History of Art II
The course History of Art II covers a specific and rather dramatic period from renaissance to the
contemporary art and the course aims to demonstrate the development of art and its reaction to
the cultural, societal and technological changes. To this end, this essay seeks to explore some
major currents in art, famous artists and artists’ relationship with their work and the world
around them to see how art is a mirror to the times.
The Renaissance: Rebirth of Classical Ideals
The period referred to as renaissance began in this region in the 14th century and lasted to the
17th century It was a revival of classical ideas from Greece and Rome. It was marked by
humanism as the concept that cosmetics with its ideas of the importance of the individual as well
as the concept of human potential. There was a desire to present people and their activities with
more reportage; categories like linear perspective and chiaroscuro by degrees deepened pictures
in planes and volume. The Renaissance was also the time when the Gothic style with dominance
of the themes of religion began to evolve and open the path to using secular topics.
Such transfer and credit are again valid in the case of one of the main figures of the Renaissance,
Leonardo da Vinci, whose work is a perfect example of a sophisticated and detailed approach to
human cloning thanks to the study of human anatomy. His works include ‘the last supper,’
painted major images of religious scenes but subtlety depicted various psychological feelings
from the facial and bodily postures of the characters. For Levin, the fact that Da Vinci greatly
analyzed the dependence between light and shadow let him mimic the reality and emotionally
stir the viewers. His style of composition especially how he employed vanishing point
perspective was to inform generations of artists.
Another factors was Michelangelo, whose sculptures as well as the frescoes became the pinnacle
of renaissance artworks. His famous sculpture of ‘David’ is in conformity with the Hall mark of
the Renaissance artists depicting physical beauty and muscularity inspired quite significantly by
the ancients. The second masterpiece by Michelangelo depicted on the Sistine Chapel ceiling
continued the talent of the artist in combining art with spirituality story telling, far beyond
religious art. The stances and details in his figures were as lively as they have captured scripture
narratives but a portrayal of human emotions. His fresco “The Creation of Adam” is perhaps the
most important one, as offering a powerful revelation of a human spirituality, spirituality of an
individual, despite its questionable actual value, underling and emphasizing the touch of Divinity
in so many spheres of our existence – handing over the life and the knowledge.
The Renaissance also found new prominence in oil painting which permitted artists to reach
subtlety and fleeing in works. This medium allowed those artists such as Titian and Raphael, to
experiment with different colours and surfaces creating bright, real representations. Akin to this
is Raphael’s School of Athens, in which depicted is human wisdom and philosophy, without any
discord in composing, familiar faces from classical era and people of the artist’s age. Due to the
displayed balance and symmetry, Raphael’s work conforms strictly to the provisions of the
Renaissance, in terms of proportion and order.
Also, the Renaissance provided a rise of not only the interest in the secular matters as it is noted
by the appearance of the portraits and landscapes, occupying an important place in the new
aesthetics along with human personality and the world. To give an insight into the lifestyle of
their models Jan van Eyck and Hans Holbein the younger applied great detail in portraying the
subject. In this case, the painting “Arnolfini Portrait” by Van Eyck, holds more than the eye can
see due to the details and the incorporation of symbolic material which make the audience to
exhaust the story in the painting. Depth of focus, contrast, or chiaroscuro and a detailed approach
to the materiality of surfaces and to the painting process mobilize an overabundance of visual
textures and contribute to the signification of cultural standings, of more profound aspects of the
portrayed individuals.
Baroque
PBracketAfter Renaissance the Baroque period was developed (approximately 1600-1750)
which pay more attention to dramatic emotion and dynamic movement. It developed in response
to the European Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Reformation shortly afterward patterns
resulted in an emotive art form designed to emotionally elicit reactions from the viewer. Baroque
artists used features like chiaroscuro, dynamic compositions, and what we could call
exaggeration in order to give their work the theatricality of the time of conflict.
Caravaggio was one of the most significant images of the Baroque who systematically used the
principles of englightenment and the goal of which creating deeper, dramatic feelings. Some of
his pieces include Judith Beheading Holofernes, for which the artist uses the themes of
chiaroscuro to seize the viewer attention by bearing out the feelings of vulnerability and menace.
