What is romanticism?

Romanticism is the artistic movement of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries which was concerned with the expression of the individual’s feelings and emotions. Romanticism is attitudes, ideals, and feelings which are romantic rather than realistic.

Romanticism was characterized by its emphasis on emotion, individualism, idealization of nature and glorification of the past with a strong preference for the medieval. It was partly a reaction to events such as the Industrial Revolution, the social and political norms of the age of enlightenment, and the scientific rationalization of nature. It was embodied most strongly in the visual arts, music, and literature as well as having a significant effect on politics, with romantic thinkers influencing conservatism, liberalism, radicalism and nationalism.

The movement emphasized intense emotion as an authentic source of experience, placing new emphasis on such emotions as fear, horror, terror and awe. It elevated folk art and ancient custom to something noble, but also spontaneity as a desirable characteristic. Romanticism assigned a high value to the achievements of “heroic” individualists and artists, whose examples would raise the quality of society. It also promoted the individual imagination as a critical authority allowed of freedom from classical notions of form in art. There was a strong recourse to historical and natural inevitability in the representation of its ideas. In the second half of the 19th century, Realism was offered as a polar opposite to Romanticism. The decline of Romanticism during this time was associated with multiple processes, including social and political changes.

examples of romanticism:

The sublime

The definition of sublime is used to describe anything that is so wonderful, it effects you emotionally. In romanticism the meaning of sublime is a meeting of the emotional and the natural world, where we allow our emotions to overwhelm our rationality as we experience the wonder of creation.

The theory of sublime art was put forward by philosopher Edmund Burke in his book titled ‘A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful’ which he published in 1757. He defined the sublime as “an artistic effect productive of the strongest emotion the mind is capable of feeling.”

Romanticism artists

J.M.W. Turner – Joseph Mallord William Turner, also known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbulent, often violent, marine paintings. He was born on April 23, 1775, and would later pass on the day of December 19, 1851.

Casper David Friedrich – Friedrich was a 19th-century German Romantic landscape painter, generally considered the most important German artist of his generation. Born on September 5, 1774 in Greifswald, Germany and dying on  May 7, 1840 in Dresden, Germany he lived a full life of 66 years.

William Blake – an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. 

Romanticism

Romanticism was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate period from 1800 to 1850. It began approximately during 1770, during the industrial revolution. Romanticism is often seen as the reaction to the developing urban world, and the negative impact it has on people. The Age of Romanticism heavily contrasts with the Age of Enlightenment, since it was the act of moving away from those ideas and traditions.

Romantics believed in the natural goodness of humans which is hindered by the urban life of civilization. They believed that the savage is noble, childhood is good and the emotions inspired by both beliefs causes the heart to soar. They also believed in following your heart, especially when it comes to emotions, most importantly love. A core belief of romantics is ‘civilisation is what has made us sick’. Writers and artists rejected the notion of the Enlightenment, which had sucked emotion from writing, politics, art, etc. Writers and artists in the Romantic period favoured depicting emotions such as trepidation, horror, and wild untamed nature.

Romanticism in Art and Photography

Romanticism in art and photography always portrayed some sort of natural scene; the rural landscape being captured in a free and wild way. Romantics were heavily influenced by nature, wanting to be as carefree as possible. Furthermore, nature was captured in a way that clearly presented it as a powerful and important aspect of our world, suggesting how insignificant humans and our impact on the world (such as our architecture) truly are in comparison.

The Sublime

The Sublime isa meeting of the subjective-internal (emotional) and the objective-external (natural world): we allow our emotions to overwhelm our rationality as we experience the wonder of creation. It is the sense of accepting and cherishing our insignificance in this world. The Sublime is a western aesthetic concept of ‘the exalted’ of ‘beauty that is grand and dangerous’. The Sublime refers to the wild, unbounded grandeur of nature. The Sublime is related to threat and agony, to spaces where calamities happen or things run beyond human control.

The theory of sublime art was put forward by Edmund Burke in ‘A Philosophical Enquiry‘ and was in 1757. It connected the sublime with experiences of awe, danger and terror, creating a new meaning for the word. He defined the sublime as an artistic effect productive of the strongest emotion the mind is capable of feeling. The philosopher understood the importance of people being made to feel small and insignificant as a way of putting daily life in perspective, and to counter the inflation of the ego. 

Sublime Art and Photography

Joseph Turner painted many pictures exploring the extreme weather at sea. In this piece, a steam-boat is shown at sea during the storm. It used to be told that Turner was once actually tied to a mast of another ship during this storm to capture the event from a first person experience and so that he could paint it from memory. This is now thought to be untrue, but it has been used as an example of Turner’s direct engagement with the world around him and his experience of the sublime. The small ship, being overpowered by water and wind, can be seen as a symbol of human’s efforts to overcome the forces of nature.

