The Renaissance of Visual Arts

The European Renaissance Movement The European Renaissance Movement first originated in Italy in the 14th century. As Engels said: the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the current capitalist era was written by the Italian poet Dante (1265-1321) As a symbol, he was the last poet in the Middle Ages and the first poet in the new era.

Italy is located in the center of the Mediterranean region and at the heart of the world's largest trading area in the Middle Ages. Florence, Milan and Venice were all water and land transportation hubs and trade distribution centers at that time. Industry and commerce and capitalism first appeared there, so they were also the birthplace of the Renaissance movement.

The so-called Renaissance was a revolution in the ideological field launched by the emerging bourgeoisie in response to the revival of the human-centered scientific culture of ancient Greece and Rome that had been stifled by religion in the Middle Ages. Manuscripts rescued from the fall of Byzantium and ancient statues unearthed from the ruins of Rome recreate the glorious image of that era. People are saying "Go back to Greece". In fact, the emerging bourgeoisie summons the ghosts of ancient Greece not to rebuild the culture of slavery, but to borrow the science, philosophy and humanistic art that are beneficial to the needs of the bourgeoisie; it is to borrow their names, battle slogans and coats to wear This long-revered costume uses this borrowed language to perform new scenes in the history of the modern world. As a descendant of ancient Rome, Italy is the direct inheritor of ancient Greek and Roman culture.

Visual Art - Renaissance Works

The Italian Renaissance movement first developed in Florence, and then expanded to other regions, forming some painting schools that had both Florentine artistic achievements and local characteristics. . In addition to the powerful Florentine School of Painting, Leonardo da Vinci went to Milan to serve the Grand Duke of Milan and formed the Milan School of Painting; Bramante, Michelangelo and Raphael went to Rome to serve the Pope, forming a monumental monument that symbolized grandeur. , the Roman school of painting characterized by its strength. By the 16th century, after the glory of Florence, the tightly closed Venice, the last master who quickly reached the pinnacle of Renaissance art was recognized as Tintoretto.

The Italian Renaissance can be divided into early stage, high stage and late stage. In the early stage, Florence was the center, starting from Giotto and ending with Botticelli; in the high stage, it was mainly marked by the artistic achievements of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael; in the late stage, Venetian paintings represented by Titian Famous for the party.

The reason why Florence became the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance lies first in its geographical and natural conditions. It is located on the Arno River and is an important water and land transportation route. It has developed handicrafts and commercial trade; it has profound influences from ancient Rome and the Middle Ages. The foundation of civilization; the demand for art at all stages of society, especially the promotion and protection of artistic creation by rulers represented by the Medici family. These factors promoted the prosperity and development of art. As a representative of the early Renaissance, Florence has formed its own distinctive characteristics in artistic concepts, artistic themes and artistic expressions: the content of art is still based on traditional Christian biblical stories, but since Giotto, painters have worked hard to Explore how to inject secular real life into the creation of the image of God, pull God from the altar to the human world and become a mortal, so that the religious figures you create become people with flesh and blood, thoughts and feelings. Therefore, they introduced scientific achievements, applied anatomy, perspective and optical principles to artistic creation to create real characters and real spatial relationships; the artistic language focused on light and dark sketch shapes, and the composition pursued symmetry, balance and harmony.

Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael dominated the painting world, marking the arrival of the High Renaissance. Their artistic creations not only directly depicted real people in real life, but also borrowed religious mythology. Rely on your own social ideals, aesthetic ideals and thoughts and feelings. They displayed giant artistic achievements in Florence, Milan and Rome, erecting monuments of painting and sculpture with their wisdom and strength.

Situated on the Adriatic Sea, backed by the Italian Peninsula and facing the east, Venice is an Italian maritime city completely different from Florence and Rome. It is the center of commerce and trade, and a place where bourgeois gather. It is a paradise for human enjoyment built for the world. The Venetians claim that their hometown is the "treasure box of the world." Venice in the 16th century had everything but the control of God. In this luxurious, splendid and splendid city, what dominates is not science and knowledge but beauty, especially the art of painting, because it can not only create beauty, but also make real beauty and ideal beauty borrow images in paintings. To live forever in the world. Although painters had no social status, they often became honored guests of popes, kings, and aristocratic bourgeoisie. This city produced great painters such as Giorgione and Titian, who can keep pace with Florence, as well as their disciples Veronese and Tintoretto.

Because Venice is a maritime trade and commercial center and a water town with beautiful scenery, the art produced here is completely different from Florence in terms of content and form.

