Realism

From New World Encyclopedia


Realism in the visual arts is the depiction of subjects as they appear in everyday life, without embellishment or interpretation. The term is also used to describe works of art which, in revealing a truth, may emphasize the ugly or sordid.

Realism also refers to a mid-19th century cultural movement with its roots in France, where it was a very popular art form around the mid to late 1800s. It came about with the introduction of photography - a new visual source that created a desire for people to produce things that look “objectively real”. Realism was heavily against romanticism, a genre dominating French literature and artwork in the mid 19th century. Undistorted by personal bias, Realism believed in the ideology of objective reality and revolted against exaggerated emotionalism. Truth and accuracy became the goals of many Realists.

19th Century Realism

Realism was a response to both Neoclassicism and Romanticism, and for the entire group, history had no artistic relevance or importance. Gustave Courbet, the leader of the realism movement, defined Realism as a "human conclusion which awakened the very forces of man against paganism, Greco-Roman art, the Renaissance, Catholocism, adn the gods and demigods, in short against the convention ideal." The Realists, who were influenced by the Dutch and Flemish naturalists of the seventeenth century, were dedicated wholeheartedly to an establishment founded on justice for the working class, the ordinary. In fact, all the artists, politicians, economists, and critics congregated in the Andler Keller, a Parisian brasserie (a type of restaurant serving food at all hours), which eventually became known as the temple of Realism. In 1863, after being shunned by Count Nieuwerkerke at the Universal Exposition of 1855, Courbet and friends organized a Salon de Refusés in 1863. This was an exhibition included the works of those who are now recognized as the premier painters of the period. Astoundingly, two of the greatest Realist masters, Daumier and Courbet, were actually forced to serve prison sentences as a result of their involvement in the rebellion against uniformity.

Photography

Painting in France

Metal Architecture

Painting in the United States

The Pre-Raphaelites

The Rhetoric of Realism: Courbet and the Origins of The Avant-Garde

French cultural movement

Realism became prominent as a cultural movement as a reaction to the idealism of Romanticism in the middle of the 19th century. Often linked to demands for social and political reform and democracy, realism dominated the visual arts and literature of France, England and the United States from around 1840 to 1880, and along with naturalism dominated Brazil's literature through out this same time. Prominent realist writers and playwrights include Balzac, Stendhal, Ibsen, George Meredith, and Thomas William Robertson in the United Kingdom, and Eça de Queirós in Portugal, as well as the influential Brazilian Machado de Assis. Their counterparts in the visual arts include Gustave Courbet and Jean François Millet


References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

West, Shearer (1996). The Bullfinch Guide to Art. UK: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. ISBN 0-8212-2137-X. 

Related

Western art movements
Renaissance · Mannerism · Baroque · Rococo · Neoclassicism · Romanticism · Realism · Pre-Raphaelite · Academic · Impressionism · Post-Impressionism
20th century
Modernism · Cubism · Expressionism · Abstract expressionism · Abstract · Neue Künstlervereinigung München · Der Blaue Reiter · Die Brücke · Dada · Fauvism · Art Nouveau · Bauhaus · De Stijl · Art Deco · Pop art · Futurism · Suprematism · Surrealism · Minimalism · Post-Modernism · Conceptual art

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