Neoclassicism: Antiquity reborn in reason, harmony, and heroic ideals

by Victoria Charles

In the arts, Neoclassicism is a historical tradition or aesthetic attitude based on the art of Greece and Rome in antiquity. The movement started around the 18th-century, age of Enlightenment, and continued into the early 19th-century The general credo associated with the aesthetic attitude of Classicism was that art had to be rational and therefore morally better. Neoclassicists also believed that art should be cerebral, not sensual and therefore characterised by clarity of form, sober colours and shallow space. It was a reaction against both the surviving Baroque and Rococo styles, and a desire to return to the perceived “purity” of the arts of Rome. The important artists of the movement include the sculptors Antonio Canova, Jean-Antoine Houdon and Bertel Thorvaldsen, and the painters J.A.D. Ingres, Jacques-Louis David and Anton Raphael Mengs.

Genres: Art

72 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 9, 2019

About the author

Victoria Charles received her PhD in history of art. She has published extensively on the subject and has regularly contributed to Art Information, an international guide to contemporary art.

Frequently writing articles for specialised journals and magazines, Victoria Charles recently contributed to a collective work, World History of Art.

Reviews

[Рьота · Rating 5 out of 5]

Victoria Charles's series of books on art styles and schools have been collectively translated into Chinese and are available for purchase at the world's largest bookstore in Shenzhen, China. The book on neoclassical art was procured at this location. Napoleon's affinity for the style that incorporated classical forms while incorporating new revolutionary elements to dispel the vestiges of the previous artistic era is well-documented. The neoclassical style has historically emerged during periods of revolutionary change, a phenomenon exemplified by the works of Sergei Eisenstein. The question arises as to why these once-prosperous classics were adopted as the new form, a development that was predicated on the emergence of new and revolutionary needs. A revolution necessitates a new order and strict centralized systems, both of which are perfectly provided by classicalism. During revolutionary periods, artists such as Antonio Canova and Jacques-Louis David exemplified this synthesis of artistic styles. A close examination of their Neo-classical oeuvre reveals stylistic affinities with Eisenstein's Ivan the Terrible (1945).

[Tony Foxhoven · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good start = need more though