From the second decade of the 18th century. begins new period development of French art. The content of the ideological life of France at this time is determined by the struggle of democratic forces against decaying absolutism; this struggle ideologically prepared the country for the bourgeois revolution of the late 18th century.
The awakening of the people's dissatisfaction with the social order and the growing protest of the bourgeoisie gave the movement of the French Enlightenment a more irreconcilable and broad democratic character than in other European countries and determined its strength. French educators spoke not only on behalf of the revolutionary bourgeoisie, but also on behalf of all “suffering humanity.” The passionate spirit of all-destructive criticism overthrew dilapidated laws and orders, refreshed the social atmosphere of France, and awakened thought to new daring. At the same time, dreams of realizing the ideal kingdom of reason, faith in progress, in the fact that the coming social order would bring prosperity to the broad masses, gave rise to the optimism that permeated the 18th century.
French culture developing on this basis is entering a period of new growth. It is diverse and contrasting in its searches and manifestations. In all its areas there is an intense struggle, new theories are being formed. France becomes a hotbed of advanced materialist philosophy and other sciences. Voltaire, Rousseau, encyclopedists led by Diderot, writers Lesage and Beaumarchais gave French culture the 18th century. pan-European significance. New content is bursting into art and literature in a powerful stream, destroying traditional, dilapidated canons. The folk song principle penetrates into the music. Dramatic opera is born, and fair theater is on the rise. The range of French art is significantly expanding; artists begin 18th century. from addressing the intimate spheres of human life, from small forms, and ending the century with the design of ideal cities of the future society.
The transitional nature of the era determined the diversity, variability and complexity of French artistic culture 18th century Its development proceeds under the sign of the struggle and interaction of ideologically significant art, manifested in realistic, pre-romantic and classicist forms, and the dominant aristocratic art of the Rococo. Realism 18th century expressed himself most fully in revealing the image of a person. Among realist artists, the struggle for the liberation of the individual and the growth of his self-awareness were reflected in a close interest in the image of " natural man”, to his intimate feelings and experiences, outside the sphere of influence of official norms of life. This also determines the appeal to the themes of the life of a private person, the closeness of man to nature. Interest in the individual, unique and characteristic is affirmed. Deepens thin psychological analysis.
The dominant movement of Rococo was not homogeneous. Having lost the drama and energy of the “grand style” of the 17th century, the art of the declining noble society was fragile, refined, calling for pleasure, for sensual joys. Turning away from significant problems, it became an adornment to the idle life of the carefree, pampered nobility. However, sensitive to the elegant, Rococo art is imbued with playfulness, mockery and wit; it reflected the freethinking and frivolity that became the fashion of high society in the 18th century. Rococo painting is more differentiated in shades of mood and refined in color.
A typical phenomenon of the 18th century. became periodic exhibitions of the Royal Academy - “Salons”, held in the Louvre, as well as exhibitions of the Academy of St. Bows deployed directly on the squares. New, characteristic of the 18th century. there was the development of artistic criticism, reflecting the struggle of currents in art.
Believing in the possibility of a reasonable reorganization of society through education and moral education in the spirit of the “natural man” with his primordial virtues, educators gave great importance art. Diderot's critical works - "Salons", "Essay on Painting", the works of Rousseau - "Discourses on the Sciences and Arts" and "Emile, or On Education" played an important role in the struggle for realism. Diderot, who defended the artistic ideals of the third estate, exposed the frivolity of Rococo art with particular acuteness. Analyzing works contemporary art, he assessed them from the point of view of realistic integrity and democratic orientation. Along with the demand for truth, meaningfulness and instructiveness, he put forward to artists the problem of action, energy, and social activity of art.
As the revolutionary upsurge grows, educational criticism moves from the affirmation of bourgeois-philistine private virtue to the concept of public, revolutionary-heroic, republican virtue.
Architecture
Rococo. With the fading of the “great century”, the monumental architectural style second half of the 17th century is replaced by a new artistic direction - colorful, elegant, exquisite Rococo., Having developed in the 20s. 18th century, Rococo reaches its peak in the 30s and 40s. At this time, construction from Versailles was finally transferred to Paris, which retained the glory of the richest and most beautiful city in Europe.
Architecture is losing its desire for grandiose ensembles imitating Versailles, but the boundless craving for luxury takes only a new form. Replaced the 17th century manor castle. a city house comes - a “hotel”, immersed in green gardens, a small mansion of the French aristocracy and wealthy moneylenders. Filled with light, the elegant salons and boudoirs of hotels become an enchanting backdrop for the life and everyday life of the aristocratic elite, who, after the death of Louis XIV, escaped from the despotic tutelage of the royal court. In Rococo mansions, the unity of solution between the external volume and the internal space, characteristic of classicism, disintegrates. There is a departure from logical clarity and rational subordination of parts to the whole. There is a craving for compositions that are asymmetrical, torn, and lacking a unifying axis. The façade of the hotel often retains the representativeness and austerity of a 17th century palace. But the proportions become lighter, the internal layout changes. The principle of ceremonial enfilade is being destroyed. The interior space receives a free layout. Small rooms and halls are separated and become different in shape. Attention is paid not only to the luxury of finishing, but also to amenities. In contrast to the austere external appearance, the interiors of Rococo hotels amaze with their unbridled luxury and fine jewelry finishing. The favorite oval shape of the halls with its curvilinear outlines destroys the concrete definition of the wall, and the decoration system deprives them of materiality. Light stone, soft pink, blue and white trellises, elegant carved panels enhance the impression of lightness and cheerfulness.
A typical example of a Rococo interior is the interior of the Hotel Soubise by Chermain Boffrand (1667-1754) (ill. 196). Its oval hall is marked by light grace of form and effortless elegance. The oval shape of the plan plays an important role in creating a holistic space. Its smooth dynamics are developed in a soft rounded transition from the wall to the lampshade, window arches, in the shapes of mirrors, doors, decorative frames, wavy contours of picturesque panels, in the exquisite play of curvilinear asymmetrical patterns that form a thin lace decor of the lampshade and walls.
The walls, lined with light panels, are divided into three parts; the lower rectangular shape of the panel forms a stable base on which an elegant semi-circular arch is placed; it ends with a picturesque panel depicting “Cupid and Psyche”. The boundaries between the wall and the lampshade are hidden by intricate weaving floral ornament, the radial stripes of which stretch towards the center of the lampshade. Fragile, graceful stucco “rocailles” (flat shell shapes) are intertwined with flower garlands and stems, with ribbon-like frames. The entire composition of the decor is permeated with a light, capricious rhythm. Enclosed in intricate frames, mirrors and paintings are woven into the architectural decoration. Placed one opposite the other, the mirrors give a multitude of reflections, deceptively expanding the space of the intimate salon. In a Rococo interior, the architectural image seems to transport a person into a world of dreams and illusions.
An integral part of the interior was furniture: carved elegant console tables on two legs, inlaid chests of drawers and secretaries, comfortable soft chairs and sofas with patterned upholstery, with flexible, fancy contours of the backs and legs. Oriental trinkets and crystal chandeliers, sconces, table girondoles in the form of curly branches, fragile porcelain figurines, tapestries, elegant little things - precious toys made of silver, tortoiseshell, mother-of-pearl, enamel, amber, etc. were combined with fashionable Chinese screens. the flowing ornament with its complex rhythm connects all these objects into a single ensemble with the interior. The need for luxury arose in France in the 18th century. many craftsmen endowed with imagination, subtle taste and wit: carpenters, carvers, foundries, jewelers, weavers, etc., who passed on the secrets of their craft from generation to generation.
Classicism. By the mid-1750s. The Rococo style has been sharply criticized for the sophistication and complexity of the composition of pictorial and decorative elements. The influence of rationalist educational ideas is first felt in architecture. The attention of architects is attracted by the rigor of ancient, mainly Greek architecture, by the clarity of plans, constructiveness and nobility of proportions. The growing interest in antiquity is promoted by excavations in Herculaneum, discovered in 1755, Pompeii with rich artistic monuments, and the study of ancient architecture in southern Italy.
The first steps of architecture in a new direction are still uncertain and compromise. The academy is trying to lead the nascent movement. Classicism becomes fashionable at court.
Gabriel. The work of Jacques-Ange Gabriel (1699-1782) belongs to the transitional period. Rethinking the traditions of 17th century architecture. in accordance with the conquests of the 18th century, Gabriel brings her closer to the person, makes her more intimate; he pays attention to fine decorative details, using antique order and ornamentation. At the same time, Gabriel’s activities are closely connected with expanding urban planning, with the resolution of new tasks for the ensemble, the focus of which is Paris.
The development of capitalist relations poses the task of rebuilding spontaneously arose, chaotic medieval cities, creating new neighborhoods and squares, markets, commercial and public buildings. The threshold of the king's residence, the square is now turning into the center of city life, into a junction of the main highways.
In the middle of the 18th century. Gabriel plans the Place de la Concorde in Paris (Fig. 195), which contributes to the formation of a central ensemble. This is the first example of an open square with extensive free space, characteristic of modern times. When creating it, Gabriel is influenced not by architectural elements, but by the pathos of the organized space of the city landscape with the dynamic perspectives of street highways. The rectangular Place de la Concorde is laid out on a vacant lot on the banks of the Seine between the green Tuileries Gardens and the Champs Elysees. Three rays of alleys lead to the square, connecting it with the city. On two sides it turns into tracts of greenery, on the third - into the smooth surface of the river, and only on one side is built up with two administrative buildings. Their architecture is in accordance with the general ensemble: the horizontally deployed facades are designed in the form of two colonnades of the Corinthian order. Both buildings were turned into wings of the Royal Street passing between them and dominating them, which was subsequently closed by the compact portico of the Madeleine Church. The principle of volumetric-spatial construction of Gabriel Square received further development in the architecture of mature classicism.
Gabriel takes on the theme of a country palace in a new way. His Petit Trianon (1762-1768) in Versailles is one of the first buildings in the classicist style of the 18th century. (ill. 194). This is not a palace, but rather a country mansion with a classical portico connecting two floors. Strict in geometric shapes, square in plan, the Petit Trianon is both intimate and formal.
The graceful proportions of the exquisitely detailed building, connected to the surrounding park, are oriented towards the “natural man”. The spatial composition of the Trianon is emphasized by the independent significance of each side of its façade, the low parapets that form the wings of the building, and the four staircases grouped in pairs. All this adds austerity and monumentality to a very small building.
