Journal article
Corporality and Communication: The Gestural Revolution of Diderot, David, and The Oath of the Horatii
The Art bulletin (New York, N.Y.), Vol.71(1), pp.92-113
03/01/1989
DOI: 10.1080/00043079.1989.10788480
Abstract
This study examines a revolutionary stylistic development in late 18th-century French painting, in which an emphasis on corporal expression embodied in gesture dramatically replaced the prevailing aesthetics of physiognomy inherited from Le Brun. This development, adumbrated by Diderot in his devout desire for a "gestural sublime" in the visual arts, was realized by J.-L. David in The Oath of the Horatii of 1784-85, a painting that overturned the academic style of the 1770's. After the appearance of The Oath, critics, like the emulous artists, regarded corporal expression in its myriad aspects as the central ingredient in painting. This gestural revolution, embodied in The Oath, coincided remarkably with a new interest in the relationship between corporality and morality in the writings of various political, social, and scientific theorists of the time.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Corporality and Communication: The Gestural Revolution of Diderot, David, and The Oath of the Horatii
- Creators
- Dorothy Johnson
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- The Art bulletin (New York, N.Y.), Vol.71(1), pp.92-113
- Publisher
- College Art Association of America
- DOI
- 10.1080/00043079.1989.10788480
- ISSN
- 0004-3079
- eISSN
- 1559-6478
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 03/01/1989
- Academic Unit
- Art and Art History
- Record Identifier
- 9984397232002771
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