In the process of becoming fine arts Genres of painting were also formed. If in the paintings of cavemen one could only see what surrounded them, then over time the painting became more and more multifaceted and acquired a broader meaning. Artists conveyed their vision of the world in paintings. Historians identify the following genres of painting that have formed throughout the history of this art.
.
The name comes from the Latin word animal, which means animal. This genre includes paintings in which animals are the center.
Allegorical genre. Allegoria means "allegory". Such paintings contain secret meaning. By depicting characters, people, living or mythical creatures the artist is trying to convey this or that idea.
Battle genre. Image of battles, battles, military campaigns. These paintings are characterized by diversity and the presence of many characters.
Epic and mythological genres. The subjects of works of folklore, themes of ancient legends, epics and ancient Greek myths were depicted.
Depiction of simple scenes from everyday life. This genre is characterized by simplicity and realism.
Vanitas. The genre originated in the Baroque era. This is a kind of still life, in the center of which there is always a skull. Artists tried to draw a parallel with the frailty of all things.
Veduta. The birthplace of this genre is Venice. It represents a city panorama, respecting architectural forms and proportions.
Image of the interior decoration of the premises.
Hippo genre. The name speaks for itself. These are paintings dedicated to horses.
Historical genre. Canvases depicting historical events. A multifaceted and important genre of painting.
Capriccio. Fantasy architectural landscape.
The name is of French origin, and means that in the center of the image - inanimate object. Artists depicted mainly flowers, household items, and household utensils.
Nude. Image of a naked human body. Initially, this genre was closely related to the mythological and historical genre.
Blende. Genre in which artists used special moves, in order to create an illusion.
Pastoral. A genre that elevates simple rural life into a different hypostasis, embellishing it and deifying it.
A genre in which the canvas depicts pictures of nature. This is a volumetric direction that includes the city landscape, seascape, and other similar topics.
. In the center of the picture is an image of a man. The artist uses techniques to convey not only the appearance, but also inner world your hero. The portrait can be group, individual, or formal. You can also highlight a self-portrait, in which the artist depicts himself.
Religious genre. This includes other paintings on religious themes.
Caricature. A genre whose purpose is to emphasize certain personality shortcomings through a comic effect. For this, exaggeration, distortion of facial features and proportions, symbolism and elements of the fantastic are used.
Genres of painting can merge and interact closely with each other. Some genres lose relevance over time, but many, on the contrary, continue to develop along with life.
It's no secret that painting has its own typology and is divided into genres. This phenomenon originated in Europe in the 15th century, when the concept of first-class painting was formed, which included paintings of a mythological and historical nature, and second-class paintings included landscapes, portraits, and still lifes. But this sorting lost its relevance around 1900, when there were too many genres and styles and it would have been too old-fashioned to use a clear division into just these two groups. That is why I want to talk about current types of painting today.
Still life (nature morte- “dead nature”) - pictures of inanimate things. This genre originated in the 15th century and gained independence in the 17th, thanks to Dutch artists. The genre became independent due to the advent of the Golden Age in Holland; artists were spoiled by the abundance of food and other things that had previously been considered items of luxury and wealth; it was on this basis that such a narrow genre as the Dutch still life appeared. Nowadays, still life is a widespread type of painting, and is in great demand among painting buyers.
Portrait- a person or group of people depicted in the picture. The boundaries of this style are very vague; portraiture very often intersects with other styles, such as landscape or still life. Portraits can also be historical, posthumous, or religious. There is also a self-portrait, which is when the artist draws himself.
Scenery- a very important genre in painting. In it, the artist paints either pristine or man-transformed nature or terrain. It has long gone beyond the usual sea or mountain species, and today it is one of the most popular types painting. Landscapes can be urban, rural, sea, mountain, etc. Previously landscapes They painted only in plein air, when the artist painted from life what he saw. These days, this practice is becoming less and less common, and modern artists prefer to work from photographs.
Marina- the same sea still life, only with the correct name. The marinas depict events that take place at sea, battles, big waves, cargo ships, etc. A prominent representative of this genre was Ivan Aivazovsky.
History painting- arose out of necessity, during the Renaissance, artists painted important cultural and historical events. Historical paintings are not always based on history, it also includes various types paintings such as: mythology, gospel and biblical events.
