Romanticism. Introduction.
As many got tired of regularity and rationality of Classicism, people of art started to try to find a way to express their emotions and attitudes through methods more free from canons. They found such possibility in Romanticism. Romanticism replaces the Age of Enlightenment, and coincided with the industrial revolution, that was marked by the advent of the steam engine, locomotive, ship, photos, and factory suburbs. While education was characterized by the cult of reason, and was based on its principles of civilization, romanticism advocated the cult of nature, senses and all the natural in man. It was during the era of romanticism that people started being drawn towards tourism, mountaineering and picnics, that were designed to restore the unity of man and nature. Taking its start from German literature, very soon the emerging beautiful movement spread to other arts and to other countries. Although Romanticism was not the most significant period for visual arts, still it had some very bright representatives, worth mentioning.
Background and overview
Romanticism - is an ideological and artistic movement that emerged in the European and American culture of the late 18th century and stayed until the first half of the 19th century as a reaction to classical aesthetics. Originally formed in 1790s in philosophy and poetry in Germany, and later in 1820-ies the movement was spread to England, France and other countries. Romanticism predestined latest development of art, even those of its movements that were opposed to it.
The new criteria became freedom of expression, attention to individual unique features of the human naturalness, sincerity and looseness, which replaced the imitation of classic designs of the 18th century. Romantics rejected rationalism and empiricism of the Enlightenment as something mechanistic, impersonal and artificial. Instead, they put at the forefront the emotional expression and inspiration.
Feeling free from decaying aristocratic system of government they wanted to express their new views, present truths that were opened to them. Their place in society changed. They found their readers among the growing middle class, ready to support emotionally and even bow to the artist - a genius and a prophet. Modesty and humility were rejected. They were replaced by strong emotions, often reaching to the extremes.
The young people that had the opportunity to learn and read a lot (aided by the rapid development of printing) were especially influenced by the romanticism. It was inspired by the individual development and self-improvement, idealization of personal freedom in the outlook combined with the rejection of rationalism. Personal development was placed above the vanity and standards of the already fading aristocratic society. Romanticism of the educated youth changed status of the society in Europe, becoming the beginning of the emergence of an educated "middle class" in Europe.
Some romantics turned to the mysterious, enigmatic, even terrible, folk legends, fairy tales. Romanticism was partly related to the democratic, national and revolutionary movements, although the "classical" culture of the French Revolution actually slowed the arrival of Romanticism in France. At this time, there are several literary movements, the most important of which - the "Sturm und Drang" in Germany, primitivism in France, headed by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the Gothic novel, rising interest to the sublime, ballads and old romances (from which the term "Romanticism" derives). The inspiration for the German writers, theorists of Jena school (Schlegel brothers, Novalis and others who have declared themselves romantics), was transcendental philosophy of Kant and Fichte, which focuses on the creative possibilities of the mind. These new ideas have penetrated through Coleridge in England and France, and identified the development of American transcendentalism.
Thus, Romanticism began as a literary trend, but it has had a significant impact on the music and less on the painting. In literature, the romantic activity was high and effective. It was just as significant in music of the time: vocal, instrumental music, musical theater (opera and ballet) of romanticism make up the basis of theatrical repertoire even today. In the visual arts, Romanticism is most clearly manifested in painting and graphics, less - in architecture. However, in the visual and spatial arts, romanticism proved less bright both by the number of created works and by their level. Romantic painting comes to the level of masterpieces in Germany and France (with certain exceptional romantic artists in other countries: Turner, Goya), the rest of Europe is lagging behind. The architecture of romanticism is usually not discussed. Some originality here shows only in the art of gardening, when romantics were developing the idea of the English landscape, or natural, park. In the 18th century, the favorite motifs of the artists were mountain scenery and picturesque ruins. Its main features - the dynamic composition, volumetric spatiality, volume of color, light and shade (for example, the works of Turner, Gericault and Delacroix).
Romanticism in art
The depth of their own personal experiences and thoughts - is what is passed through the image of an artist, which is achieved with the help of color, composition and focus. Different European countries had their own peculiar interpretation of a romantic image. All this is connected with the philosophical currents, as well as the socio-political situation, to which the only living response was art. Painting was no exception.
