The Rise of Modernism: Art of the Late 19th Century (Chapter 29) by tennislove

Mnemonic

"Art of its own time- art that is Real or appears to be Real"

Realism Sum Up

*1849-1894 *Context: momentous developments of Industrial Revolution led to explosive growth of cities and factories *Formal Elements: -emphasis on what is "real" and seen with the eye -disapproved of fictional and historical subjects -depicted working class and peasants

Section 1: Realism (pg 852-866)

*A movement that developed in France in mid-century; Courbet was leading figure; Realists argued that only the things of one's own time, what people can see for themselves, are "real"- focused attention on experiences and sights of everyday contemporary life and disapproved of historical and fictional subjects on the grounds that they were not real and visible and not of the present world *Courbet said painting is a concrete art, to represent things real and existing- abstract, invisible, or nonexistent objects do not belong in the realm of painting. "Show me an angel and I'll paint one." *Realists depicted working-class laborers, peasants, etc. on a grand scale usually reserved for history painting *ANTI-ESTABLISHMENT

Figure 29-5; Le Moulin de la Galette; by Renoir; 1876; oil on canvas; Parisian Life

*Another facet of the new, industrialized Paris that drew the Impressionists' attention was the inhabitants' leisure activities-dining, dancing, café concerts, opera, ballet, etc. related to industrialization in that set working hours made people's leisure activities more scheduled *This depicts a popular Parisian dance hall; some people crowd the tables and chatter while others dance energetically *The atmosphere is so lively that the viewer can virtually hear tinkling glasses, music, and laughter *Whole scene is dappled by sunlight and shade, blurring into the figures to create effects of floating and fleeting light *Renoir's casual unposcd placement of the figures and continuity of space suggests that it is only limited accidentally by the frame, positioning the viewer as a participant rather than an observer *Whereas classical art sought to express universal and timeless qualities, Impressionists attempted to depict the opposite: the incidental or momentary *Renoir said: "For me a picture should be a pleasant thing, joyful and pretty- yes pretty! There are quite enough unpleasant things in life without the need for us to manufacture more." *In the late 1860's and early 1870's, Monet and his friend Renoir worked closely together to develop Impressionism into a fully mature style ideally suited to painting outdoors *Renoir has glamorized its working-class clientele by replacing it with his young artist friends and their models *The innocence of their flirtation is underscored by the children in the lower left *In this scene, our role is that of a casual stroller who takes in this slice of life while passing by

Figure 29-53; Staircase in the Van Eetvelde House, Brussels; 1895; by Horta; Art Nouveau

*Art Nouveau (New Art) was an architectural and design movement that developed out of the ideas of the Arts and Crafts movement; it took its name from a shop in Paris called L'Art Nouveau-rejected the values of modern industrial society *Proponents of this movement tried to synthesize all the arts in an attempt to create art based on natural forms that could be mass-produced for a large audience *It emerged at the end of the 19th century and adapted the twining plant form to the needs of architecture, painting, sculpture, and all decorative arts--first seen in houses in Belgium *Every detail functions as part of a living whole: furniture, drapery folds, veining in the stone paneling, and the patterning of the door moldings join with real plants *Metallic tendrils curl around the railings and posts, metal tracery fills the glass dome, and floral and leaf motifs spread across fabric panels of the screen *Arts and Crafts movement also borrowed from Japanese print designs, expressively patterned styles of Van Gogh and Gauguin, and other Post-Impressionists and Symbolists *Horta argued against historicism in architecture and in favor of art for all *He designed a house for his family in 1895, then proceeded to create the rugs, furniture, utensils, wallpaper, and even his wife's dresses

Figure 29-55; Casa Mila; by Gaudi; in Barcelona; 1907; organic structure; in Spain, this style was called modernismo

*Before becoming an architect, Spaniard Gaudi had trained as an iron worker *Like others, he wanted to create a style that was both modern and appropriate to his country, using inspiration from native Catalonia and from Moorish-Spanish buildings he conceived a building as a whole and molded it almost as a sculptor might shape a figure from clay *Although work proceeded slowly, he was a master who invented many new structural techniques that facilitated actual construction of his visions *This apartment house is a free-form mass wrapped around a street corner *Lacy iron railings enliven the cut-stone facade whose rough surfaces suggest naturally worn rock; dormer windows peep from the undulating tile roof; fantastically writhing chimneys poke into air above *The entrance portals look like eroded sea caves, but their design might also reflect the excitement that swept Spain following the 1879 discovery of Paleolithic cave paintings at Altamira *Gaudi felt that each of his building was symbolically a living thing *In Spain this style was called Modernismo

Figure 29-18; Beata Beatrix; by Rossetti; 1863; oil on canvas

*Dante Gabriel Rosetti, painter and poet, was another member of the Brotherhood of the Pre- Raphaelites-like other members of the group, he focused on literary and biblical themes in art *He also produced numerous portraits of women that projected an image of ethereal beauty and melded apparent opposites: a Victorian prettiness with sensual allure *This is ostensibly a portrait of a literary figure: Beatrice from Dante's Vita Nuova, as she overlooks Florence in a trance alter being mystically transported from earth to heaven *The portrait also had personal meaning for Rosetti; it served as a memorial to his wife Elizabeth Siddal (the model for Millais' Ophelia) who had died shortly before Rosetti began this painting in 1862 *In the image the female sits in a trancelike state, while a red dove (messenger of both love and death), deposits a poppy (symbolic of sleep and death) in her hands *Siddal had died of an opium overdose, so the presence of the poppy assumes greater significance

Figure 29-30; The Tub; by Degas; 1886; Pastel; master of line; human body; japonisme (interest in Japanese art); did not paint en plein air but in the studio

*Degas became a superb master of line, so much so that his works differ significantly from those of Monet and Renoir *He specialized in studies of figures in rapid and informal action, recording the quick impression of arrested motion, and he employed lines to convey the sense of movement *In this painting of a woman crouched in a wash tub, he outlined the major objects the woman, tub, and pitchers - and covered all surfaces with linear hatch marks *He achieved this leaner quality with pastels, his favorite medium, by drawing directly on the paper; although the colors can be smudged, they retain their fresh, bright autonomy *Also shows modernist exploration of the picture surface: although the woman appears to be 3D, the tabletop or shelf on the right is severely tilted, so much so that it seems to parallel the picture plane; the limited foreshortening of the pitchers and their shared edge creates a visual complexity for the viewer *Two important new influences: his knowledge of Japanese prints, which he collected, is evident in the angular viewpoint; and the seemingly arbitrary cropping shows the influence of photography, which he also practiced *Degas was also a photographer *What set him apart were his bold calculations of composition *The Tub is severe, almost geometric in design *The outlined tub and crouching woman form a circle within a square *The curve of the small pitcher matches the handle of the other one *Here the tension between 2D and 3D comes to a breaking point! *Degas did not paint en plein air but in the studio from working drawings, a traditional academic procedure - firm drawing, careful composition, and indoor scenes/lighting set him apart from the spontaneous plain air painters

Figure 29-2; Burial at Ornans; by Courbet; Realism; 1849; oil on canvas; IMPASTO (thick, rough application of paint)

*Depicts a funeral in a bleak, provincial landscape attended by "common, trivial" people; an officious clergymen reads the Office of the Dead *Has the traditional scale of a monumental history painting, but the subject's ordinariness and antiheroic composition horrified critics *Somberly clad groups of figures create wall at eye level and blocks any views into deep space; the faces are portraits, including some of Courbet's sisters and friends *Barren cliffs and overcast sky behind and above; dark pit of grave opens into viewer's space in foreground *Artist sparingly used bright colors- nothing heroic, sublime, or dramatic here *Critics also faulted its disrespect for conventional composition standards: instead of arranging figures in a pyramid that would indicate hierarchy of importance, Courbet lined them up in rows across the picture frame-> more democratic; critics also noted there is no mention of an afterlife, just death and burial as physical facts *When some of his works were refused by the jury for a Salon at International Exhibition of 1855, Courbet rented a nearby building and installed a show of his own works which he called the Pavilion of Realism *Courbet's large daubs of paint inspired Impressionists but others derided his "carelessness and brutalities" the use of IMPASTO (thick, rough application of paint) violated accepted standards of finish *Conservatives raged at him as a dangerous radical *He treated the everyday with the gravity and monumentality of traditional narrative painting *He sweepingly condemned all usual subjects of religion, mythology, and history- spelling out what others had begun to feel but dared not put into words or pictures *Socialist in politics, with the goal to end economic and social oppression of one class over another *Admired Rembrandt, had strong links to Caravaggesque tradition *Funeral is of an unnamed bourgeois citizen of Ornans *was inspired by the 1848 funeral of Jean-Antoine Oudot, Courbet's maternal grandfather and veteran of the Revolution of 1793, but not a particular record: Oudot is shown in profile on extreme left *Two men in 18th century clothes are Oudot's peers *Courbet is linking the revolutions of 1793 and 1848; both sought to advance democracy in France *His intentionally simple and direct methods of expression seemed unbearably crude to his traditional contemporaries, and he was called a primitive *He was denounced for supposed vulgarity and lack of spiritual content *His socialist viewpoint colored his entire outlook

