ARTH 4812: Modernism and the Visual Arts MIDTERM
fin-de-si cle
-"end of the century" -last decade of the 19th century -emphasis on ending -pessimism
the avant-garde
-"front line" -innovators -experimenters -first of their kind to do it -emphasis on originality
formal experimentation
-"make it new" -new ways of formal elements and principles in art -line/color/form/etc.
the Ecole des Beaux Arts
-"school of fine arts" -study anatomy and perspective -technical training -professors were associated with the academy
The Nabis
-"the prophet" -followers of gauguin -group of artists -visionary and mystical art
the Realist Salon of 1851
-1850 salon cancelled due to rioting -held in 1851 -many realist artists like gustave courbet
The Pavilion of Realism
-1855: Courbet set up his own realism exhibition against authorities next to the 1855 universal exhibition to show off his work -Napoleon III cancels salon so people will submit art to the French universal exposition -didn't have a lot of space but Courbet submitted 14 works -all but one were accepted -Courbet withdraws all of his works and builds his own building next door -first independent solo avant-garde exhibition
the Salon des Refuses
-1863 exhibition of rejected works from salon (ridiculed)
the Aesthetic Movement
-A tendency in later 19th century painting and decorative arts adapted from the French concept of "art for art's sake." -Artists asserted the supremacy of beauty and emphasized the importance of elegant design, fine craft, and decorative richness. -whistler -no deeper meaning -formal
Impressionism
-An artistic movement that sought to capture a momentary feel, or impression, of the piece they were drawing -reinterpretation of realism -depicting ordinary everyday life -not labor -leisure and entertainment -prosperity -time is disciplined and structured in new ways due to industrialization - people have shared time off -broken brushwork -painted outside (en plein aire) - mass produced tubes of paint = portable -emphasis on light -light as a subject -landscape -emerging middle class and market economy -luxury items -mass produced materialism -lack of finish -sketchy -see the hand of the artist -more saturated and vibrant -intense color -opticality of composition - perspective (what the eye sees) -natural sunlight -different from academic indoor painting -changing conditions outdoors = rushed -group of artists who exhibited together (first group outside of academy and salon) -hung out together (social group)
Theo van Gogh
-Art dealer -brother of Vincent Van Gogh -helped support vincent ($$) -supported avant-garde artist (with art dealing)
Expressionist Sculpture
-Constantin Brancusi -roughly hewn -return to human body -motif -artist's touch -unfinished
Autochrome
-Early color transparency process on glass plates using vegetable starch grains dyed red, green, and blue to make up the image -first commercially available color photography -public -developed by the Lumiere brothers -color was captured directly on the film the moment the photo was captures -pastel/desaturated colors
Japonisme
-European fascination for Japanese art and culture -japan was an isolationist country until Matthew Perry forced the ports open to international trade in 1853 -their culture developed separately
the Revolutions of 1848
-French revolution in 1789 (Marie Antoinette and king louis) -1st form of representative government established (first republic) -then Napoleon Bonaparte takes over -new empire - eventually overthrown -widespread European unrest -poverty and food shortages -economic downturn
the universal expositions
-French version of a world's fair -nations are invited to show off their culture/technology/industry
atelier
-French word for "studio" -group of students, assistants, and master
Fauvism
-Means "wild beast" -Bold, shocking color -matisse was leader -bright pure hues -violent painting style -NON-REPRESENTATIONAL USE OF COLOR (abstraction of color) -short movement (1905-1906)
modern art vs. modernism
-Modern Art = a term used to describe an artistic movement and a period of Art History -Modernism = the name of the philosophical movement that emerged at the same time
the Whistler-Ruskin trial
-Ruskin (art critic) said Whistler's artwork wasn't real art -sued by Whistler (who wins but goes bankrupt)
Der Blaue Reiter
-The Blue Rider -a German group who believed in charging form and color with a purely spiritual meaning eliminating all resemblance to the physical world (Wassily Kandinsky, Franz Marc, Gabriele Munter = key figures) -less about raw emotion and more about spiritual/mystical/transcendental art -avant garde exhibition society
Die Brücke
-The Bridge group -german expressionism -return to gothic tradition -nationalistic -raw emotional and spiritual intensity -woodblock printing revival
calotype
-William Henry Fox Talbot -uses paper soaked in light-sensitive salts -develops a negative that can be contact printed to make positives -can be reproduced -talbot copyrighted his process = not as popular or liked -developed around the same time as Daguerre -quality was fuzzy -low contrast -precursor to modern photography due to reproduction
daguerreotype
