The Romanticism Era
Unit 5 Individual Project
Art Appreciation: HUMA205-1202B-12
Kandyce Livingston
American Intercontinental University
Abstract
The following essay will discuss three different works of art from the Romanticism era. The essay will provide a description of each work art including the style. A summary of each artists’ personal philosophies of art will be discussed along with prevailing trends and school of thought in the art world during this time period. In addition, an explanation will be provided of how the works of art fit into the context of the Romanticism time period. In conclusion, also provided is a discussion of the three works of art in the terms of content, form, and subject matter as well as a discussion of aesthetic qualities and symbolic significance.

The Romanticism Era
Introduction
During the Romanticism era, emotional expression motivated European artists from about 1820 to 1850. In this era, various artists, such as painters, photographers, musicians, and writers, held the belief that imagination and emotion had more value than reason, civilization was more corrupt than nature, and that ultimately human beings were good (Frank, 2011). As a way to move away from the Neoclassicism fixation classical forms, Romantic artists sought to celebrate nature, rural life, common people and other exotic ideas in their work. Romanticism is demonstrated in such works of art as The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons by Joseph Mallard William Turner (Frank, 2011, p. 328), in The Oxbow by Thomas Cole (Frank, 2011, p. 329), and also in Blue Hole, Little Miami River by Robert S. Duncanson (Frank, 2011, p. 330). These three landscape themed paintings represent the Romanticism era by the celebration of nature through great emotion and imagination.

The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons was painted in 1834 by Joseph Mallard William Turner using oil on fabric but only after an the initial sketch was created using pencil and paper. The painting shows a landscape setting centered around the Thames River, which is centrally located in the painting. Painted in the background, or rather in the distance, Turner has painted a fireball of flames to represent a fire burning the British Houses of Parliament. In the painting, Turner also painted one of London’s bridges stretching across the River. This, in addition to boats and riverbanks, were where the Londoners gathered to watch the horrifying fire. By using a variation of bright, vivid orange, yellow, and red colors as well as loose, expressive brushwork, Turner gives viewers the idea that his painting was created in a storm of passion (Frank, 2011, p. 328). The images in the painting were also given emotion by the excellent use of distortions and exaggerations. Based on reports, Turner was an actual witness to the fire that took place on October 16, 1834 and burned down most of the Palace of Westminster (www.wikipedia.org, 2012), which housed the Parliament of the United Kingdom. However, it has been stated that the flames from the fire did not leap up into the night as portrayed in Turner’s painting. According to history, the fire started from overheated chimney flues and quickly spread throughout the complex. Lasting for countless hours and drawing massive crowds, the fire was considered the biggest spectacle in London since the Great Fire of 1666. As a way to emphasize feeling over fact as well as the emotion of the event, Turner’s painting exaggerated the factual accuracy. He made the flames into “a surging maelstrom” (www.clevelandart.org, n.d.) by his use of radiant color. It was here that Turner was placing emphasis on “the helplessness of mankind in the face of nature’s mysterious and awesome power” (www.clevelandart.org, n.d.). In order to completely envelope Romanticism’s obsession with emotion and imagination, Turner painted the fire’s terrifying force while dwarfing people, boats, and bridges. In the painting, The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons, it was his ideas of strong emotion and exaggeration as well as the added touch of nature that makes Turner’s artwork fit into the context of the Romanticism time period.

The Oxbow Like Joseph Turner, many artists in the Romanticism era found their own emotion in painting landscapes. This can be seen in a landscape themed Romantic painting by Thomas Cole titled The Oxbow, which was painted in 1836 using oil on canvas (Frank, 2011, p. 329). The Oxbow is considered a masterpiece of American landscape paintings. The painting is a seminal landscape that shows a panorama of the Connecticut River Valley just after a thunderstorm (www.wikipedia.org, 2012). Moving from left to right, The Oxbow starts with a wilderness covered with shattered tree trunks on rugged cliffs darkened by violent rain and clouds. Moving on, the images in the painting transform into a peaceful, light-filled landscape that borders on the Connecticut River. It is a prominent natural landscape with only a few signs of civilization, like patches of smoke, in the far distance. Cole captures nature and its emotions through carefully rendered detail and light-filled atmosphere. In his painting, Cole also emphasizes the emotion in nature by showing two of nature’s opposites realistically coming together. During his time, Americans were criticized for not paying attention to their natural scenery so Cole painted The Oxbow as a “landscape that lauds the uniqueness of America by encompassing a union of the picturesque, the sublime, and the magnificent” (www.metmuseum.org, 2000-2012). It was also during this time that the ideas of rural America were beginning to collapse. It was because of this that Cole selected this corner of the country to preserve in The Oxbow as a visual record of a vanishing way of life. Cole’s unique ability to paint such emotional panoramic landscapes and his attention to nature’s beauty are what created the Romantic feeling that allowed his work to fit into the context of the Romanticism time period. The Oxbow is “an artful exploitation of the nation’s natural beauty” (http://picturingamerica.neh.gov, n.d.).