Figure 29-12; The Gross Clinic; 1875; oil on canvas; by Eakins; American Realist

*Eakins was a master Realist portrait and genre painter, studied both painting and medical anatomy in Philadelphia; he was resolutely a Realist, who wanted to paint things as he saw them rather than as the public may wish for them to be portrayed-reflecting the 19th century American desire for accurate depiction and truth *The too-brutal realism of this early masterpiece caused the jury to reject it for the Philadelphia American independence centennial *Presents the renowned surgeon Dr. Samuel Gross in the operating amphitheater of the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, where the painting now hangs *The choice of subject attests to the public's increasing faith in scientific and medical progress *Dr. Gross, with bloody fingers and scalpel, lectures about his surgery on a young man's leg-patient had osteomyelitis, a bone infection; all the colleagues have been identified by historians, and the patient's mother covers her face *Anesthetics had been introduced in 1846; the painting records a particular event at a particular time, like photography (Fig. 28-65) *Eakins' concern for anatomical correctness led him to investigate the human form and humans in motion with regular cameras and with a special camera invented by a kinesiologist-> anticipated motion pictures *The light in the center falls not on the doctor's face but on his forehead, his mind (symbolic) *A few years later, Eakins' commitment to the unvarnished truth proved costly: when he removed the loineloth from a male nude model in a mixed life-drawing class, the scandalized Academy board gave him a choice changing his teaching methods or resigning, and he resigned *Dramatic use of light inspired by Rembrandt and Velazquez was not for emotion but to make a point: modern science shines the light of knowledge on the ignorance of darkness and fear

Figure 29-46; The Scream (The Cry); by Munch; oil, pastel, and casein on cardboard; 1893; personal agony

*Edvard Munch, Norwegian painter and graphic artist, was linked in spirit to the Symbolists *He felt deeply the pain of human life, believing that humans were powerless against the great natural forces of love and death and their associated emotions-jealousy, loneliness, fear, desire, and despair *His goal was to describe the conditions of "modern psychic life" and believed that Realist and Impressionist techniques were inappropriate since they focused on the tangible world *He was influenced by Gauguin and his emotionally charged paintings were a major source of inspiration for the German Expressionists in the early 20th century. *In this painting the image is grounded in the real world: a man standing on a bridge or jetty in a discernible landscape-but it departs significantly from visual reality *It evokes a visceral response from the viewer as the man in the foreground, Simplified almost to skeletal form, emits a primal scream *The curves in the landscape echo the curves of the mouth and head, just as the sound echoes *Fiery red and yellow stripes create an eerie, glowing sky *MUNCH'S QUOTE ABOUT THIS PAINTING: "I stopped and leaned against the balustrade, almost dead with fatigue. Above the blue-black fjord hung the clouds, red as blood and tongues of fire. My friends had left me, and alone, trembling with anguish, I became aware of the vast, infinite cry of nature." *The work was originally titled Despair *The overwhelming anxiety that sought release in this scream was primarily a fear of death, suggested by skeleton, but also a fear of open spaces

Figure 29-14; The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit; by Sargent; oil on canvas; 1882; American portrait;

*Expatriate American artist John Singer Sargent was a younger contemporary of Eakins and Muybridge; studied art in Paris before settling in London, where he was known as a cosmopolitan, cultivated gentleman and a fashionable portrait painter *He developed a looser, more dashing Realist portrait style, in contrast to Eakins' carefully rendered details; he learned his fluent brushing of paint in thin layers and achievement of quick and lively illusion from his study of Velazquez, whose Las Meninas may have influenced this family portrait *The four girls (the children of one of Sargent's close friends) appear in a hall and small drawing room of their Paris home *The informal, eccentric arrangement of their slight figures suggests how much at ease they were in this familiar space with such objects as the monumental Japanese vases, the red screen, and the fringed rug, whose scale emphasizes the children's diminutive stature *Sargent must have known the daughters well and liked them; relaxed and trustful, they allowed him to record a gradation of young innocence: the naive, wondering openness of the little girl in the foreground, the grave artlessness of the 10-year-old, and the slightly self-conscious pose of the adolescents *The casual positioning of the figures and seemingly random setting convey a spontaneity; the children seem to look up at an adult who has asked them to interrupt their activity and "look this way" *This painting is an embodiment of the Realist belief that the artist's business is to record the modern being in modern context

Figure 29-58; Marshall Field (wholesale store); by Richardson; interior steel frame; Chicago; 1885-1887

*Henry Hobson Richardson frequently used heavy round arches and massive masonry walls; he was particularly fond of French Romanesque architecture, and his work is sometimes thought of as a Romanesque revival, but he had a great originality in his short 18-year practice *His sense of enclosure and permanence was a hallmark of his style *The Marshall Field wholesale store (now demolished) in Chicago was his most important and influential building *It is vast, occupying a city block, and recalls historic styles without imitating them *It has the tripartite elevation of a Renaissance palace (Fig. 21-20) or the Roman aqueduct near Nimes, France (Fig. 10-31), but it has no classical ornament *Its strong horizontality is reflected in the windowsills and uninterrupted courses, emphasizing the long sweep of the building's lines and its ponderous weight *The great glazed arcades opened up the walls *Richardson was born in Louisiana, schooled at Harvard, and settled in New York after studying in Paris

Figure 29-15; The Thankful Poor; by Tanner; African-American; 1894; oil on canvas

*Henry Ossawa Tanner was the most successful African American painter of the late 19th and early 20th centuries *Son of a bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, he grew up in Philadelphia, sporadically studied art under Thomas Eakins, then worked as a photographer and drawing teacher in Atlanta *In 1891, he moved to Paris for further academic training; he painted a few African American genre subjects but ultimately turned to biblical painting to make his art serve religion *In Paris he combined Eakins' belief in careful study from nature with a desire to portray with dignity the life of ordinary people he had been raised among *The mood of this painting is quiet devotion, not far removed from the Realism of Millet and his devotion for Rembrandt *The grandfather, grandchild, and main objects in the room are painted with the greatest detail, while everything else dissolves into loose strokes of color and light *Expressive lighting reinforces the painting's reverent spirit, with deep shadows emphasizing the man's devout concentration and golden light from the window illuminating the quiet expression of thanksgiving on the younger face *Thanks to a long tradition of liberalism in Philadelphia and also to Eakins' enlightened attitude, the city became the leading center of minority artists in the US *Eakins encouraged women and African Americans to study art seriously at a time when professional careers were closed to them *Tanner was the first important African-American artist, studied with Eakins in the 1880's *The deep sense of sanctity expressed here in terms of everyday experience became increasingly important for Tanner

Figure 29-6; The Third-Class Carriage; by Daumier; 1863; oil on canvas; social comment

*Honore Daumier was a defender of the urban working class, and in his art he boldly confronted authority with social criticism and political protest, for which he was imprisoned- his specialty was the URBAN poor as opposed to the rural *was a painter, sculptor, and master lithograph artist; distributed satirical lithographs to the widely read, liberal French Republican journal Caricature *This unfinished painting depicts the grimy and cramped railway carriage of the 1860's; the riders are poor and can only afford third-class tickets *First and second- class carriages had closed compartments, but third- class passengers were crammed together on benches that filled the carriage *Daumier's repeated subject was the disinherited masses of the 19th century industrialism- anonymous, insignificant, dumbly patient with a lot they could not change; he saw people as they ordinarily appeared: faces vague, blank, and impersonal, and unprepared for observers- unrehearsed details of human existence *Anticipated the spontaneity and candor of scenes captured with modern camera *Biting political cartoonist, contributed satirical drawings to various Paris weekly papers for most of his life *Turned to painting in 1840's but found no public for his work *This painting reflects the compactness of Millet but is painted so freely that it looks raw and unfinished yet Daumier's power derives from this very freedom! His concern is not for the tangible surface of reality but for the emotional meaning behind it. *Daumier portrayed the lower classes as hardworking and earnest, humanized like in the novels of Dickens *Though physically crowded, the people take no notice of one another *Painting contains human sympathy like Rembrandt's whom he revered

