History of Western Visual Arts: Perspectives through contemporary culture
Romanticism and Realism in The Age of the Machine
Metro Art History Spring 2020 Stan Misler
1. What is the guiding spirit (world view or Zeitgeist) of early Romanticism (first half of 19th century)? Who were the godfathers of Romanticism in the 18th century? How does Romanticism represent a clear break from Classicism? In what way does it Romanticism encompass realism? 2. How do we identify a picture of the Romantic movement? How do we identify architecture of the Romantic movement? 3. What literature that you are in one way or another familiar with represent a height of Romanticism 4. How does music of the Romantic era represent a break from say Mozart and Haydn? 5. How does the 19th Century represent the hey-day of opera? 6. What is the subject matter of realism? Motivation The 19th Century = A Time of Amazing Change in Artistic Style
Monet, The Arrival of the Normandy Train David, Napoleon Coronation Impressionism Neo-Classical Realism A. Romanticism has been described as the birth of expressive freedom for the artist, now free from pleasing the patron. 1. Freedom to express what? Wider Range of artistic forms Range of emotions, especially of love Varieties of Nature, from gentle beauty to ferocity Oddness in human forms and exotic cultures Ghosts and other apparitions Dreams and inner thought 2. Also described as a time of transition from: Reason -> feeling; calculation to intuition; objective nature to subjective emotion including the “sublime”, feeling of awe mixed with terror 3. Key Themes of Romanticism to Remember a. Individualism b. Emotionalism c. Worship of nature d. Exoticism e. Nationalism f. Disillusionment with man ever returning to a natural and noble existence. Aside: Top 19th Century Machines
Steam engine Telegraph
Rifle Locomotive Camera and photograph
Iron-clad ship Internal combustion engine
Cotton gin Telephone Electric light bulb 4. Transition from Enlightenment to Romanticism a. Rousseau: father of Romanticism? i. “Confessions”: seeking one’s uniqueness (or original genius) through self-exploration provides basis for “aesthetic experience in art” “I am commencing an undertaking hitherto without precedent, and which will never find an imitator. I desire to set before my fellows the likeness of a man in all the truth of nature and that man is myself. “Myself alone! I know the feelings of my heart and I know men. I am not made like any of those I have seen; I venture to believe that I am not made like any of those who are in existence. If I am not better, at least I am different. “ b. Great sayings: • The world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless. • What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness? • Nature never deceives us; it is we who deceive ourselves b. Goethe: The Sufferings of Young Werther (1774) Unable to come to terms of his unrequited love (frustrated passion) for Charlotte, he shoots himself.
“Morbid melancholy and hypersensitivity could only find release in the language of intense passion” “My heart is melting, my breast pounding, my eyes weeping tears of ecstatic pain…I have been reading The Suffering of young Werther.. or should I say I’ve been devouring it? (Schubart) c. Voltaire (messages of Candide) • God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well. • Doubt is an uncomfortable condition, but certainty is a ridiculous one. • The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease • It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets. • Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers. • Optimism is the madness of insisting that all is well when we are miserable • Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her: but once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game 5. Zeitgeist of Romantic Era • Romanticism, which began in the Age of Enlightenment (Age of Reason), was a reaction to the scientific rationalization of Nature and emphasized emotional self- awareness and intuition over logic as a necessary pre-condition to improving society. Transition from focus on world “outside” (investigatable, controllable and improvable) (i.e., mechanized universe of terrestrial and celestial worlds that operate by same laws of nature) to the ability “soul within” to create its own worlg from “inside” out. Roots in philosophy of Rousseau and Kant. Kant’s theory of Transcendental Idealism posited that we do not directly see "things-in- themselves"; we only understand the world through our human point of view. • Arts of period emphasize imagination; beauty and mystery of nature; exoticism (strange people and far away places); and virtuosity (brilliant colors, musical pyrotechnics). Artistic imagination is idealized as the selection and combination of recalled natural elements to yield