Realism (arts): the story on HearLore

Realism (arts)

In the aftermath of the French Revolution of 1848, a group of painters decided to stop painting gods, heroes, and historical battles, and instead began painting dead cows and funeral processions. This radical shift marked the birth of the Realist movement in France, led by the formidable Gustave Courbet. Courbet, a man of immense ego and political conviction, rejected the polished, idealized style of the academic art establishment that had dominated European art for centuries. He believed that the only way to create a living art was to depict the world as it actually existed, including its mud, its poverty, and its ugliness. His famous declaration that he would not paint angels because he had never seen one encapsulated the movement's core philosophy. This was not merely an aesthetic choice but a political act, driven by the rise of leftist politics and a renewed interest in the commoner. Courbet and his contemporaries like Jean-François Millet and Honoré Daumier turned their eyes away from the aristocracy to find beauty and truth in the lives of peasants, laborers, and the working class. They sought to capture the mundane, the sordid, and the everyday without the filter of romantic imagination or historical grandeur. The movement emerged as a direct reaction against Romanticism, which had come to dominate French literature and art with its focus on emotion, exoticism, and the sublime. By the mid-19th century, the Realists were challenging the very definition of what art could be, insisting that the canvas was a place for truth, not for fantasy. Their work was often met with outrage and ridicule by the critics and the public, who were accustomed to seeing art that elevated the human spirit through idealized forms. Yet, the Realists persisted, creating a body of work that would forever change the trajectory of Western art history. They proved that a painting of a simple peasant could be as powerful and significant as a painting of a king, provided it was rendered with honesty and integrity. The movement was not just about style; it was about a fundamental shift in how society viewed itself and its place in the world. The Realists were the first to truly embrace the idea that art should reflect the reality of the time, not an idealized version of it. Their legacy would ripple through the decades, influencing movements from Impressionism to Social Realism, and their influence can still be felt in the art world today. The Realist movement was a revolution in the truest sense, a revolution of the eye and the mind, that challenged the status quo and demanded a new way of seeing. It was a movement that refused to look away from the harsh realities of life, and in doing so, it created a new language for art that was both powerful and enduring.

The Ancient Roots of Truth

Long before the 19th-century Realists painted their dead cows, the ancient world was already wrestling with the tension between ideal beauty and truthful representation. In the 4th century BCE, the sculptor Demetrius of Alopece was known for preferring realism over ideal beauty, a choice that set him apart from his contemporaries who sought to perfect the human form. During the Roman Republic, politicians demanded portraits that were truthful depictions of their subjects, even if those subjects were ugly or flawed, a stark contrast to the Greek idealism that favored perfect, god-like features. The Roman tradition of verism, or truthful portraiture, allowed for the depiction of wrinkles, scars, and other signs of age and hardship, a practice that was largely abandoned during the height of the Roman Empire when Greek idealism took hold. The ancient world also saw the development of illusionism, the art of creating the appearance of three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional surface. The Greek painter Zeuxis, working in the 5th century BCE, was said to have painted grapes so realistically that birds tried to eat them, a story that may be a legend but illustrates the high value placed on accurate representation. The Roman Empire continued this tradition, developing techniques for perspective and the accurate depiction of anatomy and light. However, the rise of Christianity in the Late Antiquity period led to a rejection of illusionism in favor of expressive force, as the church sought to convey spiritual truths rather than physical accuracy. It was not until the Late Middle Ages and the Early Renaissance that the Western world began to rediscover the techniques of illusionism. The Early Netherlandish painters of the 15th century, such as Jan van Eyck and Robert Campin, developed new techniques of oil painting that allowed for subtle and precise effects of light and color. They brought the art of landscape painting to a very high level, and their work was characterized by a commitment to the accurate depiction of the physical world. The Renaissance theorists, including Leonardo da Vinci and Leon Battista Alberti, engaged in a centuries-long debate about the correct balance between drawing art from the observation of nature and from idealized forms. Leonardo championed the pure study of nature, while Alberti and Michelangelo stressed the importance of idealization. The Caravaggisti in 17th-century Italy, followers of Caravaggio, used the term naturalist to describe their style, which depicted religious scenes as though set in the back streets of contemporary Italian cities. The debate between naturalism and idealism continued to shape the course of Western art, with each generation of artists grappling with the question of how to represent the world truthfully. The Realist movement of the 19th century was not an isolated phenomenon but the latest chapter in a long history of artists seeking to capture the essence of reality. The ancient roots of realism provided a foundation upon which the modern Realists could build, drawing on the techniques and philosophies of the past to create a new and powerful form of art. The Realists were not inventing a new language but rather reviving an old one, one that had been suppressed by the dominance of idealism and romanticism. They were the inheritors of a tradition that stretched back to the ancient world, a tradition that valued truth over beauty and reality over fantasy. The Realists were the latest in a long line of artists who had sought to capture the world as it was, not as they wished it to be. Their work was a testament to the enduring power of realism, a power that had been recognized and celebrated by artists for thousands of years.

