The Reborn of Art Baroque Written by Elaine Chau

Looking back to those charming art histories, it is easy to find one of them to give them a chance to reborn in this modern world. Nowadays, designers and artists do love finding their inspiration from those old days, those histories. Out of all of them, there is one particular period always captures my attention and also those artists attention- Baroque.

Baroque in Paintings

Baroque, which original means the rough and imperfect pearl in French, this period officially started from 1600 to 1750. Its style is all about the exaggerated presentation but still in a settle way. In the painting aspect, most of them are very expressive and seem like telling a story to the viewers. Compare the baroques paintings with those from Renaissance, they are definitely livelier for instance, more facial expression and active body gesture. This closely related to the artists inspiration which is the story behind the painting. The stories are usually very dramatic and strong. Some of these stories are from Greek myth and some of them just came from the daily life. One of the brightest features of Baroque is that art pieces no longer restricted to be related to religion. The characters in the artworks arent just Saints but can be nobles or even ordinary people. The overall style of baroque art is elegant but yet very alive.

The Abduction of the Daughters of Leucippus from Peter Paul Rubens, one of the most iconic paintings in the Baroque period can fully explain its style. The inspiration of this painting is from the Greek myth. The colors used in this painting are very sharp and eye-catching. The two women are painted rarely white and this makes a big contrast with the two men painted to become quite tan looking who are the sons of Zeus. For the point of view of viewers, we can nearly feel the movement in the painting by the curved body gesture and spiral composition of the scene. However, even the characters are all bended and drawn into the centre, we wont feel that the overall picture is losing balance. This point made this painting praised as one of the best paintings in the Baroque period.

Baroque In Fashion

But lets come back to 21 century, how do artists and designers take inspiration from this stately period and combine them to create something new? When we are talking about the Baroque period in these days, we can easily think of the fashion and interior design.

The Fall Autumn/Winter collection 2012 of fashion brand Dolce & Gabbana fully expresses the style of Baroque through the amazing fashion show. The setting of the show is already full of elements of Baroque- chandelier surrounded with rose and golden adornments. Back to the clothing, the designers are greatly inspired by the outfit of the nobles in Baroque period- the women are dressed very feminine but yet not totally losing their loftiness. To be more specific, the designers are particular adored the Sicilian Baroque style. They keep the glamour of the air of nobles by adding golden and handmade details like necklace, hair bend and vintage handbag etc on every outfit. But by adding back a lot of black lace to the outfit tones the glamour down a bit to make it more modern like. Also one of the biggest features in this collection is that the designers add some baroque style print on the dresses like rich still life flowers and Cherub angles.

On the other hand, its official promoting photos are also fairly similar to the style of Baroque. There are a lot of models in one photo and everyone is seems like arranged a role like mother, son, grandmother etc. Compare this series of photos with typical fashion advertisement, these from Dolce and Gabbanna are more energetic and involved a lot more movement. The models are no longer just standing still in front of the camera but they are like acting out a story. This kind of composition is similar to the usual approach for artists in Baroque period.

Baroque In Interior Design

Baroque style not only influences the fashion designers but also the interior designers. The unique royal background appeared in most of the Baroque paintings attract a lot of people. Even if they cant afford high end fashion clothing, they can still infuse the elements to their living environment. However, this kind of luxurious interior design is not just about Baroque but also a slight touch to Rococo. Both of them are very elegant and sumptuous. For this kind of design is all about those details like the golden embellishment and vintage wallpaper etc. It is totally different from any modern and cyber design. The setting of this kind of design brings people back to the 18 century .We can usually find this kind of interior design in hotel to let people have to be a royal member once.

Those art histories are very inspiring and provided a lot of precious artworks to the artists in these days. It doesnt matter whether we are really named as artist or not, we can still find some special elements that we love and appreciate to adapt in our daily life. I am looking forward to see that more people can learn to cherish these valuable art pieces created in the past.