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An Introduction to Modern Art Lecture to Humanities 150 March 28, 2007 Roger Rothman

An Introduction to Modern Art Lecture to Humanities 150 March 28, 2007 Roger Rothman Department of Art and Art History. Art History is inherently interdisciplinary.

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An Introduction to Modern Art Lecture to Humanities 150 March 28, 2007 Roger Rothman

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  1. An Introduction to Modern Art Lecture to Humanities 150 March 28, 2007 Roger Rothman Department of Art and Art History

  2. Art History is inherently interdisciplinary. It joins together aesthetics, politics, sociology, psychology, literature, and other disciplines so as to illuminate the relationship between works of art and the society within which they were made. Today I will sketch the major themes within the history of art from 1500 to 1900. Throughout I will draw connections between aesthetics, philosophy, politics, sociology, and psychology. 1. Humanism and the Renaissance 2. Rationalism and the Enlightenment 3. Modernism and Modernity

  3. “And God said to Adam: I have placed you at the very center of the world, so that from that vantage point you may with greater ease glance round about you on all that the world contains. We have made you a creature neither of heaven nor of earth, neither mortal nor immortal, in order that you may, as the free and proud shaper of your own being, fashion yourself in the form you may prefer. It will be in your power to descend to the lower, brutish forms of life; you will be able, through your own decision, to rise again to the superior orders whose life is divine.” -Pico della Mirandola, Oration on the Dignity of Man, 1486

  4. “It will be in your power to descend to the lower, brutish forms of life; you will be able, through your own decision, to rise again to the superior orders whose life is divine.” Raphael, The School of Athens, 1511

  5. 1. Humanism and the Renaissance Before Pico Lysippos, The Scraper (Apoxyomenos) c. 330 BCE

  6. After Pico Rembrandt, Self Portrait1659 Lysippos, The Scraper (Apoxyomenos) c. 330 BCE

  7. 2. Rationalism and the Enlightenment Georges de LA TOUREducation of the Virgin, 1650

  8. Georges de LA TOUREducation of the Virgin , 1650 Joseph WRIGHT, Experiment on a Bird, 1768

  9. Georges de LA TOUREducation of the Virgin Joseph WRIGHT, Experiment on a Bird 1650 1768

  10. 3. Modernism and Modernity Salon of 1785

  11. Salon of 1785

  12. Antoine-Jean GROS Napoleon Visiting the Soldiers in Jaffa, 1804 ( 17 x 24 ft )

  13. DETAIL: GROS, Napoleon Visiting the Soldiers in Jaffa, 1804

  14. GROS, Napoleon Visiting the Soldiers in Jaffa COURBET, Painter’s Studio, 1804 1849 (17 x 24 ft) (10 x 21 ft.)

  15. Modernity and the Question of Freedom “And God said to Adam: I have placed you at the very center of the world, so that from that vantage point you may with greater ease glance round about you on all that the world contains. We have made you a creature neither of heaven nor of earth, neither mortal nor immortal, in order that you may, as the free and proud shaper of your own being, fashion yourself in the form you may prefer. It will be in your power to descend to the lower, brutish forms of life; you will be able, through your own decision, to rise again to the superior orders whose life is divine.” -Pico della Mirandola, Oration on the Dignity of Man, 1486

  16. free and proud shaper of your own being -Pico, 1486 We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. -United States Declaration of Independence, 1776 The word freedom is the only one that still excites me. -The Surrealist Manifesto, 1924

  17. free and proud shaper of your own being -Pico, 1486 We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. -United States Declaration of Independence, 1776 The word freedom is the only one that still excites me. -The Surrealist Manifesto, 1924

  18. free and proud shaper of your own being -Pico, 1486 Jean Baptiste CHARDINHouse of Cards, 1735 Vincent VAN GOGHPotato Eaters, 1885

  19. free and proud shaper of your own being -Pico, 1486 Men have constantly made up for themselves false conceptions about themselves, about what they are and what they ought to be. They have arranged their relationships according to their ideas of God, of normal man, etc. [The truth is that] men begin to distinguish themselves from animals as soon as they begin to produce their means of subsistence… Life is not determined by consciousness, but consciousness by life. -Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The German Ideology, 1846

