Art in the Nineteenth Century

Art in the Nineteenth Century
Romanticism, Realism and Impressionism
Romanticism was a movement in art, theater, literature and music that flourished from
about 1800 through about 1850. It dealt with subject matter that was often taken from
far-away places and times. Focus was placed on emotional expression and dramatic
settings.
In music, compositions of Franz Schubert, Franz Liszt, Frederic Chopin and
Johannes Brahms focused on works that expressed both, the subtlest and most
powerful human emotions.
One of the best examples of Romantic era literature is the novel Frankenstein, written
in 1818 by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. It was a cautionary tale of unrestrained,
arrogant scientific experimentation.
For more information regarding romanticism check out the following link:
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/glo/romanticism/ (Romanticism)
During the early 19th century, countries began to value their own past and look to their
earlier traditions in architecture. This was a change from earlier generations that focused
primarily on the architecture of classical Greece and Rome to guide their public
buildings.
In 1834 the old Houses of Parliament burned down and a commission was sought for a
new building. This nationalist pride prompted Charles Barry (1795-1860) to design a
new Parliamentary building in London based on England’s version of the Gothic style.
1
The Houses of Parliament, London, Sir Charles Barry, architect, designed 1835.
J.M.W. Turner, The Burning of the House of Lords and Commons, 16th October 1834,
Oil on canvas.
2
John Nash, The Royal Pavilion, Brighton, England, 1815-18.
Brighton's Royal Pavilion, located on Pavilion Parade off Old Steine, is perhaps the most
famous building in Brighton.
It started in the 1780’s when the Prince Regent (who became King George IV) built a
villa for his mistress Mrs. Fitzherbert. This original villa was simple in style, designed by
architect Henry Holland. But as the Prince's flamboyant taste grew, he then
commissioned John Nash to rebuild it in a more extravagant style - and the Royal
Pavilion is the result. (pictured above)
A bizarre mix of influences, most notably Chinese and Indian, the Pavilion is a unique
piece of architecture. The design has been categorized as Indian-Gothic because of its
mixture of styles.
When Queen Victoria took the throne, she disliked the frivolous style of the Pavilion so
much that she removed all the furniture and planned to have it demolished. The people of
Brighton saved it from this fate by buying it from the Quee, so it still survives today.
Today the Royal Pavilion has been extensively restored, with the interior being
transformed back to its 19th century hey-day. Many of the original furnishings are back
in place.
3
Highlights of the interior include the Banqueting Room, the Great Kitchen and of course
the Music Room, which, it is said, reduced the Prince to tears when he first saw it!
The industrial revolution contributed greatly to construction techniques. Some buildings
were being prefabricated in factories and then assembled on site. This was a popular
building technique used in the new trend in English country estates where conservatories
(greenhouses) were becoming common. These conservatories were a sign of wealth and
sophistication as they were often used to propagate exotic flowers. Joseph Paxton (18011865) was an architect/builder who worked on many of these buildings. In 1851 Paxton
won a design competition for the building to house the Great Exhibition (much like the
world fair). This exhibition was to show the industrial works of the nations of the world,
all to be located in London. Paxton’s design for the building, The Crystal Palace utilized
the new trend of prefabricating the structure in parts in a factory then assembling them on
site. The structure was 990,000 square feet, 1851’ long. It housed more than 14,000
displays. The structure was built in an amazing 6 months then removed from the site
after the conclusion of the exhibition and reassembled at another location where it
remained until 1936 where it was destroyed by fire.
Joseph Paxton, Crystal Palace, London, England, 1850-51. London.
4
Trends in Painting
John Constable (1776-1837) was the best known of all of the English landscape painters
of this period. His work was a faithful representation of the English countryside with
special concern given to the weather and atmosphere. In 1824 his work made its mark in
the Paris Salon. The Salon, beginning in 1725 was the official art exhibition of the
Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France. From 1748–1890 it was the greatest annual
or biannual art event in the Western world. In Constable’s work, the figures in the scenes
were active participants rather than observers posing in the scene, as was common in
earlier, aristocratic paintings.