In buildings of the 1760-1770s. decorative elements are banished. Columns, entablatures, and pediments are restored to their constructive meaning. The regular artificial park is being replaced by a freely laid out park with secluded corners, with groves and ponds, with small gazebos called “temples of friendship.”
Soufflo. The architecture of the pre-revolutionary decades was dominated by public buildings. In Paris, Bordeaux, Besançon, theaters were built, designed for a wide range of spectators, business trade buildings, a stock exchange, etc. appeared. The largest building of this time was the Pantheon temple in Paris, built by Jacques-Germain Soufflot (1713-1780). Conceived as the Church of St. Genevieve, the patroness of Paris, it is a building of great public importance and in 1791 it was turned into a necropolis for the great people of France. The building, cruciform in plan, is crowned with a grandiose dome with a lantern on a drum, surrounded by columns. The main facade is emphasized by a six-column portico with a pediment. Its composition is based on a clear delineation of parts, on a gradual lightening of the masses from the heavy portico to the light, egg-shaped dome, which gives the impression of calm grandeur. Soufflo introduces Corinthian columns into the interior with clear lines and regular volumes, thereby creating a spectacular perspective. The Pantheon is perceived as a monument to enlightenment, bright reason, and citizenship.
Painting
French painting is evolving in the same direction as architecture: from the beginning of the 18th century. the tradition of ceremonial academic style is gradually losing its significance. Rococo painting, closely associated with the interior of the “hotel,” was developed in decorative and easel chamber forms. In the paintings of lampshades, walls, door panels (dessude port), and tapestries, mythological and “gallant” themes predominate, depicting the intimate life of the aristocracy. In decorative painting, the image of a person loses independent meaning, the figure turns into a detail of the ornamental decoration of the interior. A subtle culture of color, the ability to build a composition with continuous decorative spots, and the achievement of overall lightness, emphasized by a light palette, are inherent in Rococo artists, who prefer faded, silvery-bluish, golden and pink shades. In easel painting, a gallant and pastoral genre (shepherd scenes), an idealized portrait depicting the model in the image of a mythological hero, is established.
Simultaneously with the development of Rococo painting, the role of the realistic movement increased; Portrait, still life, and everyday life genres reach their peak. In this regard, interest is shown in Dutch and Flemish realistic painting, in the Venetians.
Watteau. Early 18th century marked by the work of Antoine Watteau (1684-1721) - the creator gallant genre, an intimate painting of mood, a singer of subtle emotional movements and feelings. Watteau's work, complex and contradictory, blossomed in the years of turning point, at the crossroads of two roads, which were then followed by French art of the 18th century. His best works marked the achievements of realistic painting, but Watteau’s art remained aloof from circles opposed to the aristocracy. From the art of Watteau, who established the role of the contemporary subject in art, threads stretch not only to the realism of Chardin, but also to the thoughtless hedonistic painting of Rococo - to Boucher. Watteau's art often takes on a romantic tint; it contains either skeptical or melancholic intonations.
In his paintings and numerous drawings, full of unique charm, Watteau runs through a wide range of characteristic types observed in life. This is the motley wandering population of France, barefoot peasants, artisans, traveling musicians, soldiers, beggars, actors and, in contrast to them, society ladies and gentlemen, black servants. In the motley crowd, Watteau finds inexhaustible material for subtle psychological sketches. He is attracted by the elusive variability of the hero’s appearance and fleetingly captured, changing situations, the area of uncertain and melancholic feelings.
Watteau was born in Valenciennes, a town on the border of Flanders, in the family of a roofer. At the age of eighteen he went to Paris, where he went through a difficult school of life. Sick, withdrawn, prone to melancholy, Watteau was constantly dissatisfied with his work.
He started creative path from the depiction of small genre scenes inspired by the life of war-ravaged Valenciennes. Developing the genre line of Callot and Louis Le Nain, he showed his understanding of the theme in the paintings “The Hardships of War” (c. 1716, Leningrad, Hermitage), “Bivouac” (c. 1710, Moscow, Pushkin Museum), written with the conviction of a true story, elegant and poetic. In “Savoyar” (c. 1709, Leningrad, Hermitage), the lyrical interpretation of the image of a wandering village teenager is shaded with features of simple-minded humor. The emotionally interpreted autumn landscape with a cold blue sky, a yellowing meadow and the pointed roofs of a small town stretching into the distance corresponds to the mood of the sad loneliness of a teenager. In the future, the landscape will be the constant emotional environment of Watteau’s heroes.
Watteau's creative maturity began in 1710-1717. C. Gillot, Watteau's teacher, awakens his interest in theatrical themes. The theater for Watteau was no less a school than the painting of Rubens, which he studied at the Luxembourg Gallery, where he was given access by C. Audran, his second teacher. Human passions and typical characters in the theater are more naked and cleared of the accidental. Watteau reveals the theme by comparing characters and feelings. He loves to depict parades and appearances of actors to the public, sometimes turning his paintings into unique group portraits. In the masks of Italian comedy (Pierrot, Harlequin, etc.), Watteau gives vivid portrait images (“Actors of Italian Comedy”, c. 1712, Leningrad, Hermitage). In the painting “Love in the Italian Theater” (c. 1717) the actors are not united by the action, but the free grouping of characters performing a night serenade, the uneven illumination of the figures with a torch, and the temperament of the play make one feel the originality of their improvisation. Secular restraint and grace, a slow rhythm of movements distinguish the actors of the French theater in the film “Love in the French Theater” (c. 1717-1718, Berlin, Museum).
Watteau’s most poetic works, “Gallant Celebrations,” whose themes could have been inspired by novels of that time, as well as by live observations, come into contact with theatrical scenes. While visiting the house of the philanthropist Crozat, Watteau saw theatrical performances in the lap of nature, in the park, I observed the gallant festivities that were fashionable in Paris at that time - the entertainment of nobles: concerts, pantomimes, dances, masquerades. Watteau’s “Gallant Celebrations” are imbued with contradictory moods; they contain either tender, slyly ironic, sad intonations, or a poetic dream of unattainable beauty.
In the painting “Society in the Park” (Paris, Louvre), smart girls and boys talk peacefully, as if enchanted by the poetic beauty of nature, in tune with their mood. A brooding silence reigns in the landscape. Watteau's characters are not characterized by violent manifestations of feelings. His characters move at a slow pace; from barely noticeable half-smiles, glances, and movements one can guess about their experiences. Watteau notices their inherent inner grace and delicacy, depicting quiet conversations, explanations, walks, and dances. Changing subtle shades of feelings, barely noticeable hints are a means of revealing the plot.
Often the artist turns into an outside ironic observer. Admiring the picturesqueness of the spectacle unfolding before him, he notices empty vanity and vanity social life(“Society in the Park”, c. 1719, Dresden, Picture Gallery).
Everything that cannot be expressed in the language of gesture and gaze is revealed through the means of color, quivering, unsteady, with a light vibrating movement of the brush. Watteau painted with light, delicate translucent colors, achieving a consonance of faded pink, blue, golden, greenish shades and subtle tints, and enhanced the depth of tones with separate energetic colorful strokes of black and blue-black spots. The colors are sometimes born from one another, sometimes they contrast.
The famous “Pilgrimage to the Island of Cythera” (1717, Paris, Louvre) (ill. 197) completes the quest of previous years. Against a background permeated with light romantic landscape graceful couples follow one after another with transparent tree crowns; their light, graceful movements form a wave-like line, leading the gaze from the foreground into the depths - into the foggy distance, from which the vague outlines of an imaginary island of happiness emerge. The artist captured the subtle play of changing feelings, starting with the hesitant emergence of mutual sympathy. The composition is permeated with a quivering rhythm; the color is dominated by golden shades, gently combining bright spots. The viewer catches the mood of unaccountable melancholy and longing, a feeling of the impossibility of a romantic dream.
Watteau often turns to the image of a lonely hero, either sympathizing with him or mocking him. This is “Gilles” (1720, Paris, Louvre) - a lonely, sad dreamer and loser, in which the artist reveals deep human feelings.
Watteau’s last major work, “The Sign of Gersen” (c. 1721, Berlin) (ill. 198), was executed for his friend’s antique shop, where it remained for only a few days. This is the interior of a shop in which customers - society ladies and gentlemen - look at paintings, clerks pack their purchases. The characteristics of buyers and servants differ in psychological subtlety and ironic sharpness. The artist traced the different attitudes of those present to art, completing the string of characters with the image of a beautiful lady selflessly contemplating a masterpiece. The composition is distinguished by its plastic richness of movements, rhythmic alternation of mise-en-scenes and spatial pauses. The coloring is based on shining pearl tones, shimmering in a variety of black, brown, gray and white shades. “The Sign of Gersen” is not only a unique chronicle of 18th century Paris, it reveals the artist’s inexhaustible love for art, for the beauty that he. knew how to notice in Everyday life.
Boucher. In the 20-30s. 18th century The Rococo style developed, reaching its peak in the 40s. Its brightest representative was Francois Boucher (1703-1770), a decorator, creator of thoughtlessly festive art, based not so much on the observation of life, but on improvisation, leading into the world of love affairs. The first artist of the king, a favorite of the aristocracy, director of the Academy, Boucher designed books, made decorative panels for interiors, cardboard for tapestries, headed weaving factories, created scenery and costumes for the Paris Opera, etc. Boucher turns to mythology, allegory and pastoral, in which sometimes display traits of sentimentality and sweetness. Flirty Venus and nymphs, carelessly playful cupids, pastoral characters indulging in pleasures love - heroes his paintings. The artist captures their soft pink bodies, piquant faces, graceful movements, often falling into mannerisms. He builds compositions on a complex interweaving of curly lines and figures, has a brilliant command of angles, effectively uses draperies, garlands, flowers, swirling clouds, surrounding the heroes with them. Not devoid of observation, as evidenced by his drawings and genre paintings, Boucher does not strive for the truthfulness of the images, in his interpretation they are sensually idealized and monotonous.
The painting “The Birth of Venus” dates back to the heyday of Boucher’s work, a composition imbued with a wave-like rhythm; cheerfulness and serenity reign in her. “A Shepherd Scene” (Leningrad, Hermitage) gives an idea of Boucher’s pastorals, entertaining and playful, full of irony. The lyrical features of Boucher's talent are manifested in his landscapes with the motif of rural nature, with intimate corners of dilapidated mills and huts.
