Romanticism and Revolution

Catalog description

A survey of painting and sculpture in Europe 1780-1860, from the origins of Neoclassicism through Romanticism and Realism. ARTH 305 European Art from 1780-1860 (3) (GA;IL)(BA) This course meets the Bachelor of Arts degree requirements. Art History 305 provides an introduction to the painting, sculpture, and graphic arts of Europe between ca. 1780 and 1860, with an emphasis on selected developments in France, Spain, England, and Germany. The course begins with the origins of Neoclassicism and the revolutionary art of Jacques Louis David. Art is examined within the context of the tumultuous history of this period, such as the decline of the French monarchy, the French Revolution and the rise and fall of Napoleon. The course will examine the rise of Romanticism, as seen in such diverse expressions as Goya's horrific images of inhumanity, Fuseli's dreams, Tumer's sublime landscapes, Friedrich's frozen visions of Gothic ruins, Delacroix's colorful battles of beasts. Realism emerges in the biting social conunentaries of Daumier, the meticulous detailed paintings of the English Pre-Raphaelites, and the raw reality of Courbet's paintings. The course ends with the extraordinary art of Manet. The course is designed to meet two principal goals. The first is to increase students' powers of visual analysis and help them build a critical vocabulary for discussing an art object's medium, composition, style, and iconography. The second is to foster an understanding of the deep implication of the visual arts in their social and cultural contexts. The course therefore involves significant material relating to political, economic and religious issues. It investigates problems in patronage, function, reception and censorship. It considers such intra- and cross-cultural issues as representations of gender. As a general education course in the arts, this course provides an introduction to European art, 1780-1860, to a student of any major. This course has no prerequisite and presumes no prior exposure to fine art. Students majoring in Art History will learn both the common vocabulary of the field and the outlines of the field that form the foundation for future study.