 This is a famous piece by Philip James de Loutherbourg, who specialised in such landscapes. He added human drama to the avalanche’s awesome progress by painting terrified people, in the foreground, who appear to be soon overwhelmed by nature’s power. The sublime is very clear in this piece, the humans seen in the image being insignificant and powerless against the sheer force of nature. De Loutherbourg’s exploration of sublime effect was assisted by his work as a theatre set designer.

Joe Cornish captured this iceberg and explained how he managed to capture a sublime photo by saying: ‘all icebergs are ultimately doomed, and when they are as delicate and fragile as this one their demise is near. So near, that just a few seconds after this photograph was taken the arch collapsed, scattering shards of ice as dangerous projectiles either side of the impact zone. Luckily for us, we were not in the line of fire‘. This presents the idea of how something beautiful and spectacular can evoke so much fear in a human. It also indicates how truly powerful nature is, powerful enough to destroy itself.

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Andi Balogh is another modern day photographer who captures fascinating pictures of women surrounded by ethereal ice landscapes which are “inspired by the Nordic ambiance, healing nature, and internal spheres”. His photos seem to often include a misty, engulfing background which seems to flow around the woman in his photos, appearing as through they are overpowering her. Her closed poses imply she has come to terms with her insignificance against the wild nature around her. Balogh explained his aim in his photos is “to radiate the northern ambience which I see magical. I interconnect the external nature with the inner realities involving the feminine human form. Mostly I’m the photographer and the object/subject in the photo because my goal is emphasize the calmness, deep connection with nature and the constructive force in way the northern atmosphere has affected and affects me” which presents the romantic photographer as very understanding of the sublime.

Under the Northern Sky: the sublime and ethereal photography of Andi Balogh

Romanticism

Romanticism is attitudes, ideals, and feelings which are romantic rather than realistic, it is also putting nature over any other ideals that a person might have. It is a mindset that many people have. Romanticism aims at being the last hope for anti-conventionalism, individuality, or even immaturity.

The age of romanticism began in the late 18th century, around the industrial age. It was a reaction to the modern world from artists and poets (and now photographers). It was based around the innocence and immaturity of children and how natural everything is for children.

The sublime

The sublime has been connected with awe, terror and danger. Edmund Burke (Philosophical Enquiry, 1757) saw nature as the most sublime object, capable of generating the strongest sensations in its beholders. The Romantic conception of the sublime proved influential for several generations of artists.

The sublime has long been understood to mean a quality of greatness or grandeur that inspires awe and wonder. From the seventeenth century onwards the concept and the emotions it inspires have been a source of inspiration for artists and writers, particularly in relation to the natural landscape.

Artists that used Romanticism

J.M.W Turner – Known in his time as William Turner. He was a romantic English painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for the bright colours in his work and often violent marine images.

Fay Godwin – Known for her black and white images of landscapes. She often collaborated closely with writers to produce in depth surveys of particular rural regions or topics.

Romanticism was an art form that rejected classicalism and focused on nature, imagination and emotion. Romanticism was an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement that originated in Europe. It began in 1800 and was very popular until around 1850.

Henry Fuseli

Fuseli’s was born in zurich in 1741 and died in London in 1825. His oil painting, The Nightmare, was one of the first Romanticism art pieces ever done. The painting shows a woman in deep sleep with her arms thrown below her, and with a demonic creature on top of her chest.

J.M.W Turner

J.M.W Turner, was an English romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist, born in 1775 and died in 1851. He was and is still known for his expressive colouring and imaginative landscapes. His painting, Hannibal crossing the Alpes depicts the challenging efforts of Hannibal’s soldiers to cross the Alpes in 218BC. Turner created a dynamic balance of light and dark that recurred in his later works.

The sublime

The sublime is a western aesthetic concept of ‘the exalted’ of ‘beauty that is grand and dangerous’. It refers to the wild, unbounded grandeur of nature. The origin of the sublime could be related back to the publication of ‘A philosophical enquiry into the origin of our ideas of the sublime and beautiful’, by Edmund Burk. This book provided the English romantic movement with an analysis of what constitutes the sublime, and all the qualities it possesses.

Burk was born in 1729 and died in 1797. He had various political achievements including a whig MP and also the founder of modern conservatism.

Landscape photography is the art of capturing pictures of nature and the outdoors in a way that brings your viewer into the scene. From grand landscapes to intimate details, the best photos demonstrate the photographer’s own connection to nature and capture the essence of the world around them. Below, you’ll find all the landscape photography articles we have written over the past decade, including our highly approachable tutorials and techniques. If you want to learn everything there is to know about taking beautiful landscape pictures, this is the place to start.