one more beautiful than “classical proportions” seen in nature. • Important Romantic writers included Goethe (1749 - 1832), Blake (1757 - 1827), Wordsworth (1770 - 1850), Byron (1788 - 1824), Shelley (1792 - 1822), Heine and Hugo (1802 - 1885). Important composers included Beethoven (1770 - 1827), Schubert (1797 - 1828), Berlioz (1803 - 1869), Chopin (1810 - 1849), Schumann (1810 - 1856), Liszt (1811 - 1886), and Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893). • Important visual artists included Constable (1776 - 1837), Turner (1775 - 1851), Delacroix (1798 - 1863); Friedrich; Goya. Focus of painting shifts from saints, statesman and warriors to masses, private scenes and artist himself. Emergence of landscapes B. Romanticism (vs. Classicism) in painting “If a picture leaves response of beholder cold and the heart untouched then how exemplary it might otherwise be it can lay no claim to being authentic art” Caspar Friedrich’s Winter (1810) Classical picture: Wicar’s Virgil Man against reading the Aeneid to Augustus mysterious forces. (1790) Theme of isolation and solitude: “The artist’s feeling is his law”
Kersting: Caspar Friedrich in his studio (1810). Painting from “inwardism” does not need view of outside world
Classical subject matter with Roman costumes, gestures, motifs C. Early Romanticism: 1. Fuseli, The Nightmare (1782); 2. Blake, Ancient of Days (1794)
An icon of horror designed to shock and intrigue, it draws on folklore, science and classical art to create a new kind of sexually-charged image. It may even be a complicated visual pun on the word "nightmare". Shows a sleeping woman - Blake’s personal mythology. draped helplessly over the end of her bed - as well as the Urizen, an old, but strong white haired, beard content of her "nightmare" an ape-like incubus squatting on man standing on top of an orange sphere (the top of her. Does Image of a horse protruding from the sun surrounded by dark clouds) with a shining a shadows refer to second meaning, i.e., "night-mare". Demon may represent a "mara”, a spirit sent to torment beam of light emanating from his hand. The and/or suffocate innocent sleepers. measurement tools represents creation of world 3. Caspar David Friedrich: Romanticism’s Artistic Poster Child Gruesomeness 4. Gericault, Raft of Medusa 5. Delacriox, Death of Sardanapalus
Assyrian leader of Nineveh who spent his life in self- indulgence. Wrote in his own epitaph, that physical gratification Horror story of a shipwreck and attempt to save is the only purpose of life. His lifestyle caused dissatisfaction passengers by unloading them to an and inspired conspiracies against him to develop. overloaded, unseaworthy raft on which many He managed to withstand a long siege, but eventually heavy die of dehydration/starvation or cannabalism or rains lead to collapse of one of the defensive walls of city. To fall overboard. Here, depicting moment when avoid falling prisoner, Sardanapalus had a huge they see an approaching ship. funeral pyre built piled "all his gold, silver and royal apparel". Construction based on two pyramids He had his eunuchs and concubines boxed in inside the pyre, burning himself and them to death.[1] 6. Goya: Ugliness of Spanish Royal Family and Civil War
Antithesis of glorification of battle here slowing resignation or defiance in massacre of common people D. Architecture: Celebrating Gothic (Parliament, London) and Exotic (Royal Pavilion, Brighton) E. Related Arts: Literature 1. German Romantic Poetry (Goethe, Heine) often depicts the journey of the unrequited lover from hopefulness to despair Heine’s Dichterliebe (poet’s love) was set to music by Robert Schumann 2. Mary Shelley: Frankenstein and his monster. Plot line: Frankenstein studies basic science in medical school. Armed with the knowledge he has long been seeking, Victor spends months feverishly and obsessively fashioning a creature out of old body parts. One night, in the secrecy of his apartment, he brings his creation to life. When he looks at this monstrosity he is horrified. After a fitful night of sleep, interrupted by the specter of the monster, he runs into the streets, eventually finding his friend Victor, who has come to study at the university. He takes his friend back to his apartment but the monster is gone. Victor hurries home to Geneva after learning that his brother has been strangled and the house maid has been accused. However, while passing through the woods where William was strangled, he catches sight of the monster and becomes convinced that the monster is his brother’s murderer. Hoping to ease his grief, Victor takes a vacation to the mountains. While he is alone the monster approaches him, admits to the murder of William but begs for understanding. Lonely, shunned, and forlorn, he says that he struck out at William in a desperate