-a photograph taken by an early photographic process employing an iodine-sensitized silvered plate and mercury vapor -exposing a positive image on a metal plate -no patent = anyone could make it (popular) -first photographic process (1839) -long exposure (still life) -fragile - encased in boxes -announced by French government to the public -made by Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre -invented to avoid painting backdrops for theater -one of a kind positive -cannot be reproduced -metal plate coated in light-sensitive salts -very precise and detailed -sharp focus -high contrast
hierarchy of genres
-academy ranked different types of art by category or genre 1) HISTORY PAINTING: biblical / Greek and Rome (mythology) / royalty / actual history / battle / coronation / subject = human figure (nude: depicting nude = important to be a master) / commissioned / important = large in size 2) PORTRAITURE: elite / nobility / merchants / only wealthy could afford it / time and money 3) GENRE PAINTING: representing modern life / everyday people / bakers / laborers / common people 4) LANDSCAPE: smaller / good for domestic spaces 5) STILL LIFE: smaller / good for domestic space 6) ANIMALS: make money / a way around for women to be successful
the Classical tradition
-ancient Greek/Roman -artists wanted to keep the tradition alive -Renaissance = rebirth of Classical style
antiquity
-ancient Greek/Roman -wanted to preserve history in art
G.-Albert Aurier on Paul Gauguin
-art should come from within the mind and spirit of the artist to convey their emotions and artistic message -the purpose of "all the arts...cannot be the direct representation of objects. Its end purpose is to express ideas as it translates them into a special language" -elevation of artistic ideas above observation, claiming that objects represented in art should be symbolic of a deeper meaning developed by the artist -By putting elements of the self into the work, the public can see the voice of the artist within the art itself and understand the ideas being communicated
Baudelaire on beauty
-beauty in art is ETERNAL (stand the test of time) and CIRCUMSTANTIAL (famous in its day) -all beauty consists of two parts, one perpetual and one transitory -"Beauty is made up of an eternal, invariable element, whose quantity is difficult to determine, and of a relative, circumstantial element...the age, its fashions, its morals, its emotions"
flaneur
-children=curiosity -everything is new to children -flaneur = observer (paints modern life from memory - gets the essence) -in the crowd, not of the crowd -people-watcher
decadence
-decay -sensuality -physical pleasures -abandonment of ethics and morals -sexuality emphasis
drawing from life
-draw from a live model -idealize -fix the mistakes -Classical -avoid portraits (less individual = more generalized) -existing standards of beauty -altered reality of subjects
Louis-Napoleon (Napoleon III)
-emperor of second empire of France
Primitivism
-escape from academic tradition -new way of making art from other cultures and geographic locations -imperialism -colonialism
innovation
-experimentation -"make it new" -privileges the "first" to do something -philosophy/mindset
femme fatale
-fear of new woman being illustrated -"dangerous woman" -character type -beautiful and clever -manipulative and threatening
the New Woman
-first wave feminism -empowered -career and education-driven -more assertive and active = change and instability
the Second Republic
-government developed after the French revolutions of 1848 -king abdicates throne (leaves) -bloodless revolution -peasants are heroes in establishing the second republic -b u t nothing changes = more rioting -peasants become a symbol of instability (become villainized) -Napoleon's nephew (napoleon III) becomes elected president of second republic -crowns himself emperor in 1851 (second empire)
the Grands Boulevards
-grand/big/fancy streets of Paris -fashionable -wide open
lithographic advertising posters (color)
-graphic design -mass production and printing leads to explosion of advertising -modernization and increase in dance halls/restaurants/cafes leads to competition = need to advertise and stand out -inspired by Japanese woodblock prints
The Autumn Salon of 1905
-group of Fauves submitted their works and they were all accepted -put together in one room with one neoclassical sculpture in the center -"donatello among the fauves (wild beasts)") -coined term for fauvist group
copying the masters
-how artists learned in academies (tradition) -copy modern masters who in turn studied tradition -study traditional styles and keep tradition alive
academies of art
-important cultural institutions -defined art -what people saw -trained artists -people get together and study art -preceded by the guild system -members of the French court weren't in the guild system -artists got the king to sponsor their new Parisian art academy (protected by the crown) -dominant organization for artists -limited prestigious group of men -restricted membership -lifetime member (everyone had to approve) - need to be elected in -need to be well-connected -not all academic artists were actual members
the art of everyday life/the art of modern life
-industrial revolution -mass production -artists represent the world around them -not historical/mythological/biblical subjects
