Symbolism/Avant-Garde/Art Nouveau/more Later 19thc
Art Nouveau
("The New Art") was a decorative-art movement centered in Western Europe during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It began in the 1880s as a reaction against the historical emphasis of mid-nineteenth-century art. This movement did not survive beyond World War I, and it was eventually replaced by the Art Deco movement. The term itself derives from the name of a fashionable Paris shop, "L'Art Nouveau," which sold works created in the "new" style. In general, this style was most successfully practiced in the decorative arts, such as architectural ornamentation, furniture, jewelry, book design, and illustration. Art Nouveau is a richly ornamental and asymmetrical style, characterized particularly by the depiction of twining plant tendrils, leaves, and flowers in undulating lines. Artists working in this style chose themes fraught with symbolism that were frequently of an erotic nature. They imbued their designs with dreamlike and exotic forms.
Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Building. Chicago, Illinois, U.S. Louis Sullivan (architect). 1899-1903 C.E. Iron, steel, glass, and terra cotta
American Louis Henry Sullivan (1856-1924), though, is generally regarded as the first truly modern architect. Sullivan was responsible for several works throughout the United States, one of which was the Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Building, Chicago, Illinois (1899-1903) (Image 124). The Sullivan Center was originally developed because of the Chicago Great Fire of 1871. In 1872, the partnership of Leopold Schlesinger and David Mayer began after their immigration from Bavaria. In 1890, Schlesinger and Mayer hired Adler and Sullivan to prepare plans for the removal of the Bowen Building's attic story and the addition of two stories across the Bowen Building and the adjacent four-story building to the south. The facades were added to match the bottom stories of the building and the building was painted white. The building is remarkable for its steel-framed structure, which allowed a dramatic increase in window area created by bay-wide windows. This allowed for the greatest amount of daylight to stream into the building interiors. Providing larger displays of merchandise to outside pedestrian traffic created the idea of a sidewalk showcase. In between the windows were lavish bands of terra cotta. A decision in what type of marble they would use in construction was complicated by the fact that stonecutters were having a strike in 1898 during the time of construction. The lavish bronze-plated cast-iron ornamental work above the rounded tower was also meant to be functional because it was to be as resilient as a sheet of copper. Both the use of bronze and terra cotta was important to making the building unique from others. It created a sense of monumentality. Sullivan thought the building would be an asset to the city for a decades. To ensure this great building would last and be resilient against the threat of fire, there was a 40 ft water tower put on the roof to supply the sprinkler system with enough water. Sullivan designed the unique corner entrance to be seen from both State and Madison. The ornamentation situated above the entrance would be literally attractive, which would give the store an elegant unique persona important to the competitiveness of the neighboring stores. The building is one of the classic structures of the Chicago school. The way this technique was used on the lower floors of the building were so elaborate that it used the natural lighting and shadows to seem almost as if it were magically floating above the ground. The top floor of the 1899 and 1904 sections of the building were recessed to create a narrow loggia topped by an intricately detailed cornice that projected beyond the facade of the building. This was removed around 1948, and the 12th floor redesigned to replicate the lower floors.
The Kiss. Gustav Klimt. 1907-1908 C.E. Oil and gold leaf on canvas.
