Why did subject and style in art change so dramatically over the course of the 19th century – from Madame Recamier, by Jacques-Louis David (1800) to Luxe, Calme et Volupte by Matisse (1904)? We’ll look for an explanation through a combination of art analysis and philosophical detection.
Artistic trends are not the result of a collective consciousness working its will. Such trends are simply the styles that a majority of artists chooses to embrace. Each of those artists, in turn, makes his own choice of style. Over the 19th century, France was the epicenter of artistic change. We briefly survey the works of 18 French artists, including Neoclassicists, Romantics, Naturalists, Impressionists, Post-Impressionists, Pointillists, Symbolists, and Academics. Then we look at what these artists (as well as a few influential art critics) have to say about four crucial issues: the role of training; the role of reason vs. emotion in creating art; the importance of style vs. subject; and qualifications for judging art. Finally we see how these statements relate to the philosophical context of the time.
Cuprins
Copyright, Credits, Acknowledgements. 2
Copyright & Permission. 2
Cover. 2
Acknowledgments. 2
Table of Contents. 3
1. Introduction.. 5
1.1 The Nineteenth-Century Context. 6
1.2 Enlightenment Ideas and the Philosophy of Kant. 7
1.3 Writings of 19th-Century French Painters. 8
2. Prelude: The Academy and the Salon.. 10
3. Neoclassicism… 11
3.1 Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825) 11
3.2 Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780-1867) 17
3.3 Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot (1796-1875) 21
4. Romanticism… 27
4.1 Baron Antoine-Jean Gros (1771-1835) 28
4.2 Théodore Géricault (1791-1824) 29
4.3 Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863) 34
4.4 Charles Pierre Baudelaire (1821-1867), art critic. 40
4.5 Summary of Romanticism.. 43
5. Naturalism… 48
5.1 Introduction. 48
5.2 Jean-Francois Millet (1814-1875) 51
5.3 Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) 53
5.4 John Ruskin (1819-1900), art critic. 57
6. Summary of Artists on Art to the 1860s. 60
6.1 Training. 60
6.2 Reason and emotions. 60
6.3 Style and subject. 60
6.4 Judging art. 61
7. Transition.. 62
7.1 Edouard Manet (1832-1883) 62
7.2 Emile Zola (1840-1902): Manet’s Promoter. 70
8. Impressionism… 72
8.1 Introduction. 72
8.2 Claude Monet (1840-1926) 74
8.3 Edgar Degas (1834-1917) 79
8.4 Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) 82
8.5 Summary of Manet and Impressionism.. 83
9. Post-Impressionism… 85
9.1 Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) 85
9.2 Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890) 91
9.3 Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) 92
10. Pointillism… 95
10.1 Georges Seurat (1859-1891) 95
11. Symbolism… 97
11.1 Gustave Moreau (1826-1898) 97
12. Academic Painters. 102
12.1 Introduction. 102
12.2 William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) 102
13. Conclusion: Art and Philosophy. 105
13.1 The Proper Definition of Art, and Art’s Purpose. 106
13.2 An Artist’s Training. 111
13.3 Reason, Emotions, and Art. 113
13.4 Style and Subject. 115
13.5 Judging Art. 117
13.6 Hope for the Future. 118
14. Illustrations. 120
15. About the Author, Dianne L. Durante 136
Despre autor
At age five, I won my first writing award: a three-foot-long fire truck with an ear-splitting siren. I’ve been addicted to writing ever since. Today I’m an independent researcher, freelance writer, and lecturer. The challenge of figuring out how ideas and facts fit together, and then sharing what I know with others, clearly and concisely – that’s what makes me leap out of bed in the morning. Janson’s *History of Art*, lent to me by a high-school art teacher, was my first clue that art was more than the rock-star posters and garden gnomes that I saw in Catawissa, Pennsylvania, and that history wasn’t just a series of names, dates, and statistics. Soon afterwards I read Ayn Rand’s fiction and nonfiction works, and discovered that art and history – as well as politics, ethics, science, and all fields of human knowledge – are integrated by philosophy. My approach to studying art is based on Rand’s *The Romantic Manifesto*. (See my review of it on Amazon.) As an art historian I’m a passionate amateur, and I write for other passionate amateurs. I love looking at art, and thinking about art, and helping other people have a blast looking at it, too. *Outdoor Monuments of Manhattan: A Historical Guide* (New York University Press, 2007), which includes 54 sculptures, was described by Sam Roberts in the *New York Times* as ‘a perfect walking-tour accompaniment to help New Yorkers and visitors find, identify and better appreciate statues famous and obscure’ (1/28/2007). Every week I issue four art-related recommendations to my supporters, which have been collected in *Starry Solitudes* (poetry) and *Sunny Sundays* (painting, sculpture, architecture, literature, and more). For more of my works, see https://diannedurantewriter.com/books-essays