attempt to injure Victor, his cruel creator. The monster begs Victor to create a mate for him, a monster equally grotesque to serve as his sole companion. After some time Victor tries but destroys this new creation. The monster promises revenge. Victor marries but his bride is killed on her wedding night. Victor vows to track the monster to the North Pole if necessary …and he does. Victor dies and Walton, the narrator, tracks him down only to find the monster crying over his corpse. The monster tells Walton of his immense solitude, suffering, hatred, and remorse. He asserts that now that his creator has died, he has no companionship at all and can end his suffering. The monster then departs for the northernmost ice to die or not? Who has humanity? Who has humility? Can a man-made creation with out a linkage to God have either? 3. English & French Romance: Byron & Hugo THE CORSAIR Les Miserables TO'ER the glad waters of the dark blue sea, "Our thoughts as boundless, and our souls as free, The book which the reader has before him at "Far as the breeze can bear, the billows foam, "Survey our empire and behold our home! this moment is, from one end to the other, in its "These are our realms, no limits to their sway— entirety and details ... a progress from evil to "Our flag the sceptre all who meet obey. "Ours the wild life in tumult still to range good, from injustice to justice, from falsehood to "From toil to rest, and joy in every change. truth, from night to day, from appetite to "Oh, who can tell? not thou, luxurious slave! "Whose soul would sicken o'er the heaving wave;10 conscience, from corruption to life; from "Not thou, vain lord of wantonness and ease! "Whom slumber soothes not—pleasure cannot please— bestiality to duty, from hell to heaven, from "Oh, who can tell, save he whose heart hath tried, nothingness to God. The starting point: matter, "And danc’d in triumph o'er the waters wide, "The exulting sense—the pulse's maddening play, destination: the soul. The hydra at the beginning, "That thrills the wanderer of that trackless way? the angel at the end. "That for itself can woo the approaching fight, "And turn what some deem danger to delight; "That seeks what cravens shun with more than zeal, "And where the feebler faint—can only feel—20 Commentary by Upton Sinclair "Feel—to the rising bosom's inmost core, So long as there shall exist, by reason of law "Its hope awaken and its spirit soar? "No dread of death—if with us die our foes— and custom, a social condemnation, which, in "Save that it seems even duller than repose: "Come when it will—we snatch the life of life— the face of civilization, artificially creates hells "When lost—what recks it—by disease or strife? on earth, and complicates a destiny that is "Let him who crawls enamoured of decay, "Cling to his couch, and sicken years away; divine with human fatality; so long as the "Heave his thick breath; and shake his palsied head; three problems of the age—the degradation of "Ours—the fresh turf, and not the feverish bed.30 "While gasp by gasp he faulters forth his soul, man by poverty, the ruin of women by "Ours with one pang—one bound—escapes controul. starvation, and the dwarfing of childhood by "His corse may boast it's urn and narrow cave, "And they who loath'd his life may gild his grave: physical and spiritual night—are not solved; "Ours are the tears, though few, sincerely shed, so long as, in certain regions, social asphyxia "When Ocean shrouds and sepulchres our dead. "For us, even banquets fond regret supply shall be possible; in other words, and from a "In the red cup that crowns our memory; "And the brief epitaph in danger's day, yet more extended point of view, so long as "When those who win at length divide the prey,40 ignorance and misery remain on earth, books "And cry, Remembrance saddening o'er each brow, "How had the brave who fell exulted now!" like this cannot be useless. F. Early Romanticism in Music (1815-1848): Packing Heightened “Emotional” Expression into Song, Symphony and Solo for Piano 1. Emergence of new ideals for music with continued use of Classical forms but “stretched” as needed a. Feeling helps dictate form b. “Organicism” (= themes threading through and uniting whole works). c. Emphasis on programmatic music telling a story vs. absolute music evoking a mood. Stories from medieval legends, folk tales, and Shakespeare; the more Gothic the better. d. Wide range of works: (i) miniature private pieces: lieder of Schubert, Schumann (= melodic songs between personal expressivity and folk-like style); (ii) character pieces (= rhapsodies, nocturnes, etudes, caprices, dances) for piano by Chopin and Liszt; (iii) “Collections” of pieces in form of travelogues or song “cycles” (Schumann, Berlioz); (iv) symphonic overture, fantasy or tone poem reflecting a story (Mendelssohn, Berlioz, Liszt) ; (v) grandiose, especially religious, works for huge orchestra and chorus. 2. Performance music of past that is part of a canon of great works vs. classical procedure of write to play once & forget). 3. Rise of amateur middle class home and lower class social (choir) music 4. Redesign of musical instruments: piano for robustness; “brassier” and easier to play winds Salon music: Writing and playing for middle class audience Schubertiade . Liszt playing one of his transcriptions (of Beethoven?) Bust of Beethoven on piano for inspiration
