Classical Exhibit Analysis - Defining Morality through Classic Art

 

The classical era is probably one of the most dynamic eras, not only for its gorgeous art but also for its seemingly dynamic changes in themes. Today, I have three pieces to consider as we discuss morality. and how views changed over time.

Before we step into the Classical Era, we touch on the period that came up right before it, which was the Rococo Period, and the best way to sum up that era is a famous artist by the name of Jean-Honore Fragonard and his famous work The Swing

Jean-Honoré Fragonard, The Swing, oil on canvas, 1767 (Wallace Collection, London)

The Rococo period, spanning roughly from the 1730s to the mid-1780s, was a French art movement famous for its pastels, levity, and almost childishly flirtatious nature. The artwork conveys a carefree attitude, as the woman in focus is depicted having mischievous fun in the garden with two men, dressed royally. Fragonard was famous for these pieces, and was influential to a lot of the style that makes up the Rococo Period, depicting levity and flirtatious scenes. Another piece of his I enjoy is Blind Man's Bluff. 

The Rococo period marked a more carefree time, and people had fun with art. It depicted women in royally dressed clothes and colorful, bright scenes of joy and lounge-ing. The period focused on a high-class life and, for the most part, having fun. At heart, the Rococo period is childish and joyful.

It's one of my favorite eras personally, not only for the beautiful colors but the focus on higher fashions and lighter scenes, with a sense of cheekiness. You get a sense that artists were having fun with this period, more examples being The Soap Bubbles by Jean Siméon Chardin, and The Brunette Odalisque by François Boucher. It wasn't until the shift into Classicism and Neoclassicism that we saw this change in how art is depicted, which we'll see with our next piece.

From the Classical Period into the Neoclassical Period, this period of art brought back a lot of Greek and Roman influences but reintroduced moral discussion and a higher need to focus on more meaningful material than flirtatious fun and cheeky nudity. We saw a rise in this style of art in the 1760s, and this boom lasted until around the 1850s. An example of early Neoclassic artwork is by Anton Raphael Mengs.

Anton Raphael Mengs, 1765, Oil on canvas, 110 cm x 89 cm Museo Nacional del Prado.

The Penitent Magdalene has a few renditions, but this one is my favorite. As we shift away from the Rococo period we see a more muted palette, and overall darker scenery. It takes inspiration from Roman and Greek classic art with its more dynamic and moodier shadows and lighting but there's a difference in tone in the overall piece. Instead of cheeky nudity, we see a shift of nudity being used as a storytelling element. Here it gives a sense of vulnerability as she bares her chest, which could be a metaphor for baring her heart. While she's a beautiful figure, the title and pose have her deep in thought, focusing on the emotion of the period rather than her beauty and body.

The piece is striking, and it has a sense of drama while being solemn. While dark, muted colors are not a part of my personal palette, I can appreciate the emotion in the piece, and how the reserved nature of Magdalene pushes the narrative of the artwork. You can tell there's a lot on her mind, and the skull near the bottom of the piece feels like an omen.  Many believe the skull represents her past life, which could explain her contemplative and seemingly solemn nature.

You can see a blending of inspirations of the Baroque period brought into this early neoclassical period. From here on out, more contemplative, moodier, and more morally upright pieces were made. There was a big focus on dramatic and heroic figures, with pieces like Jacques-Louis David's Oath of the Horatii and Napolean Crossing the Alps.

  Rococo art during the Neoclassical period was despised, as it not only glamourized upperclassmen, but many thought it lacked the substance that older art periods provided, as seen by the heavy inspiration from the Baroque period. While the Neoclassical period was a direct countermovement to the Rococo Period, we eventually see threads of the Rococo style closer to the late Neoclassical period.

While many people jumped onto the moral high ground during the Neoclassical period, not everybody rejected the Rococo period. An example of this would be Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, a French romantic painter. While he was a pinnacle in the Neoclassical period with meaningful, moody pieces like Justice and Divine Vengeance Pursuing Crime, with its emphasis on higher morality, dramatic figures, and deeper, allegorical meaning, one of my personal favorite pieces of his is Young Naiad Tickled by the Cupids.

Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, 1758-1823, Oil on canvas, 22 cm x 27 cm (Lourve, Paris, France)

While Prud'hon had clear inspirations dedicated to neoclassicism, he dove into more romantic aspects of art and ideology and would flip between more Neoclassic style art, or more Romantic style art. Despite this, I can't help but feel threads from the Rococo Period, too.

While his pieces take a more mythological turn at times, other pieces of his like Venus und Adonis, breaking into the romanticism era, have that playful, flirtatious nature that the Rococo period had, with a more refined edge to it. It includes nudity less in a cheeky way but focuses on the sense of "fun" and love. It reminds me of Auguste Cot's Springtime, while not necessarily being "Rococo", it carries the themes of his earlier rococo work of playfulness and flirtation.

I love this piece for the way it blends the dynamic, harsher tones, and shadows but with such a striking red color to draw your attention to the centerpiece. There's so much happening in the piece with the posing, and I find the figure incredibly beautiful, and the title feels reminiscent of Rococo Era titling. The word "tickled" being indicative of the more playful and childish nature of that era.

DEFINING MORALITY

When we look to define morality, it seems to change as we shift from period to period. In the Rococo period, people valued their fun and almost vulgar drawings. From a certain standpoint,t it can come off as immature, with cheeky naked women, couples being flirty and fun, and highlights of narrative humor and sexuality. The famous The Swing piece has one of the men looking up her skirt, after all.

We see a major shift away from this as we move back to our moodier, more dynamic pieces. They focused more on contemplation, artistic nudity, and more on the revolutionists rather than the royals. We see this shift as the figures are drawn in less royal, higher-class clothing and we see more artworks of middle-classmen, and people of the revolution at the time. A big criticism of Rococo art was its focus and lack of accountability to the royals, which Necoclassic art seems to attack directly.

When we compare Rococo and Neoclassic, it feels like two sides of humanism. Rococo is endlessly fun, playful, immature, and flirty, while Neoclassic seems to focus on the side of journalism; focusing on what's really happening, outside of the eyes of royalty or fun humor. I don't see one as morally higher than the other, one just seems to be a bit less mature than the other.

Morality at this period was defined by those who were saying something with their art, focusing on the real substance- and many at the time thought it was a moral duty to emphasize the happenings and focus on something more serious. Nowadays, we wouldn't really condemn anybody who wanted to draw a woman's butt for the giggles and whimsy.

A lesson that can be learned from these changes in periods is that art isn't necessarily about moral high grounds, and it doesn't need to be. There is something valuable to be gained from every period, and as we see Rococo inspirations in the Neoclassic or Romantic periods, we understand that in the end, all art has some meaning, even if it's not as morally striking as Mary Magdalene, the Rococo period, to me, reminds us of the simple fun and consistency that is human beings, just as the Neoclassic period reminds us of our deep complexity.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Irwin, David. “Classicism and Neoclassicism .” Encyclopædia Britannica, 29 May 2018, www.britannica.com/art/Neoclassicism

The Art Story. “Neoclassicism Movement Overview.” The Art Story, 2018, www.theartstory.org/movement/neoclassicism/

The Art Story. “Rococo Movement Overview.” The Art Story, The Art Story Foundation, 2017, www.theartstory.org/movement/rococo/

Zucker, Steven, and Beth Harris. “A Beginner’s Guide to Rococo Art – Smarthistory.” Smarthistory.org, 7 Jan. 2016, smarthistory.org/a-beginners-guide-to-rococo-art/

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