Figure 29-9; Nymphs and Satyr; by Bouguereau; Pre-Raphaelite; 1873; oil on canvas; not realist

*In contrast to Manet, Bouguereau was a highly acclaimed French academic artist of the time *He depicted classical mythological subjects with a polished illusionism: the flirtatious and ideally beautiful nymphs strike graceful poses yet seem based as closely on nature as the leafy surroundings *They playfully pull the satyr in different directions (man-beast) *Although it is in a naturalistic manner (visually realistic or illusionistic), it is emphatically not Realist; his choice of a fictional theme and traditional painting conventions were staunchly traditional *He was immensely popular and enjoyed the favor of state patronage throughout his career

Figure 29-39; A Sunday on La Grande Jatte; by Seurat; oil on canvas; 1884-1886; Pointillism (color separated into component parts) applied in tiny dots or daubs, causing the image to come into focus only from a distance

*In contrast to the expressionistic work of Van Gogh and Gauguin, Seurat was purely intellectual, devising a disciplined and painstaking system of painting that focused on color analysis carefully organized into a new pictorial order *He disciplined the free and fluent play of color that characterized Impressionism into a calculated arrangement based on scientific color theory-known as pointillism or divisionism (color separated into component parts) applied in tiny dots or daubs, causing the image to come into focus only from a distance *The subject of the painting is recreational themes, like those of the Impressionists *But unlike the spontaneous light and color of Impressionist works, this one is rigid and remote-carefully composed to create a deep rectangular space *He used repeated motifs to create flat patterns and to suggest spatial depth: the female form, the parasol, and the cylindrical figures, creating movement in depth as well as side to side *Filled with sunshine but not broken into transient patches of color-instead the piece is fixed in an abstract design with tightly controlled organization *Seurat stated: "They see poetry in what I have done. No, I apply my method, and that is all there is to it." But he also shows that he recognizes the shifting social and class relationships of the time *The setting is La Grande Jatte ("The Big Bowl"), an island in the River Seine near one of Paris' rapidly growing industrial suburbs; the scene captures life on a Sunday afternoon when people from various classes congregate, including the sleeveless worker in the left foreground next to the middle class couple.

Figure 29-41; The Basket of Apples; by Cezanne; compose in color; 1895; oil on canvas

*In this painting, the objects have lost something of their individual character as bottles and fruit and approach the condition of cylinders and spheres *He was so analytical in preparing, observing, and painting these still lifes that he had to abandon using real flowers and fruit because they tended to rot *Here he captured the solidity of each object by juxtaposing color patches; his interest in the study of volume and solidity is evident in the disjunctures in the painting- the table edges are discontinuous, and the various objects seem to be depicted from different vantage points *The resulting painting is conceptually coherent but not optically realistic-he created an architecture of color *He achieved a remarkable feat, presenting the Viewer with 2D and 3D images simultaneously *the right side of the table is higher than the left, the wine bottle has two different silhouettes, and the pastries on the plate next to it are tilted upward while the apples below appear to be viewed head-on *Although scientific perspective mandates that the eye of the viewer occupy a fixed space relevant to the scene being observed, Cezanne studies different objects from slightly different positions, as we would turn our heads or move our bodies to take in a scene *Cezanne characterized art as "something other than reality"-not a direct representation of nature but a "construction after nature": all of the physical improbabilities are designed to serve the larger visual logic

POST~IMPRESSIONISTS:

*Just as the public came to accept the Impressionists as serious artists (1886), some of these painters and a group of younger followers came to feel that Impressionists were neglecting too many of the traditional pictorial elements in their attempts to capture momentary sensations of light and color on canvas. *In 1883, Renoir commented: "I had wrung impressionism dry, and I finally came to the conclusion that I knew neither how to paint nor how to draw. In a word, impressionism was a blind alley, as far as I was concerned." *Manet was made a Knight of the Legion of Honor by the French government-> Impressionism was no longer a pioneering movement *By the 1880's, 4 artists in particular were more concerned with the expressive qualities of line, form, pattern, and color: Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Georges Seurat, and Paul Cézanne; Van Gogh and Gauguin focused on exploring expressive qualities, while Seurat and Cezanne were more analytical

Figure 29-40; Mont Sainte- Victoire; by Cezanne; 1902-1904; cubes and planes; oil on canvas

*Like Seurat, Cézanne turned from Impressionism to create a more analytical style; he declared that he wanted to "make of Impressionism something solid and durable like the art of the museums" after studying the Old Masters in the Louvre *He had a unique way of studying nature in works such as this: his aim was not truth in appearance but a lasting structure behind the formless and fleeting visual information the eye absorbs; instead of employing the Impressionists' random approach when face to face with nature, he attempted to intellectually order the lines, planes, and colors that comprised nature by constantly checking his painting against the part of the actual scene (he called the "motif') he was studying at the moment *He wanted to achieve distance, depth, structure, and solidity not by traditional perspective and Chiaroscuro but in terms of the color patterns an optical analysis of nature provides *He studied the effect of every kind of linear direction, the capacity of planes to create the sensation of depth, the intrinsic qualities of color, and the power of colors to modify direction and depth of lines and planes *To create the illusion of 3D space he focused on carefully selecting colors, knowing that cool colors recede and warm colors advance; by applying small patches of juxtaposed colors, some advancing and some receding, he created volume and spatial depth in his works *He often depicted objects chiefly in one hue by modulating the saturation, but other times he used contrasting colors of like saturation to compose specific objects such as bowls or fruit *This is one of many paintings of this mountain near his home-his focus is a lengthy analysis of colors in large lighted spaces as opposed to transitory atmospheric conditions *includes numerous small elements such as roads, fields, houses, and the viaduct at the far right, each seen from a slightly different viewpoint *Optical illusion *No artist had a greater impact on the next generation of Modernist painters *Cezanne had little professional success until the last few years of his life when others recognized his innovative qualities *Framing the scene at the left is an evergreen tree, which echoes the contours of the mountains-not pictured here but in another version now in London *The mountain is depicted equally stressing background and foreground contours to make it simultaneously near and far away

Figure 29-36; The Vision after the Sermon or Jacob Wrestling with the Angel; by Gauguin; 1888; oil on canvas; flat plane

*Like Van Gogh, French painter Gauguin rejected objective representation in favor of subjective expression-- broke with Impressionists' minutely contrasted hues, believing that color above all must be expressive *Unlike Van Gogh, Gauguin's color areas appear flatter, often visually dissolving into abstract patches or patterns *Gauguin resigned from his prosperous brokerage business in 1883 to paint full time, abandoning his wife and five children; he came to despise the business-oriented culture *Moved to Brittany, France in 1886, and created this painting that decisively rejects Realism and Impressionism *He claimed he was attracted to the "natural" men and women perfectly at ease in their unspoiled environment, ignoring the developments that had recently transformed Brittany into a profitable market economy *The painting shows Breton women, wearing their starched white Sunday caps and black dresses, visualizing a sermon they have just heard at church on Jacob's encounter with the Holy Spirit, as recounted in Genesis; they pray devoutly before the apparition as they would before one of the frequently seen roadside crucifixions *Gauguin departed from optical realism and composed the picture elements to focus the viewer's attention on and intensify the message-composed of memory and imagination *The artist twisted the perspective and allotted the space to emphasize the innocent faith of the women, and he shrank Jacob and the angel to the size of fighting cocks, making the women spectators (familiar since wrestling matches often followed masses) *The painting is not unified with a horizon perspective, light and shade, or a naturalistic use of color but instead abstracted the scene into a pattern; pure unmodulated color fills flat planes bounded by firm lines: white caps, black dresses, red field of combat

Figure 29-59; Guaranty (Prudential) Building, Buffalo; by Sullivan (first truly modern architect); 1894-1896