musical terminology and modern art
-instrumental music = abstract and ideal
the Studio of the South
-living arrangement set up by vincent van gogh -business venture for potential students to come live/work with him -art school -carefully decorated -paul gauguin was first to live there -13 chairs -brightly colored -southern france
the Salon de Paris
-major public art exhibitions -most prestigious -run by academies: sponsored / organized / juried -usually annual -huge - 1000s of works on display -needed art to be accepted at Salon to be able to show art in public (favorably hung) -could win medals / help artist's career -bad form to reject a former medalist
portraiture in photography
-most popular use of photography -cheaper and faster than painting -everyone could get one -crafting a self image
Realism
-movement with shared style and ideals - ordinary life -naturalistic: depicting something how it looks in real life -Gustave Courbet and Jean Francois -1850 France -group of artists interested in representing their view of the acuta world around them -modern world and modern subjects in contemporary clothes -shift in subject matter -emphasis on peasants and laborers (who were left out of fine art) -ordinary world/people -political inflection: celebration and sympathy with laborers (leftist politics)
Paul Cezanne's advice to Emile Bernard
-n a t u r e -Cézanne believes that art should be borne out of the dedicated study and observation of the natural world by the human eye -"In order to make progress, there is only nature, and the eye is trained through contact with her. It becomes concentric through looking and working" -art should center around the artist's optical perception of the light and color that is present in front of them -While it is still subjective to the artist's interpretation, the art should depict only what the artist sees through the study of nature
the Second Empire
-napoleon III makes himself emperor after second republic
Belle Epoque
-no major wars, industry/wealth, middle class is dominating, galleries/music halls/theaters, education, universal male suffrage -"Beautiful Era" -considered a golden age -end of the century -period of prosperity -art nouveau -leisure class -positive view
abstraction
-non-representational -sliding scale from naturalistic to fully non-objective -stylistic definition relating for formal elements and principles of design (line/pace/color/value/etc.)
decorative style
-organic swirling line -mosaic -complex -intricate
painting en plein air
-painted outdoors with natural light -available due to industrialization and paint being in portable tubes
sketch
-part of academic process for painting -quickly made -loose -expressive -rework it in studio with controlled and consistent light -avant-garde developed out of academic practices -academic artists felt that Impressionism was a sketch
the Secession Movements
-rebellions against local academies' authority -developed their own exhibition -avant-garde artists could sell their work -THE VIENNA SECESSION -THE BERLIN SECESSION -LES XX (THE 20)
Expressionism
-refers to art that is a result of the artist's inner or personal vision and flows from feeling -unbalanced composition -emotion and individuality -subjectivity -interior experience of artist -erratic line -right colors -crude style of painting
Symbolism
-revival of romanticism -emphasis on subjectivity and emotions (exaggerated) -visionary and mystical experience -grotesque -monstrous -against materialism/positivism/realism/impressionism/industry -intuition and strange knowledge -dream states -mysticism and spiritualism -philosophical themes -creepy -fantastical animals
woodblock printmaking
-revived with german expressionism (die brucke group) -reproduction possible -materialistic -carving -returning to german gothic tradition
modernity
-science -industrial revolution -fast pace -technology
Art Nouveau
-self-consciously n e w form of art in decorative arts/design/architecture/textiles -organic subjects: flowers/plants/bugs -femme fatale -woman in nature -deliberate break from tradition -something new and modern -complex linear patterns -stretched-out figures/hair -swirling/twirling
the Victorian era
-sexual repression -denial of eroticism -no nudity in art -period during Queen Victoria's reign -profitable era for Great Britain (imperialism) -class divisions -industrialism
combination printing
-shooting in fragments -print all the small negatives on a large paper
manifesto
-statement written by an artist explaining and defending what they are tying to do -Die Brucke manifesto: revolution / new approaches / faith in development of new generation / youth / carry the future / freedom against tradition / directness and authenticity
Positivism
-the belief that knowledge should be derived from scientific observation -school of thought -application of scientific approach to the social world -observation/technology/measurement -leads to political philosophy - pro-materialism and pro-industry -rise of democracy -rise of photography and realism (observation)
photography
-the use of light to record an image using a camera -science and technology to capture light -camera obscura -realism -can a photograph be considered artwork?
