Styles and Movements: Naïve Art

Henri Rousseau, The Sleeping Gypsy, 1897

Oil on Canvas, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 4'3" x 6'7" 

Horace Pippin, Interior, 1944

Séraphine de Senlis, Les Fruits, 1928

Okay, I know we have all gotten some great enjoyment from the contemporary art at the Basel, Berlin, Milan, and Torino fairs, but its time to get back to the history. So lets head back to France circa the fin-de-siecle, which means around the turn of the century, to discuss the Naïve art movement. 

Naïve art lasted from circa 1895 to 1940 and is a type of representational painting classified by the use of "childlike" images and stylistic techniques. Much like the abstract contemporary art is often assumed to be simplistic in technical ability, the style was actually quite advanced for its time. Many of the images were inspired by the primitive and exotic images that had emerged since travel to the East had proliferated. 


The representational images are also characterized by highly imaginative works, such as those seen in Henri Rousseau's (1884-1910) The Sleeping Gypsy (1897). Another well-known artists in the genre is the African American artist Horace Pippin (1888-1946) , who focused on folk-style art with figures representing content from life in the black community as seen in his image Interior (1944). Séraphine de Senlis (1864–1942), was a French painter who focused on representing religious and mystical imagery. She also painted still-life styles with a technique that rendered it more exotic than simply representational, such as in Les Fruits (1928). Among other artists that created works in this primitive style is the American Edward Hicks, and the Georgian Niko Pirosmani. 

Notes: 
(1) "naïve art." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2010. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 04 Jun. 2010 <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/401931/naive-art>.
(2) Helen Gardner, Fred S. Kleiner, Christin J Mamiya, Gardner's Art Through the Ages: The Western Perspective ed. 12 (Florence: Wadsworth Publishing), 2006, 721.
(3) Celester-Marie Bernier, African American visual arts (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press), 2008, 92. 
(4) Bernier, 103.
(5)Karl Ruhrberg, Klaus Honnef,  Manfred Schneckenburger, Ingo F. Walther, Christiane Fricke, Art of the 20th century, Part 1 (Köln: Taschen), 2000, 806. 
 For more information please refer to Wikipedia.

Styles and Movements: French Naturalism

         

      Vincent Van Gogh, The Potato Eaters,  1885*

        Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, At Grenelle, Absinthe Drinker, 1887**

        

         Eduoard Manet, A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, ca. 1882***

French Naturalism (1880-1890) was inspired by certain aspects of Realism. Realists, such as Gustave Courbet, depicted the every-day without embellishing it.  The French Naturalists depicted the reality of their world, but unlike Realism, they took more stylistic freedom. This is depicted in Manet’s A Bar at the Folies-Bergère.

French Naturalism also shared similarities with a style of literature used by Èmile Zola, Naturalism. This literary style focused on depicting that human character was shaped by society and by natural conditions.  Zola's texts, such as Thérèse Raquin, L'Assommoir , Nana, and Germinal show the most depraved but resilient side of humankind. Paintings such as Van Gogh’s The Potato Eaters and Toulouse-Lautrec’s At Grenelle, Absinthe Drinker depict this side of contemporary life. French Naturalism eventually changed because of the artist’s desire to romanticize aspects of daily life. Artists also extended beyond Realism and French Naturalism. By depicting contemporary life as it was, they produced a style that had a sketch-like quality. This style would evolve to become Impressionism.  

Notes: 
Please Refer to Wikipedia, Encyclopedia Brittanica for more information on the web or Gardner's Art Through the Ages textbook. 
* Reprinted, Robert Wallace, The World of Van Gogh 1853-1890, Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1969.
** Reprinted, Thomson, Richard, Phillip Dennis Cate, and Mary Chapin Weaver, Toulouse-Lautrec and Montmartre. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2005.
*** Reprinted, Eisenmann, Stephan F., ed, Nineteenth Century Art: A Critical History. London, UK: Thames & Hudson, Ltd, 2002.

Styles and Movements: Modernism

I am going to begin this section at a point where most people begin losing touch with art history, Modernism. The most basic definition of Modernism is that it concerned itself with the innovation of practices, theories, or characteristics during the 19th century.  Most scholars place the beginning of Modernism to be around the 1860s. Modernism was connected to industrial, scientific and political revolutions in European countries, especially in France. However, it spread to almost every discipline.


Artists were also among those revolting. Prior to this time visual artists had undertaken the task of producing commissioned works using traditional (still lifes, portraits, and landscapes), religious, or historical themes. Modernism gave the artist free will to portray the sentiments of the time in new styles, such as the Impressionist style. Artists associated with Impressionism were Éduourd Manet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Claude Monet. 

From it’s beginning roots in Europe, Modernism eventually spread throughout the Western world and reached Asia. It continued to be the dominant stylistic phenomena, until it was succeeded by Post-Modernism in the late 20th century. However, there is a split among art historians on this subject. I will eventually discuss this shift in art history, but if you are interested at the moment, check the art critic Clement Greenberg’s essays on the subject.

To find out more about Modernism, I highly recommend going to your local library and checking out Gardner’s Art Through the Ages  (I like the 10th Edition).(1) It is a massive reference book on art history and a great place to begin your art education.




(1) Richard Tansey, Fred Kleiner and Horst De La Croix, Gardner's Art Through the Ages, 10th Edition. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1995.