Romantic Era

Impressionism

Impressionism is a hugely famous art movement in history. Many people love impressionism and pay million for paintings. However, I am not a huge fan of the artwork produced during this time. I don’t like the painting style as much as I liked the ones from previous era’s. It seems like most of the paintings from this era look like very blurry photographs so I suppose I fall somewhere in between when it comes to the artwork. I feel like the work can be exceptionally beautiful but I also feel like it gives it a more loose look, whereas paintings from the Renaissance era have very clear lines and are more focused looking. I also like the way paintings from the Renaissance seem to have brighter colors. I added the photo to the right, a part of the painting the Primavera by Sandro Botticelli from the Renaissance era, so you could compare it to the following paintings produced during the Impressionism movement. They are definitely very different from one another and I suppose I just prefer the paintings of the Renaissance. One thing I do really enjoy about Impressionism though is that the paintings are very unique from one another. As if the different painters also had more of their own personal style involved. In previous era’s, paintings all looked very similar from one artist to the next.
To the left you see The Star painted by Edgar Degas in 1878.  It is a very beautiful painting and I love the expression on the dancers face and the pastel colors and how graceful she looks. However, I do not like how it seems so blurry due to the loose brushstrokes. It is so different compared to many paintings of the Baroque and Renaissance era. I even find the background confusing as it is not painted very clearly. It is difficult to make out what is going on. Very interestingly, Degas admired the works of Michelangelo, Raphael, and Rembrandt and did get a lot of inspiration from their works, just adding a more modern twist to it his. Though Degas was a little envious of the former artists and the era’s they were fortunate enough to live in. For instance, Degas once said, “He had the luck, that Rembrandt! He painted Susanna at the bath; me, I paint women at the tub.” He was definitely an interesting and maybe even strange soul, but he did paint beautifully (even though I am not the biggest fan of the painting style.) His life story was fun to learn about as well as he met many famous artists during his days. He spent most of his life painting in his studio in Paris and also spent countless hours watching ballerinas stretch and dance and run up and down stairs to give him inspiration for his paintings of dancers. The painting can be found now in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris.
Another example would be Water Lilies painted by Claude Monet in 1919. I chose this example because my best friend is absolutely in love with this painting and we sat and looked at it in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City for what seemed like a life time because she loves Claude Monet and I personally was not the biggest fan of the painting. Once again, it was mainly because of the loose brush strokes and how it looks so blurry. This painting is one of many Water Lily paintings Claude Monet painted during his time. These paintings are located all over the world so it is likely you will come across one of them eventually if you enjoy going to art museums.
Monet oftentimes painted series like this where he painted the same objects at different times of the day to capture the light differently. Monet was quite talented at painting and depicting natural light as that is what he focused on in almost all of his paintings. Once again, I find the painting very beautiful, but I also find it very blurry. However, I know many people absolutely love this style and Monet’s paintings (like my best friend) so I suppose I just have different taste in art.

Early Photography

From my personal perspective, I found that most of the early photography I looked at seemed very journalistic. There were a lot of photos of the war and with this new invention, it was simpler to let people know what was happening at war. Therefor I do believe that it was very journalistic.

An example would be this photo to the right, Confederate Soldiers Dead by a Fence taken by Matthew Brady. He took many photos of dead soldiers during the Civil War and even risked his life for some of his photographs during that time. Later in his life he claimed, “No one will ever know what they cost me; some of them almost cost me my life.” and I just cannot find the artistic merit in it. That may have something to do with the fact that there are dead people in the photo and that is clouding my judgment. I did find some poems though that focus on photos like these which made them seem a little less journalistic and more artistic.
On the other hand, I also found some photography that seemed less journalistic and more artistic just in general so I came to the conclusion that it really just depends on the photographer. And I find that to be true even now in our modern times, there are photographers who take photos for journalism and photographers who take photos for art. But here Is another instance of early photography. The photograph to the left is The Manger taken by Gertrude Kasebier. I just wanted to add this photo because it was more artistic to me than the previous photograph. Gertrude Kasebier did not become a professional photographer until she was in her 40’s. Her photos though were posed and just give a more artistic feel than the photos of Matthew Brady. I read a great blog about her where the writer pointed out something I found very interesting.

She inspires me too. Because she was a late bloomer. Because she was a female artist who also made a living. And ultimately, as I think about her life, perhaps she wasn’t so much a rebel as someone who simply found her own way, sometimes joining with others, sometimes breaking away from them when their paths diverged and she was ready to continue on another road.

I really enjoyed that quote because of how she did not consider Kasebier a rebel, but just a woman who found her path; who found something she enjoyed to do and something she was good at.

