Ch. 27: Romanticism, Realism, Photography: Europe and America, 1800-1870 Flashcards
Goya. Saturn Devouring One of His Children
(1819-1823). Fresco of Saturn (Kronos) eating his children alive. Scene is violent and gory, and Saturn has a nightmarish expression. Uses tenebrism to evoke fear. Represents the artist’s growing pessimism and insanity.
Gericault. Raft of the Medusa
(1818-9). Group of castaways on a raft trying to signal a far-off ship. Most of the passengers are dead. The bleak lighting and colores create an ominous tone, along with the corpses. Warns against putting incompetent people in power.
Turner. The Slave Ship
- Painting of bound slaves being thrown overboard from a ship. Limbs and chains poking out of the water. Vibrant sunset mixed with soft brushwork creates a moment of intensity.
Bierstadt. Among the Sierra Nevada Mountains
- Vase mountainside with a lake and a herd of deer below. Lighting creates a breathtaking atmosphere. Conveys the beauty of the American West that helped to promote Manifest Destiny.
Millias. Death of Ophelia
1851-2. Based on a scene from Hamlet. Pre-Raphaelite piece that mixes Realism with natural beauty in fiction. Woman and lake were painted separately.
Tanner. The Thankful Poor
- An African American man and his grandson sitting at a table. Soft lighting and simple setting create a quite atmosphere. Meant to portray the lifestyle of a black household.
Courbet. The Stone Breakers
1849-50. A father and son work tediously to smash and gather rocks for pavement. The pale, earthly colors hint at their impoverished lives. Supports Realist movement in showing the harsh lifestyles of the French working class.
Bonheur. The Horse Faire
- Cluster of humans either leading or riding horses. Artist did research on the anatomy of a horse to create realistic aesthetics and movement. The lighting and shadows also add to the Realism.
Daguerre. Still Life in Studio
- Photograph of stone statues and slabs resting by a window. One of the first daguerreotypes/coherent photographs created. Meant to show that photography was just as capable of producing realistic images as painting.
O’Sullivan. A Harvest of Death, Gettysburg
July 1863. Photograph of the Civil War with corpses spread throughout the battlefield. Bodies were rearranged for the shot. Yet they still created a subtle work that did not put the subject of death in an overly-dramatic light.
Manet Olympia
- A nude prostitute lounging in a chair while a female black slave presents her with a bouquet. Loosely based on Venus of Urbino. Controversial for rough brushwork and using Realism to convey the immoralities of French society.
