Hello viewers.
Welcome to mooc’s online course on ‘Introduction
to Modern Western Art Movements and Artists’.
This is the second module of the 1st week
introducing modern western art and in this
module today, we will be looking at the pre
history of modern art and it is important
to look at the art traditions preceding modern
art because of obvious reasons.
One of the reasons being with the movement
modern art emerged in the scene, we witness
or radical departure and in order to understand
this movement of departure, we need to look
at briefly the art, the tradition of art practice,
that preceded the modern art.
Pre-history of modern art generally implies
the art of the past the immediate past or
slightly removed past which was integral to
the ideas of religious art, mythological art,
and pleasant looking art; art that is comfortable
to look at, art that basically nurtures the
pleasant and comfortable senses, art that
satisfies a visual perception that thrives
on the classical idea of beauty.
Modern art is going to challenge all these
assumptions from mid 19th century.
Art of the past, particularly since the renaissance
period developed a realistic style, a style
of painting and sculpture which is convincing,
which is realistic, and so tactile in quality
that to us this entire tradition appears to
be almost like an replication, like an imitation
of reality.
We have a term for that we say it is mimetic
art and the term mimetic art is derived from
the concept of mimesis which refers to the
act of imitating nature.
Since Renaissance onwards the entire tradition
of visual art is basically mimetic art, the
style of representation is based on the theory
of mimesis, the idea of mimesis to the extent
that a painting or a sculpture would look
like a replication, or a copy, or an imitation
of the reality, of the nature, of something
that is tangible.
Modern art is going to once again challenge
this assumption as well.
You know, as a part of this realistic style
the characteristic features, which appear
in this style where we see a very convincing
landscape, which looks like an extension of
this phase that you the viewer is occupying.
We see figures human figures, animal figures,
or birds whatever anatomically correct, there
is no distortion, no disfiguration, anatomically
accurate figures.
And we also say fairly convincing and I would
say illusionistic effect of light and shade
in the painting.
So, realistic style that developed since Renaissance
onwards, before the advent of modern art,
this realistic style enabled the artist to
achieve these three aspects apart from others.
For example, when you look at landscape like
this and please remember this landscape was
painted at least 150 years or 200 years before
the invention of camera, but this kind of
oil paintings can actually replicate nature
represent nature so vividly, so realistically,
that it could be considered and accepted as
a convincing, appropriate and absolutely reliable
visual representation of nature.
So obviously, this kind of art prospered to
a great extent people loved to have this kind
of art works at their homes, rich people commissioned
artists to do this kind of art works for them.
So, this was by and large the language of
art that dominated the entire Europe for a
long long time since late 15th and early 16th
century.
Along with the rendering of realistic light
and shade which is known as technically speaking
Chiaroscuro, art of the past since Renaissance
developed a highly skilled technique of perspective.
Now, this application of perspective or theory
of perspective is going to be upturned later
by the modern artists say for example, somebody
like Picasso would reverse the whole idea
of perspective and come up with a radical
idea called ‘Cubism’ we will come to that
later.
Now, this technique of perspective made the
paintings in the traditional western art look
even more convincing.
And the paintings become very realistic in
it is appearance and also illusionistic.
Continuously these kind of paintings created
an illusion of real space, real surface, real
figures, real forms, even real light and shade.
The paintings and sculptures in the tradition
created an illusion of the real.
In modern art, nobody would ever try to create
an illusion of the real they would rather
try, as I have mentioned in my earlier module,
they would rather try to interpret the real.
So, illusion of real space, perspective, chiaroscuro
and narrative contents this is very important.
A large chunk of what is known as pre modern
art has as subject matter narrative elements
they tell you stories and quite explicitly.
In modern art, they do not tell you stories
there might be stories embedded in the subject
matters, but modern artists have never used
art as a story telling device.
And there are many examples from modern western
art where the whole idea of image is non narrative,
beyond storytelling and we would see that
kind of paintings or sculptures when we talk
about abstract art later.
So, narrative contents, perspective, illusion
of real space, chiaroscuro, these were the
main characteristics of pre modern art and
a strong tradition thus developed to preserve
these techniques.
So, you see modern art had to face, and modern
artists had to face naturally the presence
of a very very strong tradition, which kind
of flourished over a period of 400-500 years.
Now, as I have told you these aesthetic foundations
would be severely questioned, challenged and
upturned by the new aesthetic formulations
in modern art by the modern artists.
Since 16th century until the emergence of
modern art in the mid 19th century, the Western
art tradition, generally speaking, was steeped
in a realistic, illusionistic mode of representation,
right.
And if we try to identify the the areas where
they focused on the tradition, in general
irrespective of the subject matters the main
thrust was thus on a) realistic rendering
of forms, b) illusionistic effect of space,
c) tactile sensation and, d) photographic
impression of light and shade.
Well, we are using the term photographic here,
but in the context of 16th, 17th, 18th century
it is completely anachronic to use the term
photography because the idea of photography
didn’t exist at all at that point of time.