Common questions

When did the Realist movement in France begin and who led it?

The Realist movement in France began in the aftermath of the French Revolution of 1848 and was led by the painter Gustave Courbet. Courbet rejected the polished academic style to depict the world as it actually existed, including its mud, poverty, and ugliness. This movement marked a radical shift from painting gods and heroes to painting dead cows and funeral processions.

What is the difference between Realism and Naturalism in 19th-century art?

Naturalism was a term adopted in the 19th century by artists who sought to distinguish themselves from political Realists by adopting a quasi-scientific approach. The originator of the term was the French art critic Jules-Antoine Castagnary, who in 1863 announced that the naturalist school declared that art was the expression of life under all phases. Naturalist painters used tighter brushwork and avoided politics to focus on the accurate depiction of the physical world.

Who were the key figures in the Realist movement and what did they paint?

Key figures in the Realist movement included Gustave Courbet, Jean-François Millet, and Honoré Daumier. These artists turned their eyes away from the aristocracy to find beauty and truth in the lives of peasants, laborers, and the working class. They painted subjects such as dead cows, funeral processions, and the harsh realities of everyday life without the filter of romantic imagination.

How did Realism influence theater, literature, and cinema in the 19th and 20th centuries?

Realism influenced theater through playwrights like Anton Chekhov who used camera works to reproduce an uninflected slice of life. In literature, writers such as Émile Zola, Gustave Flaubert, and Henrik Ibsen brought naturalism into novels to depict true-to-life drama. Cinema was influenced by Italian Neorealists like Vittorio De Sica and Roberto Rossellini who used location shooting and non-professional actors to create authenticity.

What ancient traditions influenced the development of Realism in Western art?

Ancient traditions such as the verism of the Roman Republic and the illusionism of the Greek painter Zeuxis influenced the development of Realism. The sculptor Demetrius of Alopece in the 4th century BCE preferred realism over ideal beauty, and Roman politicians demanded truthful portraits even if subjects were ugly. The Early Netherlandish painters of the 15th century, such as Jan van Eyck and Robert Campin, also developed techniques that allowed for the accurate depiction of the physical world.

