Realistic Impressions: Investigating Movements in the Visual Arts
Introduction
Impressionism, Cubism, Realism, Neoclassicism, Mannerism. When we visit a museum
or flip through a book we often see these terms, along with the word movement
(or sometimes style). But what makes a painting an example of the Impressionist
or the Neoclassical movement?
What is an art movement? What are some the characteristics of the
most famous movements in Western art?
Learning Objectives
Define artistic movement in the visual arts
Identify the movement of a variety of works of art
Recognize and explain identifying features of some of the most famous movements
in Western art
Preparing to Teach this Lesson
Background
Movements in art refer to a philosophy or a style in painting or sculpture
that is followed by a group of artists—with varying adherence—over
a set period of time. Movements proliferated particularly in Europe and America
during the 19th and 20th centuries, and the list of movement names is extensive.
Many of them will be familiar to you and your students, and this lesson plan
will focus primarily on some of the best known movements. Information on many
of these movements is available through the EDSITEment reviewed web resource
Internet Public Library. This lesson will
concentrate on Impressionism, Realism, and Romanticism. Below are links to information
about some of the most well known movements:
This lesson provides a guide for introducing students to the concept of artistic
movements in the visual arts, however the discussion of individual movements
will be limited. You may wish to delve more deeply into some of these movements
in conjunction with larger lessons about the relevant time periods- such as
a world history lesson investigating the rise of Neoclassicism and the French
Revolution or an introduction to Romantic painting in a literature lesson on
Romantic poetry. The above links provide an introduction to background information
on some of these movements.
Note: Movement is a term that is most often used
in reference to European and American art, and as a result this lesson will
concentrate on art from these areas.
This activity will introduce students to the concept of movement in the visual arts,
as well as to a limited number of movements in Western art with which they may
already be familiar.
Show students the following pair of images. First, ask students to identify
the subject and genre of the two images. You may wish to refer to the EDSITEment
lesson plans What’s
in a Picture? An Introduction to Subject in the Visual Arts and
Portraits,
Pears, and Perfect Landscapes: Investigating Genre in the Visual
Arts before beginning this activity. Students should note that the two
images are of the same genre and similar subjects. However, the two paintings
are also strikingly different. Ask them to write down everything that is different
about the two paintings, concentrating on the way in which they depict their
subjects.
Ask students to describe what differences and similarities they can find
in these two images. Why do they think that the paintings—which are
both still life paintings, and which have very similar subjects—are
so different? Students may note differences in the palette (the range of colors
that are used), the brushstrokes, and the level of ‘realism’ that
is present in each painting. Each of these components is an important identification
marker for various artistic movements. Have students complete this
PDF comparison chart of the two paintings.
When students have completed their comparison charts you may wish to introduce
them to the artists who created these works and the movements they represent:
Joseph Decker was born in Germany, but he and his family immigrated
to America when he was a child. He spent much of his life living in Brooklyn,
New York. His work is typical of realism, a movement which began in the
19th century in reaction to Romanticism, an earlier movement which tended
to depict fantastical, imagined or idealized subjects. By contrast, realism
sought to depict the world accurately, or “realistically,”
rendering images of every day life, objects and situations, as they were
seen—including their imperfections.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir was a French painter who, along with Claude Monet,
founded the Impressionist movement in the 1870s. This still life painting
is an illustration of this movement. Impressionist works are generally
exemplified by a focus on painting from life and the natural world, as
well as the short, choppy brush strokes which dappled color on to the
canvas. The effect was said at the time of some of the Impressionists’
early exhibitions to give the impression of the subject rather
than a clear image: an interpretation which provided the name for the
movement and its adherents.
2. What’s in a Movement?
Students should be able to pick out the numerous differences in the ways in
which Decker and Renoir have approached their subject. But are these differences
just the result of personal preferences or styles, or are they representative
of an artistic movement? In this exercise students will look at additional images
of the movements these artists represent in order to gain perspective on the
scope of artistic movements and the difference between the stylistic choices
of a movement and personal choices in style and expression.
In the previous activity students encountered images representative of realism
and impressionism. Begin this study by having students view two additional
paintings representative of these movements which are available from the EDSITEmwnt-reviewed National Gallery of Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art respectively:
You may wish to show these images alongside the Renoir and Decker images
of the previous activity while students answer the following questions:
Based on the brief introduction to the artists and movements in the
previous lesson, which of these images would you say is a Realist work?