Germany at that time was fragmented into small duchy and suffered severe public shocks. Painters did not portray titans-heroes and did not make monumental canvases, in this case the enthusiasm aroused deep spiritual world of a man, its moral quest, its grandeur and beauty. Therefore, Romanticism in German paintings is mostly presented through landscapes and portraits.
Paintings and drawings by German romanticism for the most part tend toward sentimentalism. And while the German romantic literature really forms a whole epoch, it would be overestimation to say the same thing about its visual arts. As it was mentioned earlier, in literature there was "Sturm und Drang", and in the visual arts - the idealization of the patriarchal family life. In this sense, art of Ludwig Richter is significant; "Forest Spring near Ariccia," "Wedding procession in the spring", etc. He owns numerous drawings on the theme of fairy tales and folk songs, made in a rather dry manner.
There is a massive figure in German Romanticism, which cannot be circumvented. It is Caspar David Friedrich. He was a landscape painter; he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. His original style of landscape paintings is remembered from the first sight, it is felt through his landscapes that these works are attributed to a romanticism painter: they consistently express the specific character of a romantic disposition.
He painted landscapes of southern Germany and the Baltic Sea coast, forested wild cliffs, desert dunes, frozen sea. People are sometimes present in his paintings, but we rarely see their faces: the figures tend to be turned back to the viewer. Frederick sought to convey the elemental power of nature. A clear rhythm of the composition, the severity of the picture are connected in his work with contrasts of light and shade, rich lighting effects. However, sometimes in his emotionality Friedrich comes to the aching longing, the transience of all earthly sensations, and numbness to the mystical trance. Today we are experiencing a surge of interest in the works of Friedrich. His most successful works – “The wreck of Hope”, “Monastery cemetery in the snow”, “Sunset”, and others. His painting "Wanderer above the Sea of Fog" can justifiably be called a symbol of the Romantic period in Europe.
Works of another German Romantic painter - Otto Runge are traditional models of the genre. The portraits of the artist, through the processing of facial features and eyes, through the contrast of shadow and light is passed to the zeal of the artist demonstrate the contradictory personality, its depth and strength of feeling. Due to the landscape, the exaggerated and to the lesser degree breathtaking images of trees, birds and flowers, Otto Runge also tried to open the diversity of the human person, its similarity with nature and various unidentified.
The most consistent romanticism art school has developed in France, with its persistent struggle against dogmatism and abstract rationalism in the official art in the spirit of academic classicism. Stormy public life, as well as the revolutionary upheavals manifested in painters tending towards the image of mind-blowing and historical subjects, as well, with "nervous" excitation and pathos, which achieved dazzling color contrast, some randomness, the expression of movement, as well as natural compositions.
The founder of the French romantic school of painting was Teodor Zheriko. He studied from masters of classicism, but preserved the classicism of the attraction to the heroes of generalized images. Zheriko first expressed in the painting a sense of conflict of the world, the pursuit to expressive contemporary demonstration of significant events.
In the work of Teodor Zheriko romantic ideas are presented most clearly. The painter created a throbbing depth of emotions, using professional light and color, portrayed the lofty impulse for freedom and struggle. One of the major works of Zheriko is the painting “The Raft of the Medusa”. In it, he portrays the real facts, but with such a force of generalization that contemporaries saw it as not an image of a particular shipwreck, but of the whole Europe, located in despair, while only a few, the most persistent people continue to struggle for survival. The artist reveals a complex range of human emotions - from despair to gloomy expectations of rapid explosion. The dynamics of the canvas is determined by the diagonal composition, spectacular stucco volumes, contrasting extremes of light and shade.
Its reflection, the epoch of Romanticism, found in the canvases of painters, denouncing inner fears, impulses, love and hate in clear contrasts of light, shadows and halftones. Whitewashed bodies of Henry Fuseli along with the phantasmagoria of imaginary monsters, naked female bodies of Eugene Delacroix on the background of gloomy rubble and smoke, pictures painted by the magical brush of the Spanish artist Goya, freshness of the clam and the somberness of the storm of Ivan Aivazovsky – pulled out from the depth of Gothic and Renaissance to the surface something that was previously so well hidden by the conventional canons.