When we say photographic impression of light
and shade, today we are using this term from
the experience that we have had at looking
at the photographs or taking photographs,
but for the tradition, or for the artists
who worked within the tradition, for them
it was not photographic, they did not have
the idea of photography to all.
For them it was realistic, it was painting
that is how a painting should look like.
It should be able to recapture the reality
in the language of art, that should be the
objective of any art for that matter painting
or sculpture.
This was a very, very strong base, foundation
for the entire traditional art since the Renaissance
period in the west until the emergence of
modern art.
So, to put it simply the visual representation
was based on factual observation.
Factual observation is something that all
visual artists do, no matter what whether
he is an abstract painter or realistic painter
or conceptual artists, no matter what everybody
observes.
But it does not necessarily mean as far as
the modern artist concerned that you have
to replicate your observation into your art.
Now this is what traditional modern art, I
mean traditional western artists would do.
They would observe to replicate their observations
in their art.
So factual observation, along with scientific
study and a realistic skill.
Now, realistic skill is something that is
not given it needs to be achieved and all
the traditional artists in the west they achieved
this skill to an extent that their works even
today this despite the presence of photography
in our culture for last more than 150 years
even today many of this fantastic, realistic
paintings from the western traditional art
they look incredibly convincing.
They can create illusion to the extent that
you feel like touching the drapery or the
cloth painted on the canvas almost forgetting
that it is actually canvas, not a cloth and
we get equally amazed even today, this is
because of the skill that these artists achieved.
So, preoccupation with realistic detailing
was a major characteristic feature of this
tradition as you can see in these images and
for that matter.
Somebody like Leonardo da Vinci from the Renaissance
period would go to the extent of doing some
drawings, studies, anatomical studies, not
like an artist, but almost like a scientist
and he did that.
So, Leonardo da Vinci like many other Renaissance
artists was consider not only as an artists,
but as an artist scientist because their approaches
to art was tied up integrally tied up with
their approaches to science and art was know
of a science and art was not demarcated in
a very strong way.
They overlapped and they exchanged ideas and
in one person like Leonardo, both these characteristics
both these persona could exist.
Aand look at this drawing of a Lion by the
famous Dutch painter called Rembrandt.
I mean it is a sketch not a detailed drawing,
but even a quick sketch like this reveals
that Rembrandt was a keen observer of the
reality a) and b) he did have that skill,
he did have that ability to copy his observation
to the extent that anatomically, in terms
of proportion, in terms of appearance, look,
in terms of the surface, surface quality,
everything, the lion looks very realistic
very convincing, though it is a drawing, not
a photograph.
The same applies to the sculptures in the
traditional western art in terms of proportion,
anatomical accuracy, in terms of the surface
detailing, surface treatment their entire
approach to recreate reality.
Hence realism was the dominant feature in
the history of pre-modern painting as well
as pre-modern sculpture.
.
So as you keep looking at these examples;
whether it is from Renaissance or early Renaissance
or later once again, irrespective of the subject
matter the language of art the entire tradition
choose to depict their subject matters was
realistic, was illusionistic to the extent
as you can see in this work the medium here
for example, marble, loses, or it tends to
lose it’s quality of stone and it becomes
as it were like a cloth.
And this is the skill I am talking about,
the sculptor did have the skill to turn cloth,
or stone into a cloth.
The stone now looks like a cloth, the stone
looks like the skin of a body, the stone does
not look like stone anymore.
So, transforming the medium of stone into
a kind of surface that is going to evoke the
illusion, that is suppose to can you give
you this sense of reality was the main objective
for these artists and later of course, in
the modern art we shall see just the opposite.
Where the artist would love to retain the
characteristic features of the stone, would
love to maintain the quality of the stone,
no matter what the subject matter is.
So similar kind of approach through the medium,
material can be seen in most of the traditional
sculptures and the paintings where the medium
whether it is stone or oil paint or water
color or brush or ink is simply a tool to
convert an image into a reality in appearance.
Of course, in reality they could never be
converted as stone ultimately remains a stone,
the oil ultimately remains an oil paint, but
it should be painted, it should be sculpted
in a way that they appear to be very realistic,
they appear to be very real and this is what
mimeses is all about and that is what exactly
I was trying to say that mimetic art dominated
the entire European tradition from late 15th
and early 16th century onwards until the emergence
of modern western art.
We look at this sculpture called David very
famous sculpture by Michalengelo.
Again, in spite of the fact that it is made
in stone, stone is very very different material,
though it is very soft, but the way you sculpt
this sculpture can turn the stone into a form
that comes very close to the feel of the flesh,
but the stone never become flesh.
The stone remains a stone it is an illusion
of flesh that these artists are trying to
produce.
So subject matters of the art works of pre-modern
phase of course varied, there is a diversity
and the certain themes, there are certain
themes which were more dominant than others.
Now let us identify those themes and subject
matters which dominated the pre-modern traditional
western art.