Viennese tenor Richard Tauber sings Schubert’s Serenade in 1934 English film “Blossom Time” a. The Art-song: Goethe/Scubert ballad, Erlkoenig through-composed mini-opera for 4 sung by only one in 4:30 minutes; father in low register, son in high; and Erlking crooning in major key
Introduction: horse hoof beats in piano Narrator father son father Erlking son father Erlking son father Erlking son
Narrator b. The Operatic Century (1810 – 1870) 1. Early 19th Century Hey-day = Bel Canto a. Smooth (legato), florid, effortless and elegant (coloratura) singing “Opera must make one weep and shudder” b. Based on characters of English history or Gothic tales who sing complex scenes (scena) = instrumental introduction -> character’s entrance recitative (sing-song and moving the story line along-> a complex aria of a cavatina (simple song), a legato cantabile, a fast caballeta with coloratura cadenza (complex emotions or thoughts) c. Plots for ‘tragic” operas use history of English Queens or Gothic tales. 2. Verdi (1850s poster child) transition from Bel Canto with more plausible plotlines 3. Wagner (creates a revolution a. plots often based on Norse (Icelandic) mythology of death of gods b. Huge orchestra playing themes (leitmotivs) reflecting character’s thought or motives which even they may not understand c. Complex harmonies d. Staccato “Wagner bark” and extremely long roles considered as “voice killers” but these roles can also be sung with legato and elegance can c. Instrumental Music from absolute / abstract to telling a story (Berlioz’ “dramatic symphony “; Liszt’ “tone poem”) Liszt, Faust d. Acme of Romanticism of 19th century symphonic music and German Classical Tradition = Brahms
(i) Apotheosis (theme “maxed out”) + “motivic fragmentation” (ii) “Expanded acoustic power” with loud insistent rising sequences (iii) Imitation (quasi-fugal) (iv) Passacaglia with growth and intensification of themes (v) Coda: Rising sequence + faster, more prominent downbeat G. Realism = Everyday subject matter as it is seen 1. Landscapes, Seascapes a. Constable: first of generation to paint out of doors -> serene and precise landscapes b. Turner: invention of non-representational painting (i.e., storm as storm without ship in the midst of it). Turbulent swirls of pigment -> 20th century abstract art? c. Realism in America Winslow Homer and Sea Scenes 2. Realism Influenced by Photography: Eakins Photography = obscura image projection (pinhole camera, 1604) + lithography (printing substance altered by light exposure)
Superposed images gives “time lapse” Surgery at the Gros Clinic Camera obscuras often use a lens rather than a pinhole because it allows a larger aperture, giving a usable brightness while maintaining focus. With mirrors a right-side-up image can be projected A most famous photo: field of corpses after Civil War battle of Gettysburg O’Sullivan, A Harvest of Death 3. The Poor and Wretched as They Are: a. Courbet, The Stonebreakers (1849) b. Tanner, The Thankful Poor
Work of social realism, depicting two peasants, A early painting of the first modern Afro-American breaking rocks in ripped and tattered clothing artist, this depicts black religious practice in the behind a hill, suggesting that they are physically most human terms: importance of familial and economically trapped. The young man relationships and the transmission and appears too young and the old man too old to preservation of black Christian culture. be doing such back-breaking work Offers a counternarrative to the prevailing stereotypes of a broken culture b. Millais, Drowning of Ophelia
Painted the landscape part outside, by the Hogsmill River in Surrey; and painted the figure of Ophelia inside in his Gower Street studio in London. To create the effect of drowning in the river, model posed for Millais in a bath full of water. Symbolism: weeping willow tree = forsaken love; crow flowers = ingratitude; nettles = pain; daisies = innocence; pink roses = youth love and beauty; garland of violets = youth, chastity and young death; meadowsweet flowers = futility as in death; pansies = love in vain 4. Super-realism (is it a photo?) Harnett, The Old Violin
