Modern Art (1860-1970)
• There is no exact definition of modern art.
• There is no one style.
• Most scholars agree, however, that the term applies to art
produced roughly during the years 1860-1970.
• Artists practicing in this “style” generally reject Renaissancebased convention in favor of the new and experimental.
– These artists experimented with materials, subject matter,
technique, and developed new theories about art, its role in the
modern world, and the function of the artist.
• Scholars debate the exact onset of modern art in the visual
arts.
– Many consider artists, Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) and Édouard
Manet (1832-1883), and the schools of Realism and Impressionism
to be at the forefront of its birth.
– In general, those who would be considered modern artists rejected
traditional academic art forms associated with the 18th and early
19th centuries.
Becoming Modern
• Modernism refers to
the period from
1850 to 1960.
• Modern Art
(arguably) begins
with Realism and
ends with Abstract
Expressionism.
• Period characterized
by a tremendous
amount of different
artistic styles.
Gustave Courbet, The Stone Breakers, 1849. Oil on
canvas, 65” × 128”× 12134”. Now destroyed.
Becoming Modern
Realism (1840-late 19th
century)
• Social change, triggered
by the Industrial
Revolution, leads to
greater emphasis by
artists on realism of
subject matter.
• The role of the artist
changes-the artist is now
a social commentator, a
bohemian living on the
outskirts of society.
Gustave Courbet, The Meeting (Bonjour M.
Courbet), 1854. Oil on canvas, 52” x 59.3”.
Musée Fabre de Montpellier, Australia.
Becoming Modern
• The popularization of
photography is also
responsible for the move
toward Realism in
painting.
• Artists were now
competing with a
machine in attempt to
depict subjects in
objective reality.
Announcing the invention of photography (the
daguerreotype) at The Joint Meeting of the
Academies of Science and Fine Arts in the Institute of
France, Paris, August 19, 1839, unsigned engraving.
Photography
• 1839 Daguerre demonstrates to
the public the daguerreotype-a
technology that permanently
affixed an image of the world
on a flat surface
• Some painters embraced this
new technology (Edgar Degas
and Thomas Eakins)
experimenting with
photography and using it as a
tool; while others, artists and
critics, alike were skeptical
• Photography was not included
within the various important art
exhibitions
Louis-Jacqyes-Mandé Daguerre, The Artist’s
Studio,1837. Société Française de Photographie,
Paris.
Photography
• Almost immediately,
photographers began
to exploit the visual
and creative nature of
this new medium.
• Many, like Daguerre,
look to master painters
from the Renaissance
and Baroque for
inspiration.
Pieter Claesz, Still-Life with Skull
and Writing Quill ,1628. Oil on
wood, 9 ½” x 14 1/8”.
Metropolitan Museum of Art,
NYC.
– Seen here, Daguerre
mimics Claesz’s still
life to create his own,
modern version.
Louis-Jacqyes-Mandé
Daguerre, The Artist’s
Studio,1837. An early
daguerreotype taken in the
artist’s studio. Société
Française de Photographie,
Paris.
Photography
• Photography was
used to document
(or re-enact)
important
historical events
not unlike
paintings prior to
its invention.
Re-enactment of the October 16, 1846 ether
operation. Daguerreotype by Southworth & Hawes.
Library of Congress.
Rembrandt, Anatomy Lesson of Dr.
Tulp, 1632. oil on canvas, 85.2” × 66.7”.
Mauritshuis, The Hague.
Thomas Eakins, The Gross Clinic, 1875. Oil on
canvas 8’x 6’6.“ Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA.
Photography
• Muybridge (1830-1904),
originally a landscape
photographer, became
best known for his
ground-breaking work in
animal locomotion-he
used photography to
capture and understand
motion (of horses,
humans, etc.).
– His technique used
multiple cameras to
capture a horse galloping.
Eadweard Muybridge, The Horse in Motion,187887. Wet-plate photograph.
• Humans in
motion.
Eadweard Muybridge, The Body in Motion, c. 1878-87. Wet-plate photograph.
Chinese Horse, c.15,000-10,000 BCE. Lascaux Caves, France. First
discovered 1940.
• Prior to Muybridge’ studies, painters did not fully understand the physical
movement of horses (for example).
