chapter 13 materialism

25.

The Industrial Era and the Urban Scene•In the decades after 1850, the

industrial technologies of steam power, coal, and iron brought the west into a position of dominance over the less industrialized parts of the world.•Two major art movements realism and Impressionism.

Beginning in 1848, the lower classes protested against bad conditions with sporadic urban revolts.

This painting presents a somewhat romanticized view of the laboring classes.

Jean-François Millet, Gleaners, 1857. Oil on canvas, approx. 2' 9" x 3' 8". Musée d'Orsay, Paris. Réunion des Musées Nationaux/Art Resource, NY.

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC REALITIES

Käthe Kollwitz (1867-–1945) She was a social realist and a feminist whose early prints illustrate peasant rebellions and mass protests.

Between 1855-1861, there were almost 500 peasant uprisings across Europe.

Among these movements for economic and social reform, one of the most idealistic was socialism.

Käthe Kollwitz (1867–1945), Death and the Mother, 1934. Lithograph, 20 1/8" x 14 5/8"

Late-Nineteenth-Century Architecture

Cast-Iron Structures

The Skyscraper

Joseph Paxton (1803–1865), Crystal Palace, Hyde Park, London, 1851. Cast iron, wrought iron, and glass. Destroyed by fire in 1936. Contemporary lithograph by Joseph Nash,

Alexandre-Gustav Eiffel (1832–1923), Eiffel Tower, 1889. Iron on a reinforced concrete base, height 934'. Paris.

Eiffel Tower, 1887-1889, Gustave Eiffel•19th Century more skeletal architecture.

•Land values soared, so buildings went UP (skyscrapers, etc.)

•Eiffel specialized in railway bridges

•Centerpiece of 1889 Paris Universal Exposition

•Innovative elevator swings up diagonally

•Also helped with Statue of Liberty and Panama Canal!

Realism in the Visual Arts The Birth of Photography

Mathew B. Brady, (1861-1865) eyewitness photographs for the American civil war.

His staff testify to the importance of the photographer as a chronicler of human life.

Mathew B. Brady or staff, Dead Confederate Soldier with Gun, Petersburg, Virginia, 1865. Photograph. The Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

French Realism - Gustave Courbet(1819-1877)

Gustave Courbet. Burial at Ornans, 1849. Oil on canvas, 10' 4" x 21' 11". Musée d'Orsay, Paris. Réunion des Musées Nationaux/Art Resource, NY.

Outspoken socialist, “A painter should paint only what he can see.”

Minimizes any display of pomp and ceremony. He banished from his view all sentimentality and artifice.

Gustave Courbet, The Meeting or Bonjour Monsieur Courbet, 1855. Oil on canvas, 50 3/4" x 58 5/8". Musee Fabre, Montpellier. © Reunion des Musees Nationaux / Art Resource, NY.

Gustave Courbet (1819-1877)

Jean-francois Millet (1814-1875): “Peasant Painter”Not a socialist, devoted his career

to painting the everyday lives of the rural proletariat.

Jean-François Millet, Gleaners, 1857. Oil on canvas, approx. 2' 9" x 3' 8". Musée d'Orsay, Paris. Réunion des Musées Nationaux/Art Resource, NY.

Daumier’s Social RealismHonore Daumier (1808-1879)

Honoré Daumier, Nadar Elevating Photography to the Height of Art, 1862. Lithograph, 10 3/4" x 8 3/4". Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. © akg-images.

The social realist who was primarily associated with the medium of lithography .

Left the world a detailed record of the social life of his time.

The ancestors of modern-day political cartoons

Honoré Daumier, Third-Class Carriage, c. 1862. Oil on canvas, 25 3/4" x 35 1/2".

Honoré Daumier (1808–1879), Louis Philippe as Gargantua, 1831. Lithograph, 8 3/8" x 12", Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris.

Honore Daumier

Honore Daumier

Honore Daumier, Freedom of the Press: Don't Meddle with It (Ne Vous y Frottez Pas), 1834. Lithograph, 12" x 17". Private collection, France. © akg-images.

Literary RealismCharles Dickens (1812-1870)

Oliver twist (slums and orphanages) 1838, Nickolas Nickleby (rural schools) 1839, David Copperfield (debtor’s prison) 1850

Mark Twain ( 1835-1910) (Longhorn Clemens)The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (rural farmlands/ Mississippi river) 1884, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (boy and runaway slave/American south just prior to the Civil War) 1876

Literary RealismLeo Tolstoy (1828-1910)Renounced his wealth and property

and went to live and work among the

peasants.War and Peace (1869)

Traces the progress of five families whose destinies unroll against the back ground of Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812.

