European Modernism PDF

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Early Twentieth Century European Modernism ARHS 3650 Michael Plante

- Readings on canvas - 3 exams, image indexes David, Oath of the Horatii, 1784 - Academic paintings= official governmental or royal structure by which artists were educated and given commissions - Only way to survive as an artist at the time was to be apart of the Academy - No private art market at the time - Patrons were the government or the church - Academy= system or union that streamlined and controlled art - Earliest existence around 1500 in Italy and France - French academy de Bozare— dominated French art world into middle of 19th century - Why did it die out? What happened? - Now there are galleries and private art markets - David is an important academic subject, comes prior to French Revolution - Story= Horatii sons or brothers (3 men on left) take oath to fight their enemies, will fight to their death - On the right, three women and child (mother, wives and daughters) - One loses brother or husband - Seen as revolutionary war subject — ideology proposed= loyalty to the state and country—> fight to your death - Irony - painting commissioned by King, eventually died because of the messages put forth by this painting Bougereau, Nymphs and Satyr, 1873 - Looks like a vision Bougereau, A Young Girl Defending Herself Against Eros, 1880 - Most successful artist of 19th century and possibly history - Made more money than any artist since - We’ve lost him, practically irrelevant - A kind of falseness that we don’t like anymore - Overly sweet or sacrin Invention of Photography 1839 - France: Louis Daguerre created the Daguerrotype photograph - England: Henry Fox Talbot created the Talbotype photograph, later called the colotype Daguerrotype, 1848 Talbotype, 1842

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Remarkable technologically Interesting in historic sense, but not beautiful or interesting Helps us move towards realism Capturing something, but no meaning Realism lends us to meaning

Nadar, Gustave Courbet, no date - Portrait - Leading photographer in France - Capital R realism Courbet, The Stone Breakers, 1849 - Destroyed during WWII in a bombing - Two men breaking stones on roads before mechanical equipment - Older man (too old to be doing this work) - Younger boy (too young, should be in school) - Clothing- ripped shirt, patched pants - Showing us poverty - A world without social nets - NOT THE WORLD OF THE ACADEMY - Not the world of Nymphs and Satyrs - Truth telling - Courbet was a communist - Very involved in the political movements Naturalism: The endeavor to represent vials phenomena as completely and accurately as possible; the opposite of abstraction Realism: 1840s-1870s movement; realist artists were dedicated to In practice realism meant scenes of peasant and working-class life, streets, cares and popular entertainments, and an increasing franks in the trayment Courbet, The Grain Sifters, 1854 - Women sifting grain for 12 hours at a time - Boring, back breaking work Courbet, The Burial at Ornans, 1849 - Upset the most people - 22 feet long x 14 feet high - Painting of this size is for the Bible - Not for scenes of everyday life or poor people - Courbet is from Ornans, far from chic nightlife of Paris - Taking burial of great uncle and turns into great picture — turns it political

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Terrifies Parisians Sees the real people of France possibly rising up again Bleak landscape No hierarchy Every single figure is a portrait, each person sat who was actually at the funeral Not hiring beautiful girls to be nymphs

Courbet, Young Ladies on the Banks of the Seine, 1856-57 - Seems innocent to us, shocking at the time - Not really young ladies - On the banks of the river - Reclining on the ground - No mean around them, unaccompanied - Working or lower class - Skirts being lifted indicates that they’re prostitutes - Young ladies is a wink to us that they’re working women - Not particularly beautiful - Real women, real working girls of Paris - Growing frankness of sexual subjects - Coming to terms with the notion of sexual subjects at the time, not recognized or acknowledged Courbet, The Sleep, 1866 - Painting was commissioned by a private patron - Meant to tittilate - Showing sexuality, when first shown, police called - Painting wasn’t ceased, Courbet didn’t go to jail - No one knew what was happening- no word for lesbian yet - Lesbian erotica— no real acknowledgment that women had sexual desires too - Also scared to call it into being by naming it Courbet, The Origin of the World, 1866 - Wasn’t publicly shown till 1980s, 100 years later - Close up of vagina - Fake painting on top of it Nadar, Manet, No Date Nadar, Charles Baudelaire, 1865 - Manet and Monet Manet, Luncheon on the Grass, 1863 - Different from Courbet’s realism (very political- confronting realities and inequities of the system)

- Manet’s realism revolves around painting itself - Two clothed men in large park in Paris with two women, one is entirely nude, the other is bathing in the pond

