2019 is the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France, French President Emmanu also visited Shanghai to participate in the second China International Import Expo and the opening of the Pompidou Art Center on the west bank, coinciding with the 21st Shanghai International Art Festival, two days ago we just sent off the director of the Musée d'Orsay, but understanding the classic art of France, how can we forget neoclassicism?
On November 5th, "The Birth of Fine Arts: From the Sun King to Napoleon - The Collection of the National Academy of Fine Arts in Paris" was quietly opened to the public at the Shanghai Museum, and this exhibition focused on more than 80 art treasures from the collection of the National Academy of Fine Arts in Paris, including works by famous artists such as Poussin, David, and Angle, as well as a mysterious collection from the Shanghai Museum that has never been exhibited.
Exhibition site
The name of the exhibition is "The Birth of Fine Arts", and while living with art day and night, people often forget that there is no "fine art" in nature, and the earliest artists are called "craftsmen" or "craftsmen". So when did the word "fine art" start to appear?
The term "fine arts" began in Europe in the seventeenth century, and its birth was inextricably linked to the rise of the Enlightenment and the growth of the Royal Academy.
From the Sun King Louis XIV (1638.9.5-1715.9.1) to Napoleon (1769.8.15-1821.5.5), about 300 years, French art through the "fine arts" was embodied and developed to the peak, gradually moving towards the top of European art, "Paris National Academy of Fine Arts" is the best witness to the surging process of this period.
Interior view of the fifteenth-century exhibition hall of the Museum of French Monuments, Charles-Marie Boudon, 1814, oil on canvas, collection of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure, Paris
This world-class higher art academy not only has a great influence on the world's higher art academies, but also has a far-reaching influence in the Chinese art world, and The older generation of Chinese oil painters Xu Beihong, Lin Fengmian, Yan Wenliang, Pan Yuliang, Wu Guan and other famous artists have graduated from this school.
They spread French art to China, vigorously promoted and developed Chinese modern art, and it can be said that the formation of China's modern art education system is inseparable from the study of the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris.
The exhibition is divided into 9 parts, through non-linear cross-narratives to help the public understand the surging process of French art from "Louis XIV to Napoleon", from the "Sun King Louis XIV to Napoleon", and the role played by this palatial école d'Orutaire.
Renaissance movement
The origins of French art
As you step into the exhibition hall, you'll be drawn to a "perfect" statue on the right, influenced by the heyday of the Italian Renaissance, a bust based on Agnès Solei, the favorite of King Charles VII, and an excellent representation of classical culture.
Bust of Agnès Solei
The word "Renaissance" comes from the Italian Rinascita, which was used at the end of the fourteenth century and began to influence France at the end of the fifteenth century, when the French elite learned that Italy was undergoing the Renaissance movement and promoted a cultural trend that imitated Italy.
Poussin
The history of the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris dates back to the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture founded by Louis XIV in 1648. Poussin is regarded as the founder of the Royal French Academy of Painting and Sculpture. Poussin's Mercury, Hers and Jagraulos, presented in this exhibition, dates back to the early days of his first visit to Rome.
The theme is taken from Ovid's Metamorphosis. Mercury falls in love with Hels and hopes to reunite with her, but when Athena makes Hels' sister Jaglos jealous and intervenes, Mercury turns Jaglos to stone.
Mercury, Huls and Jaglos, Nicolas Poussin, 1624-1626, oil on canvas, collection of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure, Paris
The simple composition of the work shows Poussin's understanding of ancient art, and by accurately showing the emotional attitude of each character, it reveals a very convincing and literary concept of painting that the painter later created, that is, the choice to show the most dramatic moment when the emotions of the characters reach their peak.
This is also our first feeling when we watch the oil paintings in this exhibition, which are full of drama, rich in body language and full of emotions.
The Sun King
Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture
The history of the Académie Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris dates back to the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture founded by Louis XIV in 1648. The Academy was tasked with teaching art courses, and the salaries of the lecturers were paid directly by the king.
This meant that the price of royal support was full loyalty to the state.
Abigail brings David a gift from Licherie de Beurie Louis in 1679
The Academy offers the Grand Prix (the predecessor of the 19th century Grand Prix). The theme of the competition revolves around the praises of the king, and the winner of the competition can enjoy scholarships to travel to the Académie française in Rome.
