Romanticism and the Arts Preserving the Savage
Romantic Art ► The slogan of the Age of Reason was “I think therefore I am.” ► For the Romantics it became “I feel therefore I am.” ► The Romantic artist had to rise above the boundaries of logical thought and reason ► Power of the sublime ► Gothic Novels and the work of, besides Rousseau, Walter Scott, Edgar Allan Poe, Victor Hugo, and James Fennimore Cooper- Back to Nature ► New idea that an artistic work was not a self-contained whole, but something that shared many relationships internally and externally with other works of art The music and art reflected the literature and poetry as the literature and poetry reflected the music and art. Called upon to build dream castles from the works of Gothic literature
Variations of the Romantic Spirit ► No one single tendency ► Variety of aesthetic approaches ► Romantic realism looked at current events Eugène Delacroix Eugène Delacroix Eugène Delacroix ► Medieval Revival- James Wyatt’s Fonthill Abbey Fonthill AbbeyFonthill Abbey ► Nationalism and Individualism- People are primarily individual human beings and secondarily citizens of a society- Lord Byron Lord ByronLord Byron ► Exoticism- Colonization exposed the west to foreign cultures which excited the passions of artists- Black Woman and Turkish Bath Black Woman and Turkish BathBlack Woman and Turkish Bath ► Landscape Painting- romantic deification of nature
Back to Nature ► Saw nature as a source of inspiration and a mirror of their own sensibilities ► Nature as awe-inspiring- Wanderer Wanderer ► Sense of preservation before it is all lost ► The Hudson River School Highly moral imperative that they celebrate the beauty and purity of the American wilderness Thomas Cole and the Cyclical Nature of History Cyclical Nature of HistoryCyclical Nature of History
Music ► Hybrid forms- program symphony and the symphonic poem ► Musical dramatization of a play- opera ► Purely instrumental form on the spirit of a poem ► Sequential arrangements of episodes taken from a novel- Berlioz did Scott’s Waverly and Rob Roy ► Mendelssohn wrote Songs Without Words ► Berlioz’ Fantastic Symphony became an opera with no words Fantastic Symphony Fantastic Symphony
Symphonie Fatastique- “March to the Scaffold”- Back to Slides Back to Slides Back to Slides
Liberty leading the People Back to Slides Back to Slides Back to Slides ► July , to commemorate the July Revolution that had just brought Louis-Philippe to the French throne. This painting, which is a political poster, celebrates the day July when France overthrew the Bourbon king. Liberty is not a woman; she is an abstract force.
Fonthill Abbey- Architect James Wyatt
Watercolor of Fonthill interior by Wyatt Back to Slides Back to Slides Back to Slides
Thomas Phillips’ Lord Byron in Albanian Costume Back to Slides Back to Slides Back to Slides
Marie Guillemine Benoist’s Portrait of a Black Woman
Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres’ Turkish Bath Back to Slides Back to Slides Back to Slides
Caspar David Friedrich’s Wanderer Above the Mist Back to Slides Back to Slides Back to Slides
Essay on Cole’s Course of Empire Back to Slides Back to Slides Back to Slides
Savage State
Pastoral State
Consummation
Destruction
Desolation Back to Slides Back to Slides Back to Slides