THE ROMANTIC MOVEMENT; ART NOUVEAU VS. PRE-RAPHAELITE

The Romanticism Era

     

    The Romanticism era, also known as the Romantic Movement, took the idea of self-expression a step further than the Classicism era. Following the views of the Enlightenment, Classicism artists, using different styles, crafted their art portraying realistic messages concerning feelings and outlooks on subjects occurring during their present time. Romanticism was much more involved in expression through dramatic depictions and emotions, not restricting individual style. From peaceful and calming tones or unpleasant, dark concepts, a trend for artists in this era was not to hold back from provoking emotions. 

Pre-Raphaelite vs. Art Nouveau

   

     Many believe the Realism art style pioneered the beginning of modern art by disregarding traditional ideas and techniques. Some believed realism should be incorporated into conventional art to modernize it. A group of seven English men sought to accomplish this, in Victoria England the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was assembled in 1848. Pre-Raphaelites took inspiration from Pre-Renaissance artwork styles they found appealing while rejecting classical compositions made famous by Raphael. They applied traditional techniques of Italian art while crafting new modern artworks that paid close attention to detail. Beauty was redefined through artwork; the paintings had Jewel-like surfaces of bright, rich colors, vivid details, symbolism, and tight brush strokes.These were notable characteristics of the Pre-Raphaelite art movement. 

    

     Another upcoming art movement with similar ideas to the Pre-Raphaelites but with a rebellious side emerged in 1883. Art Nouveau, new art in English, was to create new modern styles without recycling past trends with up-to-date subjects. Most aspiring artists studied their crafts through academic studies 17th-19th centuries; the Art Nouveau movement believed that artistic skills taught through academics caused neglect of good craftsmanship. Japanese woodblock art was a big inspiration for the Art Nouveau styles; organic and geometric shapes evolved from flowing designs that united natural forms similar to stems and plants in bloom were key elements used. Customary art practices like painting and sculpting were thrown out and replaced with nontraditional arts that were more craft based. Linear contours were more important than color usage; muted greens, yellows, browns, and blues were mainly depicted in the artworks.

Pre-Raphaelite

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood's early doctrine:

1. To have genuine ideas to express;

2. To study Nature attentively, so as to know how to express them;

3. To sympathize with what is direct and serious and heartfelt in previous art, to the exclusion of what is conventional and self-parading and learned by rote; and

4. Most indispensable of all, to produce thoroughly good pictures and statues.

  Madonna Pietra Degli Scrovigni 

 Marie Spartali Stillman, 1884

Marie Spartali Stillman was a second-generation female artist of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Art Academies would not accept females as students at the time, but the Brotherhood welcomed women to join, promoting female artists within their circle. Female Pre-Raphaelites painted similar styles to men; Stillman's painting Madonna Pietra Degli Scrovigni, crafted in Victorian England in 1884, emulates the Pre-Raphaelite movement styles. Inspiration for this piece was taken from My Lady Stone, a character in a poem written by Italian poet Dante Alighieri Sestina of the Lady Pietra degli Scrovigni. The woman is described as utterly frozen, unmoved like a stone through the winter's snow, upon "the sweet season which makes warm the hills" (Alighieri) brightened the woman more than a precious stone.

   

     The artwork was painted with watercolor, gouache, and gum Arabic on paper; Stillman's usage of watercolor softens the muted green dress, and the gouache gives rich hues of golden highlights. The woman's skin is illuminated with dreamy cream colors and bright milky white highlights that lighten everything around her. A single branch of tiny flowers above her head shines like a strand of pale yellow twinkling light. Dark tones depict the winter season, while lighter tones melt the lady's stoic disposition away. The woman holds a branch of blooming flowers that shed a halo of light over her creamy skin. My Lady Stone beams through the dark vegetation in the forest that encircles her. 

    The highly smooth textures indicate that this art piece uses Pre-Raphaelite styles. High-volume, thick brush strokes used to build rich colors give the painting a smooth finish, especially in the women's features. The precious stone she holds in her hand appears smooth as glass and shines with green, brown, and white tones blending softly with tight brush strokes.

The Blind Girl 

John Everette Millais, 1856

    John Everett Millais's talent for art even as a small child; at age 11, he was the youngest student to be excepted at the Royal Academy Schools. As one of the founding members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Millais's preferred styles were the use of medieval themes, realism, and aspects of science. The Bling Girl, an oil on canvas painting crafted in Victorian England in 1856, is a good depiction of Milliais's use of realism with Pre-Raphaelite techniques. It is believed to depict the allegory of the senses, two girls presumed to be panhandling sisters sit close together, covered by a cloth under a dark sky and double rainbows. The older of the two appears to be blind; her tilted head faces the warmth of the sunshine after the storm has passed. She holds the younger girl's hand and keeps her close, almost on her lap, ensuring she is nearby. The young girl looks off into the distance past the field, seeing a beautiful double rainbow cast above a town.  

    

    Two young ladies sit on a barrier of orange-dried-out weeds in a field of yellow grass with hints of green poking through. Their clothing looks worn out; the traces of dark highlights on the burnt orange skirt and splashes of bright yellow on the blue dress are fading to purple. Golden skin tones indicate the girls may not have a home and live with nothing to shelter them from the outdoor elements. 

    

    In the distance is a beaming double rainbow with dark stormy skies in the back. The greater you storm, the brighter your rainbow, a signal of hope for the girls. The gleaming fields shine light upon the girls; their dull clothing appears bold and rich. Golden hues light up their skin; the sun puts the girls in the spotlight of the painting.    

