Realism (French realisme from Latin realis -
real) - the desire for more
complete, deep and comprehensive
reflection of reality in all its
manifestations. In artistic activity
– understanding of the possible, compliance
material means and methods
assigned tasks. Trend
realism of thinking is manifested in
varying degrees and in various forms in those
or other forms of art, artistic
directions, trends and styles.
the so-called Barbizon school, with artists who received in the history of art
such a name after the village of Barbizon near Paris. Actually,
Barbizon is not so much a geographical concept as a historical and artistic one.
Some of the painters, such as Daubigny, did not come to Barbizon at all, but
belonged to their group in their interest in the national French landscape.
It was a group of young painters - Theodore Rousseau, Diaz della Peña, Jules Dupre,
Constant Troyon and others who came to Barbizon to paint sketches from nature. Paintings
they completed in the workshop on the basis of sketches, hence the completeness and generalization in
compositions and colors. But a lively sense of nature always remained in them. all of them
united by the desire to carefully study nature and depict it truthfully, but this
did not prevent each of them from maintaining their creative individuality.
Theodore Rousseau (1812-1867) "Oaks". 1852 François Daubigny (1817-1878) Village on the banks of the Oise. 1868 Jules Dupre (1811-1889) "Landscape with cattle in Limousin". 1837 Constant Troyon (1810-1865) Departure to the market. 1859 Jean Francois Millet (1814 - 1875) was born in
family of a wealthy peasant from a small
villages of Gryushi on the shores of the English Channel
near Cherbourg. His artistic
abilities were perceived by the family as a gift
over. His parents gave him money and let him
learn painting. In 1837 he came to
Paris and worked in the workshop for two years
painter Paul Delaroche (1797-1856). WITH
1840, the young artist began to exhibit
his work in the Salon.
In 1849 the artist settled in Barbizon and
lived there until the end of his days. Subject
peasant life and nature became the main
for Millet. "I am a peasant and nothing else,
like a peasant,” he said of himself.
Jean Francois Millet "Self-portrait" Jean Francois Millet The Sower. 1850 Jean Francois Millet "The Gatherers of Ears" 1857 Jean Francois Millet "Angelus" 1859 Camille Corot (1796-1875)
studied with academic painters
A. Michallon and V. Bertin, visited Italy, made
study trips to Belgium, Holland and London.
Originally painted unassuming landscapes
neighborhoods of Paris.
In the 1820-40s he created life-direct and
poetic landscapes of French and Italian
nature, which are distinct
sculptural forms and strict light color,
dense material paint layer,
saturation with transparent air and bright
sunlight ("Morning in Venice", 1834; "Homer and
shepherds", 1845). From the late 1840s, Corot lived in Paris
or Ville d'Avre near Versailles. Most
his paintings of this time were created in the workshop
memory. In the art of Koro, the poetic
contemplation, spirituality, elegiac dreamy notes. Painting becomes more
refined, quivering, light (“Road to Sevres”, 185560; “Memories of Mortefontaine”, 1864). After 1860
years Corot painted mainly genre portraits, in
which the model harmoniously merges with its surroundings.
setting ("Woman with a Pearl", 1868-70),
religious and mythical paintings, nudes. Koro is famous
also as a draftsman, lithographer, etcher.
Camille Corot "Self-portrait". 1834 Camille Corot "Hay Cart" 1860 Camille Corot "The Bridge at Mantas" 1868-1870 Camille Corot - Tower of the town hall in Douai. 1871 Camille Corot "Portrait of Claire Sennegon". 1837 Camille Corot "Memories of Italy". 1863
etching Camille Corot "Memories of the park in the fortress at Douai". 1870
etching Gustave Courbet (1819 - 1877)
was born in 1819 in France in the town of Ornans, about
Swiss border. His father owned vineyards. In 1837
year, at the insistence of his father, Courbet entered the College of Law
in Besançon. Simultaneously with college studies, Courbet
attended classes at the Academy, where Charles Antoine Flajulot was his teacher. In 1839 he went to Paris, giving his father
a promise that he would study law there. In Paris
Courbet got acquainted with the art collection of the Louvre. On his
creativity, especially early, had a great influence
small Dutch and Spanish artists, especially
Velasquez.
In 1844, Courbet's first painting, Self-portrait with a Dog,
was exhibited at the Paris Salon (all other paintings
were rejected by the jury). From the very beginning the artist showed himself
extreme realist, and the further, the stronger and more persistent
followed this direction, considering the ultimate goal
the art of conveying bare reality and life's prose.
In the late 1840s, the official direction of the French
painting was still academic, and the work of artists
realistic direction were periodically rejected
exhibition organizers.
