Classicism
Aesthetic attitudes and principles based on the culture, art and literature
of ancient Greece and Rome, and characterized by emphasis on form,
simplicity, proportion, and restrained emotion.
Classicism and Neoclassicism, in the arts, historical tradition or
aesthetic attitudes based on the art of Greece and Rome in
antiquity. In the context of the tradition, Classicism refers either
to the art produced in antiquity or to later art inspired by that of
antiquity; Neoclassicism always refers to the art produced later but
inspired by antiquity. Thus the terms Classicism and Neoclassicism are
often used interchangeably.
Term that, with the related words `classic' and `Classical', is used
in various (and often confusing) ways in the history and criticism
of the arts. In its broadest sense, Classicism is used as the
opposite of
Romanticism,
characterizing art in which adherence to recognized aesthetic ideals
is accorded greater importance that individuality of expression.
The word often implies direct inspiration from
antique art,
but this is not a necessary part of the concept, and according to
context the word might be intended to convey little more than the
idea of clarity of expression, or alternatively of conservatism.
In the context of Greek art, the term `Classical' has a more
precise meaning, referring to the period between the
Archaic and
Hellenistic periods,
when Greek culture is thought to have attained its greatest splendor.
The term `classic' is used to refer to the best or most representative
example of its kind in any field or period. This is what
Wölfflin
meant when he gave the title
Classic Art
to his book on the Italian High
Renaissance.
Thus, in this sense, it would be legitimate, if wilfully confusing,
to refer to
Delacroix as the classic Romantic artist.
The three terms `classic', `Classical' and `Classicism' are, then,
often not used with discrimination or exactness, the conflation
of historical term and value judgement reflecting the idea
(dominant for centuries) that the art of the Greeks and Romans set
a standard for all future achievement. To clear up (or perhaps add to)
the confusion, the rather ungainly word `classicistic' has also
entered the lists--it conveys the idea of dependance on ancient
models but without any sense of qualitative judgement.
1825 (opposé à romantisme)
Doctrine des partisans exclusifs de la tradition classique
dans la littérature et dans l'art.
Il y a ici une recrudescence de classicisme, de siècle de Louis
XIV, de goût pour Esther et de dilettantisme académique.
-- SainteBeuve, Correspondance, t. II.
Et si l'on a pu dire enfin que le romantisme avait pris en tout le
contrepied du classicisme, la grande raison en est que le classicisme
avait fait de l'impersonnalité de l'oeuvre d'art l'une des conditions
de sa perfection.
-- Brunetière,
Manuel de l'histoire de la littérature française, III.
Ensemble des caractères propres aux oeuvres littéraires et artistiques
de l'antiquité et du XVIIe siècle, telles qu'elles ont été définies,
jugées par les théoriciens de la fin du XVIIe siècle (en
France). L'union «du cartésianisme et de l'art dans le classicisme»
(Lanson).
C'est par ce rationalisme (en littérature) que se définit
essentiellement, selon nous, le classicisme français. [...]
Dans la littérature et l'art le classicisme, qui a donné ses plus
beaux fruits, se prolonge encore (vers 1680). Véritable «Père de
l'Église», Bossuet oppose aux ennemis du catholicisme la pure doctrine
de la tradition. Racine fait jouer Esther (1689) et Athalie (1691). La
Fontaine publie son XIIe livre de Fables (1694).
-- R. Jasinski, Histoire de la littérature française.
© 18 Sep 1995,
Nicolas Pioch -
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