Which one is an Impressionist work? Why? Explain your answer.
What similarities do you see between these paintings and the paintings
of the previous activity?
What differences do you see between these paintings and the paintings
of the previous activity?
Ask students to list their observations of the similarities and differences
they see in these two pairs of paintings. Divide the class into small groups
of three or four and ask each group to work together using their lists of
similarities and differences to compile an inventory of defining features
for realism and impressionism.
3. Move in Closer
In the related sets of images contained in the last two activities students
were asked to compare examples of two movements whose features are both distinct
and dissimilar. In this activity students will put their observations and inventories
to work to see if they are still able to identify an Impressionist painting
when it is compared with an example from a third movement.
Remaining in the small groups they worked with in the previous activity
have students view the following two images without providing the painter’s
name. Both of these paintings are part of the online collection of the EDSITEment
reviewed web resource The Metropolitan
Museum of Art:
The first of these images is an example of one of the two movements students
learned about in the previous lesson—Impressionsm. Have students work
together in their small groups to identify which of these paintings is an
example of a movement with which they are already familiar. Ask students to
explain why they believe the painting they have chosen exemplifies one of
these movements.
Although both of these images are of the same genre and similar subjects,
students should identify the Monet as an example of Impressionism. The painting
contains many of the telltale signs of that movement, such as the short, observable
brushstrokes and the dappled color. Once they have identified the painter of
the image of France’s Fountainebleu Forest students may realize that
it is the same painter that created the Valley of Nervia—and
must therefore be an Impressionist painting.
Because of the sketchy sky and background in this work, some students may have
instead identified the Bonington as an Impressionist work. If you have students
who saw aspects of Impressionism in this work ask them to explain what those
aspects are.
If the Bonington is not an Impressionist painting, what is it? Richard Parkes
Bonington, a young Englishman who moved to France with his family in his teens,
is considered part of the Romantic Movement. Working in the same small groups,
have students list their observations of the similarities and differences
they see in this painting.
How are the ways in which the two painters manipulate the paint different
or similar?
How are the palettes used by the two painters different or similar?
How does each of the painters capture light in the images?
What is the tone of the two images, and how do the two painters capture
that tone?
4. Behind the Movement
In the definition of an art movement given at the beginning of this lesson
it is described as referring to a philosophy or a style in painting or sculpture
that is followed by a group of artists over a set period of time. What kind
of philosophy underlies art movements? This activity will help students to begin
to think about the philosophical or theoretical underpinnings of some art movements.
In the previous lesson students viewed a Romantic landscape painting created
by Richard Parkes Bonington. Have students view two additional Romantic paintings
available from the EDSITEment reviewed web resource The
Metropolitan Museum of Art alongside the Bonington landscape.
Eugene Delacroix’s 1846 The
Abduction of Rebecca, a scene taken from Sir Walter Scott’s
historical novel Ivanhoe
Explain to students that each of these images belongs to the Romantic Movement.
Keeping the same small groups from the previous activities ask students to
list their observations of the similarities and differences they see in these
three paintings. Have students work together using their lists of similarities
and differences to compile an inventory of defining observed features Romanticism.
Is the style of painting the only quality that connects these images? Have
students read the brief article on Romanticism that is available from the EDSITEment reviewed web resource Internet
Public Library. This article makes it clear that a concise explanation
of Romanticism may be difficult to agree upon, however, it does elucidate
some of the philosophical and theoretical ideas that influenced practitioners
of Romanticism.
After they have read the article on Romanticism have students compile a list
of some of the philosophical ideas or beliefs that were the foundation of the
Romantic Movement according to the reading. This list should include features
such as the focus on the imagination and on emotion; the interest in symbols
of history and the romanticizing of the past; and the rebellion against social
constraints and the rise of the cult of the artist. Students might also note
features such as the focus on the dramatic and the tragic, as well as the attention
paid to the connection between man and the natural world.
Once students have completed their list of ideas and influences upon Romantic
artists have them return to the paintings by Turner and Delacroix with which
they began this activity. Ask students to work on identifying places in these
paintings where the philosophical ideas that underlie Romanticism appear as
they have learned about them in this activity. Do these paintings highlight
the power of the painters’ imagination? Do they convey high emotion
and drama? Have students explain their answers.
If you have time in your class you may wish to pursue a more in-depth analysis
of Delacroix’s painting as an exemplary illustration of many of Romanticism’s
ideals. This might be particularly fruitful for classes already familiar with
Scott’s Ivanhoe.
