Foundations of Western Civilization-II (Pt-2 of 2) - Lecture-II

Foundations of Western Civilization-II (Pt-1 of 2) - Lecture-II This is the Second Lecture of a long course comprising of forty-eight lectures, where one explores the essential contours of the human experience in what has come to be called "Western civilization," A-What do we mean when we speak of "the West"? ....1.... We can define this term culturally: free and participatory political institutions, capitalist economies, religious toleration, rational inquiry, an innovative spirit, and so on. ....2.... We can define the term geographically: a cultural tradition that began around the Mediterranean Sea, spent centuries as a European preserve, then migrated to all the earth. ....3....Any definition brings controversy: The West has had freedom and slavery; women have historically enjoyed fewer rights and opportunities than men; some have enjoyed vast wealth while others endured deep poverty. ....4....Definitions also bring paradox: Western civilization began in what is now Iraq, but it would be hard to make a case now for Iraq as Western. Today, Japan, in the "Far East," seems "Western"; in the Cold War years, Turkey was Western while Libya, far to the west of Turkey, was Eastern. B-"Civilization" is no easier to define. ....1....The word itself is built from a Latin root civ—. We see this in such Latin words as civis (citizen), civitas (city), civilis (civil, polite, citizen-like). Thus, cities appear crucial to our sense of what civilization is. ....2....The Greek ...

Western Civilization I - Cities & Cathedrals - Pt 1 of 3 - Lesson 22

The Middle Ages is a period of European history from the 5th century through the 15th century. The period followed the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476, and preceded the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period in a three-period division of history: Classical, Medieval, and Modern. The term "Middle Ages" (medium aevum) was coined in the 15th century and reflects the view that this period was a deviation from the path of classical learning, a path supposedly reconnected by Renaissance scholarship. Lesson 22: Cities and Cathedrals During the early Middle Ages and the Islamic Golden Age, Islamic philosophy, science, and technology were more advanced than in Western Europe. Islamic scholars both preserved and built upon earlier Ancient Greek and Roman traditions and added their own inventions and innovations. Islamic al-Andalus passed much of this on to Europe (see Islamic contributions to Medieval Europe). The replacement of Roman numerals with the decimal positional number system and the invention of algebra allowed more advanced mathematics. Another consequence was that the Latin-speaking world regained access to lost classical literature and philosophy. Latin translations of the 12th century fed a passion for Aristotelian philosophy and Islamic science that is frequently referred to as the Renaissance of the 12th century. Meanwhile, trade grew throughout Europe as the dangers of travel were reduced, and steady economic growth resumed. Cathedral schools and ...

Western Painting - Neo-Classicism and Its Mystic Magic

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Neo-Classicism - The Concept

Neo-Classicism is the tag given to a distinct Western Classical Artistic talents and cultural movements, evident in different art genres, such as decorative, literary, musical, visual art, theatre, etc. Neo-Classicism, a European style beginning in 1765 AD, was very prominent in the eighteenth & nineteenth centuries, and had Ancient Roman, Greek, & Renaissance Classist influences. In essence, Neo-Classicism was a creative counter to Baroque and Rococo. A painting that has gained the 'Canonic' status represents Neo-Classicism. The standard of the artwork is very high and a typical Neo-Classical painter tries to give a new feel to the art forms, while exhibiting the complete control of an expression. Today, architecture is the frontrunner of Neo-Classicism, with the US and Britain being the key builders.

Neo-Classicist Examples

o The French painter Jacques Louis David (1748-1825) was the first successful Neo-Classical artist, who derived his themes from the Medieval History and the great French Revolution. His "The Death of Socrates" (1787), one of the iconic Neo-Classicist works is presently housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
o Jean August Dominique Ingres (1780-1867) succeeded him. Artists worldwide loved Ingres' famous artworks, including "La Comtesse d'Haussonville portrait." The touch of romance and subtle Eroticism are also demonstrated in his paintings, the "The Turkish Bath" and "The Virgin of the Host."
o Sir Edwin Henry Landseer (1802-1873), a highly acclaimed English Victorian Neo-Classicist painter's art works are housed in many prestigious museums and galleries in the US and the UK. His Neo-Classical masterpiece, the "Duchess of Abercorn and her Daughter" (1834), is housed in the Shugborough Hall, Staffordshire, UK. "There's No Place Like Home" is a lovely painting of a dog reclining near the heart, which presently graces the Victoria and Albert Museum of London.
o August Anton Tischbein (1801- 1877), a German Neo-Classicist's Trieste (1858), is currently housed in the Thyssen Bornemisza Museum in Madrid, Spain.

