19th Century Culture and Arts
19th Century Culture and Arts
Romanticism
- Emerged as a reaction against Enlightenment rationalism, emphasizing emotions, intuition, and individual creativity.
- Major figures included J. M. W. Turner and Caspar Friedrich in visual art, Lord Byron and Edgar Allan Poe in literature, and Ludwig von Beethoven and Hector Berlioz in music.
- Focused on themes of the sublime in nature, the hero's journey, and the inner emotional world.
Realism
- Art and literature movement that sought to depict life as it really was, rather than idealizing it.
- Literary realists like Gustave Flaubert and Charles Dickens examined society's problems and offered incisive social criticism.
- Artists like Gustave Courbet focused on everyday subjects, representing them with stark honesty and attention to detail.
- Emerged in part as a response to rapid urbanisation and industrialisation during this period.
Impressionism
- Artistic movement that sought to capture fleeting sensory impressions, particularly the shifting effects of light, rather than create detailed, realistic depictions.
- Key figures included Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Camille Pissarro.
- The movement faced initial criticism and struggled to gain acceptance, but profoundly influenced later developments in painting.
Symbolism
- Symbolists rejected Realist and Naturalist depictions of the external world, focusing instead on the internal, emotional world.
- Key figures in literature included Charles Baudelaire and Paul Verlaine.
- The movement had significant influences on both visual arts and music.
Classical Revival
- Reflected a renewed interest in the art and architecture of ancient Greece and Rome, serving as a reaction against the perceived excesses of Romanticism and the Industrial Revolution.
- Found expression in neoclassical architecture and sculpture, with Antonio Canova as a notable figure.
- Later in the century, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in Britain sought a return to the detailed and vibrant art of the Early Renaissance.
Later Developments
- Late 19th and early 20th century saw the emergence of new artistic movements such as Cubism, led by artists like Pablo Picasso and George Braque.
- Art Nouveau, a decorative art movement, emerged near the turn of the century, focusing on organic forms and intricate detail.
- In literature, Modernist authors like James Joyce and Virginia Woolf began to explore innovative forms of narrative and disillusionment with traditional societal norms.