Besides intensifying the drama of the story this approach also departure with the traditional
religious painting tradition portraying the characters of the Old Testament as historical rather
than biblical. According to Caravaggio, tenebrism—extreme contrast in painting which
illuminates some objects and the rest are left relatively dark—was also used by future artists in
order to leave emotional depth and complexity of the narrative in the picture.
There could be few more captivating discussion than those which are associated with Peter Paul
Rubens and his truly monumental work in making of Baroque Movement. Among his works it is
possible to distinguish the painting “The Elevation of the Cross” of which the principle of the
movement and emotional keenness of the bodies are shown by means of the dynamic position of
the depicted characters. The lateness with which his pictures had an air of magnificence and
vitality was perfectly consistent with the Baroque view of the human spirit and the range of
feeling. His artwork tend to be objects of mythology, history and religious stories with a touch of
lively feeling for the viewers.
The Baroque period also included painting and sculpture and architecture and one of the pupils
who masterminded this combination was Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Bernini both at the tomb of St.
Peter and with the Baldacchino in Vatican City, the large scale LT;190; and the ornate details
LT;191; are meant to impress upon the viewers of the power of the Catholic Church during the
period, known as the Counter-Reformation. His sculptures examples are: The Ecstasy of Saint
Teresa; depicting the dynamic effects of light and dark that transfixed the viewer’s intense
experience of the sacrum. Clearly Bernini’s work was a masterful representation of Baroque
values, the use of dramatic and almost melodramatic art for the purpose of expressing profound
religious stories.
However, Baroque movement was unique and it relate with the painting, music, sculpture and
architecture The Baroque painting genre included the genre paintings by the artists who painted
domestic interiors with the trappings of comfort and safety such as Johannes Vermeer. The
Baroque concerns of both light and color are present in Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring,” as
well as a mysterious psychological probing of the girl’s character. These things correlate with the
other currents of the culture of the time: thus, individual existence and the ability to empathize
with personal experiences were highly valued.
Neoclassicism
In the late 18th century there was a new style known as Neoclassical as a revolt against the
emotion or ornate of Baroque and Rococo periods. Neoclassicism borrowed principles from
Greek and Roman art and aimed at order and austerity and, therefore, reason. This movement
was also associated with reasonable and civic values of the Enlightenment and the sense of
stability and ethical decency in the epoch of the social turbulence. Neoclassical artists painted on
ideas of heroism, sacrafice and virtue, all of which were ideas of the enlightenment period.
Jacques-Louis David is a painter who started featuring in Neoclassical movement; he was able to
use historical and mythological themes to pass on moral information. The article explores how
and to what extent David’s "Oath of the Horatii" represents Neoclassical style and philosophy
through solemn and restrained subjects and balanced composition of the figures. The painting
also reflects the Spirit of revolution emphasizing on the duty which the people of a nation owe to
their nation and the strength that resides in unity. David made sure that most of his work was
neat and clear and he hardly combined many colours in one work, and this made his works to
reflect on Neoclassical art by embracing orderliness, a Neoclassical facet of unearthing reason.
There are also recognisable and revolutionary solutions in architecture – for example the
Panthéon in Paris that reflects balanced symmetry and rationality of Neoclassicism. Building
architects aimed to construct monumental that were reminiscent of classical types because these
structures defined permanence, as well as civic pride. The withdrawal toward form in
architecture represented by such elements as, for instance, columns, pediments, and domes
showed that the art of the time aimed at the values of the antique, at the dream of people’s
enlightenment. Not only did this architectural movement apply itself to public and governmental
construction, but the residential buildings as well, thus proving a powerful influence on
Neoclassical study throughout diverse sections.
In sculpture there were Antonio Canova and Jean-Antoine Houdon who painted the human
figure and topics on neoclassicism. Regarding Canova’s sculpture ‘Psyche revived by Cupid’s
kiss,’ we can define the qualities that belongs to the Neoclassical sculpture that have smooth
surface and perfectly model figures. Of the aims of the movement, Houdon’s bust of George
Washington demonstrates; it is a portrait of one man with significant historical and political roles
in the formation of America. Thus, interest and thinness of the subjects, perfect symmetry, and
clear lines in Neoclassical art and the desire to carry ideas and inspire to act in accordance with
the principles of morality of the time were intended to reflect the tendencies of the culture of the
time in art.
