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Realism (art movement)

Realism was an artistic movement that emerged in France in the 1840s. Realists rejected Romanticism, which had dominated French literature and art since the early 19th century. The artist Gustave Courbet, the original proponent of Realism, sought to portray real and typical contemporary people and situations with truth and accuracy, not avoiding unpleasant or sordid aspects of life. Realism revolted against the exotic subject matter, exaggerated emotionalism, and the drama of the Romantic movement, often focusing on unidealized subjects and events that were previously rejected in artwork. Realist works depicted people of all social classes in situations that arise in ordinary life, and often reflected the changes brought by the Industrial and Commercial Revolutions. Realism was primarily concerned with how things appeared to the eye, rather than containing ideal representations of the world. Realism spread to other countries, maintaining similar principles with some differences arising from the artistic background of the individual countries and artists.

Historical context
Scholars theorize that Realism was influenced by multiple intersecting societal conditions in the mid-1800s, including the suffrage movement, urban immigration, social class tensions, and economic difficulties caused by the Industrial and Commercial Revolutions. In 1848-49, there were multiple uprisings in Europe including in France, the German states, the Italian states, Hungary, and Poland. ==Beginnings of Realism in France==
Beginnings of Realism in France
, The Meeting (1854) The Realist movement began in the mid-19th century as a reaction to Romanticism and History painting. Jules Bastien-Lepage is closely associated with the beginning of Naturalism, an artistic style that emerged from the later phase of the Realist movement and heralded the arrival of Impressionism. The Realism art movement coincided with the naturalist literature movement of Émile Zola, Honoré de Balzac, and Gustave Flaubert. Courbet was the leading proponent of Realism and he challenged the popular history painting that was favored at the state-sponsored art academy. Although Courbet's early works emulated the sophisticated manner of Old Masters such as Rembrandt and Titian, after 1848 he adopted a boldly inelegant style inspired by popular prints, shop signs, and other work of folk artisans. In The Stonebreakers, his first painting to create a controversy, Courbet eschewed the pastoral tradition of representing human subjects in harmony with nature. File:Edouard Manet 025.jpg|Édouard Manet, Breakfast in the Studio (the Black Jacket), New Pinakothek, Munich, Germany, 1868 File:Jean-François Millet - A Norman Milkmaid at Gréville - Google Art Project.jpg|Jean-François Millet, A Norman Milkmaid at Gréville, 1871 File:Jules Bastien-Lepage - October - Google Art Project.jpg|Jules Bastien-Lepage, October, 1878, National Gallery of Victoria File:Jules Breton, le chant de l'alouette.1884.jpg|Jules Breton, The Song of the Lark, 1884 File:Brooklyn Museum - Fin du travail (The End of the Working Day) - Jules Breton.jpg|Jules Breton, The End of the Working Day, 1886–87 ==Spread abroad==
Spread abroad
The French Realist movement had stylistic and ideological equivalents in other Western countries, developing somewhat later. Germany , The Iron Rolling Mill (Modern Cyclops) (1872-75) Courbet's influence was felt most strongly in Germany, where prominent Realists included Adolph Menzel, Wilhelm Leibl, Wilhelm Trübner, and Max Liebermann. Leibl and several other young German painters met Courbet in 1869 when he visited Munich to exhibit his works and demonstrate his manner of painting from nature. Leibl then spent a year in Paris before returning to Munich and formed the Leibl Circle in 1871 to focus on realism in painting with other artists from the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. Over his career, Menzel painted a variety of subjects, including nature, portraits, and ballrooms filled with people. Some of these Travelers include genre artist Vasily Perov, landscape artists Ivan Shishkin, Alexei Savrasov, and Arkhip Kuindzhi, portraitist Ivan Kramskoy, and historical artist Vasily Surikov. Some of the most well-known of the Russian Realists are Ilya Repin, for his paintings of peasants like Barge Haulers on the Volga (1870–73) and themes of revolution, and Vassili Vereschagin, for this art depicting warfare and his travels in India. Italy , Ghetto of Florence (1882) In