Battle painting- a topic that reveals the theme of war and military life. The artist tries to depict an important, epic, key moment of a battle or battle. At the same time, reliability can gradually fade into the background.
Animalistics-depictions of animals, the most ancient paintings were in this genre, because even primitive artists painted animals and hunting them. Almost always merges with the landscape.
Painting- the most common type of fine art, works of which are created using paints applied to any surface.
The works of art created by painters use drawing, color, light and shade, expressiveness of strokes, texture and composition. This makes it possible to reproduce on a plane the colorful richness of the world, the volume of objects, their qualitative material originality, spatial depth and light-air environment.
Painting, like any art, is a form of social consciousness and is an artistic and figurative reflection of the world. But, reflecting the world, the artist simultaneously embodies in his works his thoughts and feelings, aspirations, aesthetic ideals, evaluates the phenomena of life, explaining their essence and meaning in his own way, and expresses his understanding of the world.
The world of painting is rich and complex, its treasures have been accumulated by humanity over many millennia. The most ancient works of painting were discovered by scientists on the walls of caves in which primitive people lived. The first artists depicted hunting scenes and animal habits with amazing accuracy and sharpness. This is how the art of painting on the wall arose, which had features characteristic of monumental painting.
Monumental painting There are two main types of monumental painting fresco (from Italian fresco - fresh) and mosaic (from the Italian mosaique, literally dedicated to the muses).
Fresco is a technique of painting with paints diluted with clean or lime water on fresh, damp plaster.
Mosaic– an image made of particles of stone, smalt, ceramic tiles, homogeneous or different in material, which are fixed in a layer of soil - lime or cement.
Fresco and mosaic are the main types of monumental art, which, due to their durability and color fastness, are used to decorate architectural volumes and planes (wall paintings, lampshades, panels). Among Russian monumentalists the names are well known A.A. Deineki, P.D. Korina, A.V. Vasnetsova, B.A. Talberga, D.M. Merperta, B.P. Milyukova and others.
Easel painting(the picture) has an independent character and meaning. Breadth and completeness of coverage real life is reflected in the diversity of types inherent in easel painting and genres: still life, everyday life, historical, battle genres, landscape, portrait.
Unlike monumental painting, easel painting is not connected to the plane of the wall and can be freely exhibited. The ideological and artistic significance of works of easel art does not change. depending on the place where they are located, although their artistic sound depends on the exposure conditions.
In addition to the above types of painting, there are decorative- sketches of theatrical and film sets and costumes, - as well as miniatures And icon painting.
A monument of high skill of ancient Russian painting of the 15th century. The “Trinity” icon, created by Andrei Rublev, is rightfully considered a masterpiece, stored in the All-Russian Museum Association “State Tretyakov Gallery” (ill. 6). Here the moral ideal of the harmony of the spirit with the world and life is expressed in a perfect, highest form for its time. The icon is filled with deep poetic and philosophical content. The image of three angels is inscribed in a circle, subordinating all the contour lines, the consistency of which produces an almost musical effect. Illuminate, pure tones, especially cornflower blue (“cabbage roll”) and transparent green, merge into a finely coordinated range. These colors contrast with the dark cherry robe of the middle angel, emphasizing the leading role of his figure in the overall composition.
The beauty of Russian icon painting, names Theophanes the Greek, Andrei Rublev, Dionisy, Prokhor from Gorodets, Daniil Cherny opened to the world only after the 20th century. learned to clear ancient icons of later records.
Unfortunately, there is a simplified understanding of art, when in works they look for the obligatory clarity of the plot, the recognition of what the artist depicted, from the standpoint of “similar” or “dissimilar.” At the same time, they forget: not in all types of art one can find a direct resemblance of what is depicted on the canvas with a picture of a familiar concrete life. With this approach, it is difficult to evaluate the merits of Andrei Rublev's painting. Not to mention such “non-visual” types of creativity as music, architecture, applied and decorative arts.
Painting, like all other forms of art, has a special artistic language through which the artist conveys his ideas and feelings that reflect reality. In painting, “the full-scale image of reality is realized through the artistic image, line and color. Despite all its technical perfection, painting is not yet a work of art if it does not evoke empathy and emotions in the viewer.
With absolutely accurate execution, the artist is deprived of the opportunity to show his attitude towards what is being depicted if his goal is to convey only similarities!
