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Figurative art From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Ein Meerhafen ("A Seaport"), a figurative landscape by the Austrian artist Johan n Anton Eismann (1604 1698), which depicts buildings, people, ships, and other fea tures that can be distinguished individually; by contrast, the abstract landscap e below suggests its subject matter without directly representing figures Untitled abstract expressionist landscape by the American artist Jay Meuser (191 1 1963) Figurative art, sometimes written as figurativism, describes artwork particularly paintings and sculptures which are clearly derived from real object sources, and a re therefore by definition representational. "Figurative art" is often defined i n contrast to abstract art: Since the arrival of abstract art the term figurative has been used to refer to any form of modern art that retains strong references to the real world.[1] Painting and sculpture can therefore be divided into the categories of figurativ e, representational and abstract, although, strictly speaking, abstract art is d erived (or abstracted) from a figurative or other natural source. However, "abst ract" is sometimes used as a synonym for non-representational art and non-object ive art, i.e. art which has no derivation from figures or objects. Figurative art is not synonymous with "art that represents the human figure," al though human and animal figures are frequent subjects. Contents [hide] 1 Formal elements 2 Evolution 3 Examples 4 See also 5 Notes and references Formal elements[edit source | editbeta]

Nude study (1896) by Kenyon Cox, an advocate of figurative art The formal elements, those aesthetic effects created by design, upon which figur ative art is dependent, include line, shape, color, light and dark, mass, volume , texture, and perspective,[2] although it should be pointed out that these elem ents of design could also play a role in creating other types of imagery -- for instance abstract, or non-representational or non-objective two-dimensional artw ork. The difference is that in figurative art these elements are deployed to cre ate an impression or illusion of form and space, and, usually, to create emphasi s in the narrative portrayed. Evolution[edit source | editbeta]

Jacques-Louis David. Oath of the Horatii, 1784 Figurative art is itself based upon a tacit understanding of abstracted shapes: the figure sculpture of Greek antiquity was not naturalistic, for its forms were idealized and geometric.[3] Ernst Gombrich referred to the strictures of this s chematic imagery, the adherence to that which was already known, rather than tha t which is seen, as the "Egyptian method", an allusion to the memory-based clari ty of imagery in Egyptian art.[4] Eventually idealization gave way to observatio n, and a figurative art which balanced ideal geometry with greater realism was s een in Classical sculpture by 480 B.C.[3] The Greeks referred to the reliance on visual observation as mimesis. Until the time of the Impressionists, figurative art was characterized by attempts to reconcile these opposing principles.[4]

From the early Renaissance, Mannerism and the Baroque through 18th-, 19th- and 2 0th-century painting Figurative art has steadily broadened its parameters. Nicol as Poussin (1594-1665), a French painter in the classical style whose work predo minantly features clarity, logic, and order, and favors line over color; served as an alternative to the more narrative Baroque style of the 17th century. He wa s a major inspiration for such classically-oriented artists as Jacques-Louis Dav id, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres and Paul Czanne. The rise of the Neoclassical a rt of Jacques-Louis David ultimately engendered the realistic reactions of Gusta ve Courbet and douard Manet leading to the multi-faceted figurative art of the 20 th century. Examples[edit source | editbeta] Figurative paintings of the individual human form Ancient Roman woman on a balcony (9 14 CE), Getty Villa

Ingres, The Valpinon Bather (1808), Louvre

Paul Czanne, Bather (1885-1887), Museum of Modern Art

Van Gogh, On the Threshold of Eternity (1890), Krller-Mller Museum

Jacek Malczewski, winged lion Chimera (1906), National Museum, Warsaw

Matisse, Blue Nude (Souvenir de Biskra) (1907), Baltimore Museum of Art

Ian Hornak, Marcia Sewing, Variation III (1978), Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Groups of human figures Ancient Egyptian painting

Giotto, The Lamentation (c. 1305), Scrovegni Chapel

Kamal ud-Din Behzad, The construction of castle Khornaq in al-Hira (c. 1494-1495 )

El Greco, The Opening of the Fifth Seal 1608-1614, Metropolitan Museum of Art, N ew York City

Rubens, Judgement of Paris (c. 1636), National Gallery, London

Poussin, Et in Arcadia ego (Les Bergers d Arcadie) (late 1630s), Louvre

Delacroix, The Barque of Dante (1822), Louvre

Courbet, A Burial at Ornans (1849-1850), Musee d'Orsay, Paris

douard Manet, The Old Musician (1862), National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

Degas, Ballet Rehearsal (1873), Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Renoir, Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette (Bal du moulin de la Galette) (1876), M use d'Orsay

Eakins, The Swimming Hole (1884-5), Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas

Gauguin, The Midday Nap (1894)

Picasso Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907), Museum of Modern Art

Henri Matisse, The Dance I, 1909, Museum of Modern Art

John French Sloan, McSorley's Bar (1912), Detroit Institute of Arts

Ernst Kirchner, Berlin Street (1913)

George Bellows, Dempsey and Firpo (1924), Whitney Museum of American Art See also[edit source | editbeta] Abstract art Illustration Narrative art

Neofigurative Art Stuckism Notes and references[edit source | editbeta] Jump up ^ Tate. "Glossary:Figurative". Retrieved 21 October 2012. Jump up ^ Adams, Laurie Schneider, The Methodologies of Art, pages 17-19. Westvi ew Press, 1996, ^ Jump up to: a b Clark, Kenneth, The Nude: A Study in Ideal Form, pages 31-2. P rinceton University Press, 1990. ^ Jump up to: a b The Gombrich Archive: Press statement on The Story of Art Categories: Figurative art Navigation menu Create accountLog inArticleTalkReadEdit sourceEditbetaView history Search Main page Contents Featured content Current events Random article Donate to Wikipedia Interaction Help About Wikipedia Community portal Recent changes Contact page Toolbox Print/export Languages ??????? Catal Cesky Dansk Espaol ????? Franais Italiano Nederlands ??? Norsk bokml Norsk nynorsk Polski Portugus Romna ??????? ?????? / srpski Suomi Svenska Edit links This page was last modified on 31 July 2013 at 11:49. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; add itional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and P rivacy Policy. Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-prof it organization. Privacy policyAbout WikipediaDisclaimersContact WikipediaDevelopersMobile viewWi kimedia Foundation Powered by MediaWiki