Late Ninteenth-Century Art

Time Period: 1848-1900

Movements: 
Realism (1848-1860)
Impressionism (1872-1880)
Post-Impressionism (1880-1890)
Symbolism (1890s)
Art Nouveau (1890s-1914)
  • Europe was shaken by revolutions in Sicily, Venice, Germany, Austria: sought to replace aristocracies with democracies. 
  • Explored themes about human evolution and social equality; new inventions such as telephones, motion pictures, bicycles; opened communication to a wider audience 
  • Artists used the past for inspiration, but rejected traditional subject matter; no more religious subjects, aristocratic portraits, mythological scenes or historical paintings. 
  • Modernism prevailed: peasant scenes, landscapes, and still lifes
  • The art gallery emerged; better than Salons; galleries carefully selected works of art
  • European artists were greatly influenced by Japanese art; particularly prints of genre scenes and landscapes; broke European conventions, but still sophisticated and elegant 
  • Japanese art enhances flatness; subjects appear at odd angles; Japonisme (affinity for Japanese art and culture) 
  • Painters worked in plein-air; artificial atmosphere inhibited artistic expression; artists moved out to capture the effects of atmosphere and light 
  • Printmakers; lithography; political criticism
Architecture: 

  • emphasis on the vertical 
  • architects conceived their buildings as works of art; covered them in traditional terra-cotta or ironwork 
  • Chicago buildings most influential. 
  • Buildings demanded open and wide window spaces for light and air; allowed passerbys to admire window displays
  • Invention of the elevator allowed these buildings' monumental heights
  • Cities defined by their skylines
Sculpture:
  • Hand modeled, mostly in clay; cast in bronze or cut in marble
  • Physical imprint of the hand is analagous to the visible brushstroke in Impressionist painting
Summary: 
  • Series of art movements, one quickly following upon another; each movement expresses a different philosophy
  • Realism relied on positivism; mythological/religious themes seemed outdated 
  • Impressionists painted in the outdoors, sought insp. from nature 
  • Post-Impressionists explored the structural foundation of images; laid the groundwork for much of modern art 
  • Symbolists drew upon personal visions and dreams 
  • Art Nouveau put an emphasis on shapes and curvilinear forms 
Vocabulary: 
  • Aquatint: print; achieves watercolor effect 
  • Drypoint: printmaking technique
  • Zoopraxiscope: device that projects sequences of photographs; gives illusion of movement
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