• Before Muybridge, painters did not know that while running, all of a horse’s hooves
leave the ground.
– Historically, this resulted in rather unbelievable
renditions of a horse in motion, often referred to as
the “hobby-horse”.
– Artists, including the Renaissance master, Leonardo
da Vinci, studied horse for a better understanding of
how they move.
– This was not fully understood until Muybridge’s
efforts.
Leonardo da Vinci, Study of Horses, (details from the artist’s
notebook.), 1494. Silverpoint on prepared paper. Royal Library,
Windsor.
Eadweard Muybridge, The Horse in Motion,1878-87. Wetplate photograph.
• Muybridge’s findings enabled painters to present more believable
representations of animals and humans in motion.
• Artists like Degas reference
photography for various
reasons, including painting
anatomically correct
animals in motion.
Edgar Degas, The Jockey, 1889.
Pastel on paper, 12 ½” x 19 ¼”.
Philadelphia Museum of Fine Art, PA.
Photography
• Introduced to the public in
1839, photography
experienced great success
and popularity with the
general public.
• Still, photography faced many
critics who rejected its efforts
to become considered a fine
art.
• This lithograph demonstrates
the debate of the medium
and its status as technical
Honorè Daumier, Nadar Elevating
Photography to the Height of Art, 1862.
process or fine art.
Lithograph, 10 11/16” x 8 ¾”. Museum
of Fine Arts, Boston.
Photography
• To advocate photography’s acceptance as a fine art,
photographers copied well-known paintings to
demonstrate its aesthetic potential.
Thomas Couture, Romans of the
Decadene, 1847. Oil on canvas, 185.8” x
303.9”. Musée d'Orsay, Paris.
Oscar Rejlander, The Two Ways of Life, 1857.
Combination albumen print. Royal
Photographic Society, England.
Photography
• Photographers
opened portrait
studios and often
entertained (and
competed for) wellknown personalities
to add to their
collection.
• Photographers often
referenced famous
portraits while
composing
photographs of their
subjects.
Nadar, Portrait of Sarah
Bernhardt,1864. Photograph,
9 5/8” x 9 3/8”. Bibliothèque
Nationale de France, Paris.
– Here, Nadar takes
the ¾ pose used by
Leonardo when
painting the Mona
Lisa.
Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa,
1503-06. Oil on poplar wood,
30”x21”. Musée du Louvre, Paris.
Schools of Modern Art
Realism (1840-late 19th century)
• The Realist movement thrived in
France from approximately 1840
until the late nineteenth century.
• Realists sought to express a
truthful and objective vision of
contemporary life.
• Realists began to challenge
conventions upheld by the
academy experimenting with
subject matter, process, and
interjecting social commentary
into their work.
• French painter, Gustave Courbet
(1819-1877), is considered the
leader of the Realist movement.
– Artists like Édouard Manet would
inherit his innovative style.
Gustave Courbet, A Burial at Ornans, 18491850. Oil on canvas, 123.6” x 261”, Musee
d'Orsay, Paris. Exhibited at the 1850–1851
Paris Salon created an "explosive reaction" and
brought Courbet instant fame. Fig. 24.1
Becoming Modern
• Realism is a response to its times.
– It is a rejection of Romanticism.
– It is a response to photography.
– Its is a response to the revolutionary attitude of
the day.
– It is a quest for truth.
• Realism links Romanticism with
Impressionism.
Schools of Modern Art
Realism (1840-late 19th century)
•
Courbet’s A Burial at Ornans
demonstrates what Realist artists
sought:
– Courbet paints an actual event, one
that is more personal than
historically important, the death of
a relative.
– He uses the ordinary people that
attended this event.
– He paints them as they were, not
beautiful or idealized, but accurate.
• Critics argued his faces were
caricature and accused the
artist of “a deliberate pursuit of
ugliness.”
– The painting is a real life depiction
of Ornans- its people and events.
Gustave Courbet, A Burial at Ornans,18491850. Oil on canvas, 123.6” x 261”, Musee
d'Orsay, Paris.
Schools of Modern Art
Realism (1840-late 19th century)
• Critics rejected the work
based on its subject matter– Academic convention ruled
that large canvases (this
painting measures 10 feet by
22) was reserved for
historically important events
and people (battle scenes,
religious imagery, political
leaders), not ordinary life.