An artist whose works reflect this sentiment is Gustav Klimt (1862-1918), also a leading member of the Art Nouveau movement. In the artist's most famous work, The Kiss (Image 128), we see a rich, sensuous composition characteristic of Art Nouveau. The extravagant flat patterning is characteristic of Klimt's personal style. This piece reflects the "fin-de-siecle" attitude: the couple is indulging in sensual activity, but they are nevertheless "masked" in a sea of color and form. The theme of two lovers, embraced in a kiss, was one that interested Klimt throughout his career. The Kiss reflected his increased emphasis on ornamentation and the use of gold leaf. The inspiration for his "Golden Phase", which culminated with The Kiss, was presumably inspired by a visit to Ravenna during his travels through Italy, which introduced him to Byzantine mosaics (Lesson 4.07). The abstract, decorative style of the Dutch and Belgium Symbolists also influenced Klimt's work. In the painting a couple is depicted embracing in a field of flowers. The man is bent over the woman, and she - clinging tightly to him - awaits his kiss. The heads, hands, and feet are realistically rendered, but the forms of their bodies have been reduced to flat, abstract patterns. In terms of ornamentation, square and rectangular forms define the male figue while rounded forms and (floral?) patterns characterize the female figure. A golden halo encompasses the couple, but it ends at the bare feet of the female, whose toes are sharply bent and firmly dug into the meadow. At the same time, however, the couple seems to have shaken off this last remnant of earthly weight and has been transported into another infinite, almost sacred sphere, suggestive of the gold background of Byzantine mosaics. When Klimt presented the painting to the public for the first time, in 1908, it was bought by the Austrian Gallery directly from the exhibition even though it was unfinished. This painting represents the centerpiece of the world's largest collection of works by Gustav Klimt.
The Hotel Tessel (not an img, just cool)
Art Nouveau first appeared in buildings designed by Victor Horta (1861-1947). The lobby of the Hotel Tessel in Brussels, Belgium, shows the twining plant forms so characteristic of the movement. Curvilinear forms appear literally everywhere: floors, railings, walls, and ceilings. These designs give a living "wholeness" to the decoration in Art Nouveau fashion.
Avant-Garde
As the nineteenth century progressed, each "modern" movement - from Realism to Impressionism to Post-Impressionism - increasingly challenged the classical and academic traditions of Western art. These visionary (and sometimes revolutionary) artists of the period came to be known collectively as the This term does not describe a style, but rather an intent or an attitude, and it refers to artists and their work that stand in the forefront of a movement or of new ideas, often in opposition to established ideas and traditions. In other works, their art is ahead of its time because it is innovative and experimental. The modern era has invariably had a flourishing Avant-garde, but many have said it is no longer possible in a postmodern era . For example, separate, yet equally innovative 19th century movements such as Symbolism as well as 20th century movements like Fauvism, Cubism ,and Dadaism may all be correctly identified as Avant-Garde movements. The term has military origins, and literally means "front guard," referring to the section of the army that would go ahead of the main group in order to scout or engage in raids. Eventually, the term made its way into the art world to describe those artists who "went out" before the others.
fin de siecle
French for "end of the century." The term does not refer just to chronology, but also to an attitude that pervaded the arts at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth. During this period, Western Europe experienced considerable political upheaval. At the same time, it was a period of considerable self-indulgence and decadence, especially among the upper middle and monied classes. Their extravagance was likely a way of "masking" their anxieties.
Symbolism (The Cyclops by Odilon Redon)
Impressionists and Post-Impressionists used sense and emotion to alter how nature was perceived. Yet, in the movements which followed, artists increasingly did not attempt to imitate nature at all, but rather presented their own subjective interpretations of it. Therefore, color, line, and shape no longer belonged to what was optically seen. Instead, these elements are used as symbols, and they are personal to each artist's intuition. Many of these artists were associated with the late nineteenth-century movement known as Symbolism. This movement rejected the purely visual realism of the Impressionists and the rationality of the Industrial Age in order to depict the symbols of ideas. Influenced by Romanticism and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, it thrived in France during the late nineteenth century, and soon it spread throughout much of Europe. Rather than the precise equivalents of ideas or emotions, its symbols were meant to be more mysterious, ambiguous suggestions of meanings. Accordingly, their subjects were esoteric, exotic, other worldly, mysterious, or dreamlike fantasies.
The Burghers of Calais. Auguste Rodin. 1884-1895 C.E. Bronze.