For famous masters, the image never completely and accurately conveys reality, but only reflects it from a certain point of view. The artist primarily identifies what he consciously or intuitively considers especially important, the main thing in this case. The result of such an active attitude towards reality will be not just an accurate image, but artistic image of reality, in which the author, summarizing individual details, emphasizes the most important, characteristic. Thus, the artist’s worldview and aesthetic position are manifested in the work.
Still life- one of the independent genres of painting. The uniqueness of the genre lies in its great visual possibilities. Through the material essence of specific objects true artist can in figurative form reflect significant aspects of life, tastes and morals, the social status of people, important historical events, and sometimes an entire era. Through the targeted selection of image objects and their interpretation, he expresses his attitude to reality, reveals his thoughts and feelings.
For comparison, let’s take a still life painted by an outstanding Soviet painter M.S. Saryan(1880-1972), “Yerevan Flowers” (ill. 7). The master expressed his attitude towards flowers in the words that became the epigraph to the monograph of his creative works: “What could be more beautiful than flowers that decorate a person’s life? ...When you see flowers, you are immediately infected with a joyful mood... The purity of colors, transparency and depth that we see in flowers can only be seen in the plumage of birds and fruits”1.
“Behind the apparent ease and spontaneity of the painting there is a large pictorial culture and the vast experience of a highly talented artist. His ability, as if in one breath, to paint a large (96x103 cm) picture, deliberately ignoring the details typical of the creative manner of the painter, striving to convey the main thing - the limitless wealth of colors of the nature of our native Armenia.
Everyday genre, or simply “genre” (from the French word genre - genus, type) - the most common type of easel painting in which the artist turns to depicting life in its everyday manifestations.
In Russian fine arts everyday genre took leading positions in the 19th century, when 154 outstanding representatives of the democratic movement in painting contributed to its development: V.K. Perov (1833-1882), K.A. Savitsky (1844-1905), N.A. Yaroshenko (1846 -1896), V.E. Makovsky (1846-1920), I.E. Repin (1844-1930).
The undoubted creative success of A.A. Plastova (1893-1972) The painting “Spring” is considered to be in which the artist expressed a chaste and subtle sense of admiration for motherhood. The figure of a mother tying a scarf on her child’s head looks great against the backdrop of light spring snow. The artist dedicated many genre paintings to the simple life situations of his fellow villagers.
Historical genre formed in Russian art in the second half of the 19th century. He helped leading Russian artists pay close attention to the past of their Motherland, to the acute problems of the then reality. Russian historical painting reached its peaks in the 80-90s of the last century in creativity I.E. Repina, V.I. Surikova, V.M. Vasnetsova, K.P. Bryullov. Famous Russian artist P.D. Corinne (1892-1967) created a triptych (a composition of three separate paintings connected common theme) "Alexander Nevsky". The work was created during the harsh times of the Great Patriotic War(1942-1943). During the difficult years of the war, the artist turned to the image of the great warrior of Ancient Rus', showing him indissoluble bond with the people, with the Russian land itself. Korin's triptych became one of the most striking documents of the heroic period of our history, expressing the artist's faith in the courage and resilience of the people who were subjected to severe trials.
Battle genre(from the French bataille - battle) is considered as a type of historical genre. Outstanding works of this genre include paintings A.A. Deineki“Defense of Petrograd” (1928), “Defense of Sevastopol” (1942) and “Downdown Ace” (1943).
Scenery often used as an important addition to everyday historical and battle paintings, but can also act as an independent genre. Works of landscape painting are close and understandable to us, although the person on the canvas is often absent.
Images of nature excite all people, giving them similar moods, experiences and thoughts. Who among us is not close to the landscapes of Russian painters: “The rooks have arrived” A.K. Savrasova, "Thaw" F. Vasilyeva,"Rye" I.I. Shishkina,"Night on the Dnieper" A.I. Kuindzhi,"Moscow courtyard" VD. Polenova and "Above" eternal peace» I.I. Levitan. We involuntarily begin to look at the world through the eyes of artists who have revealed the poetic beauty of nature.
Landscape artists saw and conveyed nature each in their own way. They had their own favorite motives. I.K. Aivazovsky (1817-1900), depicting different states of the sea, ships and people struggling with the elements. His canvases are characterized by a subtle gradation of chiaroscuro, lighting effect, emotional elation, and a tendency towards heroism and pathos.
