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 <[email protected]> Guiding Questions 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.