*Louis Henry Sullivan has been called the first truly modern architect; he arrived at a synthesis of industrial structure and ornamentation that perfectly expressed the spirit of late 19th-century commerce *He utilized the latest technological developments to create light-filled, well-ventilated office buildings and adorned both exteriors and interiors with ornate embellishments-such decoration served to connect commerce and culture and gave these white-collar workspaces a sense of refinement and taste *This building, located in Buffalo, NY, is steel sheathed with terracotta *Its imposing scale and regular window placements express the orderly office work that took place within *Sullivan tempered the severity of the structure with lively ornamentation-on piers and corners on the exterior and on stairway balustrades, elevator cages, and ceiling in the interior *His famous dictum "form follows function" is evident here-he espoused a free and flexible relationship between exterior and interior design, which his student Frank Lloyd Wright later described as similar to that between the band's bones and tissue *He was born in Boston, studied one year at MIT (home of U.S.'s first architecture program), one year in Paris, and then settled in Chicago

Figure 29-26; A Bar at the Folies- Bergere; by Manet; 1882; oil on canvas; Psychological

*Manet never exhibited with the Impressionists, but in the 187o's he followed their lead by lightening his palette, loosening his brushwork, and confronting modern life in a more direct manner than he had in Le Dejetmer and Olympian- both of which maintained a connection with the art of the past *But complicating his apparent acceptance of Impressionist ideals was his countering of the optimistic Impressionist viewpoint with his more pessimistic (Realist) one *This last major painting of his contrasts the happy aura of works such as Moulin de la Galetre-in the center stands one of the barmaids; this theater offered circus, musical, and vaudeville acts, and reflected in the mirror is some of the elegant crowd entertained by a trapeze act *On the marble bar top is a still life of tangerines, liquor bottles, and flowers all associated with the pleasures for which the Folies-Bergere was famous *The barmaid's wide hips, strong neck, and closely combed golden hair are echoed in the champagne bottles; however, her demeanor refutes these positive associations *Manet puts the viewer directly in front of her, in the position of her customer, but she neither smiles nor gives the slightest hint of recognition (expected by male clients and employer) *Instead she appears self-absorbed and slightly depressed, perfunctory in the shallow interactions that urban life enables *Manet has curiously shifted the reflection to the right as if the mirror were at an angle But the reflection does not match! In it, she leans toward her customer, with the psychological and physical distance between them gone-> much debated; possibly showing that the longing for intimacy and happiness is mirage-like, while the disappointing reality of ordinary existence confronts the viewer *The spatial contradictions reveal Manet's insistence on calling attention to the pictorial surface of the painting *His radical break with tradition and redefinition of the picture surface explains why many scholars position Manet as the first modern artist *Modern art unfolded in a gradual and even logical way, discarding one rule after another in succeeding decades *Modernism was not revolutionary but rather evolutionary

Figure 29-7; Le Dejeuner sur I'herbe (Luncheon on the Grass); by Manet; 1st Modernist; 1863; oil on canvas

*Manet was the first painter to grasp Courbet's full importance-this painting is a tribute to Courbet *The nudity next to clothed figures was even more shocking because the noncommittal title gives no "higher" significance, but figures are posed too formally to be an actual event; this is based on a print after Raphael (in History of Art for Young People, p. 459) *Manet always filtered out the expressive or symbolic content of his models so viewer concentrates on the pictorial structure itself ***Painting needed to be rescued from competition with the camera; Manet accomplished this by insisting that a painted canvas is a material surface covered with pigments-we must look AT it, not THROUGH it. *Most viewers assumed the women were prostitutes and the men their upper-class clients-most shocking was nudity in context of contemporary life *Some see the painting's meaning as a portrayal of modern alienation since the figures fail to connect with each other psychologically *Manet rejected warm colors in favor of cool blues and greens; figures not integrated with background but stand out *His paintings have an emotional reticence that can be mistaken for emptiness unless we understand its purpose ***He asserts the painter's privilege to combine elements for aesthetic effect alone; the painter's first loyalty is to the canvas, not the outside world; the canvas is no longer a "window" but a screen made up of flat patches of color-Courbet said Manet's pictures were as flat as playing cards

Figure 29-28; Villa at the Seaside; by Morisot; 1874; oil on canvas; Impressionism; impasto; women artist- domestic scene; plein air lighting

*Many Impressionist works depict scenes from resort areas along the Seine River, such as Argenteuil, which was connected by train to the Saint-Lazare Station. Parisians would often take a day trip to these resort areas for sailing, picnicking, and strolling along the Seine *Berthe Morisot regularly exhibited with the Impressionists, and she was Manet's sister-in-law *Most of her paintings are of domestic scenes, the one area of Parisian life where an upper-class woman such as herself had free access *In this painting, the setting is the shaded veranda of a summer resort hotel *The woman is dressed elegantly but not ostentatiously, gazes out to sunlit beaches with umbrellas and bathing cabins *Child's discarded toy boat is a splash of red; he watches sails on the horizon *Mood is of relaxed leisure-Morisot used open brushwork and plein air lighting *She was one of the few Impressionists praised for her works' sensibility, grace, and delicacy *The Impressionists included several women of great ability *Her early paintings were centered on her mother and sister Edna *Influenced at first by Manet, whose brother she later married *Birth of her daughter Julie in 1878 signaled a change in her art-> new light-filled style of her own making; she applied virtuoso brushwork with a sketch like brevity that omits nonessential details but conveys a complete impression of the scene *Her paintings radiate a contentment without sentimentality

Figure 29-31; The Bath; by Cassatt; 1892; oil on canvas; Japonisme; women artist- American Impressionist-domestic scene; (Impressionism rap up: light and momentary)

*Mary Cassatt was the daughter of a Philadelphia banker; when Degas saw her work in 1874, he said, "There is someone who feels as I do." He befriended her and she exhibited regularly with the Impressionists *She moved to Europe to study masterworks and settled in France, where her parents joined her *She could not easily frequent the cafes with her male artist friends and she was responsible for caring for her aging parents-both factors limiting her subject choices-so she mostly painted women and children, whom she presented with a combination of objectivity and genuine sentiment *This shows the tender relationship between a mother and child *As in The Tub, the visual solidity of the people contrasts with the flattened patterning of the wallpaper and rug -owed much of its compositional devices to Degas and Japanese prints *Like Degas, she remained a studio painter and was not interested in plein air painting; also had a distaste for the tyranny of the salon jury system *She maintained her upper-class connections in the U.S. and created a market for the Impressionists' work in the U.S. before one developed in France itself *AMERICAN IMPRESSIONIST

Figure 29-17; Ophelia; by Millais; Pre-Raphaelite; 1852; oil on canvas; en plein air (painted outside, in detail)

*Millais exhibited this painting in the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1855, where Courbet set up his Pavilion of Realism *The subject is Ophelia from Shakespeare's Hamlet, who in her madness is unaware of her drowning *Millais made the pathos of the scene visible, becoming a faithful witness of every detail so that the painting has a lyricism worthy of the original poetry *He painted the background on site at a spot along the Hogsmill River in Surrey *For the figure of Ophelia, Millais had a friend lie in a heated bathtub full of water for hours at a stretch-the result was that the picture was a huge success *"Her clothes spread wide/And mermaid-like awhile they bore her up-/ Which time she chanted snatches of old tunes,/As one incapable of her own distress."