Remarkable works in this genre by Soviet landscape painters: NE. Gerasimova (1885-1964), author of such paintings as “Winter” (1939) and “The Ice Gone” (1945),
N.P. Krymova(1884-1958), creator of the paintings “Autumn” (1918), “Gray Day” (1923), “Noon” (1930), “Before Dusk” (1935) and others, watercolors A.P. Ostroumova-Lebedeva(1871-1955) - “Pavlovsk” (1921), “Petrograd. Field of Mars" (1922), paintings A.M. Gritsaya (born 1917)“Summer Garden” (1955), “Afternoon” (1964), “May. Spring Warmth" (1970), etc.
Portrait(from the French portraire - to depict) - an image, an image of a person or group of people who exist or existed in reality.
One of the most important criteria for portraiture is the similarity of the image to the model (original). Various solutions to the composition in a portrait are possible (bust-length, waist-length, full-length, group). But with all the variety of creative solutions and manners, the main quality of portraiture is not only the conveyance of external resemblance, but also the revelation of the spiritual essence of the person being portrayed, his profession, and social status.
In Russian art, portraiture began its brilliant history with early XVII I century. F.S. Rokotov (1735-1808), D.G. Levitsky (1735-1822), V.A. Borovikovsky (1757-1825) by the end of the 18th century. reached the level of the highest achievements of world art.
IN early XIX V. Russian artists V.A. Tropinin (1776-1857) And O.A. Kiprensky (1782-1836) created widely famous portraits A.S. Pushkin.
The traditions of Russian pictorial portraiture were continued by the Itinerant artists: V.G. Perov (1833/34-1882), N.N. Ge (1831 - 1894), I.N. Kramskoy (1837-1887), I.E. Repin (1844-1930) etc.
A brilliant example of solving compositions for portraits of prominent figures in science and art is a series of canvases created by the artist M.V. Nesterov (1877-1942). The master seemed to find his heroes at the most intense moment of their creative, concentrated thought, spiritual search (ill. 13). This is how portraits of famous Soviet sculptors were designed I.D. Shadra (1934) and V.I. Mukhina (1940), academician I.P. Pavlova (1935) and a prominent surgeon S.S. Yudina (1935).
Painting styles are a very broad topic, one might say eternal. People often use terms that they do not quite understand correctly, which causes confusion and confusion. That is why I want to briefly and clearly tell you everything I know about trends in painting. In order not to turn the article into a dull history lesson, I will succinctly talk about the most popular and relevant areas today. Painting styles with illustrations are a convenient and quick way to get acquainted with the most important trends in the fine arts.
Gothic
"Altar of the Merode family." Robert Campin. 1430s.
Gothic- this is a movement in art that covered all the countries of Western and Central Europe. Then Gothic was in everything - in sculpture, painting, stained glass, etc. it was used everywhere possible, a “cultural boom” occurred. This popularity is due to the latest step in evolution from medieval art. Center and main figure gothic style there was architecture - high arches, stained glass windows, lots of details. The Roman era could not withstand such onslaught and remained on the sidelines of history.
Years: 1150 - 1450.
Bartolo di Fredi, Giotto, Jan Polak, Jan van Eyck.
Renaissance (Renaissance)
"Penitent Mary Magdalene." Titian. 1560s.
Renaissance arose from the fall of the Byzantine Empire and the cultural upheaval that occurred on this occasion in Europe. The Byzantines who were forced to flee, along with cultural ties, brought works of art and libraries to European lands. Thus, there was a kind of revival of ancient views, but in a modern way. Over the years, many points have been revised and questioned. In general, secular humanism and ideas of prosperity reigned.
Years: 1400 - 1600.
Hieronymus Bosch, Leonardo da Vinci, Titian.
Baroque
"Judith and Holofernes." Caravaggio. 1599
Baroque— European cultural heritage originally from Italy. Characterizes ironic vicious beauty, unnatural elitism and pretentiousness. Features Such paintings feature high contrast, plot tension, and character dynamics stretched to the limit. The quintessence of Baroque is considered to be the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria, located in Rome.
Years: 1600-1740.
Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Rubens, Jan Vermeer.
Classicism
"The Mercy of Scipio Africanus." Pompeo Batoni. 1772
Classicism played a huge role in art, as a fundamental movement in 18th-century painting. Everything becomes clear from the name itself (Latin classicus means exemplary, exemplary).