Romantic era music

I would have to say that within the different styles of music during the romantic era, I like music that has less “going on.” So I like simple music with a calm sweet melody that’s made to be played on one instrument. I found that Clair de Lune (also known as Suite Bergamasque No. 3) written in 1890 by Claude Debussy was one of the pieces I have always loved. It is very mellow and relaxing. The melody is absolutely beautiful and set in parallel thirds. All parts of the Suite Bergamasque are amazing to listen to, however Clair de Lune just stands out compared to the rest and I believe that is why it is such a famous piece today.

Another piece that has a little more going on is The Nutcracker by Pyotr Tchaikovsky. In contrast to Clair de Lune there is much more happening at once. It is fast paced and many instruments are involved. Although I find this piece beautiful as well, I would have to admit that I appreciate the slow tempo of Clair de Lune much more than the fast paced musical pieces, like The Nutcracker from this era.

My Classical Era Exhibit

Die ZauberfIöte

My first choice for the exhibit is Die ZauberfIöte or The Magic Flute by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. I picked this piece because I have seen this opera multiple times and I love it. It is my favorite opera. It’s really wonderful to watch and to listen to. The scene below is my favorite part of the entire opera because it is such a tough part to sing and it sounds absolutely amazing!

The Magic Flute is an opera that was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (to the left), however, the libretto was written by Emanuel Schikaneder (to the right). The work premiered at Schikaneder’s theathre, the Freihaus Theather auf der Wieden, in Vienna on September 30th, 1791. Mozart actually conducted the orchestra himself, and Schikaneder sang the part of Papageno, one of the main characters. Sadly, Mozart was not able to conduct this theatre very long as he died shortly after, on December 5th, 1791.

Below is actually a poster for the play that states all the original people who performed and sang in the opera. I tried to read some of it, however old German is very difficult to read. The top states where the opera will play and states that it was written by Emanuel Schikaneder. Not until the paragraph after the names are listed does it bring up Mozart which I thought was a little interesting since he is who is so famous and known compared to Schikaneder. At least in this day and age. I suppose it was played in Schikaneder’s theatre though.

The plot of the opera can be very confusing, so anyone wanting to see this opera in the future should at least read through a summary before seeing it.

Marie Antoinette a la Rose

My next piece I picked is a work by  Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun (pictured below). I chose her because I have not written on any artwork painted by women thus far. Vigée Le Brun was a fascinating woman to learn about due to her life story. She was from a royal family from France who fled during the French revolution. She lived in exile for 12 years traveling around Europe making for an adventurous life painting portraits and becoming more and more famous. There is a huge online gallery of her paintings. Scrolling through all of them (there are hundreds) is almost overwhelming as you realize how many painting she actually produced. One of these paintings was Marie Antoinette a la Rose (to the left). The painting was painted in 1783 of Marie Antoinette (obviously). Vigée Le Brun actually painted over 30 paintings of Marie Antoinette as they were friends. The painting is a Rococo style painting as you can tell by the lightness of the painting and the pastel colors.
For some reason I had a difficult time finding information on this painting. However, I read a lot about Marie Antoinette and learned of her role as the Dauphine of France. I have always assumed Marie Antoinette to be a horribly hated person, which I suppose she was. But I learned a lot about her role as a fashion icon in France. She was always ahead of the rest when it came to fashion. She even invented colors and expected clothing in her newly invented colors, which was obviously a difficult task to perform as these colors technically did not exist. Sadly, most of her clothing was destroyed during the French revolution so we look to paintings of her to see the clothing she wore.

The Swing

Lastly, I would like to discuss The Swing by Jean-Honore Fragonard. Fragonard was commissioned by the Baron de Saint-Julien to paint this painting. I chose this painting because it definitely caught my eye when I saw it. I thought it was a beautiful painting that I was not yet familiar with so I wanted to do some research. It was painted in 1766 and apparently became so famous because it is somewhat of a scandalous painting which I also noticed after giving the painting a closer look. Beneath, you can see a woman being pushed on a swing (who is presumed to be the commissioners mistress) by a man who I learned to be a priest or bishop. In front of her is another man (presumed to be the commissioner) peaking up her skirt which was of course absolutely scandalous for this time period. The woman is tossing her shoe towards the man and it is just a very flirtatious painting all around.
Fragonard was known for his Rococo style paintings which were very delicate and were usually painted in a romantic setting like a garden. Fragonard was very influenced by François Boucher’s works. Fragonard took a liking to the way Boucher painted so he painted very similarly. As the Rococo style went out of style and the Neo-classicalism became more favorable, some of Fragonard’s commissioned paintings were actually denied which I found to be interesting. It made me realize how quickly the styles of painting must have changed. (I personally find the Rococo style better though.)Fragonard was mostly commissioned by the rich royalty of France to paint so logically, the French revolution ruined his career. There was no wealthy royalty who loved his Rococo style paintings left and able to commission Fragonard to paint for them. This led to his wealthy lifestyle changing as he was financially ruined. Luckily, he did survive the French revolution and maintained a pretty modest lifestyle afterwards.