Classicism
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- For the works or study of works from classical antiquity, see Classics
Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for classical antiquity, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seeks to emulate. The art of classicism typically seeks to be formal and restrained. It can also refer to the other periods of classicism.
Classicism is a force which is always present in post-medieval European and European influenced traditions, however, some periods felt themselves more connected to the classical ideals than others, particularly the Age of Reason, the Age of the Enlightenment and some movements in Modernism. The Enlightenment in particular formed movements labelled "classical" or were referred from the perspective of the 20th century as having been classical. This includes classical economics and classical physics, both of which were related to the more general ideals of classicism from that time period.
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[edit] General term
Classical and neoclassical are related terms in a variety of fields, artistic, political and scientific. In general there are two strands identified as being important for classicism. The first is a self-conscious reference to the idea of axiomatic logic in the creation of a discipline, and the ideals of balance, proportion and moderation. The second is the period of a discipline when such reasoning from observable first principles is in full flower. Hence the modern referring to the period of economics before marignal theory as "classical" economics, and the references to physics before quantum mechanics as "classical physics".
Classicism first made an appearance as such during the Italian renaissance when the fall of Byzantium and rising trade with the Islamic cultures brought a flood of knowledge about, and from, the antiquity of Europe. Until that time the identification with antiquity had been seen as a continuous history of Christendom from the conversion of Roman Emperor Constantine. Renaissance classicism introduced a host of elements into European culture, including the application of mathematics and empricism into art, humanism, literary and depictive realism, and formalism. Importantly it also introduced paganism and the juxtaposition of ancient and modern.
The classicism of the Renaissance was to lead to, and give way to, a different sense of the classical in the 16th and 17th centuries. In this period classicism took on more overtly structural overtones of orderliness, predictability, the use of geometry and grids, the importance of rigorous discipline and pedagogy, the formation of schools of art and music. The court of Louis XIV was seen as the center of this form of classicism, with its references to the divine gods of Olympus as a symbolic prop for absolutism, its adherence to axiomatic and deductive reasoning, and its love of order and predictability. This period sought the revival of classical art forms, including Greek drama and music. Opera, in its modern European form, had its roots in attempts to recreate the combination of singing and dancing with theatre thought to be the Greek norm. Examples of this appeal to classicism included Dante, Petrarch and Shakespeare in poetry and theatre. Tudor drama, in particular, modeled itself after classical ideals and divided works into Tragedy and Comedy. Studying ancient Greek became regarded as essential for a well rounded education in the liberal arts.
The Renaissance also explicitly returned to architectural models and techniques associated with Greek and Roman antiquity, including the golden rectangle as a key proportion for buildings, the classical orders of columns, as well as a host of ornament and detail associated with Greek and Roman architecture. They also began reviving plastic arts such as bronze casting for sculpture, and used the classical naturalism as the foundation of drawing, painting and sculpture.
The Age of the Enlightenment identified itself with a vision of antiquity which, while continuous with the classicism of the previous century, was shaken by the physics of Sir Isaac Newton, the improvements in machinery and measurement, and a sense of liberation which they saw as being present in the Greek civilization, particularly in its struggles against the Persian Empire. The ornate, organic and complexly intergrated forms of the baroque were to give way to a series of movements that regarded themselves expressly as "classical" or "neo-classical", or would rapidly be labelled as such. For example the painting of Jacques-Louis David which was seen as an attempt to return to formal balance, clarity, manliness and vigor in art.
The 19th century saw the classical age as being the precursor of academicism, including such movements as uniformitarianism in the sciences, and the creation of rigorous catagories in artistic fields. Various movements of the romantic period saw themselves as classical revolts against a prevailing trend of emotionalism and irregularity, for example the Pre-Raphaelites. By this point classicism was old enough that previous classical movements received revivals, for example, the Renaissance was seen as a means to combine the organic medieval with the orderly classical. The 19th century continued or extended many classical programs in the sciences, most notably the Newtonian program to account for the movement of energy between bodies by means of exchange of mechanical and thermal energy.
The 20th century saw a number of changes in the arts and sciences. Classicism was used both by those who rejected, or saw as temporary, transfigurations in the political, scientific and social world - and by those who embraced the changes as a means to overthrow the perceived weight of the 19th century. Thus both pre-20th century disciplines were labelled "classical" and modern movements in art which saw themselves as aligned with light, space, sparseness of texture and formal coherence.
In the present classicism is used as a term particularly in relation to what Apollonian over Dionysian impulses in society and art, that is a preference for rationality, or at least rationally guided catharsis, over emotionalism.
[edit] In the theatre
Classicism in the theatre was developed by 17th century French playwrights from what they judged to be the rules of Greek classical theatre, including the so-called "Classical unities" of time, place and action, erroneously attributed to Aristotle.[verification needed]
- Unity of time referred to the need for the entire action of the play to take place in a fictional 24-hour period
- Unity of place meant that the action should unfold in a single location
- Unity of action meant that the play should be constructed around a single 'plot-line', such as a tragic love affair or a conflict between honour and duty.
Classicists did not approve of Shakespeare,[verification needed] who constantly broke these rules.
Examples of classicist playwrights:
Victor Hugo was among the first French playwrights to break these conventions.
[edit] In architecture and landscaping
Traditionally, classicism in architecture has entailed neoclassical architecture. Recently, however, the term has been appropriated to describe the neo-traditionalist movement associated with architect, urban planner and theorist Leon Krier, who describes the usage as follows:
- We do not use the term Classicism as a stylistic classification. In the face of modernism the old polemic between Gothic and classic is largely irrelevant. . .Classicism embraces all monumental architecture (of all continents) of traditional construction and conception, fulfilling the Vitruvian triad. The work of Henry Bacon and that of Hassan Fathy belongs in that classification, as do the Eiffel Tower and the Crystal Palace. The latter are neither anti-historical nor anti-classical or antitraditional structures. They merely represent new additions to the vast typological and formal repertoire of the vernacular-classical tradition. When however they are elevated to the level of paradigm, architecture is diminished.[1]
[edit] In the fine arts
Classical Art
[edit] In literature and poetry
See: Classical Literature
[edit] See also
