Representation Of Modern Life In Nineteenth Century Art

By Author: Henry Ford
Total Articles: 189
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Before the nineteenth century, artists mainly worked for particular individuals or organizations like churches. They were contracted to do a particular piece of work, and there was no spontaneous art as such. Since the beginning of the nineteenth century however, Art saw a great revolution. From this time on, artists began expressing their lives through drawings. Modern art thus marked a paradigm shift from the old way of doing things. Artists now embraced experimentation as a way of artistic representation of people, places and even ideas, in different colors, genre, as well as forms. A story is told of a soccer player in the nineteenth century England, who against the set rules, to use his hands in soccer. This allegedly marked the beginning of rugby. Artists in the nineteenth century were in similar way revolutionaries in bringing change into the world of art. It is referred to as modern because it brought into the artistic world, new trends in thought. It arose also as a result of dissatisfaction with the traditional forms of life, such as art, literature, and architecture. This study will explore the representation of modern ...
... life in the art of the nineteenth century. Images and themes relating to the modern life will be explored. The major movements in this period will be of great interest to this study. Some of the themes that will be discussed include Romanticism, Realism, and Neoclassicism.

Romanticism
In the nineteenth century, artistic depictions of images emphasizing on the importance of emotions were very common. Romanticism as a movement marked a shift from Rationalism which had prevailed in the previous century (Clay 1981). Self-determination became the sole goal of the time. People were able to say what they felt through art, rather than rationalize emotions (Berlin 1999). Everything during the first half of the nineteenth century centered on feelings, and this was the primary focus of art. This movement was characterized by such attitudes as great appreciation of beauty, the emphasis of the senses rather than the intellect, self examination, emotional development, passions and other things affecting the person in ways that differed from the rationalistic tendencies of the eighteenth century. Romanticism also had a great influence in the shaping of the mind set of the Central European people. Creativity and imagination during this period were greatly encouraged (Condon 1983).

One famous French artist was Eugene Delacroix. His paintings were so popular that they resonated even into the late nineteenth century with. He greatly impacted on the Impressionists and even the likes of Pablo Picasso of the modern art (Jobert 1997). He thrived at a time when the French revolution was looming over most of France. His Liberty Guiding the People was a reflection of the importance of liberty, especially after the revolution.

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