From the second half of the 50s. 18th century Boucher's work becomes cold, his painting becomes harsh, and false pathos appears in his compositions. The decline of Boucher's work reflects the degradation of the Rococo style caused by the general decline of aristocratic culture.
Chardin. The realistic movement, developing in parallel with Rococo art, mainly expressed the ideals of the third estate and was varied in its manifestations. The greatest realist of the 18th century. Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin (1699-1779) with his origin, lifestyle and art was associated with the craft environment, with patriarchal life and the traditions of the guild system. In the modest homes of artisans, the artist found themes for everyday paintings, still lifes and portraits. Chardin did not receive an academic education. Working from life was the basis of his creativity. He felt poetry and warmth of feelings in the little things at home. In the “low” genres from the point of view of the Academy of Arts, Chardin achieved such perfection that he was accepted as its member.
Chardin's central theme is still life. Inspired by the Dutch, Chardin gains complete creative independence in this genre, achieving the significance and content that his predecessors did not know. Chardin's still life is a world of domestic, habitable things that have become part of his intimate sphere of thoughts and feelings. Dead nature turns under his brush into living, spiritualized matter, woven from the finest colorful shades and reflexes. With his painting, the artist discovered the beauty of the everyday. In his early still lifes, Chardin was fond of decorative effects (Scat, 1728, Paris, Louvre). At the time of maturity he achieves classical clarity of composition; sparingly selects objects, strives to identify the essential in each - its structure, form, material characteristic (“Still Life with a Hare”, before 1741, Stockholm, Museum) (ill. 199). Baskets, bowls, vats, jugs, bottles, vegetables, fruits, and killed game appear on his canvases. Most often, the compositions of Chardin's still lifes, deployed horizontally, which allows objects to be positioned parallel to the plane of the picture, are naturally free, but there is a sense of strict internal regularity and structure in them. The masses and color spots are balanced and rhythmically ordered. The world of objects surrounding a person is full of harmony and solemnity. The cult of the hearth appears in the good quality of simple, second-hand things (“The Copper Tank,” c. 1733, Paris, Louvre). Through a system of light reflexes, objects communicate with each other and environment into picturesque unity. Painted in small strokes, either dense or liquid paints of varying aperture, things seem surrounded by an airy environment, permeated with light. Chardin, often without mixing paints on the palette, applied them in separate strokes to the canvas. He took into account their impact on each other when viewed from a certain distance.
40s - heyday genre painting Chardin. Subtly feeling the poetry of the home with its quiet joys, everyday worries and peaceful labor, the artist recreates the entire structure of life of the third estate. Healthy moral principles reign here. In his understanding of morality and family, Chardin comes close to Rousseau, who contrasts the corrupt morals of aristocratic society with the purity and spontaneity of feelings preserved among common people. In cozy interiors, the artist depicts mothers, full of worries about children and the household, diligent maids, concentrated and quiet children preparing homework, getting ready for school, playing (“House of Cards”, 1735, Florence, Uffizi). Chardin's images are revealed in familiar poses, in concentrated faces, glances, in the silence and order surrounding them. In the everyday life of ordinary people, he finds harmony (“Prayer before dinner”, 1744, “Laundress”, c. 1737 - both in Leningrad, Hermitage). Chardin builds his compositions in shallow spaces and sparingly provides expressive details that aptly characterize the inhabitants. The composition of the painting “The Washerwoman” (ill. 200) is simple and measured in rhythm, the color scheme is restrained and soft. Humid air softens contours and connects shapes with the environment. The viewer's gaze successively moves from object to object, from the washerwoman to the baby blowing bubbles, to the woman hanging laundry in the yard, revealing everywhere the poetic charm of the ordinary.
In the 70s Chardin turns to a portrait, he lays the foundation for a new understanding of it, reveals the intimate world of a person, creates a type of person of the third estate. In “Self-Portrait with a Green Visor” (1775, Paris, Louvre) the artist is depicted in his work suit, in a vividly captured turn. The shadow from the green visor enhances the concentration of the penetrating and decisive gaze addressed to the viewer. The tight frame gives the impression of a cozy interior and at the same time emphasizes the volume of the figure and its monumentality. The old man's face is full of severity, purity, and warmth. “Self-Portrait” is a masterpiece of pastel technique, in which Chardin preferred to work towards the end of his life.
Latour. Deepening of realism in the mid-18th century. expressed in increased interest in portraiture. The awakening sense of personality and the growth of individualism are reflected in the revelation of unique character traits and appearance. Many portrait painters turned to pastel techniques. Among them, Maurice Quentin de Latour (1704-1788) stood out, who had no equal in using the possibilities of pastel. His portrait of Duval de L'Epinay (c. 1745, Rothschild collection) was nicknamed the “King of Pastels.”
Friend of the encyclopedists, a man of independent and keen critical mind Latour did not flatter his models. Dispassionately analyzing the person being portrayed, he sought to convey his profession and social status, expose the inner world. The artist is most interested in living facial expressions, which poison the movement of human passions and thoughts. The best thing about Latour's legacy is his “preparations”, executed in pencil, sanguine or pastel techniques, with dynamic nervous strokes and light contrasts that emphasize the variability of facial expressions.
Latour introduces a close point of view that enhances the possibility of communication with the person being portrayed; he accentuates the gaze, catches its fleeting shades. Latour's heroes are internally active people with an intense intellectual life. Their characters are revealed in their perky faces, excited by conversation, in their mocking, skeptical, philosophical smiles. Such is Voltaire with an ironic look, a nervous moving mouth, and Latour’s numerous self-portraits (ill. 201). One of the most poignant is “Self-Portrait with Beret” (c. 1741, Saint Quentin, Latour Museum).
Among the completed pastels, the portrait of Abbot Hubert (Geneva, Museum) stands out with a dynamic genre-interpreted composition that reveals the character of an active, free-thinking, sensual person. In the full-length ceremonial portrait of Madame Pompadour (1755, Paris, Louvre), the image is designed in accordance with the ideals of the Enlightenment. The all-powerful favorite is presented among the volumes of the Encyclopedia and works of art. Latour’s characters are far from the patriarchal atmosphere in which Chardin’s modest heroes lived; they do not have the spiritual integrity and warmth of his images, but they are distinguished by the liveliness of insightful thought, most often these are people from the secular salons of Paris, representatives of the culture of the Enlightenment.
Dreams. Jean-Baptiste Greuze (1725-1805) dedicated his art to the third estate and its family virtues. Chardin's contemplation gives way in his work to sentimental melodrama and pointed moralization. The artist focuses on a “sensitive person”, inspired by the ideas of Rousseau and the then fashionable “tearful comedy”. In an effort to preach the noble feelings and high moral actions of common people, in the desire to awaken in the viewer anger against evil and instill sympathy for good, Dreams falls into rhetoric, resorts to deliberateness, theatricality, often using the techniques of academic composition for this. Character traits Greuze's works are manifested in multi-figure genre compositions: “The Country Bride” (Paris, Louvre), “The Paralytic” (1763, Leningrad, Hermitage). In the latter, exaggerations in the expressions of feelings, sugary facial expressions, deliberately touching poses, spectacular but artificial staging deprive the work of persuasiveness and true artistry. A primitive understanding of the educational role of art led Greuze to traits of naivety and conventionality. But the journalistic tendencies of his work were a direct response to the demands of the time. Strengths Greuze's creativity manifested itself in drawings and beautifully painted portraits. The image of the engraver Bill (1763, Paris, Jacquemart André Museum) is full of that energy and self-awareness in which the features of a man of the revolutionary years are foreseen. Conquests in the field of portraiture will be further developed in the work of David; the Dream genre will find fans in the 19th century. only among the singers of bourgeois life.
Fragonard. The largest painter of the second half of the 18th century. was Honore Fragonard (1732-1806). A student of Boucher and Chardin, he combined decorative elegance of execution with a poetic perception of the world, with the observation of a realist. The life-affirming hedonism of his art is transformed by a lively, mocking mind.
The connection with Rococo is manifested in Fragonard’s paintings “The Swing” (1767, London, Wallace Collection), “A Stolen Kiss” (1780s, Leningrad, Hermitage) (ill. 203). The artist strives to convey the intense colorfulness of the real world, loves the warm golden tones and play of light. Over the years, his writing style becomes dynamic and more expressive. Fragonard turns to themes from folk life (“The Laundresses”, Amiens). He is attracted by nature, as the kingdom of life and movement, joyful existence, striking in its grandeur (“Large cypress trees in the gardens of Villa d’Este.” Drawing, 1760, Vienna, Albertina). He is a master of a fleeting sketch from nature and a sketch from the imagination.
In his portraits, Fragonard strives to capture emotional excitement, the passion of experiences, which must inevitably turn into action, take him beyond the limits of everyday life, from the intimate sphere of life. The artist boldly destroys the canons of aristocratic portraiture of the 18th century. In “Portrait of Diderot” (Paris, private collection) he captures the philosopher in a moment of inner illumination, looking up from reading, with his gaze turned into the distance. The image “Inspiration” (1769, Paris, Louvre) goes beyond the portrait genre, subordinated to one passion - the pathetic rise of thought, dream. In Fragonard’s intimate and lyrical portraits, trends emerged that became characteristic of 19th-century romanticism.
Sculpture
Since the beginning of the century, sculpture has largely developed depending on the principles of Rococo decorative interior design. Just like in painting, there is a transition to secular ease and refined grace, to an intimate psychological interpretation of the image. But from the middle of the 18th century. a desire for simplicity, rigor and laconism is born. The turn to realism is accompanied by a search for heroic images and an appeal to antiquity; however, French sculptors are not inclined to canonize it; they strive, in the words of Falconet, “to take off the mask, to see and know nature and to express the beautiful, regardless of any fashion.”