John Constable, The Haywain, 1821. Oil on canvas, 4’3” X6’2”. National Gallery,
London.
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/constable/ (Constable on the Web)
The work of Joseph Mallord William Turner (JMW Turner) (1775-1851) was energetic
and made use of coarse, loose brushwork. He was a contemporary of John Constable in
the English School of landscape painting; however that is where the similarities end.
While Constables work was serene, Turner’s work was turbulent capturing the
5
atmospheric qualities of the scene in an almost violent manner. He was known for
painting scenes which evoked outrage from recent events. One such piece was The
Slave Ship (Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying, Typhoon Coming
On), 1840 (pictured below). This scene depicts an event that occurred in 1783 and was
common knowledge to many contemporary people. The event happened aboard a slave
ship where the captain decided to throw all of the dead and dying slaves overboard during
an oncoming typhoon. He did this after realizing he could collect insurance payment if
the slaves were lost at sea whereas, the insurance company wouldn’t pay if they simply
died in route. Many of the slaves were simply ill and were thrown overboard while still
shackled. The scene is depicted in his energetic loose style showing the violence of the
storm and the events taking place.
Another example of his work is shown above in the scene The Burning of the House of
Lords and commons, 16th October 1834.
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/turner/ (Link to Turner)
In order to make more money, Turner was known to make reproductions of his work in
etching, which he could mass produce, in order to sell more of his pieces at a more
affordable price.
6
Theodore Gericault (1791-1824) led the way during the early French Romantic Period. He was
inspired to do a large, dynamic history painting after a visit to Rome where he was exposed to
the work of Renaissance masters such as Michelangelo. He found as his subject matter for such
a dynamic piece, the French frigate the Medusa. He painted this scene on a large scale using a
16’X 23’ canvas. This story involved the complex tale of an incompetent captain who received
his appointed to command the ship due to political connections, even though he was grossly
under qualified. In 1816 the ship loaded with French colonists and soldiers headed to a French
colony, sank off the coast of Africa. The newly remodeled ship had too few lifeboats for all of
the passengers, so a make shift life raft was made for the passengers while the captain and crew
took the lifeboats. The raft was left adrift at sea and discovered 13 days after the wreck. Of the
original 152 passengers only 15 survived. The survivors managed to do so by resorting to
cannibalism. Gericault’s contribution to Romanticism with the Raft of the Medusa was an
instinct for the sublime. With this piece, he rejected the rigidity of the Neoclassical style, which
was the style typically used for large scale history paintings. Instead, he chose to focus on the
emotional drama and visual complexity of the scene. He did, however, use the traditional
Renaissance pyramidal arrangement for the figures in the scene. The piece took a reported 8
months to paint, during which time he did much research, such as constructing a replica of the
raft and visiting the morgue to study corpses for the composition.
Gericault had a brief life (32 years) due to accidents and various health issues; however, his
impact on the world of painting was profound.
Theodore Gericault, Raft of the Medusa, 1818-1819. Oil on canvas, 16’ X 23’.
http://www.wga.hu/bio/g/gericaul/biograph.html
7
A Conflict of Styles
Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863) was a French painter of the Romantic period who was
influenced in his use of color, atmosphere and paint surface by the English painter John
Constable, introduced above. During this period there were two schools of style in
painting. One style led by Delacroix, was the emphasis of color, while the other,
emphasizing draftsmanship or the use of line and form was led by the French master
Ingres. Delacroix’s style and investigation of color/brushwork had an impact on the
development of Impressionism.
One of Delacroix’s most recognized paintings is a scene of Parisians, having taken up
arms, pressing forward under the French flag, the tricolor, which is used to represent
liberty, equality, and fraternity; Delacroix was inspired by contemporary events in the
Revolution of 1830, in which Parisians revolted against Charles X. The partially nude
female figure is intended to represent Liberty and symbolize Liberties plight to push
forward in spite the loss of many lives.
Below are two links to Delacroix
http://www.wga.hu/bio/d/delacroi/biograph.html
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/delacroix/
Eugene Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People: July 28, 1830. Oil on canvas, 8’ 6 ½”X 10’ 8”.
