Academic Classicism
1885-1920
"The only was for us to become great and possibly inimitable is to imitate the ancients." -- Johann Joachim Winckelmann, the great German scholar and art historian, from his treatise, Thoughts on the Imitation of Greek Works , published 1755
Description of the Academic Classicism Painting style
Academic Classicism is the painting style established by European art academies and universities. In general It is also called "academic art". In this context as new styles are embraced by academics, the new styles come to be considered academic, thus what was at one time a rebellion against academic art becomes academic art. The academic art world also worshiped Raphael, for the splendor of his work. This style is often termed "art pompier", "academism", "academicism", "classical revival", "beaux-arts classicism" and "eclecticism".
The followers of Classicism appreciated and imitated Greek and Roman literature, art, and architecture. Classicism is a late form of Neoclassicism, with a distinctly original elegance. Often linked with "historicism" and "syncretism".
Followers of this
movement were influenced
by the high standards of
the French Académie des
Beaux-Arts, which
practiced under the
movements of
Neoclassicism
and
Romanticism.
Academic Classicism
attempted to merge both
techniques to create the
perfect style. It is
characterized by
adhering to a strict
manner of painting,
following narrow
compositional rules and
delicacy of color.
The atmospheric effects are
sumptuously luminescent.
According to art
historian, Walter Pater
"To
produce such effects at
all requires all the
resources of painting,
with its power of
indirect expression, of
subordinate but
significant detail, its
atmosphere, its
foregrounds and
backgrounds."
Subject matter often used in Rococo art such as light hearted frivolity of the upper classes was fashionable once again. This style favored interpretations of Greek, Roman and Renaissance themes. Imagery often centered around Biblical stories, Arthurian legends and mythology. According to Solomon Gessner, the great German painter and art historian, "By studying the works of Greek sculptors the painter can attain the sublimest conceptions of beauty, and learn what must be added to nature in order to give to the imitation dignity and propriety.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: German poet, playwright, novelist, and philosopher argued that Greek art was an absolutely exemplary model from which a fixed canon determinative for the artists of all times could be derived; and that the composition of pictures should correspond strictly with the style of antiquity.
Masters of Academic Classicism,
William Bouguereau, Paul Delaroche and Jean-Leon Gerome, had an extraordinary way of capturing nature's tempestuous, "feral" qualities and yet, at the same time, create in the viewer an almost inspirational feeling of harmony and serenity. High drama, blithe sophistication, and unrequited passion characterize this magnificent painting style.
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Principle Painters of Academic Classicism Movement
Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky, 1817-1900
Adolphe-William Bouguereau1825-1905
Charles Emile August Carolus-Duran, 1837-1917
Leon Francois Comerre, 1850-1916
Pierre-Auguste Cot 1837-1883
Thomas Couture, 1815-1879
Paul Delaroche 1797-1856
Eugene Fromentin, 1820-1876
Jean Leon Gerome, 1824-1904
Jean-Paul Laurens1838-1921
Adolphe Alexandre Lesrel, 1839-1929
Luc Olivier Merson, 1846-1920
Hans Makart, 1840 - 1884
Giulio Rosati, 1858-1917
Franz Xavier Winterhalter, 1805-1873
William Clarke Wontner, 1857-1930
Fritz Zuber-Buhler, 1822-1896
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