VISUAL ART

NEO CLASSICISM

  • CHARACTERISTICS

Logical, serious in tone and moralizing in character. Inspired by Greek-Roman art. Art made to educate the people. Renewed interest in classical civilization.

SUBJECT MATTER: consists of only a few figures in calm, static poses mainly derived from classical sculpture.

COMPOSITION: balance and ordered compositions were often based on geometrical shapes such as rectangles and triangles.

COLOR: strong contrasts between colours, between dark and light areas.

APPLICATION: smooth application of paint with no visible brushstrokes.

SHAPE: hard and precise outlines with clearly defined shapes were used.

ROMANTICISM

  • CHARACTERISTICS

Covers a wide range of subjects. Shifts away from reason towards feeling and imagination. Highly emotional intensity and a dream-like quality.

SUBJECT MATTER: emotional drama of the moment. Exotic themes. Portraits.

COMPOSITION: dramatic diagonal lines filled with drama and movement.

SHAPE: open. Emphasis on colour and brushstrokes.

APPLICATION: painterly style filled with brushstrokes.

COLOR: Rich colours.


REALISM

  • CHARACTERISTICS

SUBJECT MATTER: this art style is based off of the poor of society. It shows the working conditions and life of the peasants/poor. It shows the ‘unglamorous’ job that they were doing.

COMPOSITION: this is an on-going situation.

COLOR: somber, earth colours.

SHAPE: clearly visible.

APPLICATION: brushstrokes are often visible.

IMPRESSIONALISM

BACKGROUND

  • The camera was developed. It replaced certain functions of art like documenting leaders and events which also served as liberation for art. The artist was free to choose his own style.

INFLUENCES

  • THE LANDSCAPE- artists painted outside ( en plein air).

  • SCIENCE AND COLOUR- Colours in close proximity influence and change one another. From a distance two different colour threads show as one colour.

  • THE ROLE OF THE CAMERA- Impressionists were influenced by the blurred effect. They sometimes used photos as a base to their paintings. A simple spontaneous scene from everyday life (snapshot) and people and objects moves out of the frame. Like the camera, impressionists wanted to capture a moment in time.

CHARACTERISTICS

  • THEMES- the impressionists painted everyday scenes. Sunlit streets and landscapes, flower gardens and open-air cafes with a few interior scenes. Their work is “joie-de-vivre” or joy of life.

  • COLOUR AND LIGHT- the impressionists worked outside and directly from nature. They mixed colours as little as possible on their pallets. They put blobs of colour next to each other so that optical mixing took place. They put complimentary colours next to one another. No pure black was used, it was avoided. Their pallet only consisted of light colours and the only dark colours were indigo, dark green and violet.

  • THE FLEETING MOMENT- They found it necessary to paint outdoors because they were committed to observing the effects of light on colour in nature. Impressionists was to create and immediate and faithful representation of a fleeting moment.

  • BRUSHWORK -Short, visible and broken brushstrokes. Mixed optically. Paint is often applied impasto.

POST IMPRESSIONALISM, Cezanne, van Gogh and Gauguin

CHARACTERISTICS OF CEZANNES WORK

SUBJECT MATTER

  • Used a limited number of subjects such as still lifes, landscapes and portraits.

SPACE/DEPTH

  • He was always conscious of the flatness of the painted canvas and created a so-called flat space.

  • He did not want to copy nature but made constructions according to nature.

  • His perspective was always incorrect.

COLOR

  • Cezanne made use of bright colours but in a more structured way. He talked about modulation whereby one colour area should be related to the next.

  • A flat colour area is broken into seperate colour facets like a mosiac.

BRUSHWORK

  • Every brushstroke is like a building block, placed with firmness and with thought.

  • Used rectangular brushstrokes which do not express emotion but form a rhythmic pattern.

COMPOSITION

  • He placed emphasis on the underlying structure beneath appearances.

APPROACH

  • He worked as a formalist. He worked intellectually and the arrangement of everything was important to him.

  • He was interested in never changing structure.

CHARACTERISTICS OF VAN GOGHS WORK

SUBJECT MATTER

  • Landscapes, portraits, still lifes and interiors.

  • Always worked from reality but he never portrayed his emotional reaction to the subject.

SPACE/DEPTH

  • Often placed large masses in the middle of the canvas.

  • Usually used line perspective and often the horizon is three-quarters up the canvas.

COLOR

  • His colours were somber and then became lighter under the influence of impressionists.

  • In his later-works colour is over-emphasised to portray his emotions.

  • Strong pure colours and often yellows are placed against blues and violets.

BRUSHWORK

  • Strong linear character to his application of paint with strong outlines.

COMPOSITION

  • Always worked from reality.

  • Simplified and distorted shapes.

  • No unnecessary detail given, only the essence of a scene.

APPROACH

  • His art is personal and subjective.

CHARACTERISTICS OF GAUGUINS WORK

SUBJECT MATTER

  • Believed artists should work from memory to create imaginative work.

  • Often used religious and spiritual themes.

SPACE/DEPTH

  • Made use of flat space created by different horizontal bands of colour.

  • Became a flat surface filled with colours with no attempt to create a naturalistic portrayal.

COLOR

  • He believed colour was symbolic and imaginative.

  • Used cloisonism where bright colour areas are separated by dark contour lines similar to glass-stained windows.

BRUSHWORK

  • Used broad parallel brushstrokes in his decorative and simplified application.

COMPOSITION

  • He did not copy nature, he worked from his mind.

  • Monumental, simplified figures were created.

APPROACH

  • Synthesism is a type of symbolism where the artist uses his imagination.

  • Strongly opposed to naturalism.

  • Mysterious and exotic.