• Courbet attempts with this
piece to “thrust himself into
the grand tradition of history
painting”.
Gustave Courbet, A Burial at Ornans,18491850. Oil on canvas, 123.6” x 261”, Musee
d'Orsay, Paris.
Schools of Modern Art
Realism (1840-late 19th century)
• In addition, critics
rejected the style in
which it was painted.
– Courbet asserts the
paint’s texture.
• Courbet employs texture
to make the image
painted seem more
tangible and NOT to
explore Romantic notions
of the sublime.
Gustave Courbet, A Burial at Ornans, 18491850. Oil on canvas, 123.6” x 261”, Musee
d'Orsay, Paris.
Becoming Modern
Realism (1850-late 19th century)
• Partly responsible
for the movement’s
name, The Painter’s
Studio was rejected
by the Exposition of
1855
• In response Courbet
opens his own
exhibition, "Le
Realisme” or
“Exhibition of
Realism”
Gustave Courbet, The Painter’s Studio: A real allegory
summing up seven years of my artistic and moral life,
1855. Oil on canvas, 11’ 10 ¼ x 19‘ 7 ½ “. Musée
d'Orsay, Paris.
Schools of Modern Art
Characteristics of Realist paintings include:
• Commitment to verisimilitude (the appearance of truth in
painting)
• Rendering of the everyday (person, experience)
• Rejection of the theatrical, dramatic, or ceremonial
• A replacement of convention and the grandiose for the
commonplace
• Rejection of the ideal for the familiar
• Rejection of universal truths
• Debate with conventional aesthetics
“The Painter of Modern Life”
• Written in 1860 by French poet
Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867),
“The Painter of Modern Life”
summarizes the new role of the
artist.
• Although the poet did not know the
painter Édouard Manet (1832-1883)
while writing the article, the two
became close friends and Manet
representative of Baudelaire’s
“painter of modern life.”
• Manet painted in a style all his own
oscillating between Realism and
Impressionism (he does not belong
specifically in any one category, he
painted in both styles)
Édouard Manet, Autoportrait à la palette
(Self-Portrait with Palette), 1878/1879.
Oil on canvas, 33” × 26”. Private
Collection, Greenwich, Connecticut
Becoming Modern
• Considered by many to be the first
modern painter, Manet’s paintings
became watershed moments in the
history of art and inspired generations
of avant-garde artists.
• His Déjeuner sur l’herbe, introduced to
the public at the Salon des Refusés in
1863.
– The Salon des Refusés, or “salon of the
refused” was an exhibition of works
rejected by the Paris Salon.
– After artists protested the 3,000
paintings rejected by the Salon, Emperor
Napolean III ordered the works to be
displayed in the Salon des Refusés.
– Even though the official Salon rejected
these works, the attention established
Édouard Manet, Déjeuner sur l’herbe
the “rejected” artists as the leaders of
(Luncheon on the Grass), 1863. Oil on
modern art’s avant-garde.
canvas, 6’9 1/8” x 8’ 10 ¼”. Musée
d'Orsay, Paris.
Becoming Modern
• Although he was considered
the leader of the avantgarde, Manet DID seek
official acknowledgment
from the Salon.
• Manet was a realist who
sought to obtain recognition
working within the
conventions of the Salon-but
in a modernized way.
• In Déjeuner sur l’herbe he
quotes from Renaissance
artists before him.
Édouard Manet, Déjeuner sur l’herbe
(Luncheon on the Grass), 1863. Oil on
canvas, 6’9 1/8” x 8’ 10 ¼”. Musée
d'Orsay, Paris.
Titian,(formerly thought to be by Giorgione), The
Pastoral Symphony (Fête Champêtre), c. 1510. Oil on
canvas, approx. 3' 7" x 4' 6” . Musée du Louvre, Paris.
Édouard Manet, Déjeuner sur l’herbe (Luncheon
on the Grass), 1863. Oil on canvas; 6’9 1/8” x 8’ 10
¼”. Musée d'Orsay, Paris.
Marcantonio Raimondi, The Judgment of
Paris, c. 1510-18. Engraving based on
Raphael cartoon, 11 ½” x 17 3/16”.
Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Becoming Modern
• Manet continued to
scandalize Paris with with
the exhibition of Olympia
at the 1865 Salon.