Falcone. High achievements of French monumental sculpture of the 18th century. belong first of all to Etienne-Maurice Falconet (1716-1791), a friend of Diderot, a free-thinking democrat, whose vigorous activity was marked by tireless quests and the desire to philosophically comprehend artistic work. A master of the lyrical-idyllic genre in France, he glorified himself by creating a bronze statue of Peter I in St. Petersburg - the famous “Bronze Horseman” (1766-1782). The social upsurge that Russia was experiencing at that time, the criticism of absolutism by the great Russian enlighteners, their dreams of a radical change in the social structure and life of the Russian people inspired Falcone. The image of Peter is interpreted by him in the broadest terms as the embodiment of the bold daring of human thought and action, as a strong-willed impulse towards a bright future. Peter the Great is represented astride a rearing horse, suddenly stopping at the edge of a steep cliff. In the guiding gesture of his outstretched hand there is an expression of forward striving and all-conquering will; The head is raised proudly, the face is illuminated with the light of lofty thought. Monumental strength is combined here with naturalness and freedom, rapid movement with a state of peace. The silhouette of a mighty horseman conquering the elements dominates the square and at the same time is included in the panorama of the city, rushing into endless spaces. The plastic richness of the image is revealed as it is viewed from different points of view.
IN " Bronze Horseman“Falcone created the image of an ideal personality, creator and legislator of his country, which the enlighteners of the 18th century dreamed of.
Houdon. The work of Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741-1828) is directly connected with the revolutionary era. The versatility of characteristics, in-depth psychologism, harsh truth and faith in man distinguish the sculptural portraits he created. While accurately reproducing the model’s appearance and capturing the variability of moods, the sculptor did not forget about maintaining the stable integrity of the image. Houdon's heroes are efficient, purposeful, and live intense lives. Gloomy, with a feverish look, Rousseau appears; as if listening, ready to join Diderot's conversation; tribune 1789 Mirabeau, with an arrogant look, seems to float above the crowd he is addressing; the courageous fighter for the independence of the North American colonies of England, Washington is the entire embodiment of self-discipline and self-denial. Breathing great era inspired by the poetically elevated image of the composer Gluck (1775, Weimar). Full of spontaneity and feminine charm, the image of the artist’s wife (c. 1787, Paris, Louvre) is a rare example of a plastically completed interpretation of laughter.
Houdon's masterpiece is a marble statue of eighty-four-year-old Voltaire (1781, Leningrad, Hermitage) (ill. 202). The philosopher is depicted sitting in a chair, leaning forward slightly. The pyramidal structure of the composition gives it monumental balance. The resemblance of an antique toga with wide folds drapes his weak body and introduces a shade of civic heroism into the interpretation of the image. From a distance, Voltaire appears to be deep in thought. There are traces of fatigue and senile fragility in the facial features. When approaching him, the image of the philosopher-sage changes dramatically - Voltaire is full of intense expression. Behind the folds of clothing, in the nervous hands gripping the chair, a jerky movement is felt. The face is full of inner fire and polemical enthusiasm, illuminated by an ironic smile. The power of his sharp gaze and his insight are amazing. The image of Voltaire, a giant of human thought, grows to a generalization of the era.
On the eve of the revolution, new images entered the art of classicism. They intensify the monumental and heroic pathos. In works historical genre Parallels between the events of ancient history and modernity are increasingly being identified.
Realism (from the Latin “realis” - real, material) is a direction in art that arose at the end of the 18th century, reached its peak in the 19th, continues to develop at the beginning of the 20th century and still exists. Its goal is a real and objective reproduction of objects and objects of the surrounding world, while preserving their typical features and characteristics. In the process of the historical development of all art in general, realism acquired specific forms and methods, as a result of which three stages are distinguished: educational (Era of Enlightenment, late 18th century), critical (19th century) and socialist realism (early 20th century).
The term "realism" was first used by the French literary critic Jules Jeanfleury, who in his book “Realism” (1857) interpreted this concept as art created to counter such movements as romanticism and academicism. It acted as a form of response to idealization, which is characteristic of romanticism and the classical principles of academicism. Having a sharp social orientation, it was called critical. This direction reflected acute social problems in the world of art and assessed various phenomena in the life of society at that time. Its leading principles consisted of an objective reflection of the essential aspects of life, which at the same time contained the height and truth of the author's ideals, in the reproduction of characteristic situations and typical characters, while maintaining the fullness of their artistic individuality.
(Boris Kustodiev "Portrait of D.F. Bogoslovsky")
Realism of the early twentieth century was aimed at searching for new connections between man and the reality around him, new creative ways and methods, original means artistic expression. Often it was not expressed in its pure form; it is characterized by a close connection with such movements in the art of the twentieth century as symbolism, religious mysticism, and modernism.
Realism in painting
The emergence of this trend in French painting is primarily associated with the name of the artist Gustave Courbier. After several paintings, especially significant for the author, were rejected as exhibits at the World Exhibition in Paris, in 1855 he opened his own “Pavilion of Realism”. The declaration put forward by the artist proclaimed the principles of a new direction in painting, the goal of which was to create living art that conveyed the morals, customs, ideas and appearance of his contemporaries. “Courbier’s realism” immediately caused a sharp reaction from society and critics, who claimed that he, “hiding behind realism, slanderes nature,” called him an artisan in painting, made parodies of him in the theater and denigrated him in every possible way.
(Gustave Courbier "Self-portrait with a black dog")
Realistic art is based on its own special view of the surrounding reality, which criticizes and analyzes many aspects of social life. Hence the name realism XIX century “critical” because he criticized, first of all, the inhumane essence of the cruel exploitative system, showed the blatant poverty and suffering of the offended common people, the injustice and permissiveness of those in power. Criticizing the foundations of the existing bourgeois society, realist artists were noble humanists who believed in Goodness, Supreme Justice, Universal Equality and Happiness for everyone without exception. Later (1870), realism splits into two branches: naturalism and impressionism.
(Julien Dupre "Return from the Fields")
The main themes of the artists who painted their canvases in the style of realism were genre scenes of urban and rural life of ordinary people (peasants, workers), scenes of street events and incidents, portraits of regulars in street cafes, restaurants and nightclubs. For realist artists it was important to convey the moments of life in its dynamics, to emphasize as believably as possible individual characteristics acting characters, realistically show their feelings, emotions and experiences. Main characteristics canvases depicting human bodies are their sensuality, emotionality and naturalism.
Realism as a direction in painting developed in many countries of the world such as France (Barbizon school), Italy (it was known as verismo), Great Britain (Figurative school), USA (Edward Hopper's Garbage Pail School, Thomas Eakins art school), Australia (Heidelberg School, Tom Roberts, Frederick McCubbin), in Russia it was known as the movement of Itinerant artists.
(Julien Dupre "The Shepherd")
French paintings, written in the spirit of realism, often belonged to the landscape genre, in which the authors tried to convey the nature around them, the beauty of the French province, rural landscapes, which, in their opinion, perfectly demonstrated the “real” France in all its splendor. The paintings of French realist artists did not depict idealized types; there were real people, ordinary situations without embellishment, there was no usual aesthetics and the imposition of universal truths.
(Honoré Daumier "Third Class Carriage")
The most prominent representatives of French realism in painting were the artists Gustav Courbier (“The Artist’s Workshop,” “The Stone Crusher,” “The Knitter”), Honoré Daumier (“The Third Class Car,” “On the Street,” “The Laundress”), and François Millet (“The Laundress”). The Sower”, “The Harvesters”, “Angelus”, “Death and the Woodcutter”).
(François Millet "The Ear Pickers")
In Russia, the development of realism in the fine arts is closely connected with the awakening of public consciousness and the development of democratic ideas. Progressive citizens of society denounced the existing political system and showed deep sympathy for tragic fate ordinary Russian people.
(Alexey Savrasov "The rooks have arrived")
To the group of Peredvizhniki artists, formed around end of the 19th century century, belonged to such great Russian masters of the brush as landscape painters Ivan Shishkin (“Morning in pine forest", "Rye", " Pinery") and Alexey Savrasov ("The Rooks Have Arrived", "Rural View", "Rainbow"), masters of genre and historical paintings Vasily Perov ("Troika", "Hunters at a Rest", "Rural Procession at Easter") and Ivan Kramskoy (“Unknown”, “Inconsolable Grief”, “Christ in the Desert”), outstanding painter Ilya Repin (“Barge Haulers on the Volga”, “They Didn’t Expect”, “Religious Procession in Kursk Province”), master of depicting large-scale historical events Vasily Surikov ( “The Morning of the Streltsy Execution”, “Boyaryna Morozova”, “Suvorov’s Crossing of the Alps”) and many others (Vasnetsov, Polenov, Levitan),
(Valentin Serov "Girl with Peaches")
By the beginning of the twentieth century, the traditions of realism were firmly entrenched in the fine arts of that time; its successors were such artists as Valentin Serov (“Girl with Peaches” “Peter I”), Konstantin Korovin (“In Winter”, “At the Tea Table”, “Boris Godunov” . Coronation"), Sergei Ivanov ("Family", "The Arrival of the Voivode", "Death of a Migrant").
Realism in 19th century art
Critical realism, which appeared in France and reached its peak in many European countries by the middle of the 19th century, arose in opposition to the traditions of the previous movements in art, such as romanticism and academicism. His main task was to objectively and truthfully display the “truth of life” using specific means of art.
The emergence of new technologies, the development of medicine, science, various branches of industrial production, the growth of cities, increased exploitative pressure on peasants and workers, all this could not but affect the cultural sphere of that time, which later led to the development of a new movement in art - realism , designed to reflect the life of the new society without embellishment and distortion.
(Daniel Defoe)
The English writer and publicist Daniel Defoe is considered the founder of European realism in literature. In his works “Diary of the Plague Year”, “Roxana”, “The Joys and Sorrows of Mole Flanders”, “The Life and Amazing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe”, he reflects various social contradictions of that time, they are based on the statement about the good beginning of every person, which can change under the pressure of external circumstances.
Founder literary realism And psychological novel in France - writer Frederic Stendhal. His famous novels“Red and Black”, “Red and White” showed readers that the description of ordinary scenes of life and everyday human experiences and emotions can be performed with the greatest skill and elevate it to the rank of art. Also among the outstanding realist writers of the 19th century are the French Gustave Flaubert (“Madame Bovary”), Guy de Maupassant (“Belarus,” “Strong as Death”), Honoré de Balzac (the “Human Comedy” series of novels), and the Englishman Charles Dickens (“Oliver Twist”, “David Copperfield”), Americans William Faulkner and Mark Twain.
At the origins of Russian realism stood such outstanding masters of the pen as playwright Alexander Griboyedov, poet and writer Alexander Pushkin, fabulist Ivan Krylov, and their successors Mikhail Lermontov, Nikolai Gogol, Anton Chekhov, Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky.
