Realism was an

artistic movement An art movement is a tendency or style in art with a specific common philosophy or goal, followed by a group of artists during a specific period of time, (usually a few months, years or decades) or, at least, with the heyday of the movement defi ...

that emerged in France in the 1840s, around the

1848 Revolution The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europea ...

. Realists rejected Romanticism, which had dominated French literature and art since the early 19th century. Realism revolted against the exotic subject matter and the exaggerated emotionalism and drama of the Romantic movement. Instead, it sought to portray real and typical contemporary people and situations with truth and accuracy, and not avoiding unpleasant or sordid aspects of life. The movement aimed to focus on unidealized subjects and events that were previously rejected in art work. Realist works depicted people of all classes in situations that arise in ordinary life, and often reflected the changes brought by the

Industrial Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...

and Commercial Revolutions. Realism was primarily concerned with how things appeared to the eye, rather than containing ideal representations of the world. The popularity of such "realistic" works grew with the introduction of photography—a new visual source that created a desire for people to produce representations which look objectively real. The Realists depicted everyday subjects and situations in contemporary settings, and attempted to depict individuals of all social classes in a similar manner. Gloomy earth toned palettes were used to ignore beauty and idealization that was typically found in art. This movement sparked controversy because it purposefully criticized social values and the upper classes, as well as examining the new values that came along with the industrial revolution. Realism is widely regarded as the beginning of the modern art movement due to the push to incorporate modern life and art together. Classical idealism and Romantic emotionalism and drama were avoided equally, and often sordid or untidy elements of subjects were not smoothed over or omitted. Social realism emphasizes the depiction of the working class, and treating them with the same seriousness as other classes in art, but realism, as the avoidance of artificiality, in the treatment of human relations and emotions was also an aim of Realism. Treatments of subjects in a heroic or sentimental manner were equally rejected. Realism as an art movement was led by Gustave Courbet in France. It spread across Europe and was influential for the rest of the century and beyond, but as it became adopted into the mainstream of painting it becomes less common and useful as a term to define artistic style. After the arrival of Impressionism and later movements which downgraded the importance of precise illusionistic brushwork, it often came to refer simply to the use of a more traditional and tighter painting style. It has been used for a number of later movements and trends in art, some involving careful illusionistic representation, such as

Photorealism Photorealism is a genre of art that encompasses painting, drawing and other graphic media, in which an artist studies a photograph and then attempts to reproduce the image as realistically as possible in another medium. Although the term can be ...

, and others the depiction of "realist" subject matter in a social sense, or attempts at both.

Beginnings in France

The Realist movement began in the mid-19th century as a reaction to Romanticism and

History painting History painting is a genre in painting defined by its subject matter rather than any artistic style or specific period. History paintings depict a moment in a narrative story, most often (but not exclusively) Greek and Roman mythology and Bible ...

. In favor of depictions of 'real' life, the Realist painters used common laborers, and ordinary people in ordinary surroundings engaged in real activities as subjects for their works. The chief exponents of Realism were Gustave Courbet, Jean-François Millet, Honoré Daumier, and

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot ( , , ; July 16, 1796 – February 22, 1875), or simply Camille Corot, is a French landscape and portrait painter as well as a printmaker in etching. He is a pivotal figure in landscape painting and his vast ...

. Jules Bastien-Lepage is closely associated with the beginning of ''Naturalism'', an artistic style that emerged from the later phase of the Realist movement and heralded the arrival of Impressionism.Fry, Roger. 1920. "Vision and Design." London: Chatto & Windus. "An Essay in Æsthetics." 11-24. Accessed online on 13 March 2012 at Realists used unprettified detail depicting the existence of ordinary contemporary life, coinciding in the contemporaneous naturalist literature of Émile Zola, Honoré de Balzac, and Gustave Flaubert.Nineteenth-Century French Realism , Essay , Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History , The Metropolitan Museum of Art
/ref> Courbet was the leading proponent of Realism and he challenged the popular

history painting History painting is a genre in painting defined by its subject matter rather than any artistic style or specific period. History paintings depict a moment in a narrative story, most often (but not exclusively) Greek and Roman mythology and Bible ...

that was favored at the state-sponsored art academy. His groundbreaking paintings '' A Burial at Ornans'' and '' The Stonebreakers'' depicted ordinary people from his native region. Both paintings were done on huge canvases that would typically be used for history paintings. Although Courbet's early works emulated the sophisticated manner of Old Masters such as

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consid ...

