Art History – A Dream Wanderer

[Thoughts] Édouard Manet – the silent hero of the Impressionism

An admiration for the genius of Édouard Manet

When talking about the Impressionism period, most people would immediately think of Van Gogh, Monet or Renoir. While I love these artists dearly, personally I feel more connected to Édouard Manet (1832 – 1883) and his artworks. While he could be considered one of the earliest adopter of the impressionist style and was very influential to other artists of his time, he is usually one of the lesser mentioned painter name for this era, probably due to his uninterest in seeing himself as a representative of the style.

However, in some ways, I feel like he is the true silent hero of the Impressionism period. Though facing numerous criticisms from the academia, instead of breaking away like other artists, he did not stop experimenting and kept trying to submit his works to the Salon. He outwardly challenged the academic doctrine and chose his battlefield to be where the conventions of middle-class art were traditionally celebrated. Manet did not care about establishing any kind of movement, all he wanted was to show the public how “reality” can be achieved through a new perspective and be the catalyst for change. The novelty in his approach towards changing the public perception, I think, is quite underrated by today’s audience.

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[Review] Northern European Art versus Early Renaissance Art

Merode Altarpiece by Robert Campin

Masaccio,_trinità

The Holy Trinity by Masaccio

The fifteenth century marked the beginning of the Renaissance – a period during which people expressed a revival of interest in classical values. However, this dramatic change did not happen simultaneously across Europe. During the Early Renaissance, while art in Florence showed an apparent return to Classicism, the art of Northern Europe still carried characteristics of the late medieval Gothic Naturalism. Although both schools greatly departed from the stylized vision of earlier medieval art, they emphasized different aesthetic values as well as religious values. While Northern art focused on the naturalistic depiction of objects and tried to bring religious life into daily life, Early Renaissance Florentine art employed classical ideology of universal beauty to symbolize divine reason and Christian content. The differences between the two regional arts are apparent when comparing a Flemish painting – Merode Triptych by Robert Campin, and a Florentine painting – Holy Trinity by Masaccio.

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[Review] From Romanesque to Gothic – The Journey to Heaven

Romanesque Chruch

Gothic Cathedral

During the period between the eleventh and the fifteenth centuries, European society witnessed a significant growth of the Church’s power, accompanied by great changes in politics and economy, as well as in intellectual and spiritual thoughts. In that historical context, two new architectural styles were employed, one after another, to create grand ecclesiastical buildings, leaving us with what we know today as the Romanesque Church and the Gothic Cathedral. Although both are church architectures, they differ enormously in terms of style and ideology. While the heavy, solid Romanesque Church seems to represent the difficult road people must take to go to heaven, the soaring and translucent Gothic Cathedral seems to reward people with a feeling of actually being in heaven.

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[Review] From Greece to Rome – The Road to Perfection

Parthenon

Pantheon

For centuries, people have been fascinated by two of the greatest civilizations – Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. The astonishing achievements of our ancestors in a wide range of areas, from politics to economy and from art to science, have been admired and well learned by generations. And in this glorious legacy of the ancient civilizations, Classical Architecture stands out as a testament to eternal beauty and human greatness in the pursuit of perfection. While both the Greeks and Romans shared a basic belief in creating classical beauty, their implementations were completely distinct from each other. By using the Athenian Parthenon and the Roman Pantheon to reflect the similarities and differences between the Greek and Roman architectural styles, I will present how Roman architecture inherited Greek values and was elaborated to reach a new level.

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