The artists set themselves the goal of introducing the viewer to the lofty, and their paintings were a guiding star. High morality, restrained culture and traditional ancient values became the basis of classicism. During the era of classicism in Europe there was cultural growth and revaluation of values, art reached a completely different level.
Years: 1700 - 1800.
Karl Bryullov, Jean-Baptiste Greuze, Poussin Nicolas.
Realism
"Roaming Acrobats" Gustave Dore. 1874
Realism tries to convey with the greatest authenticity the mood of the moment, a moment of reality on the canvas. But in turn, it is not limited by clear boundaries; the only rules are that there should be no room in the picture for things that exclude realism. During experiments, at the end of the 18th century, this style was divided into naturalism and impressionism. But realism managed to survive and is popular even in modern painting.
Years: 1800 - 1880.
William Bouguereau, Gustave Courbet, Jean-François Millet.
Impressionism
"Impression. Rising sun" Claude Monet. 1872
Impressionism originated in France, this concept was introduced by Louis Leroy. The impressionists who worked in this style wanted to capture a second impression of every object or moment; they painted right here and now, regardless of form and meaning. The paintings showed exclusively positive and bright moments and moments. But later, on this basis, disagreements began among the impressionists; over time, masters appeared who could be impressed social problems, hunger, disease. However, impressionism is kind and positive style painting that shows the good and bright moments.
Years: 1860 - 1920.
Claude Monet, Edouard Manet, Edgar Degas.
Post-Impressionism
"Self-Portrait in a Gray Felt Hat III." Vincent Van Gogh. 1887
Post-Impressionism incorporates many different styles and techniques. European masters with fresh views on painting gave birth to new trends and actively tried to move away from the then boring impressionism and realism.
Years: 1880 - 1920.
Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Roderick O'Conor.
Pointillism
"Rio San Trovaso. Venice". Henri Edmond Cross. 1904
Pointillism(point - dot) - a stylistic direction in painting, which is the same impressionism, only in a different shell. Instead of jagged strokes, dotted or rectangular shapes were used. Also, the artists abandoned mixing colors on the palette; instead, pure colors were applied to the canvas and mixed directly on the canvas itself without touching each other.
Years: 1885 - 1930.
Henri Edmond Cross, Georges Seurat, Paul Signac.
Modernism
"Butterflies up close." Odilon Redon. 1910
Modernism - general characteristics all genres and styles in painting from 1850 to 1950. Includes such trends in painting as impressionism, expressionism, neo- and post-impressionism, fauvism, cubism, futurism, abstract art, dadaism, surrealism and many others. The existence of these styles marks the complete departure of fine art from academicism. After leaving academicism, it became almost impossible to keep track of all the trends and styles that have been formed and are still being formed.
Years: 1850 - 1950.
Salvador Dali, Kazimir Malevich, Auguste Renoir and many others.
Academicism
Academicism- a direction in art that follows the rules and customs of antiquity and the Renaissance. Academicism seeks to impose clear foundations and boundaries and excludes fantasy and creative flight. Instead, the emphasis is on improving the shortcomings, the “roughness” of nature - hiding or eliminating. Improving reality towards a beautiful perception is the essence of academicism. Plots are often taken from ancient mythology, Biblical and historical motifs are also used.
Years: 1500 - today.
Karl Bryullov, William Bouguereau, Fyodor Bruni.
Primitivism
“In the Kitchen” Epifaniy Drovnyak. 1940~
Primitivism- deliberately simplifying a painting to such an extent that it looks as if it was the work of a child. Various folk drawings and illustrations can be attributed to primitivism. Only at first glance the paintings look simple and absurd. But if you look closely, you can see the correct proportions and compliance with the rules of horizon and composition. Most of the famous masters of primitivism and naive art were great admirers of the history of their people and their culture. That is why all their paintings are rich in the color of the area in which they lived. Today this genre has transformed into naive art, often mixed with symbolism. This is due to the fact that modern viewer I’m not ready to accept primitivism in its pure form.
Years: 1900 - today.
Epiphany Drovnyak, Henri Rousseau, Niko Pirosmanishvili.
Cubism
"Seated woman in a blue dress." Pablo Picasso. 1939
Cubism is a movement of modernism, often used in relation to painting and fine arts. The masters divided their subjects into geometric shapes, giving each unique element its own dense sector.
