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

2. 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)

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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

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

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

9. Hotel Window, Edward Hopper, Oil on Canvas, Realsim

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