the Gothic tradition
-tormented -agony -suffering -souls in hell -"northern" germanic tradition
academic training
-trained people to be professional artists -keep tradition and history -women not welcome -"academy" comes from ancient Greece (school of Plato) -apply to become a member of a studio (apply to a master) -Parisian academy = most prestigious
Haussmannization
-urban planning -tear down Paris and renovate -modernization -unpopular -developed by napoleon III
individuality/ originality
-valued/celebrated -avant-garde -new artistic movements
finish
-visual quality of the work -academic artists wanted to erase all brushwork -shows labor/skill/training of the artist
imperialism
-when a powerful nation takes over or dominates a weaker nation or region -colonialism -appropriation
Michel-Eugene Chevreul
1839, "The Law of Simultaneous Color Contrasts" Argued that local colors are always affected by adjacent colors, the eye mixes these to produce optical tones.
Post-Impressionism
A late nineteenth-century style that relies on the Impressionist use of color and spontaneous brushwork but that employs these elements as expressive devices. (formal experimentation)
the industrial revolution
A period of rapid growth in the use of machines in manufacturing and production that began in the mid-1700s
Salon des Independants
A yearly exhibition without a jury or awards created by artists such as Gauguin, Cezanne, Seurat, and others. Artists associated with modernism and avant-garde exhibited here because the "Salon" was too selective. Created in 1884 to give artists freedom to exhibit work to public.
Roger Fry
An English artist and art critic known for coining the term Post-Impressionism (formalist)
art for art's sake
Art specifically produced with the intention of being art. According to critic and theorist Northrop Frye, this is a body of work with no apparent cultural context or direction.
The Blue Rider Almanac
The almanac was written by the Blue Rider Group in Munich. The group was founded by Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc in 1911. The Blue Rider (Der Blaue Reiter) Almanac was published in 1912. The almanac contains reproductions of paintings and illustrations by artists around the world. Their works emphasized symbolism through color and iconography, primitivism, simplified composition, and a trend toward abstraction. The group was interested in eclectic art from all over the world. All of these objects are unified by their authenticity and genuine nature. magazine publication that helped circulate their ideas (important)
Charles Baudelaire
a French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist, art critic, and pioneering translator of Edgar Allan Poe. -modernism is constant change -historical vs fashion -modernity is relevant to people - make them interested so people will want the art (successful)
Neo-Impressionism
a late 19th-century movement in French painting that sought to improve on impressionism through a systematic approach to form and color, particularly using pointillist technique. The movement's leading figures included Georges Seurat, Paul Signac, and Camille Pissarro. -SCIENCE / OPTICAL MIXING OF COLOR
pointillism
a technique of neo-impressionist painting using tiny dots of various pure colors placed closely together, which become blended in the viewer's eye. It was developed by Georges Seurat with the aim of producing a greater degree of luminosity and brilliance of color. -OPTICAL MIXING OF COLOR -SCIENCE IN ART
American Impressionism
academic artists beginning to incorporate impressionist techniques in their art
Pictorial photography
an approach to photography that emphasizes beauty of subject matter, tonality, and composition rather than the documentation of reality.
Montmartre
artistic center of Paris (cafes/restaurants/dance halls)
the painting of modern life
artists depicted the modern world and the emotional and psychological effects of living in a world of rapid flux
Felix Feneon
coins the term neo-impressionism
optical color
color perceived by the viewer due to the effect of atmosphere or unusual light on the actual color
color theory
cool colors recede / bright colors protrude
women's suffrage
equal political rights for women (the right to vote)
the societe anonyme des artistes, peintres, sculpteurs, gravures, etc.
first group of impressionists at 1874 exhibition -name of group
mosaics/tesserae
fragments of material assembled to make a work
Baron Haussmann
in charge of renovation in Paris (prefect of the siene - coordinator)
the Universal Exposition of 1900
paris wanted to showcase their new subway
Japanese woodblock prints
provided inspiration to many avant-garde French painters by flattening out figures to emphasize shapes, designs, patterns, and broad contour outlines; looked at a figure from an odd angle; let figures float without a ground line
formalism
strict observance of the established rules traditions and methods employed in the arts. _____ can also refer to the theory of art that relies heavily on the organization of forms in a work rather than on the content.
creativity
the ability to produce new and valuable ideas
genius
the ability to transform the cultural landscape, to alter our perception of a facet of reality or of reality itself
the Impressionist exhibitions
the series of 8 exhibitions held between 1874 and 1886 by a group of (mostly) French artists who wished to declare their independence from the Academy (& Academic style) & the official Salon - their works were not refused by the Salon, they did not even submit them for consideration