Years: 1906 - 1925.
Pablo Picasso, Fernand Léger, Robert Delaunay.
Surrealism
"The Persistence of Memory." Salvador Dali. 1931
Surrealism is mixing dreams with reality. In this style, artists released their dreams outward, mixing images from real life with each other, combining incompatible things. Also, personal themes of dreams were touched upon - fears, secret desires, unconscious fantasies, complexes. Everything that a person can see in his dreams. Today, surrealists copy the outer shell, using only beautiful forms, without instilling in them the meaning that was characteristic of the masters of the past.
Years: 1920 - today.
Salvador Dali, Max Ernst, Rene Magritte.
Abstractionism
"Yellow red blue." Wassily Kandinsky. 1925
Abstractionism- a direction in art where there was a refusal to depict reality and the correctness of forms. The main goal is to depict many colorful shapes that together can tell the story of the painting. Russia and America are considered to be the birthplace of abstract art.
Years: 1910 - today.
Wassily Kandinsky, Kazimir Malevich, Piet Mondrian.
Expressionism
"Scream." Edvard Munch. 1893
Expressionism sets himself one the only task, to convey what the author of the picture felt at the time of its writing. Artists in this style want to express themselves and their feelings, which is why expressionism is the antipode of impressionism, in which the emphasis is on the expression of a purely external shell. Expressionists are characterized by a tendency towards mysticism, pessimism and despondency.
Years: 1890 - today.
Egon Schiele, Karl Eugen Kehl, Jerzy Hulewicz.
Pop art
"Green bottles of Coca-Cola." Andy Warhol. 1962
Pop art— A modern style of art that uses symbols popular culture and consumer products. Helped to manipulate and combine objects modern technologies, because of this, pop art was often criticized by the gatekeepers of the old school. Over time, pop art absorbed many trends in painting.
Years: 1950 - 1980.
Andy Warhol, David Hockney, Robert Rauschenberg.
Minimalism
Gran Cairo. Frank Stella. 1962
Minimalism should minimize author intervention in environment. Minimalism means only the most important points. Its origins lie in constructivism, suprematism, and dadaism. It is a very controversial genre of painting, due to the overly minimalist views of some authors of this style. Today, minimalist trends in painting are transforming extremely quickly.
Years: 1960 - today.
Frank Stella, Carl Andre, Sol LeWitt.
Hyperrealism
"Fruits". Jacques Bodin. 2016
Hyperrealism appeared in connection with the popularization of photography; artists were interested in competing with photographers. Hyperrealists create an alternative reality, a realistic illusion.
Years: 1970 - today.
Gnoli, Gerhard Richter, Delkol.
That's all the directions in painting
That's all I could and wanted to say on this topic 😉 In fact, there are many more directions in painting, and they are unintentionally developed literally every day. In this article I wanted to talk about the most popular and influential ones. If you liked the material, share it on social networks, let's develop art together. Thanks everyone for your support!
The essence of painting
The oldest rock paintings, according to scientists, were made about 40 thousand years ago. Art galleries prehistoric times are caves with walls painted using natural dyes - clay, charcoal, chalk, etc. Such “museums” have been found in Europe, Asia, America, Australia.
The drawings of ancient artists have all the characteristics of real works of fine art. In them one can feel the sharp gaze of the observer, the steady hand of the draftsman, the expressiveness color combinations. Genres of painting created an unimaginable number of years ago will remain relevant throughout human history, they are significant even now: images of humans and animals, scenes of peace and war...
The essence of fine art has also remained unchanged for many centuries: the creation of visual images that reflect the impression of the human creator from the objective world and spiritual phenomena, an artistic chronicle historical events of different scales, a game of fantasy and imagination, based on work and talent. To solve such problems, artists have developed various styles and genres of painting over a long time. Their number is large, and their characteristics are determined by the creativity of specific masters.
Monumental and easel painting
The strength of the artistic impact of a painting depends on factors that very often do not have a clear definition. The size of a painting is one of the most conventional criteria when assessing the scale of a work of fine art. A postcard-sized watercolor can tell more about the world than multi-meter panels with thousands of characters.