Impressionism Forerunner… Édouard Manet

Manet (1832-1883). After rejection by salon, set up his own exhibitions

Early work was before Impressionistsfully supported their aims

worked closely w/ Monet

The Scandalous Realism of Manet

Luncheon on the Grass, Edouard ManetNapoleon III authorized Exhibition of refused artists from the Salon, such as Manet and MonetThis painting was found scandalous…Figures are not modeled. Very flat, not relating with each other.

Édouard Manet (1832–1883). Le Déjeuner sur l'Herbe (Luncheon on the Grass), 1863. Oil on canvas, 7' x 9'. Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

Pastoral Concert (Fête champêtre)1508-09Oil on canvas, 110 x 138 cmMusée du Louvre, Paris

Édouard Manet (1832–1883). Le Déjeuner sur l'Herbe (Luncheon on the Grass), 1863. Oil on canvas, 7' x 9'. Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

Olympia, Manet, 1863•courtesan stares out at us, not modeled figure.

•Olympia confronts the viewer, she is powerful, NOT an accommodating female nude.

Édouard Manet. Olympia, 1863. Oil on canvas, 4' 3" x 6' 3". Musée d'Orsay, Paris. Réunion des Musées Nationaux/Art Resource, NY.

Olympia, Manet, 1868

Venus of Urbino, Titian, 1538

Bar at the Folies-Bergere, Manet, oil on canvas, 1882 •Barmaid

stares out at us.

•What is the mirror reflecting?

•More impressionistic than Manet’s early works.

Mystery of the Mirror

in Manet’s painting

It is the viewer of the painting (you)!

Realism in American Painting

Thomas Eakins (1844-1916) , The Agnew Clinic, 1889. Oil on canvas, 6 ft. 2 1/2 in. x 10 ft. 10 1/2 in. University of Pennsylvania, School of Medicine.

Thomas Eakins (1844-1916) , The Biglin Brothers Racing, 1873. Oil on canvas, 24 1/4" x 36 1/8". National Gallery of Art

Thomas Eakins (1844-1916)

Winslow Homer (1836-1910)

Winslow Homer (1836-1910), The Gulf Stream, 1899. Oil on canvas, 28 1/8 in. x 4 ft. 1 1/8 in. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

While realistic in execution the painting may be interpreted as a romantic metaphor for the isolation and plight of black American in the decades following the Civil War.

ImpressionismThe movement's name was derived from Monet's early work, Impression: Sunrise, which was singled out for criticism by Louis Leroy upon its exhibition. The hallmark of the style is the attempt to capture the subjective impression of light in a scene.

The Impressionist style was probably the single most successful and

identifiable "movement" ever, and is still widely practiced today.

Claude Monet Impressionism: Sunrise 1872

•Leader of the Impressionists

Aesthetic aim: fleeting effects of light, shadow and atmosphere.

Application of paint: thick, heavy layers or strokes (impasto).

Influenced by: Baroque “painterliness” (ex: Rubens)

Distinguished from Renaissance ideal that used flat, smooth paint

surface

Monet’s Rouen Cathedral in sun, 1894, oil on canvas, 40” x 26” (and in sunset…)

Monet’s Water Lilies (c. 1900) Monet did a series of large canvases on water lilies.

He frequently painted his house at Giverny with the gardens and Japanese bridge.

The Luncheon of the Boating Party 1881

Renoir

Narrative: photographic effect and aura of spontaneity.

Light and shadow: fleeting effects of sunlight falls in patches, dappling the surface

Handling of paint: loose and rapid thick “impasto”

Subjects: outdoor scenes leisure time & gaiety of middle-class Parisians

Renoir’s Moulin de la Galette, oil on canvas, 4 ft x 6’ approximately

Dappling effect of fleeting light

Photographic randomness of clipped figures

The Dance Class 1881Degas

Pastels and Oil Paintings

Subjects: ballet dancers, the opera

Degas

Worked mostly indoors (not plein air)

Asymmetrical compositions

Feathery brushstrokes showing the dancers’ costumes

Degas, Rehearsal on Stage, 1874,

pastel drawing

Young Mother1891

Mary Cassatt

•Friend of Degas & Renoir

•Naturalism, innocence of children

•Influenced by Japanese prints. Pastel & Oil.