In 1855 he opened a personal exhibition in a wooden
barrack "Pavilion of Realism". Catalog of the exhibition where they were
formulated the principles of his work, went down in history
art as a program of realism. In 1871 Courbet joined
to the Paris Commune, managed under it public
museums, was the commissioner for culture and led
overthrow of the Vendôme column.
After the fall of the Commune, he spent, according to the verdict of the court, six months in
prison; was later sentenced to replenish the costs of
restoration of the destroyed column. This made him
Gustave
retire to Switzerland, where he died in poverty in 1877.
Courbet "Self-portrait with a pipe". 1846 Gustave Courbet Lovers in the Village. 1845 Gustave Courbet Self-portrait with a black dog. 1842 Gustave Courbet "Afternoon at Ornans" 1849 Gustave Courbet Burial at Ornans. 1849 Gustave Courbet Hello Monsieur Courbet. 1854 Gustave Courbet "The Wave" 1870 Honoré Daumier (1808 - 1879)
As the son of a Marseille glazier, he, along with
The family moved to Paris in 1816. Got there
education with Lenoir, also studied lithography.
Soon Daumier began to carry out cartoons for
weekly "Caricature". In 1832
the image of Louis Philippe served as the basis
to imprison Daumier for six months.
Two outstanding lithographs "Rue Transnonen" and
The "legislative womb" testify to the early
style, bitter, ironic vision of the artist. After
suppression of "Caricature" his work appeared in
"Sharivari", where Daumier mercilessly ridiculed
bourgeois society in a very realistic style.
Enjoying your time doing cartoons
(of which, by the way, he completed more than 4000), today
Daumier is regarded as one of the finest craftsmen
your business. Honoré Daumier also performed
about 200 small dramatic powerful canvases,
stylistically similar to lithographic prints.
Among them: "Christ and His Disciples" (1879),
"Rebellion" (1848), "Three Lawyers in Conversation"
(1843-1848), "Don Quixote" (1868), "The carriage of the third
class" (1862) and others.
Daumier also completed about 30 sculptures -
small, painted busts. In recent years
the artist suffered from progressive blindness.
Honore Daumier Self-portrait. 1860s
Realism, symbolism. The presentation will introduce the work of French artists Courbet, Daumier, Millet.
Realism in French painting
The style of classicism that reigned in the art of the Enlightenment, at the end of the 18th century, was supplanted by a new style, which was the result of the upheavals caused by the bourgeois revolution in France and disappointment in its results. This style became romanticism. I dedicated several entries to the art of romanticism. Today we'll talk about realism, which began to take shape in the depths of romantic art. The French literary critic Jules Francois Chanfleury, who first used the term "realism", contrasted it with symbolism and romanticism. But, the realistic art direction did not become an absolute antagonist of romanticism, but rather was its continuation.
French realism, striving for a truthful reflection of reality, naturally turned out to be associated with the revolutionary movement and was called "critical realism". Appeal to modernity in all its manifestations, the reproduction of typical characters in typical circumstances based on the authenticity of the image is the main requirement of realism.
“The art of painting cannot be anything other than the depiction of objects visible and tangible by the artist, ... the realist artist must convey the mores, ideas, appearance of his era”
Gustave Courbet
It is unlikely that I could talk about the work and fate of Gustave Courbet, who is often called the founder of realism in french painting better than the creators did film "Liberty Courbet" from the series "My Pushkin"
In his presentation "Realism in French Painting" I tried to present also the work of wonderful French artists Francois Millet And Honore Daumier. For those who are interested in this topic, I want to recommend to look at the site Gallerix.ru
As always, small book list, where you can read about French realism and French realist artists:
- Encyclopedia for children. T.7. Art. Part two. – M.: Avanta+, 2000.
- Beckett V. History of painting. - M .: Astrel Publishing House LLC: AST Publishing House LLC, 2003.
- Dmitrieva N.A. Brief history of arts. Issue III: Countries of Western Europe of the 19th century; Russia of the 19th century. - M.: Art, 1992
- Emokhonova L.G. World Artistic Culture: Proc. Allowance for students. avg. ped. textbook establishments. - M .: Publishing Center "Academy", 1998.
- Lvova E.P., Sarabyanov D.V., Borisova E.A., Fomina N.N., Berezin V.V., Kabkova E.P., Nekrasova L.M. World Art. XIX century. Visual arts, music, theater. ‒ St. Petersburg: Peter, 2007.
- Samin D.K. One hundred great artists. – M.: Veche, 2004.
- Freeman J. History of Art. - M .: "Publishing house Astrel", 2003.
