th
19
Century Realism
The world is shrinking…
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Telegraph
Telephone
Locomotive
Automobile
Photography……
• Literature focused on human nature
and social consciousness.
– Charles Dickens: Stories on poverty
and factory life.
– Karl Marx: Communist Manifesto,
“From each according to his ability, to
each according to his needs.”
– Charles Darwin: Origin of Species,
evolution.
• Urban areas explode with
people seeking work.
• Human rights come into
question with the way factory
bosses treat workers with long
hours, poor work conditions, and
low pay. This leads to intense
class struggles.
Function of Realism
• The function of Realism
movement in art was direct
observation of society and
nature, and political and social
satire.
Due to society’s many economic
changes, art also saw numerous
changes:
Museums and collectors
became the new patrons.
Newspapers and journals
reached wider audiences
• It was rejected for exhibitionism
• Longest title of a major artwork.
• He rented his own space and became the
first one man show.
2 spheres: left= ordinary people
right=the Paris art world
– The nude symbolizes his turning his
back on the Parisian art world.
REALISM
John Constable, The Hay Wain, 1821
In 1824 the Salon de Paris
exhibited works of
John Constable.
His rural scenes
influenced some of the
younger artists of the
time, moving them to abandon formalism and to
draw inspiration directly from nature.
REALISM
Millet, The Gleaners, 1857
Natural scenes
became the
subjects of their
paintings rather
than mere
backdrops to
dramatic events.
Jean-Francois Millet
• Romanticism in that it shows “oneness with
nature”
• Realism kicks in with the contrast between
the peasants hard, painful work in the
foreground, and the comfort of their boss in
the rich farm in the background.
• Light vs. dark: The farm is gold and sunny,
whereas the peasants are in shadows.
French Realism
• Jean-Francois Millet- Barbizon school
• The Gleaners- 1848, his most famous work
French Realism
• The Gleaners was a controversial
work criticizing a French society that
allowed extreme poverty
• Millet claimed that this was not a
social comment but rather a
celebration of hardworking peasants
and their lifestyle.
REALISM
He extended the idea
from landscape to
figures —scenes of
peasant life, and work in
the fields.
There is no drama and
no story told, merely
three peasant women in
a field. This was totally
new
Millet, The Gleaners, 1857
Jean-François Millet, The Angelus, 1857. Realism.
Symbolizes hard
work
The short hoe causes
the man to have to
bend over. The hard
rocky ground makes
him put in extra
effort to till the soil,
as seen in his
expression
(exhaustion).
Millet
Man With A Hoe, 1860. Oil on canvas
Gustave Courbet,1819-1877
known as “the Apostle of Ugliness”
He once said “
show me an angel
and I will paint one”
Gustave Courbet
• His paintings shocked people- somewhat
disturbing.
• He was the foremost proponent of
Realism.
• His subject matter was landscapes,
nudes, and still lifes.
• Tried to incorporate all three of these
into one painting if possible.
Stone Breakers, 1850
The turned heads and averted eyes does
not let the viewer feel sympathy towards
the two figures.
Interior of My Studio: A Real
Allegory Summing Up Seven
Years of My Life as an Artist.
By Courbet
Aka: The Artist’s Studio, 1855
He struggled to break
from the Romanticism
and move onto Realism.
His ‘friends’ are workers
and collectors on the
right.
Courbet sits at center
like a king. Behind him
is his muse, a nude female.
Aka: The Artist’s Studio, 1855
When this was rejected by
an 1855 exhibition, Courbet held his own
exhibition. Although not very successful, it was
the first one-man art show in history.
Courbet, Burial at Ornans, 1850
Depicts a funeral. The monotonous horizontal colors and
patterns reflect rural life in France. It’s also believed the
sameness of the figures is a statement in favor of equality.
Honore Daumier, 1808-1878
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Both a Romantic and a Realist
Primarily a caricaturist
Father of modern caricature
He is best known for his lithographs
• He was censored and imprisoned
for some of his works.
Honore Daumier, 1808-1878
Gargantua
Honore Daumier, 1808-1878
Gargantua
A never satisfied
king exploits his
subjects and grows
fat at their expense
Daumier was
sentenced to six
months and fined
100 francs.
Daumier, The Third Class Carriage, 1862
The Third Class Carriage
• Lonely crowd
• Genre scene
• The shabby
clothing and
worn
expressions
shows that the
passengers are
lower class
American Realism
• Thomas Eakins -1844-1916
• Most important 19th century American painter
• A passion for Realism lead him to use
photography
• He revolutionized art instruction
and allowed women and minorities to be
involved artistically.
Eakins,
The Gross Clinic, 1875
Operation on a
young boy’s
broken leg.
It was too shocking
to display to the
public.
Two contrasting
behaviors: calm
Dr. Gross and the
scared and
nervous mother.
Eakins, The Agnew Clinic, 1889
It was called a
degradation of art
He became known
as a butcher of art
Subject is a woman
being operated on
for breast cancer.
