Midterm Flashcards
content
Subject matter and underlying meanings or themes - the “what”
form (formal properties)
The visual elements and the medium - the “how”
style
Characteristic methods of expression - the “what” + the “how” + the time period
fete galante
A type of painting depicting French aristocrats entertaining themselves outdoors. I.e. The Swing by Jean-Honore Fragonard
Rococo characteristics (form)
- Patel colors
- curvilinear, organic (shapes that come from nature)
- swirls and she’ll forms in decorative arts
- intimate scale painting (small scale)
- soft, feathery, loose brushstrokes
Rococo content
- erotic, lighthearted subject matter
- mythological subject matter
Hierarchy of genres
- History painting (story painting)
- Portraiture
- Genre painting
- Landscape
- Still life
* Fete galante falls in between genre painting and landscape
The swing
- Title: The Swing
- Artist: Jean-Honore Fragonard
- “Style”/category: Rococo
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Date range: 1767, mid 1700’s
Academy
An institution that trained artists in a traditional style of drawing and painting with a focus on anatomy and drawing from live models
Salon
Annual exhibition of academic paintings
History painting
Large scale painting depicting a mythological scene, biblical scene or historical event
Oath of the Horatii
- Title: Oath of the Horatii
- Artist: Jacques-Louis David
- Style: Neoclassical
- Medium: oil on canvas
- Date range: late 1700’s
Neoclassicism content
Liberty, civic virtue, morality and sacrifice
Neoclassicism form
- emphasis on drawing (design or disegno)
- symmetry and balance
- classical proportions, idealization
- linear perspective
- Meticulous handling of paint (artist trying to hide brushstrokes)
- high chroma (intense colors)
Neoclassicism context
Pompeii and Herculaneum
- renewed interest in antiquity unearthed Greek and Roman works of art
- grand tour
- French revolution: downfall of absolute monarchies and declining power of the church
- re-establishment of republics and democracies
- enlightenment + antiquity = “double dose” of rationality and logic
Orientalism
In art, stereotypical/fictional depictions of Eastern cultures by Western artists that help justify Western domination over the “Orient”
Grand Odalisque
Title: Grand Odalisque Artist: J.A.D. Ingres Style: Orientalism Medium: Oil on canvas Date range: 1814
Neoclassicism in Napoleonic France
- 1789 French revolution
- 1804 Napoleon crowned emperor
- recalled grandeur of the Great Roman Empire
Orientalism context and content
- Edward Said, “as a Western style of dominating, restructuring, and having authority over the orient”
- sensuality, mystery, cruelty
- Voyeurism
- absence of the westerner
Third of May, 1808
Title: Third of May, 1808 Artist: Francisco Goya Style: Romanticism Medium: Oil on canvas Date range: 1814
Romanticism
- Expressed personal melancholy emotions
- Rejected reason (reaction against the enlightenment)
- The revolutionary in politics
- antihero
- contemporary events
P in PINE
- Past, longing for the medieval past
- Pre-industrial
- Shakespeare and Dante
I in PINE
- Irrational/Inner mind/Insanity
- Depicts the human psyche and topics that transcend the use of reason
N in PINE
- Nature-longing for the purity of nature, which defies human rationality
- The Sublime-overwhelming emotion that makes you feel as if you are nothing compared to the world around you
E in PINE
Emotion/Exotic-favored emotion and passion over reason
-Exotic themes and locales did not adhere to European emphasis on rationality (Orientalism)
Spanish Romanticism
Francisco Goya
- Drama,action color
- rejects Academic painting (loose brushstrokes)
- revolutionary in politics
avant-garde
an innovative group of artists who generally reject traditional approaches in favor of a more experimental techniques
Raft of the Medusa
Title: Raft of the Medusa Artist: Theodore Gericault Style: Romanticism Medium: Oil on canvas Date Range: 1818-1819, early 1800's
Liberty Leading the People
Title: Liberty Leading the People Artist: Eugene Delacroix Style: Romanticism Medium: Oil on canvas Date Range: 1830, early 1800's
School
a group of artists who share the same philosophy, work around the same time, but not necessarily together.