Paint Box Magazine Jose P. Alegria
Paint Box Magazine “ The Best Art Magazine in the Universe ”
By: Jose P. Alegria Semester: Fall 2012 November 22, 2012
Major Movements in Arts
Fall 2012
Kathryn Kelly
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Paint Box Magazine Jose P. Alegria
Table of Contents Romanticism …… Pages 3-4
Realism ……. Pages 5-6 Impressionism …… Pages 8-11 Bibliography …… Page 12 Major Movements in Arts
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Romanticism Part 1
Romanticism began in the late 18th to the mid 19th century. It started as an artistic movement that emphasized a revolution against social order and religion. Romanticism practiced emotion over reason and senses over intellect. Romantics challenged the idea that reason was the one path to truth, judging it inadequate in understanding the great mysteries of life. These mysteries could be uncovered with emotion, imagination, and intuition. For a romantic artist nature was wild, beautiful and beyond human control. Emotions were exaggerated and so paintings from the romantic period are filled with melancholy, despair, fear, and hope. They emphasized a life filled with deep feeling, spirituality, and free expression, seeing such virtues as a defense against the effects of industrialization.
Artists of the Romantic Period tried to capture these ideals in their work. They rejected the rationalism that characterized the neoclassical style of the Enlightenment. Like Baroque artists, Romantic artists hoped to inspire an emotional response in those who viewed their art.
Caspar David Friedrich was born in September 5, 1774. He was a 19th-century German Romantic landscape painter. Friedrich was raised in the Swedish Pomeranian town of Greifswald, where he began his studies in art at a young age. He studied in Copenhagen until 1798, before settling in Dresden. He came of age during a period when across Europe, a growing disillusion with materialistic society was giving rise to a new appreciation of spirituality, which is why it made his art so dark and expressive. Friedrich is best known for his landscapes, which typically feature night skies, morning mists, barren trees or Gothic ruins. His primary interest as an artist was the contemplation of nature. Friedrich changed the face of landscape paintings with his intense and emotional focus on nature, and became a key member of the Romantic Movement. Friedrich died in May 7, 1840. Part 2
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1 http://artofmanliness.com/2011/03/03/the-‐basics-‐of-‐art-‐the-‐romantic-‐period/ Major Movements in Arts
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Abbey in an Oak Forest
Title: Abbey in an Oak Forest, 1810 Artist: Caspar David Friedrich
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 110.4 x 171 cm
“Abbey in an Oak Forest” was created in 1810 on 110.4-x 171cm oil on canvas. In this artwork, Friedrich is depicting a composition of the ruins of an abbey church, which has become a graveyard. Value is depicted in the entrance of the church along with the leafless trees around the graveyard, giving a depth form and a rough texture to the artwork. The balance of the shadow depicts “Abbey in an Oak Forest” with brightness and darkness all at once. Trees and graves are shown alongside the church creating unity. It captures several different Romantic elements at once. Friedrich loved to depict scenes in wintertime; the leafless trees and gray colors evoked that sense of melancholy, and mystery that give the emotional mood that Romantics loved. This artwork gives a tenebrous feeling at a first glance, but it’s also easy to appreciate it by the dark beauty that it represents. Abbey in an Oak Forest was created in oil on canvas and is perhaps Caspar David Friedrich ‘s most dark painting. However, that was his way of expression. Romanticism practiced emotion over reason and senses over intellect. They emphasized a life filled with deep feeling, Part 3
spirituality, and free expression.2 This artwork depicts well the romantic era, showing stark leafless trees and graves, which evoke that sense of melancholy. Many artist around the world find this artwork to be a perfect example of romanticism.
2 http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com /Romanticism
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Realism Part 1
Realism was a movement that started in France in the early 1850s. This movement rejected the emotional subjects of the Romantics.. Realism emphasized on precise imitation of visual perception. They painted with direct observation and no alterations. Subjects that were “real” things you could see and touch. Focused on facts and reality rather than imagination. Gods and goddesses were replaced with peasants and the working class. The term “Realism” came more specifically from the art movement and is associated in particular with the work of Gustave Courbet. The father of the realist movement was Gustave Courbet. Courbet favored the depiction of everyday life in an energetic and naturalistic style. Famous artworks like “ Burial at Ornans” and “Interior of my studio” made Courbet the most notable realist artist. Realism has many artistic currents in different civilizations. For example, realism can be found in ancient Greek sculptures portraying boxers and worn out old women.
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“The Painter's Atelier” Artist: Gustave Courbet Title: The Painter's Atelier Year: 1855
Dimensions: 359 × 598 cm (141.3 × 235.4 in) Medium: oil on canvas
Part 2
Gustave Courbet created “The Painters Atelier” in 1855. It has dimensions of 359 x 598cm (141.3 x 235.4 in) and with the medium of oil on canvas. Courbet said that this picture was the culmination of memories and dreams from 7 years of painting in his studio. The artwork depicts people from various people of different societies of that time. The work is an allegory of Courbet's life as a painter, in which he has his friends and admirers on the right and challenges and opposition to the left, giving more variety to the composition. “The Painter Atelier” is notable for its use of contrast, and its difference in size and
color. The artwork depicts movement in a great way, presenting the people like if they were actually moving. Shading is used to emphasize form, creating value and a dark contrast in the painting. The realistic colors and the balance of the artwork, gives a realistic mood and a picture-like theme that realist artist practiced. As most Courbet paintings, Unity is greatly applied and can be seen through out the artwork. Giving the illusion of depth also depicts form in “The Painters Atelier”. This artwork currently resides in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, France.
