Survey of Western Art 2 Final

What are the 3 artworks that you will use in your comprehensive essay?

17th-century: Landscape with Cattle and Peasants (Claude Lorrain 18th-century: The Swing (Jean-Honore Fragonard) 19th-century: Impression: Sunrise (Claude Monet)

Poussinistes vs. Rubenistes

A debate that took place in the French Academy in the later 17th century over which modern painter provided the best model for artists to emulate. Poussinistes were named after Nicolas Poussin who favored drawing; Rubenistes were named after Peter Paul Rubens who favored color.

Salon des Refuses

A famous exhibition in 1863 that was commissioned by Napoleon III, the French Emperor, as a recourse for artists who had their works denied entry into the Academie des Beaux-Arts' annual 'Salon de Paris' that year. The artwork shown was more shocking and controversial to what the public was used to seeing at the annual salons.

Ruckenfigur

A figure represented from the back and portrayed as being engaged in deep contemplation before nature. Its function/effect was to draw the viewer/spectator into the painting, identifying the viewer with the figure. Paradoxically, this portrayal of the figure has the potential to keep the viewer "outside" the painting, as the viewer is decidedly behind and distanced from the figure thus one-step removed from the visual experience.

What is the historical significance of William Hogarth's Breakfast Scene from Marriage a la Mode?

A major factor in political, social, and economic changes from the revolutions that erupted in France and America was the Enlightenment. Enlightenment thinkers rejected faith in favor of reason and championed an approach to the acquisition of knowledge based on empirical observation and scientific experimentation. For "Natural Art", Rosseau said that the arts and sciences, society, and civilization in general had corrupted "natural man" - people in their primitive state, and according to him, human capacity for feeling, sensibility, and emotions came before reason

Enlightenment

A movement in the 18th century that advocated the use of reason, scientific observation, and emphasized education. Started after Louis XIV dies and the ideals included liberty, civic virtue, morality, and sacrifice

Calotype

A photographic process in which a positive image is made by shining light through a negative image onto a sheet of sensitized paper.

Who was Theodore Gericault?

A romantic painter that had an interest in the heroic and epic, and produced works that captivate viewers with their drama, visual complexity, and emotional force. Even though he studied drawing in the studio of neoclassical painter, Pierre-Narcisse Guérin, he chafed at the rigidity of the style.

Salon

A social gathering of intellectuals and artists that were usually held in the homes of wealthy women in Paris and other European cities during the Enlightenment to share ideas, artwork, etc. where it could be criticized for the public.

Pointillism/Divisionism

A technique of neo-impressionist painting using tiny dots of various pure colors, 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. Divisionism was the original term

Grand Manner Painting

A type of 18th-century portrait painting designed to communicate a person's grace and class through certain standardized conventions, such as the large scale of the figure relative to the canvas, the controlled pose, the landscape setting, and the low horizon line. Also known to combine history with portraiture for a heroic painting

Beaux-Arts Style

Academic style of architecture associated with the French academy in the 19th and early 20th centuries that was characterized by classical forms, symmetry, rich ornamentation and a grand scale. It represented a free association of classical styles and was also known as the "second empire" style, due to the reign of Napoleon III, or "neo-baroque"

What is the historical significance of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres' Grand Odalisque?

After Napoleon had consolidated his power, he enlisted France's leading artists and architects to contrast a public image of his reign and embraced neoclassicism as the ideal stylistic vehicle for linking his rule with the classical past and for expressing his imperial authority.

What is the historical significance of Jean-Honore Fragonard's The Swing?

After the death of Louis XIV in 1715, there were a bunch of changes in French high society. Even though French citizens still owed allegiance to a monarch, there were a resurgence of aristocratic social, political, and economic power. Hôtels, aka elegant private townhouses, of Paris soon became the centers of a new, softer style called Rococo, which was the perfect expression of the lighthearted elegance that the wealthy cultivated in their opulent homes. When a woman is depicted in 18th-century paintings, she's fully clothed with shoes on - if your shoes are off, then you're no longer innocent.

Who was Casper David Friedrich?

Among the first European artists to depict the Romantic transcendental landscape. The personal experience of nature led to a deeper understanding of God, nature's creator for him and the mood from his works demand silence form the viewer to appropriate the scared places that are filled with a divine presence. Religion was key in romanticism in Germany and he studied art and settled in Germany. He thinks and portrays themes of loneliness and isolation and thinks of his paintings like altarpieces because it's helping you understand nature in a new way, which is religion

What is the historical significance of Joseph Paxton's Crystal Palace?

At the opening of the 19th century, Napoleon had co-opted the classical style as the official architectural expression of his empire. Neoclassicism was in vogue elsewhere in Europe and in the new American republic too. But other historical styles, gothic specifically, also enjoyed revivals at the same time architects were exploring the expressive possibilities that new constructive technologies had made possible.

Who was Jacques-Louis David?

Considered the greatest Neoclassical master. He followed the Rococo painter's style until a period of study in Rome won the younger man over to the classical art tradition. He favored using Renaissance masters and art of the ancients as models and rebelled against Rococo style as an "artificial taste" and exalted the "perfect form" of Greek art. He also agreed with the Enlightenment belief that the subject of an artwork should have a moral, and that paintings that represent noble deeds could evoke virtue. He was also anti-Poussinist (didn't believe in drawing being the most important factor in art)

Describe Honore Daumier's Rue Transnonain

Daumier wanted to capture the moment after the fact, where the bodies of workers and a child's body crushed underneath his father's corpse. If he had drawn the soldiers shooting or storming in, he would've gotten in trouble. Everyone is stripped of his humanity and Daumier wanted to show that they didn't discriminate the killings. He wanted to capture the vulnerability and raw brutality of the scene. The contrast and diagonals show everything spilling out at you. This was a social commentary AND realism (the immediacy, the time, etc). King Louis ordered for almost all newspapers to be bought but he couldn't charge Daumier because he didn't necessarily do anything wrong; they even seized his stone so he couldn't make more prints of it.

