Romanticism to Realism: French Art 1830-1871

3 units

This course traces the flourishing of romanticism and the emergence of various forms of Realism in nineteenth-century French modernism, opening with the Revolution of 1830. Artistic tendencies ranging from the official and the academic to emergent romantic and avant-garde alternatives are addressed, as well as the unresolved social and aesthetic tensions that support the demand for an art that addresses modern times. The political idealism and the rhetoric of Republicanism in the Second Republic (1848 to 1852) intertwine with the emergence of a critical modernism that seeks truth in form, in materiality, and in political philosophy. Under the authoritarian regime of the Second Empire (1852-1870), the mandates of realism and idealism continue to vie in a period that sees both the flourishing of the academic system and the art dealer system, and the emergence of a critical avant-garde. The course closes with the emergence of Impressionism and the crisis of the Franco-Prussian war. Artists to be discussed include Delacroix, Ingres, Millet, Daumier, Courbet, Corot, Manet, Bonheur, Bayre, Clesinger, and the early careers of Bazille, Degas, Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Degas, Morisot and Cassatt. Pre-requisites: limited to graduate students in Art History); advanced undergrads only with permission of instructor. Some prior knowledge of French modernism required; some facility with French language useful but not required.