Abstract This paper explains the origins of Realism, its style, its political philosophy, and the subject of Realist art. The paper also discusses three paintings by important Realist artists, Courbet, Jean-Francois Millet and Honore Daumier, in order to illuminate the techniques, political ideas, and style of Realism. Finally, the paper explores the biographies of these three artists to provide a better understanding of why they were attracted to Realism.
Gustave Courbet Jean-Francois Millet
Honore Daumier
Biographies
Realist and Revolutionary
Avant-garde More Recently
From the Paper "The Realist style owes its existence to the Realist concept. ?Realism is democracy in art,? Courbet believed. (Nochlin, xiii) Taking that as the credo upon which the works of the artists were constructed, the style itself can be nothing if not anti-academic, anti-historical, anti-conservative. Indeed, whether brushstrokes or pen markings or etching into stone or metal form the image, the underlying attitude is one of freedom, attention to the gross characteristics of form, dismissal of mere decoration for its own sake, and obvious celebration of anything. The self-consciousness of the finely chosen brushstroke or marking is gone, in favor of a brushstroke or marking that favors expression of the interplay between what is seen and the seer. Gone is any demand from outside the artist to make things appear lovelier, grander, more stately than they perhaps really are. It is, in short, art with the warts painted in. It is the ?attempt to render in paint that exists in three dimensions.? (Parlez-vous Web site) It is, moreover, a less light-filled art than what had gone before, the Romantic style, and what would come after, Impressionism. It used the colors of the palette that corresponded to the nature of the subject matter, and the subject matter had changed from nobility in shining satins to the peasantry in rough and dirty woolens and linens. It might be fair to say that Realism was a portrait of reality gone down market one full step, for the painters themselves were, by and large, firmly bourgeoisie. So it might also be reasonably concluded that Realism is a style depicting "what is" from a viewpoint that could easily look down were it not rooted in an egalitarian philosophy and a compassionate attitude."
Tags: peasantry, bourgeoisie, europe, eternal, now, time, authenticity, sleeping, spinner, the, walk, to, work
Abstract This paper addresses the body of work that is now known as Modernism, including an examination of how it developed and what has succeeded it. It gives examples from the world of art, music and architecture - Mark Chagall, Frank Lloyd Wright, Gustave Courbet and others.
From the paper:
"Modernism is a much harder artistic style to define than either Romanticism or Realism ? although not as difficult as Postmodernism. This probably results in part from the fact that the closer a style is to one's own moment in history the more difficult it is to assess, but it also has to do with the fact that Modernism is itself a complex movement. It is not the relatively straightforward reaction against the movement before it that Realism was, nor is it a reaction against a single historical change in the way that Romanticism was primarily a response to industrialization."
Abstract Claude Monet and Rembrandt van Rijn are fundamentally different in their approaches to painting. This paper explores Monet's fascination with water and Rembrandt's love of chiaroscuro (the interplay of light and shadow) as well as both painter's philosophies on time - Monet often denies the existence of time altogether, whereas Rembrandt often makes the use of time an important subject matter of his work. The paper analyzes two works by Rembrandt - "Madonna of the Cat" (1654) and "A Woman Wading in a Brook" (1654) to show his use of chiaroscuro and his philosophy on time. The paper also discusses works by Monet including "La Grenouillere" (1868) and "Camille on her Deathbed", which show his fascination with water and his belief in art about art, rather than about reality.
From the Paper "Rembrandt's concern with experience and reality is inherent his work. In his etching of 1654 of Madonna of the Cat, he shows a scene which is full of meaning, and thus time and experience. There is a paradox in the scene itself involving the interplay of light and shadow, which is quite often the case with Rembrandt's work. In the center of the etching, Mary is shown cradling Jesus in her arms. Traditionally, the pair is shown with a halo surrounding the fontanel. Rembrandt's etching seems to do this, although in actuality what appears to be a halo is simply sunlight filtering though the window. In this context, he places Mary and Jesus in shadow, instead of in the light, which one would expect in a Christian scene. He suggests a more Protestant view of experience, in which shadow becomes a metaphor for ambiguity, everyday experiences, and the placing of the divine on a more human level. He suggests his belief that God is dwelling on earth among the normal, everyday people, rather than in the brilliantly lit skies of Heaven. This in and of itself is opposite from what the Greeks believed in."
Abstract This paper discusses Realism in nineteenth century painting as part of a broader movement which began in literature, became associated with painting, and then broadened to include theatre and later, film. In all its forms it was a rejection of the predominantly Classical vocabulary of art, and also of the Romanticism which prevailed in the 1800's. Artists wanted to paint the world as they saw it, which included warts-and-all portraits, and subjects that included peasants working the fields. However, Realist art and politics were inextricably bound up, first in the person of Courbet who founded the Realism movement and later, in the Socialist Realism paintings of Russia.
Abstract The Impressionist style of art began in the early 1870s. Impressionist artists were often considered radicals because of their huge departures from the conventional art form, content, subject matter and brush stroke technique of previous generations. This paper examines three Impressionist paintings in particular that serve as different examples of impressionistic art: Two works by Claude Monet - "Impression: Sunrise, 1872" and "Bridge Over A Pool of Water Lilies, 1899" and James Abbott McNeill Whistler's "Nocturne in Black and Gold, the Falling Rocket, 1875".
From the Paper "Whereas Impressionists were known to paint outdoors, in Monet's later painting Bridge Over A Pool of Water Lilies, 1899, the artist would move back and forth into his studio constantly reworking the canvas of this piece. In this part of his Garden Series, Monet created a different example of impressionistic work. In Bridge, there are more layers and the work more complex. Whereas in previous works like Sunrise, where most of the subject matter is blurred out, Monet spent more time emphasizing the different aspects of the lilies in the pond, the bridge and the surrounding foliage in this work. There appears to be the beginning of a departure from the strong early characteristics of Impressionist movement, however the piece still remains under the classification of an Impressionist piece."
