ART HISTORY - ROMANTICISM ART

Wanderer above the Sea of Fog

Wanderer above the Sea of Fog, also known as Wanderer above the Mist or Mountaineer in a Misty Landscape, is an oil painting c. 1818 by the German Romantic artist Caspar David Friedrich.

Artist             :  Caspar David Friedrich

Dimensions  :   95 cm x 75 cm

Location       :   Kunsthalle Hamburg

Created        :  1818

Periods         :  Romanticism, German Romanticism

The Romanic movement originated in Germany, then it spread to England, France and the rest of Europe. Across the Atlantic, America had its own version of Romanticism, the Hudson River School, which was the first truly American school of art.

The mid-1600s ushered in the Age of Enlightenment (or “Age of Reason”), which was a period that glorified rational thinking, secularism and scientific progress. The first operational steam engine, built in 1712, could be regarded as the beginning of the Industrial Revolution which later swept the Western hemisphere. Steam engines and cotton mills symbolized that Industrial Revolution. Industrialization transformed economies of Western Europe and North America, driving them from dependence on agriculture to manufacturing. However, at the turn of the 19th century, not everyone believed that science and reason could possibly explain everything. Their reaction against the ongoing industrialization became a comprehensive movement – Romanticism. They looked beyond reason, and sought inspiration in intuition and imagination. Being emotionally engaged was the ultimate aim of their artwork.

Here are two French philosophers who held and defended opposing worldviews that eventually brought the Romantic man up against the Enlightened man: While the Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire (1694 – 1778) preached progress and rationality, his bitter rival Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712 – 1778), a forerunner of the Romantic movement, advocated a “return to nature.” Going against the tide, Romanticism and its emphasis on the emotional experience fiercely challenged the dominant approach of rational thinking of the preceding 150 years, established by the Enlightenment. Even though religion was treated with little reverence, it was still fascinating to them. No traditional religious art was produced, but biblical stories and religious imagery continued to be sources of inspiration, similar to folk tales. Romanticism wasn’t embraced by only painters, but also poets, composers, novelists and philosophers. The conflict between what was disdained as a dehumanized and mechanical world versus a nostalgic yearning for a simpler life and an appreciation for nature is still alive in our culture today.

Despite the ongoing urbanization, Romantic art depicted villages rather than expanding cities. While large numbers left rural areas and settled in the city, the Romantics longed for life in the country. Rather than machines and factories, they put rural landscapes on display. That signaled a comeback for landscape paintings which were very popular during the Baroque period. However, nature does not only provide a setting for the painting, but also its main subject matter, so much so that people are not present or minuscule in comparison to the setting. It’s not unusual to see only one or two small figures against an overwhelming rural background. Previously, nature was seen as subordinate to humans, a view heavily influenced by a Christian outlook, but that had changed as Europe became more secular during the Age of Enlightenment. It was a time when many felt that, with industrialization and new technologies, they acquired unprecedented power over nature. Romantic paintings served as a reminder that humans were still at the mercy of Mother Nature.

The French poet Charles Baudelaire wrote, “Romanticism is precisely situated neither in choice of subject nor exact truth, but in the way of feeling.” In light of feeling and individual experience, there was no place here for what tradtionally had influenced art; religion, reason, morality and civic virtues. Recurrent themes were human vulnerability and isolation; stunning landscapes and morbid subject matter. Romanticism was directed by the opposite of rationality – passion, intuition and the mysterious. The paintings showed strong emotions through facial expressions like anguish, intense pain, anger or fear.

To borrow a word from contemporary culture, Romantic art was “gothic.” It was dark, macabre and grotesque. Interestingly, it would still be accurate to associate the original meaning of “Gothic,” (that is “medieval”) in describing this art style because the artists revived cultural elements from the Middle Ages such as folklore and fairy tales, and stories of witches and angels. For many generations, since the start of the Enlightenment period, the educated classes looked down on that period and labelled it the “Dark Ages.” They had long admired the grandeur of the Greek and Roman cultures. Nonetheless, the Romantic artists viewed that pre-Renaissance era with admiration: they believed the educated generations that followed couldn’t produce a culture that matches that of the uncultivated, common people of the Middle Ages.

ART HISTORY - GREEK AND HELLENISTIC ART

It is easy to have an ‘ideal’ when it is unchallenged. “This king is best”. How readily this bold statement rolls off the tongue, when there is no other king of which to speak. Likewise the phrase, “This God (or Gods) is right” offers no resistance if one’s own knowledge of divinities is severely limited. Similarly, “This is the perfection of beauty” can hold only sway in a small or isolated society.

Winged Victory of Samothrace

It is often diversity, then, that invites people to examine their own unquestioned convictions in governance, religion or art. The complementary act of decentralisation, takes these norms and expectations away from one ruling group and puts independent thought and creation into a multitude of hands. There are now many competing ideas and concepts.

It is this diversity that characterizes the era of Hellenistic Greek art, the period of eclecticism.