Starting from 1820s, Eugene Delacroix becomes the head of romantic painters. He was strongly influenced by Teodor Zheriko, with whom he was friendly from student years. He studied paintings of old masters, such as Rubens, for example. As a true romanticist, he traveled a lot both in Europe and to exotic countries. Delacroix had a passionate temperament, powerful creative fantasy and insanely high workability. From the very beginning of his career, Delacroix firmly followed the Romantics.
In 1830, under the influence of revolution, Delacroix creates one of his most famous works – a large canvas called “Liberty leading the people”. Over the realistic figures of the revolutionaries, poor and predominantly young people, inspired by the struggle, there is a gorgeous woman hovering over the crowd. In her hands, she holds a flag. This is not just an allegory of freedom in the spirit of classicism, it is - a high symbol of the revolutionary impulse. However, one cannot turn away from the vibrant, sensual female figure - as it is attractive. The painting turned out difficult, charming and dynamic.
William Turner and Francisco Goya were exceptionally bright representatives of Romanticism from England and Spain, who in many ways influenced the future of the visual arts.
Turner – a landscapist of a completely new cast. His style is pure Romanticism. His innovative style has become evident as early as the 1800s. Turner had Romanticism both in his technique and in the subject. On the paintings of Turner, movement is always present - for example, an anxious sea, ships, sunrises, sunsets, mists and fumes. He transmitted all the effects with unprecedented freedom and courage, transforming the landscape into a glowing vortex of colors.
Turner did not simply paint the nature and researched its color effects. With his inimitable technique, he transmitted emotion and mood. For example, the painting “Last journey of the Fighting Temeraire” artist depicts an old ship that ought in the Battle of Trafalgar, and which now will be dragged in the dock for dismantling. This is not just a sea landscape, but also an elegy for a bygone era.
One of the latest works of William Turner is called “Rain, Steam and Speed”. The painting depicts a train, racing along the Thames. Under the Turner’s brush, this sign of modernity and technological progress turns into some elusive mirage – perhaps a symbol pf the transience of human life.
Another bright representative of the art movement lived in Spain. Francisco Goya – an artist and printmaker was one of the first and most prominent visual artists of Romanticism. Goya stood out from the rest due to his bold artistic innovation compared to the supporters of academism. He had permanent interest in grotesque, and created etchings that ridiculed the social and religious orders in the society.
His works were influenced by the anti-feudal movement in Spain and the events of the French Revolution. In his works, we find deep philosophical generalizations and depth of analysis of the spiritual nature of man. These trends are observed in the “Self-Portrait”, “Family of Charles IV”, which impresses with its merciless realism.
The main discovery of Goya in the field of color are his findings of the shimmering color palette (“Mahi on balcony”). Of great importance is Goya’s cycle of etchings “Caprichos”, which were a kind of mirror of Spanish life in the XVIII century, the image of its vices and virtues, wicked satire, sarcasm, fantastic and grotesque vision of the world, that is the greatest contribution of Goya in the art of etching.
While paintings of the XIII and XIV centuries was stingy with emotions, and in the subsequent tercentenary of formation of art of the Early and High Renaissance, with its overcoming religion and blind faith in the other, or the Enlightenment period that put an end to the "witch hunt", the artistic reflection on the paintings of Romanticism allowed to look inside the world that is different from the real one.
Biedermeier
One of the offshoots of Romanticism in painting is a style of Biedermeier. The main feature of Biedermeier - idealism. The painting seeks to find features idyllic appeal in the world of a small man. This trend has its roots in the peculiarities of the national German way of life, especially the burghers.
One of the most important representatives of the Biedermeier painting, Carl Spitzweg, wrote eccentric inhabitants, as they were called in Germany, the Philistines, as he was himself.
Gradually, the concept of "Biedermeier" spread to fashion, arts, graphics, interior design, furniture. In crafts, most development was in painting porcelain and glass. By 1900, the word was also refer to “the good old days”.
Conclusion.
Romanticism was a break from the canonic traditions. It was a short flight from the classical to the following art forms. It gave the artists a breather before creating monumental trends in art, such as for example Impressionism, which to some extent was born under the influence of Turner’s seascapes. Years and years of Classicism and academism in art, despite their undeniable perfection, got artists tired. Romanticism was an important step in the development of art, for the stagnation inevitably leads to destruction.
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