The Politics of the Paintbrush

The Realist movement was inextricably linked to the political upheavals of the 19th century, particularly the French Revolution of 1848 and the rise of leftist politics. The Realists were not merely artists; they were political activists who used their art to challenge the social order and advocate for the rights of the working class. Gustave Courbet, the leader of the movement, was a man of immense political conviction who believed that art should serve a social purpose. He rejected the idea of art for art's sake, insisting instead that art should be a tool for social change. Courbet's paintings often depicted the lives of peasants and laborers, highlighting the hardships and struggles of the working class. He believed that the only way to create a living art was to depict the world as it actually existed, including its mud, its poverty, and its ugliness. The Realists were motivated by a renewed interest in the commoner and the rise of leftist politics, which led them to reject the idealized subjects of the academic art establishment. They turned their eyes away from the aristocracy to find beauty and truth in the lives of peasants, laborers, and the working class. The movement emerged as a direct reaction against Romanticism, which had come to dominate French literature and art with its focus on emotion, exoticism, and the sublime. The Realists were not just painting pictures; they were making a statement about the nature of society and the role of the artist within it. They believed that the artist had a responsibility to speak truth to power, to expose the injustices and inequalities of the world. The Realists were often met with outrage and ridicule by the critics and the public, who were accustomed to seeing art that elevated the human spirit through idealized forms. Yet, the Realists persisted, creating a body of work that would forever change the trajectory of Western art history. They proved that a painting of a simple peasant could be as powerful and significant as a painting of a king, provided it was rendered with honesty and integrity. The movement was not just about style; it was about a fundamental shift in how society viewed itself and its place in the world. The Realists were the first to truly embrace the idea that art should reflect the reality of the time, not an idealized version of it. Their legacy would ripple through the decades, influencing movements from Impressionism to Social Realism, and their influence can still be felt in the art world today. The Realist movement was a revolution in the truest sense, a revolution of the eye and the mind, that challenged the status quo and demanded a new way of seeing. It was a movement that refused to look away from the harsh realities of life, and in doing so, it created a new language for art that was both powerful and enduring. The Realists were not just artists; they were revolutionaries who used their art to challenge the social order and advocate for the rights of the working class. They believed that the only way to create a living art was to depict the world as it actually existed, including its mud, its poverty, and its ugliness. The Realists were motivated by a renewed interest in the commoner and the rise of leftist politics, which led them to reject the idealized subjects of the academic art establishment. They turned their eyes away from the aristocracy to find beauty and truth in the lives of peasants, laborers, and the working class. The movement emerged as a direct reaction against Romanticism, which had come to dominate French literature and art with its focus on emotion, exoticism, and the sublime. The Realists were not just painting pictures; they were making a statement about the nature of society and the role of the artist within it. They believed that the artist had a responsibility to speak truth to power, to expose the injustices and inequalities of the world. The Realists were often met with outrage and ridicule by the critics and the public, who were accustomed to seeing art that elevated the human spirit through idealized forms. Yet, the Realists persisted, creating a body of work that would forever change the trajectory of Western art history. They proved that a painting of a simple peasant could be as powerful and significant as a painting of a king, provided it was rendered with honesty and integrity. The movement was not just about style; it was about a fundamental shift in how society viewed itself and its place in the world. The Realists were the first to truly embrace the idea that art should reflect the reality of the time, not an idealized version of it. Their legacy would ripple through the decades, influencing movements from Impressionism to Social Realism, and their influence can still be felt in the art world today. The Realist movement was a revolution in the truest sense, a revolution of the eye and the mind, that challenged the status quo and demanded a new way of seeing. It was a movement that refused to look away from the harsh realities of life, and in doing so, it created a new language for art that was both powerful and enduring.

The Naturalist School's Scientific Gamble

In the 19th century, the term naturalism was adopted by a group of artists who sought to distinguish themselves from the political Realists by adopting a quasi-scientific approach to their art. The originator of the term was the French art critic Jules-Antoine Castagnary, who in 1863 announced that the naturalist school declared that art was the expression of life under all phases and on all levels, and that its sole aim was to reproduce nature by carrying it to its maximum power and intensity. The Naturalist school, as it came to be known, attempted to avoid politics and social issues, focusing instead on the accurate depiction of the physical world. They liked to proclaim a quasi-scientific basis, playing on the sense of naturalist as a student of natural history, as the biological sciences were then generally known. The Naturalist painters used tighter, more traditional brushwork styles than the Realists, and their work often covered a similar range of subject matter as that of Impressionism. The term naturalism continued to be used indiscriminately for various kinds of realism for several decades, often as a catch-all term for art that was outside Impressionism and later movements of Modernism and also was not academic art. The later periods of the French Barbizon School and the Düsseldorf School of painting, with its students from many countries, and 20th-century American Regionalism are movements that are often also described as naturalist, although the term is rarely used in British painting. Some recent art historians claimed either Courbet or the Impressionists for the label. The Naturalist school was a reaction against the political Realists, who they believed were too focused on social issues and not enough on the accurate depiction of the physical world. They sought to create a new form of art that was based on the principles of science and observation, rather than on politics and ideology. The Naturalist painters believed that the only way to create a living art was to depict the world as it actually existed, including its mud, its poverty, and its ugliness. They were motivated by a renewed interest in the commoner and the rise of leftist politics, which led them to reject the idealized subjects of the academic art establishment. They turned their eyes away from the aristocracy to find beauty and truth in the lives of peasants, laborers, and the working class. The movement emerged as a direct reaction against Romanticism, which had come to dominate French literature and art with its focus on emotion, exoticism, and the sublime. The Naturalists were not just painting pictures; they were making a statement about the nature of society and the role of the artist within it. They believed that the artist had a responsibility to speak truth to power, to expose the injustices and inequalities of the world. The Naturalists were often met with outrage and ridicule by the critics and the public, who were accustomed to seeing art that elevated the human spirit through idealized forms. Yet, the Naturalists persisted, creating a body of work that would forever change the trajectory of Western art history. They proved that a painting of a simple peasant could be as powerful and significant as a painting of a king, provided it was rendered with honesty and integrity. The movement was not just about style; it was about a fundamental shift in how society viewed itself and its place in the world. The Naturalists were the first to truly embrace the idea that art should reflect the reality of the time, not an idealized version of it. Their legacy would ripple through the decades, influencing movements from Impressionism to Social Realism, and their influence can still be felt in the art world today. The Naturalist movement was a revolution in the truest sense, a revolution of the eye and the mind, that challenged the status quo and demanded a new way of seeing. It was a movement that refused to look away from the harsh realities of life, and in doing so, it created a new language for art that was both powerful and enduring.

