Art History Notes

In France, Louis XIV (reigned 1661-1715), the "Sun King," centralized government around himself.
He used art and architecture to serve the monarchy.
French monarchs ruled with absolute power, with little constraint.

"Salon" refers to a social gathering and a large, public art exhibition.
Early salons were social gatherings, particularly in France, to discuss art, literature, and philosophy.
Later, "salon" designated official art exhibitions.

The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) in London was founded in 1768.
It is a significant art institution in British art history.
The RA promotes and supports visual arts through exhibitions, education, and debate.
It played a crucial role in establishing a British artistic identity and raising the status of British artists internationally.

A pavilion is a flexible, open architectural structure.
It's often used as a shelter or for entertainment in parks, gardens, or public spaces.

Empiricism is a methodological approach that emphasizes observation, evidence, and concrete details in the study of art.
It prioritizes direct analysis of artworks rather than relying on theoretical frameworks or interpretations.
This approach emphasizes seeing and understanding the world directly through observation, rather than relying on pre-existing ideas or knowledge

Rococo is a flamboyant yet light-hearted form of art, characterized by whites, pastel colors, gilding, and curvaceous lines.
The Rococo style typically depicts scenes of youth, love, and nature.
It elicits motion and drama.

A "fête galante" refers to a type of painting popular in 18th-century France.
It's characterized by depictions of elegantly dressed men and women engaged in amorous play or flirtation within a parkland or rural setting.
These paintings often featured characters in masquerade or ball dress, enjoying themselves in a leisurely, pastoral atmosphere.

A Western cultural movement in decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture.
Drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity.
Example: Oath of the Horatii.

Used to illustrate a moral or virtuous behavior, often in art, literature, or rhetoric.
Cornelia presenting her children as treasure is an example.

With its bold, non-naturalistic colors, strong brushwork, and simplified forms, Fauvism focused on expressing emotion through color rather

Was a German Expressionist art group founded in 1905.
The group's name reflected their ambition to create a "bridge" between past and future.

The group explored the spiritual and emotional dimensions of art through abstraction, symbolism, and expressive mark-making.

Techniques employed by artists to access the unconscious mind and produce art spontaneously, without conscious control.
This approach, particularly prominent in Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism, aimed to unlock creative instincts and express subconscious thought.
It involved methods like free association, automatic drawing, and dripping paint to create works that reflected the artist's internal world rather than following pre-determined artistic styles – the artist would close thor eyes and draw something that may look like scribbles and then make something out of it.

Frottage and grattage are techniques used to create textures and patterns by manipulating material surfaces.
Frottage involves rubbing a pencil or crayon over a textured surface placed under paper to transfer its texture.
Grattage is scraping paint off a canvas placed over a textured surface to reveal imprints.

The method involves cultivating a state of paranoid delusion and using it as a way to explore the irrational and subconscious aspects of the human psyche.