- Real contemporary people - Typical garb of the day - Could be Manet’s brother and his friend, nude woman is Victorine Marrant, (Manet’s -

mistress), and woman in the back (Father’s mistress who Manet would marry to raise his illegitimate brother) Contemporary Parisians would see decadence Rich men in park doing things they’re not supposed to be doing Sent to the Salon (annual exposition run by French acadmey— trying to maintain its ownership of French art) Rejected by Salon Jury Refused over half of the submissions made Academy appeased with exhibition space = Salon des Réfuses (Exhibition of Refused Works, May 1863), people chose to come here rather than regular salon Not really painted on site, a studio painting The grouping comes from Raimondi, Judgement of Paris, 1515— Copying group on lower right Possibly copied Giorgione (and Titian) painting Yes Manet fits into definition of realism with his frankness of sexuality, but moves into a very different direction Self-consciousness of art as an artist She is not properly painted in an academic sense, too much flatness, not a lot of sense of the skin not supple almost painting her out Manet wants us to feel like he is painting something Manet wants us to know that he is constructed it Fruit forces to acknowledge that they’re painted Not correct painting of her skin- consciously making the figures stand out making her more modern looking Very much trying to be modern Baduelaire refers to Manet of painter of modern life Manet is the beginning of Modernism

! Modernism Manet, Olympia, 1863 - So much going on - All very interesting - Sex worker not on the street - Making more money - Black servants, white servants wouldn’t work for her - Higher level prostitute- cortizan

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Seen in bed naked, servant bringing flowers, scary black cat Un chat = cat, also a prostitute in slang Has mistress posing wearing mother’s jewelry - WEIRD Bracelet she’s wearing has his hair Undressed, not nude Shoes Taken her clothes off but left a few things on - jewelry and shoes One of things that shocks most people No one has ever seen this kind of female body in a painting Olympia has boyish figures Manet is denying the pleasure of a nude women - not voluptuous Painted her the same way he painted the sheets Line of hair down her stomach, often left out of portraits Gets this from Japanese prints - flatness Utamaro, Flirt, 1781-92 First sent to France as packing materials, then the artists kept them Appropriated from Titian portrait— Venus of Urbino, 1538 Direct appropriation Dog (fidelity or marriage), servant, marriage portrait 13 y/o, self stimulating or masturbating 16th century idea- women must know how to stimulate themselves so they can have children Olympia covers herself, not self stimulating, refusing you to see anything Slamming down of that hand Sense that she acknowledges to us that we’re looking at her Highly realist, highly modern We’re caught looking at something we’re not supposed to, covers herself Venus of Urbino seduces us, not Olympia 19th century nudes- Not interesting to Manet Photography- French postcards same pose Cabanel, Birth of Venus, 1865 — most often negatively compared to (academic painter), use of nude for Venus (a goddess) Manet is confronting and refusing the myth of the passive female nude Compare to Bougereau, A Young Girl Defending Herself Against Eros, 1880 Sensuous paint handler, not sensuous of how he’s portraying the women

French Impressionism (1860s-1880s) - More popular with audiences than artists Manet, The Boat (Claude Monet with Madame Monet Working On His Boat in Argenteuil), 1874 Renoir, Claude Monet Painting in His Garden in Argenteuil, 1873 - Meta painting = Painting about painting - Kind of branding and advertising - Both artists are telling us things about impressionism - Most important= foremost master (monet) paints outside - In the garden, in the houseboat - Prime years of impressionism - New model of art= painting outside - Becomes important to impressionism - painting outside - Advertising this fact Plein Air Painting — From the French Expression en plain air which means outside refers to practice of painting outdoors DEFINITION Monet, Women in the Garden, 1866 - 9 x 7 feet - Monet doing things other than impressionism - Painted outdoors w great difficulty — change of light - Also so large to be outdoors - Monet dug a ditch to lower the painting into - Flips it from top to bottom to cover different parts - Very chic— women’s clothing are more important than anything else in painting - Model is mistress camille, couldn’t afford to hire anyone else - Puts her in the latest fashion— Monet is aspiring to a certain kind of clientele, one that speaks to being fashionable - By the time he finishes this painting, dresses were out of date — has to repaint dresses so that they would be in style - More market based thinking that we don’t ascribe to artists Monet, Luncheon on the Grass, 1866 - Nod to Manet’s Luncheon on the Grass - Admired by Monet - Different kind of people, very fashionable upper middle class crowd picnic outdoors - Elaborate picnic - Many cakes and bottles of wine - Figure on far right (servant) hiding behind tree - out of sight, not supposed to be really be there, Monet chooses to include him because none of this could be possible wo him - Moscow, 8.5 feet