Romanticism
Romanticism that took root in the second half of the 18th – first half of 19th centuries, was the
reaction to Neoclassicism. Romantic artists intended to depict passion, the landscape, and the
magnificent; moreover, anti classical and superior to reason with most concentration placed on
the persona feeling and creative vision as well as not on appearances. The Romantics movement
emerged primarily as a result of revolutionary changes in society and culture caused by the
Industrial Revolution and with aim to embrace such GREAT.ideals as the spirituality of an
individual, return to nature, and so on. Marxism, not only opposed Romanticism of
Enlightenment ideas, but also exalted the subconscious, the unknown, and passions of people.
Michel’s period, the Romanticists led by Eugène Delacroix master portraying the feeling and the
heroic inclination. “Liberty Leading the People’ is one of the famous paintings by a French artist
which essay encourages the read more >> Obviously, Delacroix was imbued with passion and
striving for new – he imbued his paintings in a type of energetic style that manifested the
political instability of the epoch. Depiction of struggle and victory became part and parcel of
romantic art and the essence of freedom and revolution became ideals were being introduced as
worth fighting for.
Caspar David Friedrich: Friedrich was one of the leading Romantic landscape painters who
performed art works examining connection of human beings and nature. pieces, like the
“Wanderer above the Sea of Fog”, make an ascertain that the spectators examine the aesthetics of
the sublime in nature and such issues as the world raises in people. In his landscapes lonely
figures are depicted placed on enormous, striking, views of landscapes indicating the man in
search of purpose in the magnificent and frightening world. He instills passion with his main
motifs of the cyclic symphony, as well as other emotional responses to atmospheric or structural
elements is an indication of the Romantic movement, which relied heavily on the individual and
the ability to map the working of the human mind.
Romanticism was by no means limited to painting and sculpture and branched out into literature
and music producing genius literary personalities including William Wordsworth and the
fantastic music master Ludwig van Beethoven to mention but a few. In “I Wandered Lonely as a
Cloud” Wordsworth recreates a memory of coming across a field of daffodils and how these
almost 리리 have changed his mood. All his creations are touching by their figurativeness,
multifaceted and philosophical, often talk about the victory over oneself, and the power of fate.
Continuing the prior conceptual directions of the Sturm und Drang, the Romantic ideology
ofgeharnischt glorified the Individual and the Poet, with the artistic activity being defined as the
expression of the individual personality and an exploration of the human experience reflecting
the generally emerging culture of individuality and emotional sincerity.
Realism
Realism as a movement was born in mid 19th century as a protest in some ways to Romanticism
and in others to the Academic painting of the period. The realist artists wanted to paint the reality
of the lives of working and unprivileged people, and the surrounding reality. This movement was
more concerned with social problems and day to day life, changes in people’s live due to
ongoing industrial revolution and growing importance of cities. Photorealism rejected the visions
of art, which have captured the imagination of people and promoted the idea of the beauty of the
human suffering of ordinary 民众.
This article shows that Gustave Courbet, one of the leaders of the Realists, pronounced that he
could not paint an angel because he had never seen one. True to that fact, he painted figures such
as “The Stone Breakers” where his subjects were strong men engaged in manual work. The crude
realism that Courbet pursued was the way to draw attention to the power violations and the
oppression of the workin By painting, he aimed at improving the general statuses of common
populace and the achievement of quality masses’ portrayal in art. Thus anticipating the
contemporary discussion on the decoration or non-decoration of reality by painting, Courbet’s
realism reporting a shocking picture of the “Real /Raw’ human body stirred up debates on art’s
capacity to offer a social change.
Jean-François Millet is another example of Realists; he also painted peasant and the ability of
work. Two of his famous paintings are ‘The Gleaners’, which show three peasant women
bending over in a field picking up the remaining seeds left by the reapers. Millet’s work attempts
to draw human’s attention to the relationship between humans and the earth also the sufferings of
downtrodden peasants and offers a viewers to get involved with these people. It does not
therefore puzzle me why Millet’s work succeeded in conveying not only the exterior portrayal of
the working class but also the inner feelings of the common humanity throbbing painfully in
them.
