18th century art
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"There lies, according to the legend, somewhere in this world, an island called Cythera, where the heaven is ever blue and the roses ever bloom. Throughout the day, the island lies in repose like a sleeping beauty; but towards evening, when the earth is enveloped in silence, a busy activity begins in Cythera. Then cupids begin their services and make ready the boats to carry over the pilgrims who await there on the shore. These are young men and beautiful women, clad not in brown cowls but in silk and velvet, with flower-wreathed shepherds’ staves in their hands. When they have entered the boat and approach the enchanted island, all the world is forgotten. A soft, sensual atmosphere caresses them; the roses waft perfume and the doves coo. The marble statue of Aphrodite gleams in the green foliage, and with beating hearts they sink at the feet of the goddess. Such a picture is the glittering title-page of the art of the eighteenth century."--The History of Painting: From the Fourth to the Early Nineteenth Century (1893/94) by Richard Muther "Although Germany experienced no revolution, it followed similar artistic paths, and this is to be explained by other, by scientific reasons. Men’s minds were occupied by the excavations of Herculaneum and Pompeii; the ruins of Paestum had been explored; Greek vases were made known by Hamilton, and Roman monuments by Piranesi. In 1762 Stuart and Revett’s great work on the antiquities of Athens appeared, and in 1764 Winckelmann wrote his History of Ancient Art. Winckelmann’s whole artistic activity was a hymn to the recently discovered antique art. Poetry followed; for after the inspired wildness of the "storm and stress" period it was a natural reaction to praise the measured beauty of Greek art as the highest attainable. Goethe, the author of Werther and Götz was transformed into the poet of Iphigenie, and Schiller, who had written Die Rauber became the singer of the gods of Greece. In consequence of this antiquarian current, painting also was guided into a direction similar to that which had been caused by the Revolution in France."--The History of Painting: From the Fourth to the Early Nineteenth Century (1893/94) by Richard Muther |
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Art in the 18th century was dominated first by Rococo and than by Neoclassicism. The center of the art world shifted from Italy and the Low Countries to France.
After Rococo arose in the late 18th century, Neoclassicism arose, first in architecture, then in painting, best represented by such artists as David.
This movement turned its attention toward landscape and nature as well as the human figure and the supremacy of natural order above mankind's will. There is a pantheist philosophy (see Spinoza and Hegel) within this conception that opposes Enlightenment ideals by seeing mankind's destiny in a more tragic or pessimistic light. The idea that human beings are not above the forces of Nature is in contradiction to Ancient Greek and Renaissance ideals where mankind was above all things and owned his fate. This thinking led romantic artists to depict the sublime, ruined churches, shipwrecks, massacres and madness.
The century also saw the rise of academies and the Paris salons.
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France
The visual arts of the 18th century were highly decorative and oriented toward giving pleasure, as exemplified by the Regency Style and Louis XV Style, and the paintings of François Boucher, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Watteau and Chardin. Toward the end of the century, a more sober style appeared, aimed at illustrating scenery, work, and moral values exemplified by Greuze; pre-romantic work by Hubert Robert and the history painting of Claude Joseph Vernet. The period of the French Revolution engendered the first works of social realism by neoclassicist painter Jacques-Louis David.
The latter half of the 18th century continued to see French preeminence in Europe, particularly through the arts and sciences, and the French language was the lingua franca of the European courts. The French academic system continued to produce artists, but some, like Jean-Honoré Fragonard and Jean-Baptiste Siméon Chardin, explored new and increasingly impressionist styles of painting with thick brushwork. Although the hierarchy of genres continued to be respected officially, genre painting, landscape, portrait and still life were extremely fashionable.
The writer Denis Diderot wrote a number of times on the annual Salons of the Académie of painting and sculpture and his comments and criticisms are a vital document on the arts of this period.
One of Diderot's favorite painters was Jean-Baptiste Greuze. Although often considered kitsch by today's standards, his paintings of domestic scenes reveal the importance of Sentimentalism in the European arts of the period (as also seen in the works of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Samuel Richardson.)
One also finds in this period a kind of Pre-romanticism. Hubert Robert's images of ruins, inspired by Italian cappricio paintings, are typical in this respect. So too the change from the rational and geometrical French garden (of André Le Nôtre) to the English garden, which emphasized (artificially) wild and irrational nature. One also finds in some of these gardens curious ruins of temples called "follies".
Low Countries
England
In the 18th century, English painting finally developed a distinct style and tradition again, still concentrating on portraits and landscapes, but also attempting to find a successful approach to history painting, regarded as the highest of the hierarchy of genres.
Sir James Thornhill's paintings were executed in the Baroque style of the European Continent and William Hogarth may be called the first English artist — English in habits, disposition, and temperament, as well as by birth. His satirical works, full of black humor, are originally English, pointing out to contemporary society the deformities, weaknesses and vices of London life.
Leading portraitists were Thomas Gainsborough; Sir Joshua Reynolds, founder of the Royal Academy of Arts; George Romney; and Sir Thomas Lawrence. Joseph Wright of Derby was well known for his minute candlelight pictures, George Stubbs for his animal paintings.
Painters
- William Blake, English artist and poet
- Thomas Gainsborough, English painter
- William Hogarth, English painter and engraver
- Joshua Reynolds, English painter
Spain
- Francisco de Goya, Spanish painter
Italy
Rococo was the tail end of the Baroque period, mainly in France of the 18th century. The main artist of the Rococo style in Italy was Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696 to 1770).
Germany
Japan
Woodblock prints and Bunjinga: The school of art best known in the West is that of the ukiyo-e paintings and woodblock prints of the demimonde, the world of the kabuki theater and the brothel district. Ukiyo-e prints began to be produced in the late 17th century, but in 1764 Harunobu produced the first polychrome print. Print designers of the next generation, including Torii Kiyonaga and Utamaro, created elegant and sometimes insightful depictions of courtesans. In the West, erotic woodblock "prints" became popular because the material was not otherwise available. In that sense, such niche prints did more to promote Japanese art in the West than art studies.
The origins of art criticism
Although critiques of art may have its origins in the origins of art itself, art criticism as a genre is credited to have acquired its modern form by the 18th century.
The first writer to acquire an individual reputation as an art critic in 18th C. France was La Font de Saint-Yenne who wrote about the Salon of 1737 and wrote primarily to entertain while including anti-monarchist rhetoric in his prose.
The 18th C. French writer Denis Diderot is usually credited with the invention of the modern medium of art criticism. Diderot's "The Salon of 1765" was one of the first real attempts to capture art in words. According to art historian Thomas E. Crow, "When Diderot took up art criticism it was on the heels of the first generation of professional writers who made it their business to offer descriptions and judgments of contemporary painting and sculpture. The demand for such commentary was a product of the similarly novel institution of regular, free, public exhibitions of the latest art." [Published in Diderot on Art I, p.x]
See also
- 17th century art
- 18th century
- 18th century literature
- Enlightenment
- History of painting
- Venus in the 18th century