8
The Barbizon School of Painters
At the Paris Salon of 1824, English painter John Constable, mentioned above, won a
major award with one of his landscape paintings. His style was instrumental in its
influence on a French group of landscape painters painting in the country town of
Barbizon in the forest of Fontainebleau. This group was a crucial link in the evolution of
the Impressionist style of painting.
The painter Jean-Francois Millet was one of several accomplished artists working in the
village of Barbizon. He chose for his subject, the countryside with peasants going about
their work. He did so in a manner showing them with the heroic grace of the figures of
Michelangelo.
Jean-Francois Millet, The Gleaners, 1857. Oil on canvas, 33”X 44”.
The Picture above shows women gleaning the grain fields after the harvest, pictured in
the background. Gleaning was a back breaking task reserved for the poorest of the poor.
It allowed them to, through hard work; gather the grains missed by the initial harvest.
9
Because of his elevation of the peasant class in his work, critics often called him a
socialist, trying to create sympathy for the poor. However, while his beliefs were not
socialist; he did attempt to show the poor with dignity.
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/millet/ (Link to Millet)
Applying the academic approach to his work, Edgar Degas (1834-1917) didn’t work plein air,
(outdoors) like the Impressionists. Instead he sketched his subject matter then returned to the
studio to work his paintings. Rather than focusing on the effects of light and color as his
contemporaries did, the core of his work was carefully drafted compositions. While his approach
was very traditional, his subject matter was more contemporary. He chose scenes from street
life, race tracks, cafes, and dance halls, but many of his most recognizable canvases are scenes of
ballet performances and practices. Because he studied Japanese prints, their flat compositions
often played a strong influencing factor on his paintings. From the bustling streets of Paris, he
painted scenes of pedestrians to capture the split second spontaneous movements he had seen in
photography, an art form just coming of age. In paintings such as Ballet Rehearsal, 1876 Degas
used the camera as a tool to capture the image to make preliminary studies for the piece.
Edgar Degas, The Dance Class, 1873-76.
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/degas/
10
A New Art Form
An early form of photography began to emerge in the 1840’s. While the reproduction of
images on a light sensitive emulsion was developed around this time, the use of lensed
objects to help capture an image had been experimented with for centuries. An example
of such a device was the camera obscura, (Latin for dark chamber), was thought to have
been used by the interior scene painter Jan Vermeer (The Girl With the Pearl Earring) to
help transfer objects onto a drawing surface.
A photographer who specialized in sequential studies of motion with the use of a camera
was Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904). Muybridge migrated from England to the United
States in the mid-19th century, where he settled in San Francisco. Muybridge became
famous for his photography as an art form and won awards in prestigious competitions
internationally.
A form of photography which he helped pioneer, was used to help settle a bet. The
Governor of California used Muybridge’s photographs to settle a bet about whether a
horse galloping at full speed ever had all four hooves off the ground at the same time.
Muybridge’s sequential images proved they do. This gave birth to the fact that the
camera could be used as a useful tool to capture images too fast for the human eye to
register, and was a prelude to the moving picture or film industry.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muybridge
Brutal Realism in America
Many American artists were beginning to have an impact on the international art scene.
During the last half of the 19th and first quarter of the 20th centuries, the American portrait
painter Thomas Eakins (1844-1904) focused on the harsh realities of the human form and
human experiences. Eakins’ unflinching attention to realism often cost him patronage
and friendship because he refused to idealize his subjects. In 1875, Eakins chose as his
subject, Dr. Samuel David Gross performing surgery with medical students taking notes.
When he submitted the painting to the jury of the show in 1876 for the centennial
celebration, in the city of Philadelphia, it was rejected because it was too graphic for
general audiences. One critic even described the piece as “… that even strong men find it
difficult to look at long, if they can look at it at all.”
To see the image follow this link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:EakinsTheGrossClinic.jpg
11
The Academic Tradition
A staunch supporter of the academic tradition in painting was Jean-León Gérôme (18241904). Gérôme’s work was very highly finished and fit with neoclassical style as well as
that of the Orientalists, who painted exotic scenes. He traveled throughout Egypt, Turkey
and North Africa and painted unique scenes that were very popular with patrons of the
time.