    

    The girls are positioned at the front of the painting but not perfectly centered or facing straight on. There is the illusion of a long straight never-ending path they traveled on. Behind the girls are large open fields with a hill leading toward a small town. It looks close but yet still a far way to travel on foot.

Art Nouveau 

“I have one aim-the grotesque. If I am not grotesque, I am nothing.” -Aubrey Beardsley

  The Black Cat, for Edgar Allan Poe’s 
  Tales of Mystery and the Imagination 

Aubrey Beardsley, 1895-96

The short-lived life of British illustrator Aubrey Beardsley was anything but boring. The overly eccentric and grotesque artist embodied the Art Nouveau movement to a T. Always seeking to make a statement through freedom of expression, Beardsley was a controversial Art Nouveau artist. Much of his inspiration came from Japanese Ukiyo-e prints, death and decay, and medieval arts. The Black Cat was one of four illustrations Beardsley drew for Edgar Allan Poe's book Tales of Mystery and the Imagination, published in Chicago, Illinois. Drawn with pen, brush, and India ink over graphite, a mischievous angry-looking black cat sits on the woman who shaved his life from her drunken husband's lifeless white body. The black cat winks his eye while snarling and puffing out the white patch on his chest. The woman does not appear to be resting in peace but is annoyed she was murdered and left to rot in the basement by her bastard husband. 

Beardsley used many different shapes within the illustration, but circles were the most dominantly used. The cat has defined rounded features on the face and chest that make the cat appear two-dimensional. He is coming out of the drawing because of a lack of depth. The woman's robust round hair makes her seem shallow in the picture; she has little depth but fades into the black backdrop ever so slightly.

The black cat is upright, standing tall; there are few horizontal lines used. Vertical lines were prominently used to give height to the drawing. The woman was standing in the tomb her husband built and left her dead body in.  

Zodiac

Alphonse Mucha, 1896

    Alphonse Mucha was a Czech Art Nouveau artist who lived and worked in Paris, France. His career blossomed overnight when he began designing theater posters for French stage actress Sarah Bernhardt. His first work for F. Champenois Imprimeur-Éditeur company was a color lithograph titled Zodiac, a calendar he made as an in-house piece for the company. It had all twelve zodiac signs circling the woman's head in a halo-like disk. She was designed elaborately with large jewelry and emphasized beauty. 

    The colors in the lithograph piece are very symbolic of Art Nouveau styles. The bold colors are muted and not vibrant. Earth tones of green, red, and brown are dominantly used. There are pops of muted teal and a few hints of bright white on the woman's crown. 

    There are many curved lines and symmetry Mucha incorporated in this piece. The curved lines bring texture, soft movement, and a calming effect to the artwork. The frame around the woman has details coiling off it. The woman's hair in the picture breaks off into different strands of curvature, giving the illusion of wind in the hair. 

Conclusion

    

    The Romantic Era was a significant shift in art movements; after the Enlightenment, humans learned how to express themselves more freely using their personal emotions and unique ideas. The Pre-Raphelielte Brotherhood took a step in that direction by using new ideas and modern techniques but played it safe by continuing to use subjects they were comfortable with from previous eras. Art Nouveau unleased self-creativity artists had been yearning to let out. Some let their expressions out mildly, while others held nothing back and made bold statements in the Art Nouveau movement. 

    

    I enjoyed both movements, but looking through Pre-Rapheliete artworks felt like recycled replicas of subjects from other art eras we have studied. I believe Art Nouveau was one of the first movements that helped change the art world to what it is today, with no restrictions, rules, or labels on the definition of what one believes art is. 

    

    Aubrey Beardsley's art was my favorite to dive into; I got lost in google browsing his illustrations and reading about his weird lifestyle. Out of all the artists I chose to showcase, he was the one who took the idea of self-expression and ran with it; he held nothing back. Before his death, he began to convert to Catholicism; on his deathbed, he asked that all his drawings and illustrations be destroyed. I do not believe I can relate to him, but I appreciate his boldness in expressing his identity freely.  

 Works Referenced 

Alighieri, Dante. “Sestina of the Lady Pietra Degli Scrovigni by...” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, 2022, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/50358/sestina-of-the-lady-pietra-degli-scrovigni .

Met, The. “The Black Cat, for Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘Tales of Mystery and the Imagination,’ Chicago, 1895-96.” Metmuseum.org, 2022, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/753519.

Foundation, Mucha. “Zodiac (1896).” Mucha Foundation, 2022, http://www.muchafoundation.org/en/gallery/browse-works/object/242. 

Art, History. “The Blind Girl.” The Blind Girl by John Everett Millais, 2022, https://www.thehistoryofart.org/john-everett-millais/blind-girl/. 

Story, Art. “Aubrey Beardsley Art, Bio, Ideas.” The Art Story, 2022, https://www.theartstory.org/artist/beardsley-aubrey/. 

Haller, Caroline. “Caroline Haller, M.A.” Artlex, 2022, https://www.artlex.com/art-movements/pre-raphaelite-brotherhood/#:~:text=The%20Pre-Raphaelite%20Brotherhood%20was%20an%20art%20movement%20founded,to%20the%20classical%20compositions%20that%20Raphael%20made%20popular. 

Museums, Liverpool. “Madonna Pietra Degli Scrovigni.” National Museums Liverpool, 2022, https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/artifact/madonna-pietra-degli-scrovigni.