Art history Critique Essay

Romanticism began in Germany and England in the early 19th century and spread throughout Europe by the 1820. The Romantic Movement was caused by the sudden social changes that occurred during the French Revolution as a revolt against Neo- classicism and its emphasis on order, harmony and balance. (Britannica Online Encyclopedia) The movement began as an artistic movement that rejected the traditional values of social structure and religion and encouraged individualism. Romantic artists valued imagination over reason and beauty.

They loved nature and ere dedicated to examining personality and moods. Their paintings represented celebration of the heroic struggle of common people. Some of the well-known Romantic artists are John Constable, Thomas Cole, Francisco De Soya and Henry Fusels. (The Art World, n. D. ) Some of the characteristics of paintings of this period are their focus on heroic subjects, use of intense colors, loose brush strokes and dense texture of the painting. With the Industrial Revolution came new technology and machine power that changed the social condition.

People had to move away from mom to crowded cities to find Jobs and work long hours. Romantic artists painted to get away from the cruel struggle of common people and for yearning for idealized rural pastoral life. AY. Realest: (1850- 1880) The Realist artists in France revolted against romantic ideals of distorted beauty and imagination. Realists believed in objective reality, seeking to represent the truth and accuracy of ordinary world. They wanted to show the natural truth of their subject and chose from everyday life around them, often painting images of the poor working class and displaying human misery and poverty.

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Paintings of realism often carried a moral or social message portraying the drudgery of everyday life. Some of the artists who represent realism period are Gustavo Courier, Jean-Francis Millet, Eduardo Meant (The Art World, n. D. ) and also American artists who studied in France, Thomas Skins and Henry Tanner and characterized by accurate portrayal of ordinary working people without personal bias or interpretation. Social condition that contributed to this art movement was France Revolution that began during the 1848 and lasted until 1880 which was a consequence of the industrial revolution.

With the implementation of machine power, factory owners grew wealthy while the common workers labored long hours for low pay. Anger and resentment fueled strikes and revolts. AY. Analysis During the middle of the sass, Romanticism began to show signs of being extreme partly because of the fact that most art works were becoming increasingly opulent. Art lovers and enthusiasts who were accustomed to this form of art began to find it rather dull. Therefore, there was a need to introduce another form of art that was different from romanticism. People wanted to see the world in realistic point of view. Gnocchi, n. . ) This is how Realism was introduced. European nations were engaged in wars, for example Russia had dominated Poland. People who had been crushed had a need to express a sense of patriotism and devotion to their traditions. Artists used their paintings to express the importance of their own culture. Revolution was also an element in paintings of the romantic era, but Realism focuses on practical subjects. AAA. Similarities or Differences Both movements were reactions to social conditions resulted by the industrial revolution.

The industrial revolution caused the building of large factories and the wieners got wealthy while the lower working classes labored long hours for low pay. Workers' attempts to fight for better pay were often suppressed. Anger and resentment at capitalism often resulted in strikes and revolts. Romanticism and realism were two competing styles of artistic and practice. Romanticism emphasized heroic achievement and the power of the emotions whereas realism focused on individuals, work and social Justice portraying the actual living conditions of common working people, and often used gloomy color in their paintings.

Romantic painting is nearly characterized by an imaginative and a dreamlike quality and strives to express feeling intense, mystical, or elusive. Realism, on the other hand, is an attempt to accurately describe human behavior and objects precisely as in real life. Babe. Explanation By deviating from earlier tradition of idealizing situation of Romantic artists' imagined beauty, the realists were attempting to capture the actual experience and struggle of common people in hope that it would spur social and economic reform. Babe. Reference to Work of Art John Constable and Jean Millet represent the difference in these two art periods.

John Constable was an English painter who painted his landscape in the romantic style. "The Hay Win" is a countryside scene with romantic and dreamy features like streams and county cottages. He used luminous colors and bold thick brushwork and focused on the qualities of light and sky rather than details of a scene. (The National Gallery, n. D. ) Jean- François Millet was a French painter who focused on realistic things of everyday life and painted ordinary working people. In his painting "The Gleaners", Millet displays the hard working peasants removing the last bits of the rain from a wheat field.

He used dark, muted colors instead of luminous colors like Constable. There is no fanciful imagination, Just a painting of everyday life. Babe. Relation of Later Work to Earlier Work Again, the realist artists used their work to portray the actual living conditions of common people in contrast to romantic view of earlier works. John Constable's cottage scene with a tranquil stream represented the yearning nostalgia for idealized pastoral life of the lowly desperate fame's who must glean every last grains of wheat in Millet's painting. AC.

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