Figure 29-3; The Gleaners; by Millet; "Real" France; 1857; oil on canvas

*Millet grew up on a farm and, despite living in Paris between 1837 and 1848, never felt comfortable in the city; his support of the 1848 Revolution led him to focus on peasant life; he earned a state commission that allowed him to move from Paris to the village of Barbizon, created BARBIZON SCHOOL of landscapes and rural scenes *This is the best-known of his mature work, shows three women gathering grain at harvest *Warm colors and slightly hazy atmosphere are soothing, but the scene is one of relief offered to the rural poor; required hours of backbreaking work to gather enough wheat to produce a single loaf of bread *When the painting was shown in 1857, he was labeled a realist and even a socialist *The Barbizon school's works became increasingly popular after 1850 as Paris became a noisy, crowded metropolis- new appeal of peaceful country life amid social and political effects of the Revolution of 1848 *Millet characteristically placed his monumental figures in the foreground, against a broad sky *Although Millet's works have a sentimentality absent from those of Courbet, the French public reacted with disdain and suspicion, seeing his works as political manifesto *Millet was no radical but was championed by liberal critics because his work was the opposite of classical history paintings sanctioned by the establishment *His "Heroes of the Soil" were symbols of the ceaseless labor of the peasants' inexorable fate *His paintings monumentalize a rural way of life that was rapidly disappearing under the pressure of the Industrial Revolution *After the Revolution of 1848, Millet's investing the poor with grandeur did meet with the approval of the prosperous classes *Middle-class landowners resisted granting traditional gleaning rights and linked the poor with the dangerous working class and the rise of socialism *Peasants were seen as victims of the evils of the age of mechanization

Background GERIP

*Momentous developments of 19th century (industrialization, urbanization, increased economic and political action worldwide) spread through Europe to U.S> *First Industrial Revolution associated with textiles, steam, and iron; the second with steel, electricity, chemicals, and oils-> these provided foundation for plastics, machinery, building construction, and automobile manufacturing, leading to inventions of radio, electric light, telephone, and electric streetcar *Also explosive growth of cities due to factories and expanded agricultural enterprises *Increased emphasis on science and POSITIVISM: a Western philosophical model that promoted science as the mind's highest achievement, supported by Darwin's theory of natural selection, leading to a growing secular attitude; social Darwinism was used to justify Western racism, imperialism, nationalism, and militarism that marked 19th and 20th centuries *Karl Marx also believed that scientific, rational law governed nature and all of human history *MODERN vs. MODERNISM: Modern refers to a chronological designation, referring to the art of the past few centuries; Modernism refers to art that calls attention to art- Old Masters saw flat surface, etc, as hindrances, but modernists acknowledged these openly *Major Modernist movements were: Realism, Impressionism, and Avant- Garde (subversive and revolutionary)

Figure 29-39; A Sunday on La Grande Jatte; by Seurat; oil on canvas; 1884-1886; Pointillism (color separated into component parts) applied in tiny dots or daubs, causing the image to come into focus only from a distance

*Most of the people wore their Sunday best, making class distinctions more difficult to make *Seurat aimed to make Impressionism "solid and durable"; his stated goal was "to make modern people, in their essential traits, move about as if on friezes, and place them on canvases organized by harmonics of color which are in harmony with the lines" *His career was as brief and astonishing as those of Masaccio, Giorgione, and Gericault *He helped form a group called The Society of Independents which opposed aims of academic art *He focused on a very few large paintings, spending more than a year on each, with numerous preparatory sketches *The rigorous technique and highly calculated geometry of the composition produce a solemn, formal style recalling much older art, such as that of the ancient Egyptians *Seurat spent months visiting the island, making small studies, drawings, and oil paintings of the light and the people he found there; all of the characters in the final painting, including the woman with the monkey, were based on his observations at the site *The dots do not disappear but give the canvas a shimmering quality, an unexpected effect *So fixed are the figures in relation to each other that not a single one could be moved by even a millimeter; they are frozen in time in contrast to the joyous and relaxed crowd in Renoir's Le Moulin *His systematic approach has the internal logic of modern engineering

Figure 29-19; Blessed Art thou Among Women; by Kasebier; 1899; platinum print on Japanese tissue

*Photography was the creator of a new Realism, but it could also be manipulated by talented photographers to create very Romantic effects *After the first great breakthroughs, photographers imitated Romantic arrangements of nature, filtering natural appearance through sentiment-soft-focusing it in a way *In the later 19th century, photography had a Romantic-Realist school of its own, with much public approval; photographers thought of it as a "pictorial" method *One of the leaders in the pictorial style of photography was the American Gertrude Kasebier, who took up photography at age 45 after raising a family and working as a portrait painter *Soon became famous for her photographs with symbolic themes, such as this one, Blessed Art Thou Among Women, which is the phrase the angel Gabriel used in the New Testament to announce to the Virgin Mary that she would be the mother of Jesus *In the photograph the words suggest a parallel between the biblical "Mother of God" and the modern mother in the image, who both protects and sends forth her daughter *The white setting and light-colored gown of the mother are in soft focus; the daughter's dark dress and serious expression are caught in sharper focus *She achieved an expressive effect by blurring the entire image slightly, creating an aura of otherworldly peace and investing scenes from everyday life with the spiritual and divine *Issue of whether photography could be art came to a head in early 1890's

Section II: "Pre-Raphaelites," Impressionism, and Post- Impressionism

*Praising the Pre-Industrial past- in England, John Everett Millais was a founder of a group of artists, the "Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood," who refused to be limited to the contemporary scenes strict Realists portrayed *Instead, these artists chose to represent fictional, historical, and fanciful subjects with a significant degree of illusionism *Baudelaire called Millais the "poet of meticulous detail" *Begun in 1848, the Brotherhood wished to create fresh and sincere, free from what its members considered the tired and artificial manner propagated in the academies by the successors of Raphael *Agreed with Ruskin in a distaste for the materialism and ugliness of the contemporary industrializing world; also expressed appreciation of the spirituality and idealism of past times, especially the Middle Ages and the Early Renaissance *Dante Gabriel Rossetti was both painter and poet *Goal was to have "genuine ideas to express"- to reform the aesthetic sensibility through their art *visual poetry; beautiful light; lyrical poetry

Figure 29-13; Horse Galloping; by Muybridge (father of motion photography); Motion photography; collotype print; 1878; Rochester, New York; zoopraxi (scope: projected sequence of images of a scene)

*Realist photographer and scientist came to the United States from England in the 1850's and settled in San Francisco, where he earned a prominent reputation for his photos of the western US *In 1872, Governor of California Leland Stanford sought Muybridge's advice in settling a bet about whether, at any point in stride, all 4 feet of a horse galloping at top speed are off the ground; through his sequential photographing, Muybridge proved that they were *That was the beginning of his photographic studies of successive stages in human and animal motion-"details too quick for the human eye to capture" *His discoveries received extensive publicity through the book Animal Locomotion, published in 1887; his motion photographs earned him a place in history of science as well as art *His studies influenced many others including Degas and Duchamp *He presented his work to audiences with a device he invented called the zoopraxiscope, which projected his sequence of images onto a screen; the illusion of motion was created by a physical fact of human eyesight called "persistence of vision," meaning that the brain holds whatever the eye sees for a fraction of a second for a second after the eye stops seeing it; this illusion of continuous change lies at the heart of the "realism" of all cinema *Considered father of motion photography *Wedded two different technologies, devising a set of cameras capable of photographing action at successive points *He produced 100,000 photographs devoted to the study of animal and human locomotion *His photographs convey a modern sense of dynamics, reflecting the new tempo of life in the machine age (faster) *The far-reaching aesthetic implications were to be realized only later because of the tremendous gap between scientific fact vs. visual perception and artistic representation

Figure 29-50; Burghers of Calais; by Rodin; 1884-1889; bronze; narrative in stone

*Rodin made many nude and draped studies for each of the life-size figures *This cast bronze monument was commissioned to commemorate the Hundred Years' War, when six of the leading citizens of Calais, France, agreed to offer their lives in exchange for the English king's promise to lift the siege and spare the others of the city *Each bedraggled figure is a study of despair, resignation, or defiance; roughly textured surfaces add to pathos of burghers (middle-class citizens) *Effects are heightened by composition: instead of a formal arrangement, they seem to wander aimlessly; Rodin omitted the traditional high base so that citizens of Calais would be eye-level with and inspired by these representations of their ancestors *However, the government commissioners found this realism so offensive that they banished the monument to a remote site and put it on a raised pedestal *Rodin left many of his works unfinished or fragmentary for effect *He exaggerated their facial expressions, expressively lengthened their arms, and greatly enlarged their hands and feet to show how they must have felt about taking one difficult step after another toward their deaths *Rodin's willingness to stylize the human body for expressive purposes was a revolutionary move, highly influential

