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The Avant-Garde The Rise of Modernism: Art of the Later 19th Century

Modernism

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Modernism

Modern can mean related to current times, but it can also indicate a relationship to a particular set of ideas that, at the time of their development, were new or even experimental.

The birth of modernism and modern art can be traced back to the Industrial Revolution

Manchester, England ("Cottonopolis"), pictured in 1840, showing the mass of factory chimneys

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Industrial Revolution

Lasted from the l8th to 19th Century with rapid changes in: Manufacturing—shifted from agrarian culture to urban one. Transportation (railroad, steam engine)--changed the way people lived, where they worked, traveled, and the speed, expanding world views. Technology—manufacturing processes (textile, mining, gas lighting, glass making), from wood to biofuels, steel, hydroelectric power Social Effects– standards of living, population increase, labor conditions,

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Modern Art

Prior to the 19th century, artists were most often commissioned to make artwork by wealthy patrons, or institutions like the church. Much of this art depicted religious or mythological scenes that told stories and were intended to instruct the viewer.

CARAVAGGIO, Conversion of Saint Paul, Cerasi Chapel, Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome, Italy, ca. 1601. Oil on canvas, approx. 7’ 6” x 5’ 9”.

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Modern Art

During the 19th century, many artists started to make art about people, places, or ideas that interested them, and of which they had direct experience. Challenging the notion that art must realistically depict the world, some artists experimented with the expressive use of color, non-traditional materials, and new techniques and mediums.

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ÉDOUARD MANET, Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe (Luncheon on the Grass), 1863. Oil on canvas, approx. 7’ x 8’ 10”. Musée d’Orsay, Paris.

One of these new ways was photography, whose invention in the 1830s introduced a new method for depicting and reinterpreting the world

HONORÉ DAUMIER, Nadar Raising Photography to the Height of Art, 1862. Lithograph, 10 3/4” x 8 3/4”. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

ALBERT BIERSTADT, Among the Sierra Nevada Mountains, California, 1868. Oil on canvas, 6’ x 10’. National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington.

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PAUL CÉZANNE, Mont Sainte-Victoire, 1902–1904. Oil on canvas, 2’ 3 1/2” x 2’ 11 1/4”. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia (The George W. Elkins Collection).

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LEONARDO DA VINCI, Last Supper (cleaned), ca. 1495–1498. Fresco (oil and tempera on plaster), 29’ 10” x 13’ 9”. Refectory, Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan.

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MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI, David, 1501–1504. Marble, 13’ 5” high. Galleria dell’Accademia, Florence.

LYSIPPOS, Apoxyomenos (Scraper). Roman marble copy after a bronze original of ca. 330 BCE, approx. 6’ 9” high. Vatican Museums, Rome.

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GUSTAVE COURBET, The Stone Breakers, 1849. Oil on canvas, 5’ 3” x 8’ 6”. Formerly at Gemäldegalerie, Dresden (destroyed in 1945).

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JEAN-FRANÇOIS MILLET, The Gleaners, 1857. Oil on canvas, approx. 2’ 9” x 3’ 8”. Louvre, Paris.

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JEAN-FRANÇOIS MILLET, The Gleaners, 1857. Oil on canvas, approx. 2’ 9” x 3’ 8”. Louvre, Paris.

GUSTAVE COURBET, The Stone Breakers, 1849. Oil on canvas, 5’ 3” x 8’ 6”. Formerly at Gemäldegalerie, Dresden (destroyed in 1945).

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ÉDOUARD MANET, Olympia, 1863. Oil on canvas, 4’ 3” x 6’ 3”. Musée d’Orsay, Paris.

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TITIAN, Venus of Urbino, 1538. Oil on canvas, approx. 4’ x 5’ 6”. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.

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Cabanel, A, The Birth of Venus, Salon 1863

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Impressionism

Escaping from the studio, Impressionist artists substituted a transient reality for a stable one.

Rejecting ideas of the Academy (the establishment) artists were influenced by: --Parisian Life --Color theories of Chevreul --New concepts in Science– about nature --Obsessive concerns with Time --Photography --Writings of Zola --Japanese Art

CLAUDE MONET, Saint-Lazare Train Station, 1877. Oil on canvas, 2’ 5 3/4” x 3’ 5”. Musée d’Orsay, Paris.