The art in Florence tends to focus on religious biblical themes, while in Venice it depicts more ancient Greek mythology. Indulging in joy and enjoyment, the themes are mostly love, banquets, and naked goddesses; the images are full of passion and imagination, and are permeated with a lively, bright, and joyful atmosphere, with little sadness and sadness.

The goddesses have plump skin, golden hair, and gorgeous clothes. They are completely charming women from the Venetian upper class, radiating the light of humanity. In order to cater to the pleasure needs of princes and nobles, painters not only depicted beautiful naked women, but also paired them with beautiful natural scenery. In order to fully display this beauty, painters attach great importance to the creation of colors. They are very good at discovering and expressing infinitely rich and gorgeous color changes from nature. If Florentine painters emphasized sketching and respected the symmetry, balance and harmony of composition, then Venetian painters devoted themselves to the pursuit of color and passionate communication, which laid the foundation for the development of modern European oil painting. Mannerism Mannerism, also known as Mannerism or Mannerism, refers to a special artistic phenomenon in the transitional period from Italian High Renaissance art to Baroque art. It is different from the sublime harmony of the Renaissance and later Baroque art, historians call the artistic style of this period "mannerism" or "mannerism". The artist consciously pursues a more extreme form and is keen on using complex images and movements to express inner turmoil and repressed emotions.

The main characteristics of Mannerist art are: a considerable number of nude figures in the performance themes, with weird and twisted postures and developed and exaggerated muscles. The ideological content of the works is relatively obscure and difficult for people to understand. ; The plot in the painting is often not shown in the visual center, but is vaguely in a secondary position. The so-called "Baroque" in Baroque art means grotesque and artificial in its Italian meaning; and irregularly shaped pearls in its Portuguese meaning. It is a derogatory term, and people borrowed the word baroque to mock art with this style. It originated in Italy in the 17th century and later affected European countries where Catholicism was prevalent. Because its social pillar is religion, it can spread to areas where the religion reaches as the religion spreads. The main characteristics of Baroque art are as follows: Because it serves the upper class of the church and the nobility, in order to promote religion and satisfy the desire for pleasure, no expense is spared to build luxurious palaces, residences and a large number of decorative paintings and sculptures, making it appear spectacular and gorgeous. Renaissance art emphasizes rational tranquility and harmony; while Baroque art emphasizes irrational endless fantasies and illusions, trying its best to break harmony and tranquility, and is full of tense dramatic atmosphere in sculptures and paintings. The architecture reflects the rich and varied structure, and the passion and strong sense of movement are the main characteristics of Baroque art. The works reflect the various complex thoughts and emotions in the writer's heart. Not only the external form is exciting, but the content is also unsettling. The sense of movement of the image is the soul of Baroque art. Its content is full of passion, and the form is full of intense movement. . Baroque artworks give people the impression that they are always in constant motion, with strong and complex rhythms and melodies. The strong contrast between light and dark creates a sense of dynamics and instability. Curves and ovals are used extensively in architecture. Baroque art attaches great importance to the processing of spatial relationships and expresses the three-dimensional space of artistic images. Painting relies on light modeling and pursues the sense of spatial depth. Architecture and sculpture emphasize layers and depth and try to break up planes. Baroque art also emphasizes comprehensive artistic processing. This synthesis generally includes the synthesis of architecture, sculpture and painting, as well as the mutual synthesis of painting and sculpture, the synthesis of modeling and environment, and also includes the synthesis of its own parts. Because Baroque art was supported and sheltered by religion, it was inevitably full of strong religious overtones.

Baroque art has different artistic styles in different countries and different social backgrounds: in Italy and Flanders, where Catholic forces dominate, the Roman Baroque style dominated by religious forces dominates; In France, where the monarchy and royal power are supreme, classical style is the mainstream; while in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, where capitalism is relatively developed, realist citizen art is popular. Rococo: A style of art and interior decoration in the 18th century, especially during the reign of Louis XV in France. Rococo style is the result of improvements based on the exquisite curves of the Italian Baroque period. The form is more slender and compact, and the colors are brighter. Rococo style was a rebellion against the solemn and luxurious classical art style of the Louis 14th era. It is dedicated to showing the light and intimate scenes of the rather trivial palace life, and sometimes also shows the pastoral scenery. Characterized by charm and affectation. The main representatives are Watteau, Boucher and Frago.