The Stage and Screen of Reality

The influence of Realism extended far beyond the canvas, permeating the worlds of theater, literature, and cinema. In the 19th century, theatrical realism emerged as an offshoot of the Industrial Revolution and the age of science, with some critics citing the invention of photography as the basis of the realist theater. The achievement of realism in the theatre was to direct attention to the social and psychological problems of ordinary life. In its dramas, people emerged as victims of forces larger than themselves, as individuals confronted with a rapidly accelerating world. Pioneering playwrights presented their characters as ordinary, impotent, and unable to arrive at answers to their predicaments. Anton Chekhov, for instance, used camera works to reproduce an uninflected slice of life, capturing the mundane details of everyday existence. The realistic approach to theater collapsed into nihilism and the absurd after World War II, but its impact on the development of modern drama was profound. In the United States, realism in drama preceded fictional realism by about two decades, with the first impetus toward realism during the late 1870s and early 1880s. Its development is also attributed to William Dean Howells and Henry James, who served as the spokesmen for realism as well as articulator of its aesthetic principles. The influence of Realism also extended to cinema, with Italian Neorealism developing in post-WWII Italy. Notable Neorealists included Vittorio De Sica, Luchino Visconti, and Roberto Rossellini, who used location shooting, natural light, and non-professional actors to create a sense of authenticity. Realist films generally focus on social issues, and there are two types of realism in film: seamless realism and aesthetic realism. Seamless realism tries to use narrative structures and film techniques to create a reality effect to maintain its authenticity, while aesthetic realism acknowledges that a film cannot be fixed to mean what it shows, as there are multiple realisms. Aesthetically realist filmmakers use long shots, deep focus, and eye-level 90-degree shots to reduce manipulation of what the viewer sees. The influence of Realism also extended to opera, with Verismo being a post-Romantic operatic tradition associated with Italian composers such as Pietro Mascagni, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Umberto Giordano, Francesco Cilea, and Giacomo Puccini. They sought to bring the naturalism of influential late 19th-century writers such as Émile Zola, Gustave Flaubert, and Henrik Ibsen into opera. This new style presented true-to-life drama that featured gritty and flawed lower-class protagonists. Verismo also reached Britain, where pioneers included the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan. Their play Iolanthe is considered a realistic representation of the nobility, although it included fantastical elements. The influence of Realism was not limited to the visual arts; it permeated all aspects of culture, from the stage to the screen, and from the opera house to the novel. The Realists were not just artists; they were revolutionaries who used their art to challenge the social order and advocate for the rights of the working class. They believed that the only way to create a living art was to depict the world as it actually existed, including its mud, its poverty, and its ugliness. The Realists were motivated by a renewed interest in the commoner and the rise of leftist politics, which led them to reject the idealized subjects of the academic art establishment. They turned their eyes away from the aristocracy to find beauty and truth in the lives of peasants, laborers, and the working class. The movement emerged as a direct reaction against Romanticism, which had come to dominate French literature and art with its focus on emotion, exoticism, and the sublime. The Realists were not just painting pictures; they were making a statement about the nature of society and the role of the artist within it. They believed that the artist had a responsibility to speak truth to power, to expose the injustices and inequalities of the world. The Realists were often met with outrage and ridicule by the critics and the public, who were accustomed to seeing art that elevated the human spirit through idealized forms. Yet, the Realists persisted, creating a body of work that would forever change the trajectory of Western art history. They proved that a painting of a simple peasant could be as powerful and significant as a painting of a king, provided it was rendered with honesty and integrity. The movement was not just about style; it was about a fundamental shift in how society viewed itself and its place in the world. The Realists were the first to truly embrace the idea that art should reflect the reality of the time, not an idealized version of it. Their legacy would ripple through the decades, influencing movements from Impressionism to Social Realism, and their influence can still be felt in the art world today. The Realist movement was a revolution in the truest sense, a revolution of the eye and the mind, that challenged the status quo and demanded a new way of seeing. It was a movement that refused to look away from the harsh realities of life, and in doing so, it created a new language for art that was both powerful and enduring.