•Subjects: Mothers and children, her sister

Breakfast in Bed, Mary Cassatt•Cassatt did a series of paintings and pastel drawings on the theme of mother and child.

•Influential in bringing Impressionist paintings to US where they were a huge hit

Mary Cassatt was influenced by Japanese prints tilted style, outlining, pattern, and treatment of space.

Mary CassattMaternal Caress, woodblock print,

Oil on canvas, 32” x 23”

Shows her sister at the opera

Again, women going about their daily activities

Dazzling colors and brushwork

Lydia in a Loge, Mary Cassatt, 1879

Mary Cassatt

Berthe Morisot , Summer’s Day, oil on canvas, 1879

•Sister in law of Manet and grandaughter of Fragonard

•Sketchy, painterly brushwork

•Middle class women

•Asymmetrical composition

James Whistler’s Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket, 1875

•Subtle harmonies of painting comparable to music

•Japanese influence-Japanese signature

•Atmospheric effect of fireworks, study in harmony of color, shape, light

•Whistler successfully sued a critic over negative comments

Post-Impressionism 1885-1905

Characteristics: bright color and visible, distinctive brushwork

Trends: more emphasis on composition and form and greater psychological depth.

Impact: set the stage for major directions of early 20th century art

Sunday Afternoon at the Park 1885

SeuratStyle: Pointillism

intellectual & scientific

uniformly sized dots

strongly based on system of rulesmathematical precision

color theory

Cezanne, Mont Sainte-Victoire, 1887 •Wanted to make

objects geometric constructions with splashes of pure color

•Solid and firmly constructed, not dappled momentary glimpse like the Impressionists did (Post Impressionism)

•Used perspective by juxtaposing warm colors and receding cool colors

Tilted perspective

Contrast of solid forms with flat surfaces

Painterly brushstrokes

Van Gogh•Color: vibrant

•Forms: simplified and outlined in black contours.

Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear1889

•Brushwork: impasto

Vincent Van Gogh, Starry Night, 28” x 36”, 1889 •Thick short

brushstrokes, impasto paint

•View from hospital room in St-Remy

Paul Gauguin, Manaha No Atua, (Day of the God), oil on canvas. Symbolism (post impressionism), 1894.

•Gauguin traveled to Tahiti in search of paradise

•Painted native peoples in geometric bright colors

•Exotic primitivism

•Symbolic, mysterious

•Color to express emotion

•1893, Art Nouveau style

•Noted graphic designer (not called that then.. Poster designer)

•Physically handicapped, short man

•Influence of Degas

•Influence of Japanese prints

•Toulouse-Lautrec frequented the Moulin Rouge

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Jane Avril, lithograph

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Auguste Rodin(1879-1889)

Global Dominion of the WestAdvancing Industrialism

Provided the economic and military basis for the West’s rise to dominion over the rest of the world.

Colonialism and the New ImperialismThe history of European expansion into Asia,

Africa, and other parts of the globe dates back at least to the Renaissance.

Marx and EngelsIn the Communist Manifesto, Marx and

Engels prophesized that a revolution would make the proletariat the new ruling class.

Nietzsche’s New MoralityNietzsche called for a new morality that

privileged the “superman.”

Post-Impressionism

Post-Impressionism artists were dissatisfied with limitations of

Impressionist style.

They were influenced by Impressionism but took their art in other directions, it is less idyllic and more emotionally charged than Impressionist work.

Analyzed structure, and solidity of forms.Still strong influence of Japanese prints.

Marshall Field Wholesale Store, 1885, Chicago, Henry Hobson Richardson

•Influence of Medici palaces from Renaissance

•Heavy Romanesque arches

•Iron columns for interior supports (Skeletal construction)

•Interior arranged around a central court

•Feminine department store + masculine warehouse look

•Few historical illusions

•Chicago School of architecture formed after Great Fire

•Otis invented elevator, which allowed high buildings

•Prototype of modern office building

•Accent on horizontal thrust

•Exterior: decorative terra cotta tiles

•“Form follows function” was his motto, now very famous in architecture

Wainwright Building, 1890

Louis Sullivan, Chicago School

Degas’ The Absinthe Drinkers (c. 1875)

The Bather,1885CezanneFigure: non-formula

Composition: tight, construction of upright & horizontal forms

Figure coincides with the lines of landscape:

Upper body the sky Lower body the earth.

Landscape: conceptual, not ‘plein air.’