Painting from the realist period of the 19th century is characterized by an objective depiction of real life. French artists under the leadership of Theodore Rousseau, they painted rural landscapes and scenes from street life, proving that ordinary nature without embellishment can also be a unique material for creating masterpieces of fine art.
One of the most scandalous realist artists of that time, causing a storm of criticism and condemnation, was Gustav Courbier. His still lifes, landscape paintings (“Deer at a Watering Hole”), genre scenes (“Funeral in Ornans”, “Stone Crusher”).
(Pavel Fedotov "Major's Matchmaking")
The founder of Russian realism is the artist Pavel Fedotov, his famous paintings “Major's Matchmaking”, “Fresh Cavalier”, in his works he exposes the vicious morals of society, and expresses his sympathy for the poor and oppressed people. Continuers of its traditions can be called the movement of Peredvizhniki artists, which was founded in 1870 by fourteen best artist graduates of the Imperial St. Petersburg Academy of Arts together with other painters. Their first exhibition, opened in 1871, was a huge success with the public; it showed a reflection of the real life of ordinary Russian people living in terrible conditions of poverty and oppression. These are famous paintings by Repin, Surikov, Perov, Levitan, Kramskoy, Vasnetsov, Polenov, Ge, Vasiliev, Kuindzhi and other outstanding Russian realist artists.
(Konstantin Meunier "Industry")
In the 19th century, architecture, architecture and related applied arts were in a state of deep crisis and decline, which predetermined unfavorable conditions for the development of monumental sculpture and painting. The dominant capitalist system was hostile to those types of art that were directly related to the social life of the collective (public buildings, ensembles of broad civic significance); realism as a direction in art was able to fully develop in the fine arts and partly in sculpture. Outstanding realist sculptors of the 19th century: Constantin Meunier (“The Loader,” “Industry,” “The Puddler,” “The Hammerman”) and Auguste Rodin (“The Thinker,” “The Walker,” “The Citizens of Calais”).
Realism in 20th century art
In the post-revolutionary period and during the creation and prosperity of the USSR, socialist realism became the dominant direction in Russian art (1932 - the appearance of this term, its author Soviet writer I. Gronsky), which was an aesthetic reflection of the socialist concept of Soviet society.
(K. Yuon "New Planet")
The basic principles of socialist realism, aimed at a truthful and realistic depiction of the surrounding world in its revolutionary development, were the principles:
- Nationalities. Use common speech patterns and proverbs to make literature understandable to the people;
- Ideology. Identify heroic deeds, new ideas and paths necessary for the happiness of ordinary people;
- Specifics. Depict the surrounding reality in the process of historical development, corresponding to its materialistic understanding.
In literature, the main representatives of social realism were the writers Maxim Gorky (“Mother”, “Foma Gordeev”, “The Life of Klim Samgin”, “At the Depth”, “Song of the Petrel”), Mikhail Sholokhov (“Virgin Soil Upturned”, the epic novel “ Quiet Don"), Nikolai Ostrovsky (novel "How the Steel Was Tempered"), Alexander Serafimovich (story "Iron Stream"), poet Alexander Tvardovsky (poem "Vasily Terkin"), Alexander Fadeev (novels "Destruction", "Young Guard"), etc. .
(M. L. Zvyagin "To work")
Also in the USSR, the works of such foreign authors as the pacifist writer Henri Barbusse (the novel “Fire”), the poet and prose writer Louis Aragon, the German playwright Bertolt Brecht, the German writer and communist Anna Seghers (the novel “The Seventh Cross”) were considered among the socialist realist writers. , Chilean poet and politician Pablo Neruda, Brazilian writer Jorge Amado (“Captains of the Sand”, “Donna Flor and Her Two Husbands”).
Prominent representatives of the trend of socialist realism in Soviet painting: Alexander Deineka (“Defense of Sevastopol”, “Mother”, “Future Pilots”, “Physical Girl”), V. Favorsky, Kukryniksy, A. Gerasimov (“Lenin on the Tribune”, “After the Rain” , “Portrait of the ballerina O. V. Lepeshinskaya”), A. Plastov (“Bathing the Horses”, “Dinner of the Tractor Drivers”, “Collective Farm Herd”), A. Laktionov (“Letter from the Front”), P. Konchalovsky (“Lilac” ), K. Yuon (“Komsomolskaya Pravda”, “People”, “New Planet”), P. Vasiliev (portraits and stamps depicting Lenin and Stalin), V. Svarog (“Hero-pilots in the Kremlin before the flight”, “First May - Pioneers"), N. Baskakov ("Lenin and Stalin in Smolny") F. Reshetnikov ("Deuce Again", "Arrived on Vacation"), K. Maksimov and others.
(Vera Mukhina monument "Worker and Collective Farm Woman")
Outstanding Soviet sculptors-monumentalists of the era of socialist realism were Vera Mukhina (monument “Worker and Collective Farm Woman”), Nikolai Tomsky (bas-relief of 56 figures “Defense, Labor, Leisure” on the House of Soviets on Moskovsky Prospekt in Leningrad), Evgenia Vuchetich (monument “Warrior” Liberator" in Berlin, the sculpture "The Motherland Calls!" in Volgograd), Sergei Konenkov. As a rule, for large-scale monumental sculptures Particularly durable materials, such as granite, steel or bronze, were selected and installed in open spaces to perpetuate particularly important historical events or heroic-epic deeds.
Literature of France in the 1830s. reflected those new features of social and cultural development countries that emerged in it after the July Revolution. The leading direction in French literature becomes critical realism. In the 1830-1840s. all the significant works of O. Balzac, F. Stendhal, P. Mérimée appear. At this stage, realist writers are united by a common understanding of art, which comes down to an objective displaying processes occurring in society. Despite all their individual differences, they are characterized by a critical attitude towards bourgeois society. In the early stages creative development artists clearly shows their close connection with the aesthetics of romanticism, (often called “residual romanticism” (The Abode of Parma by Stendhal, Shagreen Skin by Balzac, Carmen by Merimee).
Theoretical works played a significant role in the formation of the aesthetics of critical realism Stendhal (1783-1842). During the Restoration, fierce disputes developed between the romantics and the classicists. He took an active part in them, publishing two brochures under the same title - “Racine and Shakespeare” (1823, 1825), where he outlined his views on literature, which, in his opinion, is an expression of the interests of the existing world. this moment society, and aesthetic norms must change along with the historical development of society. For Stendhal, epigone classicism, officially supported by the government and propagated by the French Academy of Sciences, is an art that has lost all connection with the life of the nation. The task of a true artist is to "give the peoples such literary works, which at current state customs and beliefs can give them the greatest pleasure." Stendhal, not yet knowing the term "realism", called this art "romanticism". He believed that imitating the masters of previous centuries means lying to his contemporaries. Moving closer to the romantics in his rejection of classicism and veneration of Shakespeare , Stendhal, at the same time, understood the term “romanticism” as something different from them. For him, classicism and romanticism are two creative principles that have existed throughout the history of art. “In essence, all great writers were romantics in their time. And the classics are those who, a century after their death, imitate them, instead of opening their eyes and imitating nature." The original principle and the highest purpose of the new art is “the truth, the bitter truth.” The artist must become a life explorer, and literature is “a mirror with which you walk along the high road. Sometimes it reflects the azure of the sky, sometimes dirty puddles and potholes.” In fact, Stendhal called the emerging direction of French critical realism “romanticism.”
In the artistic work of Stendhal for the first time in the literature of the 19th century. proclaimed a new approach to people. The novels "The Red and the Black", "Lucien Leveille", "The Parma Monastery" are full of deep psychological analysis with internal monologue and reflections on moral problems. A new problem arises in Stendhal's psychological mastery - problem of the subconscious. His work represents first attempt at artistic generalization national character ("Italian Chronicles", "Parma Monastery").
The generally recognized pinnacle of critical realism in France was the work of Balzac's support (1799-1850). Early stage His work (1820-1828) is marked by his closeness to the romantic school of the “violent”, and at the same time, some of his works uniquely reflected the experience of the “Gothic novel”. The writer's first significant work, the novel "Chouans" (1829), in which the romantic exclusivity of the characters and the dramatic development of the action are combined with the utmost objectivity of the image, was subsequently included by the author in "Scenes of Military Life."
Second period Balzac's creativity (1829-1850) is marked by the formation and development of the writer's realistic method. At this time, he created such significant works as “Gobsek”, “Shagreen Skin”, “Eugenia Grande”, “Père Goriot”, “Lost Illusions” and many others. The dominant genre in his work was the socio-psychological novel of a relatively small volume. The poetics of these novels undergoes significant changes at this time, where a socio-psychological novel, a biographical novel, sketches and much more are combined into an organic whole. The most important element in the artist’s system was the consistent application the principle of realistic typification.
Third period begins in the mid-1830s, when Balzac conceives the idea of a cycle of the future “Human Comedy”. In 1842, a memorable year for the history of the creation of the cycle, the author prefaced the first volume of the collected works, which began to be published under the general title “The Human Comedy,” with a preface that became a manifesto of the writer’s realistic method. In it, Balzac reveals his titanic task: “My work has its geography, as well as its genealogy, its families, its localities, settings, characters and facts; it also has its armorial, its nobility and bourgeoisie, its artisans and peasants , politicians and dandies, his army - in a word, the whole world."
In this monumental cycle, which acquired its complete structure - as a kind of parallel and at the same time opposition" Divine Comedy"Dante, from the point of view of the modern (realistic) understanding of reality, included the best of those already written and all new works. In an effort to combine the achievements in the "Human Comedy" modern science with the mystical views of E. Swedenborg, exploring all levels of people's lives from everyday life to philosophy and religion, Balzac demonstrates the impressive scale of artistic thinking.
One of the founders of French and European realism, he thought of the “Human Comedy” as single work based on the principles of realistic typification he developed, setting himself the majestic task of creating a socio-psychological and artistic analogue of contemporary France. By dividing The Human Comedy into three unequal parts, the writer created a kind of pyramid, the basis of which is a direct description of society - "studies on morals". Above this level there are a few "philosophical studies" and the top of the pyramid is made up of "analytical sketches". Calling his novels, stories and short stories included in the cycle “studies,” the realist writer considered his activity precisely research. "Studies on Morals" consisted of six groups of "scenes" - scenes of private life, provincial, Parisian, political, military and rural. Balzac considered himself "secretary of French society", depicting " modern history". Not only the difficult-to-understand topic itself, but also the methods of its implementation made a huge contribution to the formation of a new artistic system, thanks to which Balzac is considered the “father of realism.”
