Welcome to Grade 11, By the end of grade 11 you should understand a lot of the -isms of the art world.  The themes will range From Neo-Classicism, Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism, to Cubism, Surrealism, and Abstract expressionism, to name a few. Please make sure you read your notes under each section as you will be given assessments that will test your understanding of the dynamic interrelated nature of art. Please also see attached pdfs for a brief introduction of your grade 11 academic year plus your 19th century timeline.

THEME 1- Is an overview of 19^th Century Art.

The 19th century saw large amounts of social change; slavery was abolished, and the First and Second Industrial Revolutions (which also overlap with the 18th and 20th centuries, respectively) led to massive urbanization and much higher levels of productivity, profit, and prosperity. Art during this period was mostly about going against the norm. This was a time of many art movements and art movements that reacted against or for other art movements. This was probably because of how much faster communication had become, and how quickly ideas could be spread. The art movements of the period included, Realism, Impressionism, Post impressionism, Art Noveau, Symbolism, and Early Photography.

Each of these movements usually went against the norms of the time, such as Impressionism where they did not care about traditional art, but rather they were criticized heavily by the critics of the time. This art movement was characteristic because of its thin brush strokes and emphasis on accurate depiction of light and unusual visual angles. An emphasis was put on painting what you see, as objects and lighting change. Post Impressionism was another art movement that extended the Impressionist movement while rejecting its limitations. Post impressionists painting using thick colours and real-life subject matter, but represented geometric forms more often, and often had arbitrary colour choices. Art Nouveau was another small art historical movement that put an emphasis on decorative patterns and Abstract depiction of lines and shapes. The art of this movement was supposed to be beautiful, not represent a specific point of view like the Romanticism or Neoclassical movements. They sought to make beauty and harmony a part of everyday life. Symbolism was another movement that was a part of the late 19th century movements that sought to show that art should represent absolute truths that could be described indirectly. There was a large amount of Symbolic use in the Symbolism movement. Also, new to any other period was the Early Photography movement. Cameras had just been invented, and so were being used as a form of art. It was not fully taken form, but often photographers would depict normal scenes, or portraits of people, sometimes artists would take still lives or manipulate their photos to get a specific scene. Sometimes they would just take pictures of current events or document events, such as the work of Timothy O'Sullivan in the war photos he took during the American Civil War.