Gérôme was an outspoken critic of the Impressionist movement and taught many
successful students, including Thomas Eakins, in the academic style.
Two of his well-known pieces were, Police Verso (Thumbs Down) and Pygmalion and
Galatea (the subject for the musical My Fair Lady).
Jean-León Gérôme, Police Verso (Thumbs Down) 1872. Phoenix Art Museum
To see more about Realism follow this link:
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/glo/realism
12
American Landscape Painting
The dominant group of landscape painters in America during this period was a group
collectively called the Hudson River School of Painters. They got this name because
they painted primarily in the undeveloped wilds of the Hudson River Valley. They
depicted their landscapes in a Romantic style focusing on the wild untamed land. While
they were called the Hudson River School, they did however, paint far and wide
throughout America. Their focus was the identifying qualities that made America
unique. This was something intriguing to Europeans of the time, as it piqued their
imaginations.
The artist often credited with being the leader of this group was Thomas Cole (18011848). At age 17, Cole emigrated from England to the U.S. His interest in painting the
landscape around New York spurred on the genre. Cole believed that too much focus on
detail and accuracy detracted from the mood of the piece. Many of his pieces were
painted based on memory with use of his field sketches as references.
http://www.wga.hu/html/c/cole/index.html
Thomas Cole, The oxbow, 1836. Oil on canvas, 51 ½” X 76”. Metropolitan Museum of
Art, New York.
13
As an infant Albert Bierstadt’s (1830-1902) family immigrated to America. As a young
man, Bierstadt traveled to Europe, where he painted and sketched the landscape. Upon
returning to America he began to paint with the Hudson River painters. Eventually, he
became part of a Westward bound expedition which allowed him to paint powerful
panoramic views of the untamed American West. He became the first artist to travel to
the far reaches of the American West and document the unspoiled landscapes.
Albert Bierstadt, Sierra Nevada c. 1871. Oil on canvas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Bierstadt
Documenting the History of America
With the outbreak of the Civil War, publications often sent reporters to the front lines,
much like the “embedded reporters” covering conflicts today. Winslow Homer, a native
of Boston, (1836-1910) not only reported but also illustrated scenes of the conflicts and
events during the Civil War. His work was published in Harper’s Weekly. Homer was
known for his realistic depictions of ordinary people in realistic settings. Homer worked
in a variety of media including watercolor, which lent itself to field studies.
14
Winslow Homer, After the Hurricane, 1899. Watercolor.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winslow_Homer
Another American painter to illustrate for printed publications, worked for the publishing
giant William Randolph Hurst. His name was Fredrick Remington (1861-1909).
Remington was born in New York and attended school at Yale University, where he
participated in football and boxing and studied art on a very limited basis.
In 1898 Remington was a war correspondent and illustrator of the Spanish-American
War. His work was published in the publications produced by Hearst. He was present to
witness the historic assault by American forces on San Juan Hill, led by Theodore
Roosevelt.
Remington became known for his distinctive style of cowboys, and Native Americans in
the American West. His scenes are typically action packed, depicting the rough and
tumble life in the American West. At age 48 Remington died of appendicitis when he
could not receive medical help in time.
15
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Remington
Fredrick Remington, A Dash for the Timber, 1889.
One of the first American painters of African descent to make it onto the world stage was
Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937). Tanner was the son of an African American minister
from Pennsylvania. He studied under the American master Thomas Eakins. From
Eakins he learned the importance of careful study of his subject matter. The focus of his
work was the portrayal of ordinary people.
Eventually Tanner traveled to Europe where he settled in Paris in 1891 and exhibited in
numerous French galleries. During this time he was exposed to the work of Rembrandt
and was strongly influenced by his use of lighting. During his lifetime Tanner
experienced success and international acclaim as a painter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ossawa_Tanner
16
Henry Osawa Tanner, The Annunciation, 1898
As the Impressionist movement grew, a native of Philadelphia named Mary Cassatt
(1844-1926) found that her work fit a better with their style than it was with any of the
more traditional styles of the time. Cassatt’s distinctive style, using colorful loose strokes
in paint and pastels is very recognizable and shows her careful attention to the effects of
color on the subject.