The image of the moneylender Gobsek - “the ruler of life” in the story of the same name (1842) becomes a household word to designate a miser, personifying the forces dominant in society and superior to Harpagon from Moliere’s comedy “The Miser” (“Scenes of Private Life”).
The first work in which Balzac consistently embodied the features of critical realism as an integral aesthetic system was the novel Eugenie Grande (1833). The characters developed in it implement the principle of personality formation under the influence of circumstances. The author acts as an outstanding psychologist, enriching psychological analysis with the techniques and principles of realistic art.
For “Scenes of Parisian Life” the novel “Père Goriot” (1834) is very indicative, which became the key one in the cycle of “studies on morals”: it was in it that about thirty characters from previous and subsequent works were supposed to “come together”, which was the reason for the creation of a completely new the structure of the novel: multi-centered and polyphonic. Without highlighting a single main character, the writer made the central image of the novel, as if in contrast to the image of the cathedral Notre Dame of Paris in Hugo's novel, Madame Bocquet's modern Parisian boarding house is Balzac's model of contemporary France.
One of the descending centers is formed around the image of Father Goriot, whose life story resembles the fate of Shakespeare's King Lear. Another, ascending, line is associated with the image of Eugene Rastignac, who came from a noble but impoverished provincial noble family, who came to Paris to make a career. With the image of Rastignac, who is an active character in other works of The Human Comedy, the writer laid down the theme of fate, which is relevant for French and European literature. young man in society, and later the character’s name became a household name for an upstart who achieved success. Based on the principle "openness" cycle, the “flowing” of characters from novel to novel, the author depicts the flow of life, movement in development, which creates a complete illusion of the authenticity of what is happening and forms the integrity of the picture of French life. Balzac found compositional agent connection of heroes not only in the finale, but throughout the entire novel and subsequent works, preserving it polycentricity.
In the novels of the "Human Comedy" appeared different faces Balzac's colossal talent, including the unprecedented richness of his vocabulary. Insightful analytical thought, the desire to systematize observations of the surrounding life, to express its patterns historically and socially through the typification of characters were embodied in the immortal cycle - a whole world built on the basis of a serious scientific and aesthetic study of society, close observation and synthesizing work of thought that explains the multifaceted and at the same time single panorama. Balzac's work - highest point versatile possibilities of realism as an artistic method.
To a large extent, the character of the development of the literary process in France was determined by the defeat of the revolution of 1848, on which the creative intelligentsia pinned many hopes. Timeless atmosphere tragic hopelessness led to the spread of the theory "pure art". In French literature, a poetic group called “Parnas” (1866) is emerging. Representatives of this group (G. Gautier, L. de Lisle, T. de Bamville and others) opposed the social tendentiousness of romanticism and realism, preferring the dispassion of “scientific” observation and the apoliticism of “pure art.” Pessimism, a retreat into the past, descriptiveness, a passion for the careful finishing of a sculptural, dispassionate image, which turns into an end in itself with the external beauty and euphony of the verse, are characteristic of the work of the Parnassian poets. The contradictions of the era were reflected in their own way in the tragic pathos of the poems of the greatest poet of the 1850-1860s. Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867) - collections "Flowers of Evil" (1857) and "Wreckage" (1866).
As the most important artistic direction method and style naturalism (fr. naturalisme from lat. natura - nature) formed in the latter thirds of the XIX V. in the literature of Europe and the USA. Philosophical basis naturalism became positivism. The literary prerequisites for naturalism were the work of Gustave Flaubert, his theory of “objective”, “impersonal” art, as well as the activities of “sincere” realists (G. Courbet, L.E. Duranty, Chanfleury).
Naturalists set themselves a noble task: from the fantastic inventions of the romantics, who in the middle of the 19th century. They are increasingly moving away from reality into the realm of dreams, turning art to face the truth, to the real fact. The work of O. Balzac becomes a model for naturalists. Representatives of this trend turn primarily to the life of the lower classes of society; they are characterized by genuine democracy. They expand the scope of what is depicted in literature; for them there are no taboo topics: if the ugly is depicted reliably, it acquires the meaning of genuine aesthetic value for naturalists.
Naturalism is characterized by a positivist understanding of reliability. The writer must be objective observer and experimenter. He can only write about what he has studied. Hence the image of only a “piece of reality” reproduced from photographic accuracy, instead of a typical image (as a unity of the individual and the general); refusal to portray the heroic personality as “atypical” in a naturalistic sense; replacing plot (“fiction”) with description and analysis; aesthetically neutral position of the author in relation to the depicted (for him there is no beautiful or ugly); analysis of society on the basis of strict determinism, which denies free will; showing the world in static terms, like a jumble of details; the writer does not seek to predict the future.
Naturalism was influenced by other methods and came close to impressionism And realism.
Since the 1870s at the head of the naturalists stands Emile Zola (1840-1902), who in his theoretical works developed the basic principles of naturalism, and his works of art combine features of naturalism and critical realism. And this synthesis makes a strong impression on readers, thanks to which naturalism, initially rejected by them, later receives recognition: the name Zola has become almost synonymous with the term “naturalism.” His aesthetic theory and artistic experience attracted young contemporary writers who formed the core of the naturalistic school (A. Sear, L. Ennick, O. Mirbeau, C. Huysmans, P. Alexis and others). The most important stage of their joint creative activity became a collection of stories "Medan Evenings" (1880).
The work of E. Zola constitutes the most important stage in the history of French and world history. literature of the 19th century V. His legacy is very extensive: not counting early works, this is the twenty-volume "Rugon-Macquart" cycle, the natural and social history of one family during the era of the Second Empire, the "Three Cities" trilogy, the unfinished cycle of novels "The Four Gospels", several plays, a huge number of articles on literature and art.
The theories of I. Taine, C. Darwin, C. Bernard, and C. Letourneau had a huge influence on the formation of Zola’s views and the development of Zola’s creative method. That is why Zola’s naturalism is not only aesthetics and artistic creativity: it is a worldview, a scientific and philosophical study of the world and man. Creating experimental novel theory, he motivated the likening of the artistic method to the scientific method: “The novelist is both an observer and an experimenter. As an observer, he depicts facts as he observed them, establishes a starting point, finds solid ground on which his characters will act and events unfold. Then he becomes an experimenter and carries out an experiment - that is, he sets things in motion. characters within the framework of this or that work, showing that the sequence of events in it will be exactly the same as required by the logic of the phenomena being studied... The ultimate goal is the knowledge of man, the scientific knowledge of him as an individual and as a member of society.”
Under the influence of new ideas, the writer creates his first naturalistic novels, Therese Raquin (1867) and Madeleine Ferrat (1868). Family stories served the writer as the basis for a complex and deep analysis of human psychology, examined from scientific and aesthetic positions. Zola wanted to prove that human psychology is not a single “life of the soul,” but the sum of diverse interacting factors: hereditary properties, environment, physiological reactions, instincts and passions. In order to designate a complex of interactions, Zola, instead of the usual term “character,” proposes the term "temperament". Focusing on the theory of I. Taine, he describes in detail “race”, “environment” and “moment”, giving a brilliant example of “physiological psychology”. Zola developed a harmonious, well-thought-out aesthetic system that hardly changed until the end of his life. At its core - determinism, those. conditionality inner world of a person by hereditary inclinations, environment and circumstances.
In 1868, Zola conceived a series of novels, the purpose of which was to study, using the example of one family, questions of heredity and environment, to study the entire Second Empire from the coup d'etat to the present, to embody in types modern society scoundrels and heroes ("Rougon-Macquart",
1871 -1893). Zola's large-scale plan is realized only in the context of the entire cycle, although each of the twenty novels is complete and quite independent. But Zola achieved literary triumph by publishing the novel “The Trap” (1877), included in this cycle. The first novel of the series “The Career of the Rougons” (1877) revealed the direction of the entire narrative, both its social and physiological aspects. This is a novel about the establishment of the Second Empire, which Zola calls “an extraordinary era of madness and shame,” and about the roots of the Rougon and Macquart families. The coup d'état of Napoleon III is depicted indirectly in the novel, and the events in provincial Plassans, inert and far from politics, are shown as a fierce battle between the ambitious and selfish interests of the local masters of life and the common people. This struggle is no different from what is happening throughout France, and Plassans is the social model of the country.
The novel "The Career of the Rougons" is a powerful source of the entire cycle: the history of the emergence of the Rougon and Macquart family with a combination of hereditary qualities that will then give an impressive variety of options in the descendants. The ancestor of the clan, Adelaide Fuc, the daughter of a Plassans gardener, distinguished by her illness, strange manners and actions from her youth, will pass on to her descendants weakness and instability of the nervous system. If in some descendants this leads to the degradation of personality, its moral death, then in others it turns into a tendency towards exaltation, sublime feelings and the pursuit of an ideal. Adelaide's marriage to the farmhand Rougon, who has practicality in life, mental stability and the desire to achieve a strong position, gives subsequent generations a healthy start. After his death, Adelaide's first and only love to the drunkard and tramp smuggler Makkar. From him, his descendants will inherit drunkenness, love of change, selfishness, and reluctance to do anything serious. The descendants of Pierre Rougon, the only legitimate son of Adelaide, are successful businessmen, and Macquart are alcoholics, criminals, madmen, as well as creative people... But both of them have one thing in common: they are children of the era and they have an inherent desire to rise up at any cost.
The entire cycle and each group of novels are permeated with a system of leitmotifs, symbolic scenes and details, in particular, the first group of novels - “Prey”, “The Belly of Paris”, “His Excellency Eugene Rougon” - is united by the idea of spoils, which are shared by the winners, and the second - " Trap", "Nana", "Scum", "Germinal", "Creativity", "Money" and some others - characterize the period when the Second Empire seems to be the most stable, lush and triumphant, but behind this appearance lies blatant vices, poverty, the death of the best feelings, the collapse of hopes. The novel "The Trap" is a kind of core of this group, and its leitmotif is the approaching catastrophe.