The Literary Mirror of Society

Realism in literature was broadly defined as the faithful representation of reality, based on objective reality and focusing on showing everyday activities and life, primarily among the middle- or lower-class society, without romantic idealization or dramatization. The realistic figuration and re-figuration of reality form logical constructs that are similar to our usual notion of reality, without violating the principle of three types of laws , those of natural sciences, psychological and social ones. It may be regarded as a general attempt to depict subjects as they are considered to exist in third-person objective reality without embellishment or interpretation and in accordance with secular, empirical rules. As such, the approach inherently implies a belief that such reality is ontologically independent of humankind's conceptual schemes, linguistic practices and beliefs and thus can be known to the artist, who can in turn represent this reality faithfully. Modern realism begins from the position that truth can be discovered by the individual through the senses, and as such, it has its origins in Descartes and Locke, and received its first full formulation by Thomas Reid in the middle of the eighteenth century. While the preceding Romantic era was also a reaction against the values of the Industrial Revolution, realism was in its turn a reaction to Romanticism, and for this reason it is also commonly derogatorily referred to as traditional bourgeois realism. Some writers of Victorian literature produced works of realism, and the rigidities, conventions, and other limitations of bourgeois realism prompted in their turn the revolt later labeled as modernism, starting around 1900. The driving motive of modernist literature was the criticism of the 19th-century bourgeois social order and world view, which was countered with an anti-rationalist, anti-realist and anti-bourgeois program. The literary Realists sought to depict the world as it actually existed, including its mud, its poverty, and its ugliness. They were motivated by a renewed interest in the commoner and the rise of leftist politics, which led them to reject the idealized subjects of the Romantic era. They turned their eyes away from the aristocracy to find beauty and truth in the lives of peasants, laborers, and the working class. The movement emerged as a direct reaction against Romanticism, which had come to dominate French literature and art with its focus on emotion, exoticism, and the sublime. The Realists were not just writing stories; they were making a statement about the nature of society and the role of the writer within it. They believed that the writer had a responsibility to speak truth to power, to expose the injustices and inequalities of the world. The Realists were often met with outrage and ridicule by the critics and the public, who were accustomed to seeing literature that elevated the human spirit through idealized forms. Yet, the Realists persisted, creating a body of work that would forever change the trajectory of Western literature. They proved that a story of a simple peasant could be as powerful and significant as a story of a king, provided it was rendered with honesty and integrity. The movement was not just about style; it was about a fundamental shift in how society viewed itself and its place in the world. The Realists were the first to truly embrace the idea that literature should reflect the reality of the time, not an idealized version of it. Their legacy would ripple through the decades, influencing movements from Modernism to Postmodernism, and their influence can still be felt in the literary world today. The Realist movement was a revolution in the truest sense, a revolution of the mind and the heart, that challenged the status quo and demanded a new way of seeing. It was a movement that refused to look away from the harsh realities of life, and in doing so, it created a new language for literature that was both powerful and enduring.