introduction task process resources rubric dictionary
Looking at Images
Looking at Images:

Narrative: Telling a Story

Looking at visual images, particularly narrative images, helps us to understand what the artist is telling us. A narrative visual image tells us a story using figures within a particular setting – interior or exterior Objects, within the image’s particular setting, allow the viewer to piece together a story – as if piecing together a puzzle. Any prior knowledge, or background information, completes the puzzle and allows for a more comprehensive understanding of the visual narrative.

John Constable

The White Horse, 1819

The Frick Collection: New York City



How Does the Artist Tell a Story?



Objectively describing the visual elements and physical activities within the picture frame will help you to begin your search.

Some questions to ask:

What is the focus (or focal point) of the composition? When I look at this painting, what do I see?

Describe what is happening in the image. What is going on?

Describe the setting. Identify the time period. What accessories help to identify the place?

Look to the details:

Natural or staged setting

Interior or exterior environment

Urban or suburban surroundings

Industrial or agricultural indication

What role does the landscape play with regards to the image? What role do the figures play within the landscape? (Do the figure(s) or the landscape dominate?)

How does the foreground/background influence the figures?

What time of day, year, etc. does the action take place in? What atmospheric conditions or forces of nature are apparent?

Describe the figures: singularly or in a group.

Look to the details:

Positioning, activity (what are they doing, where are they placed?)

Physical countenance (body type, weight)

Facial expressions (do they show emotion?)

Clothing (what are they wearing, social status indicated?)

Accessories, objects, props (what is the placement, symbolism?)

Interpersonal relationships (what, and with whom, are they doing?)

Lifestyle (any indication?)

What is the source of light?

Look to the details:

How does the use of light/dark add to the understanding of the image?

What is the position of the viewer? Does the position add to the visual impact of the composition?

Are there any message or moral overtones that the artist is trying to convey?

France, England and Italy
Image Example
Artistic Manifestations
Artists
Artistic Representations

Jean-Honore Fragonard

The Love Letter
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
  • Expressions of wit, fantasy and frivolity
  • Aristocratic
  • Occasional serious and satrical undercurrents.
France -
Francios Boucher (1703-1770)
Jean-Honore Fragonard (1732-1806)
Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun (1755-1842)
England -
William Hogarth (1697 - 1764)
Italy -
Giovani Tiepolo (1696-1770)
Portraits (single, group, including backgrounds

Narratives, social statements, satire

1775 - 1820 - Neoclassicism
Jacques-Louis David
The Oath of the Horatii
Le Louvre, Paris, France 1784
  • Interest in antiquity, classical form and content
  • Elimination of Rococo frills
  • Focus on clarity, order and simplicity
  • Appeal to rational sense, intellect
  • Use of metaphor and allegory
  • Heroic stories and gestures are encouraged
France -
Angela Kaufmann (1741-1807)
Jacques Louis David (1748-1825)
Jean Auguste Dominique (1780-1867)
England -
Benjamin West (1738 - 1820)
John Singleton Copley (1738-1815)
Italy -
Antonio Canova (1757-1882)
Portraits- single, group. including backgrounds

Narratives - historical, genre

Historical metaphors - classical reference

1798 - 1880 - Romanticism
France, Spain and England

Francisco Goya

Execution on the Third of May, 1814
Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain

  • Nostalgia for the past - long ago and far away
  • Interest in medieval tales of adventure and chivalry
  • Interest in nature, natural beauty
  • Interest in imagination, dreams, states of mind
  • Appeal of emotions, expressions and sentiments
  • Support of contemporary causes
  • Revival of historical aarchitectural styles
France -
Francois Rude (1784-1855)
Theodore Gericault (1748-1825)
Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863)
England -
John Henry Fuseli (1741 - 1825)
William Blake (1757-1827)
Jospeh Mallord William Turner (1775-1851)
John Constable (1776-1837)
Architects:
John Nash (1752-1835)
Sir Charles Barry (1795-1860)
Augustus Wm Pugin (1812-1852)
Spain -
Francisco Goya (1757-1882)
Portraits - single, group; including settings and backgrounds

Narrative - literary, historical

Landscape -objective, subjective and sublime

Architecture -Gothic Revival

1840 - 1900 - Realism
France, England
Honore Daumier
Third Class Carriage, 1865
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
Direct observations of society and nature

Development of political and social satire

Social and political cartoons and caricatures

Social observations,emphasis on class distinctions

Natural atmospheres

France:
Jean Francois Millet (1814-1875)
Rosa Bonheur (1822-1899)
Gustave Courbet(1819-1877)
Honore Daumier (1808-1879)
Edouard Manet (1832-1883)
England (Pre-Raphaelites)
Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882)
John Everett Millais (1829-1896)
Portraits - single, group, including settings and backgrounds

Animals - settings, with and without people

Narrative - objective, subjective, satire, literary

Landscape - as a subject, as a background

1860 - 1900 - Impressionism - France
Claude Monet
Rouen Cathedral
Artistic Manifestations:
Concern with optical realism rather than social realism
Natural properties of light
Changes in weather conditions, time, seasons
Interior effects of artificial light
Observations of society (Bourgeois, Bohemian)
Subject matter: genre, leisure, entertainment, landscape
Concern with technique: brushstroke and color manipulation
Influence of technology: photography, synthetic color
Influence of culture: Japonism and formal structure

Artists:

France

Edouard Manet (1832-1883)

Edgar Degas (1834-1917)

Berthe Morisot (1841-1895)

Claude Monet (1840-1926)

Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)

Auguste Rodin (1840-1917)

Artistic Representations:

