Period: 1901-1905
Around this time, Post Impressionism and Fauvism had reached France....but in the UK, there was a movement by the name of Aesthetic. One of the many concepts in the Aesthetics was Avant-garde or "Advance-guard" (experimental art) The Pre-Raphaelites (English brotherhood of painters, poets and critics) had been considered as the first avant-garde movement in art but at the same time had been denied the title because they still had a traditional approach towards art, by supporting the concepts of history painting and imitation.
Here are three paintings from associated artists of the Pre-Raphaelites Brotherhood between 1901-1905.
1. John Collier - "Tannhauser in the Venusberg" (1901) -
paintings are most interesting to me when there is a story behind it,
Tannhauser was a German Minnesanger, poet and was also a courtier at the court of Fredrick II, Duke of Austria. This painting is set in Venusberg where Tannhauser spent a year worshipping Venus, the roman goddess of love, beauty and fertility.
Collier is said to be one of the most prominent portrait painters of his time.
2. John William Godward - "Summer Flowers" (1903) - Godward was a painter from the end of the Pre-Raphaelites/Neo-Cassicist era. A majority of his works include women in classical dress or nude.
3. John William Waterhouse "Psyche Opening the Door into Cupid's Garden" (1904) - Psyche represents the human spirit/soul. Venus had set her son, Cupid on a task to make Psyche fall in love with "the ugliest creature he could find" but when Cupid saw Psyche he fell in love with her first.
John William Waterhouse continued to work years after the breakup of the brotherhood, a lot his paintings were known for their depictions of women from ancient Greek Mythology.
Artists from this particular brotherhood were influenced by Romanticism, the Medieval culture (on a spiritual level) and realism. Their paintings were very detailed with intense colours, which was also inspired by Quattrocento (15th century Italian) and Flemish (15th-17th century, European) Art.
4 comments:
i really like that first work "Tannhauser in the Venusberg" because of its soft colour and the depth that it has, I also really liked your third one "Psyche Opening the Door into Cupid's Garden" because of the attention to detail, it seems as if shes oppening a door to another world, and her dress is painted very elegantly, your second painting "Summer Flowers" didnt really appeal to me because it seemed a bit to plain and odinary, but that is just my opinion
Fair enough :)
I really like all three, I love the colours used in the painting by Godward but the 1st and 3rd are definitely more appealing to me because of the stories behind them.
Thanks Rose,
You really know your stuff, and have done a lot of research on a historical period I know very little about, so your posting was very educational for me!
Cheers!
TX
Kurt,
it's great that you have included your opinion and some observations that you noted, don't forget to do a little research into the topic you are commenting on in the future.
Cheers Hobbs
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