Cassatt was influenced by her friend Edgar Degas and the medium of photography as
well as Japanese prints which was a popular medium at the time. Many of her scenes
depict the tender moments between a mother and child.
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/cassatt/
17
Mary Cassatt, Nurse Reading to a Little Girl.
A younger contemporary of Thomas Eakins was John Singer Sargent (1851-1925). In
contrast to the carefully rendered details painted by Eakins, Sargent painted in a looser
style which allowed the brush strokes to show in his work, while still maintaining a
realistic style. Eakins immigrated to Paris and eventually settled in London, where he
developed a successful career as a portrait artist.
John Singer Sargent, Self-portrait 1906. Uffizi Gallery Florence.
18
John Singer Sargent, The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit, 1882. Oil on Canvas, 7’ 3
3/8” X7’ 3 5/8”.
A Change in the Art World
In the late 19th Century, artists began to experiment with new styles and techniques.
Their focus became something more than simply capturing a likeness of the subject.
After all, that could be done with a camera! A pivotal figure in this movement was
Edouard Manet (1832-1883). Manet was a French painter who was a key part of the
transition from Realism to Impressionism. His loose style was a sign of things to come.
He was never formally part of the Impressionist movement, but eventually began to paint
in a style similar to that of the Impressionists, using a lighter combination of colors and
very coarse brush work. In his subject matter, he chose to depict modern life and scenes
of society.
19
Edouard Manet, The Café Concert, 1878.
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/manet/
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/glo/impressionism/ (Impressionsism)
The Impressionist movement was a shocking change to a traditional art world. The artists
of this period were all born in the 1830’s and 1840’s and were of a generation that found
traditional painting uninspiring. They focused their attention on the light, color and
atmosphere of a single moment. While they often quarreled over how to depict light and
color in outdoor lighting, they often exhibited their work together because they were not
accepted in the traditional shows or Salons of Paris. Since their focus was prismatic color
and atmosphere, they tended to work plein air, a French term which mean “in the open
air” or outdoors. The name Impressionist was given to the group by a hostile critic who
intended it as an insult, describing their work as simply giving the impression of their
subject (see the quote below). The artists didn’t take the term as an insult and actually
started using the title for their style.
20
The First Impressionist Exhibition, with critical comments:
http://www.artchive.com/galleries/1874/74monet.htm
One of the early and most outspoken champions of the Impressionist style was Claude
Monet (1840-1926). His work was publicly exhibited for the first time in 1874, where it
was met with hostility from critics. One critic said of one of his paintings “Wallpaper in
its embryonic state is more finished than that seascape.' Louis Leroy, Le Charivari, 25
April 1874. Undaunted however, Monet focused his research and attention to the effects
of light on color. His painting style was very loose and much like a sketch rather than a
tightly finished piece. He only painted when the lighting conditions were perfect, which
forced him to be very spontaneous because the outdoor lighting was constantly changing.
Claude Monet, Haystack End of Summer, 1891. Oil on Canvas.
In his experiments using pure color and light he often painted subjects in series. One of
his subjects was a series of haystack in which the lighting conditions varied with the time
of day.
Monet lived in extreme poverty until later in life when his work finally began to establish
a following of collectors. At that point he moved to Giverny, where he had a garden with
ponds and water lilies, which became the subject of one of his most famous series of
paintings.
21
Claude Monet, Water lilies 1906. Oil on Canvas. Art Institute of Chicago.
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/monet/
Post Impressionism
Following the lead of the Impressionists, later artists did a lot of experimentation. During
this period of experimentation other systems of painting were developed. Many of the
artists following the Impressionist movement felt it was lacking in structure, meaning,
and expressionism. These artists are generally grouped together under the classification
of Post-Impressionists. One such style made use of a systematic organization of tiny dots
of pure color placed in a location in and among each other to create new colors, much
like the color printing process used in publishing today. This technique is called
Divisionism or Pointillism. The father of this style was George Seurat (1859-1891).
