AMERICAN
REALISM
Barry 2010
Romanticism Recap
• The American Romantic Period in
literature spanned from 1828 to 1865.
• This period emphasized
1.
2.
3.
4.
emotion over intellect
the individual over society
imagination over logic and order
the wild and natural over the tamed.
End of Romanticism
• The Romantic Period came to a halt
with the end of the Civil War in
1865.
• Devastation of war caused
Americans to feel that the optimism
and idealism of Romanticism were
unrealistic
Realism
• American Realism Period: 1865 to
1918
• Framed by wars: Began with Civil,
ended with World War I
• Major American authors:
• Mark Twain
• Henry James
• Kate Chopin
• Stephen Crane
• Jack London
Characteristics of Realism
• William Dean Howells: realism was
“nothing more and nothing less
than the truthful treatment of
material”
• Fascination with progress
• Secularized rather than spiritual;
morality still a major concern
• Depiction of the ordinary
• Preferred literary mode: short story
Realism in American Art
Thomas Eakins, Baseball Players Practicing 1875
Realism in American Art
Francis Coates Jones, Mother and Daughters Playing Chess
Realism in American Art
James Abbott McNeill
Whistler, Nocturne: Blue
and Gold—Old Battersea
Bridge, ca. 1872-75
Regionalism
• Regionalism is a movement to
define the local color of specific
areas of the U.S. (Civil War trauma)
• Emphasizes
• Highly localized settings
• Characters speaking regional dialect
• Specific traditions of a geographic
region
Realism in American Art
Winslow Homer, Inside the Bar: Cullercoats 1883
Naturalism
• Naturalism became prominent in
the 1890s
• Spouted from scientific ideas
• Characteristics:
• Generally pessimistic in tone
• Nature as a powerful, but indifferent force
• Influenced by Charles Darwin’s The Origin of
Species by Means of Natural Selection
(1859):
• Survival of the fittest
• Mankind can revert to savage state
• Worked toward social reform
Realism in American Art
Winslow Homer, The Gulf Stream, 1899
Realism in American Art
James Abbott McNeill
Whistler, The Beggars,
1879