Opinions on Impressions and a Comparison to Romanticism and Contemporary Art

Impressionism is defined as an art movement that occurred in the 19^th century and was created by a group of Paris-based artists.  They had independent exhibitions that brought them up in the art world during the 1870s and 1880s, even though the conventional art community in France did not appreciate their works.  The term Impressionism originated with a piece of work by Claude Monet that was called “Impression, soleil levant.”  In English, this stands for “Impression, Sunset.”  The term came from a critic of Monet’s artwork, who was writing satirically about his art work.  The dark painting by Monet was created in 1890-1891.  I personally am a fan of Impressionistic art when it is compared to Romantic art.

Impressionism at It’s Finest

The main stylistic features behind impressionism are sketchy lines, loose brush strokes, and dabs of color that blend together.  The main subject matter of these paintings was transitory effects of light and weather, the amusements and pastimes of the middle and upper classes, and pleasant moments.  Impressionistic pieces of art did not focus on traditional subject matter like history, religion, and classical antiquities; instead it focused on the lighter side of stuff.  Personally I prefer this when looking at art and this is one of the main reasons why I truly like this type of paintings over the Romantic paintings.  I also found it interesting that the way the painter worked was more important than the painter themselves.  This intrigued me, because paintings are almost always judged by their appearance and not by their artist.  I also find it interesting that this type of work was at first highly criticized, and only later appreciated.  I wonder if the change in artistic properties was too much at that time, so people just could not comprehend the fresh and colorful pieces of work.  Another reason I enjoy this art is because it resembles more modern art of this time.  I prefer extremely modern art of this era, and Impressionism reminds me more of this than Romanticism.  Another piece I enjoyed that was created in 1876 was “Le Moulin de la Galette” by Pierre-Auguste Renoir.  I loved how everyone sort of looked similar, and how everyone blended into one another.  You could clearly see where each person began and ended, but the lines of each person were foggy, unclear, and sketchy.  I also enjoyed how light it was, and how it displayed a pastime of the people in the painting.

Impressionism verse Romanticism

I decided to compare impressionism to Romanticism.  I chose Romanticism, because I was not entirely a fan of all of the work, and I found it easy to compare to impressionism.  Unlike Impressionism, Romanticism was more subjective and the artists wanted the paintings to elicit emotions and feelings.  While impressionistic paintings were more about the process with the artist, Romantic artists used their art to bring out certain emotions.  The subject matter of Romantic pieces was quite different from Impressionistic pieces.  The Romantic paintings seemed misty, fantastic, exotic, included worlds of dreams, and included fabulous landscapes.  They were completely different from the realistic, pastime showing paintings of Impressionism.  One specific Romantic piece of artwork that I’m not a fan of is “The Third of May” by Francisco de Goya.  The painting was created in 1814 in Spain and is oil on canvas.  The image depicts random executions of the Spanish people that resulted in the fighting in the Puerto del Sol area of Madrid.  I don’t like that the paintings showed horrible tragedies or injustices, even if they were to create emotion from the viewer.  It just seems much sadder than the light colorful pieces from the Impressionism era.

Modern Comparisons

Another type of painting genre is contemporary art.  Contemporary art constitutes art that was created after the 1970’s.  Contemporary art is generally defined as art that is created within our current lifetime.  With this art, there are lots of bright colors and many of the paintings seem random and obscure.  I was searching around on the web and found a website that featured exhibits of a few artists.  I found one artist that I really like.  Her name is Corrine Wasmuht and her venue was at Johann Koenig, Berlin.  The venue featured from September 19^th to November 1, 2014.  The set of paintings were completely different from Impressionistic art.  While Impressionism showed lots of outdoors pictures, and was very colorful, Wasmuht’s paintings seemed to show a bunch of different scenes in one picture.  Wasmuht’s paintings were made to display the properties of light and space, quite unlike Impressionistic pieces.  I found that both types of art seem very modern and fresh compared to most art in the past.  The one thing I found to be different was that this contemporary art was created to entice you to think about what is happening, unlike the simplistic Impressionism art.  Wasmuht planned for her audience to think about space and light, and how the dissolution of time and space has proceeded.  I greatly preferred Wasmuht’s paintings over Impressionistic art.  Wasmuht had the similar modern aspect to it as Impressionism had had, but her art also had a thinking aspect.  This intrigues me, and is the main reason why I generally like Contemporary Art over Impressionistic art.

