In todays class we looked into Realism. Realism art depicts the world as it exists. We looked at many artist taht incorporate realism into their art. We looked at a bunch of landscapes the first being Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796-1875), View of Rome: The Bridge and Castel S. Angelo with the Cupola of St. Peter’s. This landscape is painted in a straight forward manner with little imagination and is simply just what we see. We also looked at the The Sower, by Jean-François Millet. A simple peasant painting which was made to represent the work peasant do. The absence of the mans face was not to paint a picture of a single individual but to praise all peasants. Another significant painting that represents Realism is the The Stone-Breakers, by Gustave Courbet. He paints two men, father and son breaking stone into tiny pieces to build a road. They are labour men, dressed in rags and dirt, and again with no visible face to symbolize labour men working as a collective.
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For this class we discussed Realism, which is characterized by its focus on reproducing reality and its life like depictions. The first painting we look at was The Sower, by Jean-François Mille. The positioning of the figure and the angle at which he is viewed creates a sense of importance surrounding the figure. Notably his face is obscured, signaling that he is representative of the peasant class as a whole, rather than a specific individual. This painting also draws into focus an important feature of many works of Realism, which is a political message. The painting depicts the importance of the “rural working class.” We also spoke about Gustave Courbet, and looked at his painting, The Stone-Breakers. The painting portrays a father and son preforming backbreaking manual labor. They are dressed in rags and out-dated clothing to highlight their class status. Much like in The Sower, both figures’ faces are obscured. Additionally, the painting serves as a message of the exploitation of the working class.
Today’s class was focused on the period of realism. Realism art is defined by depicted what can be actually seen, naturalistically, not painting based on emotion. One work we discussed was Jean-Francois Millet’s “The Sawer”. Millet was one of 14 children in a peasant family, so his work really focused on bringing attention to these people and their work. This painting expresses sympathy for peasants through a political agenda. He argues that peasantry is the backbone of French society. The worker is backlit and working at dawn, showing the long hours. The facelessness is purposeful as Millet wanted the painting to be general and not one specific worker. The colors are also very earth toned to represent the worker being one with his environment.
We also talked about Gustave Courbet, one of the most influential painters during the realism movement. We spoke about his paitning “The Stone-Breakers” The idea behind this painting is that the working class was exploited, for example by completing back breaking work. In this painting, a father and son are both dressed in torn clothing, showing their poorness. This painting also focuses on the exploitation of children and them being forced to work at such a young age. The political messages behind the realism work we looked at was something that really struck me.
In today’s class we dived into the period of realism. This era was defined by factuality, and the attempt to display what is being seen to the viewer. We discussed Jean-Francois Millet’s “The Sawer,” which was created in 1850. Millet came from a peasant family in Normandy, and was one of fourteen children. We learned that peasant families had so many children because child mortality rates were so high along with the fact that families needed lots of means of labor to survive. This artwork expresses a real sympathy for peasants and emphasizes the importance of the peasantry’s work. There is a real political agenda in Millet’s artwork, he argues that the peasantry is the backbone of French society. The cotemporary viewer immediately understood this message when viewing “The Sawer.”
We also talked about Gustave Courbet’s “The Stone-Breakers,” which was created in 1849. Courbet was arguably the most important painter during the realist movement. The notion of the artwork was that the working class was being exploited in the countryside. Peasants are forced to literally complete “back-breaking” activities. A father and his son is presented in the painting, and are both dressed in rags, along with a torn shirt. This represents the poorness of the peasantry class. The message expresses that there is serious exploitation, specifically with the child being forced to work at such a young age. Child labor was a major issue for the peasantry class.
Today in class we looked at several works belonging to the Realism style, centering around artists who sought to dealt with the world that they really see. Jean-François Millet’s The Sower immediately captured my attention because of his ability to create a sense of monumentality in the depiction, whilst maintaining a personal connection to the experiences of the peasant class in France. Further, Gustave Courbet’s The Stone-Breakers and A Burial at Ornans both reinforced this ideology through Courbet’s insistence on depicting the gritty, unvarnished realities of the working class, a complete redirection of some of the prior eras of Baroque and Romantic paintings. Rosa Bonheur furthered this idea as well in Plowing in the Nivernais, as her rendering of the rural landscape and the laboring figures whilst capturing the beauty of farm labor and drawing attention to the mundane certainly indicates her talent and dedication to the style. American artists Thomas Eakins and Winslow Homer offered an intriguing contrast to the European Realists. The works Snap the Whip and Max Schmitt in a Single Scull, both shared slightly lighter and positive scenes that illustrated the changing perspectives of the country following the conclusion of the Civil War. The contrast from the European artwork is exaggerated further by subjects portrayed, as Homer includes a scene of children playing, and Eakins depicts a man engaging in sport, far more leisurely activities than that of the peasant oriented labor of the East.
