BELL RINGER• M.Socrative.com – Room # 38178

• Question:• 1. WHEN, roughly, is Realism/Impressionism?

I will pass out your notes from yesterday as soon as the bell rings – the answer to this question is on those notes.

REALISM & IMPRESSIONISMArt Movements

REALISM

REALISM• Realism: the general attempt to depict subjects as they are considered

to exist, without embellishment or interpretation and “in accordance to secular rules.”

• Characteristics:• Realistic, accurate appearance of the world – almost as clear as a photograph• Spontaneous• Ordinary people doing ordinary things (usually LABOROUS things)• Harmonious colors• Faithfulness to observed lighting and atmospheric effects

REALISM• Ran through the 1840s, 1850s, and 1860s

• Central Figure: Gustave Courbet (1819-1877)

• Courbet was influenced by the innovations of Corot in terms of the play of light on shadows and peripheral vision

• His aim was to make an objective and unprejudiced record of the customs, ideas, and appearances of contemporary French society

COURBET’S “THE STONE BREAKERS”

• Courbet painted 2 men as he had seen them working beside the road.

COURBET’S “THE STONE BREAKERS”

• The work is LIFE SIZE – 5ft x 8ft• Can tell the work is laborous

COURBET’S “A BURIAL AT ORNANS”

• Painted as he saw it – no one posed or arranged• Obscure, unknown people

JEAN-FRANCOIS MILLET• Millet (1814-1875)

• Belonged to the Barbizon School, which focused upon a realistic-Romantic vision of landscape

• Typically used peasants as his subject matter

JEAN-FRANCOIS MILLET• He exalted the honest, simple life and work on the land

• Determined to show the harsh reality of life

• His worked was viewed as “anti-industrial”

MILLET’S “WOMAN BAKING BREAD”

• The peasant emerges as an heroic figure

• The peasant women has added height and dominance thanks to the painters point of view

• Ordinary woman doing an ordinary thing

OTHER MILLET WORKS• The Gleaners

The Sowers

HONORE DAUMIER• Daumier (1808-1879)

• Depicted urban scenes

DAUMIER’S “THE THIRD CLASS CARRIAGE”

• Shows the interior of a large, horse-drawn bus in Paris

DAUMIER’S “THE THIRD CLASS CARRIAGE”

• The viewer is in the seat opposite a grandmother, her daughter, and two grandchildren

DAUMIER’S “THE THIRD CLASS CARRIAGE”

• They form a strong compositional triangle that contrasts with the people behind them, but they’re still not posed

EDOUARD MANET• Manet (1832-1883)

• Strove to paint “only what the eye can see”

• His works go beyond a mere reflection of reality to a larger artistic reality• One which suggests that a painting has an internal logic different

from the logic of familiar reality

• Manet liberated the painter’s art from competition with the camera

MANET’S “LUNCHEON ON THE GRASS”

• Realism, but leading to Impressionism

MANET’S “LUNCHEON ON THE GRASS”

• Manet sought to “speak in a new voice”

MANET’S “LUNCHEON ON THE GRASS”

• Shocked the public (female nude while men dressed) – dream like

MANET’S “LUNCHEON ON THE GRASS”

• Ordinary people – Manet’s model, his brother, and the sculptor Leenhof

MANET’S “LUNCHEON ON THE GRASS”

• Took reality and put it in a mythical setting – with mythical touches (nudity)

IMPRESSIONISM• Impressionism: a new way of seeing reality through color and

motion, style based on an understanding of the interrelated mechanisms of the camera (new technology) and the eye

• These painters tried to outdo photography

• Impressionists emphasized the presence of color within shadows• Vision consists of the result of light and color making an “impression” on the

retina

IMPRESSIONISM• Characteristics:

• Pleasant, comfortable scenes• Painted outdoors• Still ordinary people doing ordinary things, but PLEASANT things• Brushstrokes equalized across the canvas• Forms and objects best appear when the viewer is at a certain distance

IMPRESSIONISM• The style lasted about 15 years in its purest form

• Profoundly influenced all painting that followed

• Working outside, the impressionists concentrated on the effects of natural light on objects and atmosphere

• Their experiments resulted in a profoundly different vision of the world around them

IMPRESSIONISM• For them, the painted canvas was a material covered with pigments (small color

patches) which together, create lively, vibrant images

• The subjects painted are impressions of landscapes, rivers, streets, cafes, theatres, and so on

• Claude Monet brought impressionism to its birth

CLAUDE MONET• Not to be confused with Manet

• Monet (1840-1926)

• Monet tried to find an art in modern life by recording everyday themes with on-the-spot, objective observations

• Had two aims: (1) representation of contemporary subject matter and (2) optical truth (the way colors and textures really appear to the eye)

CLAUDE MONET• Monet’s paintings reflect an innocent joy in the world around him and intensely

positive view of life

• He sought to bring realism to his peak (still ordinary people doing ordinary things, just in a different direction)

• His work encompasses scientific observation, the study of optics, and other aspects of human perception

MONET’S “ON THE SEINE AT BENNECOURT”

• Conveys a pleasant picture of the times, an optimistic view rather than the often pessimistic outlook of the realists

MONET’S “ON THE SEINE AT BENNECOURT”

• Lack of atmospheric or linear perspective brings the entire painting to the foreground – no deep space

MONET’S “ON THE SEINE AT BENNECOURT”

• The scene is bright, alive, and pleasant – we’re comfortable

MONET’S “SERIES”• Monet painted several “series” (groups of paintings that work together or have a

common theme)

• Initially did them as a way of studying light and shadow

• Most famous: the Water Lilies

MONET’S “WATER LILLIES”• A series of approximately 250 paintings

• The paintings depict Monet’s flower garden and were the main focus of his artist production the last 30 years of his life

• (Many were painted while he suffered from cataracts)

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnABizX0jIo

MARY CASSATT• Cassatt (1845-1926)

• Came to Paris from Philadelphia

• It was her wealth in the US that helped the impressionists gain exposure and acceptance in this country

CASSATT’S “THE CHILD’S BATH”• Depicts her favorite subjects –

women and children

• Cassatt’s brushwork is far less obvious than that in other impressionist works• Helped conventional viewers

understand the work and relate closer to the scene

• Painted in clear, bright colors

CASSATT’S “THE CHILD’S BATH”• The subjects do NOT make eye

contact with the viewer

• The forms are purposeful, and they awaken interest, rather than emotion

• Less brushstrokes and clearly not painting outdoors – but still a very pleasant comfortable scene• Realism is laborious!

CREATE YOUR OWN...Impressionist art classes

MY IMPRESSIONIST PAINTING• There are places that teach you to paint quickly – it won’t be the most gorgeous

thing from up close, but looks great far away

• “Uptown Art” is a very popular place in Louisville – off of Bardstown Road. Pinot’s Pallete is in St. Matthews and does the same thing.

• Can be expensive ($40 for a 2-hour class) but includes all materials – canvas, paint, etc.

MY IMPRESSIONIST PAINTING

MY IMPRESSIONIST PAINTING

MY IMPRESSIONIST PAINTING

MY IMPRESSIONIST PAINTING• This one is my MOMS! (the least artistic person on Earth!)

MY IMPRESSIONIST PAINTING

ANOTHER IMPRESSIONIST PAINTING