Renaissance Philosophy and Styles of Art - Research Paper Example

?Renaissance Mannerism Mannerism appeared after the death of Sanzio in 1520, in Florence and Rome. Art of the Mannerism art period usually represented disturbing features of the society with unrest and violence. It came to reject the peaceful existence of Early Renaissance. It represented the turmoil and instability that was prevalent in Europe in 1527.Mannerism emerged from Italian the word Maniera, which was used to represent the specific style of mannerism. The word ‘Maniera’ represents an overt stylization and a complete focus on artificial conventions. This word was borrowed from social literature and was dominant attribute of art of that time. Sometimes this maniera represented unique style of artists and on other times it was used as representation of national style. However this word represented ‘style’ in modern conception.. in the preceding period of High renaissance, there was a perfection and harmony in the style of art. However, with the advent of Maniera, formal invention was more notable as compared to the content of the work. The paintings lacked clear images and there was no focal point of concentration. Rapheal’s tapestry cartoon was one of the most famous works of that era. This cartoon also lacked the clarity which represented moving away from static balance to more of a pictorial animation. Other famous works by Rapheal were ‘The vision of Ezikeil’ and ‘the Woman with the Unicorn’. Mannerism represents itself with highly stylized poses but with a certain ambiguity and lack of clarity of perspective. The topic and subject of mannerism is still under a debate. Some researchers see mannerism as an extension of the Renaissance classism. School of mannerism was criticized for breaking the rules of Renaissance period that preceded it. The perfection of the content and the harmony was broken into random pieces of art with less clarity of perspectives. However, mannerism was a unique school of thought because of the stylized sculptures and representation of art in a different manner. In 16th century, however, a new art period emerged which was given the name of anti mannerism (Mannerism, 2012). Some of the Social characteristics of mannerism were the desire of the artists to display more than one aspect in an art, distortion of figures to make it more expressive and attention grabbing, manipulation or unconventional use of space. There was no defined boundary of the picture; the frame of the picture was given a blurred look with no limitation of space. Earlier movements were very logical and defined. The mannerist artists used to manipulate the available space and gave concept of long gallery. Similarly, there were manipulation of light, coming from diverse sources in the picture in multi dimensional way. The period of mannerism prevailed from 1520 to 1580 (Arts, 1998). Mannerism represented the situation of turmoil that was present in Rome. But it was followed by the Baroque period which had a great influence of drama and extravagance. Having presented much art with lack of perspective and lack of order, there was a need to move on to the next period of art incorporating changes in the essence of art. That period was full of religious and political conflicts. There was a spread of protests so art period needed change to calm lure people back to their religion and art. Realism Realism emerged in 19th century in response of the school of thought ‘Romanticism’. It flourished from 1840 in French giving a realistic opinion about the contemporary life. It emerged after the revolution of 1848 that was formed during the reign of Napoleon iii and that reacted against the monarchy of Louis Philippe. Relist arts represented the clear observation of modern lives. It rejected the idealized classism and exotic views of romanticism. The focus of realism was not to copy the artistic works of the previous periods rather it gave clear and truthful depiction of the realist lifestyles. It felt the need of addition of contemporary works and contemporary lives in the art of previously existing romanticism works. The subject of the art of realism was that daily life, people and objects are worthy subjects for arts. The paintings used to represent customs, habits, norms and stereotypes that existed in the world at that time. In England it came as a reaction to Victorian materialism. Although the main theme of art of realism was socially inclined, it still ended in making of few good sculptures during the period. In other words, it did not contribute in the world of architecture. However, the use of realism was applied in introduction of new technologies in manufacturing industries and construction. There was no such trend seen before the advent of realism. ‘A HandBook to Literature’ is a comprehensive and fabulous explanation of realism period of art written by William Harmon and Hugh Holman. They consider the influence of rationality on realism. According to them, Realist have their attention on present and actual actions taken in life as compared to what actions should be(Romanticism) and how scientific laws are applicable in daily life which is focus of naturalism (Realism in American Literature, 1860-1890, 2012). Some other common art works of this period are ‘A Burial at Ornans’ by Gustave Courbet and ‘Arcadia’ by Thomas Eakins’. The most important influences of Realism have been on fiction world as well as theater. Shifting the theme of fiction from fantasy and horror, it incorporated the realistic and clear themes so that people could relate to it. No supernatural powers were shown in art pieces, representing only what people in normal lives can do. After realism, naturalism emerged. The emergence of naturalism cannot be attributed as end of realism; rather it was an extension of the old school. The new model of art was to be created by putting the known inherited characteristics into an environment carefully defined and known condition and then looking at the result. The naturalism school of thought focused more the characteristics of heredity and human origin and drawing the same patterns to represent daily life. It also observes the behavior of person in groups or mob. However, realism only focuses on the individuality and personal objectives and ways of doing things (Realism and Naturalism). These two art periods, mannerism and realism, are related to the political and social situations at that time. The lack of perspective and clarity from the period mannerism is opposite to representation of reality and daily life in realism. Art of both periods is kind of opposite to each other with realism focusing more on reality of life and mannerism presenting style. Bibliography Arts, M. I. (1998). The Mannerist Style and the Lamentation. Retrieved June 30, 2012, from artsconnected.org: http://www.artsconnected.org/resource/93691/the-mannerist-style-and-the-lamentation Late Renaissance or Mannerism in Art. (2012). Retrieved 2012, from Finearttouch.com: http://www.finearttouch.com/Mannerism_in_Art.html Mannerism. (2012). Retrieved 2012, from nga.gov: http://www.nga.gov/collection/gallery/gg21/gg21-over1.html#jump Realism in American Literature, 1860-1890. (2012). Retrieved 2012, from public.wsu.edu: http://public.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/realism.htm Read More