In the depths of romantic art of the early 19th century, realism began to take shape, associated with progressive public sentiments. This term was first coined in the middle of the 19th century. French literary critic J. Chanfleury to designate art that opposes romanticism and symbolism ”But realism is a category deeper than individual artistic styles in art. Realism in the broad sense of the word is aimed at a complete reflection of real life. It is a kind of aesthetic core of artistic culture, which was already felt in the Renaissance - "Renaissance realism", and in the Age of Enlightenment - "Enlightenment realism". But since the 1930s
19th century realistic art, striving for an accurate reflection of the surroundings, involuntarily denounced bourgeois reality. In time, this current, called critical realism, coincided with the rise of the labor movement in various European countries.
Initially, realism was identified with naturalism, and the transition to it, say, in Germany and Austria, was Biedermeier - a stylistic direction, which was characterized by the poeticization of the world of things, the comfort of a home interior, close attention to family everyday scenes. Biedermeier rather quickly degenerated into philistine sugary naturalism, where minor everyday details, but written out “exactly like in life,” took the first place.
In France, realism was associated with pragmatism, the predominance of materialistic views, and the dominant role of science. Among the largest representatives of realism in literature are O. Balzac, G. Flaubert, and in painting - O. Daumier and G. Courbet.
Support deBalzac(1799-1850) already in one of his first works Shagreen Skin, combining romantic imagery and symbolism with a sober analysis, realistically depicted the atmosphere of Paris after the revolution of 1830. According to the laws of his art, Balzac, in a series of novels and stories that made up the epic "The Human Comedy", showed a social section of society in which representatives of all classes, states, professions, psychological types live and interact, which have become common nouns, such as, for example, Gobsek and Rastignac . The epic, consisting of 90 novels and stories and connected by a common idea and characters, included three sections: studies of morals, philosophical studies and analytical studies. Etudes of manners displayed scenes of provincial, Parisian, rural life, private, political and military. Thus, Balzac brilliantly showed the laws of development of reality in a spiral from facts to philosophical generalization. In the words of the author himself, he sought to depict a society that "contains the basis of its movement." Balzac's epic is a realistic picture of French society, grandiose in scope, reflecting its contradictions, the reverse side of bourgeois relations and mores. At the same time, Balzac has repeatedly argued that he does not paint portraits of certain individuals, but generalized images: his literary characters were not slavishly copied models, but were a kind of sample of the genus, combining the most characteristic features of this or that image. Generalization is one of the main precepts of Balzac's aesthetics.
Aesthetics Gustaea Flaubert(1821-1880) found its expression in the concept he created about the special role and elitism of literature, which he likened to science. The appearance of the novel Madame Bovary marked a new era in literature. Using a simple story about adultery, Flaubert is our way of showing the deep sources of the surrounding vulgarity, the moral insignificance of the provincial bourgeois, the suffocating atmosphere of the Second Empire that developed after the July coup of Louis Bonaparte in 1848. The novel, this masterpiece of French literature, is not without reason called the encyclopedia of the French province of the 19th century. The writer, selecting characteristic details, restores the historical picture of the whole society from insignificant signs of the time. The tiny town of Yonville, in which the action of the novel takes place, represents the whole of France in miniature: it has its own nobility, its own clergy, its own bourgeoisie, its own workers and peasants, its own beggars and firefighters who have taken the place of the military. These people, living side by side, are essentially divided, indifferent to each other and sometimes hostile. The social hierarchy is indestructible here, strong
pushes the weak: the owners take out their anger on the servants - on innocent animals. Selfishness and callousness, like an infection, spread to the whole district, moods of hopelessness and melancholy penetrate into all pores of life. Flaubert the artist was preoccupied with the color and sound structure of the novel, which served as a kind of accompaniment to the sad story of Emma Bovary. “For me,” Flaubert wrote, “only one thing was important - to convey the gray color, the color of the mold in which wood lice vegetate.” With his provincial drama, Flaubert dealt a blow to petty-bourgeois taste, to pseudo-romanticism. No wonder "Madame Bovary" was compared with "Don Quixote" by Cervantes, which put an end to the passion for the chivalric romance. Flaubert proved the enormous possibilities of realistic art and had a decisive influence on the development of realism in world literature.
The revolution of 1830 opened a new stage in the history of the artistic culture of France, in particular, it contributed to the development of caricature as a powerful means of criticism. In literature, poetry, in the visual arts - graphics most vividly responded to revolutionary events. The recognized master of satirical graphics was Honore Daumier(1808-1879). Being a brilliant draftsman, a master of line, he created expressive images with one stroke, spot, silhouette and made political caricature a true art.
Masterfully mastering the technique of light and shade modeling, Daumier used graphic techniques in his paintings and always emphasized the contour. With a calm, flowing black-brown line, he outlined the contours of figures, profiles, headdresses, which was a feature of his pictorial method.