Realism did not stop in painting but spread in literature and documentary photography; Zola was
a famous realistic novelist, Nadar was a photographer. Zola novel promoted ideas of the
existence of social problems and working people’s reception of life, and Nadar captured snap
shots of daily life, which often contradicted the idealism of popular paintings of the time.
Realism was the precursor of the subsequent socio- politically charged movements, that enriched
the interpretation of social problems in artworks.
Impressionism: Capturing the Moment
Exact successors of the Romantics are more difficult to define, but the late 19th century has the
original art movement, Impressionism that aimed at depicting transient moments in ordinary life
and the relation in-between light and color. The so called Impressionists revolutionized art by
defining new way of painting by applying loose brush, painting mostly outdoors, and focusing on
the artist’s perceptions. It was an outcome of intense academic oppression which has suppressed
a number of artists who wanted to express themselves freely, and paint as they wanted. This new
style tore the Artist from the traditional methods of approaching a subject, and liberated artists to
find new ways to portray the scene before them.
The pioneer of impressionists movement Claude Monet aimed at painting the relative, temporary
effects of light and air in his large landscapes. For instance, Vincent did a number of paintings on
the same theme but done at different times of the day, whereas, “Haystacks” and “Water Lilies”
are some of the most colored and lit paintings that Vangog gifted to the world. The following
probably refers to Monet’s painting technique; casual, rapid brush-work and bright, diamond like
colors made Monet give the scene the sense of movement. He has inspired artist even to this day
because even though posed his style helped making paintings much more free and expressive
than the highly detailed works of the renaissance.
Other famous impressionist was Pierre-Auguste Renoir, whose works’ main subject were people,
and happiness of communication. He painted several works among them being the “Luncheon of
the Boating Party” his paintings retain the true blessings of life and joy of doing nothing.
Basically, Renoir’s lighting and painting with an emotive and warm color range create the
atmosphere that makes people happy to feel and join the happy experience with another person.
Where some of his ideas stress the particular moment, it may well be also a reflection of the
Impressionism principals, when the artist’s perception becomes the true composition. The knack
to bring direct joy and fellow companionship when painting any sort of social function is classic
Renoir and again is representative of Impressionist fondness for painting for the beauty of the
mundane.
The Impressionist also disturbed the traditional work and approach to work as seen in
compositions, and aspects of perspective were also cut loose. Of the Impressionists, Edgar
Degas, who painted ballet dancers as well as women going about their daily business, was
unconcerned with mimicking the appearance of movement. Among them, there are “The Ballet
Class” that express the fleeting attitude of people to life. These and some other aspects of the
moment and the individual revelation of the artist are now becoming the key Storming
Impressionism Post-Impressionists that would follow. It also energized the concept of liberal
minded approach and freedom of on artistic freedom and the born of the avant-garde movement.
There were calls by the emergent artists and their painting so characterized under impressionism
to be banned by the established art academies of the time; this led to arrangements of art shows
that would feature impressionism artists and their art works. The first great outing of what was to
be known as the Impressionist movement was in the year 1874 and it was until this time that art
was liberalized. It remains for further discussion whether Fauvism itself was one of the
movements of the avant-garde, however, Fauve’s movement, in general, became a significant
precedent for further avant-garde movements which contributed to the development of the
further direction of the formation of modern art. The dismissal of the conventional procedure of
artwork and the sanctification of visual impression made the path for the revelation of abstraction
and expression in more modern time.
Post-Impressionism
Post-Impressionism developed in late 19th century and was a wide ranging reaction against
Impressionism, initiated by the development of the art movement. Post Impressionists continue
on some of the principles from Impressionists; however they endeavored in their paintings to
find essential expressive and symbolical connotations, more frequently using color and shape
and even abstraction. This movement contain no standard styles or approaches because each
shaper of this movement are unique and their aim was to challenge the existing convectional
approach toward art.