Most artists of this period wanted to have the title of "historical painter", such as Juans's Hercules Killing Hydra with the Help of Iolais, which used mythology as a theme to symbolize Louis XIV with the ancient Greek hero Hercules. His work embodies Le Brun's expectation that art would be used to celebrate the glory of the monarchy of Versailles.
Hercules killed Hydra houasse René-Antoine with the help of Iolais in 1673
The birth of the modern artist
The price of royal support is full loyalty to the state. The young Louis XIV built the Academy into an institution that celebrated the monarchy. Rajile's Portrait of Charles Le Brun embodies the artist's duty to express the prestige of the royal family.
Portrait of Charles Le Brun, Nicolas de La Gillière (1656-1746), 1683, oil on canvas, 75 x 59 cm, École Nationale de Paris
In this portrait, Rajilière diminishes the drama in order to give the picture more privacy, so that under the thick powder, the straight clothing and the solemn posture, one can see the frozen face and frustrated look of Le Brun, witnessing the moving decline of a man of power.
Artist before his mother's drawing Rigaud Hyacinthe 1730
By the Age of Enlightenment, the idea that "art reflects individual emotions or expresses the zeitgeist" emerged, and the philosopher Rousseau insisted that "the state of nature is superior to civilization, and the individual is superior to society" thought.
This change was exemplified by the painter David's involvement in politics for Napoleon's revolution. Houdon's portrait sculptures also represent a new orientation of the artist, that is, works of art that celebrate humanity and no longer serve only the royal family. Promoting individuality heralds the advent of romanticism.
The Bust of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Jean-Antoine Udong, 1779, plaster coloring, Collection of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris
The art of the aristocracy flourished
At the beginning of the eighteenth century, the high cost of wars everywhere led to a financial crisis for the royal family, and the art institutions lost their stable economic resources. In 1705, the Royal Academy lost its royal privilege of using live models. After that, the "Grand Prix" competition was suspended for three consecutive years. This is the first sign of the decline of historical painting, because it no longer meets the needs of the emerging elite.
Successive changes have made the role of the Royal Academy constantly evolving. The Académie has held exhibitions in the famous Square Salon of the Louvre since 1725, from which the word "salon" got its name and was open to the public from 1737 onwards.
Salons have made aesthetic pleasures accessible to all segments of society, and art criticism has sprung up, giving rise to the awareness that everyone has the right to judge works of art.
The Sacrifice of Hierboam to the Otherworld, Jean-Honoré Flagonard, 1752, oil on canvas, collection of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1752, Roman Congress
The Royal Academy also began to admit amateur students, most notably the Archaeologist and Patron of the Arts, Count Kellyus. He was fascinated by the culture of ancient Greece and Rome, and the archaeological boom that led to it greatly influenced a new generation of artists, especially the painter Joseph-Marie Vien.
Wien served successively as president of the École de France in Rome, as the king's chief painter and as president of the Royal Academy. He was one of the first pioneers to advocate a return to classical art and was also a teacher of Jacques-Louis David.
Daedalus put wings on Icarus vien joseph-marie in 1754
The theme of this work relates to the famous myth of Icarus. Icarus was the son of the architect Daedalus and was named after flying too close to the sun and dying.
Rather than depicting the iconic scene of Icarus falling, a popular scene for artists, Wien chose to show Icarus preparing before taking off, while Daedalus was warning his son about the dangers of water or the sun while flying.
Vane's work is profound, revealing the complex relationship between reality and ideals.
Human aesthetics
The confrontation between art and science
The Renaissance relocated man to the center of the world, and understanding the human body was essential for the artist. Body sketching was at the heart of Italian art until 1705, when the Academy was the only institution licensed by the royal family to use mannequins.
The episodic form of Houdon (L'écorché) marks a new focus on anatomical truth, a break with classicism led by Poussin, the ideal representative of the Age of Enlightenment and the Age of revolution.
In the same period, the expression of emotion, which was most valued by historical subject painters, also changed. In 1759, the Earl of Kellyus established the Contest for the Expression of Emotions. Fifteen years later, Rawat proposed the scientific theory of facials, arguing that a person's soul could be understood through the lines of his face. In 1784, the Academy, under the auspices of Contan de Latour, established a bust body painting competition to explore the relationship between the soul and appearance, which was expanded to the proportions of the whole body.