Figure 29-57; Eiffel Tower, Paris; 1889; by Eiffel; wrought iron; 984' high

*Since the 18th century, bridges had been built of cast iron (Fig. 28-10), which permitted engineering advancements in the construction of larger, stronger, and more fire-resistant structures; steel, available after 1860, allowed architects to enclose ever-larger Spaces, such as those found in railroad stations and exposition halls *The Realist impulse encouraged an architecture that honestly expressed a building's purpose rather than elaborately disguising a building's function *Eiffel's work constituted an important contribution to the development of the 20th century skyscraper *Eiffel trained in Paris before a career designing exhibition halls, bridges, and the interior armature for France's gift to the US, the Statue of Liberty *He designed this best-known work for a great exhibition in Paris in 1889 *It was originally seen as a symbol of modern Paris and still symbolizes 19th century civilization *Its height of 984 feet made it for sometime the world's highest structure, surpassing even the pyramids and Gothic cathedrals *It rests on 4 giant supports joined by gracefully arching open-framed skirts that balance the heavy horizontal girders; visitors can take two elevators to the top or the internal staircase *its airiness makes it the "terrestrial sister of the aeroplane"; to a previously unknown extent, its outer and inner space are interpenetrating, providing a glimpse into 4-D experience; became a hallmark of 20th century art and architecture *Detractors saw it as an ugly, overblown work of engineering: 'Tower of Babel'

SECTION IV: ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT, ART NOUVEAU, AND SKYSCRAPER ARCHITECTURE

*The Arts and Crafts movement developed in the last decades of the 19th century by William Morris (artist) and John Ruskin (art critic and writer), who both distrusted machines and industrial capitalism, which they believed alienated workers from their own nature *They advocated art "made by the people for the people as a joy for the maker and the user"-many of these artists (esp. in England) were socialists *In dedication to populism, they created works of art that were functional objects with high aesthetic value for a wide public *The style they advocated was based on natural, net artificial, forms: often consisted of repeated designs of floral or geometric patterns-committed to high-quality artisan-ship and honest labor

Figure 29-56; The Kiss; by Klimt; oil on canvas; 1907-1908; Fin de Siecle painting

*The End of the Century sensibility was a culture of decadence and indulgence; the middle class aspired to the advantages of the aristocracy and determined to live "the good life"-marked by a preoccupation with sexual drives, powers, and perversions *The Femme Fatale was a resonant figure as was an exploration of the unconscious *The unrestrained culture masked an anxiety about the fluctuating political situation and uncertain future- country most associated with Fin de Siecle was Austria *Gustav Klimt was a Viennese artist who captured the period's flamboyance but with unsettling undertones *Here is a couple embracing, but all that is visible are their heads-the rest of the piece is extravagant flat patterning, which has clear ties to Art Nouveau and the Arts and Crafts movement *The piece is also reminiscent of conflict between 2- and 3-dimensionality *This is a strong fin de siecle painting because it captures a decadence conveyed by opulent and sensuous images *Not evident at first glance is the way the woman's head is forced uncomfortably against her shoulder, and they kneel dangerously close to a precipice

Figure 29-11; The Veteran in a New Field; by Homer; New England Life; 1865; oil on canvas

*The Realist foundation in empiricism and positivism appealed to artists in Germany, Russia, England, and the United States as well as France- well established by the end of the century *Homer determined to paint scenes that resonated with modern audiences; he had firsthand knowledge of the Civil War- served in Union campaign as a reporter for Harper's Weekly *This was painted at the end of the Civil War; although simple and direct it provides a significant commentary on the effects and aftermath of the catastrophic national conflict *Painting depicts a man with his back to the viewer, harvesting wheat *We know he is a veteran from title and also from uniform and canteen thrown on the ground in the lower right corner *His involvement in meaningful and productive work implies a smooth transition from war to peace-he has turned from harvesting men to harvesting wheat *This transition to work and the fate of disbanded soldiers was the subject of national concern: America's ability to effect a smooth transition was seen as evidence of its national strength *Homer's painting thus reinforced the perception of the country's greatness *One of America's first followers of Manet-went to Paris to study *Was a pictorial reporter throughout the Civil War and continued as a magazine illustrator, yet also a talented painter *Painted sunlit scenes with fresh delicacy, might be called pre-Impressionist *The painting also comments symbolically on the deaths of the soldiers and the death of Abraham Lincoln: by the 1860's, farmers used cradled scythes to harvest wheat; however, Homer chose not to use this historical reality and to show the farmer with a single~biaded scythe, transforming him into a symbol of the Grim Reaper and the painting into an elegy for the soldiers who died and for the assassinated president

Figure 29-49; Walking Man; by Rodin; 1905; bronze; only essential parts

*The SD art of sculpture was not readily adaptable to capturing the optical sensations many painters favored in the 19th century; its very nature (tangible, solid) suggests permanence, suggesting supposedly timeless ideals rather than transitory nature *But sculptors of this period continued to pursue the ideals of Realism and Impressionism *Despite many social changes that had transformed European life, the sculptor's profession remained resolutely a male pursuit, due in part to the physical demands and working conditions of the medium; also the perception of sculpture as manual labor was widespread, and most sculptors came from the working class *French artist Auguste Rodin conceived and executed his sculptures with the Realist sensibility *Like Muybridge and Eakins, he was fascinated by the human body in motion *Also he studied the Impressionists, and although he was not concerned with color he did have a strong interest in the effect of light on the 3D surface *He joined his knowledge of anatomy and movement with special attention to the body's exterior, saying, "The sculptor must learn to reproduce the surface, which means all that vibrates on the surface, soul, love, passion, life... Sculpture is thus the art of hollows and mounds, not of smoothness or even polished planes." *Primarily modeled clay rather than carving wood or stone; he often had a model move around in front of him in his studio while he studied the effects of changing light by modeling sketches with coils of clay *This sculpture captures a body in motion, headless and armless; the body is caught in mid-stride when the weight is transferred across the pelvis from the back leg to the front *Rodin paid such careful attention to details of muscle, bone, and tendon that it has forceful reality *After an 1875 trip to Italy to see the works of Michelangelo and Donatello, he developed style of vigorously modeled figures in unconventional poses *Rodin failed 3 times to gain entrance to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and spent his 1st 20 years of career as assistant to other sculptors and decorators *His sculptural style was scorned by the critics and admired by the general public

Figure 29-21; Saint-Lazare Train Station; by Monet; 1877; oil on canvas; industrial scene; en plein air

*The artists' choice of subjects also reflected the way in which Impressionism was rooted in the industrial and urban developments of the time; most Impressionists depicted scenes in and around Paris, where industrialization and urbanization had greatest impact *The expanding railway network brought throngs of people into Paris; this station was centrally located and adjacent to a bustling, fashionable commercial area-Monet captured the area's energy and vitality *As the train enters the station, the tall buildings that were becoming a major component of the Parisian landscape are just visible through the background haze *The agitated paint application contributes to the sense of energy *Monet trained briefly with an academic teacher but soon left the studio to paint outdoors, en plein air; he created his own floating studio on a boat *Monet saw the works of Turner but did not have the same commitment to feeling or narrative, saying, "The Romantics have had their day"; instead he painted simple moments, capturing the play of light quickly before it changed *This railway station was a new structure made of steel and glass, and Monet was fascinated with the way the light descended through the glass ceiling and filtered through the trains' steam *He setup his easel in the station (to the consternation of the station manager) and painted 12 different views under varying light conditions *He was not interested in the human drama of arrivals and departures or any symbolic importance of the objects he painted *Two important ideas are expressed here: 1) A quickly painted oil sketch most accurately records a landscape's general appearance;he raised the traditional "sketch aesthetics" to the same level as completed painting. 2) An artist can see a subject freshly, without preconceptions or traditional filters an inheritance'of the Barbizon painters

Figure 29-10; The Horse Fair; by Marie-Rosalie (Rosa- women artist) Bonheur; 1853-1855; oil on canvas; composition

*The most celebrated woman artist of the 19th century, she won the Legion of Honor in 1865; her work contains Realist elements but she is considered more of a naturalist *Trained by her father, who was a proponent of enfranchisement and education for women; she believed she had a special role to play in creating a new society *A Realist passion for accuracy drove her painting, but she resisted depicting the problematic social and political situations seen in Courbet, Manet, etc.; instead she turned to the animal world, combining a scientist's knowledge of equine anatomy with an honest love and admiration for wild and domestic animals *studied live animals at the Parisian horse fair and carcasses at slaughterhouses (to gain access to these all-male preserves, Bonheur got police permission to dress in men's clothing) *For this, her best-known work, she adopted a panoramic scene like Burial at Ornans, but in contrast to its still figures she has farm horses and grooms seen on parade at the annual Parisian horse sale; some horses rear up, others plod or trod, guided on foot or ridden by trainers *The uneven line of the march and thundering pounding were based on observation and also she acknowledged from the Classical model of the Parthenon frieze (Fig. 5-48) *She was an artist who worked outdoors *She received a French government commission that led to her first great success *She became established as a leading painter of animals and eventually as the most famous women artist of her time *Her theme is of humanity's union with nature *She shares Millet's reverence for peasant life, but her real subject is the animals within the landscape *Dramatic lighting and loose brushwork are based on the style of Gericault *Captivated viewers eagerly bought engraved reproductions of the work, making it one of the most well-known paintings of the century *These artists called public attention to the "heroism of modern life" *Her workers are far less pathetic than those of Millet or Courbet

