Romanticism: The Power of Passion

1. Romanticism: The Power of Passion With a bit of Comparison to Begin (Insert Bad Joke Here…)

2. Let’s Compare and Contrast

3. A Day of Romance • It’s time for the rebellion against the Neoclassic’s Age of Reason! • It’s time for the 50 year “Age of Sensibility”! • It’s time for emotion and intuition over rational objectivity! • It’s time, as landscape painter Caspar David Friedrich wrote, for the artist to “paint not only what he sees before him, but also what he sees in him!” • But as Billy Joel said, Only the Good Die Young…(yea, that’s what I said) • Romantic poets and composers like Byron, Keats, Shelley, Chopin, and Schubert all died young

4. I Can Be Your Hero, Baby… • Romantics lifted the status of landscape painting by giving natural scenes heroic overtones • Both man and nature were seen as touched by the supernatural and one could tap this inner divinity • Therefore, the Romantic gospel went by relying on instinct

5. French Romanticism • Gericault (1791-1824) • The Romantic movement started with one painting, “The Raft of the Medusa” on a huge 16’ by 23 ½’ canvas • The backstory to the painting is that a government ship (let’s call it the Medusa), was carrying French colonists to Senegal sank off the west coast of Africa due to the incompetence of the captain (who happened to be a political appointee) • The captain and crew were first to evacuate and took over the lifeboats, towing a makeshift raft piled with 149 passengers • Eventually, they cut the towrope, leaving the immigrants to drift under the equatorial sun for 12 days without food or water, suffering unspeakable torments. Only 15 of 149 lived

6. French Romanticism • Gericault investigated the story like a reporter, interviewing survivors to hear their grisly tales of starvation, madness, and cannibalism • He studied putrid bodies in the morgue to enhance the accuracy of the painting • He sketched decapitated heads of guillotine victims and faces of lunatics in an asylum • Though a realistic event, this painting exemplifies Romanticism because the straining, contorted body language of the nude passengers says everything about the struggle for survival • Struggling for survival was a theme Gericault obsessed over

7. “The Raft of the Medusa” (1818-19)

8. “The Raft of the Medusa” • The painting’s fame broke the stranglehold of the Classical Academy • The painting also led French art to stress emotion over intellect moving forward • Personally, Gericault had no concern for his own well-being, dedicating himself to a life of passion and defending the downtrodden • His teacher called him a madman • He was banned from the Louvre for brawling in the Grande Galerie • He was fascinated by horses—which led to his death because a series of riding accidents killed him at 32. • He only showed three painting publicly in his decade-long career, yet still was a star, energetically handling rousing scenes of titanic struggle

9. French Romanticism • Delacroix (1798-1863) • He became the leader of the Romantic movement after Gericault’s death • Delacroix believed the artist should feel the agony of creation (because that’s normal) and was consumed by the flame of genius • “The real man is the savage” –Delacroix’s journal • He was described as being “passionately in love with passion” –Romantic poet Baudelaire • His subjects came from stirring topical events • Violence was embedded within his exotic images • “Massacre at Chios” was painted after hearing news of Turks slaughtering Christians on the island of Chios • Reaction was mixed: • Purists called it a “massacre of painting” • Spectators wept when they saw the pitiful babe clutching its dead mother’s breast • What do you think?

10. “Massacre at Chios” (1824)

11. French Romanticism • Delacroix is a weird dude • In 1832, he infiltrated a Moroccan harem and made hundreds of sketches, fascinated by the colorful costumes and characters • For the next thirty years he stuck to lush colors, swirling curves, and animals like lions and tigers and horses knotted in combat • Dude loved violence though • Just look at “The Death of Sardanapalus” • Delacroix based the painting on Lord Byron’s verses of the Assyrian emperor Sardanapalus who ordered his possessions destroyed before burning himself on a funeral pyre • The only problem is those possessions included his ladies of the night…

12. “The Death of Sardanapalus” (1827)

13. “The Death of Sardanapalus” (1827) • Delacroix portrays the shocking instant when servants execute the king’s harem girls and horses • The background in better lighting is flaming red with intense vivid light/dark contrasts • There are turbulent forms shown in broad brushstrokes, emblematic of Romanticism • Under Delacroix color became indispensable, especially when painting human forms • This differed from the Neoclassics before him applied color as a tint instead of forms of line drawing • Delacroix’s goal was not to reproduce reality precisely, but rather to capture its essence • He established the right of a painter to defy tradition and paint as he liked • His arrogance was also fantastic (at least to study) • “If you are not skillful enough to sketch a man falling out of a window during the time it takes him to get from the fifth story to the ground, then you will never be able to produce monumental work.”