Italy, the Macchiaioli artist group formed between 1853 and 1860, influenced by the Realism art style when some of the members traveled to Paris. The Macchiaioli rejected the formalities of the Florentine Accademia di Belle Arti, instead painting Realist scenes of rural and urban life. When not painting in the Tuscan countryside, some members spent time in Florence and at the Caffé Michelangiolo, a common meeting place for thinkers and artists in the mid-19th century. It's also nicknamed the 'Grey School' for heavy use of grey tones in many of their paintings. They worked together at The Graphic from 1872-1876, producing woodcut images for the illustrated newspaper, drawing attention to social issues and poverty in the United Kingdom. The German-born Herkomer admired Menzel's woodcut prints and artwork, which show influence in Herkomer's prints for The Graphic. Active a decade earlier, Frederick Walker had a similar trajectory from printing to Realist painting and was influential on Herkomer's work and other British artists in the later 19th century. Like the French and Russian Realists, the Pre-Raphaelites rejected the academy in the mid-1800s and sought to objectively portray nature, but it's argued their artwork appears more emotional and reminiscent of Romanticism and the Nazarene movement. Later in his career, the Pre-Raphaelite Ford Maddox Brown's work was more traditionally Realist, as exemplified in Work (1855, 1863) and The Last of England (1852-5). Homer's initial artwork consisted of Civil War camp and peasant paintings in the Realist style, though he transitioned to a more Romantic style later in life, depicting coastal cities and nature. Eakins worked on Realist style portraits and outside scenes, especially rowers on the water. American artists studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich in the 1870s were taught by Karl von Piloty, who was proponent of Realism, but applied to history painting. Their leader, Robert Henri, attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art in 1886, where the teaching was heavily influenced by Thomas Eakins' Realist style, though Eakins was forced to resign just prior to Henri starting. Other Realist members of the group include John Sloan, William Glackens, Everett Shinn, and George Luks. Similarly to Menzel and the British social Realists, all four also began their careers as newspaper print illustrators. == Gallery ==
Gallery
File:Illarion Michajlowitsch Prjanischnikow 002.jpg|Illarion Pryanishnikov, Jokers (1865). Gostiny Dvor in Moscow File:Konstantin Apollonowitsch Sawizkij 001.jpg|Konstantin Savitsky, Repairing the Railway (1874) File:Ivan Shishkin - Рожь - Google Art Project.jpg|Ivan Shishkin, A Rye Field (1878) File:Wilhelm Maria Hubertus Leibl 007.jpg|Wilhelm Leibl, The Village Politicians (1877) File:1880 Leibl Drei Frauen in der Kirche anagoria.JPG|Wilhelm Leibl, Three Women in Church (1881) File:1876 Trübner Zimmermannsplatz am Weßlinger See anagoria.JPG|Wilhelm Trübner, Carpenters on the Bank of Wessling Lake (1876) File:Adolph von Menzel - Rear of House and Backyard - WGA15047.jpg|Adolph Menzel, Rear of House and Backyard (1846) File:Max Liebermann - Gänserupferinnen - Google Art Project.jpg|Max Liebermann, Women Plucking Geese (1872) File:Le macchiaiole.jpg|Giovanni Fattori, Three Peasants in a Field (1866–67) File:Silvestro Lega 001.jpg|Silvestro Lega, La Pergola (1868) File:Morning ride along the beach, by Anton Mauve.jpg|Anton Mauve, Morning Ride on the Beach (1876) File:Hubert von Herkomer - Hard Times.JPG|Hubert von Herkomer, Hard Times (1885) File:Applicants for Admission to a Casual Ward.jpg|Luke Fildes, Applicants for Admission to a Casual Ward (1874) File:Frederick Walker - The Vagrants - Google Art Project.jpg|Frederick Walker, The Vagrants (1868) File:Ford Madox Brown - The Last of England - Google Art Project.jpg|Ford Madox Brown, The Last of England (1852–1855) File:Winslow Homer - Prisoners from the Front.jpg|Winslow Homer, Prisoners from the Front (1866) File:Crossstreetsofnewyork.JPG|Everett Shinn, Cross Streets of New York1899). Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington DC File:McSorley's Bar 1912 John Sloan.jpg|John French Sloan, ''McSorley's Bar'' (1912). Detroit Institute of Arts File:Tom Roberts - The Golden Fleece - Google Art Project.jpg|Tom Roberts, The Golden Fleece (1894). File:J Chełmoński - Odlot żurawi (1871).jpg|Józef Chełmoński, Departing Cranes (1871). National Museum in Kraków == Further reading ==
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