Art History19th century

RealismJean 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

CourbetFather 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

He captured a particular place at a particular moment

Limited palette of pearly silvery tones with olive green

Soft wispy brush strokes

Winslow Homer1836- 1910

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

EakinsThe Anatomist 1844-1916

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 Whistler1834-1903

One of most controversial artists of 19th 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 Sargent1856-1925

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