Master Teacher Guide Series -- Romantic Style. Watercolor Portraits

Author: Guan Jianlin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-03-01
Features: French Romanticism art, which emerged in the 1820s and 1830s. This was an era of corruption, chaos, and regression. The Romanticism that emerged during this time bore the spirit of calling for a storm of revolution from the outset. Hegel said in Aesthetics that Romanticism sought to express "the free concrete life of the soul." Fundamentally, the emergence of 19th-century Romanticism was a demand for the liberation of the individual and the freedom of the soul; feudal regimes and academic classical art equally felt that they had to break free from the spiritual burden they imposed. Romantics emphasized color, using it to shape forms, which aligned with their emphasis on emotion. Passion was an element of Romantic art, and depicting contemporary themes became a hallmark of Romantic representation. Especially the passion that permeated paintings—this was a quality lacking in classical art, which followed old methods and led to indifference through "reason." Composition, light, color, and the dynamic expressions of people all reflected the artist's rich imagination. However, what was precious was that their Romantic imagination was grounded in an in-depth understanding of reality. The exuberant passion they displayed was intertwined with a positive life ideal, making it deeply moving and possessing powerful artistic force. Before Géricault and Delacroix sparked the Romantic movement, the Dutch school, the Flemish school, and artists like Rubens, van Dyck during the Baroque period in Flanders, Goya in Spain, and Constable in Britain all created conditions for the emergence of Romanticism. Unlike classical art's emphasis on reason, solemnity, and a relentless focus on drawing and lines, their paintings placed greater importance on the expression of color, the dynamism of figures, and the expression of the inner world of characters. Especially with the emergence of Goya, he broke the 18th-century tradition in both ideal and technique, creating a new tradition. When Géricault's The Raft of the Medusa was presented to the public, it heralded the arrival of the Romantic painting school. Meanwhile, his fellow apprentice, Delacroix, with his passionate, brushwork and rich colors in works like The Massacre at Chios and Liberty Leading the People, carried the banner of Romanticism to its peak and was admired by later Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painters.