Neoclassicism, Romanticism, and Realism

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Neoclassicism, Romanticism, and Realism

• Chapter 17

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Important Terms and Concepts

• Neoclassical conventions
• Romanticism
• Age of Reason
• Enlightenment

• Camera obscura
• Daguerre / Daguerreotype
• Talbot / Calotype
• Realism

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1776, American Declaration of Independence 1789,
Beginning of French Revolution, George Washington
first US president 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte takes
over French government
18th and 19th Century America and Europe
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Neoclassicism RomanticismAge of Reason
(18th early 19th century, 1700-early 1800s)

• Conventions of Neoclassicism
• Greek and Roman subject matter
• heroic and moral subject matter
• Conventions of Romanticism
• all the conventions of Neoclassicism
• imaginative and more emotional than Neoclassical
  

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• Antonio Canova. Cupid and Psyche. 1787-1793
• Marble, 51 x 58
• Combines typical neoclassical interest in
  classical subject matter with romantic interest
  in emotional content.

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• Angelica Kauffmann. Cornelia Pointing to Her
  Children as Her Treasures. 1785
• oil on canvas, 40 x 50
• from Roman texts with a moral lesson,
  glorification of the good mother

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• Marie-Louise-Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun. Portrait of
  Marie Antoinette with Her Children. 1787
• oil on canvas, 9 x 7
• political propaganda, queen depicted as a
  devoted mother to counter her public image

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• Adélaïde Labille-Guiard. Self-Portrait with Two
  Pupils. 1785
• Oil on canvas, 611 x 411
• response to the sexist rumors that her work was
  painted by a man

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• Joseph Wright. An Experiment on a Bird in the
  Air-Pump. 1768
• Oil on canvas, 6 x 8
• series of paintings attempting to popularize
  science

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• dramatic lighting underscores the life and death
  situation and also suggests that science brings
  light into a darkened world

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• Jacques-Louis David. Napoleon Crossing the
  Saint-Bernard. 1800-01
• Oil on canvas, 811 x 77
• Political message and propaganda

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Horse instead of donkey
comparison to Charlemagne and Hannibal
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• William Hackwood, for Josiah Wedgewood. Am I Not
  a Man and a Brother? 1787
• Ceramics, 1 3/8 diameter
• requested by Josiah Wedgewood, a leading
  activist in the effort to stop slavery
• Artists in both Europe and America responding to
  the social changes and political events going on
  in the world

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• Théodore Géricault. Raft of the Medusa.
  1818-1819
• Oil on canvas, 161 x 236
• Illustrates injustice of human tragedy that
  could have been avoided
• political commentary

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• Francisco Goya. Third of May, 1808. 1814-1815
• Oil on canvas, 89 x 134
• rumors that French planned on killing royal
  family caused citizens to take to the streets in
  protest
• bloody scene to warn men never to do it
  again.

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• Joseph Turner. The Fighting Téméraire. 1838
• Oil on canvas, 35 x 48

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Camera Obscura
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A Daguerreotype was an image created by placing a
sliver-coated plate at the back of the camera
obscura for 20-30 minutes, then removing it and
stopping the development of the image by
placing the plate into salt water. It took a long
time and couldnt be reproduced.
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• Daguerre. The Artists Studio. 1837
• Daguerreotype, 6x8
• earliest claim for photography as an art form

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Talbots invention is the precursor to the modern
camera. Talbot called the image he was able to
produce a calotype, Greek for beautiful image.
Talbots process created a negative image on a
piece of glass that was then laid on top of
silver-coated pieces of paper. Exposing the paper
through the negative created a positive image on
the paper just like negatives in modern cameras
do. The image could be recreated again and again.
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• Talbot. The Open Door. 1843
• Salt-paper print from a calotype negative
• Broom-handle purposefully parallel to shadow in
  door

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Realism (19th century)
Realism synonymous with (same as) naturalism,
realistic depictions of world
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• Gustave Courbet. A Burial at Ornans. 1849
• Oil on canvas, 102 x 218
• Size was generally reserved for historical or
  religious works
• Commemorated a funeral of the artists
  grandfather
• Individuals lined up so that no one has more
  importance over another

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• Thomas Cole. The Oxbow. 1836
• Oil on canvas, 52 x 76
• contrasted two sides of the work to the two
  sides of the frontier
• fading storm indicates that the wild will
  eventually give way to the increasingly expanding
  civilization.

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• George Bingham. Fur Traders Descending the
  Missouri. 1845
• Oil on canvas, 29 x 36
• Nostalgic genre painting
• industrial revolution and rise of technology
  wiped out most of the US frontier