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| Loren Munk, History of Art Timeline, 2004-2006, oil on linen 54 x 96 |
Rococo
(a style that originated in France in the 18th century marked by elaborate decorativeness, light colors, and organic forms. In painting, Rococo subjects tend toward the frivolous, elegant, flirtation, and typically deploy symbolic iconography that audiences could read as readily as a text.)
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| Antoine Watteau, The Sign for Gersaint's Shop. Ca. 1720. Oil on canvas, 5 feet, 11 5/8 inches x 10 feet, 1 inch |
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| Robert Doisneau, Sidelong Glance, 1948 |
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Jean-Honoré Fragonard, The Happy Accidents of the Swing, 1767, French Rococo* Rococo 1700's: In the Rococo, artists further severed ties with the institutions that had controlled the art market up to this period, namely, the church and the state. As artists started making art for a broadening spectrum of patrons, they started tackling wider range subject matters. Few qualities of the Rococo seem modern (highly decorative, very playful, mostly concerned with aristocracy), but in the broadening subjects Rococo art tackles, you can locate a degree of Modern Spirit. |
Jean-Baptiste André Gautier-Dagoty, Marie Antoinette in Court Grand Habit, 1775
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| Eugene Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People, 1830 |
Neoclassicism late 1700's-early 1900's
Art of this period displays a marked contrast to the lighthearted frivolity of the Rococo. Classical ideals of unity, simplicity, clarity and proportion reigned, but now freighted with a much heavier political message than they had displayed in the Renaissance. The serious material of Neoclassicism, and the originality of using art overtly as an ideological tool reveal the Modern tones of Neoclassicism. Neoclassicism brought back stories and histories of Classical Greece and Roman as models for a changing France. With its interest in Philosophy, Science, and the Arts, you can also see why Neoclassicism is associated with The Age of Enlightenment.
Art of this period displays a marked contrast to the lighthearted frivolity of the Rococo. Classical ideals of unity, simplicity, clarity and proportion reigned, but now freighted with a much heavier political message than they had displayed in the Renaissance. The serious material of Neoclassicism, and the originality of using art overtly as an ideological tool reveal the Modern tones of Neoclassicism. Neoclassicism brought back stories and histories of Classical Greece and Roman as models for a changing France. With its interest in Philosophy, Science, and the Arts, you can also see why Neoclassicism is associated with The Age of Enlightenment.
Romanticism 1800-1850 :
first called "Neo-Baroque," Romanticism shares dramatic emotionalism with Baroque, but used the drama to place new and significant emphasis on social issues and politics. Even the great Romantic landscapes have strong ideological message; look for it when you finish swooning over the rainbows and waterfalls. Romanticism celebrated the imagination of the individual artist, which marks it as another rung on the ladder of early modern almost to full Modernism. Just as Neoclassicism looks like a revolt against the moral and emotional excesses of Baroque, Romanticism shows a reaction to the restraint and rationality of Neoclassicism, the Age of Enlightenment, and much of Romanticism also demonstrates a return toward the natural world-- a reaction against Industrialization.
first called "Neo-Baroque," Romanticism shares dramatic emotionalism with Baroque, but used the drama to place new and significant emphasis on social issues and politics. Even the great Romantic landscapes have strong ideological message; look for it when you finish swooning over the rainbows and waterfalls. Romanticism celebrated the imagination of the individual artist, which marks it as another rung on the ladder of early modern almost to full Modernism. Just as Neoclassicism looks like a revolt against the moral and emotional excesses of Baroque, Romanticism shows a reaction to the restraint and rationality of Neoclassicism, the Age of Enlightenment, and much of Romanticism also demonstrates a return toward the natural world-- a reaction against Industrialization.
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| David, Oath of the Horatii, 1784 Neoclassicism |
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| Francisco Goya, 3rd of May, 1808, 1814 |
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| Eduard Manet, Execution of Emperor Maximilian, 1868 |
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{Picasso, Massacre in Korea, 1951 |
Two branches of American Romanticism that Might interest you are Hudson River School and Luminism:
| Frederick Church, Heart of the Andes, 1859 |
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| Martin Johnson Heade, Sudden Storm, Newbury Marshes, ~1870 Luminism (Romanticism) |
Realist artists sought to dispense with illusions and artificiality, turning their gaze away from the grand events of history or myth and toward the material found in the present, and, typically, the everyday. Reacting against the excesses of Romanticism, Realist painters tend to downplay drama, and most Realists also confront social or political issues, either boldly or subtly. The subcategories of Social Realism, and Regionalism further focus on ideological components. Realists typically dispense with the conventions of illusionism in painting, meaning that most realist paintings do not deceive the viewer into believing that what they see before them is anything other than a painting.
