a new culture: the arts during the industrial age
TRANSCRIPT
The Romantic Revolt against Reason
It is a beauteous evening, calm and free,
The holy time is quiet as a Nun
Breathless with adoration; the broad sun
Is sinking down in its tranquility
-- William Wordsworth
Complete Poetical Works
Romanticism• 1750-1850 writers, artists, and composers
rebelled against the Enlightenment (emphasized reason and progress)
• Romanticism glorified nature and sought to excite strong emotion
• Writers created the Romantic Hero – a character that was mysterious, a loner, hid a secret, but we love ‘em
• Use historic heroes/ideas/events
Claude Le Lorrain• Widely known landscape
romantic and illuminist.• Represents nature as
serene, harmonious, and often majestic.
• Harbour Scene (1634, Hermitage, St Petersburg) he shows the sun on the horizon, and characteristically uses the sun to give the painting depth.
A Call back to Realism
• Mid 1800s, started in the west
• Represent the world as it is– No idealism, no rose colored glasses
• Artists focused on the harsh side of like in cities or villages– Committed to exposing the conditions of
people and trying to improve them. • Slums, factories
“Impressing” beginnings
• 1840 photography was invented so painting became less important.
• “Why try for realism when a photo can do much better?”
• Groups of painters went in a new direction– Sought to capture the first fleeting impression
made by a scene or object on the viewer’s eye.
– Began in Paris
• Postimpressionists developed a variety of styles. – George Seurat – small dots of color to define
shapes– Vincent Van Gogh – sharp brush lines and
bright colors– Paul Gaugin – sharp lines/flat people – convey feeling and intensity