The painting is based on Sir Walter Scott’s historical novel Ivanhoe,
which tells the tale of rival claimants to the English throne, and the bloody
civil war that comes of their fight for power. Scott and Delacroix were contemporaries
(Ivanhoe was published in 1819- just three years before Delacroix made his first
submission of a painting to a Paris Salon), and Scott was much beloved by many
of the Romantics for his sweeping historical novels, of which Ivanhoe
was one. In fact, Scott is often thought of as the first person to write an
historical novel—his novel Waverley, which was published in 1814.
You might begin with a class discussion on the following points:
The basis for Delacroix’s painting is Scott’s historical novel.
The painting therefore contains not only Delacroix’s vision of what
the scene from the novel might look like- but also Scott’s imagining
of the historical events and the period in which his novel is set. Ask students
to explain how this painting exemplifies the Romantic ideal of “imagination.”
Romanticism put particular emphasis on history; however, it was not an
emphasis on finding evidence about historical events or new information about
historical periods. It was rather a pursuit of an idealized or romanticized
history. How does Delacroix’s painting—and its literary source—demonstrate
the Romantic pursuit of history?
How do Scott’s novel and Delacroix’s painting illustrate additional
Romantic ideas or affinities, such as high emotion or man’s place within
the natural world?
5. Sharpening your Eye
Now that students have had a chance to learn a little more about Romanticism,
Impressionism and Realism, they will get a chance to put that new knowledge
to the test.
Have students view the following images. Using the chart that is available
either as a PDF file
or as an online interactive,
have students identify to what movement each of the following works belongs.
Students should explain the rationale behind their identifications. You may
use this teacher’s rubric to assist with a class discussion of the images and their respective movements.
Each of these images is available from the EDSITEment reviewed web resources
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
and The National Gallery.
Note: Many paintings contain elements of more than one movement.
For example, there may be elements of Realism among the Romantics or the Impressionists,
so students shouldn’t focus on searching for a pure or perfect example
of each movement. Instead, they should concentrate on which movement is the
best fit for each painting and why. It might help students to know the time
periods of each of these movements, so that they might better understand that
some of these movements were overlapping or very close in time period:
Romanticism: Early 1800s until around 1850
Realism: Around 1840 until the late 19th century
Impressionism: In France: 1874 to about 1890; In America: mid-1870s to
the early 1910s
Assessment
Students at all levels should complete either the PDF
chart or the online interactive
for Activity Five. In addition, ask beginning students
to choose two paintings from this list which represent two distinct movements.
Have students compose short essays analyzing the ways in which each of the two
images contain the criteria of their movement. They should compare and contrast
the images and their corresponding movements throughout the essay.
For advanced students, or for classes with more time, you might wish to assign
a more in-depth research project. There are a far greater number of Western
art movements than can be covered in a short lesson, although this brief introduction
to the concept of movements and to Realism, Romanticism and Impressionism may
have piqued students’ interests.
Provide students with a list of art movements that does not include Realism,
Impressionism or Romanticism. The list might include—but need not be restricted
to—the following movements:
Neoclassicism
Expressionism
Fauvism
Cubism
Surrealism
Abstract Expressionism
Minimalism
Harlem Renaissance
Pre-Raphaelites
Futurism
Students should choose one movement from the list. This movement will be the
topic of a research project. Students should gather information on the movement,
including the qualities that characterized works typical of the movement; the
ideas that were the underpinnings of the movement; the history of the movement
and its major followers. For this project- which might take the form of a class
presentation or a research paper—students should use at least three works
of art which exemplify the movement they have chosen, analyzing the ways in
which the pieces do or do not meet the criteria of the movement. You may wish
to direct your students to conduct this research- particularly for images—by
using the collections available from the following EDSITEment reviewed web resources:
Painters were not the only artists to follow artistic movements, and some movements
had a broader effect than others. In this extension activity students will take
a brief look at the ways in which the philosophies underlying art movements
have manifested in other media, such as literature.
Students should be able to identify the images as representative of the
Romantic Movement. These two images were inspired, in turn, by one of the
great figures in Romantic literature: Lord Byron. You may wish to have students
read passages from the literary source for these paintings: Bryon’s
The Corsair.
How do both the paintings and the story fulfill the ideals of Romanticism?
What similarities can you find between the works of visual art and literature
of the same artistic movement? Why do you think both Delacroix and Cole turned
to Byron’s writing for inspiration?
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