Describe Georges Seurat's A Sunday on La Grande Jatte

Depicts a day for relaxation while showing a sociable scene. This was very different than what impressionists did; however, you can see how he's interested in how light affects color through shadows and light on the water. He also brings more geometric analysis and more process in his painting through pointillism. He focuses on structure and form and paints the frame. The people included in the picture are upper class and working class - a place where all the classes can mix and mingle. This was a democratic way of looking at society that wouldn't necessarily happen in real life. To do this painting, he studied a bunch of murals and Egyptian sculptures and art to influence this painting and the stances - anything that looked static and timeless. From it being a dotted painting, it lets us notice how we see color and how colors react to one another. Michel-Eugene Chevreul was the one who had the theory of how we perceive colors and the simultaneous contrast of when you perceive color by the colors around it. Charles Blanc took Chevreul's idea further by saying if two colors are side by side and you step back, they mix.

Describe the story behind Jacques-Louis David's Oath of the Horatii

Depicts a story from pre-Republican Rome - the heroic phase of Roman history. The leaders of the waring cities of Rome and Alba decided to resolve their conflicts in a series of encounters waged by 3 representatives from each side - the Romans chose their champions as the 3 Horatius brothers while Alba chose the 3 sons of the Curatius family. A sister of the Horatii, Camilla, was the bride-to-be of one of the Curatius sons, and the wife of the youngest Horatius was the sister of the Curatii.

Describe Claude Monet's Impression: Sunrise

Depicts a view of a seaport where his father sold groceries in bulk to shipping companies. Represents a sharp break from traditional landscape painting. He made no attempt to disguise the brushstrokes or blend the pigment to create smooth, tonal gradations and an optically accurate scene. Appeared in the first exhibition in the studio of Nadar's photography studio and saw themselves as initiating a new style of art, but criticism mocked it from its looks of unfinished work. There is no narrative and was focused on the light and technique. The emphasis was not on subject matter, but on the study of light and nature and brush strokes and color. Scientists at the time were interested in how we actually perceived color and the reflection of light. By painting en plein air, Monet got to capture his instantaneous representation of atmosphere and climate. Monet used primary hues and placed them side by side to create secondary hues to achieve remarkably brilliant effects with his characteristically short, choppy brushstrokes to accurately catch the vibrating quality of light.

Describe William Hogarth's Breakfast Scene from Marriage a la Mode

Depicts right after a marriage between a noble man and a daughter of a rising middle class family that had money. They obviously did not love each other because you can see the details of the marriage and the beginnings of its destruction. The woman isn't lady-like at all, Hogarth represents her as a slut while the man isn't put-together. The dog is about to pull out a cap out of a pocket which indicates cheating along with the foot being revealed by a curtain, hinting at a naked woman. You can see 2 religious paintings in the background which shows a high contrast along with a fed-up servant holding unpaid bills. Hogarth was trying to point out a deteriorating marriage and wanted to use this as a didactic series of prints to say "marry for love, not money".

Describe Rembrandt van Rijn's Prodigal Son

Depicts the youngest son leaving his home with his money and blowing it on partying and sin. Then when he sees the error of his ways and becomes poor and hungry, he returns home where he's welcome with open arms by his father, showing mercy. The way the light and shadows intermingle directs the viewer's eyes to the father and son. The light also touches the contrasting stern faces of the foremost witness. This is very different than what people were used to seeing in traditional Baroque artwork with its harsh chiaroscuro.

Describe Victor Horta's Hotel Tassel

Designed a townhouse for a professor (Prof. Tassel) where he had to unify with the other two townhouses beside it but strays from it as well. You can see the free-flowing curve in the façade and iron work. He was not copying history and is the first modern movement in art - embracing technology in a new, inventive way. Architectural historian William Curtis described Horta's Hotel Tassel as a "3D equivalent to the painter's 2D inventiveness". The whiplash form was used (S and C scrolls from the 18th century). Arabesque was everywhere in the interior and he dematerializes space.

What is the historical significance of George Haussmann's Rennovation of Paris?

During the period known as the Second Empire, Napoleon III ruled France. He asked Baron Georges-Eugene Haussmann, to modernize Paris—to bring clean water and modern sewers to the fast growing city, to light the streets with gas lanterns, to construct a central market (Les Halles), and to build parks, schools, hospitals, asylums, prisons, and administrative buildings. But the most ambitious aspect of Haussmann's plan was to literally reshape the city.

Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

English art movement formed in 1848 by painters who rejected the academic rules of art, and often painted medieval subjects in a naive style, a revival of the Gothic period in a sense. They wanted to "go back to a time where everyone was happy and innocent".

Who was Claude Monet?

Founder of the French impressionist painting movement (art that shows perceptions before nature)

Who was Jean-Honore Fragonard?

Fragonard was one of Boucher's star pupils and was approached by his patron who wanted this painting for his little house for his mistress because it inspires sex. Fragonard didn't want to do it at first because of how scandalous it was

Who was Rembrandt van Rijn?

