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jazzy_daveEdward Lucie Smith "A Concise History of French Painting" (Thames & Hudson)
This World of Art paperback covers period from the 14th century up to the sixties. It is a general overview of the influence of French art and the influence it received from Italy and the classical period. My main interest though starts with the 18th century and the French Revolution up to the modern age, and in particular with the Enlightenment, a period i studied as an O.U student way back in the late seventies / early eighties. I was intrigued with the pre-revolutionary paintings of Jacques-Louis David, and his Dasher of Marat.
Marat (24 May 1743 – 13 July 1793) was one of the leaders of the Montagnards, the radical faction ascendant in French politics during the Reign of Terror until the Thermidorian Reaction. Charlotte Corday was a Girondin from a minor aristocratic family and a political enemy of Marat who blamed him for the September Massacre. She gained entrance to Marat's rooms with a note promising details of a counter-revolutionary ring in Caen.
Marat suffered from a skin condition that caused him to spend much of his time in his bathtub; he would often work there. Corday fatally stabbed Marat, though she did not attempt to flee. She was later tried and executed for the murder.
His other famous painting is the Oath of the Horatii from 1784.
In this piece, the artist references Enlightenment values while alluding to Rousseau's social contract. The republican ideal of the general will becomes the focus of the painting with all three sons positioned in compliance with the father. The Oath between the characters can be read as an act of unification of men to the binding of the state. The issue of gender roles also becomes apparent in this piece, as the women in Horatii greatly contrast the group of brothers. David depicts the father with his back to the women, shutting them out of the oath making ritual; they also appear to be smaller in scale than the male figures. The masculine virility and discipline displayed by the men's rigid and confident stances is also severely contrasted to the slouching, swooning female softness created in the other half of the composition.
From here the book rakes us through to the Romantic period, the Symbolists, the Impressionists, and then to surrealism and abstract expressionism. Pop art in a way had been a more Anglo-American thing which the French failed to get.
Overall, this is a fine introduction to French art and its importance in the Western canon.
This World of Art paperback covers period from the 14th century up to the sixties. It is a general overview of the influence of French art and the influence it received from Italy and the classical period. My main interest though starts with the 18th century and the French Revolution up to the modern age, and in particular with the Enlightenment, a period i studied as an O.U student way back in the late seventies / early eighties. I was intrigued with the pre-revolutionary paintings of Jacques-Louis David, and his Dasher of Marat.
Marat (24 May 1743 – 13 July 1793) was one of the leaders of the Montagnards, the radical faction ascendant in French politics during the Reign of Terror until the Thermidorian Reaction. Charlotte Corday was a Girondin from a minor aristocratic family and a political enemy of Marat who blamed him for the September Massacre. She gained entrance to Marat's rooms with a note promising details of a counter-revolutionary ring in Caen.
Marat suffered from a skin condition that caused him to spend much of his time in his bathtub; he would often work there. Corday fatally stabbed Marat, though she did not attempt to flee. She was later tried and executed for the murder.
His other famous painting is the Oath of the Horatii from 1784.
In this piece, the artist references Enlightenment values while alluding to Rousseau's social contract. The republican ideal of the general will becomes the focus of the painting with all three sons positioned in compliance with the father. The Oath between the characters can be read as an act of unification of men to the binding of the state. The issue of gender roles also becomes apparent in this piece, as the women in Horatii greatly contrast the group of brothers. David depicts the father with his back to the women, shutting them out of the oath making ritual; they also appear to be smaller in scale than the male figures. The masculine virility and discipline displayed by the men's rigid and confident stances is also severely contrasted to the slouching, swooning female softness created in the other half of the composition.
From here the book rakes us through to the Romantic period, the Symbolists, the Impressionists, and then to surrealism and abstract expressionism. Pop art in a way had been a more Anglo-American thing which the French failed to get.
Overall, this is a fine introduction to French art and its importance in the Western canon.
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Date: 2016-06-18 03:10 am (UTC)Hugs, Jon