19th Century Art & Photography
The nineteenth century marked an age of radical change during which the arts were affected by revolutions in both science and philosophy. Artists were dramatically affected by these revolutions, as each art style was rapidly superseded by yet a newer style that incorporated the new change. European governments extended their rule to every part of the globe, spreading the influence of European culture into colonies in Africa, the Americas, India, Asia, and Australia, and clearing the way for influences from those areas to flow back to Europe (De La Croix, 1991). As a result, the art of the nineteenth century reflected a wide variety of philosophies rationalizing change and the reactions to change. In addition to these revolutions, artists were also affected by new influences, such as the advent of photography, produced print, and printed reproduction. Therefore, the collective techniques of an industrial age forced nineteenth century artists to analyze their function and to study closely the physical nature of their medium. This paper will analyze the manner in which new influences affected the art of the late nineteenth century, including the affects brought about by the advent of photography, and will conclude with a brief
Technological advances in science influenced artists, as well as the changes occurring in society around them. In one of the most famous pieces of the age of Romanticism, Girodet captures the scene where she is buried in the shadow of a cross by her grieving lover. These artists found themselves using the elements of line, shape and color to represent their private world, the realm of imagination and feeling. Romanticism, which portrayed images of impassioned or poignant feeling, emerged as a reaction to Neoclassicism. Photographic portraits were less expensive, requiring less sitting time, and were developed quickly. The first photographers sought to combine a single print with pencil sketches, and photography was established as an art medium. These photographers often arranged symbolic scenes in suggestive settings, with figures dressed in costumes appropriate to the selected theme, and shot the photographs in soft light with slightly fuzzy focus to create a pictorial mood (De La Croix, 1991). In the very late nineteenth century photography became very cheap to process, and became available to all classes at an affordable price. The ever-increasing ease with which photography precisely recorded visual information and distributed it worldwide made it the most powerful toll of expression since the advent of the printing press (Sjsu. Since the sixteenth century artists and scientists had made use of the fact that light passing through a small hole in one wall of a dark room projected an inverted image on the opposite wall (Sjsu. summary of the art style of this age. The development of modern psychopathology later in the nineteenth century spurred an interest in mental aberration, which was also depicted in art. Artists of the nineteenth century were thus influenced by the numerous changes and new influences that occurred during this age. An example of such an artist is Anne Louis Girodet who painted a scene from a popular novel where a woman that was sworn to lifelong virginity falls in love with a wild young savage and commits suicide to avoid breaking her oath. The advent of the photograph of the nineteenth century allowed artists to see a better "reality and stirred the debate of what was real and not real, although it was not welcomed by all.
Common topics in this essay:
La Croix,
John Herschel,
Eadweard Muybridge,
Romanticism Girodet,
Greece Rome,
,
Louis Girodet,
nineteenth century,
Theodore Gericault,
Romanticism Neoclassicism,
de la,
croix 1991,
De La,
de la croix,
la croix 1991,
la croix,
art style,
century artists,
advent photography,
late nineteenth century,
late nineteenth,
attempt secure,
sjsuedu 2006,
art nineteenth century,
attempt secure employment,
|