Zola passionately loved Paris and he can be called the main character of Rougon-Makarov, tying the cycle together: the action of thirteen novels takes place in the capital of France, where readers are presented with a different face of the great city.
Several of Zola's novels reflect another side of his worldview - pantheism, that is the “breath of the universe”, where everything is interconnected in the wide flow of life (“Earth”, “The Misdemeanor of Abbot Mouret”). Like many of his contemporaries, the writer does not consider man as the final goal of the universe: he is as much a part of nature as any living or inanimate object. This is a kind of fatal predestination and a sober view of the purpose of human life - to fulfill one’s destiny, thereby contributing to the general process of development.
The last, twentieth novel of the cycle - "Doctor Pascal" (1893) is a summing up of the final results, primarily an explanation of the problem of heredity in relation to the Rougon-Macquart family. The curse of the family did not fall on the old scientist Pascal: only obsession and emotionality unite him with other Rougons. As a doctor, he reveals the theory of heredity and explains its laws in detail using the example of his family, thereby giving the reader the opportunity to cover all three generations of the Rougons and Macquarts, understand the vicissitudes of each individual fate and create a family tree of the clan.
Zola did a lot for the development of modern theater. Articles and essays, dramatizations of his novels, staged on the stage of the advanced Free Theater and on many stages around the world, formed within the framework of the movement of European playwrights for " new drama"special direction (G. Ibsen, B. Shaw, G. Hauptmann, etc.).
Without the work of Zola, who, based on the aesthetics of naturalism he developed, combined the entire palette of styles (from romanticism to symbolism), it is impossible to imagine either the movement of French prose from the 19th to the 20th and 21st centuries, or the formation of the poetics of the modern social novel.
The second largest writer of French literature half of the 19th century V. was Gustave Flaubert (1821 -1880), despite the deep skepticism and tragic pessimism of his worldview. Establishing the principles of impersonal and dispassionate art, his aesthetic program was close to the theory of “art for art’s sake” and partly to the theory of Zola the naturalist. Nevertheless, the artist’s powerful talent allowed him, despite the classic example of the “objective manner” of narration, to create the novel masterpieces “Madame Bovary” (1856), “Salammbo” (1862), “Education of Sentiments” (1869).
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The art of realism in France mid-19th century. The significance of the French revolutions of 1830 and 1848 O. Daumier, F. Millet, G. Courbet, C. Corot. The problem of plein air and the Barbizon school. The lesson was prepared by an Fine Arts teacher from the Moscow State Budgetary Institution to the Children's School of Art. Takhtamukai Jaste Saida Yurievna
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Pierre Etienne Théodore Rousseau (1812 – 1867) The son of a Parisian tailor, after seeing wild nature for the first time, he wanted to become an artist. He went to his first plein air at the age of 17 in the forest of Fontainebleau near the village of Barbizon, and could not stop. Everything in nature amazed him: the endless sky with sunsets, storms, clouds, thunderstorms, winds or without all this; the grandeur of the mountains - with stones, forests, glaciers; a wide horizon of plains with gently sloping pastures and patches of fields; all the seasons (he was the first Frenchman to write winter as it is); trees, the life of each of which is larger and more solemn than human; sea, streams, even puddles and swamps. Through the efforts of Rousseau, the landscape moved from a conventional image to a natural one, and from an auxiliary genre to a first-rate one (which previously was only historical painting).
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Sunset To write an anthology of French landscapes, the “artist of his country” traveled and walked around it all - fortunately he was a tireless pedestrian and a Spartan in everyday life and menu. And a perfectionist. The Paris Salon accepted a landscape by 19-year-old Rousseau for an exhibition, but at 23 rejected his “daring composition and piercing color.” For a dozen years without exhibitions, Rousseau softened the tone of his landscapes, the storms gave way to simplicity, silence and philosophical reflection. So his paintings became a collection of heartfelt lyrics. He came to his beloved Barbizon every year, and at the age of 36 he moved away for good, having become disillusioned with both love and the crushing onslaught of the revolution. In the 30s–60s. 19th century Rousseau and his painting of nature directly in nature in Barbizon were joined by other artists: Millet, Cabat, Daubigny and Dupre, who began to be called Barbizonians - and the world began to learn about the “Barbizon school.”
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One of the artist’s earliest known works is a small painting kept in the Leningrad Hermitage - “Market in Normandy”. Here is a small town street bustling with market trade. The trampled rocky ground of the market square in a tiny town, built half of dense old stone and half of cracked darkened wood and assorted roofing shingles, occupies and, it seems, touches the artist no less than the local residents. Shadow and light touch buildings and people equally, and in each patch soft color transitions indicate what Rousseau so loves to “touch” with his eyes and brush: the texture of real things and the living movement of the atmosphere. The artist is interested in all the details of city life - in the open window on the second floor of the house he notices a woman, he peers into the darkness in the depths of the open door, into the crowd of buyers and traders depicted in the background. Subsequently, Rousseau moves away from this type of “inhabited” landscape; he is attracted not by the views of houses and streets, but only by nature, in which the presence of man is episodic and insignificant. Market in Normandy. 1845-1848. State Hermitage Museum Theodore Rousseau. Hut in the forest of Fontainebleau. 1855.
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At the World Exhibition of 1855, 43-year-old Rousseau was awarded a gold medal for his painting “Exit from the Forest of Fontainebleau. Setting Sun,” which meant recognition and creative victory. Later he painted a companion painting to it, “Forest of Fontainebleau. Morning". And finally, the Salon, and after it the World Exhibition of 1867, invited him to the jury. What did you draw? Secluded corners of wildlife, rural nooks, oaks, chestnuts, rocks, streams, groups of trees with small figures of people or animals for scale, trembling and shimmering air in different time days. What was useful to the impressionists? Plein air, the comma-shaped stroke, the ability to see the air, the overall tone of the picture thanks to the monochrome layer of chiaroscuro under the colored top layers. Exit from the forest of Fontainebleau. Setting Sun Theodore Rousseau. Forest of Fontainebleau. Morning. 1851
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Barbizon School In contrast to the idealization and conventionality of the “historical landscape” of academicians and the romantic cult of imagination, the Barbizon school argued aesthetic value the real nature of France - forests and fields, rivers and mountain valleys, towns and villages in their everyday aspects. The Barbizons relied on the heritage of Dutch painting of the 17th century. and English landscape painters of the early 19th century. - J. Constable and R. Bonington, but, above all, they developed the realistic tendencies of French landscape painting of the 18th and 1st quarter of the 19th centuries. (especially J. Michel and the leading masters of the romantic school - T. Gericault, E. Delacroix). Working from life on a sketch, and sometimes on a painting, the artist’s intimate communication with nature was combined among the Barbizons with a craving for the epic breadth of the image (sometimes not alien to a kind of romanticization and heroism), and chamber paintings alternated with large landscape canvases.
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Barbizon School The Barbizon school developed a method of tonal painting, restrained and often almost monochrome, rich in subtle values, light and color nuances; calm brown, brown, green tones are enlivened by individual ringing accents. The composition of the landscapes of the Barbizon school is natural, but carefully constructed and balanced. The Barbizons were the founders of plein air painting in France and gave the landscape an intimate and confidential character. The names of the Barbizonians were associated with the creation of a “mood landscape”, the forerunner of which was Camille Corot, the singer of pre-dawn darkness, sunsets, and twilight. Charles Daubigny. Banks of the Oise River. Late 50s XIX century State Hermitage Museum
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Camille Corot (1796–1875) Camille Corot studied with the academic painters A. Michallon and V. Bertin, and was in Italy in 1825–28, 1834 and 1843. Corot is one of the creators of the French realistic landscape of the 19th century. A passionate admirer of nature, he unknowingly paved the way for the Impressionists. It was Corot who spoke about the “picturesque impression.” Striving to convey the first, fresh impression, he rejected the romantic interpretation of the landscape with its inherent idealized forms and colors, when, in his desire for the sublime, the divine, the romantic artist depicted a landscape that reflected the state of his soul. In this case, the exact rendering of the real landscape did not matter. Protesting, perhaps unconsciously, against this approach to painting, Corot raised the banner of plein airism.
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Camille Corot The difference between landscape in the Romantics and in Corot is the difference between fact and fiction. In general, before Corot, artists had never painted oil landscapes in nature. Romantics, like the old masters, sometimes made preliminary sketches on the spot, sketching with great skill (with pencil, charcoal, sanguine, etc.) the shapes of trees, stones, banks, and then painted their landscapes in the studio, using sketches only as auxiliary material. Theodore Gericault. “The Flood” 1814 Camille Corot. “The Cathedral of Nantes,” 1860. It is interesting to note that working on a landscape in a studio, away from nature, was generally accepted, and even Corot did not dare to finish the work to the last stroke in the open air and, out of habit, completed the paintings in the studio. Working from life brings him closer to the Barbizon school.
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Camille Corot. Landscapes of the 1820s–40s. Corot's sketches and paintings of the 1820s–40s are vitally spontaneous and poetic, capturing French and Italian nature and ancient monuments (“View of the Colosseum,” 1826), with their light coloring, the saturation of individual color spots, and a dense, material layer of paint; Corot recreates the transparency of air, the brightness of sunlight; in the strict structure and clarity of composition, clarity and sculptural forms, the classicist tradition is noticeable, especially strong in the historical landscapes of Corot (“Homer and the Shepherds”, 1845). “View of the Colosseum”, 1826 “Homer and the Shepherds”, 1845
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Camille Corot. Landscapes of the 1850s–70s. In the 1850s in Corot’s art, poetic contemplation, spirituality, and elegiac-dreamy notes are intensified, especially in landscapes painted from memory - “Memory of Mortefontaine” (1864), as its title indicates, a charming romantic landscape, enlivened by female and child figures, inspired by pleasant memories about one of the wonderful days spent in such a picturesque place. This is an almost monochrome landscape with a quiet surface of water, the outlines of an unclear shore melting in the fog and a captivatingly tremulous light-air environment, plunging the entire landscape into a light golden haze. His painting becomes more refined, reverent, light, the palette acquires a wealth of values. Memories of Mortefontaine, 1864. Louvre.
