In the previous article I presented an overview of The History of Art and Consciousness from prehistory through the medieval period. The point of this series is to look at how art plays a central role in furthering human progress. Today we’ll continue this series beginning with the Renaissance.
Renaissance Art (c. 1300 C.E. to 1600 C.E.)
The Renaissance was the “age of the genius.” The most prominent artists of the High Renaissance were Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael. Some of the other notable Renaissance artists were Donatello, Botticelli, Brunelleschi, Peter Bruegel The Elder, Van Eyck, Bosch, Durer, and Titian.
The Renaissance was a period where the achievements of individuals were honored. It was at this part of history when the names of artists are known.
It was during the Renaissance that artists studied anatomy, the optics of light and shadow, and developed the system of perspective for depicting naturalistic space.
The artists of this era were striving to depict perfection. It was an era of phenomenal intellectual achievement.
The Renaissance was an era that was dominated by a humanistic point of view, and the art was an objective manifestation of that view. However, the perfection portrayed in the art was a vision which was never fully realized in everyday life.
Baroque Art (1600 C.E. to 1750 C.E.)
Major artists of this period are: Caravaggio, Rubens, Rembrandt, Bernini, Velasquez, Vermeer, and El Greco. (El Greco actually lived and worked during the Renaissance era but was stylistically a Baroque artist.)
Baroque is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. The style used contrast between light and dark, movement, intricate detail, bright color, and a dramatic sense of grandeur to achieve a sense of awe.
If the Renaissance celebrated the intellect, the Baroque emphasized the emotions. Renaissance compositions are balanced, and figures are basically stationary. Baroque compositions are more dynamic and portrayed movement and energy.
Baroque artists communicated through their art that the intellect alone was not sufficient to comprehend life. They were saying through their art that the people needed to expand their vision beyond the intellect and recognize the warmth and energy conveyed through emotions and energy.
The Rococo style was an extreme version of late Baroque marking a deterioration into an extremely ornate, overly decorative, and theatrical style.
Neoclassicism (1750-1850, the beginning of the age of “isms”)
Neoclassism was a reaction against the superficiality of late Baroque. It was a shift to what was considered more noble themes. Indeed, the neoclassical artists were saying that society needed to return to classical order. It was a perfect match for the dominant philosophical thought of that time, labeled the “Age of Reason.”
Neoclassicism was also, in part, the result of archeological discoveries of ancient Roman ruins and artifacts. In that respect, the neoclassical art was saying that society needed to recognize the importance of and learn from their ancestral heritage.
Jacques-Louis David of France was a leading artist of this period. His painting, The Oath of the Horatii, is emblematic of the art of this movement.
Romanticism (1800-1870)
Some of the artists during this time turned against neoclassicism because of its artificiality and intellectualism. Their vision stressed creative imagination, exotic subjects, fantasy, nature, dynamic movement, and emotional subjectivity. The Romanticists hoped to inspire people visually to experience the importance of these elements
Two artists who represent this movement are: William Blake from England and Eugene Delacroix of France.
Impressionism and Post-Impressionism (1860 - 1910)
There were two technological advances that were factors in the development of impressionist art. One was the birth of photography and the other was a new, more accurate understanding of optics and color.
Since the camera was able to capture realistic images – something which had been the sole purview of art, the artists were compelled to create images which communicated more than what the camera could capture on film. At this point, color was something the camera could not reproduce. And so, Impressionism was all about light and color.
Indeed, the Impressionist artists, through their artwork, communicated an expanded vision of the world. Among the impressionists Claude Monet stood out as the leader.
Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh, is one of the most famous post-impressionist paintings.
Post-impressionist painter, Paul Gauguin’s masterpiece was, Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?
Paul Cezanne, another post-impressionist artist, taught everyone to see the world both as the geometric structure of the neo-classicists and the scintillating light of the impressionists.
Expressionism (about 1905 – 1920)
Expressionism in the arts was basically a reaction against the objectivity of Impressionism. Expressionist works are characterized by radical distortion and expressive color for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas. The point was to express emotional experiences rather than portray physical (optical) reality.
Some of the most famous expressionism artists were Edvard Munch, Oskar Kokoschka, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Egon Schiele, Wassily Kandinsky (early in his career), Franz Marc, Vincent van Gogh, Käthe Kollwitz, and Max Beckmann.
In terms of its message, Expressionism was an “in-your-face” reminder in an age of great scientific, industrial, and technological advances of the need to maintain the subjective/emotional connections with reality.
—Continued next week.