His lighting and
shading techniques
are said to resemble
Rembrandt
Eakins, The Agnew Clinic, 1889
Eakins, John Biglen in
a Single Skull, 1873
Watercolor
Out door, bright
sunlight
muscular tension
Eakins had an
intense interest in
sports
Eakins used
photography to aid
in his realism
Henry O. Tanner, 1854-1937
• First important black American
painter
• His subjects were plantation scenes,
and religious subjects
• Studied in Paris for a short time
• First black painter to become
internationally famous
Henry O. Tanner,
The Banjo Lesson,
1893
his masterpiece
influenced by
Thomas Eakins
Grandfather showing
the grandson how to
play the banjo
Shows male bonding
and family interaction
Tanner, The Annunciation, 1898
French Realism
• Most famous artist was
Edouard Manet
• Combined Realism and
Impressionism
Manet
• He was classically trained and took his themes
from the great masters
• He was excellent at translating great traditions
into modern terms which outraged the public
Monet
Velsaquez
Manet
• His style: solidity, flatness,
modern elements:
color, light, shape
• Shallow perspective
Manet. Luncheon on the Grass, 1863
Manet, Luncheon on the Grass, 1863
• Scandalized the French
public.
• Depicts a nude woman
casually having lunch
with two men.
• This shocked people,
but Manet claimed it
was a statement of
individual freedom.
Manet, Luncheon on the Grass, 1863
• Failed to idealize the
nude.
• The public would
recognize the men
as his brother and
brother-in-law.
Manet,
Luncheon on the Grass
Titan, Pastoral Concert, 1510
Manet, Olympia 1865
• She is thought to be a French prostitute
• The flowers were sent by a client.
• Her shoes are still on which symbolizes
street walking.
• Small black cat- cathouse , alley cat
Olympia
Naked, not nude. Unclassical proportions. Boldly
stares out at the viewer.
Courbet felt the work was too flat looking
Manet, Olympia 1865
• Inspired by Titian’s Venus of Urbino
• The woman is naked rather than nude
• Salon- an officially sponsored
exhibition of juried art works
that were acceptable to the
French Academy.
• As the art world evolved, a huge amount
of works were being rejected from the
Salon (4,000 in 1863).
• This set off a fire storm of French artists.
The result was a special exhibition called
the “Salon des Refuses”
Photography
IS IT ART?
• people argued that the mechanical
technology made it automatic, not an artistic
process.
• Photography was allied with industry and
science
• 1859- French Photographic society negotiated
an exhibition at the same time, and in the same
building, as the Salon.
Photography
• Means “drawing with light”
• A new method of creating multiple images
• Potential for use in portraiture and journalism
was widely recognized
Nadar (French)
• Used a plain dark
background to
put emphasis on
his sitter.
• Subtle
gradations of
light and dark
•
Sarah Bernhardt, 1864
Nadar (French)
• He was a pioneer of aerial
photography
• 1856- took pictures from a
balloon demonstrating
potential of photography
for creating panoramic
vistas
• He built his own balloon,
“the Giant”, the
largest in the world
Le Geant , Honore Daumier
England:
Julia Margaret Cameron
• Insisted on the aesthetic
quality of her work.
• She preferred blurred
edges and a dreamy
atmosphere to precise
outlines.
• Softness of face and collar,
which emerge gradually
from the darkness, seem
literally “painted with
light.”
Mrs. Herbert Duckworth
England:
Julia Margaret Cameron
• …a means to
elicit the inner
character of a
sitter.
J.F.W Herschel
America
Matthew Brady
Lincoln, Cooper Union 1860
• Brady depicts the
president as a
thoughtful,
determined man
America
Matthew Brady
Robert E. Lee, 1865
• The confederate
general is depicted,
still standing at the end
of the war.
• His neat attire is shown
to betray the years of
suffering he has
witnessed
Realism Architecture
Joseph Paxton
Crystal Palace, London
• 1851, the “Great
Exhibition of the Works of
Industry of all Nations”
• First of, World’s Fairs
• Artists were invited to
submit designs for a
building in Hyde Park to
house the exhibition.
• The structure was cheap,
time-efficient, and
because of the extensive
use of glass, it was
dubbed Crystal Palace.
The Brooklyn
Bridge
The Brooklyn Bridge
• Built by the greatest American bridge
builders: J.A. and W.A. Roebling
• Two towers of granite linked by four
huge steel cables.
• It is a suspension bridge meant for deep
or wide water crossings
The Statue of Liberty
• Edouard de Laboulaye wanted to
present the US with a monument to
commemorate French assistance during the
American Revolution
• The named was changed from “Liberty
Enlightening the World” to The Statue of
Liberty
• It is a colossal statue of a classically clothed
woman holding a torch of liberty and a tablet.
• It was sculpted by Auguste Bartoldi who
used huge copper sheets. The frame was
made of steel and wrought iron by Alexandre
Gustave Eiffel
The Statue of
Liberty
Eiffel Tower
• Constructed by Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel.
• Built initially as a temporary structure for the
Universal Exposition of 1889. Public fought to
have it taken down. It eventually stayed.
• It has a metal truss construction on the base of
reinforced concrete.
• Four arches make up base.
• All open lattice wrought iron.
• Elevators bring people to the top and they are
curved.
Eiffel
Tower