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Could have titled this 100 things, but he didn’t so obvious nod to Manet Bourgeois and proper in the way that Manet’s is not First version 12 x 18 feet, second version 8.5 x Rejected by Salon Had to move out of his apartment because he couldn’t afford, rolls painting up, gives it to landlord in place of rent Rotted in landlord’s basement Retrieved by Monet and he is only able to cut and save two sections Changing mode of production Plein air painting — relates to form of scientific realism, sense of which he’s trying to use light in a scientific way He’s trying to mimic effect of prismatic light on eye —> scientific realism Use of only prismatic colors If salon keeps rejecting him, what should he do? How could he make a living — goes after new clientele

Monet, The Frog Pong, 1869 La Grenouillère (30 x 40 inches) Renoir, The Frog Pond, 1869 La Grenouillère (26 x 32 inches) - Same time, same place - La Grenouillère was the name of a spa north of Paris on the river - Restaurant, boat rides, flower pot or little island, could have parties there - If we can’t sell this to the state or church, maybe we can sell it to private people the rich in Paris - Doesn’t need to be so big, can be smaller for homes - Not painting the countryside, he’s painting a spa where rich people go hoping to appeal to what they like/enjoy - Monet is changing the way art is produced and consumed - Has first exhibition in art gallery - which has never happened before - There are difference - Renoir uses a quicker brushstroke and more color (more shimmery) - Thought they were doing something scientifically realist - Mimicking effect of light on your eye - The way they believed your eye would look at a scene - Impressionism— DEFINITION Characteristics of Impressionism Characteristics of Subject Matter Artists petitioned to add a Salon des Refuses Renoir, Dance at the Moulin de la Galette, Montmartre, 1876 - Renoir less commercially oriented - More working class subjects

- Moulin de la Galette is a saloon/ night club for working class people in working class -

neighborhood Grainery to a bar w outdoor terrace Smaller brushstrokes and prettier colors Shadows of purple and blue Black, grey and white is gone Everything has a tint of color

Renoir, The Swing, 1876 - Upper middle class color in their Sunday’s Best - Fragonard, The Swing, 1766 - Pinks and blues and green Monet, Impression, Sunrise, 1872 - In first Impression Exhibition - Critic means to belittle Monet calling him an impressionist - But Monet views it as a badge of honor Monet, Boulevard des Capucines, 1873 - The New Paris in the 19th century - Old city taken down for new city, building and streets - Breadth and vividness of the city - Hiroshide, Sudden Rain Shows on Ohashi Bridge, 1857 - Influenced Monet— flatness and sharp angel - Detail on the left, closer you get more smudgey it gets - Not really black, mixed black —> when the black bleeds you see the blue Monet, The Frog Pond + Detail, 1869 - Working out of doors— forcing him to take short cuts - Back bone of impressionism = dobs and dabs Pissarro, The Red Roofs, 1874 - Kind of thickness of this painting - Wet paint on top of wet paint - When you don’t allow colors to dry, they create a grey — paints over it becomes a loss of clarity Anonymous, Crows, ca. 1850 Manet, Emile Zola, 1868 - Japanese print and reproduction of Ment’s Olympia - Japanese screen, total rage for Japanese things, love of Japan and their objects - Screen in background similar to one in painting - Prints had virtually no value, used as packing materials

- Porcelain wrapped in these prints, cheaper than plain paper - Then people started collecting them and they eventually became a thing Kesai Eisen, The Courtesan, 18th C Van Gogh, Pere Tanguy, 1888 - Figure in front of Japanese prints Degas, The Rehearsal Onstage, 1874 Degas, Ballet Dancer Saluting, 1877 - Invention of the camera changes everything - Very important - Best artists - What am I doing that the camera cannot do - Camera pushes art forward - Degas influenced and fascinated by photography - His best paintings look like snapshots - Distortion of space that we don’t expect to see in a Degas Degas, Photo of Dancer, 1889 Degas, Dancers in Blue, 1898 - Starts to use photography - Can’t get it to do what he wants - Photo to pastel - Posing for 15 minutes for one photo - Not capturing dancers in motion, still dancers - No electricity - Using candle light as lighting source - Captures pose Marville, Rue au Lard, 1860-70 Caillebotte, A Paris Street, Rain, 1877 - Cameras and photograph forces artists to see places differently - Not a model, but still is Le Gray, An Effect of Sun, Normandy, 1856 Monet, Impression, Sunrise, 1872 - We know that Monet would buy Carnets (portfolios of photos) - Almost like postcards - Inspired him where to go - Makes you want to go there - Makes him want to picture it the same way in oil paint

