Modern Art Reading NotesChapter One: Modernism and its Origins in the 19th Century1750s: Enlightenment ‘aesthetic rehabilitation’ to replace Rococo with a more ‘sober form and sincerity in feeling’French Revolution aristocracy » citizens1839: invention of photography by painter Paul Delarochemechanical means of resolving and fixing an exact tonal image of the 3D world on a flat photosensitive surfaceartists began to favor more abstract images1855: Paris Expositionnew patronage started by Gustave Courbet1863: Salon des Refusesallowed by Emperor Napoleon III as a response to the huge number of submissions to the Salon which were refused; artists working in unacceptable ways, needed exposure for both recognition/revenueManet’s Luncheon on the Grass was subjected to the most ridicule2,500 submissions with 4,000 viewers1874: Felix Nadar’s Studio showImpressionists- lack of finish, purposeful and distasteful1886: after last of the 8 Paris Impressionist exhibits, start of the Independents’ Salonsearch for art true to itself, not true to the outside world‘ism’ means modernism is a radical art form‘articulation of present in language of the past’by 1850s, old symbols lost hold on creative imagination; urban, secular culture; freedom from traditionsThe Renaissance and its HeirsControl of pictorial space through geometry and measurement; rules of perspective with parallel lines converging to a vanishing ptSurface of canvas like a window opening into a real spaceAerial perspective (Flemish painters), blurred details, colors increasingly cooler and value contrasts weakenRaphael- aerial and linear perspective; human/divine, ancient/modern; becomes the lingua francaDavid- French neoclassicistNo illusion of a limitless depthTaming seductionPurging of excessOath of the Horatii reflected contradiction and instability of modern lifeFriezelike figures on frontal planeVanishing pt. directly next to the crossing of swords; counterbalanced compositionflatness of the painting surfaceIngres: Romantic eroticism of Turkish haremStriking colors and contrastsSerpentine lines, luxury and descriptionlinearism, enameled surfaces, contoured forms inspire modernism from various sources: African/Asian art, folk art, children’s art, graffitiPoussin:The Raphael of landscapesStoic peacefulness, moralizing Goya:Color and modelingBehavior is governed by nightmares of fearsLorraine:Landscapes, serene with glowing horizonsFear that procedures from the Renaissance inhibited originalityModernism does not lie in history painting, but rather landscapes containing color and modeling (chiaroscuro) Landscape Painting in the Romantic PeriodFriedrich:3 basic elements: land, sea, skylow horizonabstraction in the skythe gulf between being and nothingnessTurner:Examination of nature, like scientistOnce tied himself to a mast to observe a sea storm; pushed passed experience to a strangeness; nature as pure energy which destroys human destiny and matterConstable:Suffolk countrysideExpression in brushworkDelacroix:FuryJuxtaposed, escalating complementariesRealism/NaturalismBarbizon Art: Freely brushed nature, villages, peasantsCourbet:The Painter’s Studio“real allegory summing up seven years of my life as an artist”contrasting witnesses, separated on different sides of the canvasnude modelhimself, painting Barbizon art, centeredstandard of ambitionflattening of the surfacegenerally monochromaticunsentimental, grand Salon pieceDaumier:Caricatured exploiters of the poor and distinguished their victimsArtist of modern life in both subject and form- satireEdward ManetLuncheon on the GrassRecalling Bouguereau’s Nymphs and SatyrModern nude woman with two clothed men, and a bathing female in the backPicnickers, dipping in water“nymph” in foreground stares at viewer; threatening; scandalhis brother and future brother in law are the two menlight on the nude similar to that of a camera’s flash, caught in a momentflat and less unified composition; many images assembled as onescale of bather is too large, she collapses the pictorial spaceprotest character; conflicted worldrejected for Salon of 1864; in Salon des Refuses and became a scandaldouble origin:avoid standard, seek truth in nature and humanitytruth in his feeling for nature and humanitydeparting from academic standards Modernism:Originality, creativity, truth to self and to mediumElimination of old/current possibilities and finding new possibilitiesUnderstood as representationsPure only if originated in itselfImpressionismlively color and brushworkClaude Monet:High colors, broken brushwork, dynamic compositionsInstantaneous quality of visionWorked outdoors- natural phenomena, innocent of broader issuesReality as an impression in a brisk momentBoulevard des CapucinesFlickering atmosphere and life of ParisOblique angle perspective; 2D reality of surface- flatnessElimination of black, unless absolutely required; lively colorsEdgar Degas:In 7/8 Impressionist exhibitionsFeathered brushworkModern themesCarefully planned but seemingly spontaneousDance ClassNo eye contact with viewer; detachmentPortion of time and spaceFigures cut off at edges; subjective experienceActive/passive posesReality/mirrored illusionDaughters and British mothersUnified/flattened by abstract expanses of floor/wall/ceiling; linkages between foreground and backgroundMary Cassatt:Warm, intimate subjectsCasual instantaneity through angled/cropped viewsHigh Impressionist colorsFluent line, inspired by Japanese printsInvolves the viewer in innocent/sensual human relationshipsEakins:Heroicized American achievements Photographs as models; rendered accurate animal motion in A May Morning in the ParkThe Crisis of ImpressionismAn instant: ephemeral and formlessCamille Pissarro:Pointillism transformed Impressionism into more scientific and systematicMonet:Principle pushed to abstraction and dematerializationSubject changed, not his method or principleModern landscape art in a rapidly changing, industrial