Portraits (single, group; exterior and interior backgrounds)

Landscape (as a subject)

Narrative (genre, leisure, entertainment)

1880 - 1910 - Post-Impressionism
France
Paul Gauguin
La Orana Maria, 1891
Metropolitan Museum of Art; New York City
Artistic Manifestations:

Diverse individual characteristics, yet influenced by Impressionist artists

Color theories examined

Bright colors; visible distinct brushwork

Color separations

Clearly defined edges

Two manifestations:

Formal structure and values: composition paramount

Cezanne, Seurat

Emotional Content

Van Gogh, Gauguin

Influence of Japonism

Artists:

France

Henri de Toulouse Lautrec (1864-1901)

Paul Cezanne (1839-1906)

Paul Gauguin (1848-1903)

George Seurat (1851-1891)

Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890)

Artistic Representations:

Portraits (self, individual, group)

Figure Studies (formal structure vs. emotional content)

Still lifes

Narratives (religious, metaphors)

1890 - 1945 - Expressionism
France, Germany, Belgium

Kathe Kollwitz

The Uprising, 1899

Artistic Manifestations:

Expressive and emotional possibilities of color

Introduction of Freudian theory

Symbolist content:

Social consciousness of realism

Internal world of imagination

Irrational aspects of the human mind

Subject matter:

Literature

Myths

Allegory

Dreams

Spirituality

Haunting, stark imagery



Artists:

France:

Henri Rousseau (1844-1910)

Edvard Munch 1863-1883) (born Norway)

Germany:

Kathe Kollwitz (1867-1945)

Emil Nolde (1867-1956)

Ernst Kirchner (1880-1938)

Max Beckman (1884-1950)

George Grosz (1893-1959)

Austria:

Gustave Klimt (1862-1918)

Artistic Representations:

Portrait (self, group)

Psychological content

Backgrounds

Figures (narrative, decorative)

1905 - 1915 - Fauvism ("Wild Beasts")
France, Germany

Franz Marc

Der Tiger, 1914

Lenbachhaus; Munich, Germany

Artistic Manifestations:

Bright, non-naturalistic, and often unusually vivid colors

Strong use of pictorial space, pictorial movement

Forms built from color and/or pattern

Emotional content

Artists:

France:

Henri Matisse (1869-1954)

Georges Rouault (1871-1958)

Maurice de Vlaminck (1876-1958)

Andre Derain (1880-1954)

Germany:

Franz Marc (1880-1916)

Artistic Representations:



Figures

Landscapes

Animals

1907 - 1920 - Cubism
France

Pablo Picasso

Man With a Pipe, 1911

Kimball Art Museum; Fort Worth, Texas

Artistic Manifestations:



Objective

Radical approach to space, spatial organization

Radical break from reality:

Abstraction

Fragmentation

Distortion

Simplification

Asymmetry

Simultaneous views and directions. No single point of view

Bold strokes of color or monochromatic schemes

Artists:

France:

Jacques Villon (1875-1963)

Pablo Picasso (1880-1973)

Georges Braques (1881-1963)

Fernand Leger (1881-1955)

Artistic Representations:



Figures

Still lifes

1909 - 1925 - Futurism
Italy

Giacomo Balla

Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash, 1912

Jewish Museum; New York City

Artistic Manifestations:



Dynamism, strong compositions

Dynamic energy

Speed, travel

Technology

Machines

Strong color

Break with academic traditions

Artists:



Italy:

Giacomo Balla (1871-1958)

Filippo Marinetti (1876-1944)

Umberto Boccioni (1882-1916)

Gino Severini (1883-1966)

Artistic Representations:



People (usually single)

Citylife

Sports

Aeropaintings (depicting movement)

Text (words) in art

1915 - 1933 - Bauhaus
Germany

Paul Klee

Temple Gardens, 1920

Metropolitan Museum of Art; New York City

Artistic Manifestations:



Correlation between creative design and modern industry and science

Smooth, tensile forms combined with strong colors (ex. tubular steel furniture)

Integrated expressionist styles with design and architecture

Materials: steel, concrete, chrome, glass

Varied Fine and Technical artists, architects:

Advertising, stage, photography, typography, furniture, architecture

Artists: (most emigrated after the Nazis closed the Bauhaus in 1933)



Germany

Lyonel Feininger (1871 – 1956)

Walter Gropius (1883 – 1969)

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886 – 1969)

Josef Albers (1888 – 1976)

Switzerland

Paul Klee (1879 – 1940)

Artistic Representations:



Abstract imagery

Advertising, typography

Industrial design: furniture, house-wares

Architecture

1915 - 1945 - Surrealism
France, Spain, Belguim, Italy

Salvador Dali

Persistence of Memory, 1931

Metropolitan Museum of Art; New York City

Artistic Manifestations:

Symbolism, personal imagery

Alternative to formal theories of Cubism

Emphasis on positive expression

Influenced by theories of Sigmund Freud

Reunited ‘conscious and unconscious’ realms of experience

‘Absolute Reality:’ the worlds of dream and fantasy joined to the everyday rational world in an “absolute reality, a surreality”

Artists:

France

Marc Chagall (1887 – 1985)

Marcel Duchamps (1887 – 1968)

Max Ernst ( 1891 – 1976)

Yves Tanguy (1900 – 1955)

Spain

Joan Miro (193 – 1983)

Salvador Dali ( 1904 – 1989)

Belgium

Rene Magritte (1898 – 1967)

Italy

Giorgio de Chirico (1888 – 1978)

Artistic Representations:

Spontaneous imagery, free association

Automatism

Fantasy

Confusion