Romanticism

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ROMANTICISM
The Artistic Expression of Liberalism
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The Spirit of the Age (1790-1850)

• A sense of a shared vision among the Romantics.
• Early support of the French Revolution.
• Rise of the individual ? alienation.
• Dehumanization of industrialization.
• Radical poetics / politics ? an obsessionwith
  violent change.

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Romanticism is characterized by the 5 Is

• Imagination
• Intuition
• Idealism
• Inspiration
• Individuality

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Emotions! Passion! Irrationality!
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A Growing Distrust of Reason
Early19c
Enlightenment
Romanticism
Society is good, curbing violent impulses!
Civilization corrupts!

• The essence of human experience is subjective and
  emotional.
• Romantics placed value on intuition, or feeling
  
• and instincts, over reason
• Human knowledge is a puny thing compared to other
  great historical forces.
• Individual rights are dangerous efforts at
  selfishness ? the community is more important.

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The Romantic Movement

• Began in the 1790s and peaked in the 1820s.
• Mostly in Northern Europe, especially in Britain
  and Germany.
• A reaction against classicism.
• The Romantic Hero
• Greatest example was Lord Byron
• Tremendously popular among the European reading
  public.
• Youth imitated his haughtiness and
  rebelliousness.

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Characteristics of Romanticism

• The Engaged Enraged Artist
• The artist apart from society.
• The artist as social critic/revolutionary.
• The artist as genius.
• The Romantic artist, musician, or writer, is an
  inspired creator rather than a technical
  master.

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The "Rugged" Individual
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Wandering Above the Sea of FogCaspar David
Friedrich,1818
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Characteristics of Romanticism

• The Individual/ The Dreamer
• Individuals have unique, endless potential.
• Self-realization comes through art
• Artists are the true philosophers.

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The Dreamer Gaspar David Friedrich, 1835
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The Power Fury of Nature
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Characteristics of Romanticism

• Glorification of Nature
• Peaceful, restorative qualities an escape from
  industrialization and the dehumanization it
  creates.
• Awesome, powerful, horrifying aspects of nature.
• Indifferent to the fate of humans.
• Overwhelming power of nature.

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An Avalanche in the AlpsPhilip James de
Loutherbourg, 1803
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The DelugeFrancis Danby, 1840
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Winter Landscape with ChurchGaspar David
Friedrich, 1811
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Tree of CrowsCaspar David Friedrich, 1822
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Romanticizing Country Life
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Flatford Mill John Constable, 1817
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The Corn FieldJohn Constable,1826
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The Gothic "Romanticizing" the Middle Ages
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Characteristics of Romanticism

• Revival of Past Styles
• Gothic Romanesque revival.
• Neo-Gothic architectural style.
• Medieval ruins were a favorite theme for art and
  poetry.

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Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishops GroundJohn
Constable, 1825
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Salisbury Cathedral from the MeadowsJohn
Constable, 1831
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Eldena RuinGaspar David Friedrich, 1825
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The Exotic, the Occult, and the Macabre!
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Characteristics of Romanticism

• The Supernatural
• Ghosts, fairies, witches, demons.
• The shadows of the minddreams madness.
• The romantics rejected materialism in pursuit of
  spiritual self-awareness.
• They yearned for the unknown and the unknowable.

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Cloister Cemetery in the SnowCaspar David
Friedrich, 1817-1819
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Pity - William Blake, 1795
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The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with
the SunWilliam Blake, 1808-1810
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Witches SabbathFrancisco Goya,1798
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Music

• 1730-1820
• Classical music emphasized internal order and
  balance
• Classical musicians included composers like
  Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Franz Josef Haydn.

• 1800-1910
• Romantic music emphasized expression of feelings.
• Romantic musicians included composers like
  Frederic Chopin, Franz Lizst, Pyotr Ilyich
  Tchaikovsky

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Return to Christian Mysteries
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God as the Architect - William Blake, 1794
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Elohim Creating AbrahamWilliam Blake, 1805
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Faust and MephistophelesEugène Delacroix,
1826-1827
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The Great Age of the Novel
Gothic Novel Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
(1847) Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
(1847) Science Fiction Novel Frankenstein -
Mary Shelley (1817) Dracula Bramm Stoker
(1897) Historical Novel Les Miserables -
Victor Hugo (1862) The Three Musketeers
Alexander Dumas (1844)
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(No Transcript)
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Other Romantic Writers
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm - Grimms Fairy
Tales (1814-1816)
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Faust
(1806-1832)
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The Romantic Poets

• Percy Byssche Shelley
• Lord Byron
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge
• William Wordsworth
• John Keats
• William Blake

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MaryShelley Frankenstein
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SirWalterScott Ivanhoe
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WilliamWordsworthsPoems Tintern Abbey The
World Is Too Much With Us, Late and Soon
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SamuelTaylorColeridgesPoem, The Rimeof
theAncientMariner
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Bibliographic Sources

• CGFA A Virtual Art Museum.
  http//cgfa.sunsite.dk/fineart.htm
• Romanticism on Artchive.
  http//artchive.com/artchive/romanticism.html