Part 3 In conclusion, Realism changed the emotional and bright era or Romanticism by showing their art in a real manner. They were like the photographers of that time, painting what we actually saw rather than using our imagination. In recent years realism has come to mean the presentation of forms and materials that are simply themselves, not primarily representations of things that already exist. Many realist artists contributed to this movement, mainly Gustave Courbet that gave realism a better recognition across Europe and the world. He became an inspiration to the younger generation of French artists including Édouard Manet and the Impressionist painters. Courbet’s artworks depicted a lot of contrast, which created interest in the piece and often moved the eye to certain areas in order to understand.
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Major Movements in Arts
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Part 1
Impressionism was a movement in France. Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, and Sisley created this movement in the 1870s, they painted what they saw with there own eyes using natural light effects and very realistic colors. French art critic Louis Leroy called it Impressionism3. Impressionism was based on light and the subject that was being painted or drawn like a forest or some one sitting in the park. Instead of creating smoothly blended colors, the Impressionist placed separate touches of contrasting colors into the canvas without mixing the paint. If you focused well on a an 1870’s
3 http://edhelper.com/ReadingCo mprehension_47_12.html
Major Movements in Arts
Impressionist painting, you will see many brush strokes of colors, placed side by side with no blending, but when you move farther away, you see the colors produces effects of light. The artists attempted to paint what the eye actually sees rather than painting whatever they wanted. Part 2
Pierre-Auguste Renoir was born in 1841 to Marguerite Merlet and Léonard Renoir. In 1844 his family moved to Paris and by 1854, at the young age of thirteen, he began painting flowers on porcelain cups. He came from the town of Limoges, where porcelain became almost a symbol of wealth. Later he was
giving permission to copy paintings in order to practice, then he began to admire the eighteenth century masters. His early works were snapshots of real life, full of sparkling colour and light. By the mid1880s, however, he had broken with the movement to apply a more disciplined, formal technique to portraits and figure paintings, particularly of women. 4From
there on, he became of great importance to the Impressionist Era and changed art forever.
4 http://www.pierre-‐
auguste-‐renoir.org/
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“A Girl with a Watering Can”
This painting is the “A Girl with a Watering Can” by Impressionist artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir. It was painted on 1876 in France. The medium is oil on canvas and the dimensions are 100 × 73 cm. The composition of the artwork is very simple and easy to understand. It depicts Mademoiselle Leclere in her blue dress. Her dress is painted with a blue
color; Blue is used to symbolize piety and sincerity. She is wearing a red bow representing passion, desire, and love, giving the artwork an innocent and warm mood. Movement is shown as the Mademoiselle is watering the plants and carrying a can full of water. Unity and Balance is demonstrated in how the Mademoiselle is perfectly in the center of the canvas
with a background creating a form of depth and width that makes Renoir’s painting a perfect example of impressionist art. Value is depicted on the plants underneath the mademoiselle, due to the intense shading that Renoir applied in that particular area. The painting is currently in the Natural Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.
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“Pere Fournaise”
Impressionist artist, Pierre-Auguste Renoir in 1875, titles this painting “Pere Fournaise”. The medium is Oil on Canvas, which gives a smooth texture. The old man named “Fournaise” is shown at a leisurely moment, smoking a pipe, with two glasses of beer in front of him, suggesting the presence of another party to the conversation, perhaps Renoir Himself.5 It is not a complex and diverse composition, although movement is depicted as Fournaise is drinking beer and socializing in the bar. The artwork has a bright contrast with realistic colors that represent daytime and a relaxed/warm mood. Depth and width is not too visible in this piece, it looks like if Fournoise is leaning against the wall because nothing is visible in the background. However, Renoir applied shading to create value in Fournoise body. This painting looks like a photograph, due to its perfect balance between the beers on the table and his hand perfectly placed under his chin. This piece is currently in the Impressionism exhibit in the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.
5 Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Impressionism Exhibit Major Movements in Arts
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A Box at the Theater (At the Concert) Artist: Pierre-Auguste Renoir Year: 1880 Title: A Box at the Theater (At the Concert)
Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 99.4 x 80.7 cm
This artwork is another masterpiece from Impressionist artist PierreAuguste Renoir in 1880. The medium is oil on convas with dimensions of 99.4 x 80.7cm. The title is “A Box at the Theater”, it demonstrates two beautiful girls of that era, sitting down waiting for something at the theatre. The artwork has a red background depicting a theater curtain; the red color depicts an erotic mood to the piece. The white and black colors of their dresses contrast well with the background and represents goodness, innocence, purity, mystery, elegance and virginity. Not too much movement is seen in the piece as their sitting on a couch apparently waiting for some or something. Value is depicted on the pink flowers that the girl is holding on her lap; it gives balance and unity to the artwork. This piece is currently in the Impressionism exhibit at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Part 3
In conclusion, Impressionism art is one of the most famous art movements. It revolutionized the influence of the Romantics and Realist’s by combining more colors and using different brush strokes that made it look so real, So real that the art works looked very similar to pictures taken by cameras today. They captured the moment or the first impression and applied it to a canvas. The Impressionism movement gave future artist the inspiration to create art in other innovative ways.
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Bibliography http://www.canadianart.ca/?attachment_id=4867 http://lkl0018.wordpress.com/2011/05/26/final-‐campaign-‐ads/ http://artofmanliness.com/2011/03/03/the-‐basics-‐of-‐art-‐the-‐romantic-‐period/ http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/glossary/realist-‐movement http://lkl0018.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/tube-‐ad-‐copy.jpg http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Romanticism http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Romanticism Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Impressionism Exhibit http://www.aubergelejardindantoine.com/forfait_musee_des_beaux_arts_en.php
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