Henry Fuseli: Nightmarish The Enlightenment in art history is best known for promoting reasoning and rationality just as much as it favored beauty and social progress. However, Henry Fuseli, who sought to portray human irrationality, often challenged Enlightenment ideals with his work (Cothren, Stockstad). Painted in 1771 and exhibited at the Royal Academy of London in 1772, Fuseli sought to make a name for himself with his composition The Nightmare (Tate). The painting leaves its audience with a dark sense of wonder and intrigue. Fuseli captured an audience during a time in which patrons had favored easily understood concepts over complex imagery drawn from history or mythology (Cothren, Stockstad). Fuseli pushed many boundaries and artistic expectations set in this period with sexually charged compositions and dark tones in narrative. Contentious for its time, The Nightmare is a classical painting which hinges upon Fuseli’s own sexual desires, potentially unrequited love, and folklore of the period. Certainly, Henry Fuseli’s romanticized gothic style both shocked and awed his audience. However, Fuseli did not always intend to be an artist. Though he was one of eighteen children with a father who devoted his life to both creating and collecting art, becoming an artist was not Henry Fuseli’s initial pursuit. Despite his art-rich upbringing, in the mid-1760’s, Fuseli moved to England from his hometown of Zürich, Switzerland in search of other achievements. Initially, Henry
Like the painting, the sketch exhibits a number of West 's finest imaging and clearly and convincingly depicts all of the feeling of a frightful scene. The larger oil on canvas work isn 't one portrait, but rather, a
I chose to write about L’Envouteuse (The Sorceress) by Georges Merle. Merle’s father was also a painter, and since Merle did not sign some of his early work it was often confused to be done by his dad. George himself was known by his talent of painting the body form of women. Merle painted this during the time of 1883. This painting is 57 ½ inches x 45 inches making this a fairly large piece. When painting this he used oil on canvas. I found L’Envouteuse (The Sorceress) while I was browsing through The Birmingham Museum of Art. Above all pieces of art I saw in the museum, this painting seemed to be the most captivating. As soon as I laid eyes on it my attention was immediately taken by this mysterious piece of art. I grabbed a stool and began writing down my observations. Looking at this painting on paper cannot even compare to actually seeing it in person. Pictures I have seen online of L’Envouteuse (The Sorceress) do not justify the great detail and vigorous colors that are more easily seen while actually standing in front of the painting.
The Romantic era ascribed to the idea of the sublime - an idea that human emotions, all human emotions including horror, fear, and pain, produced an exhilarating thrill. In order to experience the full gamut of human emotion and the resultant high, the Romantics believed people should embrace all emotions, including the dark ones. However, experiencing horror and pain first hand were clearly detrimental, as witnessed with the mass executions of the French Revolution, but viewing these emotions from a removed setting, such as in art, poetry, and literature, allowed people to experience the thrill and complete exhilaration offered by the human experience. Often art and literature of the Romantic era depicted both horror and delight to offer a complete thrill and exploration of the human psyche. Henry Fuseli’s 1781 painting The Nightmare nicely embodies the idea of exploring both horror and sensuality. The subject of the painting is a young woman sleeping. On her chest sits a demon, gazing searchingly at the viewer as a ghostly horse looks on the scene in the background. Fuseli offers a bizarre image that so captivated his contemporaries that he painted several variations on the theme and the imagery continues to fascinate viewers 200 years later. Instead of cringing in horror at the demon on her chest, the woman’s back is arched sensuously, her arms hanging from her sleeping couch in complete surrender, yet
Imagery enhances the story by describing the setting and feelings of Erik’s when he was under fear. Imagery conveys the theme of fear by helping the reader picture the moment in his or her head. All in all, in the novel Tangerine, Edward Bloor uses the technique of imagery to show the theme of
Most pieces of art have a deeper meaning than what is simply expressed on the surface. Through emotions, symbols, and motifs, an artist can portray a unique story; however, despite the use of creative symbols, distinct stories can show a similar theme. Two such examples are the short film Destino by Salvador Dali and Walt Disney and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, which share the common theme of “the struggle of obtaining dreams”. Based on what is shown in these works of art, it is a challenge to attain dreams.
the person who is responsive to the stimuli of art behaves toward the reality of dream much the way the philosopher behaves toward the reality of existence; he observes exactly and enjoys his observations, for it is by these images that he interprets life, by these processes that he rehearses it. (Nietzsche 440)
I found it very difficult to find information on Constantine Brancusi in hard copy, therefore, you will see at the end of my paper that all of my sources are websites. The little information I did locate on the artist was very, very little. Therefore, I combined the small amount of information with some research I found on artists that were strongly influenced by Brancusi.
A women known as Truth is shown in the middle exuding a bright light surrounding Confidence, who is showing maternal instinct over her child. Another woman believed to be Ignorance is wearing rags and appears in the bottom left corner, struck in fear as her child is being consumed by the monstrosity known as Falsehood. The painting itself is believed to be an allegory created by Lilly, who in her own words, explained its importance to women. “Truth is shown in female guise because woman, the first instructor of “mankind in its innocence”, has particular need for Truth’s enlightenment and
I instantly fell in love with it, and simultaneously became fascinated by this artist who could so fully capture a feeling of utter terror, with The Scream, and a deep feeling of the difficulties surrounding love, with this painting.
In this painting by Tim Burton, our eyes are immediately drawn to the large, red spiral connected to a large down facing arrow. I choose this picture, due to Tim’s excellent use of the principal of Focal point. He has used his principal of design to make this painting more complex by adding two other elements, Colour and Lines. Tim’s focal point has been careful made by the bright and bold colour choice of red. Whereas the the organic spiral in the centre of the painting recreates the sense of confusion and loneliness in which the real focus / subject of the painting might be feeling.
“I'm trying to write 'something else' – realities, in a manner of speaking – what imbeciles call 'impressionism', a term employed with the utmost accuracy, especially by art critics who use it as a label to stick on Turner, the finest creator of mystery in the whole of art!”
The art world has a limitless array of mediums and different artistic periods, challenging the opinion of what should be accepted by the masses. "Expressionism is the art of the emotive, the art of tension provoked by consciousness of the forces which surround modern humankind." Challenging the academic traditions of the previous centuries, Edvard Munch impacted the art world as an instrumental leader in the development of modern German expressionism. His painting The Scream has made its mark in questioning the ideals of what is acceptable concerning the history of art. The paper will discuss Munch’s life history, uncovering the influences which led him to expressionism, as well as a detailed description and analysis of The Scream,
Dali’s painting appears to be representative of mainly the subconscious mind because many of the elements in the painting express objects or ideas that are highly characteristic of memories, dreams, or even socially unacceptable elements. More importantly, The Museum of Modern Art explains that a year before this painting was made Dali began to undergo his “paranoiac-critical method” which stimulated
I personally get a sense of perfection in a human world when I look at this painting, which is a bit misleading but appropriate for a time in which men were beginning to question the divine and finding answers in the natural world where science and mathematical solutions were starting to make sense of everything around us.
“The Scream” is a famous painting by Edvard Munch .The 1893 painting is regarded as one of the most iconic human figures in the history of Western art. The painting is described by Munich as an autobiographical representation of his own feelings of insanity. The painting was created by Much through the use of oil, tempera, and pastel while he was living in Oslo, the capital and perhaps the most popular city in Norway. The painting is generally described as abstract. It is referred to as being an iconic part of the Expressionism Movement, a movement that manifested in Germany from 1905 until 1950.The movement established a new way and approach to artistic presentation. America journalist Arthur Lubow cites the painting as “"an icon of modern art, a Mona Lisa for our time."(Lubow, 2006)