References:

Weems, Erik E. Soya. The Third of May. 2006. October 24, 2014. http://eeweems.com/goya/3rd_of_may.html

Corrine Wasmuht at Johann Koenig. Contemporary Art Daily. Published October 26^th, 2014. Accessed October 10, 2014. http://www.contemporaryartdaily.com/2014/10/corinne-wasmuht-at-johann-ko%CC%88nig/

Romanticism. Wikipedia. October 25, 2014. Accessed October 26, 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanticism

Impressionism. Wikipedia. October 25, 2014. Accessed October 26, 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impressionism

Contemporary Art. Wikipedia. October 25, 2014. Accessed October 26, 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contemporary_art

The Morality and the Art of the Classical Era

I decided to do this next blog entry on the wonderful topic of the morality and the art of the classical era.  Roaming through all of the links and different websites that cover the Classical Era, I have come to realize that there were lots of morality aspects that I never would have thought of.  A lot of different things were happening during this era, but this stuck out the most to me.  Morality began in this era with the change in scientific thinking, and the Enlightenment.  There were other influences, but I think of these as the top ones.

The first painting I chose obviously comes from the Classical Era, and is called the Oath of the Horatti by David.  The painting depicts one man in a red cape holding about three swords.  In front of him stands 3 men all reaching towards the man holding the three swords.  Behind the man in the red cape are three or four ladies that appear to be swooning because of something.  David’s painting is supposed to be a celebration of the art, life, and morality of ancient Rome.  The painting depicts morality through the decision of self-sacrifice and loyalty over family ties and personal emotion.  The painting was commissioned by Louis XVI and was originally supposed to be propaganda.  The propaganda is supposed to influence soldiers into being the ideal soldier, with having duty and discipline as the supreme virtues, and that if necessary, the soldiers will die for the cause.  The morality of this very challenging.  On one hand, the soldier wants to return home to their loved ones and family, but on the other they are being asked to fight for their ruler.  The soldiers need to use their moral to make the correct decision.

For my second piece, I decided to again choose a Jacques-Louis David painting.  The painting is called Death of Socrates.  I really like his paintings and the meanings behind them, so of course I chose to do two of them!  The painting was made in 1787 and is an oil piece on a canvas.  David was commissioned to do the piece by the Trudaine de Montigny brothers.  The brothers were leaders in the call for a free market system and more public discussion.  The painting was made to depict the moments of the life of Socrates, whom was condemned to death by the Athenian government for his teaching methods which aroused skepticism and impiety in his students.  This painting was a call for nobility and self-control in the face of death.  The painting, like David’s other painting, asks for the viewer to be noble and have self-control even in the face of death.  On the eve of the Revolution, this specific piece was used to convince people to resist the unjust authority and go to duty instead of going with the normal flow.  The painting plays upon morality by requesting the viewers to choose between self-control and fear in the face of death.  The painting shows the philosopher still speaking while reaching for a cup, which represents his morals and beliefs.  In particular it is his indifference to death and his unyielding commitment to his ideals.  Overall I don’t like that the painting asks someone to have self-control and nobility in death.  I feel like you should be able to express whatever emotion you want at death, and with this I consider quite a bit of morality in effect with this painting.  I do like the colors, different stances, and the faces of everyone in the painting.  The painting is quite spectacular!

My final piece is The Magic Flute by Mozart.  Mozart composed this beautiful and stunning opera in the year 1790 in Vienna.  I recognized the piece almost instantly, since it is a pretty popular song.  The song was in another language, as most opera pieces are, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it.  The main idea behind the opera is the idea of Freemansory.  Freemansory is a fraternal organization that traces its origins to the local fraternities of stonemasons.  It regulated the qualifications of masons and their interaction with authorities and clients.  It was ultimately used to highlight upon personal study, social betterment, and self-improvement.  I found out that Mozart was a part of this club, and you can clearly see the relationship between the club and the ideas in the opera.  The main aspects of the play include the ideas of evil versus good, wisdom, and truth.  These ideas then wrap back to morality and the way we think about different situations.  Moral decisions were rampant in this opera, and that was one of the main reasons I really enjoyed it!

Ultimately, I enjoyed all three wonderful pieces of art, and I really liked all of their ties into morality.  There were by far many other pieces to choose from, but these three were my favorite out of all of them!

