realism & impressionism · realism & impressionism ... •man harvesting wheat ......
TRANSCRIPT
Realism & Impressionism
1848-1907 Industrial Revolution II
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/?period=10®ion=euwf#/Key-Events
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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
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Realism
Courbet, Stone Breakers
• Dehumanizing labor given grandeur
• Anonymous people
• Dignity of menial tasks
• Faceless people
• Emotionless
• Earthen tones
• Monumentality
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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
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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
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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
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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?
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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