Neo-Classicism - The Details

Most of such Neo-Classical Western Paintings were oil on canvas works and subtle colors were used to portray strong emotions. Initially, Neo-Classical Paintings were all about fixed, ideal, and solemn tones. Later, with the arrival of the Romantic Movement in France, Neo-Classist paintings gave vent to personal expressions and inert sensuality. The Neo-Classical style can also be seen in the seventeenth century furniture and decorative artworks. Neo-Classicism was the pulse of the art forms during the seventeenth and eighteenth century, but it called for great discipline and intellectual approach towards depicting intense human emotions, activities, or historic scenes.

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Art Style, Movements and Influence Of Western Art

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Art is always and everywhere the secret confession, and at the same time the immortal movement of its time – Karl Marx Since ancient age to modern art we have come across multiple art styles & movements. Most of them were new creation or transformation of one or other styles. Efforts by individual, group or brotherhood and schools lined up multiple art style in art history. This is my attempt to bring to light foremost & known art styles, movements and influence. If everything is not covered; its reference will be left for details.

If it is topic of art history then the most coined term would be an art style that covers the period of European history at the close of the middle ages and the rise of the modern world. An art style which born in 14th century and lived up to 17th century. An art movement which was later broken down in more than eight regional forms of development by historians. That means "rebirth" and was characterized by a radical development in the arts, medicine, politics and sciences in Europe.

That’s none other than Renaissance!! That was time in which individual expression and worldly experience became two of the main themes. Renaissance is Italian origin and later it was known as one of the most known European Art Movements. By region – Renaissance was identified by own regional movement in Italy, England, German, Northern Europe, French, Netherlands, Poland and Spain. By period it is known as Early Renaissance, High Renaissance, Harlem Renaissance and Northern Renaissance. The word Renaissance is now often used to describe other historical and cultural moments (e.g. the Carolingian Renaissance, the Byzantine Renaissances).

Leonardo da Vinci was the model Renaissance man representing the humanistic values of the period in his art, science and writing. Michelangelo and Raphael were also vital figures in this movement, producing works regarded for centuries as embodying the classical notion of perfection. Renaissance architects included Alberti, Brunelleschi and Bramante.

Renaissance Classicism sowed two different movements— Mannerism and the Baroque. Mannerism was a reaction against the idealist perfection of Classicism. The appeal of Baroque style curved deliberately from the amusing and intellectual qualities of 16th century Mannerist art to an intuitive appeal aimed at the senses. Baroque employed an iconography that was direct, simple, obvious, and dramatic.

Baroque art drew on certain broad and heroic tendencies in Annibale Carracci and his circle, and found inspiration in other artists such as Correggio, Caravaggio, and Federico Barocci nowadays sometimes termed 'proto-Baroque'. Although Baroque was antiquated in many centers by the Rococo style, beginning in France in the late 1720s, more than ever for interiors, paintings and the decorative arts, Baroque architecture remained a practical style until the arrival of ascetic Neoclassicism in the later 18th century. Ingres, Canova, and Jacques-Louis David are among the best-known neoclassicists.

Neoclassicism was nothing but a reaction against both the surviving Baroque and Rococo styles, and as a desire to return to the perceived "purity" of the arts of Rome & Ancient Greek. Neoclassicism was also solitary representation of the American Renaissance movement. As Mannerism discarded Classicism, Romanticism too refused the ideas of the Enlightenment and the aesthetic of the Neoclassicists. Romanticism movement turned world’s attention toward landscape and nature as well as the human figure and the supremacy of natural order above mankind's will. Hudson River School was highly influenced by Romanticism.

However Neoclassicism sustained to be a foremost vigor in Academic Art through the 19th century and beyond. Academic Art was a relentless antithesis to Romanticism or Gothic revival.

In 19th Century, after impacts of industrialization - Poverty, squalor, and desperation were to be the fortune of the new working class. Where Romanticism was optimism towards mankind; situation put art looking towards reality giving chance to Realism. Social Realism, Magic Realism, Photo Realism and Contemporary Realism are newer forms of Realism. Related movements were the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and Arts and Crafts Movement.

Neo-classical movement rejected the extreme romanticism of Dada (that hunted the discovery of authentic reality through the abolition of traditional culture and aesthetic forms), in favor of control, religion and a dyed-in-the-wool political programme. Dada ignored aesthetics. Dada became an influential movement in modern art. It also influenced Surrealism, Pop Art and Fluxus.

Realism’s concept of seeing world by human eye gave birth to Impressionism. Use of bright color improving more visibility (as opposed to Academic art) and strokes that were mixed in viewer's eyes were key features of impressionism. The Group of Seven was strongly influenced by European Impressionism of the late Nineteenth Century.

Fauvism & Post-Impressionism followed Impressionism. Later Fauvism; modern art started shaping self in multiple new forms including Cubism, Expressionism, Abstract Art, Dada, Abstract Expressionism , Futurism, Naïve art, Op Art, Surrealism, Minimalism, Pop Art and other. Modern art and its forms itself needs separate discussion.

After its transformation of several forms; painting is yet breathing in ‘Contemporary Art’ and ‘Post Modern Art’.

Reference:

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