Dramaturgical Program Notes: Austin Shakespeare's Production of Arcadia

ARCADIA and The Age of Reason

The Age of Reason, or Enlightenment, was an intellectual and artistic movement that placed primary value on man’s capacity for rational thought.  Influential throughout Europe during the 17^th and 18^th Centuries, the Enlightenment sparked philosophical contemplation of man’s relationship with his natural environment and his place within the universe, prompted significant advances in scientific achievement and mathematical discovery, and shaped new directions in literature and the arts. 

Two major aesthetic movements, Neoclassicism and Romanticism, flowered during the Age of Reason. Neoclassicism, the earlier of the two movements, dominated between approximately 1765 and 1830.  The movement represented a return to the guiding tenets of the Classical period, especially unity, harmony, simplicity, composition, and restraint. Individual creativity was subsumed to conformity to strict aesthetic rules and the quest for archetypal forms.  Organizations such as the French Academy borrowed methodologies from the sciences to evaluate art based on adherence to pre-set standards of perfection.  

Neoclassical visual art, landscaping, and architecture celebrated the primary of line, (representing intellect) over color (representing emotion).  Careful compositions governed by geometrical forms defined the neoclassical visual aesthetic.  In painting, artists frequently turned to classical literature for subject matter, and focused on themes of duty, self-sacrifice, and patriotism.

One of the most successful painters of the neoclassical era, Jacques Louis David set the standard for visual art in the period.  His works illustrate masterful manipulation of line to relay story, idea, and character. In his painting Oath of the Horatii, David’s employs line to relay contrasting concepts of masculine action and feminine empathy.  Based on a story from classical mythology, the painting’s subject matter depicts preparations for an upcoming battle.  On the left side of the painting, David uses recurrent triangular composition, sharp diagonals, and straight lines to evoke the warriors’ cool reason, firm resolve, and heroism.  In sharp contrast, the curvilinear composition of the female characters suggests emotion that overrides rational thought.

In architecture and landscaping, neoclassicists utilized symmetry and formality to create serene, orderly spaces.   Gardens often featured topiary, severely clipped hedges, and raised, geometrical flowerbeds contained by stone.  Long avenues of trees frequently bordered pathways leading to classical statuary and freestanding architectural elements inspired by the recent archaeological discoveries at Pompeii and Herculaneum.  Pictured below, Gunnebo House, a Swedish country estate built in the early 18^th century, represents a prime example of neoclassical architecture and garden design.

Romanticism displaced neoclassicism as the dominant aesthetic of the 19^th Century.  Its practitioners rejected most of the guiding tenets of the neoclassicists, especially their insistence on archetypical standards of perfection over individual imagination.  The Romantics stressed the duality of human existence and perceived harmony in disunity.  They celebrated man’s unique capacity for genius and valued the wholeness of the human experience, ranging from the sublime to the grotesque. 

In visual art, emphasis was placed on picturesque, untamed natural settings and the creation of mood.   While the neoclassicists celebrated man’s ability to tame his natural environment, the romantics emphasized the awesome power and mystery of the natural world.   Instead of appealing to man’s intellect, romantics appealed to man’s senses and feelings. 

Rusticity, exoticism, and spectacle were pervasive motifs of Romantic landscape design.  Deliberately weathered architectural elements mimicking ancient ruins adorned gardens marked by naturalistic plantings of flowers, trees, and lush foliage. Today, the extensively restored gardens and parklands at Painshill Park in Surrey offer a prime example of Romantic gardening.  The grounds feature a man-man lake powered by steam engine, an amphitheatre, a gothic abbey, and a grotto.

By Debra Charlton