An Introduction to Nineteenth-Century Art U sing the tools of the “new” art history (feminism, context of aesthetic, cultural, intellectual, social, and Marxism, social context, etc.) An Introduction to political conditions in which artists were working. Nineteenth-Century Art offers a richly textured, • Beautifully illustrated with over 250 color images. yet clear and logical, introduction to nineteenth-century art and culture. This textbook will provide readers with a • Margin notes and glossary definitions. basic historical framework of the period and the critical • Online resources at www.routledge.com/ tools for interpreting and situating new and unfamiliar textbooks/facos with access to a wealth of works of art. information, including original documents pertaining Michelle Facos goes beyond existing histories to artworks discussed in the textbook, contemporary of nineteenth-century art, which often focus solely on criticism, timelines and maps to enrich your France, Britain, and the United States, to incorporate understanding of the period and allow for further artists and artworks from Scandinavia, Germany, and comparison and exploration. Eastern Europe. The book expertly balances its coverage of trends Chapters take a thematic approach combined within an and individual artworks: where the salient trends are clear, overarching chronology and more detailed discussions trend-setting works are highlighted, and the complexity of individual works are always put in the context of the of the period is respected by situating all works in their broader social picture, thus providing students with a proper social and historical context. In this way, the sense of art history as a controversial and alive arena of student reader achieves a more nuanced understanding study. of the way in which the story of nineteenth-century art is the story of the ways in which artists and society Michelle Facos teaches art history at Indiana University, grappled with the problem of modernity. Bloomington. Her research explores the changing Key pedagogical features include: relationship between artists and society since the Enlightenment and issues of identity. Prior publications • Data boxes provide statistics, timelines, charts, and include Nationalism and the Nordic Imagination: Swedish historical information about the period to further Painting of the 1890s (1998), Art, Culture and National situate artworks. Identity in Fin-de-Siècle Europe, co-edited with Sharon Hirsh • Text boxes highlight extracts from original sources, (2003), and Symbolist Art in Context (2009). citing the ideas of artists and their contemporaries, including historians, philosophers, critics, and theorists, to place artists and works in the broader “Finally, an updated, delightfully usable survey of nineteenth-century art is available. The text is clearly written, jargon free yet conceptually informed, and clearly organized. Facos expands areas that are sparsely covered in other surveys, for example history of photography, women in art, and landscape as a genre. The boxes with primary sources and the easy-to-access online extension of the text are ideal ways to open up complex issues and elegantly facilitate open-ended classroom discussion.” Lucy Bowditch, The College of Saint Rose, Albany, USA “This fresh survey of nineteenth-century art provides a welcome new perspective. Redressing a long overdue imbalance, artistic developments in America, Britain, Eastern Europe, Germany, and Scandinavia are set beside the familiar story of French art, enriching our understanding of the historical context. The many insights and discoveries in this text make it useful to anyone interested in this fundamental era of modern art.” Jeffery Howe, Boston College, USA “European and American art of the nineteenth century cannot be understood apart from the social conditions of the day. Michelle Facos recognizes this, explaining the significance of the visual arts of this tumultuous century in relation to such historical forces as the Industrial Revolution, urbanization, the nascent women’s movement, nationalism, and imperialism. Yet Facos never takes her eyes off the real focus of the book: painting, sculpture, and graphic arts produced in Europe and North America between 1750 and 1900. Her close analysis of artworks emphasizes aesthetic traditions while also highlighting artistic innovation.” Elizabeth Mansfield, New York University, USA “This is an excellent textbook for students of nineteenth-century art. Facos’s synthesis ranges widely across the countries and genres of nineteenth-century Europe. The emphasis on Paris, characteristic of many other such textbooks, is modified by broadening horizons to include developments in Germany, Britain, Scandinavia, Italy and central Europe. The traditional modernist narrative is displaced by an open- textured historical approach in which the diversity of art production is brought to life in its own context and understood on its own terms. The book is cogent in its broad outlines while also offering compelling readings of individual case-studies that will awaken the interest and curiosity of students. An impressive achievement.” Nina Lübbren, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK “This is an engaging and stimulating analysis of art in the ‘long nineteenth-century’. Beginning its narrative in the late eighteenth-century, the book offers a view of art which is clear and consistent but never simplistic or reductive. Michelle Facos manages a neat trick of being simultaneously nuanced and subtle, yet also direct and transparent … The complex variety of ways in which an image can relate to its contemporary world, through subject, technique, embedded narrative, genre, fashion and more, are all discussed in a relaxed and confident manner which never allows the complexity to become confusion … I enjoyed this book.” John Morrison, University of Aberdeen, UK An Introduction to Nineteenth-Century Art M i c h e l l e Fa c o s First published 2011 in the USA and Canada by Routledge 711 Third Ave, New York, NY 10017 Simultaneously published in the UK by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2011 Michelle Facos The right of Michelle Facos to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Typeset in Garamond by Saxon Graphics Ltd, Derby All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Facos, Michelle. An introduction to nineteenth century art : artists and the challenge of modernity / Michelle Facos. — 1st ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Art, Modern—19th century. 2. Art and society—History—19th century. I. Title. II. Title: Introduction to 19th century art. III. Title: Artists and the challenge of modernity. N6450.F35 2011 709.03’4—dc22 2010031377 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN13: 978-0-415-78070-4 (hbk) ISBN13: 978-0-415-78072-8 (pbk) ISBN13: 978-0-203-83307-0 (ebk) Contents List of Figures ........................................................................................................................ x Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................... xxvi Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 1 Chapter 1: A Time of Transition 5 Social Critique ......................................................................................................... 6 Moral Reform ......................................................................................................... 8 Monarch as Model ............................................................................................... 11 Era of Change ...................................................................................................... 13 Age of Discovery ................................................................................................. 14 Grand Tour ........................................................................................................... 16 Antiquity Becomes Fashionable ........................................................................ 19 Neoclassical Style ................................................................................................. 23 Calm Grandeur in Dante .................................................................................... 25 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 26 Chapter 2: Classical Influences and Radical Transformations 28 Neoclassicism in Britain ...................................................................................... 28 Neoclassicism Becomes Popular ....................................................................... 33 The Elgin Marbles ............................................................................................... 35 Homer Illustrations ............................................................................................. 35 Political Instability in France .............................................................................. 37 D’Angiviller’s Reform Program ......................................................................... 