Poussinists and Rubenists  

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The Poussinist-Rubenist debate was a style war started in the 17th century art involving the work of French painter Poussin and Flemish painter Rubens. Followers of Poussin argued that line and design should dominate painting, because of its appeal to the intellect, while followers of Rubens argued that color should dominate art, because of its appeal to emotion.



The debate was provoked by the essay of French art critic Roger de Piles, "Dialogue sur le coloris" (1673), and continued until the mid nineteenth century in the Neoclassicism and Romanticism style war.


19th century





from that Wikipedia article

The Poussinistes were a group of conservative French artists during the 17th Century.

The Poussinistes defended Poussin's view that drawing appealed to the mind and was superior to color, which they believed appealed to the senses. They were opposed by the Rubénistes who believed that color, not drawing, was superior due to its being more true to nature. Drawing was, according to the Rubénistes, based on reason and only appealing to the few experts whereas color could be enjoyed by everyone. This challenged the notions of the Renaissance when only the educated were believed to appreciate art. (H. W. Janson, 584)

Jean-Antoine Watteau is considered the greatest of the Rubéniste artists. Watteau developed the new subject type that the French Academy termed as fêtes galantes. Other Rubéniste artists included François Boucher, Jean-Honoré Fragonard and Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin. The leading woman of the movement was Marie Louise Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun (Janson, 584–598).

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