Frans Hals' younger contemporary and leading Dutch painter of this time that was a master of light and shadow, a unique interpreter of the Protestant conception of holy scripture, and was an artist of great versatility. Became renowned for portraiture and becomes the definer of Protestant artwork. The Calvinist injunction against religion in art didn't stop him from making a series of religious paintings and prints. Paintings that depicted biblical themes were not objects of devotion, but they still brought great prestige in the Dutch Republic. He and other artists wanted to demonstrate their ability to represent new dramatic ways the stories narrated in holy scripture. He had a special interest in probing the states of the human soul, and the spiritual stillness of his later religious paintings is that of inward-turning contemplation. His psychological insight and profound sympathy for human affliction produced one of the most moving pictures in the history of biblical art

Describe the first world's fairs

Grew out of a conversation of two men (entrepreneurship from Henry Cole and Prince Albert married to Queen Victoria) who realized they needed to something to compete with industry in France and other countries, so Cole suggested we have a fair where we can showcase goods and industrial wares with the world, so Albert suggested how about opening it up to the entire world rather than just England and have all of these countries come to England to help increase capitalism and the economy in England; put England on top of industry in the world. They held a competition for an architect to come in and assemble quickly and disassemble quickly with lots of space, open, lots of light, etc. (temporary); the competition didn't work out, the designs didn't match with their vision. Countries from all over got their own booth or room to showcase their own industrial wares but England was the biggest. the USA had their own as well.

Who was George Seurat?

Had a very traditional academic background and was intrigued by Delacroix's use of color. The subjects of his paintings were essentially impressionist themes, but he depicted modern life in a resolutely intellectual way. He was less concerned with the recording of immediate color sensations than he was with their careful and systematic organization into a new kind of pictorial order. His made divisionism / pointillism and introduced it to the French public at the last impressionist exhibit where he displayed a Sunday on la grande jatte. Admired realism and made copies of realist work on contemporary issues. He thought about the impressionists but wanted to do something different than they did, so he brought back more of scientific form of art.

Who was Paul Cezanne?

He accepted the impressionists' color theories and their faith in subjects chosen from everyday life, but his own studies of traditional works of western art in the Louvre persuaded him that Impressionism lacked form and structure, so he said that he wanted to "make of impressionism something solid and enduring like the art in the museums". He was the father of modern art because of his influence in cubism and was the forerunner of breaking away from impressionism. He studied law at first then went to Paris and painted where he later met Monet and a lot of other impressionists, and builds off them. He studied at an art academy but he wants to think about form and bring back scientific qualities into painting again with how we perceive space.

Describe Theodore Gericault's Raft of the Medusa

He captured the saving moment, aka the end through the men fighting with each other on the raft with a man signaling to a ship who was coming to save them. You can see the storm and the wind and the dead bodies surrounding them which heightens the emotion and drama in the painting. This also evokes the feeling of hope through the accurate capturing of horror, chaos, and emotion of the tragedy. This is done through the composition which consisted of lots of triangles and diagonals, and through the monumental shapes. It shows the transition of despair to hope through diagonals (bottom to top). He did reject neoclassical composition principles and presented a jumble of writhed bodies instead. We see the bodies in a non-heroic anatomy and the vehicle of emotion was shown even more through this and the gender (no females). Stripped of their identity and humanity (their most vulnerable state). The skin tone of the bodies show hunger and death. It was shown in the 1819 Salon, but it didn't have the effect he wanted, so he took it to England and everyone loved it.

Describe Thomas Cole's The Oxbow

He painted an actual location that's an interesting oxbow-shaped turn in the Connecticut river. He divides the composition into two from the dark and stormy wilderness on the left and the more developed civilization on the right. His depiction of expansive wilderness incorporated reflections and moods romantically appealing to the public. The cloud shows a departing storm and you can also see an umbrella and tools of the artist which is depicting an artist painting in the landscape. You see the artist and part of the easel, but pay close attention to ratio - nature will not be overcome by person. The overly-detailed nature and departing storm with lightning strike makes you think why would an artist be there?

Who was Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres?

He was David's greatest pupil, but broke apart from him on matters of style. He adopted what he believed to be a truer and purer Greek style than David's neoclassical manner. He used linear forms that was found in Greek vase painting and often placed the main figures in the foreground of his composition, emulating classical low-relief sculpture.

Who was Edouard Manet?

He was influential in articulating realist principles but also played an important role in the development in Impressionism in the 1870s. Showed the beginnings of modernism because it was among the salon des refuses and shocked critics, artists, and the public alike because of its rebellion

Who was Gustave Courbet?

He was the leading figure of the Realist movement in 19th century art. He used the term realism when exhibiting his own works, even though he didn't like labels. realists scrutinizing their environment led them to paint mundane and trivial subjects that artists had traditionally deemed unworthy of depiction (low-class workers, laborers, and peasants). He has positivist spirit when painting tangible objects and sometimes painted with a palette knife to bring attention to the painting surface

Who was Victor Horta?

He will want to use art nouveau for the new socialists Belgium and people eventually saw that he saw more of an influence during this time.

Describe Edvard Munch's The Scream

His most famous work is considered a self-portrait and this work was inspired by a trance he had while walking intoxicated with his friends at sunset across the Oslo bridge in the summer. He got very tired from anxiety, and the colors from the sun began to get tremendously saturated and he heard an infinite, eternal scream echoing throughout space while his friends kept going. It shows the echoing the moment of grief and despair. The whip-lash was a S basically to show movement in the atmosphere. This painting evokes a powerful emotional response from the viewer because of its dramatic presentation. The man in the foreground's shape is mimicked by the landscape itself, all to emphasize the scream like an echo.

