19c avant-garde 1

The Rise of the Avant-garde Courbet’s Stonebreakers, 1849: 

The Rise of the Avant-garde Courbet’s Stonebreakers, 1849

The status quo in mid-century: Thomas Couture’s Romans of Decadence won “Academy Award” for best picture in 1847: 

The status quo in mid-century: Thomas Couture’s Romans of Decadence won “Academy Award” for best picture in 1847

Couture quoted Roman poet Juvenal, (c. 55-140 AD) in the catalogue for the 1847 Salon: "Crueller than war, vice fell upon Rome and avenged the conquered world” …but even as the artist asserted moral righteousness, the painting functioned as “soft porn” for the 19th century viewers.
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Couture quoted Roman poet Juvenal, (c. 55-140 AD) in the catalogue for the 1847 Salon: "Crueller than war, vice fell upon Rome and avenged the conquered world” …but even as the artist asserted moral righteousness, the painting functioned as “soft porn” for the 19 th century viewers.

Salon audiences loved & expected: *Grand historical themes *Stories from the past that were intended to educate & elevate *Cinematic drama *A sense of moral righteousness *Images that reflected the popular taste for highly idealized “photographic” realism : 

Salon audiences loved & expected: * Grand historical themes *Stories from the past that were intended to educate & elevate *Cinematic drama *A sense of moral righteousness *Images that reflected the popular taste for highly idealized “photographic” realism

But not everybody was quite as indulgent as the fans of “soft-porn” Academic art. : 

But not everybody was quite as indulgent as the fans of “soft-porn” Academic art. Some chose to confront—and comment on—world affairs, rather than try to escape from them. Francisco de Goya, The Colossus or Panic , 1808-10

COMPONENTS of the AVANT GARDE: 

COMPONENTS of the AVANT GARDE *The Romantic quest for personal expression (Goya, Turner, etc.) *Social discontent & visionary politics (Dickens, Marx, etc.) *The sense that to be modern meant to be very much of one’s own time (Baudelaire)

Romanticism: 

Romanticism An artistic, literary & intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century & strengthened in reaction to the Industrial Revolution. In part, it was a revolt against aristocratic social & political norms of the Age of Enlightenment & a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature.

Caspar David Friedrich, Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog, 1818: 

Caspar David Friedrich, Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog , 1818 Romanticism validated strong emotion a a source of aesthetic expression, placing new emphasis on feelings such as terror & awe—especially the awe experienced in confronting untamed nature & its picturesque qualities.

Joseph William Mallard Turner, Snow Storm, 1842: 

Joseph William Mallard Turner, Snow Storm , 1842

Joseph William Mallard Turner, Rain, Steam, Speed, 1844: 

Joseph William Mallard Turner, Rain, Steam, Speed , 1844

JWM Turner, Slave Ship, 1840: 

JWM Turner, Slave Ship, 1840 11

THÉODORE GÉRICAULT, Raft of the Medusa, 1818–1819. 16’ x 23’. : 

12 THÉODORE GÉRICAULT, Raft of the Medusa, 1818–1819. 16’ x 23’.

Gericault, Study of Truncated Limbs, 1818-19: 

Gericault, Study of Truncated Limbs, 1818-19 13

EUGÈNE DELACROIX, Death of Sardanapalus, 1826.12’ x 16’: 

14 EUGÈNE DELACROIX, Death of Sardanapalus , 1826.12’ x 16’

EUGÈNE DELACROIX, Liberty Leading the People, 1830. 8’ 6” x 10’ 8” (1830: another wave of the French Revolution): 

15 EUGÈNE DELACROIX, Liberty Leading the People , 1830. 8’ 6” x 10’ 8” (1830: another wave of the French Revolution)

HENRY FUSELI, The Nightmare, 1781. Oil on canvas, 3’ 4” x 4’ 2”. The Detroit Institute of the Arts: 

16 HENRY FUSELI, The Nightmare , 1781. Oil on canvas, 3’ 4” x 4’ 2”. The Detroit Institute of the Arts

WILLIAM BLAKE, Ancient of Days, frontispiece of Europe: A Prophecy, 1794. Metal relief etching, hand colored, 9 1/2” x 6 3/4”. : 

17 WILLIAM BLAKE, Ancient of Days , frontispiece of Europe: A Prophecy , 1794. Metal relief etching, hand colored, 9 1/2” x 6 3/4”.