and Titian, after 1848 he adopted a boldly inelegant style inspired by popular prints, shop signs, and other work of folk artisans. In ''The Stonebreakers'', his first painting to create a controversy, Courbet eschewed the pastoral tradition of representing human subjects in harmony with nature. Rather, he depicted two men juxtaposed against a charmless, stony roadside. The concealment of their faces emphasizes the dehumanizing nature of their monotonous, repetitive labor. File:Gustave Courbet - A Burial at Ornans - Google Art Project 2.jpg, Gustave Courbet, '' A Burial At Ornans'', 1849 File:Jean-François Millet - Gleaners - Google Art Project.jpg, Jean-François Millet, '' The Gleaners'', 1857 File:Honoré Daumier (French, Marseilles 1808–1879 Valmondois) - The Third-Class Carriage - Google Art Project.jpg, Honoré Daumier, '' The Third Class Carriage'', 1862–1864 File:Gustave Courbet 018.jpg, Gustave Courbet, '' The Stone Breakers'', 1849 File:Gustave Courbet 031.jpg, Gustave Courbet, '' After Dinner at Ornans'', 1849 File:Jean-François Millet - The Sower - Google Art Project.jpg, Jean-François Millet, '' The Sower'', 1850 File:The Sleepers by Gustave Courbet.jpg, Gustave Courbet, '' Le Sommeil (Sleep)'', 1866, Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris File:Young Girl Reading by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot c1868.jpg,

, ''Young Girl Reading'', 1868,

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...

File:Edouard Manet 025.jpg, Édouard Manet, ''Breakfast in the Studio (the Black Jacket)'', New Pinakothek, Munich, Germany, 1868 File:Jean-François Millet - A Norman Milkmaid at Gréville - Google Art Project.jpg, Jean-François Millet, ''A Norman Milkmaid at Gréville'', 1871 File:Jules Bastien-Lepage - October - Google Art Project.jpg, Jules Bastien-Lepage, '' October'', 1878, National Gallery of Victoria File:The Song of the Lark (Jules Breton, 1884).jpg, Jules Breton, ''The Song of the Lark'', 1884 File:Brooklyn Museum - Fin du travail (The End of the Working Day) - Jules Breton.jpg, Jules Breton, ''The End of the Working Day'', 1886–87

Beyond France

The French Realist movement had stylistic and ideological equivalents in all other Western countries, developing somewhat later. The Realist movement in France was characterized by a spirit of rebellion against powerful official support for history painting. In countries where institutional support of history painting was less dominant, the transition from existing traditions of

genre painting Genre painting (or petit genre), a form of genre art, depicts aspects of everyday life by portraying ordinary people engaged in common activities. One common definition of a genre scene is that it shows figures to whom no identity can be attached ...

to Realism presented no such schism.Rubin, J. 2003. "Realism". ''Grove Art Online''. An important Realist movement beyond France was the Peredvizhniki or ''Wanderers'' group in Russia who formed in the 1860s and organized exhibitions from 1871 included many realists such as genre artist Vasily Perov,

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...

artists

Ivan Shishkin Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin (russian: Ива́н Ива́нович Ши́шкин; 25 January 1832 – 20 March 1898) was a Russian landscape painter closely associated with the Peredvizhniki movement. Biography Shishkin was born to a Russian me ...

Alexei Savrasov Alexei Kondratyevich Savrasov (russian: Алексе́й Кондра́тьевич Савра́сов) (May 24, 1830 – September 26, 1897) was a Russian landscape painting, landscape painter and creator of the ''lyrical landscape'' style ...

, and Arkhip Kuindzhi, portraitist Ivan Kramskoy, war artist

Vasily Vereshchagin Vasily Vasilyevich Vereshchagin (russian: Васи́лий Васи́льевич Вереща́гин, October 26, 1842April 13, 1904), was one of the most famous Russian war artists and one of the first Russian artists to be widely recognis ...

, historical artist Vasily Surikov and, especially,

Ilya Repin Ilya Yefimovich Repin (russian: Илья Ефимович Репин, translit=Il'ya Yefimovich Repin, p=ˈrʲepʲɪn); fi, Ilja Jefimovitš Repin ( – 29 September 1930) was a Russian painter, born in what is now Ukraine. He became one of the ...

, who is considered by many to be the most renowned Russian artist of the 19th century. Courbet's influence was felt most strongly in Germany, where prominent realists included Adolph Menzel, Wilhelm Leibl,

Wilhelm Trübner Wilhelm Trübner (February 3, 1851 – December 21, 1917) was a German realist painter of the circle of Wilhelm Leibl. Biography Trübner was born in Heidelberg. He was the third son of a silver- and goldsmith, Johann Georg Trübner, and h ...