Visual Art - Rococo Realism The French painting world experienced the development from classicism to romanticism, and romanticism gradually broke away from the social reality of the time. In this context, some artists with progressive ideas believed that art should be based on real life, and put forward the slogan "art for life and the people", which gave birth to the realist art trend. Realist artists praise nature and labor, deeply and comprehensively showing the broad picture of real life, especially the lives and struggles of ordinary workers. At this moment, workers truly enter the palace of art and become the main image in paintings. Nature was also favored by realist painters as an independent subject.

The realism we are talking about here is a unique artistic phenomenon in the development of French art. It refers specifically to the artistic trend that emerged in the 19th century. At that time, people called it "realism". This school is undoubtedly Using realistic art creation methods. Its philosophical view is to seek truth and truth, which leads to its aesthetic view to regard truth as beauty and reality as beauty. This is the main feature of realism.

The class antagonism and struggle in French society were reflected in the painting world and became a debate between classicism and romanticism. Some painters disdained all these and quietly entered the village of Barbizon near the Fontainebleau Forest on the outskirts of Paris. They were all infinite. They love nature and advocate going to nature to directly depict the rich and colorful scenery. They regard depicting the richness, majesty, beauty and inner life of nature as their lifelong pursuit. They never impose their artistic beliefs on others. Because they all live in the village of Barbizon and paint nature together, this group of painters is called the "Barbizon School". The main representatives are Corot, Rousseau, and Trojon et al. The Nabis recognized Cézanne, Van Gogh and Gauguin as the founders of modern art in the 20th century, and their influence was limited while they were alive or after their deaths. A small sect of artists - the Nabis - inherited their ideas and spread them to the avant-garde painters of the 20th century.

In the summer of 1888, the 24-year-old Sélusier met Gauguin, who was painting there at the Pont Aven in Brittany, northwest France. Gauguin had just finished painting "Jacob and The subjective and mysterious symbolic color of the painting "Angels Fighting" conquered the young painter. He later went with Gauguin to sketch in a forest called the "Forest of Love". Gauguin pointed out the mystery of color: "What color should the trees be? Do you see more or less red? Very good, the one in the picture Put a real red somewhere. —And what about the shadows? If only there was a little blue there, and you put the most beautiful blue color on the palette there!" Selusie listened. He painted a small landscape painting on a cigarette box according to Gauguin's instructions. He took this painting back to the Académie Julian in Paris where he was studying. The onlookers were Bonnard, Vuillard, Ranson, and Valencia. Luotong et al. They suddenly became Gauguinists and called Selussier's small painting "talisman", and called the group of people who were lucky enough to receive this "gospel" "Nabi", which is "Nabi" in Hebrew. prophet". This is the origin of the Nabis.

The Nabis accepted Gauguin’s artistic influence and engaged in new exploration and development: that is, Gauguin’s comprehensive theory led to the solemn, simplified and deformed decorative style of symbolism, that is, to transform nature into Transplanted into the realm of wisdom and imagination. There are two types of so-called deformation: objective deformation based on a purely aesthetic and decorative idea and some technical principles of coloring and composition; subjective deformation that allows the artist's own feelings to enter the painting's expression.

The Nabis began with Selussier's "Amulet" and ended with Denis's "Homage to Cézanne". This shows that the value of the Nabis itself lies only in illuminating the visual methods of Cézanne and Gauguin. This is an observation method that emphasizes self-contemplation of the mind.

The Nabis later split into the Separatists, Synthetics, and Neo-Traditionalists. Brutalism Western modern art began to take shape in the early 20th century. The initial avant-garde art movement was "Fatalism". The word "beast" is used here to describe the shocking colors and distorted shapes in their paintings, which are obviously completely contrary to the shapes of nature.

At the Autumn Salon Exhibition in France in 1905, the works of nine young painters headed by Matisse were exhibited. Because their painting style was shocking, public opinion was in an uproar. The critic Louis Vauxcelle saw among the wildly colored paintings a work by Malgu that imitated the style of the Italian early Renaissance sculptor Donatello, and casually said: "Donatello" Surrounded by a group of wild animals." From then on, this group of painters was called "Fauvists".

Visual Art - Fauvism

This group of young painters headed by Matisse were not satisfied with the mysterious colors of symbolism and advocated the complete purification of colors in order to express the painter more clearly. feelings. Expressing emotions is the purpose of Fauvist painters.

