Ink Deep

Following the grand and flamboyant depictions of the Romanticism movement, art took a different and contradictory turn during the mid 19th century.  In stark contrast, artists would begin to focus not on the grand, but the benign.  The everyday.  Still very much focused on the human element, the movement now known as Realism, would take an objective look at the life of the lower classes, depicting the every day struggles of the working classes.  Originating in France during the 1840's, Realism would spark outrage with the Monarchs and the social elite. Realism is very much a response to Romanticism.  A protest against the grand and glorified figures and images that were considered to be the pinnacle of fine art.  Romanticist images would span the walls of Royal estates and galleries.  Realism was a social comment, looking to the struggles of everyday life, looking outside the world of the rich and elite.  The images were gritty and real, abandon...

Romanticism was an art movement that had a great significant impact on the world, specifically Western Europe at the turn of the 19th Century.  After taking information from a large number of sources, it's clear that many people have a different and sometimes conflicting understanding of Romanticism's role and core values.  Many claim that the movement was a counter argument to the Age of Enlightenment, whereas some of the artwork was instrumental in the French revolution, which can be considered a triumph of the Enlightenment.  In truth, I am not sure I fully understand it, but I feel that Romanticism meant a lot to a lot of different people. The Age of Enlightenment signaled a great change for a lot of people.  Occurring sometime around 1715, the Enlightenment follows on from the Scientific revolution and marks a time when intellectual ideas were put forth to the masses, conflicting with the ideals of the Church and often Monarchies and Matriarchs.  Philos...

James Boswell was a British artist born in New Zealand.  He was a notable painter and printmaker who was also very well known for being a socialist.  Born in 1906 (June 9th) he was conscripted into the Army as a Radiographer during World War II.  Surviving the war and continuing his work, Boswell would eventually lose his life to cancer in 1971.  His work spurred a lot of controversy at the time, his ideals and style considered irregular by his peers and mentors. The Fall of London: Museum  from 1933.  It's a lithograph print which belongs to a small series which all depict an uprising within London.  The images are believed to have been part of a book that was never published, yet the image alone depicts a lot of Boswell's own ideals and beliefs.  The print itself looks very much like a graphite or charcoal image, his lines soft and blurred.  He manages to catch a very moody and tense atmosphere, which I fine impressive given the incred...