, and

Max Liebermann Max Liebermann (20 July 1847 – 8 February 1935) was a German painter and printmaker, and one of the leading proponents of Impressionism in Germany and continental Europe. In addition to his activity as an artist, he also assembled an important ...

. Leibl and several other young German painters met Courbet in 1869 when he visited Munich to exhibit his works and demonstrate his manner of painting from nature.Nationalgalerie (Berlin), and Françoise Forster-Hahn. 2001. ''Spirit of an Age: Nineteenth-Century Paintings From the Nationalgalerie, Berlin''. London: National Gallery Company. p. 155. In Italy the artists of the Macchiaioli group painted Realist scenes of rural and urban life. The Hague School were Realists in the Netherlands whose style and subject matter strongly influenced the early works of Vincent van Gogh. In Britain artists such as the American James Abbott McNeill Whistler, as well as English artists Ford Madox Brown, Hubert von Herkomer and

Luke Fildes __NOTOC__ Sir Samuel Luke Fildes (3 October 1843 – 28 February 1927) was a British painter and illustrator born in Liverpool and trained at the South Kensington and Royal Academy Schools. He was the grandson of the political activist Mar ...

had great success with realist paintings dealing with social issues and depictions of the "real" world. In the United States, Winslow Homer and Thomas Eakins were important Realists and forerunners of the Ashcan School, an early-20th-century art movement largely based in New York City. The Ashcan School included such artists as

George Bellows George Wesley Bellows (August 12 or August 19, 1882 – January 8, 1925) was an American realism, American realist painting, painter, known for his bold depictions of urban life in New York City. He became, according to the Columbus Museum of Art ...

and Robert Henri, and helped to define American realism in its tendency to depict the daily life of poorer members of society. Later on in America, the term realism took on various new definitions and adaptations once the movement hit the U.S.

Surrealism Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

and magical realism developed out of the French realist movement in the 1930s, and in the 1950s ''new realism'' developed. This sub-movement considered art to exist as a thing in itself opposed to representations of the real world. In modern-day America, realism art is generally regarded as anything that does not fall into abstract art, therefore including mostly art that depicts realities. File:Illarion Michajlowitsch Prjanischnikow 002.jpg, Illarion Pryanishnikov, ''Jokers.

Gostiny Dvor Gostinyi dvor ( rus, гостиный двор, p=ɡɐˈsʲtʲinɨj ˈdvor) is a historic Russian term for an indoor market or shopping centre. It is translated from Russian either as "guest court" or "merchant yard", although both translations a ...

in Moscow'', 1865 File:Konstantin Apollonowitsch Sawizkij 001.jpg,

Konstantin Savitsky Konstantin Apollonovich Savitsky (russian: Константи́н Аполло́нович Сави́цкий; 25 May 1844 — 31 January 1905) was a Russian realist painter born in the city of Taganrog in the village Frankovka or Baronovka, ...

, ''Repairing the Railway'', 1874 File:Ivan Shishkin - Рожь - Google Art Project.jpg,

, '' A Rye Field'', 1878 File:Wilhelm Maria Hubertus Leibl 007.jpg, Wilhelm Leibl, ''The Village Politicians'', 1877 File:Adolph von Menzel - Rear of House and Backyard - WGA15047.jpg, Adolph Menzel, ''Rear of House and Backyard'', ca. 1846 File:Le macchiaiole.jpg, Giovanni Fattori, ''Three Peasants in a Field'', 1866–67 File:Jan Hendrik Weissenbruch - Boereninterieur.jpg,

Jan Hendrik Weissenbruch Jan Hendrik Weissenbruch, also known as Hendrik Johannes Weissenbruch (born 19 June 1824 in The Hague – died 24 March 1903 in The Hague) was a Dutch painter of the Hague School. He is noted especially for his watercolours. Biography Hendrik Jo ...

, ''Farmhouse Interior'', between 1870 and 1903 File:Ford Madox Brown - The Last of England - Google Art Project.jpg, Ford Madox Brown, '' The Last of England'', 1852–1855 File:Hubert von Herkomer - Hard Times.JPG, Hubert von Herkomer, ''Hard Times'', 1885 File:crossstreetsofnewyork.JPG, Everett Shinn, ''Cross Streets of New York'', 1899, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington DC File:Snow in New York.jpg, Robert Henri, ''Snow in New York'', 1902,

, Washington DC File:McSorley's Bar 1912 John Sloan.jpg, John French Sloan, '' McSorley's Bar'', 1912, Detroit Institute of Arts

References

External links

''19th Century French Realism,'' Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, Metropolitan Museum of Art
{{DEFAULTSORT:Realism (Arts) Art movements French art movements Art history 19th century in art Realism Visual arts theory American art movements Russian art movements