Class 17
Today in class we discussed the origins of realism and where it moved to as it is observing as true to life as possible, landscapes where the natural origin of this style of painting as you can go somewhere and easily observe. Landscape and then paint it. They are also stationary. It focuses on portraying how everything appears in life as it’s seen. Light is important as it is the source of value that defines how a shape is portrayed visually and color is less important moving toward feeling like an afterthought. Art aims to show the lives people are living by including clues to their class location and occupation. Subject matter feels plane and well seen even before it is painted, for example showing a French farm with cows plowing a field for grape vines. Titles also gain more importance as they help to describe to the viewer exactly what we are looking at. Lots of sympathy for the lower class is shown through the depiction of their life and what they do for us(the sower) in America, commentary on the post-civil war world is made through images of kids playing games about connecting and togetherness. Showing a realistic pastime but also working as symbolism.
In class today we discussed romanticism. It’s formed from many ideals that are not of the current time and place. From fantasizing about an idea that is far off and more of a dream than a reality to visually including exotica in European paintings. Dream-like ideas were used for propaganda in some cases, for example, Napoleon’s conquests were documented, appealing to the Pashto son those bad in France seeing a hero off helping and conceding in a foreign land. The paints are not based on fact but on an idea that you want to believe. This brings the saying ignorance is bliss to mind. The romantic idea can also be applied to history, as gothic architecture was used in the reconstruction of British parliament buildings. This was not a forging stile geographical but from the past… therefore making the architecture foreign. A combination of this idea comes in the form of the Royal Pavilion, a building in Britain that draws inspiration from the Taj Mahal but in essence does not look like the Taj. It just takes some features and uses them to conquer the idea of the Taj it does not recreate the Taj. Romanticism makes you feel for something. It doesn’t show what’s there.
Today we discussed Realism. As the line marking shifts in artistic eras becomes more blurry, some artwork have multiple styles influencing them. This is the case with Francisco Goya’s The Third of May, 1808. Originally studied in the Romanticism period, it also has factual aspects that represent Realism. Realism overall is concerning with presenting the world in a precise, factual manner. Unlike Romanticism, there are often no emotions or appeals to the viewer involved. Form was prioritized, as color “only adds charm.”
Corot is a prime example of Realism, especially his painting View of Rome: The Bridge and Castel S. Angelo with the Cupola of St. Peter’s. The view of Rome, a bridge, and a castle is exactly as if a picture from the same bank of the river were taken. The building’s forms are very geometrical and solid in shape, and earthy, almost plain colors make up the palette. The goal is create a factual and realistic image of Rome was achieved without an emotional appeal.
Millet’s painting The Sower is an example of Realism when painting human subjects. The peasant farmer is a scene anyone could see and relate to as he performs a simple peasant duty. In part, the painting has a political message about the importance of peasants as the backbone of French society, especially as the sower’s face is hidden, allowing him to represent his class as a whole. Once again painted in dusky, earthy colors, Millet doesn’t glorify the job of a peasant. He paints the action in a realistic manner and avoids embellishment.
Today’s lecture focussed on realism as we shift away from romanticism. A critical aspect that I noticed in the realist art was the underlying message. With the less imaginative and more realistic art, artists could have deeper messages in their works. A good example of this was Honore Daumier and the third-class carriage. This painting called to attention the experiences of poor people in a way that we have not noticed in other movements or eras.
I also really enjoyed looking at Winslow Homer’s Crack The Whip. I enjoyed seeing how one artist’s movement spanned multiple continents while maintaining the same central themes. American realism is very similar to what we looked at in Europe, though that is not necessarily true of every other movement. Homer’s painting did have its touches on it, with the schoolhouse and general environment being quintessential New England. I think impressionism will continue to interest me as we discuss that next.
Today was our first in-person class since last week and we started with Francisco De Goya and how his painting portrayed a shift in art. The shift from romanticism to realism focused on realistic and not idealistic art. This style of art opened a door to more political messages being portrayed in art, which has been seen in other periods in history. We discussed other artists who thrived in the realism period like Jean Baptiste-Camille Corot who created a landscape painting of Rome. The Landscape focused on buildings, topography, and the facts of the sight being used. We established that we would see more artwork that was composed of real dealings in the world like Joseph Mallord William Turner and his 1840 painting of a slave ship. We also noticed how the shape was a choice in art like how Corot focused on the structure of the buildings and Turner used bright colors to portray the scene. We then focused our attention on a notable realist Jean Francois Milet and his politically focused portrait. Millet painted a faceless sower in the fields at dawn that we concluded was to shine a light on the exploitation of the working class. We also looked at another painting The Stone Breakers which was another political message for the public. A common message in realism was the working class and was portrayed like historical art. We then shifted to more realistic art like Rosa Bonheurl and Honore Daumier which would be used to reveal the truth. At the end of class, we shifted to American art from Winslow Homer and Thomas Eakins.