Realism was an artistic movement that developed in the mid-19th century in response to industrialization and urbanization. Realist artists aimed to depict ordinary people and everyday subjects based on close observation of reality rather than idealization. They sought to reveal the truth of contemporary social conditions, influenced by scientific empiricism and Marxist views of class struggle. Gustave Courbet was a leading French realist who painted scenes of working class life. In America, Thomas Eakins painted realistic portraits and scenes focusing on anatomy and the human form. The development of photography also prompted discussion about the purpose of art. Some artists embraced or were inspired by photography while others reacted against its realism.

1. Realism

2. The Realist Era
• Typically associated with the
1850’s
• Scientific method is used
rather than accept dogma
• Develops the “Age of Reason”
• Industrial Revolution takes
shape as factories produce
goods cheaper and faster
• Migration from rural areas into
cities
(urbanization), economies
change from agrarian to
industrial
• Major inventions are the train
and photography

3. What is Realism?
• Enlightenment put focus on
scientific method and
observation
• Empiricism – knowledge
based on what can be
measured and directly
experienced
• What can actually be
seen/experienced in the
world
• Realists only painted
subjects they themselves
could experience (personal
experience)

4. Realism
• context: cultural
– role of artist:
• no longer to simply reveal
beautiful & sublime
• aimed to tell the truth
• not beholden to higher,
idealized reality (i.e., God)
– subjects:
• ordinary events and
objects
• working class & broad
panorama of society
• psychological motivation of
characters

5. Realism and Positivism
• Developed by philosopher
Auguste Comte (1798-1857)
• All knowledge could be
derived from objectivity of
scientific observation
• (Ahem…anyone ever hear of
Aristotle??!!)
• Social scientists would deduce
laws of human culture
• Metaphysical and theological
speculation was out
• Positivism stressed emphasis
on objectivity

6. Realism: Exploring human evolution &
social equality
• political context: Marxism
• Communist Manifesto (c. 1850)
– thesis: all history was history
of class struggles
– determined by humanity’s
relationship to material
wealth
• Darwin: theory of evolution
• Comte: positivism…all
knowledge comes from
tested scientific proof

7. Realism in France: Courbet
• style: self-educated; copied
Spanish, Dutch & Venetian masters @
Louvre
• Baroque lighting
(e.g., Caravaggio, Rembrandt)
• objective record of customs &
appearances of contemporary society
• fight against official art (salon
REJECT)
The Stonebreakers, 1850
• subjects: “Show me an angel, and
Young & old working at miserable job; socialist ideals
I’ll paint one”
Monmentality of everyday life
• No exotic locales, no gods and
goddesses, no heroes of history.. Only
wht you can see or touch.

10. GUSTAVE COURBET, The Stone Breakers, 1849.
10

11. GUSTAVE COURBET, Burial at Ornans, 1849. 11

14. JEAN-FRANÇOIS MILLET, The Gleaners, 1857. 14

16. HONORÉ DAUMIER, Rue Transnonain, 1834.
16

19. HONORÉ DAUMIER, Third-Class Carriage, ca. 1862.
19

22. American Realism- Eakins the Anatomist
• Thomas Eakins (1844-1916)
– teacher: Philadelphia
Academy of Fine Arts
• taught anatomy to medical
students & figure drawing
to art students
• disapproved of academic
technique of drawing from
plaster casts
– used nude model
– allowed female
students to study
male nude
• Critics called him a
“butcher” and “degrading”

23. THOMAS EAKINS, The Gross
Clinic, 1875.
23

28. Eakins vs. Rembrandt…

29. JOHN SINGER SARGENT, The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit, 1882.
29

31. John Singer Sargent’s Madame X
•American portrait artist much sought after in
US and Europe
•This portrait caused a scandal in the Paris
salon of 1888
•Sargent moved to England and painted quasi
impressionist
•Captured personality of his subjects
•Painterly brushwork, outstanding capture of
clothing/fashions

36. HONORÉ DAUMIER, Nadar
Raising Photography to the
Height of Art, 1862.
36

37. JOSIAH JOHNSON HAWES and ALBERT SANDS SOUTHWORTH, Early Operation under
Ether, Massachusetts General Hospital, ca. 1847. 37

38. TIMOTHY O’SULLIVAN, A Harvest of Death, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, July 1863.
38

39. EADWEARD MUYBRIDGE, Horse Galloping, 1878.
39

40. The Problem of
Photography
What is the purpose of art in the face
of photography?
Vermeer used the camera obscura
Some artists reacted against
photography
Some embraced it – much like
Vermeer
First surviving photograph dates to
1826, by 1880s portable cameras
available

43. NADAR, Eugène Delacroix, ca.
1855.
43

44. Reaction: Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
• Not everyone was
enjoying the world
produced by
industrialization
• In England, Pre-
Raphaelite Brotherhood
departed from subject
matter of French Realists
• Tired of classical
themes, focused on
medieval stories and
spirituality

45. DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI, Beata
Beatrix, ca. 1863.
45

46. JOHN EVERETT MILLAIS, Ophelia. 46

49. Symbolism
• A loosely organized
movement that flourished
in the late 1800’s and was
closely related to the
Symbolist movement in
literature. In reaction
against both Realism and
Impressionism, Symbolist
painters stressed art's
subjective, symbolic, and
decorative functions and
turned to the mystical and
occult in an attempt to
evoke subjective states of
mind by visual means.

50. Gustave Moreau, THE
SUITORS, 1852.

52. Gustave Moreau, THE
DAUGHTERS OF
TESPIO, 1882/83.

53. Gustave Moreau, OEDUPUS THE
WAYFARER, 1888.

58. Edvard Munch, MADONNA, 1894-95.

59. Odilin Redon

62. ÉDOUARD MANET, Le Déjeuner sur l’Herbe (Luncheon on the Grass), 1863.
62

63. ÉDOUARD MANET, Olympia, 1863. 63

64. ADOLPHE-WILLIAM
BOUGUEREAU, Nymphs and
Satyr, 1873.
64

65. William Bouguereau, THE
NYPMHAEUM, 1878.