5 Talking Points on 19th Century Fine Arts

• Romanticism is a very abrupt change in German fine arts
• Many very famous composers originated in Germany during the 19th Century
• Romanticism brought many new artists into the art scene
• Impressionism art began in the late 19th Century
• Fine arts was a large aspect of culture in Germany during the 19th Century

Romantic Movement in German Arts

Members on Fine Arts as an entirety

John Beuning

Joe Albers

Mari Navarro

Romanticism in the German arts of the 19th Century was very prevalent and can be seen in many different medias of work from the era.

1. What is Romanticism?

• Romanticism is a classification of a large medium of art which mostly occurred in the late 1700's and into the mid 1800's.  Romanticism put much emphasis on the individual, as well as being some of the first art to be spontaneous or even irrational.  It was known as the bracing of the unknown.

1. Progression of Romanticism through the Arts

• It began in literature, there was great increase in poetry and short stories that focused on the individual and not the society.  This was prevalent in both poetry and in literature.  In literature the writings were wrote the focused on the individual as a hero or having interest in social causes.
• In poetry the word "melancholy" was used to describe much of the work from that era.  Much poetry at the time began to become more irrational and harder to get a grasp of.  A fair amount of poetry from the era was being based on mythology and the writers took this to a whole new dimension.
• Medium art also than followed in this path.  The artist's use of colors began to vary in pieces of art.  They began to use the colors very liberally and for the time this was a very odd approach in colors since in all the previous painting the color was very traditional and could be seen as realism.

1. Examples of Romantic Artist's works

Another Day

Friedrich Holderlin

Another day. I follow another path,

Enter the leafing woodland, visit the spring

Or the rocks where the roses bloom

Or search from a look-out, but nowhere

Love are you to be seen in the light of day

And down the wind go the words of our once so

Beneficent conversation...

Your beloved face has gone beyond my sight,

The music of your life is dying away

Beyond my hearing and all the songs

That worked a miracle of peace once on

• This was written by the poet Friedrich Holderlin as is considered one of the most prominent in the german transition into Romanticism.  HIs poetry was said to inspire many composers of the time.  This also influenced the composers to begin this new style of art in their own respective medium.

1. Composers in the Transition to Romanticism

• Composers of the time were also in the transition to this new style.  In this media it was said that it takes the emotions of the composer and puts it into beautiful symphonies.  Like in poetry much of the composed works are said to be melancholy and of a darker aura than was the considered early normal if the time.  The most famous of the time  is also one of the most famous composers, or at least his work, today.  This composer is Beethoven.  
• In Beethoven's works it was said that it projected his suffering into his work and this mainly why his work is still so prevalent today.  

1. The transition that started in Germany as the Romantic era shift changed art in all medias to the current.  In all medias of art this techniques and developments made at the time changed the way all fine arts were made ever since.  Almost all artists of the current era say that they throw themselves into the work and that is why all pieces are considered masterpieces.  

German Fine Arts Handout

The German culture in the nineteenth century in the aspect of art has been respected for numerous years. The nineteenth century experienced the transition from romanticism to a type of real or what we consider early modern art.  In the early nineteenth century the art and the music were all of a romantic aura but by the 1850’s there began a transition to an early form of modern art and even some of what we described today as contemporary art.

Painters

Caspar David Friedrich (September 5, 1774 – May 7, 1840)

•        19th-century German Romantic landscape painter, generally considered the most important German artist of his generation
•        He is best known for his mid-period allegorical landscapes which typically feature contemplative figures silhouetted against night skies, morning mists, barren trees or Gothic ruins.

Philipp Otto Runge (23 July 1777 – 2 December 1810)

•       Was a Romantic German painter and draughtsman. He made a late start to his career and died young, nonetheless he is considered among the best German Romantic painters

Adrian Ludwig Richter (September 28, 1803 – June 19, 1884),

•       A German painter and etcher, was born at Dresden, the son of the engraver Karl August Richter, from whom he received his training; but he was strongly influenced by Erhard and Chodowiecki.

Poets and Writers

Joseph Baron von Eichendorff (March 10, 1788, died Nov. 26, 1857)

•       Poet and novelist, considered one of the great German Romantic lyricists

Heinrich Heine (13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856)

•        Was one of the most significant German poets of the 19th century. He was also a journalist, essayist, and literary critic
•        He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry

Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann (24 January 1776 – 25 June 1822)

•        Better known by his pen name E. T. A. Hoffmann (Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann)
•        Romantic author of fantasy and horror, a jurist, composer, music critic, draftsman and caricaturist
•        He is the subject and hero of Jacques Offenbach's famous but fictitious opera The Tales of Hoffmann, Author of the novelette The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, on which the famous ballet The Nutcracker is based

Composers

Wilhelm Richard Wagner (22 May 1813 – 13 February 1883)

•       German composer, conductor, theatre director and polemicist primarily known for his operas
•       Wagner's compositions, particularly those of his later period, are notable for their complex texture, rich harmonies and orchestration, and the elaborate use of leitmotifs: musical themes associated with individual characters, places, ideas or plot elements.
•        Unlike most other opera composers, Wagner wrote both the music and libretto for every one of his stage works. Perhaps the two best-known extracts from his works are the Ride of the Valkyries from the opera Die Walküre, and the Wedding March (Bridal Chorus) from the opera Lohengrin.