One of Rodin's most remarkable works is a life-sized group known as The Burghers of Calais (Image 119). Here, we see a scene from the Hundred Years War, when, in 1347, six leading men of Calais sacrificially offered their lives to the English king so that the English would cease their siege of the town and spare the population. Rodin was commissioned by the French city of Calais in 1885 to commemorate the heroic actions of Eustache de Saint-Pierre, a citizen of Calais who fought in the Hundred Years' War. Rodin used the account of Jean Frouissart, a 14th century writer who wrote about the war, in which he explained that King Edward III made an agreement with Calais - if they wanted to save the city, and their lives, they must give up the keys to the city, and have six members of the council volunteer to give up their lives. The leader of the group was Eustache de Saint-Pierre, who he depicted with a bowed head and beard toward the middle of the group. To his left is Jean d'Aire, who is carrying a giant set of keys. The six men are not celebrating victory, but are depicted at the moment they decided to give up their lives. They are wearing tattered sackcloth, and their bodies bony and undernourished; none of them make eye contact. They are in varied poses, some with heads bowed, and others with faces hidden by their hands, but they are united in expressing the utmost anguish, knowing that their death is imminent. Although the lives of the Burghers would eventually be spared, Rodin chose to depict them before they were aware of this, encompassing the grief and pain that they underwent in making their decision. Rodin took many risks during his long career, and this was no exception. The patrons who commissioned the sculpture were unhappy with his realistic depiction of what they wanted to be a heroic event. First of all, it was common in the 19th century to commemorate events with a single heroic figure - not a group. The patrons were expecting a single statue of Eustache de Saint-Pierre, elevated gloriously on a pedestal. Instead, they received all six figures, with de Saint Pierre not even taking a prominent stance among them, as the most heroic in a group statue typically would be. Rodin presented the sculpture with a pedestal, but he did not intend for it to be viewed that way. He wanted the men at street level, allowing the viewer to look easily into their faces. This would increase the connection between the viewer and the men. He created a second version without a pedestal to be placed at the Musée Rodin at the Hôtel Biron in Paris, so that viewers could experience the work in the way he intended, from multiple perspectives and with no clear leader.
The Scream. Edvard Munch. 1893 C.E. Tempera and pastels on cardboard.
Our last artist associated with Symbolism is Norwegian Edvard Munch (1863-1944). In the 1890s, he abandoned Impressionism to portray the themes of death, despair, fear, loneliness, and anxiety that stemmed from his profound sense of isolation. Munch said he heard "the scream of nature," and his works reveal as much. As far as the artist was concerned, Realist and Impressionist techniques were inappropriate for conveying his themes, and so he turned to color, line, and distortion of shape as means of expression. The result was an exciting, violent, and emotionally charged style that is recognized as being of primary importance in the birth of German Expressionism of the 20th century. Munch's The Scream (Image 122) is one of the most iconic figures in Western Art, second only to the Mona Lisa. Part of a semi-autobiographical cycle by Munch called The Frieze of Life, the work exists in four forms: oil, tempera and pastel on cardboard (1893), two pastel works (1893 and 1895), and a final tempera painting (1910). The various examples show how Munch experimented with different media while still remaining true to his themes of relationships, life, death, and fear. The work is really fairly simple, with only a few expressive forms sending a powerful and disturbing message. There are three main areas: bridge, shoreline, and sky. The foreground and background blend together, and the bridge separates the human figures from the landscape. Interestingly, the two background figures adopt the geometric lines and shapes of the bridge, while the foreground figure contains the same curving shapes of the landscape, linking the figure to the natural realm. This clearly reflects Munch's intention, as he relates an experience that inspired the work where he, in a similar setting, "felt a vast infinite scream [tear] through nature." Munch evokes ideas brought about by the idea of synesthesia, which means union of the senses. Based on the notion that the senses can overlap and unify through chemical or even poetic associations, Munch uses color and form that result in the visual depiction of sound and emotion. This was a notable feature of both the Symbolist and Expressionist movements.
Eiffel tower (not an img)
Such were the works of architect Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel (1832-1923), whose works also anticipated the twentieth-century skyscraper. Eiffel used the new industrial media in the construction of exhibition halls, bridges, and even the skeletal frame of Bartholdi's Statue of Liberty. However his most famous work, by far, is the Eiffel Tower that was built for the Paris exposition of 1889. Soaring nearly 1,000 feet into the air, then the tallest structure on earth, the Eiffel Tower soon became a symbol of modern Paris and of nineteenth-century civilization itself.
