ARTHI 6C Lecture 4: Lecture 4 - Romanticism and Orientalism
Romanticism and Orientalism
Henry Fuseli (Swiss)
-worked during height of Enlightenment - movement toward secularity and rejection of church
as entire force over everything
-The Nightmare
-depicts darker irrational forces
-this painting has multiple interpretations - subjectivity of humanities
-came as product of artist’s imagination solely
-displayed in London’s royal academy where it shocked and frightened visitors and critics
-became popular because it didn't come from the bible or literature, just from artist’s
imagination
-Analysis
-woman supposed to be sleeping
-ape like figure crouching on her chest while horse emerges from shadowy background
-one interpretation - allegory for nightmare of colonization
-dark vs light, darkness of otherness, people from other places
-ape sitting straight on her body dominating her into sexual submission
-rape of white women
-horse with glowing eyes
-the ape like figure referred to as an incubus - looks like male figure or someone like a
small troll (somebody with features that are non European
-compared to George Stubbs Horse Devoured by a Lion
-horse is victim, probably more female
-in The Nightmare, horse is black, contrasts with woman in white dress (purity, virginity)
Characteristics of Romanticism
-Spectacular lighting (for example, stormy skies) and effects of light (shadow, darkness,
interior rooms)
-Big emotions: horror, triumph, cruelty
-Dramatic settings: may life or death moments, beyond human control
-Eroticism and privacy: voyeuristic, keen interest in the female body
-high art version of pornography
Theodore Gericault Evening: Landscape with an Aqueduct
-old roman aqueduct leading to a hillside
-blue skies give way to light, sunset
-chateau and buildings on hillside resonate with taller building on top
-circularity of whole canvas
-impoverished people at the base far from beautiful chateau, people overpowered by grandeur
of scenery
More about romanticism
-Began as a literary movement, which influenced the visual arts
-Strong emphasis on imagination and emotion, a rejection of the disillusionment with the Age
of Reason (the enlightenment)
-Shaped by students of Jaques - Louis David
-French philosopher Denis Diderot “all that stuns the soul, all that imprints a feeling of terror,
leads to the sublime”
-we want to cry and laugh and have deep feelings; the awe and power of nature/the
world, people’s very minuscule place in the world
Sublime vs Melancholy
-Sublime: a feeling of awe, Human struggle against the awesome power and force of nautre
-Melancholy: a feeling of sadness, human struggle against the self (not a negative thing,
sadness is highly valued in the arts)
Eugene Delacroix
Liberty Leading the People
-one of the most definitive images of the French Revolution yet doesn’t portray fighting
-pride and joy of French people, in a room at the Louvre for the most prized paintings
-This scene takes place July 28, 1830, the day
-people making a stand while Charles X dined outside
-outcome of july revolution is one of cautious reform
-“political masterpiece”, does not depict a peaceful uprising, depicts messiness of anarchic
freedom
-ecstatic, violent, erotic
-Liberty herself is not a person, she is an allegory - semi nude goddess
-breasts out - feeding the nation
-turns in profile as if she is oblivious to the madness
-next to her pistol held by boy crying out, we might be able to assume that the boy might not
make it through this revolutionary moment
-Backdrop covered in canon smoke and gun smoke
-The foreground of the painting is covered with corpses and dead bodies
-On the other side of liberty, there is a ragged intellectual who is holding a rifle tentatively
(stand in for painter himself)
-His natural form is a writer, intellectual (stand in for Delacroix himself)
-despite the fact it is a death scene, there is an optimism that is part of this painting
John Singleton Copley (American/British)
-born in Britain, emigrates to US and works in Boston
-Watson and the Shark
-shark attacking attacking 14 y/o Brooke Watson who has fallen overboard
-based on true story
-first American painter to find true acceptance abroad
-the fact that they allowed a colonial painter in their royal academy is a huge achievement
-Watson was an orphan who takes a swim, and a shark attacks him, bites his leg off
-Climactic and dramatic rescue scene, determined cremate trying to pull him out of the
water
-predecessor of Jaws maybe
-painterly representation of terror in which deathly pale boy’s body is naked and vulnerable
and there is blood swirling around his head
Document Summary
Worked during height of enlightenment - movement toward secularity and rejection of church as entire force over everything. This painting has multiple interpretations - subjectivity of humanities. Came as product of artist"s imagination solely. Displayed in london"s royal academy where it shocked and frightened visitors and critics. Became popular because it didn"t come from the bible or literature, just from artist"s imagination. Ape like gure crouching on her chest while horse emerges from shadowy background. One interpretation - allegory for nightmare of colonization. Dark vs light, darkness of otherness, people from other places. Ape sitting straight on her body dominating her into sexual submission. The ape like gure referred to as an incubus - looks like male gure or someone like a small troll (somebody with features that are non european. Compared to george stubbs horse devoured by a lion. In the nightmare, horse is black, contrasts with woman in white dress (purity, virginity)