• With this piece, Manet
joined many artists before
him in taking on the
subject of the female
nude.
Édouard Manet,Olympia,1863-65. Oil on
canvas, 4’3” x 6’2 ¾”. Musée d'Orsay,
Paris.
Giorgione, Sleeping Venus, c. 1510. Oil on
canvas, 42.5” x 68.9”. Gemäldegalerie Alte
Meister, Dresden
• The subject of the reclining female nude was first explored in 1510 by
Renaissance master, Giorgione (1477/8 -1510).
• Upon completing the background of Sleeping Venus after the artist’s death,
Titian (1488/90-1576), a student of Giorgione, created his own Venus and
thus began a long history of the female nude depicted in a landscape.
• Titian’s Venus of Urbino takes Giorgione’s
subject (the female nude) and domesticates
her, brings her indoors.
Titian, Venus of Urbino, 1538. Oil on canvas 47” x 65”. Uffizi,
Florence.
Giorgione, Sleeping Venus, c.
1510. Oil on canvas, 42.5” x
68.9”. Gemäldegalerie Alte
Meister, Dresden
Francisco Goya, The Nude Majas, 1792.
Oil on canvas, 38.6” x 75.2”. Prado
Museum, Spain.
• With Olympia in 1863, Manet joins the ranks of the many painters
before him who have taken the female nude as subject.
Titian, Venus of Urbino, 1538. Oil on
canvas 47” x 65”. Uffizi, Florence.
Édouard Manet,Olympia,1863-65. Oil
on canvas, 4’3” x 6’2 ¾”. Musée
d'Orsay, Paris.
Becoming Modern
• What offended the public was not
Olympia’s nudity.
• It was her confrontational stare
implicating the audience, the viewer
as client and voyeur.
• Manet also uses the objects within
the painting to identify Olympia’s
profession as a courtesan or
prostitute.
– It may not seem obvious to us today
but in the 19th century the signs
included:
• orchid in her hair
• the replacing of the dog (a symbol of
fidelity) with a cat (representative of
female anatomy and a cat-house or
brothel)
• the bouquet of flowers (also disguised
symbolism for female genitalia)
• the bracelet, the necklace, the Oriental
shawl, and pearl earrings all signify
wealth, opulence, and excess.
Édouard Manet,Olympia,1863-65. Oil on
canvas, 4’3” x 6’2 ¾”. Musée d'Orsay,
Paris.
Becoming Modern
• Manet’s Olympia however
defied traditional
representations of the female
nude.
• Manet uses these traditional
subjects to challenge
convention.
• Here, he modernizes the nudehe paints the portrait of a
recognizable woman, Victorine
Meurent, a painter and
favorite model of Manet, and
presents the nude in a much
more obvious way.
Édouard Manet,Olympia,1863-65. Oil on
canvas, 4’3” x 6’2 ¾”. Musée d'Orsay,
Paris.
Becoming Modern
• The in-your-face presentation of
the subject was not all that
offended the audience.
– The positioning of Olympia’s hand
over her pubic area was unlike any
nude before.
• The realism of the piece was what
most offended its audience.
• Manet’s work is unapologetic in its
handling of the subject matter,
paint, and implication of the
spectator.
Édouard Manet, (detail)
Olympia,1863-65. Oil on canvas,
4’3” x 6’2 ¾”. Musée d'Orsay,
• In comparison to
Giorgione and Titian,
Manet’s Olympia is
vulgar, she has agency,
takes
possession/control of
her body and access
to it.
• Unlike the
Renaissance Venus,
she is not docile but
confrontational.
• The classical subject
of a reclining Venus
has been replaced by
Manet with an
unidealized, modern
Édouard Manet, (detail)
prostitute of Paris.
Olympia,1863-65. Oil on
canvas, 4’3” x 6’2 ¾”. Musée
d'Orsay, Paris.
Giorgione, Sleeping Venus, c.
1510. Oil on canvas, 42.5” x
68.9”. Gemäldegalerie Alte
Meister, Dresden
Titian, Venus of Urbino, 1538.
Oil on canvas 47” x 65”. Uffizi,
Florence.
• Reactions to
Manet’s Olympia
made headlines.
• Critics were
certainly not shy
about publishing
their sentiments,
as seen here in
this caricature.
