RealismRealism

Revision

Characteristics of the PeriodCharacteristics of the Period

• During the second half of 19th century the positivism was dominant

• It was an age of faith in knowledge derived from science

• The scientific method was used to solve all human problems.

Visual ArtsVisual Arts

• The subjectivism and imagination of Romanticism are rejected

• They want an accurate description of the objects

• Science and the development of photography influenced into academic art

• They tend to represent contemporary life instead of imitating past models

Visual ArtsVisual Arts

• Ordinary people and everyday activities became subjects of Art

• Realists tend to portray the lives, appearances, problems, customs and mores of the middle and lower classes

• They did these depictions of the unexceptional, ordinary, humble and unadorned

• They represented ignored aspects such as mental attitudes, physical settings and material conditions.

ChronologyChronology

• In France they appeared after the 1848 revolution– They expressed a taste for democracy

• In England they appeared at the same time– It was a reaction against Victorian materialism– They reacted against the conventions of the

Royal Academy in London

ArtistsArtists

• The Realists– There is an international group centred in Paris– They focused on:

• Scientific concepts of vision

• Study of optical effects

– They expressed:• Taste for democracy

• Rejection of the old artistic tradition

ArtistsArtists

– They felt that painters should work from the life around them

– Desecrated rules of artistic propriety with their new realistic portrayals of modern life

– Artists:• Courbet: The Artist’s Workshop

• Daumier: Caricatures

• Millet: Angelus

ArtistsArtists

• Barbizon School:– Landscape artists formed outside the Academy– Named after the forest of Fontebleau in near

Barbizon where they worked– They attempted to paint nature directly– The pioneer of this movement is Constable,

with a faithful depiction of nature

ArtistsArtists

– Landscape compositions were painted outdoors– The second phase was marked by the interest in

Middle Ages– Subject matters were from medieval tales, bible

stories, classical mythology, and nature – With technique of bright colours on a white

background, they achieved great depth and brilliance

– Artists: Millais, Burne-Jones, Waterhouse

T. Rousseau Daubigny

Dupré

CourbetCourbet

• He depicted the characters as they appeared in front of him, without any idealization

• He represented any subject: customs of a town or people from the bourgeoisie

• He disliked bourgeois people

• Burial at Ornans, The Artist’s Studio, The Stonecutters, Good Morning Mister Courbet

MilletMillet

• He worked with the landscape painters of the Barbizone school

• He depicted the way of living of working class people

• He portrayed poor people in an attempt to criticize their situation

• He underlined the spirituality of the characters• Angelus, The Gleaners

DaumierDaumier

• He worked as a cartoonist and press-drawer

• His style was schematic

• He reported poverty

• He showed the harsh living condition of poor classes and the corruption of the powerful people

• Laundress, Crispin and Escarpin

CorotCorot

• Eminent landscapist

• He painted in nature

• Accurate depiction of light and colour

• Pre-impressionist

• View of Chartres Cathedral

SculptureSculpture

• There was an eclectic trend

• Meunier depicted workers

• His works were made of bronze

• In his works characters appear portrayed as heroes.