Fountain Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Fountain - Essay Example Additionally, the essay examines Marcel Duchamps fountain and Bruce Naumens fountain.† Finally, the essay meditates on the notion ‘aesthetic’. Art in the 19th century was greatly influenced by the surrounding cultural climate. While early in the century neo-classicism and romanticism were the dominant styles, but the 1860s realism had become the most prominent mode of artistic expression (Adams, p. 521). Realism attempted to capture the environment in its most realistic state. Realism defined art as working to capture reality in as accurate a way as possible. In this way artists implemented all the techniques at their disposal, including perspective and careful observation of the surrounding environment, to create works of art that directly reflected the world. Among the prominent realist painters include Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot. Corot’s works included in-depth portraits, such as ‘Woman with a Pearl’ (Adams, p. 525). Rather than using artistic flourishes, these works explored themes of everyday existence. The 19th century realist movement was not merely restricted to painting, but would also expand into literature (Adams, p. 520). The realist movement can perhaps be regarded as the end of pre-modern art. After the realist movement modernism emerged and redefined the definition of art. Rather than viewing art as an expression of observable reality, modernism styles increasingly viewed the goal of art as capturing the changing nature of human perception. This is a significant development in art as it marked a willingness to break from traditional reflection of the world to a more experimental emphasis. Impressionism is perhaps the first modernist style. While today impressionism appears a highly traditional style, during the late 19th century it was regarded as avant-garde. Undoubtedly the artist that most prominent exemplified the