Genre Painting
on Oct 25 by alinquist55GENRE PAINTING
Painting can be divided up into classifications known as “genre”, so it is a little interesting that one of these genres of painting is known as “genre painting”. The term popped up in the 1700’s as painting had divided into two markets, art for the upper classes and art for the middle and lower classes. The artists and patrons of the wealthier class of art obviously preferred art suited to their tastes. They purchased expensive portraiture, expansive historical scenes, landscapes that featured wealthy activities such as foxhunting, large religious scenes and other forms of realism that highlighted the wealthier or nobler aspects of their lives. These collectors generally looked down upon the smaller, less noble art of middle and lower class Europe of that time, a fairly broad scope of art called “genre”.
The roots of “genre” painting were in Northern Europe. As with other styles that formed outside of the Catholic Church, “genre” painting developed as a way to exploit the art tastes of the financially successful Dutch businessmen. In the 1500’s, Amsterdam had become wealthy as middlemen, distributing to Northern Europe all the tastes of the world that the Spanish and Portuguese were bringing to Europe. With this rush of money, the Dutch began purchasing the finer things of life, including art. The Dutch became specialists in these smaller paintings that represented contemporary Dutch life of the 1500’s and 1600’s. Jan Steen, Gerard Terborch and Pieter DeHooch were all masters of this craft, creating works of tavern celebrations, home life, moral issues and even biblical stories set in Dutch surroundings. Vermeer’s glowing studies of young women bathed in window light are among the best forms of genre art.
By the 1700’s,France had developed a taste for genre painting. Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin was painting genre scenes when he wasn’t painting still lifes. But the fashionable French were less concerned about tavern scenes or peasant women and preferred Stylish paintings of women being courted. By the 1800’s the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists were among the most dedicated painters of genre scenes. Monet, Renoir, Degas, Cezanne and Van Gogh all painted scenes of a life style completely changed by the Industrial Revolution that surrounded them.
Unlike Paris and London, 19th century America was much more rural than it was urban and the genre work of the time reflected that difference. George Caleb Bingham and Sidney Mount painted a series of genre paintings that reflect the vigorous life that existed in the development of the American continent. Their works are much more masculine than the life of the burghers portrayed by the Dutch.
Modern art passed up the opportunity to paint contemporary reality but there are still many artists who enjoy and even specialize in painting humanity in its richness whether it’s David Hockney’s swimming pool paintings or Norman Rockwell’s Saturday Evening Post magazine covers. Even artists in the outsider art movement choose to interpret the reality of life in styles sometimes close to genre painting.
Other works of Fine Art you may enjoy:
-
«« Click the RSS Logo to Subscribe- The Connections Of Mary Cassatt May 18, 2012THE CONNECTIONS OF MARY CASSATT There is a romantic notion that great art is created in some kind of cultural vacuum, but the reality is much different. While there are a number of wildly eccentric and unique artists who seem to come out of nowhere, the vast majority of artists... […]
- Bend In the River, an oil painting May 7, 2012BEND IN THE RIVER, canvas size: 18 x 36 Bend In The River shows a river as the summer evening sun lights up the shoreline trees. In the foreground is a prominence of land that barely juts from the shade as the small river flows around it. On the farther... […]
- The Connections Of Mary Cassatt May 18, 2012