38 Roman Virtue ....................................................................................................... 38 Neoclassical Eroticism ........................................................................................ 44 Neoclassical Sculpture ......................................................................................... 46 Neoclassicism in Denmark and the German States ....................................... 48 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 51 Chapter 3: Re-presenting Contemporary History 52 Legitimizing Contemporary History ................................................................. 52 Painting of Contemporary History in France ................................................. 55 Political Instability ................................................................................................ 55 New Hero for a New Republic .......................................................................... 56 Equestrian Portraits: Rulers on Horseback ...................................................... 58 Neoclassicism Made Ridiculous ......................................................................... 62 Legitimizing Bonaparte ....................................................................................... 63 Transgressive History Painting .......................................................................... 66 Representing Republican Values ........................................................................ 69 Establishing Museums ......................................................................................... 74 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 76 Contents v Chapter 4: Romanticism 77 Origins and Characteristics ................................................................................. 78 Burke’s Sublime .................................................................................................... 78 Blake and the Imagination .................................................................................. 82 Nature Mysticism ................................................................................................. 85 Goya: Ambiguity and Modernism ..................................................................... 87 Abnormal Mental States ..................................................................................... 93 Sculpture ................................................................................................................ 96 Escape to the National Past: England .............................................................. 98 Medievalism in France: Troubadour Style ...................................................... 100 Medievalism in the German States .................................................................. 103 The Nazarenes .................................................................................................... 106 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 109 Chapter 5: Shifting Focus: Art and the Natural World 110 New Attitudes Toward Nature ......................................................................... 110 Academic Landscape Tradition ........................................................................ 112 Nature and the Sublime .................................................................................... 114 The Picturesque .................................................................................................. 116 Turner: From Convention to Innovation ....................................................... 118 Constable: Conservative Nostalgia .................................................................. 121 Naturalism and Tourism ................................................................................... 124 Friedrich: Patriotism and Spirituality ............................................................... 128 Feminization of Nature .................................................................................... 131 Hudson River School ........................................................................................ 133 American West .................................................................................................... 137 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 138 Chapter 6: Colonialism, Imperialism, Orientalism 140 Documenting Distant Lands and Peoples ..................................................... 141 Colonial Citizens ................................................................................................ 144 Picturing Slavery ................................................................................................. 146 Native Americans: Ideal or Foe? ..................................................................... 150 Orientalism Emerges ......................................................................................... 154 Orient Imagined ................................................................................................. 156 Delacroix’s Orientalism ..................................................................................... 158 Orientalist Sculpture .......................................................................................... 162 International Exhibitions .................................................................................. 164 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 165 Chapter 7: New Audiences, New Approaches 166 Modernism, Urbanization, Instability ............................................................. 166 Bourgeois Morality and the Separation of Spheres ...................................... 170 Biedermeier and the Emergence of Middle-class Culture .......................... 171 Biedermeier Portraiture ..................................................................................... 175 Biedermeier Cityscapes ..................................................................................... 177 Biedermeier Peasant Painting ........................................................................... 178 vi Contents Biedermeier Landscape ..................................................................................... 178 Biedermeier History Painting ........................................................................... 180 Golden Age in Denmark .................................................................................. 181 Biedermeier in Russia ........................................................................................ 182 Mid-Century America ........................................................................................ 183 Victorian Painting .............................................................................................. 185 Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood ............................................................................ 185 Municipal Art Associations .............................................................................. 192 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 193 Chapter 8: Photography as Fact and Fine Art 194 “Invention” of Photography ............................................................................ 194 Documenting Current Events ......................................................................... 197 Social Reform ..................................................................................................... 201 Photography and Science .................................................................................. 203 Portraiture ........................................................................................................... 204 Landscape ............................................................................................................ 207 Travel .................................................................................................................... 209 Photography as a Fine Art ................................................................................ 210 Pictorialism and New Technologies ................................................................ 216 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 217 Chapter 9: Realism and the Urban Poor 218 Contrasting Responses to 1848 ........................................................................ 219 Urban Migration ................................................................................................. 222 Social Unrest ....................................................................................................... 224 Alcoholism .......................................................................................................... 225 Female Suicide .................................................................................................... 227 Middle-class Working Women ......................................................................... 230 Poor Working Women ....................................................................................... 