What makes painting modern?

The first 200 words of this essay...

What makes painting modern?

By Anita Mistry

Modernities

History of Art Level 1

(HT 51009A)

2003- 2004

To many art historians, modernism began in the Renaissance period, with Modernist thinking, although, it only really began to take shape in the 18th Century. Modernist thinkers didn't just want to imitate ancient models. Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863) and Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres (1780-1867) best demonstrate the difference between the progressive modernists and the politically conservative ancients. Ingres was painting 'beautiful' paintings that were identified with the classical academic style, whereas Delacroix's style was labelled as 'ugly'. This was most probably due to the subject matter of contemporary life with some anarchistic and materialistic elements thrown in. From Delacroix, progression brought us to Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) and Edouard Manet (1832-83). These modern painters painted scenes from everyday life, the poor, and the prostitutes. In doing so they were continuously pointing out all the social problems in their contemporary society, which these artists believed should be dealt with. Some critics even perceived at the time that Manet was ahead of his day. Manet is considered to be the first modern painter; he really pushed his painterly techniques and subject matter