14. British Romanticism • John Constable (1776-1837) • Focused on “boyhood rambles through moors and meadows” for the subjects of his poetry and art • He looked down on landscape painters who based their work on tradition rather than what they actually saw • All his paintings were based on nature in his native Suffolk, England (never traveled abroad) • Scenes are serene, untroubled, and gentle • “The sound of water escaping from mill-dams, willows, old rotten plans, slimy posts, and brickwork—I love such things. These scenes made me a painter.” • As a boy, he went “skying” – sketching cloud formations as source material for paintings, believing the sky was “the key note, … and the chief organ of sentiment” in a painting • His love of clouds, sun, and shadow led him to make the first oil sketches ever painted outdoors • He believed landscapes just be based on observation • “Imagination never did, and never can, produce works that are to stand by comparison with realities” • Tiny dabs of color flecked with white simulated the shimmer of light on surfaces

15. “The Hay Wain” (1821)

16. British Romanticism • J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851) • He painted rural landscapes with a smooth, detailed technique • Later he experimented with more radical techniques and evolved an original style that influenced later generations of artists • He aimed to evoke awe in his viewers and shifted his subject from calm countrysides to Alpine peaks, flaming sunsets, and the me of man’s struggle against the elements • His color was meant to inspire feeling and he was the first to abandon brown or buff priming for a white undercoat, making the final painting stand out • He neutralized deep tones by adding white and left light tones like yellow undiluted for greater luminosity

17. “Crossing the Brook” (1815)

18. “Rain, Steam, and Speed – The Great Western Railway” (1844) p. 80 Annotated Mona Lisa

19. U.S. Romanticism • Focus was two subjects: nature and the natural man • Nature: landscapes • Natural man: genre paintings of common people in ordinary activities • The subjects in each were seen through rose-colored glasses • Forests were always picture-postcard perfect • Happy settlers were always cheerful, both at work and at play • Before 1825, Americans felt nature was menacing; after 1830 the wilderness became a symbol of America’s unspoiled national character • U.S. writers like Emerson and Thoreau preached that God inhabited nature • No longer did Europe restrict U.S. painters; now the grandeur of the American continent was the artist’s inspiration

20. U.S. Romanticism • Thomas Cole (1801-1848) • He scaled peaks throughout the Hudson River valleys to make pencil sketches of untouched natural scenes • During the winter, he showed the essential mood of a place in oil paintings • He shows the foreground in minute detail and blurs distant vistas to suggest the infinite American landscape • Behold, “The Oxbow”

22. “The Oxbow” (1836)

23. “The Oxbow” • Okay, this is going to sound as corny as possible but I have to quote the book here. The adjectives are so over-the-top. It’s fantastic! • “Cole faithfully reproduced rocks, juicy vegetation, a gnarled tree, and his folding chair and umbrella. The blond panorama of the Connecticut River Valley and receding hills seems to stretch forever. The painting depicts the moment just after a thunderstorm, when the foliage, freshened by a cloudburst, glistens in a theatrical light.” • Somebody towel that author off… • Seriously, I don’t think I’ve ever been that excited over anything in my life • And it’s a nice painting and all, but it’s a river, a tree, and some hills…it’s not like seeing the image of the Virgin Mary (sorry, Abhishek)

24. U.S. Romanticism • Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900) and Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902) were the Lewis and Clark of painting according to The Annotated Mona Lisa • What does that even mean? • Better yet, who are the Lewis and Clark of this class? • Anyway, apparently they were Lew and Clark because they sketched the savage beauty of nature from the lush vegetation of the tropics to the icebergs of the Arctic • Bierstadt’s most famous work, “The Rocky Mountains” shows them as a Garden of Eden • He used compositional devices such as a highly detailed foreground (the peaceful encampment of the Shosone Indians) and distant soaring mountains pierced by a shaft of sunlight • To close today, here it is…

26. “The Rocky Mountains” (1863)