The definition of Fauvism by the Fauvist painter Fritz is: "Through the symphony of colors, the same effect of daylight is achieved. Fanatical transference (the starting point is to be moved by nature) in the fiery The theory of truth is established in the pursuit of ""

The main principle of Brutalism is to use color to play the role of light to achieve the effect of space management, all using flat painting methods that have neither shape nor illusion of light and dark. To purify and simplify, to use composition, to achieve absolute unity between expression and decoration, between moving suggestion and internal order. Matisse said: "Composition is the art of arranging various materials used by painters to express their feelings in a decorative way."

Fauvist painters made extensive use of rough themes and strong The coloring, to celebrate the intense expressions of temperament, relies on structural principles, regardless of volume, objects and light and shade, using pure monochrome instead of perspective. Matisse's teacher Moreau once said to him: "You must simplify painting." Therefore, as the always representative of Fauvism, Matisse tenaciously restored color to its original power, simplicity and expressive meaning.

Fauvism began to decline in 1905 and was replaced by Cubism in 1908. Futurism On February 20, 1909, Italian poet Marinetti published "The Creation and Manifesto of Futurism" in Paris' Le Figaro.

On the one hand, the declaration eulogizes that modern industrial civilization, science and technology have completely changed the traditional concepts of time and space. "The magnificent world has gained a new kind of beauty - the beauty of speed." Therefore, it advocates that future literature and art should reflect modern machine civilization, speed , power and competition; on the other hand, they cursed all old traditional cultures, swept away all cultural heritage since ancient Rome, and advocated the destruction of all museums, libraries and colleges. They shouted: "Let's do it! Light up the bookshelves in the library! Bring the river water and flood all the museum galleries, ah! Watching those pretentious ancient paintings torn, faded, and floating on the water is... How happy! Raise your ax and hammer and destroy those castles that are regarded as gods without mercy!"

Painters Boccioni, Carla, Bala and others also responded on March 8, 1910. They published the "Manifesto of Futurist Painters" and the "Manifesto of Futurist Painting Techniques" in early April, indicating that their painting techniques were still essentially derived from Cubism. They added elements of speed and time to the multi-viewpoints of Cubism. Futurism in sculpture was practiced by Boccioni, who published the "Futurist Sculpture Manifesto" on April 11, 1912, declaring that "absolutely and completely abandon the outer contours and closed sculptures, let us tear apart the human body" And include its surrounding environment."

On July 11, 1914, Centria issued the "Futurist Architecture Manifesto", which advocated the use of mechanical structures and new materials to replace traditional building materials, while urban planning was based on population concentration and Rapid transit complements each other, creating a "future city" plan that includes underground railways, sliding walkways and grade-crossing road networks. And use steel, glass and fabric instead of brick, stone and wood to achieve optimal light and space.

There is also the "Futurist Clothing Manifesto" which calls on people to abolish clothing with dull colors and dull lines and replace it with new clothing with bright colors and sporty lines.

This genre actually ended when the war ended in 1918. Surrealism: A style of artistic expression influenced by Freudian psychoanalysis that emphasizes the absurd. It was originally a literary movement and a by-product of Dadaism. Surrealism was established by a literary manifesto published in 1924.

Visual Art Super Realism Super Realism is a new art school that emerged in the United States in the late 1960s. Artists of this school opposed the subconscious emotions of abstract art and did not express specific objects in modeling. They believe that the subjective ideas of the painter should be eliminated and the object should be reproduced purely objectively and truly, even like photography, so it is also called "photorealism".

Superrealist painters often drew on urban and rural scenes, and some specialized in portraiture. Close has painted some super-realistic portraits. What he depicts emphasizes not the inner spirit of the characters, but the physical resemblance. This kind of work is very large, not only directly copying photos, but also often using a slide projector to project the photo negatives on the canvas, carefully describing the outline and each part, and then adding colors. The works are extremely lifelike and delicate, and even a hair can be seen. After the painting, someone said: "Standing in front of his painting, you can feel the skin of the characters in the painting breathing and sweating, and you can even see them flashing through pain, fatigue and horrific physiological conditions. The picture presents a cold, Most of them do not have the high temperament of romanticism. What he paints is neither human nor non-human, but a kind of creature that is reduced to neutrality and only has biological functions."

The art of hyperrealism is "just a kind of substance in this world full of matter." The American critic Canard once said: "No matter what the shortcomings of pop art and hyperrealism, as an anti-abstract movement "What they show is very different from the dying art of realism. They have a potential trend in the 20th century, which is to continue the form that has the most expressive power and can be best utilized by artists since ancient times."