Describe Gustave Courbet's Burial at Ornans

History paintings and some sort of contemporary significance are usually physically huge in paintings, so why is this so big? It was about capturing the everyday scene that happens to all of us eventually. This painting is funeral set in bleak provincial landscape outside the artist's hometown near Besancon in eastern France. There are ordinary people attending and while a robed clergyman recites the Office of the Dead, those attending are clustered around the gravesite. It commemorates a recurring event involving common folk and does not ennoble or romanticize death. You don't even see the guys getting buried, everyone is just doing their own thing, whether it be grieving, preaching, talking amongst themselves, looking away, all not necessarily focused on one thing just like a real funeral. He controlled the composition in a masterful way by his sparing use of bright color and through the groupings of the people. He's also not showing heroism to a specific person; its just a snapshot of real life to which people didn't like.

Who was William Hogarth?

Hogarth did a lot of art that satire the rising middle class, which was of course controversial. His satire style depicted a "marriage of convenience" - marry someone with money - and showed that this is not necessarily the way to go. He owed much to the work of his contemporaries in France from the Rococo artists even though he would be the last to admit it, but his subject matter that was frequently moral in tone was distinctively English. This was because it was during the time of English satirical writing and he admired that literary genre. He uses Rococo style in a satirical way to point out all the things that are wrong in this time period while also expressing his opinion on marriages during this time.

What is the historical significance of Claude Monet's Impression: Sunrise?

Impressionism was applied as a response to Impression: Sunrise. Although this label was intended to be derogatory, by the third impressionist show, the artists had embraced it and called themselves impressionists. Before the term was used for sketches and impressionist paintings have the same type of qualities as sketches (abbreviation, speed, and spontaneity), but they were finished pieces of work. Impressionism named by Louis LeRoy, in 1874. These were considered to be quick, fleeting sketches of the time, during the time where people are trying to make things not fleeting and timeless; momentary, incidental and En Plein Air. Impressionists painted subjects that captured the transitory nature of modern life in urbanized Paris and its suburbs. This was also around the same time that the Japonisme boom erupted.

What is the historical significance of Mary Cassatt's The Child's Bath?

Impressionism was intended to be derogatory, by the third impressionist show, the artists had embraced it and called themselves impressionists. Before the term was used for sketches and impressionist paintings have the same type of qualities as sketches (abbreviation, speed, and spontaneity), but they were finished pieces of work. Impressionism named by Louis LeRoy, in 1874. These were considered to be quick, fleeting sketches of the time, during the time where people are trying to make things not fleeting and timeless; momentary, incidental and En Plein Air. Impressionists painted subjects that captured the transitory nature of modern life in urbanized Paris and its suburbs. This was also around the same time that the Japonisme boom erupted.

What is the historical significance of Claude Lorrain's Landscape with Cattle and Peasants?

In France, the monarchial authority had been increasing for centuries, culminating in the rein of Louis XIV who sought to determine the direction of French society and culture. France became Europe's largest and most powerful nation in the 17th century; against this backdrop, the arts flourished. Patrons would actually build landscapes so it could achieve the picturesque element.

What is the historical significance of Victor Horta's Hotel Tassel?

Industrialization was impossible to ignore and while some artists embraced it, others were still butthurt over its impact. Art Nouveau was New Art that came from the arts and crafts movement. Tried to synthesize all the arts in a determined attempt to create art based on natural forms that could be mass-produced for a large audience. This style also adapted the twining-plant form to the needs of architecture, painting, sculpture, and all the decorative arts.

Describe Thomas Jefferson's Virginia State Capitol

Jefferson accidentally chose an imperial model originally, so he made modifications to it, which included windows between pilasters, making the engaged columns pilasters instead, the corinthian order became ionic, and the portico shortened. The building was built by slaves, which contradicts the new American republic morals since it was literally built by slaves and further complicates architecture and its meanings. Charles-Louis Clerisseau helped Jefferson design it and was the world's first neo-classical temple. The Capitol was modeled on the Maison Carrée, a Roman temple in Nimes, France.

Who was Thomas Jefferson?

Jefferson led the movement to adopt the neoclassicism as the architectural style of the USA in part to the value with which it was associated - morality, idealism, patriotism, and civic virtue. Jefferson was an economist, educational theorist, gifted amateur architect, as well as statesman. He studied 18th century French classical architecture and city planning and visited the Maison Carée an ancient Roman temple at Nimes

What is the historical significance of Casper David Friedrich's Wanderer above a Sea of Mist?

Landscape painting became its own respected and independent genre in the 19th century and flourished as leading painters adopted the genre as their specialty. Increasing tourism (came from the railway systems being improved and expanded in Europe and America) and the growth of cities contributed to the popularity of landscape painting. Romantic painters often used allegory and embraced landscape as a vehicle to comment on spiritual, moral, historical, or philosophical issues. German painters were usually Lutherans who were attracted to nature because they believed it was a direct connection to God.

What is the historical significance of Thomas Cole's The Oxbow?

Landscape painting became its own respected and independent genre in the 19th century and flourished as leading painters adopted the genre as their specialty. Increasing tourism (came from the railway systems being improved and expanded in Europe and America) and the growth of cities contributed to the popularity of this. Romantic painters often used allegory and embraced landscape as a vehicle to comment on spiritual, moral, historical, or philosophical issues. In America, landscape painting was the specialty of a group of artists known as the Hudson River School because its members drew their subjects primarily from the uncultivated regions of New York's Hudson River Valley, although many of these painters depicted scenes from across the country. The artists did not only represent Romantic panoramic landscape views but also participated in the ongoing exploration of the individual's and country's relationship to the land. They focused on identifying qualities that made America unique.

Memento Mori

Latin for "reminder of death." In painting, a reminder of human mortality, usually represented by a skull.

Who was Claude Lorrain?

Lorrain rivaled Poussin in fame and modulated in a softer style Poussin's disciplined rational art, with its sophisticated revelation of the geometry in landscape.