Seurat’s system was a very technical analysis of color, saturation and value applied to an
understanding of the science of optics. The blending of the individual colors is done by
the viewer’s eyes when the piece is viewed from a distance.
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/seurat/
22
George Seurat, A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, 1884-1886. Oil on Canvas, 6’9”X10’. The
Art Institute of Chicago.
Another painter who worked utilizing the foundation of Impressionism and made it more
analytical was Paul Cézanne (1839-1906). His work was done in series paintings much
like that of Monet. While Cézanne allied himself with the Impressionists, he felt that
they needed “something more solid” because of the influence the Old Masters had on
him.
In addition to color, Cézanne studied the relationships and properties of line and plane
present in three dimensional forms. Pertaining to color, Cézanne understood that color
temperature effected depth. Such concepts as warm colors coming forward and cool
colors receding helped to create the illusion of depth and structure in his work.
One of his most notable series paintings was Mt. Sainte Victoire, a mountain near his
home. Rather than capturing a fleeting moments lighting, he focused on large colored
spaces and planes.
23
Paul Cézanne, Mont Sainte-Victoire, 1882-1885. Oil on Canvas. Metropolitan Museum
of Art, New York.
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/cezanne/bio.html
Today one of the most familiar names among the Post-Impressionists is the Dutch painter
Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890). Van Gogh is as well known for his troubled, turbulent
life as he is for his innovative painting style. Among other painters, he was known for
his abrasive argumentative personality. Van Gogh began doing work as a missionary in
the poor sections of London and the mining communities of Belgium. Eventually he left
his religious callings and took up painting. Van Gogh’s exposure to art early on was
through his work as an art dealer. As a dealer, he was often in trouble with his boss
because he injected his personal opinion about the quality of various pieces to potential
clients, often turning them away from what he considered to be inferior pieces.
24
He eventually moved to Paris and was exposed to the Parisian avant-garde of the time.
His painting style is a thick Impasto of paint which creates an active energy through the
coarse brush strokes.
One of his earliest pieces is a dark somber painting called The Potato Eaters. This
scene was done before he was exposed to the colorful avant-garde painting styles in
Paris. In the composition he stated that he was trying to capture the humble, honest scene
where the hard working people were eating with the same hands they had labored.
Vincent van Gogh, The Potato Eaters, 1885. Oil on Canvas. Van Gogh Museum,
Amsterdam.
One of Van Gogh’s most well recognized works is the piece called Starry Night. While
the scene utilizes powerful swirling brush strokes and burst of color much like fireworks,
it is at the same time peaceful and tranquil. Concerning the stars Van Gogh wrote: “Just
as we take the train to get to Tarascon or Rouen, we take death to reach a star.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vincent_van_Gogh_Starry_Night.jpg
25
During his lifetime, Van Gogh had almost no success selling his paintings, with only one
selling during his lifetime. Today however, his work fetches extremely high prices. In
1990 his portrait of Dr. Gachet (his psychiatrist), sold for $82.5 million dollars to a
Japanese paper manufacturer.
Van Gogh was frequently plagued with episodes of mental illness which caused him to be
institutionalized, cut off part of his ear, and eventually, in 1890, commit suicide.
Vincent van Gogh, Portrait of Dr. Gachet, 1890. Oil on Canvas. Private Collection.
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/gogh/
Paul Gauguin (1848-1903), a friend and fellow painter of Van Gogh, advised “Don’t
paint from nature too much. Art is an abstraction. Derive this abstraction from nature
while dreaming before it and think more of the creation that will result.” Because of this
26
philosophy concerning art, both painters helped pave the way for the various interpretive
styles that followed.
Paul Gauguin didn’t begin his professional career as a painter but, rather, as a stock
broker. In 1883 the stock market crashed and he lost his job so he decided to pursue his
interest of painting full time. Gauguin longed for a simpler, more primitive life style
because he felt that the influences of modern life made it artificial. Eventually he found
this simplicity in the French province of Brittany and eventually in the South Pacific,
French Polynesian islands of Tahiti, where he eventually settled and painted until his
death.