The paintings produced by an eminent post-impressionist artist Vincent vaughn Gogh combined
high contrast of color and forcefulness of application to depict highly charged emotions. Realism
in such pictures as ‘’Starry Night’’ is inspired by the emotional severity inside the artist and his
interest in the geography. New approaches to coloring and composition in Van Gogh’s work
reacted not only to his topics but also opened his soul and made it possible to experience the
feeling of the painter’s pursuit of enthusiasm. For this reason, grandiose’s intrinsic incorporation
of emotions in his works s/s historically paved way for the Expressionism of the succeeding
years. Through the combination of harmonic progressive line and intense color the author shapes
the images which make the spectator to be overwhelmed and to share the painter’s emotions.
Paul Cézanne who is widely known as the founder of modern painting focused in his work
principles of structure. His works including The Bathers and Mont Sainte - Victoire was a way of
expressing how he wanted people to see the geometric form of objects in nature. That is why
such organisational aspects as simplification of shapes and exploration of the relations between
colours could be regarded as the bases for such directions as Cubism and Abstraction throughout
the 20th century. Through his experiments with linear perspective and pictorial space his work
broke with traditional conventions which paved the way for the possibilities of future movements
concerned with the problematics of Sociology of Perception. Paul Cézanne’s painting approach
did not only change the perspective of seeing the space and form but also offered the practice of
seeing as an optative.
Where Impressionists treated the themes of light and colour, developing new techniques of
painting, Georges Seurat in the picture ”A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte”
presented undoubted innovative pointillism. With the technique of placing a small dots of color
Seurat expanded the limits of traditional definitions of brushwork and representation and
essentially called the viewers to open new, more active sides of perception. His method of using
colour and light was purely objective, unlike other artists of the period, that way, he played his
part in the development of modern art. Not only did Seurat’s method stress the optical
consequences of color, but also viewer involvement in the perceptive act, both in respect to the
artwork.
The Post-Impressionists also prepared the concept for symbolism since the artists started
searching for ideas in spiritual references. It should also be noted the influence of the so called
‘art for art’s sake’ shifted in the late 1800s: pietists such as Paul Gauguin and Odilon Redon tried
to convey usually hidden feelings and emotions with elements of symbolism, symbolism of
dreams. Gauguin: The Birth of Venus What Are We? Where Are We Going?" This search is
most evident in this painting by Van Gogh, where the artists uses bright color and frescoes with
meaning existentialist questions. To vary the subject, stressing the individuality in art exploration
of the semantic layer put the bases for further movements that contributed to destruction of
traditional representation and speaker to the multiple facets of these existing around the human
experience.
Modernism
The arrival of the twentieth-century held the Modernist movement, where art could not work
with the unfamiliar ideas and norms anymore. Modernism included everything from style and
policy since the world that was rapidly modifying due to the technological and social changes
and the aftermath of World War I.
Pablo Picasso is considered a pioneer of modernist movement influencing the change of Paris
and the world art in the twentieth century. His co-partnership in Cubist kept on rejecting the
conventional method in representation by dissecting the object into geometrical figures and
depicting them from different angles at the same time. Such works as ‘Les Demoiselles
d’Avignon’ are typical of this approach – the figures are shown schematically and in fragments
as to reflect modern context of life. Not only did cubism affect painting but also rubbed on
sculpture and architecture and handed the art in 20th century a completly new direction.
Henri Matisse among the organizers of the Fauvist direction focused on the painting and purely
emotional sign of works, using intense vocabulary and expressive forms. A product of his works
‘The Dance, ‘is the prolific use of vibrant color and round shapes that depict movements.
Continuing from what Matisse had done, future movements would complete focus on color and
form and the feeling these gave more than the regular beauties which are emphasized. It is
important to notice, that Fauvist movement of artists focused on color as a source of emotion
which defined the way for next generation of artists who used color and shape as way of
expression.
Dada philosophy stemmed from the terribly shocking experience of the First World War and
subverts bourgeois artistic principles. Surrealists, and other related groups like Dada entrusted in
Marcel Duchamp, intended to go against the grain by portraying the essence of silly and non-
pleasing aesthetics. ”Fountain,” a urinal by Marcel Duchamp, turned art upside down and into
simply a ridiculous object signed by an artist. Such elements as the spontaneity of the work, and
the use of chance and the irrational presented the viewer with a set of questions about where the
art movement started and where it could go.
