salon des Refusés

• Context:
  • Known for featuring works rejected by the jury of the Exposition at the Académie des Beaux-Arts
  • Initiated by Emperor Napoleon III after numerous public complaints
  • Significant example includes Symphony in White, No. 1 by James Abbott McNeill Whistler, also rejected from the Salon

Victorine Meurent

• Edouard Manet:
  • Title: Olympia
  • Year: 1863
  • Dimensions: 4'3" x 6'2" (Oil on canvas)