The Symbolist Use of Synthetism and Line in Portraying the Late Nineteenth Century Male’s Vision of the Female, a Comparative Study.

Sorcha Niamh Quinn
Trinity College Dublin
Department of History of Art and Architecture
2010
BA

Subject: Painting
Country: England, France and Norway
Period: 19th Century

10,000 words

This dissertation is first of all a study of the negative perception of women amongst intellectuals, particularly in France, at the end of the nineteenth century. This feeling of negativity resulted in a fashion in portraying female stereotypes in the visual arts. This applied to the portrayal of the femme fatale or polar opposite depictions of women as ideal and docile. Secondly, this dissertation is an attempt to come to terms with the Symbolist movement. The Symbolists were the artists who interpreted women in this manner.Thirdly, this study is an examination of certain stylistic techniques which were particularly effective in portraying the symbolist concept of externalising the inner realm. This is exemplified by the work of artists such as Paul Gauguin, Odilon Redon and Edward Munch.

Irish Georgian Society

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The Symbolist Use of Synthetism and Line in Portraying the Late Nineteenth Century Male’s Vision of the Female, a Comparative Study.