12/10/06 - History of Art - Periodisation

Such terms as Baroque, Romanticism, etc. used loosely. But can be misleading in understanding history of art.

Renaissance - revival of interest in natural and ancient world. Restoring the greatness of Greek and Roman classicism. Leonardo da Vinci, Titian, Michelangelo. E.g. da Vinci's The Last Supper, mural painting of Christ and disciples. Arranged in four groups of three, reaction to Jesus' prophecy that one of them will betray him.

Baroque has different visual qualities. Rubens knew Leonardo. Feast of Herod: sweeping forms, not defined space, curves and diagonals used. No symmetrical system. Sweeping clothes.

Ingres, neoclassical Ruggiero and Angelica 1839. Rigorous, restrained, linear, clear outlines. Detached, combed.

Delacroix, Romanticism. Nearer to Baroque. Perseus and Andromeda c. 1853. Softness, dramatic depth, curved lines.

Modern art. Mondrian Composition with Yellow and Double Lines. Abstraction, geometric purity, spiritual meaning.

Style labels - what are they? Not movements. Movement, a group of artists deliberately painting in a particular way, e.g. Surrealists, Pre-Raphaelites. Some periods (e.g. Renaissance and modern) there is some self-consciousness about the style of painting they adopt, breaking away from 'decline' of art. Giotto's Last Judgement, clear signs that Giotto was seen to be starting something new. Artistic progress (sixteenth century) - Vasari. In modern art, Mondrian's Still Life with Ginger Jar. Greenberg believed artists like Mondrian were moving towards abstraction, essential driving force behind modern style as autonomous themes without reference to outside world.

Baroque started as term of abuse for decline of Renaissance, not a meditated style. Applied to paintings after they were painted. 'Gothic' term of abuse (after group who opposed Romans) so meant 'destroyer' of Renaissance art.

Hegel notion of 'a spirit of the age' or 'zeitgeist'. Could be found in every period, as everything reflects the spirit of its age. Art believed to be free of practicalities so that it could better express zeitgeist, rather than, e.g. politics. So art a privileged insight into zeitgeist.

Hegel, difference between period paintings lies not in style but in reflection of zeitgeist. Lippi and Perugino Deposition 1506, potential of humanity, positivity versus Baroque, Catholic, church oppression.

By assuming Rubens a Baroque artist and that Baroque art reflects a view of oppression, we assume Rubens the individual felt this way, but it is not necessarily true.

Spirit? Shared attitude of the world, said some psychologists.

And when do these eras begin and end? Competing views of Renaissance, when it began. Who started it? Giotto? But Renaissance supposed to reflect rebirth of classical art, which Giotto does not show. Yet still considered Renaissance. So is it not true that Giotto was an early Renaissance artist? Finished 1520 or continuing in Italy and England (Shakespeare could be considered a Renaissance writer). Not clear cut for zeitgeist theorists.

What determines style that is 'characteristic' of its era? Channel 4, most people did not behave according to zeitgeist: too old, too young, in 1960s. Why pick out just one group of people to be 'typical' of their time? Ingres and Delacroix worked at same time but different styles. So Ingres just a survivor of neoclassicism, and should not have painted this way? But why isn't Delacroix in the wrong?

Marxism, thinking about social class.

How useful? Breaks up history in comprehensible periods. Problems arise when people take too simplistic and narrow an approach to this. One should expect diversity. Don't try to force art into a pattern, probably causing damage, and also misleading.