Picturesque works of Daumier are designated by cycles, the first of which was revolutionary. It is quite reasonable to say that the revolution of 1830 created Daumier-graphics, the revolution of 1848 - Daumier-painter. Daumier was a staunch Republican, and the artist's sympathies were on the side of the proletariat and the democratic intelligentsia. The most significant work of the revolutionary cycle is the "Uprising", where, having depicted only a few figures, placing them diagonally, Daumier achieved the impression and movement of a large crowd of people, and the inspiration of the masses, and the extent of the action beyond the canvas. The emphasis was made by him only on the figure of a young man in a light shirt. He is subordinate to the general movement and at the same time directs it, turning to those walking behind him and pointing the way to the goal with his raised hand. Next to him is an intellectual, on whose pale face amazement is frozen, but he, carried away by the general impulse, merges with the crowd.
The cycle "Don Quixote" can be called a through cycle in the work of Daumier. His interpretation of the images of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza has no analogues in French art. In contrast to the banal illustrators of Cervantes, Daumier was only interested in the psychological side of the image, and the leitmotif of all his 27 variations is the haggard, incredibly tall and straight Don Quixote, riding through a gloomy hilly landscape on his monstrously bony, similar to the Gothic chimera Rossinante; and behind him, on a donkey, the cowardly Sancho Panza, always lagging behind. The image of Sancho, as it were, says: enough ideals, enough struggle, it's time to finally stop. But Don Quixote invariably follows forward, true to his dream, he is not stopped by obstacles, does not attract Life's blessings, he is all in motion, in search.
If in "Don Quixote" Daumier reflected the tragic contradiction between the two sides of the human soul, then in the series "Judges and Lawyers" a terrifying contrast arose between the appearance, appearance of a person, and his essence. In these truly brilliant series, Daumier rose to social and
French Art 18th Century. Realistic direction in painting.
Against the refined art of rocaille, the art of salons and boudoirs, “subordinate to the imagination and whim of a handful of rich, bored, idle people, whose taste is as spoiled as their morals”, representatives of bourgeois criticism, led by Denis, spoke out in the 60s and 70s Diderot. Blaming the art of the aristocracy for its conventionality and lack of naturalness, they demanded the creation of art that truly reflects life, free from mannerisms, and not afraid of the ordinary. In contrast to the art of rocaille, the main task of which was to bring pleasure to people spoiled by idleness, Diderot and his supporters demanded the creation of an effective art, whose task was not only to reproduce reality, but also to educate a new person. In their opinion, in addition to truthfulness, art should have a deep content of social significance, should have a beneficial effect on society, help a person in solving the most important life problems.
These views were most fully developed by Diderot in his "Salons" - reviews of art exhibitions in the Louvre published since 1759.
Jean Baptiste Simeon Chardin. A striking contrast to the dominant aristocratic line in the development of art is the work of the greatest master of realism of the 18th century, Jean Baptiste Simeon Chardin (1699-1779). The son of a Parisian craftsman-carpenter, he was trained by academic painters, but very soon broke with their method of work - according to the samples of other masters and by imagination. To this method, he opposed work from nature and its close study - a principle to which he remained true throughout his life. In 1728, Chardin drew attention to himself with two still lifes he exhibited in the open-air Place Dauphine, where once a year young artists could show their paintings. The success that fell to his lot allowed him to submit his work to the Academy. Here his still lifes received unanimous recognition, and Chardin was elected an academician.
Still life was Chardin's favorite genre. This genre came into fashion in the 18th century under the influence of the Dutch, whose passion echoed the craving for simplicity and naturalness that emerged in literature. But in their still lifes, the French masters usually repelled not from the realistic foundations of Dutch art, but from its decorative elements. Chardin contrasted this decorative still life with his simple, unpretentious paintings, devoid of any external effects. He painted earthenware jugs, bottles, glasses, simple kitchen utensils surrounded by fruits and vegetables, sometimes fish or dead game. But in these simple objects, he discovered an amazing wealth of colorful shades, which allowed him to express the material qualities of things with extraordinary power. These virtues of Chardin's painting were immediately appreciated by Diderot, who considered him the "first colorist" of the Salon and, perhaps, one of the first colorists in painting. “... How the air moves around these objects,” exclaims Diderot, “that's who understands the harmony of colors and reflexes.” Indeed, Chardin is one of the largest colorists in Western art.