Number one of course, is a Religious subject
matters, secondly, Mythological themes, thirdly,
Historical topics which are also renaissance
history paintings, 4) Legends from the past,
5) Life and portraits of the rich people who
commissioned arts, you get to seen in all
a number of paintings portraits of the entire
figures seated on the chair things like that
which are like commissioned paintings or sculptures
commission by the rich people.
And hence you get this subject matter and
a lot of art works based on the subject matter
is available from the western traditional
art, number 6) Interior scenes or domestic
scenes.
There is, I mean it is a very refer subject
matter it seems, partly commissioned partly
a preference that comes from the artists,
then of course landscape, scenic beauty of
nature seems to be a very favorite subject
for many artists and finally last, but not
the least still- life Realistic representation
of objects like fruits, glass, bottles, plates,
table anything.
Now, few examples from each of these categories:
Christian and religious themes.
And as you might been knowing already this
is a whole body of art works from the western
traditional art which thrive on these themes
Christian themes and religious themes.
And there could be slight stylistic differences,
but the main focus is on realism.
No matter what the subject matter is the focus
is on realism from late 15th and early 16th
century onwards.
Mythological themes of course, it is connected
to Christianity, but then it has a mythological
bearing because it talks about the creation
of mankind, but done very realistically.
So that it appears very real though it is
mythology which resides in our imagination,
but it is portrait or depicted very realistically
as if it did happen in real life.
Then of course, Historical paintings for example,
this painting this image of Socrates, having
the poison hemlock and each and every person
has been depicted with the light and shade
and look at the cloth, look at the perspectives,
space, with great detailing and that is by
today, I will people like us who are accustomed
with the culture of photography we cannot,
but it is very difficult to avoid the whole
idea of photography, when we look at paintings
like this.
So, in spite of the anachronism I was talking
about we get tempted to use, wow! what a photographically
correct and reliable painting this one is.
So, there are a number of paintings in the
western tradition, where history or historical
event or historical movement has been reconstructed,
right.
Like this one, the School of Athens by Rafael.
Then almost similar to mythology there are
paintings which deal with the legends from
the past, but then again done in a very realistic
manner.
Yes, this is one example of a painting that
belongs to that category of life and portraits
of the rich people, plenty of such paintings
are available.
It is an entire category of paintings and
these are all with all probability commissioned
art works; artists were commissioned to do
these paintings for the rich aristocratic
people of the society and the artist had to
paint this people in a way the seaters wanted
them to be painted.
So, not only that the painting was commissioned
the idea was commissioned even the subject
matter, the composition, often got dictated
by the person who is commissioning this painting.
Now, this is the way the artists actually
earned their money.
This was a part of their living and this tradition,
this culture, kind of compelled the artists
to achieve this realistic skill.
So, that they could use this skill to earn
their bread and butter, and we also have beautiful
paintings from this category of interior and
domestic scenes.
But here, this impeccable application of perspective,
realistic details, light and shade, sense
of volume, the tactile quality of cloth, wall
and different objects
make these paintings look very not only realistic
though so, with this paintings very believable,
very convincing, they do not look like that
there is any imagination in this painting.
But contrary to this idea, even in a realist
painting, it is possible for the artists to
add his or her own imagination, but because
the style is so realistic, that it never becomes
very conspicuous or obvious.
Everything seems to be derived from what the
artists has observed in the real life in his
imaginary setting and of course, lastly and
the second last category was scenic beauty
of the nature.
This is something that artists excelled in
to a great extent, like this also and still-life.
We have a very strong tradition of painting
still-lives in the western art tradition.
Once again it is a peculiar category where
even though still life painting sometimes
look like random composition they are not
so random, everything is pretty arranged,
but the painters through their realistic skill
could make the paintings look very random,
abrupt arbitrary, though it is not, but all
said and done the realistic skill involved
in the depiction of the subject matters make
the paintings looks so real that one almost
gets tempted to touch the lobster or smell
the fruits or pour the liquid from the vase.
Yes, it is that kind of realism we are talking
about.
The pre-modern phase almost comes to an end
when a mid 19th century British painter called
Turner refused to follow the classical style
of the tradition and invented his own technique
and vision of landscape.
As you can see here, Turner paints a certain
landscape in a way which was never painted
before.
It is very un-classical very nontraditional
in every sense of the world.
In our 4th module in this week, will be talking
about Turner’s paintings in great detail
and then we shall discuss why this painting
is a strong departure from the traditional
landscape paintings.
And later in early 20th century one of the
most famous artists call Pablo Picasso would
put the last nail on the classical art by
doing a painting where figure seem to be distorted
beyond recognition, yes.
Even Turner’s paintings where almost verging
on the threshold from where recognition would
get very difficult, but here in this painting
by Picasso recognition may not be at stake,
but what is at stake is realism because this
is not how real women real figures, real human
beings, look in real life and this is what
exactly Picasso does, and proposes a new idea
called Cubism.
In the next module, we will be looking at
more sequentially you know, in an ordered
manner, the timeline, the chronology of modern
art, which leaves the traditional western
art behind once and for all and embarks on
an entirely new journey of art.
Thank you.