FRANCISCO GOYA The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters, from Los Caprichos, 1798. Etching & aquatint, 8 1/2” x 6” : 

18 FRANCISCO GOYA The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters , from Los Caprichos , 1798. Etching & aquatint, 8 1/2” x 6”

FRANCISCO GOYA, The Family of Charles IV, 1800. Oil on canvas, approx. 9’ 2” x 11’. Museo del Prado, Madrid. : 

19 FRANCISCO GOYA, The Family of Charles IV , 1800. Oil on canvas, approx. 9’ 2” x 11’. Museo del Prado, Madrid.

FRANCISCO GOYA, The Third of May 1808, 1814. Oil on canvas, approx. 8’ 8” x 11’ 3”. Museo del Prado, Madrid. : 

20 FRANCISCO GOYA, The Third of May 1808 , 1814. Oil on canvas, approx. 8’ 8” x 11’ 3”. Museo del Prado, Madrid.

Two views of Napoleonic warfare.: 

21 Two views of Napoleonic warfare.

FRANCISCO GOYA Saturn Devouring His Children, 1819–1823. Detail of detached fresco on canvas, approx. 4’ 9” x 2’ 8”. Museo del Prado, Madrid. : 

22 FRANCISCO GOYA Saturn Devouring His Children , 1819–1823. Detail of detached fresco on canvas, approx. 4’ 9” x 2’ 8”. Museo del Prado, Madrid.

Several 19th century writers protested social inequities: 

Several 19 th century writers protested social inequities Charles Dickens (1812-1870): a writer who protested the abuses of power in 19 th century England. Karl Marx (1818-1883): a theorist who urged workers to rise up & overthrow the abusive system.

PowerPoint Presentation: 

Emile Zola (1840-1902) protested anti-Semitism in the French military (The Dreyfus Affair, 1894-99) & championed the anti-academy painters. Shown here in a 1868 portrait by Edouard Manet.

PowerPoint Presentation: 

Some 19 th century intellectuals felt that culture should be OF ITS OWN TIME Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867)

Baudelaire, The Eyes of the Poor, 1864: 

Baudelaire, The Eyes of the Poor, 1864 “In the evening, a bit tired, we wanted to sit down in front of a new café that formed the corner of a new boulevard, still strewn with debris and already gloriously displaying its unfinished splendors. The café was sparkling. The gaslight itself sent forth all the ardor of a debut and lit with all its force walls blinding in their whiteness, dazzling sheets of mirrors, the gold of the rods and cornices, chubby-cheeked page-boys being dragged by dogs on leashes, laughing ladies with falcons perched on their wrist, nymphs and goddesses carrying on their heads fruits, pies, and poultry, Hebes and Ganymedes presenting in out-stretched arms little amphoras filled with Bavarian cream or bi-colored obelisks of ice cream—all of history and all of mythology at the service of gluttony. Right in front of us, on the sidewalk, a worthy man in his forties was standing, with a tired face, a greying beard, and holding with one hand a little boy and carrying on the other arm a little being too weak to walk. He was playing the role of nanny and had taken his children out for a walk in the night air. All in rags. The three faces were extraordinarily serious, and the six eyes contemplated fixedly the new café with an equal admiration, but shaded differently according to their age.

Baudelaire, The Eyes of the Poor, 2: 

Baudelaire, The Eyes of the Poor, 2 “The father’s eyes said: “How beautiful it is!  How beautiful it is!  You’d think all the gold in this poor world was on its walls.” The eyes of the little boy: “How beautiful it is!  How beautiful it is!  But it’s a house only people who aren’t like us can enter.” As for the eyes of the smaller child, they were too fascinated to express anything other than a stupid and profound joy. Song-writers say that pleasure makes the soul good and softens the heart. The song was right this evening, as regards me. Not only was I moved by this family of eyes, but I also felt a little ashamed of our glasses and our carafes, which were larger than our thirst. I turned my gaze toward yours, dear love, to read my thoughts there; I plunged into your so beautiful and so bizarrely gentle eyes, into your green eyes, inhabited by Caprice and inspired by the Moon, and then you said to me: “I can’t stand those people over there, with their eyes wide open like carriage gates! Can’t you tell the head-waiter to send them away?” So difficult is it to understand one another, my dear angel, and so incommunicable is thought, even between people in love!”

Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du mal (1857) expresses the changing nature of beauty in modern, industrializing Paris: 

Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du mal (1857) expresses the changing nature of beauty in modern, industrializing Paris

Gustave Courbet, Portrait of Baudelaire, 1848-49: 

Gustave Courbet, Portrait of Baudelaire , 1848-49

PowerPoint Presentation: 

“Let us unite. To achieve our one single goal, a separate task will fall to each of us. We, the artists, will serve as the avant-garde : for amongst all the arms at our disposal, the power of the Arts is the swiftest and most expeditious. “When we wish to spread new ideas amongst men, we use in turn the lyre, ode or song, story or novel; we inscribe those ideas on marble or canvas…We aim for the heart and imagination, and hence our effect is the most vivid and the most decisive.” Henri de Saint Simon (1760-1825) Literary, Philosophical & Industrial Opinions

REALISM The problems of the real world provided a compelling contrast to the fantasy world imagined by the Academic artists. Like British author Charles Dickens, some 19th century artists chose to portray what was actually going on in Europe during the Industrial Revolution. Realist artist Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) was called the “Painter of Unwanted Facts.”: 

REALISM The problems of the real world provided a compelling contrast to the fantasy world imagined by the Academic artists. Like British author Charles Dickens, some 19 th century artists chose to portray what was actually going on in Europe during the Industrial Revolution. Realist artist Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) was called the “Painter of Unwanted Facts.”

