Realism

Realism

Realism is an artistic movement of the mid-19th century that sought to represent contemporary life truthfully, focusing on ordinary people, everyday scenes, and social realities, without idealization or romantic emotion.

What happend:

• Photography invented → new idea of truth and observation

• Rejection of Romantic emotion and idealization

Characteristics:

• Truthful depiction of reality (no idealization)

• Everyday subjects: workers, peasants, modern life

• Social realism: poverty, labor, inequality

• Neutral, serious tone (anti-Romantic emotion)

Photography & Its Impact

• First photos: Niépce (1827) → heliograph.

• Photography = new way of seeing, documenting social/political realities.

• Examples:

  • John Thomson – The Crawlers (1877–78) → urban poverty.

  • O’Sullivan – Harvest of Death (Gettysburg, 1863) → war photography.

• Challenged painting’s role → influenced Realism & Impressionism.

Precursors to Realism (Britain)

John Constable – The Hay Wain (1821)

• Rural working landscape painted from observation

• Everyday life, no heroism

• Breaks with idealized classical landscapes

• Nature painted as it is, not as myth

John Constable – Study of Tree Trunks (c.1821)

• Close, detailed study of nature

• Painting like scientific study

Realism in France (Social Realism)

Gustave Doré – Over London – by Rail (1872)

• Dark industrial city

• Realism as social critique

Rosa Bonheur – Plowing in the Nivernais (1849)

• Agricultural labor and animals

• No Romantic nostalgia

• Scientifically Accurate

Realism & Modern Life

Édouard Manet – The Luncheon on the Grass (1863)

• Contemporary figures, shocking nudity

• Breaks academic rules

• Beginning of modern art

Édouard Manet – Olympia (1863)

• Modern nude, confrontational gaze

• Rejects ideal beauty

• Shows modern social reality (prostitution)

Edgar Degas – The Orchestra of the Paris Opéra (1868–69)

• Musicians instead of performance

• Photography & Japanese prints influence

Realism in North America

Thomas Eakins – The Gross Clinic (1875)

• Science + realism

• Art documents professional modern life

Max Schmitt in a Single Scull (1871)

• sport, modern leisure.

 Realism in Sculpture

Jules Dalou - The Grand Peasant

• Monumental sculpture of a rural worker

• Physical realism (rough body, strong posture)

• Social dignity without idealization

• Political sympathy for laborers

Jules Dalou - Woman Nursing a Baby

• Intimate scene of motherhood from everyday life

• Ordinary, domestic subject

• Natural pose and emotion

François Rude & Ernest Christophe Cavaignac Tomb

• Realistic representation of grief

• Emotional restraint, not idealization

• Sculpture as public memory

Rossend Nobas – Farreras Tomb

• Spanish funerary sculpture influenced by French Realism

• Naturalistic figures

• Emotional sincerity