Genre painting occupies the most important place in Chardin's work. It is dedicated to depicting simple scenes from the life of the French third estate - the petty bourgeoisie and working people. Chardin himself came out of this environment and did not break contact with her until the end of his days. For the first time in the art of the 18th century, the life of the third estate is in the center of attention of the artist, who conveys it with deep feeling. The plots of Chardin's genre paintings are ordinary and simple, they are devoid of drama or narrative. In most cases, this is an image of a peaceful domestic life: a mother with children reading a prayer before a modest meal (“Prayer before dinner”, 1744, the Hermitage); a laundress washing clothes, and a child blowing soap bubbles perched near a tub (“The Laundress Woman”, c. 1737, the Hermitage), a boy diligently folding a house of cards (“House of Cards”, Louvre) - these are typical subjects of the master’s paintings. Everything in them is natural and simple, and at the same time full of great poetry. Genre works by Chardin are completely devoid of literary and didactic tendencies, as well as sentimentality and anecdotes, inherent in similar works of most of his contemporaries. But just as Chardin discovered the beauty of simple kitchen utensils in his still lifes, he was able to discover a whole world of human feelings under the modest appearance of everyday domestic scenes, which acquire genuine moral significance in his paintings. Sincerity and deep truthfulness are combined in these works of Chardin with his inherent artistry, taste and exquisite painting and color skills. Like still lifes, they are painted softly and generally, and their lack of brightness is built on the subtlest nuances of subdued tones.
In French art of the 18th century, Chardin was also one of the creators of the realistic portrait. Among the most beautiful portraits of the artist are his self-portraits and a portrait of his wife, made in pastel (Louvre, 1770s).
The realistic art of Chardin immediately received the support of cutting-edge art criticism. Diderot especially appreciated Chardin, in his "Salons" more than once praising his paintings for their lifelike truthfulness and high pictorial merits. However, not in all respects Chardin's art satisfied the new criticism. Now, when art was required to become, in Diderot's words, "a school of morals, a mute orator instructing us in virtues and lofty deeds," those artists in whose work didactic features began to enjoy particular success.
Jean Baptiste Greuz. The head of the sentimental-moralizing trend in French art in the second half of the 18th century was Jean Baptiste Greuze (1725-1805). Greuze's work, devoted mainly to the depiction of the life of the petty bourgeoisie, is marked by strong idealizing tendencies and imbued with a sentimental sensibility. They are close in character to the sentimental drama that arose during this period - the literary genre in which Diderot wrote.
Greuze was the first among French artists to become a preacher of bourgeois morality, which largely explains the success of his works such as "The Father of the Family Explaining the Bible to His Children", which appeared in the Salon of 1755 (Paris, private collection), or "The Country Bride" (Salon 1761, currently in the Louvre). In these paintings, Greuze's contemporaries were attracted both by sensitive subjects and sentimental praise of family virtues.
He highly appreciated the work of Greuze and Diderot. “Truly, my artist is Greuze,” wrote Diderot, analyzing Greuze’s painting “Paralytic” (Hermitage) in his “Salon” of 1763. Diderot admires this picture, as it is a "moral painting", which, along with dramatic poetry, should "touch us, teach, correct and encourage us to virtue."
However, in terms of their artistic merit, the works of Greuze are inferior to the works of Chardin. The compositions of his paintings are often artificial and theatrical, the type is monotonously idealized and devoid of true expressiveness, the gestures of the figures are memorized and repeated in similar situations, the poses are spectacular and deliberate. The coloring of Grez's paintings is also often arbitrary. But his numerous drawings have great merit. These are compositional sketches or sketches of figures, usually made in Italian pencil or sanguine, free in style, vividly and directly conveying the model.
Along with scenes of petty-bourgeois life, Grez painted portraits (portrait of a young man, 1750s, Hermitage), as well as idealized images of pretty girls, in which his inherent sentimentality of expression often turns into an unpleasant cloying. However, it was these so-called "heads" of Grez that were especially popular in their time.
However, Grez's art was only a temporary success. The closer the moment of the entry of the bourgeoisie into the period of class struggles approached, the less they could be satisfied with the sentimental paintings of Greuze with their limited issues of family life themes, especially since Greuze's sentimentalism is usually imbued with eroticism.
On the eve of the revolution of 1789, didactic everyday art was replaced by classicism.
Jean Opore Fragonard. In the French art of the second half of the 18th century, the traditions of the Rococo style continue to live, into which, however, realistic searches are now penetrating. The largest representative of this trend was Jean Honore Fragonard (1732-1806), a brilliant master of drawing and a subtle colorist. The gallant scenes and images of parks performed by Fragonard were especially famous.
While still a pensioner in Rome, Fragonard, together with the landscape painter Hubert Robert, was fond of drawing sketches of Roman villas. Together with the same Robert, Fragonard lives in the Villa d'Este on the Tiber, provided by him by the patron Saint Non, surrounded by a picturesque park, located in an area of amazing beauty. Here Fragonard and Robert write a number of studies and participate in the publication undertaken by Saint Non, dedicated to Naples and Sicily, performing drawings for engravings.
