Realism & Impressionism

1848-1907 Industrial Revolution II

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/?period=10&region=euwf#/Key-Events

2

Realism

Courbet, Burial at Ornans

• Bleak landscape for funeral setting

• Monumentalizes something of no importance to the Salon public

• Drab common faces

• S curve of composition

• Arrangement seems casual

• Figures occupy a shallow space

• Transcendent meaning of death missing

• Rural society in myth: peasant and master work together

• Characterization of each figure: some bored, some grieving, some self-important

• Dog: a half-breed, distracted as many of the people are

• Cross rises above the scene into the sky

• Many wear black, overall tonality is earthy

3

Realism

Courbet, Stone Breakers

• Dehumanizing labor given grandeur

• Anonymous people

• Dignity of menial tasks

• Faceless people

• Emotionless

• Earthen tones

• Monumentality

4

Realism

Daumier, Third Class Carriage

• Crude third class railcar

• Poor can only afford third class tickets

• Unposed, casual, seemingly unplanned

• Impersonal

• Physically crowded

• Dignity of the poor

• Given a religious overtone

5

Realism

Manet, Luncheon on the Grass

• A modern response to Giorgione and Raphael

• Rejected by the official salon and exhibited in the Salon of the Refuses

• Models are obviously posing, no unity of figures and landscape

• She is undressed rather than nude

• Two men dressed in contemporary clothes contrasts with the nudity of the foreground female

• Nude figure directly engages us

• Still life very unrealistic

• Sketchy broad brushstrokes

• Triangular composition

• Flattening of perspective

6

Realism

Manet, Olympia

• Based on Giorgione and Titian

• Unashamed of nudity; direct confrontational stare

• Absence of modeling

• Doubtful morals suggested; prostitute receiving flowers from an admirer

• Created a scandal at the Salon of 1865

• Black cat: an exclamation point at her feet

• Bouquet from a customer

• Cold and practical look, no curiosity, no joy

• Realistic nude, contemporary setting

• Contrast of black and white tones

• Black servant caused concern: references to animal behavior and the lower classes

7

Realism

Manet, Bar at the Folies-Bergere

• Melancholy and absent gaze at customer ordering a drink

• Mirrors reflect the world around her

• Artificiality of perspective

• Strong verticals down center

• Impressionist brushwork

• Fruit and flowers defined by a few brushstrokes

• Is the woman in the back a reflection of the main figure in a mirror?

8

Realism in AmericaEakins, The Gross Clinic

• Dr. Samuel Gross, lecturing, turning from his patient

• Patient lies on his right side, knees pulled up

• Operated on back of thigh near knee

• Head of patient under a gauze with anesthesia

• Socks on feet: clothing did not have to be removed during an operation

• Doctors wear professional clothes

• Patient’s relative allowed into the operating room

• Foreground hazy, clear image of operation, background hazy

• Operation held in an amphitheater that seated 600

• Surgical proceedings done between 11-3 for light

• Patient treated for osteomyelitis using a new technique

• Warm unifying color

• Rembrandt-like quality in Dr. Gross’ head

• Somber quiet atmosphere

• Painted for the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876

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Realism in AmericaTanner, The Thankful Poor

• His genre paintings challenge society views of African-Americans

• Painted to counter negative stereotypes

• Popular representations of the time have African-Americans depicted as throwbacks to tribal rituals

• Aimed at revealing the universality of the human experience

• Profound truths in simple experiences

• Influence of Rembrandt

• Grandfather and grandchild painted in detail

• Sense of religious sanctity handed down through the generations

• Grandfather presides of a simple meal, though poor, they are thankful

• Figures treated solemnly with great dignity

• Sober, devout, religious Christians

10

Realism in AmericaHomer, Veteran in a New Field

• Man harvesting wheat

• Veteran: uniform and canteen on the ground

• Veteran returns from harvesting men in the Civil War to harvest wheat

• References to the death of Lincoln

• Scythe a symbol of death

• Faceless

• Task of making transition to peace time employment, emphasis on creation of food to nurture life instead of killing

11

Realism in America

Sargent, The Daughters of Edward Doily Boit

• Children are relaxed; casual grouping of figures

• Objects make the children look smaller

• Slightly self-conscious adolescent

• Large and encompassing space

• Girls are in their world, we are intruding

• Scattered effect of composition

• Rectangular arrangements

• Cf. Velázquez

• Color harmonies and delicate and silvery patterns

• Composition and color schemes in grays and blacks

• Figures emerge from dark backgrounds into a world of half-lights and half-shadows

12

Impressionism

Monet, Impression: Sunrise

• Painting inadvertently founded the name of Impressionism

• Form and substance vanish

• Light transforms objects and surfaces into atmospheric spaces

• Color was not the property of an object, but the light controls color intensity

• Color affected by time or day and movement of the sun

• Monet worked outdoors, plein-air

13

Impressionism

Monet, Rouen Cathedral

• One of Monet’s paintings in a series

• Cf. Muybridge

• Fixed composition and view in most of the series

• Subtle gradations of tone and color

• Limited palette, subtle handling of paint

• Gothic cathedral, religious and cultural significance

• Stone work of cathedral dissolves in light

14

Impressionism Renoir, Le Moulin de la Galette

• Energetic dancing by the middle class in Paris

• Dappling of light and shade

• Artfully blurred figures in the picture

• Casual and unposed natural placement of figures

• Suggested space goes beyond the boundaries of the painting

• People go about their business, don’t pose

• Influence of candid photography in the casualness of groupings and the cut off figures at the edges

15

Impressionism

Morisot, Villa at the Seaside

• Shaded verandah at a summer resort

• Figures are informally grouped

• Private balcony

• Discreetly fashionably dressed women

• Woman sits elegantly covered to avoid a tan

• Brisk broad brushstrokes

• Women neither spectacles nor on parade

• Plein-air