Figure 29-62; Lotus Lamp; by Tiffany; 1905; leaded Favrile glass, mosaic, and bronze; arts and crafts movement

*The period's extravagance and ostentation in architecture extended to the interior décor, especially furniture, lights, lugs, and wallpaper with designs inspired by Art Nouveau or fin de siecle art-including the stained-glass lamps of Louis Comfort Tiffany *His lotus table lamp is made of leaded glass (Favrile = a type of glass patented by Tiffany), mosaic, and bronze and based on the curvilinear floral forms of the lotus *Intended for wealthy buyers, this was the most expensive lamp ($750) Tiffany Studios produced in 1906 *Because of the expense, labor, and time involved in making these lamps, only one was made at a time, ensuring the high quality craftsmanship prized by the Arts and Crafts movement

Figure 29-36; The Vision after the Sermon or Jacob Wrestling with the Angel; by Gauguin; 1888; oil on canvas; flat plane

*The shapes are harsh and angular, reflecting the austerity of peasant life and ritual Gauguin was influenced by Japanese prints, stained glass, and cloisonné enamels *His work shows the artist completely turned from a straightforward representation of the external world into a projection of an internal idea *He advised other artists to shun Greco-Roman forms and turn instead to Persia, the Far East, and ancient Egypt for inspiration, with the idea stemming from the Romantic myth of the noble savage, a belief in an earthly paradise where people once lived and might live again in nature and innocence *Seeking a more "primitive" existence, he settled in Tahiti in the South Pacific, where he was far from materialistic Europe and able to reconnect with nature-but he was disappointed to find upon arriving that Tahiti was extensively colonized by the French, so he moved to the countryside *His health suffered and his art was not well-received; he attempted suicide unsuccessfully and ultimately died a few years later *Despite his relatively brief career, his art and ideas were extremely influential for subsequent generations of artists *He could paint pictures ABOUT faith but not FROM faith *His style was inspired by folk art and medieval stained glass

Figure 29-35; Starry Night; by Van Gogh; 1889; oil on canvas; Artist's mindset

*This is an example of Van Gogh's "expressionist" style, painted a year before his death *At the time he was living in an asylum in Saint-Reny where he had committed himself *Instead of painting the sky in a realistic manner, he communicated the vastness of the sky with whirling and exploding galaxies of stars and the huddling humanity and earth beneath it *The church in the center of the village below may be an attempt to express or reconcile his feelings about religion *Although the scene suggests a personal vision, it is modeled on the view from his window in the asylum; the dark, deep blue and turbulent brushstrokes suggest a pervasive depression *He wrote to Theo: "Just as we take a train to get to Rouen, we take death to reach a star." *The cypress tree is a traditional symbol of both death and eternal life, which rises to link the terrestrial and celestial realms *The brightest star in the sky is actually the planet Venus, which represents love *Van Gogh turned to landscape painting, but he saw sun-drenched Mediterranean countryside as filled with ecstatic movement, not architectural stability and permanence *The artist's personal "handwriting" is evident-brushstrokes become graphic gestures *COLOR, NOT FORM, determined the expressive content of his pictures *Both earth and sky pulsate with overpowering turbulence: trees spring flame like from the ground; hills and clouds have the same undulant motion; wheat field resembles a stormy sea *He made brushwork more immediately expressive of feeling than anyone in Western tradition *He came up with his own meanings for colors: -yellow = faith, triumph, love -cobalt = divine ~red/green = terrible and human passions

Figure 29-29; Rouen Cathedral: The Portal (in Sun); by Monet; oil on canvas; 1894; changing light

*This is the portal "in sun"-- one of a series of more than 40; of all the Impressionists, Monet's experience painting outdoors carried the systematic investigation of light and color furthest *Later in his career, about 1890, he began painting pictures in series and began to concentrate on the effects of colored light *Scientific studies of light and the invention of chemically synthesized pigments increased artists' sensitivity to the multiplicity of colors in nature and gave them new colors for their work *Impressionists concluded that local color, an object's actual color in white light, is modified by l) the quality of light in which it is seen, 2) reflections from other objects, and 3) the effects juxtaposed colors produce; they learned that shadows are not black and gray but are composed of colors modified by reflections or other conditions *Discovery: the use of complementary colors side by side over large areas causes the colors to intensify each other, unlike the effect of small quantities of adjoining colors, which fuse to neutral tones *Here the cathedral is depicted in bright light; critics accused him of destroying form and order for fleeting atmospheric effects, but Monet focused on light and color precisely to achieve a greater understanding of the appearance of form

Figure 29-8; Olympia; by Manet; 1863; oil on canvas; subject and style

*Title Olympia alluded to a socially ambitious prostitute of the same name in a novel by Alexandre Dumas; based on a Venetian Renaissance source, Titian's Venus of Ur'bino *However, Manet made his modem counterpart the antithesis of Titian: whereas Titian's female is curvaceous and softly rounded, Manet's is angular and flattened; Titian's looks lovingly at the male spectator, while Manet's appears coldly indifferent. *Unlike the sleeping dog in the Titian, the cat arches its back at us. *Finally, instead of looking up at us, Olympia stares down at us, putting us in a subordinate position like the black maid who presents her a bouquet of flowers from a client *In effect, Manet subverted the entire tradition of the accommodating female nude *Viewers also protested the racial divisions and depravity/animalistic sexuality

Figure 29-7; Le Dejeuner sur I'herbe (Luncheon on the Grass); by Manet; 1st Modernist; 1863; oil on canvas

*Title in English is Luncheon on the Grass; here we see Manet's interest in Realism and modernist principles *Depicted are two nude women and two clothed men; foreground figures all based on living, identifiable people-his favorite model, his brother, and the sculptor Leenhof *The two men wear fashionable Parisian attire of the 1860's; the foreground nude is unidealized and looks disturbingly unabashed and at ease, looking directly at the viewer without shame or flirtatiousness. *The picture outraged the public, who saw the promiscuous in a Parisian park instead of a traditional pastoral scene *Manet's goal was not to shock but involved a reassessment of the entire range of art, including references and allusions to history painting, portraiture, pastoral scenes, nudes, and even religious scenes-synthesis of the history of painting *Style also prompted severe criticism: figures in soft focus and a broadly painted landscape, including the pool in which the second woman bathes; the loose manner of painting contrasts with the clear forms of the harshly lit foreground trio and the pile of discarded female attire and foods at lower left *Lighting has strong contrasts: in main figures, many values are summed up in one or two lights or darks, creating flattened forms and a hard snapping presence *In true modernist fashion, Manet was using art to call attention to art-moving away from illusion and toward open acknowledgement of painting's properties, such as the flat painting surface-but the public saw only a crude sketch w/o customary finish along with unorthodox subject matter

Figure 29-32; At the Moulin Rouge; by Toulouse- Lautrec; Post-Impressionist (emotional qualities of color and perspective); oil on canvas; 1892-1895; Paris night life

*Toulouse-Lautrec was interested in capturing the sensibility of modern life and deeply admired Degas, so his work intersects with that of the Impressionists *However, his work also has a satirical edge that borders on caricature *His art was to an extent an expression of his life: he was self-exiled by his infirmities and odd stature (extremely short) from the high society his aristocratic name entitled him to, so he became a denizen of the Paris night world of tawdry entertainers, prostitutes, and other social outcasts; he reveled in the energy of cheap music halls, cafes, and bordellos *This painting shows the influences of Degas, Japanese prints, and photography in the oblique and asymmetrical composition, the spatial diagonals, and the strong line patterns with added dissonant colors *Although these scenes had already been done by other Impressionists, he emphasized or exaggerated each element so that the tone is new *Compared with Renoir's Le Moulin de Galelle, for example, this scene is of nightlife with glaring artificial light, brassy music, and an assortment of corrupt, cruel, and mask-like faces *His distortions by simplifications of figures and faces anticipated Expressionism *He led a dissolute life and died of alcoholism *He included himself in the background-the tiny man accompanied by the very tall man with the derby, his cousin