In the depiction of love scenes, Fragonard develops even more boldly than Boucher, sensual and erotic elements. These notes are especially strong in such works as "The Stolen Shirt" (Louvre), "Swing" (London, Wallace collection), "Stealth Kiss" (Hermitage) and others. Rich imagination, ease of writing, a bold brushstroke, brilliant craftsmanship are characteristic of Fragonard's work. Fragonard also succeeds in works depicting scenes of everyday, sometimes folk life, such as, for example, The Farmer's Children (Hermitage) and others. They are imbued with a warm feeling and are distinguished by the vitality of images, great skill in the transmission of light, subtlety of color and a free, wide manner of writing. They feel the study of the works of Dutch painters of the 17th century. The influence of the latter is reflected in the brilliantly conveyed characterization of things, interest in the depiction of animals. Like all artists of his time, Fragonard was very versatile, painted portraits, religious paintings, decorative panels, illustrated books, made miniatures.
Realism (from Latin "realis" - real, material) is a trend in art, it arose at the end of the 18th century, reached its peak in the 19th, continues to develop at the beginning of the 20th century and still exists. Its goal is a real and objective reproduction of objects and objects of the surrounding world, while maintaining their typical features and characteristics. In the process of the historical development of all art as a whole, realism acquired specific forms and methods, as a result of which its three stages are distinguished: enlightenment (the Age of Enlightenment, the end of the 18th century), critical (19th century) and socialist realism (the beginning of the 20th century).
The term "realism" was first used by the French literary critic Jules Jeanfleury, who in his book "Realism" (1857) interpreted this concept as an art created to resist such currents as romanticism and academism. He acted as a form of response to idealization, which is characteristic of romanticism and the classical principles of academism. Having a sharp social orientation, it was called critical. This direction reflected acute social problems in the world of art, gave an assessment of various phenomena in the life of society of that time. His leading principles were to objectively display the essential aspects of life, which at the same time contained the height and truth of the author's ideals, to reproduce characteristic situations and typical characters, while maintaining the fullness of their artistic individuality.
(Boris Kustodiev "Portrait of D.F. Bogoslovsky")
The realism of the early twentieth century was aimed at finding new connections between a person and the reality around him, new creative ways and methods, original means of artistic expression. Often it was not expressed in its pure form, it is characterized by a close connection with such trends in the art of the twentieth century as symbolism, religious mysticism, modernism.
Realism in painting
The appearance of this trend in French painting is primarily associated with the name of the artist Gustave Courbier. After several paintings, especially those of great importance to the author, were rejected as exhibits at the World Exhibition in Paris, in 1855 he opened his own “Pavilion of Realism”. The declaration put forward by the artist proclaimed the principles of a new direction in painting, the purpose of which was to create a living art that conveyed the mores, customs, ideas and appearance of his contemporaries. Courbier's "realism" immediately provoked a sharp reaction from society and critics, who claimed that he, "hiding behind realism, slanders nature", called him an artisan in painting, made parodies of him in the theater and slandered him in every possible way.
(Gustave Courbier "Self-portrait with a black dog")
Realistic art is based on its own, special view of the surrounding reality, which criticizes and analyzes many aspects of society. Hence the name of realism of the 19th century “critical”, because it criticized, first of all, the inhuman nature of the cruel exploitative system, showed the blatant poverty and suffering of the offended common people, the injustice and permissiveness of those in power. Criticizing the foundations of the existing bourgeois society, realist artists were noble humanists who believed in the Good, Supreme Justice, Universal Equality and Happiness for everyone without exception. Later (1870), realism splits into two branches: naturalism and impressionism.
(Julien Dupre "Return from the fields")
The main themes of the artists who painted their canvases in the style of realism were genre scenes of urban and rural life of ordinary people (peasants, workers), scenes of street events and incidents, portraits of regulars in street cafes, restaurants and nightclubs. For realist artists, it was important to convey the moments of life in its dynamics, to emphasize the individual characteristics of the acting characters as plausibly as possible, to realistically show their feelings, emotions and experiences. The main characteristic of paintings depicting human bodies is their sensuality, emotionality and naturalism.
Realism as a direction in painting developed in many countries of the world such as France (Barbizon School), Italy (was known as verism), Great Britain (Figurative School), USA (Edward Hopper's Trash Can School, Thomas Eakins Art School), Australia (Heidelberg School, Tom Roberts, Frederick McCubbin), in Russia it was known as the movement of Wanderers.
