Realism Jean Francois Millet Previously, artists that portrayed subjects realistically, modified them by idealizing them New Realism insisted on precise imitation of visual world without alteration Subject matter was different too. It portrayed only what artists could see or touch Gods, goddesses, and heroes of antiquity were OUT Peasants and the urban working class were IN

Courbet Father of Realist movement He said that “everything that does not appear on the retina is outside the domain of painting” He loudly defended the working class and was jailed for 6 months for tearing down a Napoleonic monument

Courbet defied the conventional taste for history painting and poetic subjects “Painting is a concrete art and must be applied to real and existing things”

John Baptiste Camille Corot John Baptiste Camille Corot He captured a particular place at a particular moment Limited palette of pearly silvery tones with olive green Soft wispy brush strokes

Winslow Homer Self taught artist he steered clear of outside influence and theory He based his work on observation of nature He became a major American marine artist

Homer retreated to Maine and began to paint luminous watercolor paintings

Homers paintings had a recurrent theme…man- against-the-elements Homer was the first artist to display watercolors as finished work and not just a practice painting for an oil painting

Eakins The Anatomist He dissected cadavers and became so knowledgeable about the subject that he lectured to medical students He plotted out perspective with mathematical precision

Critics disapproved of his anatomy lessons

James A M Whistler One of most controversial artists of 19 th century Whistler felt that paintings should be “design in and of itself” and not describe a subject or tell a story This radical thinking was a precursor of modern abstraction This painting is called, Arrangement in Gray and Black No. 1 (otherwise known as Whistler’s mother) He insisted it was a design of shapes and color not about his mother

Whistler’s life was unconventional He flunked out of West Point for a deficiency in chemistry.” He bounced around without a profession. Later he sailed to Europe never to return to America

John Singer Sargent The last great literal portrait painter (before the camera made such art less in demand) was John singer Sargent. He painted with Monet at Giverny, Sargent modeled himself after the Spanish painter Velazquez

Sargent could pick his subjects and name his price He was witty and perfectly at ease among the well to do and influential people