Ludwig van Beethoven (December 1770 – 26 March 1827)

•        Composer and pianist.
•      A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music,
•        He remains one of the most famous and influential of all composers.
•       His best known compositions include 9 symphonies, 5 concertos for piano, 32 piano sonatas, and 16 string quartets.

  
Richard Georg Strauss (11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949)

·       Was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras.

·       He is known for his operas

o   Especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and other orchestral works,

§  Death and Transfiguration,

§  Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks,

§  Sprach Zarathustra,

§  An Alpine Symphony

§  Metamorphosen

Works Cited

"E. T. A. Hoffmann." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 16 Oct. 2012. Web. 17 Oct. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._T._A._Hoffmann>.

"Heinrich Heine." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 16 Oct. 2012. Web. 17 Oct. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Heine>.

"Joseph, Baron Von Eichendorff (German Writer)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2012. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/180916/Joseph-baron-von-Eichendorff>.

"Ludwig Van Beethoven." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 17 Oct. 2012. Web. 17 Oct. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_van_Beethoven>.

"Richard Strauss." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 17 Oct. 2012. Web. 17 Oct. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Strauss>.

"Richard Wagner." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 17 Oct. 2012. Web. 17 Oct. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Wagner>.

19th Century German Fine Culture

Talking Points For All Quiet on the Western Front

• Effect that the war had on young soldiers returning to civilian life after seeing the horrific scenes during the war.
• The father-son like relationship that Paul and Kat share throughout the novel.
• How the students were seemingly forced into joining the militia 
• The way that the civilians thought of the war as opposed to how the war actually was
• How Paul's dad wanted to parade him around in his garb and Paul not wanting to do so.

Chapter 1 Summary

Mari Navarro

John Beuning

Joseph  Albers

The chapter we decided to do is chapter one. This chapter is a brief introduction to the characters. This chapter begins with the men returning from the front line where they experience heavy losses, eighty men returned from the front line out of one hundred and fifty men. It then takes us to the men lining up at the cook house with Albert Kropp leading the way because he is the hungriest. What is left of the gang form the head of the queue, before the cook house. The cook comes out and claims he has prepared too much food and has too many rations due to soldiers lost at the front line. Kat convinces Heinrich to disperse all of the food and all of the rations after some jostling.

The men then reminisce of their times in school with their school master Kantorek. In their times at the school Kantorek often said to them, “won’t you join up, comrades?” this persuaded all of the boys who even hesitated to enlist in army. The men did not blame Kantorek for this decision. Kantorek glorified the war to help persuade the young men to enlist and left out the horrors of war. The first death the men seen shattered this belief of glory in war.

They go visit their friend Kemmerich who was wounded in battle and had his leg amputated. Their friend looks ghastly, yellow and pale. All the men recognize this as death working from within him. The men have a hard time because they know that he will die. Kemmerich doesn’t even realize that his leg is amputated due to being in extreme shock. After sympathizing with Kemmerich Muller than realizes Kemmerich won’t need his books so he questions him about the boots. Muller goes as far as lining up and checking the boot size with his own feet to see if they would fit. As morbid as it is, if the tables were turned the situation would occur other way as well. The men hate to see their friend in pain so they seek out and orderly to help rid his pain. They then ask him to give Kemmerich more morphine to ease his suffering in his last moments. The orderly refuses so the men bribe him with more and more cigarettes until he agrees to their request. Kropp goes with the orderly because he doesn’t trust him to deliver the morphine. Paul opens the letter he received from Kemmerich which reads,” we are the iron youth.”

Remarque, Erich Maria. All Quiet on the Western Front. N.p.: Propyläen Verlag, 1929. Print.

Character Review

Stanislaus Katczinsky

He was known as Kat and as the wise old soul among the young soldiers. The other men around him see him as a cool headed soldier, even in the face of adversity.  He once suggests shooting a young wounded soldier to end his suffer because the man will pass away regardless.  He is most definitely Baumer’s closest friend out in the front lines.  Kat as he is nicknamed in the book becomes Paul's closest and most intimate friend.  The two seemingly always know to look to each other for guidance and comradeship while on the front lines.   Baumer thinks Kat possesses a stronger sense of danger than do the rest of the soldiers.  Baumer also regards him as a scavenger for food.  Whether it is the lobster that he brought to the troops or the night that him and Baumer got the goose and prepared it, he also had a sense to scavenger the area for food.  Kat proved to be a voice for all his friends, and also like a father figure.  At one instance in the book the men are hit with poison gas and Kat yells to the men, “Gas! Pass it on” at this instance you can see that he is looking out for all that are with him.  You can just tell that he wanted the best for his fellow soldiers, at another instance after the battalion took heavy losses he secures the extra rations that were to be for the diseased men, and has them dished out to his fellow soldiers.  He just wanted the best for his fellow soldiers.  He displays the German trait of always having a keen nose for finding and enjoying remarkable food, no matter where he may find himself.  At the end of the book one can realize how close Paul and Kat were.  Paul carried at disabled Kat all the way to the infirmary.  When the pair arrives at the infirmary his beloved best friend, Kat, is dead.  This really shakes up Paul, which is another instance of how much these two soldiers cared for one another.  Kat was beloved by Paul so much that Paul felt that without his friend that he could hardly carry on fighting and was killed than shortly after.     

Remarque, Erich Maria. All Quiet on the Western Front. N.p.: Propyläen Verlag, 1929. Print.