  20. Gustave Courbet, The Painter’s Studio, 1854 “On the right are all the shareholders, that is to say friends, fellow-workers, and art lovers. On the left is the other world of commonplace life: the masses, wretchedness, poverty, wealth, the exploited and the exploiters, people who live on death.” Gustave Courbet, letter to his friend, Champfleury, 1854 The Politics of Realism Men have constantly made up for themselves false conceptions about themselves, about what they are and what they ought to be. They have arranged their relationships according to their ideas of God, of normal man, etc. [The truth is that] men begin to distinguish themselves from animals as soon as they begin to produce their means of subsistence… Life is not determined by consciousness, but consciousness by life. -Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The German Ideology, 1846

  21. RaphaelThe School of Athens1511 Gustave CourbetThe Painter’s Studio1854

  22. August RENOIR Moulin de la Galette, 4 x 6 ft. 1876

  23. Men have constantly made up for themselves false conceptions about themselves, about what they are and what they ought to be. They have arranged their relationships according to their ideas of God, of normal man, etc. [The truth is that] men begin to distinguish themselves from animals as soon as they begin to produce their means of subsistence… Life is not determined by consciousness, but consciousness by life. -Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The German Ideology, 1846 August RENOIR, Moulin de la Galette, 1876 Vincent VAN GOGH, The Potato Eaters, 1885

  24. Clive Bell: 1881-1964. British writer and art critic. Member of the influential “Bloomsbury Group” Other members: E.M. Forster (Author) John Maynard Keynes (Economist) Virginia Woolf(Author) Vanessa Bell (Artist) Duncan Grant (Artist) [Bell is seated on left; others: Mary Hutchins; Grant; Foster] Aesthetic Detachment: the Other Half of Modernism

  25. What quality is shared by all objects that provoke our aesthetic emotions? What quality is common to the windows of Chartres, Chinese carpets, Giotto’s fresco, and the masterpieces of Poussin and Cézanne? Only one answer seems possible—significant form. In each, lines and colors combined in a particular way, certain forms and relations of forms, stir our aesthetic emotions. ‘Significant Form’ is the one quality common to all works of art. Clive Bell, The Aesthetic Hypothesis

  26. In each, lines and colors combined in a particular way, certain forms and relations of forms, stir our aesthetic emotions. ‘Significant Form’ is the one quality common to all works of art. Clive Bell, The Aesthetic Hypothesis Chardin, House of Cards1735 Paul Cézanne, Card Players1890-95

  27. I have placed you at the very center of the world, so that from that vantage point you may with greater ease glance round about you on all that the world contains.- Pico della Mirandola, 1486 The two competing imperatives of modernism: Social Commitment and Aesthetic Detachment Courbet, The Painter’s Studio, 1854 Cézanne, Card Players, 1890-95

  28. Opportunities for further study • Next Fall: • Art 103: World Art II: 1400 to the Present • Art 207: Modern Art I: 1850 to 1915 • Next Spring: • Art 208: Modern Art II: 1915 to the Present

  29. Texts to Read • Gustave Courbet, “Letter to Champfleury.” • 2. Clive Bell, “The Aesthetic Hypothesis.”

  30. On the left is a Renaissance painting by Raphael depicting famous Greek philosophers (The two in the middle are Plato and Aristotle). On the left is the painting that Courbet describes in the letter you read. Considering both the subject matter and the style of painting, what do you think are the most important similarities and differences? (See details on the following slides.) Raphael, The School of Athens, 1510Fresco, The Vatican, 19 x 27 feet Gustave Courbet, The Painter’s Studio: A Real-Life Allegory of the Past Seven Years of My Art, 1855, oil on canvas, 12 x 20 feet

  31. On the left is a still-life painting by the Dutch painter, Rachel Ruysch. On the right is a still-life by Paul Cézanne, a painter mentioned by the critic Clive Bell in the essay you read. Why do you think Bell thought so highly of Cézanne? (consider the details on the following slide.) Rachel Ruysch, Flower Still Lifeoil on canvas, 1700, 30 x 24 inches Paul Cézanne, Plate of Applesoil on canvas, 1877, 18 x 21 inches

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