The division of painting into monumental and easel does not speak of the greatness of the creative tasks the artist solves; it rather determines the method of exhibition. Frescoes on the walls of palaces and cathedrals, paintings of huge halls occupy an important place in the work of the titans of the Renaissance - the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo, is monumental in every sense. But who will say that the portrait of a Florentine woman named Mona Lisa, painted on a poplar board measuring 70 x 53 cm, is less significant for world art?
Paintings created on separate canvases, sheets, boards, which have “mobility”, are usually called works of easel painting. Monumental painting is always connected with architecture, with interior design, so to see Leonardo’s fresco live “ Last Supper"on the wall of the refectory of the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie, you will have to go to Milan.
Main genres of painting
Each new historical era gives rise to typical visible images, masters appear with a unique way of displaying them, so the number of “isms” in the history of art is enormous.
Genres of painting are defined in a slightly smaller number - the division of works fine arts depending on the topic that interested the artist-painter. Landscape, still life, portrait, narrative or figurative painting, abstraction are the most important genre areas of fine art.
Life of genres
Everything is in clear connection with the period of history, and genres too - they are born, mixed, changed or disappeared. For example, only specialists know such genres of painting of the 18th century as veduta, rossica or the earlier vanitas. In fact, these are just varieties of landscape, portrait and still life.
Veduta (Italian veduta - “view”) - a view of the city landscape with detailed detailing, born in Venice; the brightest master vedutist is Canaletto (1697-1768). Rossika is the name given to portraits created by Western European painters who came to St. Petersburg.
Vanitas is an allegorical still life (French: nature morte - “dead nature”), in the center of which there is always an image of a human skull. This name comes from Latin word vanitas, meaning vanity, vanity.
Often subject paintings wears detached national character. For example, hua-nyao (“images of flowers and birds”) and its stylistic movements: mo-zhu (“ink-painted bamboo”) and mo-mei (“blooming plum, ink-painted”) are all genres Chinese painting having global significance. Their best examples can delight any viewer with their masterly precision of drawing and special spirituality, but they could only be born in the atmosphere ancient culture Celestial Empire.
Scenery
Translated from French, pays is a country, a locality. This is where the name of one of the most popular painting genres - landscape - comes from. Although the first attempts to convey the surrounding nature are found among rock paintings, and the masters of Japan and China reached unimaginable heights in depicting the sky, water, and plants long before our era, classical landscape can be considered a relatively young genre.
This is due to technological subtleties. The ability to go out with a sketchbook and paints in tubes in the open air - to paint from nature in natural light - had an impact on all genres of painting. You can encounter examples of unprecedented flowering of the landscape when studying the work of the Impressionists. It was the painting of a sunrise on a river near Le Havre, painted by Claude Monet (1840-1926) - “Impression” - that gave its name to a movement in painting that radically changed the view of the goals and means of art.
But also more late history stores the names of great landscape painters. If in icons and paintings of the Middle Ages nature is a schematic and flat background for the main image, then starting from early Renaissance landscape is an active means of conversation with the viewer. Giorgione (“The Thunderstorm”), Titian (“Flight into Egypt”), El Greco (“View of Toledo”) - in the paintings of these masters, views of nature become the main content of the canvas, and in the landscapes of Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525-1569) understanding of place of humans in the surrounding world reaches a cosmic scale.
In Russian painting, the masterpieces of landscape masters are well known. "Morning in pine forest"I. I. Shishkina, "Over Eternal Peace" by I. I. Levitan, " moonlit night on the Dnieper” by A. I. Kuindzhi, “The Rooks have Arrived” by A. K. Savrasov and many other paintings are not just beautiful views or various weather conditions. Like music, they can evoke new thoughts, strong emotions and feelings in the viewer, and lead to lofty generalizations and truths.
Types of landscape: urban, marine painting
Urban landscape (veduta, later industrial) are genres of painting with examples of active adherents both among artists and among lovers of this art direction. How can you not admire “View of the City of Delft” by John Vermeer (1632-1675)?!
The water element has always fascinated people, especially artists. Marinas, that is, varieties of paintings where main theme is the sea, began to separate from ordinary landscapes from the beginning of the 17th century in Holland. At first these were simply “portraits of ships,” but then the sea itself became the main object that fascinated both realists and romantics. It began to complement other genres of painting. Examples of the use of the marine theme can be found by looking at the religious and mythological paintings of Rembrandt, Dutch battle painters, Delacroix and the Impressionists. The great master marine painter was the Englishman William Turner (1775-1851).
