History: Neoclassicism, Romanticism and social realism

Question 1

Whistler, “Arrangement in Gray and black No. 1” 1872s by James Abbott McNeil Whistler (social realism)

Answer 1

• art for arts sake
• Paintings were studies of design rather than representations of a subject
• radical notion that design existed in or of its self not to describe a subject or tell a story, would later change course western art
• Whistlers strong sense of pattern made him insist that this painting was about shapes and colours not his mother

Question 2

Turner “The Slave Ship” 1840 by J.M.W (John) Turner (Romanticism) (5 points)

Answer 2

• In 1781, captain Zong had ordered 133 slaves to be thrown overboard so that the insurance payments could be collected
• in the foreground can be seen a number of bodies floating in the water; their dark skin and chained hands and feet indicate that they are slaves, thrown overboard from the ship
• fish and monsters swimming in the water, possibly about to eat the slaves, and sea gulls circling overhead above the chaos
• turners emphasis on colour rather than design is typical in romantic works of the time. The indistinct shapes and pervasiveness of the sunsets blood red colour serve to coney a focus on nature and illustrate the idea that nature is superior to man.
• few defined brush strokes appear in the painting and objects and colours and figures become indistinct. Rather, objects are defined by their colours in the painting, and some objects have no real border at all, being solely defined by the contrast with the pigments around them.

Question 3

Gericault “Raft of Medusa” 1818-19 by Theodore Gericault (Romanticism)

Answer 3

• The raft of medusa - launched romanticism with this painting
• 16’ by 23’
• based on the contemporary event - shipwreck that caused a political scandal
• Government ship - medusa carrying French colonists sank off coast west Africa due to incompetence of captain
• Captain and crew took life boats towed makeshift raft 149 passengers
• eventually cut tow rope left them 12 days without food or water - 15 lived
• Gericault interviewed survivors, studied bodies in morgue, built model raft, even lashed himself to mast of boat in a small storm
• Strained contorted bodies passengers say everything about struggle for survival
• Painting created huge sensation - macabre subject and political implications of incompetence

Question 4

Goya “The Third of May, 1808” 1814-15 by Francisco Goya

Neoclassicism

Answer 4

• Social protest
• The Third of May, 1808
• Goya’s response to the slaughter of 5000 Spanish civilians
• execution was revenge for a revolt against the French army in which spaniards were condemned without proof of guilt
• Those possessing a penknife or scissors (bearing arms) were marched before a firing squad
• painting has the immediacy of photojournalism
• Goya visited the scene and made sketches. His departure from realism give it additional power

Question 5

Goya “Family of Charles IV” 1800 by Francisco Goya (Neoclassicism)

Answer 5

• Rebel and first modern painter
• Exposed the evil of human nature and original technique of slashing brush strokes made him a forerunner 20th century art
• Goya’s “family of Charles IV” court painting is like no other
• red faced king appears piggish, queen vacant look
• No making royal look perfect, painting them with all their flaws
• Goya exposed pompous and arrogant royals

Question 6

David “Oath of Horatii” 1784 by Jaques Louis David (Neoclassicism) (4 points)

Answer 6

• Oath of the Horatii- three brothers swear to defeat their enemies or die in Rome, illustrates the new mood of self sacrifices instead of self indulgence
• French Revolution saw to overthrown the decadent royals
• difference between the old and new - rigid contours men and soft shapes women
• arranged figures the statues