The Nineteenth century: B irth of the “-isms”

1. The Nineteenth century: Birth of the “-isms”

2. Introduction • A time of upheaval for the Western civilization • The church lost its grip; monarchies toppled; new democracies suffered growing pains • Tradition lost its luster; the future was up for grabs • Industrialization and urbanization made cities bulge with masses of dissatisfied poor • The fast pace of scientific progress and the ills of unrestrained capitalism caused more confusion

3. In art • The art world of the 1800s seethed with factions • No dominating style • Movements and counter-movements • “Isms” – trends in art • Major trends: Neoclassicism Romanticism Realism Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Art Nouveau, Symbolism (end of the century)

4. Neoclassicism (1780-1820): Roman fever • Values • Tone • Subjects • Technique • Role of art • Founder • Order, solemnity • Calm, rational • Greek and Roman history, mythology • Stressed drawing with lines, not color; no trace of brushstrokes • Morally uplifting; inspirational • David

5. Neoclassicism in music: Igor Stravinsky(1882-1971) Symphony in C - Allegretto http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTkSH0KG4sg

6. Neoclassicism • Archeology-mania swept Europe (excavations of Pompeii and Herculaneum offered the first glimpse of well-preserved ancient art) – clones of Greek and Roman temples multiplied from Russia to America (Mona Lisa: 68) • Reflected “the glory that was Greece,/ And the grandeur that was Rome.” (E. Poe) • A reaction against the ornate Rococo style • Preached the gospel of reason and logic (the 18th century = the Age of Enlightenment) • Orderliness and “ennobling” virtues of Art • Emphasis on moral virtues, patriotism, not pleasures • The trend setter – Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825)

7. Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825) • A French painter and democrat • Imitated Greek and Roman art to inspire the new French republic • Style: Severe, precisely drawn figures The foreground without the illusion of death, as in Roman relief sculpture Smooth brushwork Simple composition to avoid Rococo melodrama Backgrounds generally include Roman touches such as arches and columns Symmetry and straight lines replaced irregular curves

8. David’s art • Inspired by his trip to Rome • Breakthrough vision (“I want to work in a pure Greek style.”) • Avidly drew hands, eyes, ears, and feet from every antique sculpture he encountered

9. David, “Death of Marat”, 1793

10. David, “Oath of the Horatii”, 1784

11. Auguste Dominique Ingrès (1798-1867),“La Grande Odalisque”, 1814

12. Ingrès, “Portrait of the Princesse de Broglie”, 1853

13. Romanticism (1800-1850) • “Feeling is all!” (Goethe) • Rebelling against the Neoclassic period’s Age of Reason • The Age of Sensibility (choice of emotion and intuition over rational objectivity) • Interest in Medieval tales called romances • “Gothic horror” stories combining the elements of the macabre and occult in vogue • The cult of nature worship (Turner and Constable’s landscape; natural scenes given heroic overtones: both man and nature were seen as touched buy the supernatural)

14. E. Poe, “The Raven” (1845) American Late Romanticism

16. STYLISTIC POETIC DEVICES • Alliteration - the repetition of a consonant sound, usually at the beginning of words • Assonance – the repetition of a vowel sound, usually within words • Internal rhyme – rhyming of words within a line of poetry, not just at the end of lines

17. Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore--While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door."'Tis some visiter," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door--Only this and nothing more."

18. Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.Eagerly I wished the morrow;--vainly I had sought to borrowFrom my books surcease of sorrow--sorrow for the lost Lenore--For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore--Nameless here for evermore.

19. And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtainThrilled me--filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating"'Tis some visiterentreating entrance at my chamber door--Some late visiterentreating entrance at my chamber door;This it is and nothing more."

20. Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,"Sir," said I, "or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,That I scarce was sure I heard you"--here I opened wide the door--Darkness there and nothing more.

22. Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before;But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,And the only word there spokenwas the whispered word, "Lenore?"This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, "Lenore!"--Merely this and nothing more.

23. Back into the chamber turning, all my sour within me burning,Soon again I heard a tapping something louder than before."Surely," said I, "surely that is something at my window lattice;Let me see, then, what there at is and this mystery explore--Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore;--'Tis the wind and nothing more.

24. Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore.Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he,But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door--Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door--Perched, and sat, and nothing more.

26. Then the ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,"Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou," I said, "art sure no craven,Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the Nightly shore--Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!"Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

27. Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,Though its answer little meaning--little relevancy bore;For we cannot help agreeing that no living human beingEver yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door--Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,With such name as "Nevermore."

28. But the Raven, sitting lonely on that placid bust, spoke onlyThat one word, as if its soul in that one word he did outpourNothing farther then he uttered; not a feather then he fluttered--Till I scarcely more than muttered: "Other friends have flown before--On the morrow he will leave me, as my Hopes have flown before."Then the bird said "Nevermore."

29. Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,"Doubtless," said I, "what it utters is its only stock and store,Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful DisasterFollowed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore--Till the dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden boreOf 'Never--nevermore.'"

30. But the Raven still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling,Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird and bust and door;Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linkingFancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore--What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yoreMeant in croaking "Nevermore."

31. This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressingTo the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core;This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease recliningOn the cushion's velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o'er,But whose velvet violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o'erShe shall press, ah, nevermore!

32. Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censerSwung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor."Wretch," I cried, "thy God hath lent thee--by these angels he hath sent theeRespite--respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore!Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!"Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

33. "Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil!--prophet still, if bird or devil!--Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,Desolate, yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted--On this home by Horror haunted--tell me truly, I implore--Is there--is there balm in Gilead?--tell me--tell me, I implore!"Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

34. "Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil!--prophet still, if bird or devil!By that Heaven that bends above us--by that God we both adore--Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore--Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore."Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

35. "Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!" I shrieked, upstarting--"Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul has spoken!Leave my loneliness unbroken!--quit the bust above my door!Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!"Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

36. And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sittingOn the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreamingAnd the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadows on the floor;And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floorShall be lifted--nevermore!

37. Romanticism: the Power of Passion • Values: intuition, emotion, imagination • Inspiration: Medieval and Baroque eras; Middle and Far East • Tone: subjective, spontaneous, nonconformist • Color: unrestrained; deep, rich shades • Subjects: legends, exotica, nature, violence • Genres: narratives of heroic struggle, landscapes, wild animals • Technique: quick brushstrokes, strong light-and-shade contrasts • Composition: use of diagonal

38. Romanticism in music:Ludwig van Beethoven, “Moonlight Sonata”, 1801http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQVeaIHWWck (6.5 minutes)

39. Niccolo PaganiniPaganini's Caprice no.24 performed by Alexander Markov: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZ307sM0t-0 (5.09 minutes)

40. Frederic ChopinNocturne no. 20 C-sharp minorhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHeQbnCbOOE (3.24 minutes)

41. French RomanticismThéodoreGéricault (1791-1824), “The Raft of the Medusa”, 1818-19

42. E. Delacroix • Leader of the Romantic movement after Géricault’s death • Believed that the artist should feel the agony of creation and be consumed by the flame of genius (like Frederic Chopin, his composer friend) • Delacroix was “passionately in love with passion”(Baudelaire) • Visit to Morocco in 1832 changed his life : he infiltrated a harem and made a hundred sketches (was fascinated by the colorful costumes and characters) • For the next 30 years, he stuck to lush colors, swirling curves, and animals like lions, tigers, and horses knotted in combat.

43. Delacroix, “Death of Sardanapalus”, 1827 (Mona Lisa: 77)

44. Discuss the differences Ingres, “Paganini”, 1819 Delacroix, “Paganini”, 1832

45. English RomanticismConstable (1776-1837), The Hay Wain”, 1821

46. The Lake District poetsWilliam Wordsworth (1770-1850)Other Romantic poets

47. Turner (1775-1851), “Crossing the Brook”, 1815

48. American RomanticismCole, “The Oxbow (The Connecticut River near Northampton)”, 1836

49. Realism • Dominated in the second half of the century • With the first grindings of the Machine Age, Neoclassicism’s anachronisms and Romanticism’s escapism were of no match for Realism’s hard edge. • The “new” Realism insisted on precise imitation of visual perceptions without alteration • Subjects: peasants and the urban working class • Realism brought a sense of muted sobriety to art

50. Daumier, “The Third-Class Carriage”, c. 1862