An easy-to-understand background of the following movements:
Neoclassicism
Romanticism
Realism
Impressionism
Post-Impressionism
German Expressionism
Fauvism
Dadaism
Surrealism
Abstract Expressionism
Pop Art
Performance Art
Concept Art
Land Art
As well as a detailed analysis with p...
Q1. NEOCLASSICISM
= Stemmed from the French Revolution encouraging mass participation in political
action for reforms to be made.
∴ Neoclassicism handled themes of patriotism, self-sacrifice, martyrdom for those who
died for the revolution.
= Returned to Roman-Greco naturalism and reject the emotionally charged Baroque
style, because Roman-Greco naturalism embodied the heroic spartan aesthetic of
manly power and victory and prioritised a rational political culture that French
Revolutionary artists aspired to achieve in their own society.
+ Naturalism was used to convince viewers that the subject matter truly happened,
because it’s attention to fine detail could spread objective political messages.
= Neoclassicism also rejected the opulence of the Rococo movement because it sought
to use simplistic minimalism to focus on the subject matter + it’s political message.
Q1. ROMANTICISM
= Rejected Neoclassicism’s emotionless subject matter and chose to rather depict
subjective and dramatically idealistic scenes.
= Included dramatic movement as a means of storytelling to assist the artwork’s
dramatic narrative.
= After the French Revolution, artists chose to depict everyday people as their subject
matter and wouldn’t dare to engage in controversially depicting the aristocracy.
= Followed dark psychological themes to make the dramatic compositions more
ominous and emotional.
+ to keep with the theme^ dark lighting was portrayed to depict the negative mood and
effect of civil war.
NEOCLASSICISM ROMANTICISM
= Objective subj. matter =Subjective subj. matter
= Themes of patriotism, self-sacrifice, = Dark psychological themes to portray
martyrdom to send political messages dramatic narratives
= Emphasised duty and emotionless = Emphasised imagination and emotion
warfare
= portrayed true naturalistic colours and = portrayed darkened scenes to depict the
tones negative mood and effect of civil war.
Q2. REALISM
= Rejected the idealistic and dramatic way that the Romanticism period portrayed the
world in.
∴ Artists chose to objectively depict the hard labour of the working class as their
common theme.
+ Used naturalism to depict the effects of hard labour honestly because naturalism’s
attention to fine detail made hard labour scenes look like they were photographic
evidence.
= Realism prioritised the act of working over the subject matter’s identity.
DIVAKSHA MOODLEY 2023 1
, ∴ The Realist artists’ subject matter was acknowledged as solely a vessel for work to
get done through.
=Realists painted subjects and scenery without embellishing it with emotion. Instead,
artists captured the hard work of everyday life.
REALISM ROMANTICISM
= Objective subj. matter =Subjective subj. matter
= Themes of the hard labour of the = Dark psychological themes to portray
working class dramatic narratives
= Prioritised the act of working over = Prioritised imagination, emotion, movement
the subject matter’s identity. and idealism of events or people.
= Used naturalism to make hard = portrayed darkened scenes to depict the
labour scenes look like they were negative mood and effect of civil war and
photographic evidence heighten drama and emotion.
Q2. IMPRESSIONISM
= Stemmed as a reaction to the creation of the camera
= Impressionists focused on light and how it interacted with its environment
∴ Many paintings take place in the open air.
= The impressionist’s subject matter depicted modern scenes of leisurely life.
= Impressionist’s rejected the completed finished look of Neoclassical and Romantic
artists and perfect naturalism that cameras could also create.
∴ They depicted their finished works looking like they were fast, sketchy and
preliminary to portray what they saw instead of replicating what was actually there.
= Impressionist’s made use of loose and visible brush strokes to achieve depicting the
world from their point of view.
= Their subject matter included the identities of everyday people and modern city life.
REALISM IMPRESSIONISM
= Objective subj. matter =Subjective subj. matter
= Realism portrayed the dark and = Impressionism portrayed the light and the
the gritty of hard labour airy of modern city life and its people.
= Used naturalism to make hard = Stylised naturalism to portray an individual
labour scenes look like they were artist perspective of the scene they were
photographic evidence capturing.
Q3. POST IMPRESSIONISM
= Stemming from Impressionism, Post Impressionism also made use of stylised
naturalism, subject matter of everyday life and focussing on the artist’s individual
perspective to follow a narrative.
= However, the Post Impressionists used brighter and bolder unnatural colours to
express their subjective emotions more freely.
+ Post Impressionist artworks included using generalised and geometric forms and
solid outlines to depict the artists particular view.
DIVAKSHA MOODLEY 2023 2
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