Blue Hole, Little Miami River Another example of artwork from the Romanticism era is titled Blue Hole, Little Miami River which was painted by Robert S. Duncanson in 1851 using oil and canvas (Frank, 2011, p. 330). This painting was considered Duncanson’s most beautiful work and is a prime example of American landscape art during the Romanticism era. Centered in the painting is a tranquil turn of the Little Miami River, which is a tributary of the Ohio River. The river appears to have been dammed up by beavers as evidenced by the piles of logs on the left and in the center distance. The backdrop behind the river reveals massive rocks and forestry set along the riverbanks. In addition to the beautiful landscape, there are three small figures seen fishing in the river. Duncanson painted the three figures in the foreground of the painting “to give scale to the composition and a sense of nature’s expansive presence around them” (http://online.wsj.com, 2012). These figures also represent human harmony with the landscape as well as the domestication of the wilderness on America’s western frontier. It was during this time that the location of the Little Miami River was a thriving center of east-west settlement and north-south commerce (http://online.wsj.com, 2012). Duncanson painted this image with the intention of capturing nature in physical and spiritual harmony. Overall, Blue Hole, Little Miami River shows a balance between man and nature as well as the worlds of fact and spirit. Duncanson’s painting fits into the context of the Romanticism time period through his emotional expression of peace and tranquility. It was also his love and passion for nature and humankind that also fits his works into the era of Romance.

Form, Content, and Subject Matter All three paintings are similar in form because they were all created using oil on canvas and based on landscape themes. Though similar in theme and material choice, all three artists display their subject matter in the way they chose to portray the different landscapes. It is their choices that also create a different meaning or message drawn from each painting. In The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons, Turner used bright, vivid colors to paint the fire centered in the painting. This contrasted the night time atmosphere, which was created through the use of dark, dreary colors surrounding the bright colors of the fire. Like Turner, in The Oxbow Cole used bright, light colors to paint the right side of his painting to show a nice, sunny day and contrasted by a thunderstorm painted with dark colors on the left side. In Blue Hole, Little Miami River, Duncanson also used the contrasting method of bright colors to paint the sky and dark colors to paint the forestry which creates a different meaning in his painting. It is the use of contrasting colors that brings balance to each of these three paintings. However, it is the use of color and setting that creates a different effect or mood drawn from the paintings. Turner’s painting creates a sad or scary mood with a hint of curiosity of what is burning. This mood does not change throughout the painting. On the other hand, Cole intended a different mood that moves from gloomy and turbulent to calm and peaceful. Unlike Cole but like Turner, Duncanson’s intended mood remains the same throughout his painting but it is a quiet and serene mood rather than sad and scary. The mood or feeling drawn from each painting represents the subject matter or overall theme of each. In each painting, the artists use nature in the form of water, trees, and brush as their main content. In addition, the artists also use images of small people as part of their content. Again, it is the content of nature, the people, and what they represent that makes each painting differ from one another.

Symbolic Significance From the artists’ points of view, each of the three paintings display similar yet different symbolic significances. For example, The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons shows how catastrophic nature can be and mankind or humankind’s response and curiousity to nature’s destruction. Similar to this, The Oxbow also shows nature’s fury but in the form of a thunderstorm. The difference is that this painting shows how quickly nature can change from disaster and destruction into a work of beauty and vice versa. Opposite The Oxbow but like The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons, Blue Hole, Little Miami River shows human interaction with nature in a quiet, serene setting rather than showing nature’s angry attitude. It is these qualities that bring out each painting’s symbolic significance.

Conclusion All in all, the Romanticism era was considered a very emotional and beautiful time. Most artists of this time expressed their emotion through their work and this was highly evident in the works of Turner, Cole, and Duncanson. These artists also display their passion for nature in their landscape paintings, which led to their introduction in the Romanticism time period.

References

Wikipedia.org., (2012). The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:TurnerThe_Burning_of_the_Houses_of_Lords_and_Commons.jpg

Clevelandart.org., (n.d.) CMA Special Exhibitions: The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons. Retrieved from http://www.clevelandart.org/exhibcef/highlights/html/4896108.html

Wikipedia.org., (2012). Burning of Parliament. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_of_Parliament

Wikipedia.org., (2012). The Oxbow. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Oxbow

The Metropolitan Museum of Art., (2000-2012). Thomas Cole: View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm-The Oxbow. In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved from http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/08.228

Neh.gov. (n.d.). View from Mount Holyoke (The Oxbow), 1836. In Picturing America Artwork, Essays, and Activities. Retrieved from http://picturingamerica.neh.gov/downloads/pdfs/Resource_Guide_Chapters/PictAmer_Resource_Book_Chapter_5A.pdf

Wilmerding, J., (September 25, 2010). Reflections on the American Landscape. Retrieved from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703556604575502081408169148.html

Frank, P. (2011). Prebles’ Artforms (10th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education
The Burning of the House of the Lords and Commons

[pic]
The Oxbow

[pic]

Blue Hole, Little Miami River

[pic]