This multeity was born out of the expansion of Alexander the Great’s empire, though its historical barriers aren’t clearly defined. The King of Macedonia brought extreme and remote regions under one vast umbrella. His kingdom, as well as the influencing Greek culture, stretched from Egypt to as far as India.

Within this thriving, expansive network new centers of “greek” art sprung up, questioning the previous dominance of Athens as the cultural epicenter of the ancient world. Now, cities like Alexandria, Antioch, and Pergamum began making a name for themselves in the artistic arena. They took the attic ways, but then added local flare or improved technical abilities. By the 2nd century BC, the rising power of Rome also absorbed much of the Greek tradition, all while supplying their own slant or engineering prowess.

Among the most famous pieces of this time period is the “Dying Gaul“. It portrays a soldier, crippled over in pain. His expressions show his anguish as well as his contorted body. The realism of this piece, which was commissioned some time between 230 BC and 220 BC by Attalus I of Pergamon to celebrate his victory over the Celtic Galatians in Anatolia, is overwhelming.

Another exemplary specimen is “Laocoon and his two sons.” The statue depicts a scene from Virgil’s Aeneid, when a priest tried to warn the Trojans against taking in that wooden horse. The Gods on the Greek side sent a snake to punish the prudent man and his sons, which is what we see in stone. These statues are a conglomeration of twisting nudity and pain. The elderly priest, while in excellent physical shape shows true torment on his face. He is a far cry from the noble Apollonian statues of the Classical period or the Kouros of the Anarchic era. This tormented figure is definitely Hellenistic Greek Art.

ART HISTORY - BUDDHIST ART

Buddhist art refers to the rich and diverse representations of religious images, sculpture, dance, visual mythology, and symbols deriving from the various Buddhist communities found around the world. Buddhist art exhibits distinctive forms and characteristics reflecting the diverse cultures and countries in which it has spread.

Early Buddhist art emerged in India and Sri Lanka following the death of Gautama Buddha (563 B.C.E. to 483 B.C.E.). This original, formative period of Buddhist art was aniconic in character (avoiding direct representation of the human figure). However, around the first century C.E., following the Greek invasion of northwestern India and Buddhist contact with Hellenistic culture in the Indo-Greek Kingdoms, an iconic period of Buddhist art began to flourish in India. The growth of Buddhist art, in turn, influenced the development of Hindu art, until Buddhism virtually disappeared in India around the tenth century due, in part, to the vigorous expansion of both Islam and Hinduism.

From its original homeland of India, Buddhist art was transported to other parts of Asia and the world, adapting to local styles and norms in each new host country. Today, Buddhist art constitues an important part of overall Buddhist cultural legacy.

A Buddhist mandala from the Tibetan tradition.

Great Buddha of Kamakura

The enormous bronze statue of the seated Buddha at Kōtoku-in temple in Kamakura, Japan is one of the country’s most recognized symbols. Made during the 13th century, the sculpture depicts the Buddha in the lotus position, with legs folded and hands just touching while resting on his lap. The statue is hollow, and visitors can view the interior, now filled with graffiti.

ART HISTORY - EGYPTIAN ART

Egyptian art is five thousand years old. It emerged and took shape in the ancient Egypt, the civilization of the Nile Valley. Expressed in paintings and sculptures, it was highly symbolic and fascinating - this art form revolves round the past and was intended to keep history alive.

In a narrow sense, Ancient Egyptian art refers to the canonical 2D and 3D art developed in Egypt from 3000 BC and used until the 3rd century. It is to be noted that most elements of Egyptian art remained remarkably stable over the 3000 year period that represents the ancient civilization without strong outside influence. The same basic conventions and quality of observation started at a high level and remained near that level over the period.

Ancient Egyptian art forms are characterized by regularity and detailed depiction of human beings and the nature, and, were intended to provide company to the deceased in the 'other world'. Artists' endeavored to preserve everything of the present time as clearly and permanently as possible. Completeness took precedence over prettiness. Some art forms present an extraordinarily vivid representation of the time and the life, as the ancient Egyptian life was lived thousand of years before.

Egyptian art in all forms obeyed one law: the mode of representing man, nature and the environment remained almost the same for thousands of years and the most admired artists were those who replicated most admired styles of the past.

Susan Hefuna, ‘Building’ series, 2014, bronze, black patina, dimensions variable. Image courtesy Pi Artworks Istanbul/London.

Egyptian-German multimedia artist Susan Hefuna (b. 1962, Egypt) draws upon her mixed heritage to create work in a wide range of media, from drawing, photography and sculpture to installation, video, performance and participatory projects. Hefuna is fascinated by the structures of connection that inhabit public spaces and become the framework for people’s interactions. She explores the ways in which such networks become visible through cultural customs, architectural models and city planning.
A recurring pattern in her work since 1990, the mashrabiya screen – an intricate wooden or stone lattice work in traditional Egyptian architecture – lends itself to Hefuna’s exploration of networks and their actual visual representation through drawings, sculptures and other works. Her abstract drawings in ink and pencil on multiple sheets of tracing paper oscillate between the two- and three-dimensional, and evoke cityscapes, molecular structures and constellations.