Realism Art Movement – 1850’s Mrs. Fox Fall 2012

Foundation of Realism knowledge based on what can be measured, observed and directly experienced in the real world Realists only painted subjects they themselves could experience (personal experience)

Realism The realistic and natural representation of people, places, and/or things in a work of art.

Cultural Context of Realism Role of artist: no longer to simply reveal beautiful & sublime (Romanticism, Baroque) aimed to tell the real truth about society Subject Matter: ordinary events and objects working class & broad panorama of society Looks like Mr. Fox

American Realism- ThomasEakins the Anatomist -Instructor: Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts taught anatomy to medical students & figure drawing to art students disapproved of academic technique of drawing from plaster casts used nude model allowed female students to study male nude

William Rush Carving His Allegorical Figure of the Schuylkill River Series of paintings depicts the American wood sculptor William Rush in 1808, carving his statue Water Nymph and Bittern Rush was a founder of Philadelphia Academy of Fine Art where Eakins was a student

William Rush Carving His Allegorical Figure of the Schuylkill River, Thomas Eakins, Oil on Canvas, Realism

The Stone Breakers, Gustave Courbet, Oil on Canvas, Realism

Hotel Window, Edward Hopper, Oil on Canvas, Realsim

Spanish Dancer, John Singer Sargent, Oil on Canvas, Realism