Figure 29-34; The Night Cafe; by Vincent Van Gogh; 1888; oil on canvas; Post- Impressionist; emotional use of color

*Van Gogh explored how colors and distorted forms could express his emotions as he confronted nature *Son of a Dutch Protestant pastor, he felt he had a religious calling and did missionary work in the coal-mining area of Belgium *Repeated professional and personal failures brought him close to despair; he was a tormented individual who suffered from epileptic seizures *Only in painting did he reveal his feelings, "the power to create"; he wrote to his brother Theo that "Instead of trying to reproduce exactly what I have before my eyes, I use color more arbitrarily so as to express myself more forcibly" and his color "is not from the point of view of the delusive realist but suggests some emotion of an ardent temperament" *The thickness, shape, and direction of his brushstrokes created a tactile counterpart to his intense color schemes; used bold, slapdash techniques such as brushstrokes at right angles and dots or lines squeezed onto the canvas from his paint tube to enhance colors *This interior scene is from Arles in southern France; the painting is meant to convey "a place where one can ruin oneself, go mad, or commit a crime."- there are four Citron-yellow lamps with a glow of orange and green. Everywhere there is a clash and contrast of the most disparate reds and greens in the figures of little sleeping hooligans, in the empty, dreary room, in violet and blue. The blood-red and yellow-green of the billiard table, for instance, contrast with the soft, tender Louis XV green of the counter, on which there is a pink nosegay. The white coat of the landlord, awake in a corner of that furnace, turns Citron-yellow, or pale luminous green. *Van Gogh believed that Impressionism did not provide artists with enough freedom to express their emotions *He is the first great Dutch painter since the 17th century! *Did not become an artist until 1880 and died only 10 years later after a short career *He was very dissatisfied with the values of industrial society and had a strong sense of mission *He experimented briefly with Impressionism for less than 2 years *In 1886, he went to Paris where his brother Theo owned an art gallery; Theo introduced him to Degas, Seurat, and others *He was a socialist who believed that modern life alienated people from each other and themselves; paintings tried to create empathy between artist and viewer *QUOTE ON THIS PAINTING: "I have tried to express the terrible passions of humanity by means of red and green. The room is blood red and dark yellow with a green billiard table in the middle (so steeply inclined it could slide away)

Figure 29-20; Impression: Sunrise; by Monet; 1872; oil on canvas; FIRST impressionist

*Whereas Realism focused on the present, Impressionism focused on a single moment; even though they are perceived as a group because they exhibited together in the 1870's and 1880's, their existence was actually nebulous and participation in the shows a subject of constant contention *A hostile critic applied the label "Impressionism" in response to this painting-meant to be derogatory but was soon adopted by the artists *Monet's paintings were flooded with light so bright that critics said it made their eyes smart *The flickering network of color patches are shaped like mosaic tesserae *Impressionist paintings incorporate the qualities of sketches: speed, spontaneity, and abbreviation-- the brush strokes are clearly evident, with no attempt to blend the pigment into smooth tonal gradations and an optically accurate scene *Despite its spontaneity, Monet's technique retains an underlying logic in which each color and brushstroke has its place *This concern with acknowledging the paint and the canvas surface continued the modernist exploration that the Realists began *impressionists operated at the intersection of what they saw and what they felt; the "impressions" were sensations of the artists' subjective and personal responses to nature *The lack of pristine clarity is historically grounded: the rapid industrialization and urbanization made the world seem unstable and insubstantial *Impressionist works represent an attempt to capture a fleeting moment

Figure 29-45; The Sleeping Gypsy; by Rousseau; Personal fantasy; 1897; oil on canvas

*While Gauguin had traveled to the South Seas in search of primitive innocence, Rousseau was a "primitive" without leaving Paris-an untrained amateur painter; he produced an art of dream and fantasy in a style that had its own sophistication and departure from the artistic currency of the time *He compensated for his technical naiveté with a natural talent for design and an imagination of exotic images and tropical landscapes *In this painting, the figure identified in the title occupies a desert world, silent and secret, and dreams beneath a pale, perfectly round moon *In the foreground, a lion resembling a menacing stuffed animal sniffs at the gypsy, showing that an encounter will occur that recalls the uneasiness when a person's vulnerable subconscious is menaced during sleep

Figure 29-52; Ladies' Luncheon Room; by Mackintosh; Arts and Crafts style; 1900-1912; reconstruction:1992-1995

*numerous Arts and Crafts societies in America, England, and Germany carried on this ideal of artisanship *In Scotland, Charies Rennie Mackintosh designed a number of tea rooms, including the Ladies' Luncheon Room in the Ingram Street Tea Room in Glasgow, Scotland--this is the reconstructed version in the Glasgow Museum (1992-1995) *The room décor is consistent with Morris's vision of a functional, exquisitely designed art *All pristinely geometric and rhythmical in design are: the chairs, stained-glass windows, large panels of colored gesso with twine, glass beads, thread, mother-of- pearl, and tin leaf (made by Margaret Macdonaid Mackintosh, artist-designer and wife) *Art Nouveau was meant to be a popular art available to everyone yet it often became so extravagant as to be affordable only by the wealthy

What are the THREE PHENOMENA THAT CONTRIBUTED TO THE RISE OF MODERNISM?

1. Extensive technological changes (Industrial Revolution) 2. Increased exposure to other cultures (urbanization) 3. New idea of a constantly shifting reality (increasing emphasis on science, such as Darwinism)

Pre-Raphaelites, Impressionism, and Post-Impressionism Sum Up

1852-1904 *Context: opposite reaction from realists to the effects of the Industrial Revolution *Formal Elements: -praise of pre-industrial past -momentary sensations of light and color on canvas -then concern with expressive qualities of line/form/pattern/and color

Symbolists and Sculpture Sum Up

1884-1905 *Context: Rise of the Avant-Garde in 1880's- artists began to disengage from public and to create an insular community *Formal Elements: -subjective interpretations of nature -fantasy -used color and line symbolically -"art for art's sake" -exotic, dreamlike- related to Freud -sculptors wanted to capture new optical sensations and exaggeration

Arts and Crafts Movement, Art Nouveau, Skyscraper Architecture Sum Up

1885-1912 Context: In late 1800's William Morris and John Ruskin distrusted industrial capitalism and embraced populism and craftsmanship Formal Elements: -functional objects with high aesthetic value -floral and geometric patterns -fin de siecle decadence -form and function -interior decoration -industrial structure plus ornamentation

SECTION III: SYMBOLISTS AND SCULPTURE.

Not a style at all but an intensely private world view based on literary movement of same name: * AVANT-GARDE: Each successive modernist movement challenged artistic conventions with greater intensity (from Realism to Impressionism to Post-impressionism) *Now Avant-Garde ("Front guard") means any particularly new, cutting-edge cultural manifestation; in the 1880's, the avant-garde artists increasingly disengaged themselves from a public audience, creating an insular community whose members seemed to speak only to each other in their work *The Post-Impressionists, whose work the public found incomprehensible, were the first artists labeled avant-garde (later applied to Fauves, Cubists, Dada artists, etc) * SYMBOLISTS: In contrast to the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists who used their emotions and sensations to interpret nature, by the end of the 19th century the representation of nature became completely subjectivized, to the point that artists did not imitate nature but created free interpretations of it. Artists rejected the optical world in favor of a fantasy world; technique and ideas were individual to each artist; color, line, and shape were used as symbols of personal emotions in response to the world, to see through things to a significance and reality far deeper than what superficial appearance gave, making artists beings of extraordinary insight *PHILOSOPHY OF AESTHETICISM: Symbolists urged artists to stand against the vulgar materialism and conventional mores of industrial and middle-class society; they wished to purge literature and art of anything utilitarian, to cultivate an exquisite aesthetic sensitivity and to make the slogan "art for art's sake" a doctrine and a way of life *Subjects became increasingly esoteric, exotic, mysterious, visionary, dreamlike, and fantastic-at same time Freud published Interpretation of Dreams and, began the age of psychiatry