7/25/16 Art History II

Today's Class- We continued our look at the 19th century, in which art bridged from the traditions of the past to radical ideas of modernism.  Romantic landscape painting could carry a wide variety of emotional states.  Advances in technology fueled colonialism and imperialism, and affected art directly by introducing photography and manufactured paints.  Just as the church and kings were having less power over the everyday lives of people, they were losing their control of art.  For the first time, artists were making a lot of the decisions about their art, and finding new ways to exhibit it and sell it.  Perhaps the biggest change was the beginning of artists making decisions based on artistic and formal qualities, and not on economic factors.

Important terms- abstract, daguerreotype, en plein air, Orientalism, sublime, ukiyo-e

Important works- The Hay Wain (Constable), The Birth of Venus (Cabanel), The Snake Charmer (Gerome), The Stone Breakers (Courbet), Le Dejeuner Sur L'Herbe (Manet), Olympia (Manet), A Bar at the Folies-Bergere (Manet), The Gross Clinic (Eakins), Impression: Sunrise (Monet), Moulin De La Galette (Renoir), The Tub (Degas), Mother and Child (Cassatt), Paris Street, Rainy Day (Caillebotte), Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (Seurat), Japonaiserie: Flowering Plum Tree (Van Gogh)

Homework- various written assignments due later this week

Next class- we finish our look at the 19th century.