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In the works of this time (“Gust of Wind”, 1865–70), Corot strives to capture the instantaneous, changeable states of nature, the light-air environment, and to preserve the freshness of the first impression; Thus, Corot anticipates the impressionistic landscape. In the painting “Gust of Wind” with its gloomy sky, rushing dark clouds, tree branches knocked to one side and an ominous orange-yellow sunset, everything is permeated with a feeling of unease. The female figure, breaking through towards the wind, personifies the theme of man’s confrontation with the natural elements, dating back to the traditions of romanticism. The finest transitions of shades of brownish, dark gray and dark green, their smooth tints form a single emotional color chord that conveys a thunderstorm. The variability of lighting enhances the mood of anxiety in the landscape motif embodied by the artist. "Gust of Wind", 1865–70
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Democratic realism Between 1850 and 1860 In France, the triumphant march of romanticism was stopped and a new direction, led by Gustave Courbet, gained strength, which made a real revolution in painting - democratic realism. Its supporters set out to display reality as it is, with all its “beauty” and “ugliness.” For the first time, artists focused on representatives of the poorest strata of the population: workers and peasants, washerwomen, artisans, urban and rural poor. Even color was used in a new way. The free and bold brushstrokes used by Courbet and his followers anticipated the technique of the Impressionists, which they used when working en plein air. The work of realist artists caused a real stir in academic circles. Disappearance from their canvases greek gods and biblical characters were considered almost sacrilege. The masters of realistic painting of the democratic trend - Daumier, Millet and Courbet, who in many ways remained misunderstood, were accused of superficiality and lack of ideals.
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Gustave Courbet (1819–1877) Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet was born in Ornans. Son of a rich farmer. From 1837 he attended the drawing school of S. A. Flajulot in Besançon. He did not receive a systematic art education. Living in Paris from 1839, he painted from life in private studios. He was influenced by Spanish and Dutch painting of the 17th century. He made trips to Holland (1847) and Belgium (1851). The revolutionary events of 1848, which Courbet witnessed, largely predetermined the democratic orientation of his work.
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Wounded Man with a Leather Belt. 1849 Self-portrait “Man with a Pipe” (1873-1874) Gustave Courbet Having passed through a short stage of closeness to romanticism (a series of self-portraits); Self-Portrait with a Black Dog 1842 "Self-Portrait (Man with a Pipe)". 1848-1849 "Despair. Self-portrait." 1848-1849.
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(“Lovers in the Village” or “Happy Lovers”, 1844), Courbet polemically contrasts it (as well as academic classicism) with a new type of art, “positive” (Courbet’s expression), recreating life in its flow, affirming the material significance of the world and denying artistic value something that cannot be realized in a tangible and objective way. Happy lovers
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Gustave Courbet In his best works“Stone Crusher” (1849), In a letter to Vey, Courbet describes the canvas and talks about the circumstances that gave rise to her idea: “I was riding on our cart to the castle of Saint-Denis, near Sehen-Vare, not far from Mezières, and stopped to look at two people - they were the complete personification of poverty. I immediately thought that this was the subject of a new painting, invited them both to my studio the next morning, and have been working on the painting ever since... on one side of the canvas there is a depiction of a seventy-year-old man; he is bent over his work, his hammer is raised up, his skin is tanned, his head is shaded by a straw hat, his pants made of coarse fabric are all in patches, his heels stick out from his once blue torn socks and clogs that have burst at the bottom. On the other side is a young guy with a dusty head and a dark face. Bare sides and shoulders are visible through a greasy, tattered shirt, leather suspenders hold up what were once pants, and dirty leather shoes have holes on all sides. The old man is kneeling; the guy is dragging a basket of rubble. Alas! This is how many people begin and end their lives.”
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“Funeral at Ornans” (1849) by Courbet shows reality in all its dullness and wretchedness. The compositions of this period are distinguished by spatial limitation, static balance of forms, compact grouping or elongated frieze-like arrangement of figures (as in “Funeral at Ornans”), and a soft, muted color scheme.
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Courbet's performance in his young years is amazing. He is caught up in a grandiose plan. On a huge canvas (3.14 x 6.65 m), as a sign of respect to the memory of his grandfather Udo, a republican of the era of the French Revolution, who had a strong influence on the formation of Courbet’s political views, he writes “Historical painting of a burial in Ornans” (1849 – 1850) - this is what he himself calls “Funeral in Ornans”. On the canvas, Courbet placed about fifty life-size figures. two church watchmen Four people in wide-brimmed hats have just brought the coffin of Courbet's mother and three sisters
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Gustave Courbet The principle of social significance of art, put forward in contemporary art criticism by Courbet, is embodied in his works “Meeting” (“Hello, Monsieur Courbet!”; 1854), which conveys the moment of the meeting of a proudly marching artist with philanthropist A. Bruhat.
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“Atelier” (1855) is an allegorical composition in which Courbet imagined himself surrounded by his characters and his friends.
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Gustave Courbet In 1856, Courbet painted the painting “Girls on the Banks of the Seine,” thereby taking an important step towards rapprochement with the plein air painters. Courbet performed it in a mixed manner: he painted the landscape directly in nature, and then added the figures in the studio. Choosing the main means of pictorial language not local color, but tone, its gradations, Courbet gradually moved away from the restrained, sometimes harsh palette of the 1840s - early 1850s, brightening and enriching it under the influence of working in the open air, achieving light saturation of colors and at the same time revealing texture smear
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During the short reign of the Paris Commune of 1871, Courbet was chosen Minister of Fine Arts. He did a lot to save museums from looting, but he has one rather strange act on his conscience. On the Place Vendome in Paris there was a column - a copy of the famous Trajan's Column - erected to commemorate the military victories of France. The Communards strongly associated this column with the bloody imperial regime. Therefore, one of the first decisions of the Commune was to demolish the column. Courbet was entirely in favor: “We will do a good deed.” Perhaps then the girlfriends of the recruits will not wet so many handkerchiefs with tears. But when the column was toppled, Courbet became sad: “As it falls, it will crush me, you’ll see.” And he was right. After the fall of the Commune, he was reminded of the column, they began to call him a “bandit,” and in the end the court accused him of destroying monuments. Gustave Courbet Courbet had to serve several months in prison. The artist's property was sold off, but even after leaving prison he was required to pay 10,000 francs every year. He was forced to hide in Switzerland until his death from paying a gigantic fine. Seven years later, Courbet died in poverty.
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Honoré Victorien Daumier (1808–1879) The largest painter, sculptor and lithographer of the 19th century. was Honore Victorien Daumier. Born in Marseille. Son of a master glazier. From 1814 he lived in Paris, where in the 1820s. took lessons in painting and drawing, mastered the craft of a lithographer, and performed small lithographic work. Daumier's work was formed on the basis of observation of the street life of Paris and careful study of classical art.
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Caricatures by Daumier Daumier apparently took part in the Revolution of 1830, and with the establishment of the July Monarchy he became a political cartoonist and won public recognition with his merciless, acutely grotesque satire of Louis Philippe and the ruling bourgeois elite. Possessing political insight and the temperament of a fighter, Daumier consciously and purposefully linked his art with the democratic movement. Daumier's cartoons were distributed as loose sheets or published in illustrated publications in which Daumier contributed. Caricature of King Louis Philippe
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Sculptures by Daumier Boldly and accurately sculpted sculptural sketches-busts of bourgeois political figures (painted clay, circa 1830-32, 36 busts survive in a private collection) served as the basis for a series of lithographic portraits-caricatures (Celebrities of the Golden Mean, 1832-33).
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Caricature of the King In 1832, Daumier was imprisoned for six months for a caricature of the King (lithograph “Gargantua”, 1831), where communication with arrested republicans strengthened his revolutionary beliefs.
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Daumier achieved a high degree of artistic generalization, powerful sculptural forms, emotional expressiveness of contour and chiaroscuro in the lithographs of 1834; they expose the mediocrity and self-interest of those in power, their hypocrisy and cruelty (collective portrait of the Chamber of Deputies - “Legislative Womb”; “We are all honest people, let’s embrace”, “This one can be set free”). “Legislative womb” “We are all honest people, let’s hug” “This one can be released”
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The ban on political caricature and the closure of Caricatures (1835) forced Daumier to limit himself to everyday satire. In the series of lithographs "Parisian types" (1839–40),
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"Marital Morals" (1839–1842), " Better days life" (1843-1846), "People of Justice" (1845-48), "Good Bourgeois" (1846-49) Daumier caustically ridiculed and condemned the deceit and selfishness of bourgeois life, the spiritual and physical squalor of the bourgeois, revealed the nature of the bourgeois social environment, shaping the personality of the average person. From the series “Marital Morals” (1839–1842) From the series “The Best Days of Life” (1843–1846) From the series “People of Justice” (1845–48) From the series “Good Bourgeois” (1846–49)
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Daumier created a typical image concentrating the vices of the bourgeoisie as a class in the 100-sheet series “Caricaturan” (1836–38), which tells about the adventures of the adventurer Robert Macker.
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In the series " Ancient history"(1841–43), "Tragic-classical physiognomies" (1841) Daumier evilly parodied bourgeois academic art with its hypocritical cult of classical heroes. Daumier's mature lithographs are characterized by dynamics and a rich velvety touch, freedom in conveying psychological shades, movement, light and air. Daumier also created drawings for woodcuts (mainly book illustrations). The Beautiful Narcissus Alexander and Diogenes The Abduction of Helen From the series “Tragic-classical physiognomies” (1841)
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A new short-lived rise in French political caricature is associated with the Revolution of 1848–49. Welcoming the revolution, Daumier exposed its enemies; The personification of Bonapartism was the image-type of the political rogue Ratapual, created first in a grotesque dynamic figurine (1850), and then used in a number of lithographs. Daumier O. "Ratapoile". Ratapual and the Republic.
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Painting by Daumier In 1848, Daumier completed a pictorial sketch for the competition “The Republic of 1848”. From that time on, Daumier devoted himself more and more to painting in oils and watercolors. Innovative in theme and artistic language, Daumier’s painting embodied the pathos of the revolutionary struggle (“Uprising”, 1848; “Family on the Barricades”) and the uncontrollable movement of human crowds (“Emigrants”, 1848–49), the artist’s respect and sympathy for working people (“The Laundress” ", 1859–60; "3rd Class Carriage", 1862–63) and a malicious mockery of the unprincipledness of bourgeois justice (“Defender”). "Republic of 1848" "Insurrection", 1848 "Family on the Barricades" "Emigrants", 1848-49 "Washwoman", 1859-60 "3rd Class Carriage", 1862-63 "Defender" 1865