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The art movement of Realism is considered the beginning of Modern Art. Realism is characterized by realistic depictions of the world, including modernity- a departure from classicism and academic art. Realism shows us the non-utopian reality of society in an industrializing world. There is now an open critique of society, and an anti-institutional sentiment among artists, and thus there was an intentionality of controversy in the work of Realism.
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Rosa Bonheur
1849
Oil on canvas
133 cm × 260 cm (52 in × 100 in)
Location Musée d'Orsay, Paris
French Realism A hyper-realistic portrayal of agrarian labor, at a scale of 100x52 inches we see an inversion of the traditional size typically reserved for upper ranking history paintings. Knowing this was commissioned by the French government, I wonder if there tri-colored cows are a reference to the French flag... -
Gustave Courbet
The Painter’s Studio: A Real Allegory Summing Up Seven Years of My Life as an Artist
1855
O/C, 142” x 235”
Musée d'Orsay
French Realism After being rejected from the 1855 World's Fair in Paris, Courbet showed this gigantic work at his own event. Subjected Courbet is painting at the cente, dividing a cast of historical and contemporary figures. One is a mocking personification of the French ruler. Abstract brush strokes cover the walls of the artists studio. -
Jean-François Millet
The Gleaners
1857
O/C, 33” x 44
Musée d'Orsay, Paris
French Realism Agrarian workers bend into the fields as they gather the harvest, showing the realism of labor in France. This is a non-idealized portrayal. -
Impressionism is visually identified by its sketch-like images, or impressions created through loose choppy brush strokes. Space is flattened in a move away from a structural linear perspective. New art supply technologies brought the artist out of the studio and into nature (plein air) with foldable easily and portable resealable paint tubes. This portability allowed the artist to capture light in new ways over time, capturing the fleeting ephemera of nature.
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Edouard Manet
Olympia
1863, oil on canvas
51.4” x 74.8”
Musée d'Orsay, Paris
French Realism Causing a stir in the art world, Manet's controversial Olympia features a nude odalisque woman with a cat at her feet. In an anti-academic move, Manet has not veiled the woman in any type of mythology. This is a real nude. The cat at her feet represent sexuality. as opposed to the loyal academic dog representing fidelity. -
Honore Daumier
First Class Carriage, 1864,
watercolor charcoal on woven paper,
8” x 11.8”
Walters Art Museum, Baltimore
Realism Contrasted with it's sister painting Third Class Carriage, he we see the (industrial) train experience between two different classes. The rich here have room, light, and provided food, in contrast to the poorer class in the third class carriage. -
Honore Daumier
Third Class Carriage
1863-65
O/C 25.7” x 35.5”
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
Realism In contrast to Daumier's First Class Carriage, here we see the realism of the lower class, in darker, more crowded and far less accommodating conditions despite riding the same train, an image of industrialization. These works are a commentary on modern day class disparities. -
Berthe Morisot
1869–1870
Oil on canvas
101 cm × 81 cm (40 in × 32 in)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Impressionist Here we see a depiction of two generations of upperclass women, the older woman in black reading a book, and the younger woman in white gazing on to her mother's access to new knowledge. This is a depiction of the idea of The New Woman, a contemporary photo-feminist style upper class woman who pursued independence and education. -
Claude Monet
Impression, Sunrise,
1872
O/C,
18.9” x 24.8”
Musée Marmottan
Monet, Paris
Impressionist iconic Impressionist sketch-like storokes and flattened perspective. We see a beautiful depiction of the vastness of nature, with an abstracted image style. The industrial world on the other side of the haze. -
Berthe Morisot
A Woman Child on the Balcony
O/C
1872
24” x 19.7”
Arizona Museum, Tokyo Japan
Impresionist Echoing the sentiment of the Proper New Woman, the artist shows two generations of women, the older overlooking the bars of the balcony, while the younger holds the bars in front of here. This could represent an infantilizing past for women where they were restricted to the domestic sphere, while the modern new woman looks out over the potential new liberated horizons. -
Edgar Degas
The Star
1878
pastel on canvas
24” x 32”
Musée d'Orsay, Paris
Impressionist The artist's hand is visible in Degas' loose and choppy brush strokes. Lower class orphan girls would be sent to ballet academies to perform for the upper class. Directionaly, the light is coming from below, showing the dancer on the stage is a nod to the spectacle of the leisure available to the upper class, at the expense of the lower class.