Realism Realism definitions A term first used in

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Realism

Realism

Realism definitions • “A term first used in France in the 1850 s to

Realism definitions • “A term first used in France in the 1850 s to characterize works concerned with representing the world as it is rather than as it ought to be. ” [source: Cambridge Guide to Literature in English] • “Realism was first used as a literary term in France, where it was applied to literary and visual forms which aim for the accurate reproduction of the world as it is. ” [source: Bloomsbury Dictionary of the English Language]

the world as it is • • tries to “document” contemporary life use of

the world as it is • • tries to “document” contemporary life use of “every day” scenes tends to create objective depictions often involves characters from the lower classes – historically, the poor had not been the subject of novels • Writers (e. g. , Balzac and Flaubert) were accused of immorality. Their defense was often that they were “realists”. [sources: Cambridge Guide & Bloomsbury Dictionary]

Realist Writers • Gustave Flaubert (1821 -1880) – Madame Bovary (1856) – Sentimental Education

Realist Writers • Gustave Flaubert (1821 -1880) – Madame Bovary (1856) – Sentimental Education (1869) • Leo Tolstoy (1828 -1910) – War and Peace (1869) – Anna Karenina (1873 -1877) • Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821 -1881) – Crime and Punishment (1866)

In Art + Gustave Courbet was the first artist to proclaim and practice the

In Art + Gustave Courbet was the first artist to proclaim and practice the realist aesthetic. [source: Britannica Concise Ency. ] Burial at Ornans (1849 -1850)

GUSTAVE COURBET, The Stone Breakers, 1849. Oil on canvas, 5’ 3” x 8’ 6”.

GUSTAVE COURBET, The Stone Breakers, 1849. Oil on canvas, 5’ 3” x 8’ 6”. Formerly at Gemäldegalerie, Dresden (destroyed in 1945).

 • Realists provide “the viewers with a reevaluation of ‘reality’. ” • Only

• Realists provide “the viewers with a reevaluation of ‘reality’. ” • Only things of one’s own time are “real”. • Focus on, and depiction of, experiences of everyday, contemporary life • disapproved of traditional fictional subjects – they are not “real”, not of the present word • Courbert: “show me an angel, and I’ll paint one. ”

Academic vs. Realist art nudity of mythological characters was acceptable, the nudity of a

Academic vs. Realist art nudity of mythological characters was acceptable, the nudity of a “shameless” woman was not William Bouguereau’s Nymphs and Satyr in Academic Style Manet’s Olympia

Sometimes there is a message. It may be political or critical of society. HONORÉ

Sometimes there is a message. It may be political or critical of society. HONORÉ DAUMIER, The Third-Class Carriage, ca. 1862. “… provides a glimpse into the cramped and grimy railway carriage of the 1860 s. The riders are poor and can afford only third-class tickets. … [they] were crammed together on hard benches that filled the carriage. ” [source: Gardner’s Art Through the Ages, p. 737]