Le Gray, Tree, Forrest of Fontainebleau, 1857 Renoir, Tree on the Coast, 1883 - Choosing where to go from phtograph/ postcard Renoir, Seine at Argenteuil, 1874 Monet, Bridge at Argenteuil, 1874 - Village in the middle of nowhere - Great place to get away from it all - Then railroad bridge changes everything - Makes it possible for it to become a suburb - No longer the country, becomes a kind of weekend place - Many sailboats - recreational activity, upper middle class - Almost too many sailboats - Capturing leisure classes enjoying themselves, selling pictures of enjoying themselves to them - Industrial revolution - Upper middle class= people who have made their own money in industrial revolution able to buy leisure - Upper class= inherited, aristocracy, etc - Why is a sailboat beautiful — Monet turns it into a symbol of leisure - Train routes outside of Paris— makes whole kind of outside city life possible Monet, Railroad Bridge at Argenteuil, 1874 - Industry and progress meets leisure - Karl Marx could have painted this - Commentary on leisure and wealth in play Nadar, Place de l’Etoile, 1860 Daumier, Nadar Elevating Photography to the Heights of Art, 1862 - Chic always in the city Renoir, The Pont Neuf, 1872 Manet, Music in the Tuileries Gardens, 1862 - Not an impressionist but fascinated by them - Many people dancing - Paintings that women could never make Renoir, Luncheon of the Boating Party Degas, Racehorses at Longchamps, 1874-75 - First time in a major art historical movement that we have active participation by women - Women can’t come to these places alone only escorted by men (father or husband) - Improper - Two very important female impressionists

Berthe Morisot and Mary Cassat Manet, Le Repos (Portrait of Berthe Morisot), 1871 Manet, Berthe Morisot with a Bouquet of Violets, 1872 - French didn’t love impressionism like Americans did - Americans have more money than anything - Buying all these impressionist paintings - Trianed by Manet, posed for him in exchange for lessons - Marries his brother, but uses her name to avoid being a second Manet Morisot, The Mother and Sister of the Artist, 1869-70 - Inside: How could a woman be outside - Her sister and mother Morisot, Portrait of Edma Pontillon, 1871 Morisot, The Cradle, 1873 - Pregnant sister, very pregnant about to pop - Her baby in cradle - Irony of these paintings, having to hire models to be the mother because she was painting Morisot, The Butterfly Hunt, 1873 Morisot, In the Park, 1874 - Turns to backyard and park - Displaying family, children - Domestic life out of doors using tenets of impressionism - Constrained as to what she can do outdoors - Can’t be in public places as a woman Morisot, The Mirror, 1876 Morisot, The Summer’s Day, 1879 - Her own style - Different palette Degas, Mary Cassatt at the Louvre, 1880 Degas, Mary Cassatt, 1880-84 - Born in Pittsburgh, spent time in Philly - Couldn’t train as an artist in America - Extremely wealthy family, post civil war fortuned of east coast (Boston, Philly, New York) - Decides to stay in France - Returns to America during Franco Prussian War - Then decides to go back as an artist, father will pay bills, but not art bills - Eventually parents move to Paris as well - Last of impressionists, befriends Degas

Cassatt, Lydia in a Loge, 1879 - Her sister at an opera - Brushwork and color- conformed to impressionist ideals - Place women could go, pair of women - Would go with her sister - Very wealthy woman - Got her friends to collect Impressionist works as well - Manet, Bar at the Folies Bergerre, 1881-82 - Both using mirrors to their advantage Cassatt, Two Young Women in a Loge, 1882 - One is American, one is French - Capturing their youth Cassatt, In the Loge, 1879 - Women looking at things, not people looking at women - Cassatt changes this - Looking at stage with binoculars - Not there because she’s an object of desire, she’s there because she’s interested - Man looking at her as well - Hunter is the hunted Cassatt, Little Girl in a Blue Armchair, 1878 Cassatt, The Tea Table, 1880 - Homosocial world, women’s world= tea parties, home, tennis club - Men’s world= clubs, working etc - Extent of this is Cassatt’s world - But at the same time not really a women of leisure, worked everyday - Unmarried and worked everyday, no children - Ironic that her niche is women and children - As a woman this is what she should make - Commented very little about this Cassatt, Emmie and Her Child, 1890 Cassatt, Mother About to Washer Her Sleep Child, 1880 - Almost unnatural - All models, children separately from women - Women and somebody else’s children - Not her world or friends, a world she’s contrived because she can’t go to the park - Sticking to motherhood because thats what she should know— but she doesn’t - She’s a wealthy woman with no children, this is not her realm

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Cassatt, Mother and Child with Mirror, 1...