Never cheated marine theme I.K. Aivazovsky (1817-1900), who became the greatest artist-poet of the sea. “The Ninth Wave”, “The Black Sea” and more than 6 thousand paintings are still unsurpassed examples of marinas.
Portrait
Image of the external appearance of a specific, existing or existing person, and through appearance - the expression of its internal content - this is how one can determine the essence of one of the most important painting genres. This essence remained, although fashion changed, new painting styles appeared and outdated ones became a thing of the past, because the main thing remained individuality, the uniqueness of the individual. At the same time, the portrait genre does not have iron bounds, it can be an element of narrative and figurative paintings and has many genre subtypes.
Portrait of a great man - historical genre in painting. “How is this?” the reader will ask. A hero who has an external and internal resemblance to a specific person is endowed with an environment corresponding to the “high” genre. Other subtypes of portraiture include costumed (mythological, allegorical), typical, family, and group portraits.
One of greatest masterpieces, who for three and a half centuries has not fully revealed his mysteries, - “ Night watch» Rembrandt. This painting is a group portrait of a military police detachment, where each character has a specific name and character. They enter into an interaction that gives birth to a story that excites anyone who begins to peer into the faces of the people of the 17th century.
Rembrandt Harmens van Rijn (1608-1669) is also known as the author of numerous self-portraits, from which one can trace the artist’s fate, full of tragic blows and brief happy periods. In many of them one can discern a domestic genre in painting, if one attaches importance to the deliberately simple surroundings and clothing. But the master’s genius fills self-portraits with cosmic content. This genre variety is full of examples of the greatest peaks of skill and talent, because who knows better than the author the person being portrayed in this case?
Still life
Another of the most popular genres is the expression of individual and social understanding of the world through the depiction of its subject content. For a true artist, the choice of still life components is important down to the smallest detail - this is where a fascinating story begins, complemented purely artistic means: composition, design, color, etc. Stylistic originality is expressed especially clearly in the still life genre: it involves carefully thought-out work on a still nature with selected lighting, etc.
Began its history as component religious and genre compositions, still life quickly became a valuable genre in its own right. Dutch still life (steel-life - « quiet life") is a special page in the history of art. Luxurious compositions of flowers and food or ascetic allegories of an intellectual nature, “tricks”... Yes, Dutch still life of the 17th century has established subtypes.
Masterpieces of this genre can be found in the works of artists of all significant styles and movements. Among them are academic decorative paintings by I. F. Khrutsky (1810-1885), deep and meaningful productions by Cezanne (1839-1906) and the Impressionists, “Sunflowers” by Van Gogh and the abundant “Moscow Food” by I. I. Mashkov (1881-1944 ) from "Jack of Diamonds", figurative searches of the Cubists and Andy Warhol's can of soup.
High and low kinds of painting
During the period of classicism, the division into high and low genres in painting was consolidated by the French Academy fine arts. In the hierarchy, which all leading art academies gradually began to adhere to, the main one was declared to be the historical genre - the Grand genre. It included not only images of battles and other events of the past, but also paintings of allegorical and literary subjects, as well as the mythological genre of painting. It was precisely such topics that were considered worthy for real masters of fine art.
The petit genre - “low genre” - included (in descending order): portrait, everyday genre in painting, landscape, seascapes, images of animals (animal painting) and still life.
Old and new genres
Canvases on a historical theme, mainly depicting military battles, multi-figure compositions on religious and mythological subjects were the result of training in many art academies up to late XIX century. Paintings such as “The Last Day of Pompeii” by K. P. Bryullov (1799-1852) were a global event; they amazed with the scope of their concept and the skill of their implementation.
The academic division into genres was opposed by those who opened new horizons - the impressionists. It was they who created canvases on which scenes from ordinary life, scenes of work and leisure of ordinary townspeople and peasants acquired the significance of an object of high art.
Later, masters appeared who did not need subjects or even objects to express their ideas real world, and paintings by abstract artists that do not contain material objects or even references to them can be classified as a separate genre type.
Style and genre diversity
A true artist is always looking for his own style, his own face, his own palette. Often, to define painting styles, art historians have to invent new terms. But the correct application of these concepts and the correct genre classification cannot outweigh the novelty and originality of artistic talent, the significance of each artist’s unique contribution to world culture, to the development of understanding the world with the help of visual images.