Newspaper caricature in response to Manet’s Olympia.
Becoming Modern
• Stylistically, Manet was
criticized for his flattening
of the picture plane,
unflattering painting of the
female form, and lack of
illusionistic depth.
– Manet uses contours to
create volume within the
figure.
– Olympia’s startlingly white
skin is a collection of angles
pressed against the picture
plane.
– Her flatness troublingly
unsettling for even Courbet.
Édouard Manet,Olympia,1863-65. Oil on
canvas, 4’3” x 6’2 ¾”. Musée d'Orsay,
Paris.
Outside Influences
• Aside from photography, Japanese
prints represent the most prominent
influence on 19th century painters.
• In 1854, Commodore Matthew Perry
opens/forces Japanese ports open to
West.
• Artists are attracted to the sharp
angles, bold, snap-shot cropping, nearflat arrangement, and brilliant colors
defined by contour line of Japanese
artists.
• Emphasizes it is NOT pictorial truth but
artistic integrity.
Andō Hiroshige, Moon Pine at Ueno
from One Hundred Views of Famous
Places in Edo, 1857. Color woodcut,
13 ¾” x 8 5/8”. The Brooklyn
Museum, NY.
Outside Influences
• Manet publishes his influences
here in his portrait of Èmile Zola
(1840-1902), the French writer.
– Zola was a friend and supporter,
his tract on Manet is included in
the portrait (on the desk).
– Zola wrote L’Evénement on the
Salon of 1866, a vigorous defense
of Manet’s work aligning the artist
with the avant-garde dogma, “Art
for art’s sake.”
• In the background of Zola’s
library is Manet’s own Olympia, a
detail of Bacchus by the Spanish
Baroque painter Velázquez (15991660), and a Japanese print.
Édouard Manet, Portrait of Èmile Zola, 1868.
Oil on canvas, 57 1/8” x 44 7/8.” Musée
d'Orsay, Paris.
Becoming Modern
• Studies under one of
Ingres’ students
• Around 1865, enters
Manet’s circle
• Work takes on new
style
• Contemporary themes
of excitement of
everyday life
• Cropped images
• Voyeuristic views
Edgar Degas, The Orchestra of the Paris
Opera, 1868-1869. Oil on canvas, 22 ¼” x 18
3/16.” Musée d'Orsay, Paris. Fig. 24.3.
Hiroshige, Sudden Shower Over Shin-Ohashi
Bridge and Atake, from One Hundred Famous
Views of Edo, 1857.
Vincent van Gogh, Bridge in the rain (after
Hiroshige), 1887 (from Japonaiserie). Oil on
canvas,
Becoming Modern
• American Realism
• Artist studies in
Paris, returns to
Philadelphia
• Turns sports figure
into modern hero
• Studies
perspective,
anatomy, and boats
to capture minute
details
Thomas Eakins, Max Schmidt in a Single Scull, 1871.
Oil on canvas, 32 ¼” x 46 ¼.” Metropolitan
Museum of Art, NY. Fig. 24.12.
Becoming Modern
• Contemporary of Eakins
• Studies Paris, 1866-1867
• Begins career as
magazine illustrator
• Paintings are iconic
moments of a simpler
life
• Images are frozen
moments
• Figures carefully
outlined
• Embodies country’s lost
innocence
• Nostalgic appeal for
return to values
Winslow Homer, Snap the Whip, 1872. Oil on
canvas, 22 ¾” x 36 ½.”Butler Institute of American
Art, Ohio. Fig. 24.13.
Becoming Modern
• Manet’s later work, demonstrates
the uniqueness of his style.
• Never solely dedicated to the Realist
style, nor Impressionism, Manet is
best described as an enigmatic
Realist.
• His Bar at the Folies Bergere
demonstrates how the artist
oscillates between the two schools
combining subject matter and
painterly style.
• His barmaid demonstrates the
alienation that was symptomatic of
modernity.
• His brushstrokes are evidence of the
artist’s constant experimentation.
• His work would become primary
inspiration for a younger generation
of artists that would become known
as the Impressionists.
Édouard Manet, The Bar at the Folies Bergere,
1882. Oil on canvas, 37.8” x 51.2”. Courtauld
Institute of Art, London