Alex Explores Art

     The 1800's marked the emergence of a variety of sharply contrasting genres including Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism, Luminism, and Art Nouveau. For this analysis I've chosen to focus on Realism and Impressionism, two styles that could hardly be more at odds in their ideas and technique.      Picking a winner and loser wasn't easy. All of the styles of the Romantic era are dear to me, particularly the medievalist paintings of the Pre-Raphaelites and the Luminism of the Hudson River School. But Impressionism holds a special place in my heart for how radically it disrupted the art world. With Impressionism, artists began to tap into a realm of sensations that are almost too abstract to otherwise describe. Impressionism opened the doors for Expressionism, Cubism, Visionary art, etc.— styles that transform our perception of reality.     To that end, I've pitted my chosen champion against Realism. I don't by any means dislike Realism--the movement's preferr

    The moral values expressed by artists working during the Classica era were sharply divided between two movements. Rococo art was almost universally lighthearted and irreverent, featuring playful depictions of aristocratic subjects enjoying lives of luxury and leisure. The Neoclassicists, influenced by the Age of Enlightenment and a renewed interest in the art and politics of ancient Greece and Rome, espoused values of moderation and rationality.     In this exhibit I will be comparing a series of paintings from the Rococo and Neoclassical movements. I've selected six paintings, three belonging to each movement, in order to analyze their differing styles, influences, and moral attributes. Angelica Kauffman, Cornelia Pointing to Her Children as Her Treasures (1785) Image courtesy of The Art Daily With Lydia .     Kauffman, notably the first female artist to be featured on this blog, possessed the seemingly miraculous ability to paint beautiful women without emphasizing their sexu

Public domain image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons .      The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist  was painted in 1608, and the story of the man behind it is nearly as dramatic as the harrowing scene of violence it depicts.     Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio grew up in Milan, where he studied painting under the apprenticeship of Simone Peterzano. After his apprenticeship, he fled Milan for Rome after getting into fights and injuring a police officer. Caravaggio's proclivity for violent behavior would continue throughout his life, frequently landing him in jail and getting him exiled from one city to the next.     In Rome, Caravaggio would make his rise to fame, and also become involved in street-brawling. Here, he was contracted to decorate the Church of St. Louis of the French and commissioned to paint by a number of wealthy patrons. In 1600, he was jailed for beating a nobleman with a club. Over the course of the next several years he was arrested for violent crimes numerous mo