Gauguin’s style was unlike that of Van Gogh’s in that he used a softer brush stroke with
less surface texture. Gauguin enjoyed the simplicity of folk art and often painted in a
primitive style with flat shapes and heavy outlines, unlike the academic style of the early
part of the century.
Paul Gauguin, Tahitian Women on the Beach, 1891. Oil on canvas.
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/gauguin/
27
A shift toward abstraction
Symbolism was a French movement that went international. Its central focus viewed
realism as trivial and needed to be transformed into a symbol of the inner experience
addressing irrational fears and desires. Their work was strongly influenced by the writing
of Edgar Allan Poe and the work of Sigmund Freud. Freud made a comparison in his
writings between artistic creation and dreams in his piece entitled The Interpretation of
Dreams.
In their work they rejected materialism and replaced it with the fantasy worlds of their
imaginations. Supporting this rejection of materialism, they coined the term “art for art’s
sake.”
One of the most commonly recognized pieces from this movement is called The Scream
by the Painter Edvard Munch (1863-1944). The scene is nightmarish with its wild
patterns of color and distorted, skeletal like figure. According to Munch he “painted a
silent scream passing through the picture.” This scream was one he “sensed” passing
through nature. Munch believed that humans were powerless over the great natural
forces of death and emotions.
http://www.edvard-munch.com/gallery/anxiety/index.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Scream.jpg
An untrained amateur French painter whose work is considered primitive or naïve in
manner was Henri Rousseau (1844-1910). While Rousseau never left Paris, he created
fantastic scenes from his imagination of places far away. Because of his lack of training,
his work naturally captured a primitive style that was sophisticated in its design qualities
and imagery. Many of his scenes, dream like in their appearance, are perhaps a prelude
to the Surrealist movement of the 20th century.
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/rousseau/
Auguste Rodin was a French sculptor who was fascinated by the human body in motion.
He was focused on the influence of light on the three dimensional surface. One of
Rodin’s most recognized works was the commission for The Gates of Hell. This was a
commission that was intended to be used as a set of doors. A section of this commission
is what most people recognize. It is what is now known as The Thinker.
28
Auguste Rodin, The Gates of Hell, Musée d’ Orsay
29
Auguste Rodin, The Thinker, 1879-89
30
Auguste Rodin, Burgers of Calais, 1884-1889, Bronze, 6’ 10”High.
The piece shown above was commissioned to celebrate a heroic event during the siege of
Calais, France in 1347, as part of the Hundred Years War. During the English siege of
the city, six of the leading citizens of Calais offered to give up their lives to the English in
exchange for the king’s promise to spare the city’s population and lift the siege. This
piece exemplifies Rodin’s attention to surface texture, the interplay of light and shadow
and the emotion of the event.
During this time architecture was being constructed on a mammoth scale. The use of iron
framework was being utilized as a means of support and in some cases as a design
element. Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel utilized this type of metal work in his constructions.
One such construction is the Eiffel Tower. This skeletal looking behemoth which Eiffel
designed soars 984’ above the city of Paris.
31
32
Eiffel’s involvement in another internationally recognized structure is less obvious.
Because of his expertise in the use of metal support work, he was an obvious choice to
design the support structure for the Statue of Liberty.
During the late 19th Century and Early 20th century many industrial giants made their
fortunes. Utilizing this new found, wealth large extravagant residences were constructed.
From that period sprang a popular style called Art Nouveau. This style, which means
New Art in French, is characterized by the use of organic twining plant forms. Many
media were used in this art form such as painting, iron work for stair bannisters, mosaic
and stained glass, which was used for lamps created by artists such as Lois Comfort
Tiffany.
33
This front cover of an 1896 edition of the German magazine Jugend is decorated in Art Nouveau motifs.
34
Alfonse Mucha, Poster of Maude Adams as Joan of Arc, 1909
http://www.muchafoundation.org/MGalleries.aspx
35
Lamp shade in the Art Nouveau style by Louis Comfort Tiffany.
36
37