232 Prostitution ......................................................................................................... 235 Documenting Work ........................................................................................... 239 Idealized Labor ................................................................................................... 240 Oppressed Workers ........................................................................................... 243 Reforming the Poor ........................................................................................... 244 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 246 Chapter 10: Imagined Communities: Views of Peasant Life 247 Peasant Identity .................................................................................................. 248 Peasant Imagery Before 1848 ........................................................................... 249 Courbet’s Burial: More than Just a Funeral .................................................... 250 Academically Acceptable Peasant Images ...................................................... 251 Powerful Peasants: Heroic or Threatening? ................................................... 254 Pitiable Peasants ................................................................................................. 258 Idealized Peasants .............................................................................................. 261 Grim Realities ..................................................................................................... 265 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 271 Contents vii Chapter 11: Crisis in the Academy 272 The Importance of Titles ................................................................................. 273 History Painting and Autobiography: Courbet ............................................. 276 The Situation of Women Artists ..................................................................... 279 Salon of 1863 and Salon des Refusés ............................................................. 280 Salon of 1865 ..................................................................................................... 286 Sculpture and Politics ........................................................................................ 290 Foreign Artists in Paris ...................................................................................... 293 Art Academies in Austria and the German States ........................................ 294 Menzel and Academic Realism ........................................................................ 300 World’s Fairs ........................................................................................................ 302 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 304 Chapter 12: Impressionism 305 Truth .................................................................................................................... 306 Haussmannization .............................................................................................. 306 New Paris ............................................................................................................ 308 Flâneurs and Boulevardiers .................................................................................... 310 Experimentation ................................................................................................. 311 Old Paris .............................................................................................................. 313 Bourgeois Leisure .............................................................................................. 314 Café Society ......................................................................................................... 317 Suburban Industry ............................................................................................. 319 Suburban Leisure ............................................................................................... 320 Natural and Acquired Identities ...................................................................... 323 Gare Saint Lazare ............................................................................................... 324 Seaside Resorts ................................................................................................... 326 Beaches, Bathing, and Hygiene ........................................................................ 329 Cézanne and Postimpressionism ..................................................................... 333 The Macchiaioli .................................................................................................. 336 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 337 Chapter 13: Symbolism 339 Symbolist Precursors ......................................................................................... 340 Animate Nature .................................................................................................. 344 Music .................................................................................................................... 346 Music and Genius .............................................................................................. 346 Rodin: Abstract Ideas in Human Form .......................................................... 348 Pessimistic Withdrawal ...................................................................................... 352 Women: Angels or Whores? ............................................................................. 355 Imagination Out of Control ............................................................................ 356 Virgin Mothers ................................................................................................... 357 Social Pessimism ................................................................................................ 358 Memory and Degeneration .............................................................................. 360 Gauguin: Seeking but Never Finding .............................................................. 362 Van Gogh: Expressing Nature ......................................................................... 365 Genius and Creativity ........................................................................................ 367 viii Contents Beyond the Five Senses ..................................................................................... 369 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 370 Chapter 14: Individualism and Collectivism 371 Artists’ Colonies ................................................................................................. 372 Pont Aven ............................................................................................................ 372 Worpswede .......................................................................................................... 376 Skagen .................................................................................................................. 378 Artist Organizations .......................................................................................... 380 Society of Independent Artists ........................................................................ 381 The Nabis ............................................................................................................ 381 Rose + Croix ....................................................................................................... 385 Les XX ................................................................................................................. 385 National Identity ................................................................................................ 387 France: Monet’s Cathedrals .............................................................................. 388 Russia ................................................................................................................... 390 Serbia .................................................................................................................... 393 Poland .................................................................................................................. 394 Finland ................................................................................................................. 397 Hungary ............................................................................................................... 399 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 401 Epilogue: Looking Toward the Twentieth Century ............................................................... 403 Glossary .............................................................................................................................. 404 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................ 406 Index .................................................................................................................................. 411 Contents ix