But at the beginning of the nineteenth century, Ingres sacrificed the technique of anatomical structure for the harmony of lines, so that art is no longer a reproduction of reality, but a mirror image of the soul, announcing the arrival of Romanticism.
The Enlightenment period
An innovation in heroic painting
During the French Revolution, artists such as David broke with the popular style of the time, and this trend actually began in the middle of the eighteenth century. People and critics alike want to reassign the mission of moral values to art.
Aeneas treats his wounds perrin Jean-Charles-Nicaise 1787
In 1776, In his work Alexander Visits Diogenes, Renio used the contrasting images of the philosopher Diogenes and Alexander the Great to question why the position of power was higher than that of thought.
Alexander's Visit to Diogenes, Jean-Baptiste Renio, 1776, oil on canvas, collection of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure in Paris, 1776, Roman Congress
Many of the details in this work reflect the painter's knowledge of Greek philosophy: Renio accurately depicts the shadow cast by Alexander on D'Orghany, reminiscent of Diogenes' famous words " Please go away, you block my sunlight " , and the philosopher's notorious destitution, sleeping in a bucket with only a coat, a stick, a bowl, and a lantern. This pictorial theme symbolizes the supremacy of philosophy over power and the triumph of thought over force.
Art and Revolution
From David to Ingres
David developed a mission-like artistic talent from an early age and studied under Joseph Mary Wayne. But he experienced three failures of the Rome Prize and even wanted to commit suicide at one point.
Finally, after the fourth attempt at the Rome Prize in 1774, David won the crown for "Erasystate Discovers the Cause of Antioch's Illness".
Erasistadt discovers the cause of Antiochus's illness, Jacques Louis David (1748-1825), 1774, oil on canvas, École Nationale de Paris
The theme of "Erasistat discovers the cause of Antiochus's illness" is that the doctor Erlasstadt finds out the cause of Antioch's illness through pulse examination, that is, the latter falls in love with his stepmother Stratonis. In this painting, David combines the original ambitions of the Academy, the first attempt to get rid of the Boucher style, adopting a narrative composition based on the Poussin style.
After David's return from Rome, for his formal admission, the Academy asked him to create a work with the theme "Andromak and Astianax Weeping and Mourning for Hector".
Andromeda mourns Hector David Jacques-Louis in 1783
The simple composition of the work is mainly based on the orthogonal placement of the bed and the table lamp, creating a small confinement room like a limited number of characters, delicately expressed, and the background of these elements is a dark and well-treated drapery.
David's transformation
Before the Revolution of 1789, David's career was the same as that of prestigious academic artists: from the grand prize to the crown, to Rome for further study, then to the academicians, to accept royal orders, to make a name for himself in the salon and to open a successful studio.
David experienced countless failures before becoming famous, witnessed the jealousy between the academicians after his admission, his conflict with the king's chief royal painter, his application to the Institut de France in Rome was rejected, coupled with his own reclusive personality, these bumpy experiences caused his dissatisfaction with the Royal Academy to grow.
At the same time, he realized that as the absolute monarchy was replaced by Rousseau-style individualism, the French Revolution would subvert the norms of the Academy. David often accompanied the revolutionaries, founded the People's Art Commune, was elected to the National Convention controlled by the MountainIsts, and supported the execution of the king.
David began to record the great changes of the times directly through the majestic historical picture. In 1793, at his appeal the Royal Academy was abolished. After robespierre's fall, David was also arrested and imprisoned, and after his release David re-assumed a major position in a new art institution, and with the resumption of the Grand Prix in 1797, everything seemed to return to its previous format, but the new political situation had completely changed the role of artists, they were no longer slaves to power, but became the main spokesmen for power.
Angle
David's studio became a place to train new talents, and Ingres was undoubtedly one of them. David was born in Paris, but Ingres was from the provinces, and he was content to be alone and far from politics.
Like his teacher, Ingres received the "Grand Prize" and was followed by a large number of orders, indicating official recognition of his success.
The Half-Torso Human Body, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, 1800, oil on canvas, collection of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure, Paris
But Ingres's independent personality, combined with the harsh criticism of his work at the Salon of 1806, led Ingres on a very different artistic path from that of his teacher David.
Ingres extended his italian study trip for more than a decade. When he returned to France again, he was already the head of the academy, and his importance was comparable to that of David.