during this project, I have learned different techniques, programs and camera handling skills which I did not know before. I have not taken photography as a GCSE therefore the summer task has given me an idea of what I should expect from the subject but using a camera was the most important lesson to me as I have learned and will continue learning more advanced settings etc, but knowing how aperture, shutter speed and ISO effect an image has helped me and allowed me to get used to a camera. I like how the objective was still life as well as the project being based on the idea of home and what home is to me. this is because I was able to photograph objects that meant a lot to me and were personal to me, for this reason I think photographing objects was a bit more interesting and fun to do. I’ve noticed that when we were given objects from the beach to photograph, because the objects were not personal to me but also because it was my first photoshoot in the studio, the photoshoot was less fun as I had less control over it because in a little group we shared the same images and the objects were not ones that I could pick. that’s why I liked having more freedom when it came to picking my own objects and me being the person that decides how I would want to photograph them. What I think went well are the group photoshoots we would do, around the school or in the studio, but also using the camera in the studio, prepared to take single object images from above, these I think came out in great quality and detail. I also think what went well is using Lightroom and photoshop, as I adjusted to the program quickly and liked being able to alter the images to my vision. what I think I will need to work on is getting more used to the camera as a couple times while experimenting with the camera I was stuck and didn’t know how the settings could be changed to adjust the camera to the lighting and object being photographed. sometimes I also struggled t keep up to date with the blog posts and had overdue work that I needed to catch up on , this is why I plan to be more organized in the future projects.

Regarding my final images, I tried to include the best images from each photoshoot, as all vary in their own way. I have shown this in my virtual gallery were I tried including a set of images from my final images that went well together and were from the same photoshoot. With most of my images when editing them separately I aimed to show their tones and selecting and editing the images that would be a bit more colourful then others. With my final images I only had one in Black and White so in the future I may experiment with those tones rather than colours, so that I can learn to use both, as editing an image to black and white involves looking at a different set of editing options.

What is romanticism:

Romanticism was an artistic movements that promoted nature and embracing your emotions in the end of the 18th century. It rejects classicalism and focused on nature and emotions. Romanticism in photography focused on landscapes including: coastlines, valleys, beaches, rocks etc. Before romanticism was the industrial revolution. The industrial revolution was a product of enlightenment in the 1700-1800. Many artists and writers rejected it as they were a part of romanticism which disagreed with it.

5 elements of romanticism:

interest in the common man and childhood,

strong senses, emotions, and feelings

awe of nature

celebration of the individual

importance of imagination

romanticism in art:

romanticism in photography:

The Sublime:

The sublime was a theory put forward by the philosopher Edmund Burke in 1757, embracing our emotions and the natural world. He claims our emotions overwhelm us as we experience ‘the wonder of creation’ or an extraordinary experience. The sublime is said to be power that compels and destroys us, as well as restores out perspective of the world and its beauty. The sublime in photography made photographers focus of things such as: dramatic weather, seas, rocks, coastlines etc.

Sublime in photography:

Sublime in art:

What are influential images? They are images that capture a deeper significance. They hold great power, emotion and energy, and cause the viewer to feel the emotions the photograph is projecting and wanting us to experience.

Photoshoot Plan:

Equipment – tripod, DSLR camera

Where – I’m going to go to places such as L’Étacq, with rocky areas and dramatic scenes. I don’t want to just photograph straight on simple photos, but use angles such as ants view or low angles to emphasise the drama in the landscape. However if there is a dramatic sky i will include that, whilst experimenting with different depth of fields.

When -I’ll try to capture dramatic weather, possibly sunset when foggy cloud is around as there is a haze across the sky.

How – I’ll use a variety of settings, mainly using Av or shutter priority to make sure the lighting is right. I might also experiment with landscape modes to try and accomplish a variety of images.

why – To create romantacised photos with an element of the sublime as that can tie in well with the large landscapes across the island.

Romanticism was introduced during the 18th century, as a way of almost appreciating life and the natural emotions of the human, like love which was the main aspect of romanticism. To be romantic was to be almost gentle, loving, and in some ways insane and to appreciate the beauty in even the small things. Many romantics where very against the view of science and logic.

One artist during this period was very much for the topic romanticism, especially in his art. In fine detail and accuracy, he presented landscapes which could be viewed as beautiful, or immersive with what is happening in the painting, This links closely to the idea of the sublime, which in other words is a way of humbling or horrifying people. For example in the strong aggressive storms which rip down trees and create chaos, or the beautiful sight and peace of the top of a mountain which creates an extreme emotion. This closely relates to romanticism and the people/community behind it.

You could also say romantics where heavily invested in the nature of everything, the insanity and simplicity of emotion, the rhythm of nature working, like the trees swaying together in the wind, and how emotions are rarely every consistent, rather forever changing throughout situations. They hated the idea of rationalising how or why the emotions occur, rather to accept and appreciate. This is why they hated the idea of the train built by the British in this era, as it linked closely to the industrial revolution, which was completely against romanticism.

One famous story includes a poet who was very invested in the feeling of love, and his experiences in the pain, insanity, and beauty that he felt. But as no one at this time didn’t want to publish his book, (which to him was a way of expressing himself and being open to the feelings we feel) he killed himself. This was a very famous story as it was the first introduction into genre of romanticism.

This links into the subject of landscape, as during the introduction of romanticism it was very common for artists to paint huge landscapes.