Courbet’s Stonebreakers (1849) portrayed the poor & oppressed.: 

Courbet’s Stonebreakers (1849) portrayed the poor & oppressed.

Courbet’s Stonebreakers Represented the impoverished working class Focused on the people who broke stones to make smoother roads for the wealthy to ride on For the first time, unsentimental & insignificant lives were painted on a grand scale It was considered a pictorial assault on the viewing public : 

Courbet’s Stonebreakers Represented the impoverished working class Focused on the people who broke stones to make smoother roads for the wealthy to ride on For the first time, unsentimental & insignificant lives were painted on a grand scale It was considered a pictorial assault on the viewing public

Like American photographer Lewis Hine, Courbet portrayed the suffering of children & the poor. : 

Like American photographer Lewis Hine, Courbet portrayed the suffering of children & the poor.

Courbet, Burial at Ornans, 1849-50 To a public used to academic idealization, his burial of a common person in a rural French village did not seem like an appropriate subject for art. Critics said it signaled the “death of painting”!: 

Courbet, Burial at Ornans, 1849-50 To a public used to academic idealization, his burial of a common person in a rural French village did not seem like an appropriate subject for art. Critics said it signaled the “death of painting”!

Daumier, Rue Transnonain, 1834. Lithograph, approx. 1’ x 1’ 5 1/2”. Painter-printmaker HONORÉ DAUMIER also produced realist images that portrayed current events, such as this depiction of the victims of military crimes. : 

36 Daumier, Rue Transnonain , 1834. Lithograph, approx. 1’ x 1’ 5 1/2”. Painter-printmaker HONORÉ DAUMIER also produced realist images that portrayed current events, such as this depiction of the victims of military crimes.

Daumier did this parody of early French photographer Nadar in his hot air balloon. HONORÉ DAUMIER, Nadar Raising Photography to the Height of Art, 1862. Lithograph. : 

37 Daumier did this parody of early French photographer Nadar in his hot air balloon. HONORÉ DAUMIER, Nadar Raising Photography to the Height of Art , 1862. Lithograph.

He also created this compelling image of working class people on a train. HONORÉ DAUMIER, The Third-Class Carriage, ca. 1862. Oil on canvas, 2’ 1 3/4” x 2’ 11 1/2”. : 

38 He also created this compelling image of working class people on a train. HONORÉ DAUMIER, The Third-Class Carriage , ca. 1862. Oil on canvas, 2’ 1 3/4” x 2’ 11 1/2”.

Edouard Manet (1832-1883): 

Edouard Manet (1832-1883)

Manet portrayed by Henri Fantin-Latour Both artists studied with Thomas Couture.: 

Manet portrayed by Henri Fantin-Latour Both artists studied with Thomas Couture.

PowerPoint Presentation: 

Edouard Manet Luncheon on the Grass ( Le déjeuner sur l'herbe ) 1863 Another realist image of everyday people & events

Engraving of Raphael painting of Roman gods.: 

Engraving of Raphael painting of Roman gods.

PowerPoint Presentation: 

Manet, Le déjeuner sur l'herbe , 1863 & the Raphael inspiration

Even more offensive was Manet’s Olympia (1863): A prostitute in a room of a notorious whore house.: 

Even more offensive was Manet’s Olympia (1863): A prostitute in a room of a notorious whore house.

Manet based his painting on Titian’s Venus of Urbino (1538), a well-known classic from the Italian Renaissance.: 

Manet based his painting on Titian’s Venus of Urbino (1538), a well-known classic from the Italian Renaissance.

Both of these paintings were shown in the Salon of 1863. Cabanel’s Birth of Venus won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Napoleon III immediately bought it for his own collection. : 

Both of these paintings were shown in the Salon of 1863 . Cabanel’s Birth of Venus won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Napoleon III immediately bought it for his own collection. In contrast, Napoleon declared Manet’s Dejeuner (at the nearby Salon des Refuses) “an offense against decency” and closed the exhibition—which meant artists refused by the Salon no longer had a venue for 20 years.

Manet, The Bar at the Folies Bergere, 1882: 

Manet, The Bar at the Folies Bergere , 1882 Manet asked the public to relinquish their expectations of what art was supposed to portray. Instead of grand historic tales or exotic sexual fantasies, he portrayed common subjects of the modern world. To add insult to injury, he focused on a woman of questionable moral standing, working in a lower class bar. While 19th century viewers were outraged, today we see a beautiful image…What was avant-garde then is not avant-garde today.

PowerPoint Presentation: 

Edouard Manet Portrait of Emile Zola 1868 Note the reproductions behind the writer: Japanese ukiyo-e woodcut, engraving of Velazquez’s Los Borachos & photograph (?) of Manet’s Olympia .

Manet inspired a whole generation of artists.: 

Manet inspired a whole generation of artists.

1870 parody of the previous painting: 

1870 parody of the previous painting

Claude Monet (1840-1926): 

Claude Monet (1840-1926) Studied with Manet Left his studio to paint outdoors (plein air) Focused on light & color & how the human eye perceives them