Art History

1. 19th
Century Art
Joyce Teoh Mei Kuan | Diploma in Film & TV
19th
Century Art
Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism and Post Impressionism
The nineteenth century was a rather busy time in the world. It saw the rise of the British Imperial Empire; the newly formed
United States was just one of the British settlements that began developing in this century, with many others springing up on
other continents. Invention and discovery swelled as the by-products of the previous century’s age of enlightenment, and
resulted in the urbanization that took place. With everything that was going on in the world, it make sense that so many
different types of art were gaining momentum.
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement
that originated in Europe toward the end of the 18th
century and
in most areas was at its peak in the approximate period from
1800 to 1850. The art from the Romanticism movement was
based on emotion rather than rationale, and it emphasis on the
individual rather than on society. These works are characterized
by a brighter use of color and expressive brushstroke, and were
meant to evoke emotion. It was embodied most strongly in the
visual arts, music, and literature, but had a major impact on
historiography, education, and the natural sciences.
The Kiss, 1859
Francesco Hayez
Collision of Moorish Horsemen, 1843
Eugene Delacroix
.
Realism (or naturalism)
Realism in the arts in the attempt to represent subject matter
truthfully, without artificiality and avoiding artistic
conventions, implausible, exotic and supernatural elements.
The realism art movement in painting began in France in the
1850s. The realist painters rejected Romanism, which had
dominated French literature and art since the late 18th
century. Its chief exponents were Gustave Courbet, Jean-
Francois Millet, Honore Daumier, and Jean-Baptist-Camille
Corot. Realists often use un-prettified detail depicting the
existence of ordinary contemporary life, coinciding in the
contemporaneous naturalist literature of Emile Zola, Honore
de Balzac, and Gustave Flaubert.
Stone-Breakers, 1849
Gustave Courbet
The Gleaners, 1857
Jean-Francois Millet
The Chess Players, 1863
Honore Daumier
Young Girl Reading, 1868
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot
.
Impressionism
It is an art movement that originated with a group of Paris-
based artists. Their independent exhibitions brought them to
prominence during the 1870s and 1880s, in spite of harsh
opposition from the conventional art community in France.
The name of the style derives from the title of a Claude
Monet work, Impression, Sunrise which provoked the critic
Louis Leroy to coin the term in a satirical review published in
the Parisian newspaper Le Charivari. Paris Street, Rainy Day, 1877
Gustave Caillebotte
Impression, Sunrise
Claude Monet
.
Post-Impressionism
It is the term coined by the British artist and art critic Roger Fry in 1910 to
describe the development of French art since Manet. Post-impressionists
extended Impressionism while rejecting its limitations: they continued
using vivid colors, often thick application of paint, and real-life subject
matter, but they were more inclined to emphasize geometric forms, to
distort form for expressive effect, and to use unnatural or arbitrary
colors.
Starry Night, 1889
Vincent van Gogh
Boys on the Rock,
1895
Henri Rousseau