"Form ever follows function"

Louis Sullivan's technique on architecture that not only does it need to have structural function, but also psychological function. For example, to show the function of both a tall building and the client that will be in the building, you have to emphasize the tallness of the building for it to be tall

Describe Peter Paul Rubens' Elevation of the Cross

Made for an altarpiece for a church. The panels don't contribute to the same scene, but contribute to the same emotion that is evoked in the viewer, which is despair and dramatics. Cross-diagonals and foreshortening thrust the figures out to the viewer. Lots of loose brush strokes with vivid colors - Titian influence (he organized his compositions through the use of color). Michelangelo influence by the muscular bodies and twisting, Caravaggio influence through the tenebrism of highlights and areas of deep shadows to enhance drama. The tension is emotional as well as physical, not only reflected on Christ's face but also in the features of his followers. Human body in action remains the focus of Rubens' work, so this combined with his intellect allowed Rubens to copy the work of classical antiquity from the Italian masters

En Plein Air

Method of painting favored by the Impressionists where one paints in the open air in the city or in nature. These painters prefer to paint subjects and objects as they see them in real-time with their own eyes rather than as they might picture them in their minds in a closed space, like a studio. The Impressionists were particularly devoted to capturing the way natural light from the sun would play on a city or landscape. The rapidity with which light changes throughout the day necessitated quick, spontaneous compositions.

Who was Edvard Munch?

Munch felt pain of human life deeply and believed people were powerless before the great natural forces of death and love. The emotions associated with these forces - jealousy, loneliness, fear, despair, and desire - became the theme of most of his art. He influences the German expressionists, so he's Proto Expressionist, a person who fits in between the movements and is influential. He does a show with Berlin artists and shut it down after a week basically and this sparked the German succession, a lot being in the German expressionist movement. He dealt with a lot of death in his family, specifically his sister and mother, and these events shaped his outlook on life and his artistic vision

What is the historical significance of Theodore Gericault's Raft of the Medusa?

Neoclassicism was the dominant artistic style in Europe, but it soon gave way to a movement that historians of art, music, and literature called Romanticism at the end of the 18th-century

Who was Joseph Paxton?

Not originally part of the original running of the design. Paxton was a greenhouse designer that was brought up at a dinner and he draws up some drafts and gets the job. He was the champion of prefabricated architecture (use of structural elements manufactured in advance and transported to the construction site ready for assembly).

Who was Thomas Cole?

Often referred to as the leader of the Hudson River School. He was not a classically trained artist and refused to take on students until his father gave him money. He fell in love with and felt at peace with the Hudson River Valley. There were parts that were undeveloped but was becoming a popular tourist spot for those wanting to get out of NYC - if they developed this landscape they would lose the untouched aesthetic, so he took on the subject of landscape and brought on new meanings by producing artworks that produced commentaries. He often paints an indigenous figure to remind you that you are one part removed, aka the rückenfigur (not included in this painting).

What is the story behind Theodore Gericault's Raft of the Medusa?

On July 2, 1816, there was a French boat full of trade or military that had a shipwreck off the Mediterranean coast of the French frigate Medusa. The captain wasn't prepared at all, and there were lifeboats that could only save 200 people, but there were 400 people - left poor people, low-ranked officers, the nobility, while the captain and his officers abandoned the ship. 147 passengers try to make a raft, the carpenter specifically, and the people in life-boats offer to pull them, but with the storm that wasn't possible or else they'd all die. So they cut the cord and drifted into sea. After 13 days, only 15 survived, partly because of cannibalism, who told the stories and became a huge historical and contemporary moment that people could criticize.

What was the story behind Honore Daumier's Rue Transnonain?

On the date of the painting's name, there was an unknown sniper that shot a patrolling officer in Paris and no one knows who it was. The other officers got mad and as a result on April 15, they came into the worker's housing block where he was perceived to shoot from and killed everyone (over 30 people, being men, women, and children).

Describe Joseph Paxton's Crystal Palace

One large greenhouse, but traditional greenhouses don't have classical features, so he chooses a building that has one particular part that would showcase this industrialized greenhouse technology. They needed more space though, so they opened it up more and around the trees. Had a system of trusses, beams, secondary trusses and secondary beams that would fit glass panes; instead of making them plain and straight, all the extra parts they added was for ornamental aspects. People didn't think it would stand up because during this time, this is the first time one has designed a building out of glass with no stone frame or structure to it. Ferro-vitreous construction (iron glass construction). They used horses, pully-systems, and men on railroad carts to put the glass into the trusses. They used a curved arch system to hoist onto other truss areas for the glass. They didn't want to strip away any historical references because that would be considered too "avant-garde", so the 300-ft long elevation has a centrally-planned vault in the center with a step-down façade, almost like a cathedral, with secondary ones as well connected by horizontal layers of trusses and ornamental columns with glass fitted in between; looks like ancient roman Christian basilica with secondary basilicas on the sides, but made up of modern and industrial wares rather than stone. This is important because for the first time, people are just trying to truthfully reveal the construction of something, which was a huge success. Called the crystal palace because of how it shimmers in the sunlight like a crystal and everyone wanted to mimic it. His use of prefabricated architecture let them build it in 6 months, which was unheard of, and quickly dismantled it afterwards. His design borrowed much from traditional architecture, especially that of Roman and Christian basilicas.

Who was Honore Daumier?

One of the most famous printmakers in the 19th century and was a defender of the urban working class and often confronted authority with social criticism and political protest. He produced lithographs to reach a broad audience and contributed satirical lithographs to the widely-read liberal French Republican journal, Caricature. He quickly became known for his criticism and charged with slander (6 months in prison after King Louis read his things). After his release, he tried naming fictional characters to represent the rich and the poor, but he still got just as much criticism

Who was Mary Cassatt?