(Julien Dupre "The Shepherd")
French paintings, written in the spirit of realism, often belonged to the landscape genre, in which the authors tried to convey the surrounding nature, the beauty of the French province, rural landscapes, which, in their opinion, demonstrated the “real” France in all its splendor in the best possible way. The paintings of French realist artists did not depict idealized types, there were real people, ordinary situations without embellishment, there was no usual aesthetics and the imposition of universal truths.
(Honore Daumier "Third Class Carriage")
The most prominent representatives of French realism in painting were the artists Gustave Courbier ("Artist's Workshop", "Stone Crushers", "Knitter"), Honore Daumier ("Third Class Carriage", "On the Street", "Laundress"), Francois Millet (" Sower”, “Gatherers”, “Angelus”, “Death and the woodcutter”).
(François Millet "The Gatherers")
In Russia, the development of realism in the visual arts is closely connected with the awakening of public consciousness and the development of democratic ideas. The progressive citizens of society denounced the existing state system, showed deep sympathy for the tragic fate of the simple Russian people.
(Alexey Savrasov "The Rooks Have Arrived")
The group of Wanderers, formed by the end of the 19th century, included such great Russian masters of the brush as landscape painters Ivan Shishkin (“Morning in a Pine Forest”, “Rye”, “Pine Forest”) and Alexei Savrasov (“The Rooks Have Arrived”, “Rural view”, “Rainbow”), masters of genre and historical paintings Vasily Perov (“Troika”, “Hunters at rest”, “Rural religious procession at Easter”) and Ivan Kramskoy (“Unknown”, “Inconsolable grief”, “ Christ in the Desert”), the outstanding painter Ilya Repin (“Barge Haulers on the Volga”, “They Didn’t Wait”, “The Procession in the Kursk Province”), the master of depicting large-scale historical events Vasily Surikov (“Morning of the Streltsy Execution”, “Boyar Morozova”, "Suvorov Crossing the Alps") and many others (Vasnetsov, Polenov, Levitan),
(Valentin Serov "Girl with peaches")
By the beginning of the 20th century, the traditions of realism were firmly entrenched in the fine arts of that time; such artists as Valentin Serov (“Girl with Peaches”, “Peter I”), Konstantin Korovin (“In Winter”, “At the Tea Table”, “Boris Godunov . Coronation"), Sergei Ivanov ("Family", "Arrival of the Governor", "Death of a Settler").
Realism in 19th century art
Critical realism, which appeared in France and reached its peak in many European countries by the middle of the 19th century, arose in opposition to the traditions of art movements that preceded it, such as romanticism and academism. His main task was the objective and truthful reflection of the "truth of life" with the help of specific means of art.
The emergence of new technologies, the development of medicine, science, various branches of industrial production, the growth of cities, the increased exploitative pressure on peasants and workers, all this could not but affect the cultural sphere of that time, which later led to the development of a new movement in art - realism. designed to reflect the life of the new society without embellishment and distortion.
(Daniel Defoe)
The English writer and publicist Daniel Defoe is considered the founder of European realism in literature. In his works "Diary of the Plague Year", "Roxanne", "The Joys and Sorrows of Mole Flanders", "The Life and Amazing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe" he displays various social contradictions of that time, they are based on the statement about the good beginning of each person, which can change under the pressure of external circumstances.
The founder of literary realism and the psychological novel in France is the writer Frederic Stendhal. His famous novels "Red and Black", "Red and White" showed readers that the description of the ordinary scenes of life and everyday human experiences and emotions can be done with the greatest skill and elevate it to the rank of art. Also among the outstanding realist writers of the XIX century are the French Gustave Flaubert ("Madame Bovary"), Guy de Maupassant ("Dear Friend", "Strong as Death"), Honore de Balzac (series of novels "The Human Comedy"), Englishman Charles Dickens ("Oliver Twist", "David Copperfield"), Americans William Faulkner and Mark Twain.
The origins of Russian realism were such outstanding masters of the pen as playwright Alexander Griboedov, poet and writer Alexander Pushkin, fabulist Ivan Krylov, their successors Mikhail Lermontov, Nikolai Gogol, Anton Chekhov, Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky.
The painting of the period of realism of the 19th century is characterized by an objective depiction of real life. French artists led by Theodore Rousseau paint rural landscapes and scenes from street life, proving that ordinary nature without embellishment can also be a unique material for creating masterpieces of fine art.
One of the most scandalous realist artists of that time, causing a storm of criticism and condemnation, was Gustave Courbier. His still lifes, landscape paintings ("Deer at the Waterhole"), genre scenes ("Funeral in Ornan", "Stone Crushers").