The transience of time: relationships between illusion and reality, between old and new, and between the momentary and the enduring as shown through signs of wear and age (i.e., the violin itself, mute, but worn with use and still dusted with rosin) , 5. Dual Threats: Turner & Blake = poet/painters Turner in Venice Blake
Piping down the valleys wild, Piping songs of pleasant glee, On a cloud I saw a child, And he laughing said to me. "Pipe a song about a Lamb!" So I piped with merry cheer. "Piper, pipe that song again." So I piped; he wept to hear. "Drop thy pipe, thy happy pipe; Sing thy songs of happy cheer!" So I sang the same again. While he wept with joy to hear. "Piper, sit thee down and write In a book, that all may read." So he vanished from my sight; Now the scene shifts to Venice – to a square And I plucked a hollow reed. Glittering with light, all nations masking there, And I made a rural pen, And I stained the water clear, With light reflected on the tremulous tide, And I wrote my happy songs Where gondolas in gay confusion glide, Every child may joy to hear. Answering the jest, the song on every side 6. Related Arts and Sciences a. Literature 1. Dickens writing on the effects of Industrial Revolution on the poor and the Victorian City
Oliver Twist (1838) shows the social system's treatment of an innocent child born and raised in the workhouse system and neglected, ill-treated, and experiencing hunger. Contains the classic Victorian themes of grinding poverty, menacing characters, injustice and punishment especially after the introduction of the 1834 New Poor Law which seemed to criminalise the poor and support the belief that the workhouse would act as a deterrent to claiming poor relief and thereby the poor rate would reach its ‘correct’ level. 2. New England Transcendentalism: Thoreau
• Wilderness considered a source of solitude and inspiration, antidote to civilization (the Industrial Revolution), as well as humanity’s protector and friend • Thoreau, Walden Pond: Ecosystem-oriented thought. “In wildness is the preservation of the world” All creatures as members of a community of Nature. In wildness is idyllic life where complexity and materialism are rejected in favor of bare essentials. Articulated a philosophy of environmental and social responsibility, resource efficiency, simple living and keeping the wild intact. b. Music Later Romanticism/Realism: tone poem and opera a. Italian verismo opera: tales of poor, down and out or otherwise very unfortunate characters (Puccini for Tosca and La Boheme; Leoncavalo for Il Pagliacco) b. French Exoticism: tales of “gypsies” and far away places with strange sounding customs and names (e.g. Bizet, Carmen) c. Nationalism in Symphony and Op: Russian of mighty handful; Dvorak; Erkel era d. Lite opera in vernacular for places that don’t go for the “heavy stuff” (Gilbert and Sullivan in London) c. Science in the Romantic Era Darwinian Theory of Evolution and Man’s Place in the Biosphere Evolution: random mutations + natural selection (selection pressure of environment for organismal “fitness” to reproduce and survive) Darwin, Origin of species by natural selection (i) Individuals produce an excess of offspring (ii) Not all offspring can survive (iii) Individuals differ in their traits and these differences are passed on from parents to offspring. (iv) Differences in traits are associated with differences in the ability to survive and reproduce (v) However, evolution may occur through man-made artificial selection Implies: Man unique in his brain power (tool making and building skills, communication, arts) but subject to same laws of nature as all other species G. 19th Century: Acceleration of looming Threat of Man’s Second “Great Revolution” a. Fuel and industrial revolution: from wood harvesting -> exploitation of earth’s limited stock of fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas) as power for lighting, heating, cooking, mechanized agriculture, construction and travel b. Human labor -> machines c. Diverse and changing effects on environment 1. Farming (a) exaggerates problems with fresh drinking water and sanitation; (b) exposes humans to diseases originating with domesticated animals (smallpox, measles, tuberculosis, influenza; (c) degrades nutrition -> deficiency diseases (Fe, thiamine, VitC) 2. World-wide exploration and conquest spreads diseases to populations without “herd” immunity (e.g., smallpox to natives and syphilis to Europeans?) 3. Modern risk factors for chronic disease: poverty, unfit drinking water, poor sanitation, malnutrition, pollution with man-made chemicals (carcinogens, teratogens, neurotoxins, allergens, and endocrine disruptors) 4. Development of modern diseases of affluence and diet: diabetes, obesity, hypertension, coronary artery disease 5. Constant Emergence of new diseases: HIV/AIDs, Ebola hemorrhagic fever, encephalopathies = Mad cow spongiform; West Nile virus; bird flu