Introduction to Modern Art 20/10/03 – Realism

A French art movement started by Courbet and the notion of the realistic. But realistic varies from photographic realism to the essence of reality (we could say Jackson Pollock is a realistic artist as he describes an ‘inner’ reality). We could also say Cubism is one of the major movements of realism.

Realism as a French art movement was the first launch pad for modern art. Consider the innocent eye, such as a child’s eye, as described by Ruskin (but remember Gombrich and modern neurologists argues there is no such thing). An artist translates into the language of painting and we all have to categorize the world to “see” it or at least to describe it.

Nelson Goodman said that all paintings look more like each other than the things they represent. The first group not to be exhibited were the Realists. Realists switched to “genre painting” as a reaction against “history painting”. Current with the emergence of science and history based on primary sources. Positivism is the philosophical underpining of Realism. Courbet argued you cannot know the past or the future so all you can paint is what you see around you (unlike Romanctics who lived in a world of imagination). Impressionism can be seen as an accelerated form of Realism.

Slide 1: Pollock Cathedral 1947

Slide 2: David Coronation of Josephine 1805-7

David, Jacques-Louis

Consecration of the Emperor Napoleon I and Coronation of the Empress Josephine in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris on 2nd December 1804, Oil on canvas, 621 x 979 cm, Musee du Louvre, Paris

Slide 3: Poussin Landscape Phocion 1648

Landscape with the Burial of Phocion

Artist: Poussin, Nicolas (1594-1665). Date of Work: 1648, Region: France, Period: Baroque, Style: Baroque, Genre: Painting, Materials: oil on canvas,Dimensions: 1.19 x 1.78 m, Location and/or Collection: The Louvre, Paris

Slide 4: Courbet The Meeting or Bonjour Monsieur Courbet 1854