“The most important aspects of classical art,” observed German historian and archaeologist Johann J. Winckelmann, “is its noble simplicity and calm grandeur.” As an archaeologist, Winckelmann became inspired by the ancient artifacts being recovered at the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum. In the late 1700s, the popular stylization in European art was baroque and rococo styles. To critics, these styles were vain and overly ostentatious to be truly considered art. Rococo art, for example, symbolized European aristocracy with its attention on great scale and themes of worldly pleasures. Likewise, baroque art became an institutionalized art because it often portrayed the grandeur and power of the Catholic Church, which supported the style. The new age of painters became disenchanted with this status quo. Occurring concurrent with societal and political shifts in Europe, neoclassical style was born. Continue reading to THE ARTICLE »
In our society, an obsession with the human body is commonly interpreted to signify a perversion. To neoclassical painters, such a cynical view is understandable. Not because the person himself (let us be honest about the popularly accused gender) is perverted per se, but because etiquette and morality has trumped understanding and reason. This signifies a different sort of societal perversion; a different sort of decadence. Neoclassical painters explicitly created their works to reverse this decadence, to return to the days when proper virtue and culture reigned supreme. The classical Greek and Roman civilizations, for example, affirmed their existence and embodied all that was good and possible for humanity. Society has often gone astray from this ideal, but painting was capable of helping restore and immortalize perfection. Neoclassical painters built neoclassicism on this possibility to restore perfection. Among the most prominent figures in this neoclassical movement was Jean-August Dominique Ingres. Continue reading to THE ARTICLE »
The vision of Joseph Marie Vien had for his paintings were to resurrect a classical style of art that had been led astray. Born in France in 1748 during a time when revolutionary sentiments began cooking, Joseph Marie Vien became a revolutionary in his own form. He began a movement through his neoclassical style. Whereas the paintings of his day concerned themselves more with frivolity and design, Joseph Marie Vien concerned himself with returning to the ideals of classical Greek and Roman antiquity. His style was minimalist in shapes and design, but his goal, as an artist, was for the thematic weight of his pieces to carry its weight. Continue reading to THE ARTICLE »
The movement of neoclassicism in art is often mistakenly characterized by its secularism. French painters that became the leaders of the neoclassical movement such as Jacques Louis-David and Joseph Marie Vien dedicated their paintings to support the political and social changes of their time. Namely, the French Revolution which sought to reject in one fell swoop its historical precedents, traditions, and what individuals viewed to be institutional impediments in achieving full human potential. The Church was viewed to be among these institutions. In this way, neoclassical arts evolved to be viewed as being antithetical to the traditions that were developed in post-classical Greek and Roman civilizations. But, that is a false conclusion to draw. One of the great painters of 18th century, Continue reading to THE ARTICLE »