(Pavel Fedotov "Major's Matchmaking")
The founder of Russian realism is the artist Pavel Fedotov, his famous paintings “Major’s Matchmaking”, “Fresh Cavalier”, in his works he exposes the vicious mores of society, and expresses his sympathy for the poor and oppressed people. The followers of its traditions can be called the movement of Wanderers, which was founded in 1870 by fourteen of the best graduates of the Imperial St. Petersburg Academy of Arts together with other painters. Their very first exhibition, opened in 1871, was a huge success with the public, it showed a reflection of the real life of the simple Russian people, who are in terrible conditions of poverty and oppression. These are the famous paintings by Repin, Surikov, Perov, Levitan, Kramskoy, Vasnetsov, Polenov, Ge, Vasiliev, Kuindzhi and other prominent Russian realist artists.
(Constantin Meunier "Industry")
In the 19th century, architecture, architecture and related applied arts were in a state of deep crisis and decline, which predetermined unfavorable conditions for the development of monumental sculpture and painting. The dominant capitalist system was hostile to those types of art that were directly related to the social life of the collective (public buildings, ensembles of broad civil significance), realism as a trend in art was able to fully develop in the visual arts and partially in sculpture. Outstanding realist sculptors of the 19th century: Constantin Meunier ("Loader", "Industry", "Pudlinger", "Hammer") and Auguste Rodin ("The Thinker", "Walking", "Citizens of Calais").
Realism in the art of the XX century
In the post-revolutionary period and during the creation and flourishing of the USSR, socialist realism became the dominant trend in Russian art (1932 - the appearance of this term, its author was the Soviet writer I. Gronsky), which was an aesthetic reflection of the socialist concept of Soviet society.
(K. Yuon "New Planet")
The main principles of social realism, aimed at a truthful and realistic depiction of the surrounding world in its revolutionary development, were the principles:
- Nationalities. Use common speech turns, proverbs, so that literature is understandable to the people;
- Ideological. Designate heroic deeds, new ideas and ways necessary for the happiness of ordinary people;
- Specificity. Depict the surrounding reality in the process of historical development, corresponding to its materialistic understanding.
In literature, the main representatives of social realism were the writers Maxim Gorky ("Mother", "Foma Gordeev", "The Life of Klim Samgin", "At the Bottom", "Song of the Petrel"), Mikhail Sholokhov ("Virgin Soil Upturned", the epic novel "Quiet Don"), Nikolai Ostrovsky (the novel "How the Steel Was Tempered"), Alexander Serafimovich (the story "The Iron Stream"), the poet Alexander Tvardovsky (the poem "Vasily Terkin"), Alexander Fadeev (the novels "The Rout", "The Young Guard") and others
(M. L. Zvyagin "To work")
Also in the USSR, the works of such foreign authors as the pacifist writer Henri Barbusse (the novel "Fire"), the poet and prose writer Louis Aragon, the German playwright Bertolt Brecht, the German writer and communist Anna Segers (the novel "The Seventh Cross") were considered among the socialist realist writers. , Chilean poet and politician Pablo Neruda, Brazilian writer Jorge Amado ("Captains of the Sand", "Donna Flor and Her Two Husbands").
Outstanding representatives of the direction of socialist realism in Soviet painting: Alexander Deineka ("Defense of Sevastopol", "Mother", "Future Pilots", "Athlete"), V. Favorsky, Kukryniksy, A. Gerasimov ("Lenin on the podium", "After the rain" , “Portrait of a ballerina O. V. Lepeshinskaya”), A. Plastov (“Bathing horses”, “Dinner of tractor drivers”, “Collective farm herd”), A. Laktionov (“Letter from the front”), P. Konchalovsky (“Lilac” ), K. Yuon (“Komsomolskaya Pravda”, “People”, “New Planet”), P. Vasilyev (portraits and stamps depicting Lenin and Stalin), V. Svarog (“Heroes-pilots in the Kremlin before the flight”, “First May - Pioneers"), N. Baskakov ("Lenin and Stalin in Smolny") F. Reshetnikov ("Again deuce", "Arrived on vacation"), K. Maksimov and others.
(Vera Mukhina monument "Worker and Collective Farm Woman")
Prominent Soviet sculptors-monumentalists of the era of socialist realism were Vera Mukhina (monument "Worker and Collective Farm Girl"), Nikolai Tomsky (bas-relief of 56 figures "Defence, Labor, Rest" on the House of Soviets on Moskovsky Prospekt in Leningrad), Evgeny Vuchetich (monument "Warrior- Liberator" in Berlin, the sculpture "The Motherland Calls!" in Volgograd), by Sergei Konenkov. As a rule, especially durable materials, such as granite, steel or bronze, were selected for large-scale monumental sculptures, and they were installed in open spaces to commemorate especially important historical events or heroic-epic deeds.