References:

Neo-Classicism and French Revolution. October 16, 2014. http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/his/CoreArt/art/neocl_dav_soc.html

David, Oath of the Horatti. October 16, 2014.  http://www.thecaveonline.com/APEH/horatti.html4

Freemasonry. Wikipedia. 2014, October 14. October 16, 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemasonry

The Connections Between Artwork and the Council of Trent in the Baroque Era

The Last Judgment by Michelangelo Overview

The Last Judgment is a piece of artwork that was created by the Italian artist Michelangelo.  The art was placed on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City.  The picture depicts the Second Coming of Christ and the final and eternal judgment by God of all humanity.  Michelangelo took four years to complete the masterpiece, ranging from 1536 to 1541.  Michelangelo was first commissioned by Pope Clement VII to do a piece of artwork on the resurrection, but he Pope sadly died.  The next pope, Paul III, decided to have Michelangelo instead paint The Last Judgment.  Michelangelo did not take the standard course when drawing his depiction of The Last Judgment, seeing as he included lots of nudity which was meant to strip everyone of their rank.  The artwork is a Fresco painting that is 539.3 inches by 472.4 inches.  Michelangelo used a more monochromatic fresco, along with a greater range of color including Orange, green, yellow, and blue.

Council of Trent’s Influence on The Last Judgment

First of all, the main point of the Council of Trent was to condemn the principles of Protestantism and to simplify the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church.  The Council also hit artwork during the times the council was in session, which was from 1545 to 1563.  The Last Judgment was created directly before the Council of Trent.  The painting created a huge dispute between those with the catholic Counter-Reformation, and those that appreciated a Mannerist style with paintings.  Michelangelo’s painting was knocked for not being proper, and for having personal style over accurate depictions.  Following all of the harsh criticism from the Catholic counter-Reformation folks on the painting, the Council of Trent tightened up many of their controls and added a few more regarding art.  The main aspect that the Council did not like of Michelangelo’s painting was all of the nudity.  Biagio da Cesena said, “The painting was mostly disgraceful that in so sacred place there should have been depicted all those nude figures, exposing themselves so shamefully.”(The Last Judgment (Michelangelo)).  To spite Cesena, Michelangelo worked his face into the painting as Minos, the judge of the Underworld.  That itself changed his artwork.  After Michelangelo died in 1564, the artist Daniele da Volterra painted over the genitalia in the painting since they were objectionable.  This occurred partly because Michelangelo died, and mainly because the Council of Trent condemned nudity in religious art.  The Council sent out a decree to get rid of superstitious, exciting to lust, disorder and profane aspects.  This included the nudity.  This affected many pieces of artwork during this time period by not letting them aspire to be what they truly should be.  Michelangelo’s piece was changed just because a group did not like what they saw and because they disagreed with a certain aspect.  That could never happen now, because we mostly have freedom of speech and expression.  The Council prohibited true feelings and artwork from coming through, starting with The last Judgment.  It is sad to think about how much artwork was changed just because a certain group did not agree with certain viewpoints.

The Personal Opinion

I personally love this piece.  The colors of the people make them appear amazing and god-like.  Everyone has an almost gold tint and glow to them and everyone looks the same.  That is one of the main aspects that draw me to this piece.  Everyone looks like an equal, except for God stands out.  He is obviously supposed to stand out, seeing as the artwork was placed in a chapel.  This seems different from most pieces around this era.  I can always tell if one is a peasant or royalty or a soldier.  Everyone was always so pronounced, and I like that everything is not defined in this piece.  I also like that it looks like everyone is floating and in the clouds.  It again gives a god-like quality.  The artwork is also symmetrical and very appealing to the eye.  God is in the center, and everyone else fills evenly into the background.  Everyone is also doing something different, so examining the painting would take a while to figure out what they are doing.  Many pieces did not involve nudity in this era, and I like that Michelangelo went against this and created a magnificent piece.  Overall the painting is wonderful, colorful, very appealing to the eye, and has lots and lots of meaning behind it.

Sources

“The Last Judgment.” Vatican Museums. Web. 6 October 2014. http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/x-Schede/CSNs/CSNs_G_Giud.html

“The Last Judgment (Michelangelo).” Wikipedia. 5 October 2014.  Web.  6 October 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Judgment_(Michelangelo)

Cartwright A, Ingrid. “A Brief Overview of the Dutch Art Market int eh 17th Century.” Essential Vermeer 2.0. 2007. Web. 6 October 2014. http://www.essentialvermeer.com/dutch-painters/dutch_art/ecnmcs_dtchart.html#.VDL8APldWSp

Mckay, Brett and Kate. “ The Basics of Art: The Baroque Period.” The Art of Manliness. 18 October 2010. Web. 6 October 2014. http://www.artofmanliness.com/2010/10/18/the-basics-of-art-the-baroque-period/