Artistic Ticks: Artist 5/20: John William Waterhouse

One of my current top 3 artists epidomized what I enjoy most about the gift of art; the ability to recreate or capture nature. While many artists had done this for centuries, rules were formulated that dictated the composition of paintings and therefor didn't capture nature in its rawest form. The attempts to break free from this dogma resulted in a small movement known as Pre-Raphaelite. While I'll most likely do a blog about this style, this segment is meant to showcase one of the artits who epitomized the Pre-Raphaelite ideal, John William Waterhouse (6 April 1849 — 10 February 1917)

Sleep & His Half Brother Death 1874

Born just as the original band of Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was formed, his early works did in fact conform to the popular styles which of the time which was largely still governed by classical ideals. Many of his subjects were characters from Greek myth or human enbodiments of natural forces. Waterhouse first gained notariety from the Royal Academy of Arts for his work including one entitled Sleep and His Half Brother Death 1874 becoming one of this most exhibited artists of his day.

The Lady of Shalott 1888

Slowly but surely as the styles of the artworld began to shift, Waterhouse went on to adopt the Pre-Raphaelite belief that nature should not be manipulated to suit our pleasure but captured as the eye sees it. One of the acknowledgements of the Romantic Era was that nature would always prevail and come to reclaim the transient creations of mankind. So to artists like Waterhouse, painting nature (including the human form) in anyway that was not honest simply for the sake of what was considered "pretty"...was mundane and just reflected the arrogant folly of man.

Ophelia 1889

John William Waterhouse stands out in the fact that he is a stylistic mush. While his subject matter conforms to the Classical, his depiction of physical beauty was governed by the fashions and beauty of his time period, his visuals are Romantic/Pre-Raphaelite, while his execution went from refined to almost impressionistic. If there's one thing that he mastered however, it was the ability to seamlessly intergrate his characters into their environments making them part of the landscape. Rather than his paintings illustrating the supposed human dominance over nature, he reminds us of the human imperfections and that humans, in all our "glory" are only a part of the violent and natural world.

While he is only one of the many forces altering the constraints of art of his era, I learn that we can always strive to fight the accepted norms of the art world. Even today we have criteria or what is art and how it's prevalent to our modern society...its going to changed again but only if people like Waterhouse push the boundaries and explore new potential.