Surrealism which was practiced from as early as the 1920s aimed at looking for the workings of
the mind than concentrating on dreams. Surrealism which was influenced by Salvador Dalí and
Rene Magritte introductory a phenomenon of fabulous art, shaken the preconceived conceptions
of life and reality. This dream-like scene has engulfs Snyder’s landscapes the same way that the
softness of the watches floats in Dalí’s The Persistence of Memory. Continuing with this
narrative perspective Europe found fascination in the theories of psychology, the subconscious
mind etc. ✍ hence Surrealism had an impact on literature, films, other arts. He argues that such a
movement freed up new ways of depicting the creativity of human being by exploring the
psychological region of being.
Contemporary Art
The second half of the XX century and the beginning of the XXI century became a time of the
appearance of plexus theatrical movements that correspond to the multifaceted nature of present-
day society. Broken down, postmodernism conforms to the skeptical fracture of the grand
narratives and pluralism and thus questions the idea of unity of the artist. Contemporary artists
work with various kinds of references, intermingling high brow and low brow techniques and
thoughtfully challenging the museological hegemonies.
Cindy Sherman is one of the most famous artists of the contemporary art world; her spheres of
interest are identity and mask. Northern American Cindy Sherman formed a series of pictures
“Untitled Film Stills” representing herself at acting different roles and issues of feminity and
construction of the images in the culture. With help of art objects and self-portraits, Sherman
makes the viewers look at themselves and on the subject, which raises the questions on how
postmodern identity can and should be constructed. It is apparent that her work is self-reflexive,
and has a strong Postmodern theme of the instability of individual identity, which is
characteristic of postmodern culture.
Street art and graffiti have also become the same paradigm effective medium of expression
mainly social and political concerns. Te artists like Banksy use walls and the streets to share their
opinions on social justice, and to challenge the system. Thus, humor is a distinctive feature of
Banksy’s art is one of its defining characteristics: it addresses the viewer with conflicting
discussions of war and inequality and the place of art in these contexts. High availability of
Street art removes barriers in terms of ownership of aesthetics and therefore involving the
community in the art making processes.
Lastly, it is the homogeneity of different voices in contemporary arts and organization of various
concepts related to the outcome. Employees from diverse origins work with ideas like identity,
globalisation, technology and its effects in their practices. Multiculturalism has gradually shifted
the art world towards a more diverse and equal outlook freeing the art from established order and
offering a chance to embrace a variety of stories. Some of the subjects include Identity, trauma
and post- trauma recovery, using their work like detainees’ art or sculptures by Ai Weiwei and
Yayoi Kusama that reflect on social and political themes.
By late twentieth and early twenty-first century, new forms of art such as digital art and art of
new media have broadened dimensions of artistic practice and opened a door for artists to
manipulate technology and reach out to the international community. Te visualization of façade,
interaction, sculp- ture, moving image and new media platforms have revolutionized art
production, reception and distribution. Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and teamLab take advantage of
technology to ensure that the art work as applicable encourages people to interact with the work
of art in an active manner. These changes are characteristic of today’s art and its Interaction with
the audience based on this Shifts are innovative and responsive to the world.
Conclusion
History of Art II paints the picture of artists in terms of experience, plurality, and complication
nature of life. Thus, the story of art continually progresses from the renaissance bankers
continuation of renewing classical importance and can be traced to even up to the modern
actualization period. When paint a picture, sculpture or any other form of art, the artist is
reflecting on what individuals or groups of people in society feel, endure, aim to achieve at one
point in time or another. In uncertain and continuously changing world art still plays the key role
in people’s interaction and in their understanding of the existence of the world and their place in
it.
Art is both defined and part of a bargain that consists of human creative endeavour, self
formation and expression, culture making, and culture analysis. Being creative artists require
people to rethink how art is done and what it is able to bring to the way people view the world. In
this continuous conversation, art history persists as an affirmatively lived narrative of the human
capability and thriving, of human creativity.