One of the two most accomplished impressionist women, the other being Berthe Morisot. An American impressionist who was well-known for her scenes of mothers and children, which was socially acceptable due to her gender unlike Degas. Her prints often capture the tender and easy relationship between mother and child. The compositional methods are interesting and new though, deriving from the Japonisme outbreak. Comes from a wealthy family, her brother Alexander Cassatt was one of the big financiers of the railroad and original Penn Station. She was able to go to Paris and just paint leisurely whenever she wanted and spent most of her life and career in Paris. She also got to show with the impressionists

Describe Claude Lorrain's Landscape with Cattle and Peasants

Painted during the baroque period with classicized elements. He used atmospheric and linear perspective to transform the rustic Roman countryside filled with peasants and animals into an ideal classical landscape bathed in sunlight in infinite space. Very peaceful in the country due to the framing caused by trees and people, rural activities (farming), no harsh light, no structured or mathematical landscape - a picturesque landscape instead (easy to look at). It also shows how man isn't overpowering nature and nature isn't overpowering man. There are no obvious connections and he matched the moods of nature with human feeling and his recomposition of nature in a calm equilibrium, which greatly appealed to many landscape painters of the 18th and 19th centuries

Daguerreotype

Photograph created by exposing a positive image on a metal plate that was developed by Louis J. M. Daguerre

Describe Mary Cassatt's The Child's Bath

Pictorial elements include a bunch of Japonisme qualities. The weird perspective of looking down, the forms are delineated flat with heavy contour line on the outside. A little modeling but the colors are flat which are emphasized by a flat background (wallpaper with patterns) and ground (patterned carpet/tapestry) and the mom's clothing patterns. The inclusion of the pitcher not sitting on anything is cropped off because we want to see it sitting on something firmly. The way the picture is set makes the composition look stretched.

What is the historical significance of Thomas Jefferson's Virginia State Capitol?

Popularity of the grand tour among the cultural elite of Europe both reflected and contributed to the heightened interest in classical antiquity during the Enlightenment. Exposure to the art treasures of Italy was also a major factor in the rise of Neoclassism as the leading art movement of the late 18th century. Architects began to break away from the ornamental, theatrical, and ostentatious Baroque and Rococo styles and embraced a more stream-lined antique look.

What is the historical significance of Georges Seurat's A Sunday on La Grande Jatte?

Post-impressionism is when artists started to examine more systematically the properties and expressive qualities of line, pattern, form, and color. Artists focused their efforts on exploring expressive capabilities of formal elements more analytical in orientation.

What is the historical significance of Paul Cezanne's Basket of Apples?

Post-impressionism is when artists started to examine more systematically the properties and expressive qualities of line, pattern, form, and color. Artists focused their efforts on exploring expressive capabilities of formal elements more analytical in orientation.

What is the historical significance of Vincent Van Gogh's Night Cafe?

Post-impressionism is when artists started to examine more systematically the properties and expressive qualities of line, pattern, form, and color. Artists focused their efforts on exploring expressive capabilities of formal elements more analytical in orientation.

What is the historical significance of Edouard Manet's Olympia?

Realism was a movement that developed in France around mid-century against this backdrop of an increasing emphasis on science. It was consistent with the philosophical tenants of the empiricists and positivists, and realist artists argued that only the contemporary world - what people can see - was "real". Realists focused their attention on the people and events of their own time and disapproved of historical and fictional subjects on the ground that they were neither visible or present so they were not real

What is the historical significance of Gustave Courbet's Burial at Ornans?

Realism was a movement that developed in France around mid-century against this backdrop of an increasing emphasis on science. It was consistent with the philosophical tenants of the empiricists and positivists, and realist artists argued that only the contemporary world - what people can see - was "real". Realists focused their attention on the people and events of their own time and disapproved of historical and fictional subjects on the ground that they were neither visible or present so they were not real

What is the historical significance of Honore Daumier's Rue Transnonain?

Realism was a movement that developed in France around mid-century against this backdrop of an increasing emphasis on science. It was consistent with the philosophical tenants of the empiricists and positivists, and realist artists argued that only the contemporary world - what people can see - was "real". Realists focused their attention on the people and events of their own time and disapproved of historical and fictional subjects on the ground that they were neither visible or present so they were not real. The ideals of the revolution had been betrayed at this time and new inventions helped change everything during another revolution during this time aka the train shaping Europe that brought the rising middle class, which entertained Daumier

Describe Benjamin West's Death of General Wolfe

Referred to the 7 years' war and was the battle of Quebec - they've won because of their flag and both sacrificing. Painted 20 years after the event - even though it was a historical event, it was a contemporary painting due to clothing people in contemporary garments, which led to rejection at first but West convinced them otherwise by capturing the truth in art. Puts the grand manner style in contemporary and classical context due to the Grand Tour. Shows General Wolfe sacrificing for the good, his country, his civic duty - 12 people around him in groupings of 3 (the way he presents the bodies show classical body types in crouching positions to mimic native Americans being okay with it, but they weren't) to show "epic composition" (derives from like that of the paintings of the lamentation over the dead Christ)

Who was Peter Paul Rubens?