Achilles Receives the Messenger of Agamemnon, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, 1802, oil on canvas, Ecole Nationale Supérieure, Paris, 1
Ingres distinguishes Himself from David in a way that is contrary to classical dogma, namely the precise expression of the irregularities in the appearance of the characters; his control of the lines better emphasizes the staggered curve game of a series of male nudes in the painting, and he does not use shadows to express the three-dimensionality of the characters.
The Shanghai Museum also has a collection of Ingres?
The Shanghai Museum has a sketch of a figure that has never been exhibited, depicting a muscular male body, with precise structure, free lines, rich layers and delicate texture.
This painting's unique sketching technique has been identified as Ingres's original work by Xu Beihong, Yan Wenliang, Zhang Chongren and other artists, and believes that it belongs to Ahn's early study in Rome, this work changed hands several times, went to New York, was purchased by Shao Xunmei in a famous ancient painting shop in New York in 1946, and once again brought back to China. The work has the Style of Ingres, but whether it is a genuine work remains to be studied.
Archaeology and the poetic aesthetics of the ruins
Since the sixteenth century, the city of Rome has been deeply influencing French art. The cultural upheaval brought about by the Renaissance is largely due to the discovery of ancient Greco-Roman ruins, which are closely related to the urban construction works carried out by the popes in Rome.
The excavations of ancient art have had a huge impact on French artists. For the century that followed, archaeology developed into an independent discipline.
The ruins of Servandoni at the beginning of the eighteenth century are more decorative and ornamental, while thirty years later, the ruins of Hubert Robert represent the passage of time.
Robert Hubert of Puerto Ripeta in 1766
Ruins of the monument Servandoni Jean-Nicolas 1731
The historicism that arises from the intersection of archaeology and this new perception is the ideological cornerstone of the emergence of modern art. It meant that people began to realize the historical diversity that short lives presented, as well as the relativity of different civilizations. Historicism broke the foundation of the academy system, namely that beauty comes from the application of stable norms.
Based on a new identification with the aesthetics of ruins, David's friend and painter Alexandre Lenoir advocated the establishment of the French Museum of Antiquities in Paris. The museum's influence has allowed a large number of works of art from the French medieval period to shine back, unlike the perfect masterpieces of classicism, which were born long before the revival of ancient Greco-Roman art.
From the Royal Academy to the Academy
"Your Excellency, I am like a college on my own," was a quote David wrote to Minister Sharpthal in 1801.
In the first decade of the nineteenth century, the position of the painter David was indeed pivotal. Through his studio, David controlled the teaching mode of the entire art world. The Davidian model seems to have replaced the college standard and has not been questioned in the slightest.
This mode of teaching was not precarious either, and throughout the nineteenth century, painting continued to evolve in the way it was passed on from teacher to student.
Because of this, after Ingres won the Grand Prix in 1802, the unique aesthetic of his work was a great success, and many years later, this style reappeared in the works of David's students Guirmo and Arlo.
After the demise of the Empire, a dreamy work by Thomas heralded the arrival of romanticism. The term "academic" then had a fixed negative connotation, referring specifically to artists who had inherited David's neoclassicism, which was very different from their style.
This led to an aesthetic movement that used different "schools" to distinguish the diversity of artistic creation since the Industrial Revolution, from Realism to Symbolism to Impressionism.
Neoptolemes prevented Philocateus from stabbing Ulysses Pradier James in 1813
In this exhibition, we look back at the French "academic school" and "fine arts", we see the refinement of craftsmanship and the evolution of style, the flow and transmutation of painting subjects from Gods and heroes to human beings themselves, the trade-offs and games under the constraints of imperial politics and guilds, the penetration and reflection of Enlightenment philosophy and rational thought in art, and the awakening and transformation of the self-consciousness and identity of art producers from "craftsmen" to "artists".
However, when "Romanticism", "Symbolism" and "Impressionism" arrived, "the word 'academic' had a fixed negative connotation".
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The Birth of Fine Arts: From the Sun King to Napoleon
- Exhibition of the Collection of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris
2019.11.5-2020.2.9
The first exhibition hall on the first floor of the Shanghai Museum
There is a daily limit of 8,000 people
Closed on Mondays, excluding national holidays
Figure · Text | Partly from the Shanghai Museum
Edited | Cultural hope
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