Art, Architecture, Painting
Impressionism
is the most famous French school of painting. Led by Claude
Monet, impressionists tried to capture
the shimmering quality of light in their paintings. Although
impressionism lasted only a few years in the late nineteenth
century, it left an enormous legacy of paintings,
which now grace the walls of museums all over the world.
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Painting
The first paintings in France are more than fifteen
thousand years old wall paintings in the caves of Lascaux. During
the Middle Ages, manuscript illumination flourished. The first
real school of painting emerged in the
baroque period (late sixteenth to eighteenth centuries). Nicolas
Poussin and Claude Lorrain painted landscapes, while Georges
de la Tour and the Le Nain brothers observed family life in
intimate detail. In the eighteenth century Jacques Louis David
was named official state painter by Napoleon. He generally produced
vast paintings. The nineteenth century impressionist
period was followed by post impressionism, led
by Paul Cezanne and Vincent van Gogh, as well as Henri de Toulouse
Lautrec, who painted music hall scenes. Two different styles
emerged in the early twentieth century: Fauvism, which was characterized
by the use of strong colors; and cubism, painting with geometric
shapes. Next came the dadaists, who reacted to the negativity
of World War I by challenging the concept of art and using objects
in unexpected ways. Marcel "Dada" Duchamp exhibited various
objects, including a urinal he titled Fountain and signed.
Music and Film
The early nineteenth century witnessed the musical
genius of Hector Berlioz and Chopin. The inventor of modern
orchestration, Berlioz's works sparked a musical rebirth in
France. Although Polish by birth, Chopin lived in Paris and
influenced later French composers. His music is
marked by his unique sense of lyricism and unparalleled melodic
genius. Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel represented Impressionism
in music. Their contemporaries include Georges Bizet and Camille
Saint Saens.
Frenchmen Louis and Auguste Lumiere share credit with American
Thomas Edison for the invention of cinema in the late nineteenth
century. The Lumiere brothers manufactured a portable
camera projector called the Cinematographe, based on Edison's
inventions. Film today are renowned for
their artistic content and strong emphasis on individuals and
moods.
Architecture
Emerging from the Dark Ages in the eleventh century French
witnessed a blossoming of architecture. The Romanesque
style, with thick walls, rounded arches, and heavy vaults, was
based on buildings common in Roman times. The first distinctly
architecture was the Gothic style. Originating
in the twelfth century in northern France, it
used pointed arches and flying buttresses as supports, which
allowed for taller buildings with larger windows.
During the Renaissance, buildings were largely based on the Italian model, stressing harmony and symmetry.
The baroque style that followed used the same style of building, but introduced elaborate gardens with fountains,
hedges, and clipped trees. The Versailles Palace, built by Louis XIV is a famous example.
French Rural architecture is the product of local materials
and varies with climate and topography. Roofs in the north are
steeply sloped and covered with flat tiles to allow rain water
to run off easily. In the south, where there are strong winds,
roofs are broad and covered with rounded tiles. French farmhouses
fall into three categories: the maison bloc (may-zohn BLOC),
where house and outbuildings share the same roof; the high house,
with living quarters upstairs and livestock or wine cellars
below; and courtyard farmsteads where the buildings are set
around a central court.
Extract from “Countries Of The World France”, Written by Roseline Ngcheong-Lum. Times Edition Pte Ltd. Singapore, 1999.
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