Rubens was collected to the Royal Court and comes from money and marries into money. He was also the leading painter in Catholic Flanders. He traveled for 8 years in Italy and discovers his love for quintessential painters in the Baroque on all sides. He eventually becomes internationally famous because he sold his work. He was heavily influenced by Caravaggio through compositional techniques like foreshortening

Describe Casper David Friedrich's Wanderer above a Sea of Mist

Ruckenfigur isn't of great importance, but since Friedrich decided to paint a point of view level with his head, the viewer has a sense of hovering in space behind him, which is an impossible position that enhances the mystery. The technique isn't romantic; it's very refined and precise, but he still captures the sublime view, even though it's still meticulous. The painting itself is about engaging with nature - very transcendental. It's also identified as Goethe - nature as "living garment of God"

What is the historical significance of Willem Kalf's Still Life with a Late Ming Ginger Jar?

Still life paintings were one of the most popular in artists trying to find new subjects to paint. These paintings often had to double appeal to Dutch patrons as celebration of their prosperity and as reminders of the transience of life.

Describe Paul Cezanne's Basket of Apples

Still life, even more than landscape, proved to be a very effective vehicle for Cézanne's experiments in remaking impressionism to emphasize the permanent instead of the temporary. In the painting, the objects have lost something of their individual character as bottles and fruit and have become almost like that of cylinders and spheres. He captured the solidity of each object by juxtaposing color patches. You see multiple spaces - you can look at it once and see the table end in one place, and then again, and again. The multiple perspectives at once was because he wanted to present the same painting for people to view it multiple ways - engage more with it. This resulted in paintings that were conceptually coherent but not optically realistic. You sees an apple that gives imperfect form through the rendering of flicks of color. He will often think about moving time when he's painting - art being a harmony parallel to nature. Even though this painting is not optically real, it is conceptually real - how we see things.

What is the historical significance of Edvard Munch's The Scream?

Symbolists were artists seeking to express their individual spirit, rejecting the optical world of daily life in favor of a fantasy world, of forms they conjured in their free imagination. Color, line, and shape divorced from conformity to the optical image, became symbols of personal emotions in response to the world. Symbolists disdained Realism as trivial where their task was not to see things but see through them to a significance and reality far deeper than what the superficial appearance revealed. Their subjects became increasingly esoteric and exotic, mysterious, visionary, dreamlike, and fantastic - the opposite of "concrete truth, illusionism, trompe l'oeil".

Japonisme

The French fascination with all things Japanese that emerged in the second half of the 19th-century. Impressionist and Post-impressionist were especially impressed with bold contour lines, flat areas of color, scale, line, pictorial space, and cropped edges in Japanese woodblock prints.

What is the historical significance of Benjamin West's Death of General Wolfe?

The Grand Tour was not traveling leisurely, but showed how every well-bred person's education was depicted. They bring back souvenirs to help them remember experiences and to showcase to people who were curious.

Art for Art's Sake

The idea that the painter's first loyalty is to the canvas, not the outside world or the patron and certainly not for use. There doesn't have to be a story, moral, or narrative to it, you can simply just make art to be art (the aestheticism of the work)

Radial Plan

The lines of the picture form radii which meet at a central point

What is the historical significance of Peter Paul Rubens' Elevation of the Cross?

The major artistic movement in the 17th century Flanders was oil painting, like that of the Renaissance. Flemish Baroque painters retained close connections to the Baroque art of Catholic Europe, but in contrast, the Dutch schools of painting developed their own subjects and styles, consistent with their reformed religion and the new political, social, and economic structure of the Dutch Republic.

Describe Jacques-Louis David's Oath of the Horatii

The painting depicts the Horatii as they swear on their swords held high by their father to win or die for Rome, oblivious to the anguish and sorrow of the Horatius women. Also a paragon of the Neoclassical style because the subject matter deals with a narrative of patriotism and sacrifice excerpted from Roman history AND the painter employed formal devices to present the image with force and clarity. The action is unfolded in a shallow space like a stage setting and defined even more so by a simple architectural framework. David carefully put the figures across the space and close to the foreground in a manner reminiscent of ancient relief sculpture. Not only does the emotion contrast, but also the bodies' lines and positions from the men vs women. Did not intend the painting to be a revolutionary statement, but it aroused his audience to patriotic zeal - the neoclassical style soon became the semiofficial voice of the French Revolution

Describe Vincent Van Gogh's Night Cafe

The painting shows how everyone had gone home at the end of the night except for the few patrons in the scene. Van Gogh had gotten sick and this was around the time he had gotten diagnosed with depression, so he painted this and used the color to show the terrible qualities of humanity, which was proven through his letters to his brother Theo. He had made the composition through form and color. He was a prolific collector of Japanese prints and it shows through his work on the tilted perspective, odd cropping, use of near/far, colors appearing flat - captures all the ideas but uses color to capture the emotion. He also used impasto, which was the thick application of paint that was sometimes done through painting directly from the tube itself.

Describe Jean-Augustine-Dominique Ingres' Grand Odalisque

The painting was said to be gothic and medieval; these were not complimentary terms because gothic meant barbaric and immoral; this harmed his reputation for a while, but opened the door to other types of art. His contemporaries saw it as departing from neoclassicism itself. Painted for Napoleon's sister, Caroline Murat who was the queen of Naples. The nude figure reclining back followed the grand tradition of antiquity and the Renaissance in sculpture as well as painting. This painting shows his admiration for Raphael the way he depicted her head, and for Parmigianino and the Italian mannerists through her pose, elongated limbs and torso, small head, and cool color scheme. Shows linear style through her form because the essence becomes more important than human anatomy (her body is unproportioned- long torso, short legs) - mannerist artists did this a lot in playing with the rules. The objects signify the exotic things that were brought back; part of a Turkish harem (odalisque) decked in Turkish context. Mixture of themes - precise classical craftsmanship, mannerist proportions, and romantic themes - which caused confusion.

