Realism!
During the late nineteenth century, Realism
emerged as a response to the idealism of both
Neoclassicism and Romanticism. Realist artists
and authors turned away from heroic stories and
focused instead on the real lives of their subjects.
The shift toward industrialization and urbanization
provided the impetus for the Realists concern with
documenting society, including its many problems.
Features of Realism!
•  subject matter related to contemporary social problems
•  generally pessimistic views of subjects, often created
through dark colors and cramped space
•  a style that is optical (what the eye sees) rather than
conceptual (what the brain expects)
•  focus on the reality of artistic materials, rather than
attempts to disguise them to create illusions
The Realism of Daumier
The French artist Daumier focused on the suffering of the
poor. In Rue Transnonain (1834), Daumier shows the
aftermath of a massacre of nineteen people, including
women and children, which occurred after a workers
strike. He captures the awkwardness of the corpses and
the small space in which they lived and died.
The Realism of Manet
In Luncheon on the Grass (1863), the French artist Manet
shocked viewers with nudity in a contemporary setting. While
European art had often incorporated Classical nudes from
mythology, the figures here appear to be middle-class nineteenthcentury people. Critics also objected to Manet s painting style of
flat areas of paint with little attempt to create the illusion of depth.