Realism and Super Realism Rachel Belliston and Cammi Christensen

Realism Realist artists believe in representing the world accurately, and showing problems like poverty and political repression. Realism shows the truthfulness of everyday life just as it is seen, not romanticized or idealized. The Art Realism movement was from the late 1840s to the 1880s (about 40 years) and began in France, after the 1848 Revolution. Realists were trying to bring art and reality together, where as before in art history, paintings were idealized or changed from real life. Realism was the first art movement that just showed typical people in their everyday environment.

Honore Daumier (1808-1879) Daumier had to quit school at age 12 to go to work, and he developed a lot of sympathy for the poor. He did realism and impressionism (“an artistic style that seeks to capture a feeling or experience rather than to achieve accurate depiction” -Google)

Honore Daumier Daumier was an illustrator who became a political cartoonist. He made a picture of the French King Louis Philippe with a pear shaped face and got put in prison for 6 months.

Rue Transnonain (1834) by Daumier Lithographic print This painting shows a family that was murdered by French soldiers. The painting’s setting is the battle of the people of Paris and the government. Some artists would paint the courageous and heroic side of war, but he would focus on the gloomy, darker side.

Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) Courbet was one of the main leaders of the Realism movement. He believed he should only paint what he saw, and highly rejected romanticism. He said, “Painting is an essentially concrete art and can only consist in the representation of real and existing things.”

The Stone Breakers (1849-50) by Courbet Oil on canvas This painting shows a young man and an old man doing hard labor (making gravel for roads) which was a very low paying job. This painting was destroyed by bombing in Dresden during WWII.

Jean-François Millet (1814-1875) Millet grew up in the country. His realism focused on rural areas and peasants. He wanted to raise awareness of people in poverty, especially in rural areas.

The Gleaners (1857) by Millet Oil on canvas This painting shows women picking up the bits of grain that are left after the harvest. It would take hours to collect a small amount of food. Gleaning was one of the lowest forms of work in French society.

Video (summary) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cump0Nxteb4

Photorealism Photorealism: Detailed visual representation, like that obtained in a photograph, in a non-photographic medium such as animation or computer graphics.

Photorealism mixes together that which is real with what is unreal Photorealism mixes together that which is real with what is unreal. While the image on the canvas is recognizable and carefully portrayed to suggest that it is accurate, the artist often based their work upon photographs rather than direct observation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuBiaRO8QOk

Who? Some of the first Photorealists were Chuck Close, Don Eddy, Richard Estes, Ralph Goings, Denis Peterson, and Malcolm Morley. Each began practicing some form of Photorealism around the same time, often using different techniques and citing different inspirations for their work

Where and Why? Photorealism began in New York City in 1956 when a recent graduate from the Art Institute of Chicago named Richard Estes, relocated to New York City. He would take his camera and shoot photos of the landscape and use them as visual aids for his paintings. Because of this, unlike typical land- and cityscapes, Estes’s had a heightened level of detail and lifelike accuracy.

Richard Estes Born in 1932 in Illinois, Richard Estes is regarded as one of the founders of the Photo-Realist movement which emerged in America in the late 1960s Estes uses dense layered spaces to paint imaginative and complex balanced pieces of art. Rather than a flat, non illusionistic canvas, there’s a bewildering number of layers of depth, reflection upon reflection. Central Savings, 1975. Oil on canvas. The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City Missouri

Ralph Goings Born on May 9, 1928, Goings was born in California and began his art career there. He created paintings that didn't just fool the eye or ponder the effects of light on various surfaces, but also explored the visual culture of working-class America Unlike Richard Estes, who created his illusionistic paintings by mixing together multiple photographs to create a single image, Goings typically took single photos of subjects, and painted them directly onto his canvas or paper. Miss Albany Diner, 1993. Oil on Linen.

The Five Principles of Photorealism In 1972, a Brooklyn art dealer named Louis K. Meisel published a formal five-point definition of the movement. He was careful to leave the terminology simple to allow artists to stretch the technological and visual boundaries of the movement. The photorealist uses the camera and photograph to gather information The photorealist uses a mechanical or semi-mechanical means to transfer the information to the canvas The photorealist must have the technical ability to make the finished work appear photographic The artist must have exhibited work as a photorealist by 1972 to be considered one of the central photorealists The artist must have devoted at least five years to the development and exhibition of photorealist work

Super Realism Superrealism: Also known as Hyper-realism, is an art movement that began in the late 1960s and early 1970s, in which the paintings, or sculptures, resemble a high resolution photograph. Like the Realists of the 19th century, most Super Realists avoid drama and concentrate on ordinary life.

The difference between Superrealism and Photorealism is their chronology: Superrealism grew out of photorealism. While Photorealism are paintings based off of a photograph, Superrealism is used for paintings AND sculptures.

Duane Hanson Born in rural Minnesota on March 15, 1921, he wanted to make art that could communicate with anyone and not just “Something that looks nice to hang on a wall.” Usually chooses to portray one or two subjects in the midst of an ordinary day. Interested in breaking down the barriers between artists and viewers and engaging them. His works tap into the voyeuristic nature of art, the fascination of carefully studying another person and gaining access to his/her own private world. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc9ENdX9VWY Janitor, 1973. Polyester, fiberglass, polychromed in oil. Milwaukee Art Museum

Citations https://www.theartstory.org/movement-realism.htm https://www.theartstory.org/movement-realism-artworks.htm