Describe Jean-Auguste-Dominique's Grand Odalisque

The painting was said to be gothic and medieval; these were not complimentary terms; gothic meant barbaric and immoral; this harmed his reputation for a while, but opened the door to other types of art. His contemporaries saw it as departing from neoclassicism itself. This was painted for Napoleon's sister, Caroline Murat who was the queen of Naples. The nude figure reclining back followed the grand tradition of antiquity and the Renaissance in sculpture as well as painting. It shows his admiration for Raphael by the way her head is depicted, and for Parmigianino and the Italian mannerists through her pose, elongated limbs and torso, small head, and cool color scheme. The linear style is shown through her unproportioned body - long torso, short legs - mannerist artists did this a lot in playing with the rules and this shows in Ingres' work here (the essence becomes more important than human anatomy). The objects surrounding her (peacock feather duster) signifies the exotic things that were brought back from; Turkish harem (odalisque) decked in Turkish context. Mixture of themes through precise classical craftsmanship, mannerist proportions, and romantic themes caused confusion.

What is the historical significance of Jacques-Louis David's Oath of the Horatii

The popularity of the grand tour among the cultural elite of Europe both reflected and contributed to the heightened interest in classical antiquity during the Enlightenment. Exposure to the art treasures of Italy was also a major factor in the rise of Neoclassism as the leading art movement of the late 18th century. This "Pompeian" style also became influential for Europe.

Describe George Haussmann's Rennovation of Paris

The streets of Paris were tiny, so if the citizens wanted to make a barricade, they could, so why not widen the streets and allow the military to get to one place in the city to another - obviously, this made for a lot of demolition (Boulevardization: broader streets). He was an urbanism guy and tore down all the old slums and wood houses and places those people in the outskirts of the city. By doing this, he also connected important monuments with a radial plan - this is very influential. This was also during the time where beaux-arts was popular. Boulevard Haussman had a mansard roof, which was a slanted roof that had been quintessentially French. The building was actually many buildings connected (not one big one) that had to have a unified stringcourse for a certain aesthetic to unify the style. This style was the revival of the Baroque with play of classical elements, taking elements of the Renaissance and playing with it in a new way

Excavation of Herculaneum and Pompeii

The violent eruptions from Mount Vesuvius caused everything in Pompeii to be covered (and preserved) in ash and volcanic lava, which in turn provided rich evidence of reconstructing Roman art and life. Ideas about and interest in ancient Rome spread in Europe as a neoclassical "Pompeian" style, to which it almost replaced Rococo styles in wealthy homes.

Describe Jean-Honore Fragonard's The Swing

This painting gives a freer, more dynamic look. By swinging her shoe off towards cupid who has a shh gesture; the other cupids are watching the activity take place. The figure laying in the bushes is pointing up her skirt and somewhat hidden (even though it's not very well). The chaperone is an unsuspecting bishop who doesn't see the lover in the bushes, but the woman knows because she's looking down at him. They are all trying to inspire sex and turn someone on for the bedroom and represents Rococo as a whole because of the emotion and delicateness.

Describe Willem Kalf's Still Life with a Late Ming Ginger Jar

This painting reflected both the wealth that Dutch citizens had accrued and the painter's exquisite skills, both technical and aesthetic. He highlighted the breadth of Dutch maritime trade through his depiction of the Persian floral carpet, the Chinese jar used to store ginger (which was a luxury item), and the Mediterranean orange and peeled lemon. He recorded the lustrous sheen of fabric and the light glinting off reflective surfaces and his work presents an array of ornamental objects (Venetian and Dutch glassware and the silver plate). The inclusion of the watch suggests that his work may also be a vanitas painting or a memento mori, but only if you count the cut fruit (spoiling after time).

Describe Edouard Manet's Olympia

This painting was submitted to the salon of 1865. The women was painted as a contemporary venus, which meant taking historical means and making it contemporary. He tried to take Venus of Urbino by Titian and make it into a modern Venus - Olympia was a common "professional name" for prostitutes in 19th century France. Shows a nude prostitute and her black maid carrying a bouquet from a client scandalizing the public. Critics also faulted his rough brushstrokes and abruptly shifting tonalities. The figure reclines on a bed that extends across the full width of the painting and beyond, and is nude except for a thin black ribbon tied around her neck, a bracelet on her arm, an orchid in her hair, and fashionable slippers on her feet. The lady who was modeling was Victorine Meurent and meets the viewer's eye with a cool indifference. The people who viewed this were the ones who gave her the flowers and is her next client and was an accusation of seeing her in brothels and such. Meeting the viewer's eye is very confrontational because she knows who is going to be her next client. The woman trying to give her flowers is from the viewer.

Who was Vincent Van Gogh?

Wasn't famous when he was alive and his art never found success in the dealer-critic system, even though his brother Theo was an art dealer. He sets the tone for the tortured artists for the sake of his art and cut off his ear during an epileptic episode, and later killed himself. He originally started out as a preacher and became a painter later on. He explored the capabilities of colors and distorted forms to express his emotions as he confronted nature. He was interested in impressionism, but he wasn't interested in how color was affected by light - he was just interested in color itself - and uses color that is purposefully not natural.

Who was Benjamin West?

West was an American artist who became popular in England. He was one of the 36 founding artists of the Royal Academy of Arts

Encyclopedia

Would not have been made possible without Madame de Pompadour, Denis Diderot, and Jean Le Rond d'Alembert. It had the didactic function to teach, but was against the king's wishes because it would allow people to gain knowledge and their own opinions. Eventually, this turned into the French Revolution.

Patte d'oie

a three pronged set of radial avenues, or goose foot

Exemplum Virtutis

example or model of virtue

Picturesque

like a picture; pleasing or charming to look at and visually attractive