Romanticism was seen as a reaction to the Industrial Revolution, the aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment, and the scientific rationalization of nature.
This movement emphasized the exploration of intense emotion as an authentic source of aesthetic experience. It placed a newly discovered emphasis on such emotions as curiosity and wonder, creativity and innovation, abstract and banality, especially that experienced in confronting the new aesthetic categories of the sublimity and beauty of nature. My thesis that I will try to defend is that Alexander Cozens and his method of ink blotting embodies the ideals of romanticism in a more forward-thinking way. Plate 1 by Alexander Cozens is a bottom-heavy piece. The majority of the details of the subject reside in the lower half of the image while only a portion of the subject dares to linger past the invisible dividing line of the paper. Yet none of the materials ever touch the top border of the page. This could be a conscious decision to step back and experiment with more abstract and nontraditional staging and placement. It could be in an effort to challenge the spectator to
Challenge their perception of art and why they may or may not like the placement and lack of obvious clues and harmonious details to suggest a specific idea or landscape.…show more content… It is in complete contrast to the life-like, colorful, and full framed paintings that were popular at that time. It heavily plays with the ideas of romanticism more than others. It respects the process of attempt, failure, and resilience that comes with making a painting. Cozens is not afraid to push the ideas of what is important in art and seeing things from new angles. He uses a familiar technique often used in figure drawing today. He focuses on form and how a series of seemingly unconnected and seemingly random marks can come together and create a potentially recognizable piece of
