I) There is no simple origin point for Modern ArtA) Possible starting points1) Jacques Louis Davida) The Oath of the Horatii, 1784i) If we started hereModernism as a moralismTurn to sculpture to make his paintings; the different languagesDrawing is very importantDavid breaks with the art of the aristocracy for political reasonsBefore this moment art was inside the church and the state above all else  where does art live now? After this moment.2) Theodore Gericaulta) The Raft of the Medusa, 1818-1819i) Turn against the order, structure, rationality of neoclassicism; irrationality, madness, extreme states of beingii) An event from public lifePainting from a story from the newspapersiii) Two pyramidal forms, something geometric? Bodies reaching away from the vanishing pointThe vanishing point, the infinite is not centered, the picture has become fragmentedI) To be modern is to know what is not possible anymore—Roland BarthesA) Heroic claims of a new cultureB) The new brings a loss of connection to the old and the cultural traditionsII) The beginningA) Is there really a simple origin point? The war of different interpretations and claims as priority changes in cultureB) 1863 or maybe 1865? Manet’s paintingsC) When does modern art begin? What about Modernism? As a belief system.1) The story changes when it starts at different origin points2) One proposed starting pointa) The Oath of the Horatii, 1784—Jacques Louis Davidi) Painted in his 20s, think about that as a concept of personal timelineii) If we start the story hereAlign the painting around the moment of the philosophical enlightenmentHe’s part of the political activities of the French revolutionPart of the uprising, voted for the execution of the king of France, exiled for that choiceiii) Why would we start here? We aren’t, but if we didNeoclassicism—return to classical values, the art of Greece and RomePainting a story that had been made into a dramaCommissioned by the state, immediately increased the size of the canvas he was commissioned (value of modern art—PAINT BIG)Men vs. womenMen are tall and straight and erect, reaching for their bladesThe women are bent and crouching and soft, collapsingModernism as a moralismb) The Swing, 1765—Fragonardi) Stylistically and thematically the opposite of Davidii) Loose, brushed-on paintLiquid transmutes light to our eyesLight and shadowThe style of painting mirrors the subject of the painting, opposite of the HoratiiCommissioned by a Baron, devoted to the life of the fleshEverything about this painting seems to be about pleasure, betrayal of marriage and familyc) More on Davidi) Turn to sculpture to make his paintings; the different languagesLinear values and forms. Drawing seems very important, spaces and lines are more important than light and viscosityNeoclassicism aligns itself with the more sculptural style of paintingii) This is a story of a personal sacrificeLiberty, equality, and brotherhoodiii) David breaks with the art of the aristocracy for political reasons3) Classicisma) Sposalizio, 1504—Raphaeli) Association with the human body with geometryPrioritization of rationalized formsThe human body is centered within a construction organized along the laws of perspectiveii) All eyes are drawn to the rectangle at the center back of the paintingInto the infinite, the heavens, the divineMan has access to the divine through geometryPerspective was invented to connect the human eye to Godiii) David’s perspective is closed off, the vanishing point is just barely beyond the central foreground actionThe background is dark and finite; this neoclassical painting is emphasizing man alone, without GodMan centered in an art that is truly public, for a community of citizens (no mediation through the church)“God is dead, and we have killed him.” –An elevation of man rather than a fingering of religion.iv) Human forms are sculptural in their volume and dimensionality, but the background is dark and flat and finiteMan in a space of his own creationPainting on the level of form has severed itself from the older institutions, painting now only has it’s own space to explore rather than the space of GodDeath of Marat, 1793—DavidAfter the French RevolutionNo moral message, painting of current events and politics themselves—Modernism starts with the downfall of history painting as a high form of artHistory painting was once the most noble of types of painting, portraits were lower, still lifes, scenes of peasants etc.History paintings were based on a text; religious, mythological, etc.Portrait as a memorial to a martyr of the movementMarat was a political hero in the revolutionary movement, behind the use of the GuillotineCharlotte Corday, posed as a revolutionary figure and instead stabbed Marat in his bathPainting existing outside of churches and outside of private or royal collections; artworks as traveling through the streetsv) Recap: David’s start to modernismMoralism, public art, political/revolutionary aimBefore this moment art was inside the church and the state above all else  where does art live now? After this moment.III) Starting here?A) The Raft of the Medusa, 1818-1819—Theodore Gericault1) Romanticisma) Turn against the order, structure, rationality of neoclassicism; irrationality, madness, extreme states of beingb) Severed from commissions, severed from the state; the artist as a genius, as an individual2) An event from public life, an incompetent sailor was put in charge of a series of shipsa) Repelled his ship off course and ran it aground, more passengers than life boats, rafts were fashioned which sank after being cut loose from the raftsi) Painting from a story from the newspapers! Interviews of survivors, almost journalistic in his researchii) Story of horror and embarrassment for the monarchyiii) Against rationality, series of bodies portrayed in terrible momentsiv) Two pyramidal forms, something geometric? Bodies reaching towards the limits of the painting and the limits of vision, focused away from the vanishing point; HOW NOVEL!The vanishing point, the infinite is not centered, the picture has become fragmentedThe picture reaches beyond itself in the mode of despairReaching towards the edges and falling off the edge of the canvasART HIS 54Lecture 1Outline of Current Lecture I) There is no simple origin point for Modern ArtA) Possible starting points1) Jacques Louis Davida) The Oath of the Horatii, 1784i) If we started here- Modernism