What s Realism

Hi everybody, this is Victoria. Welcome back to another new episode of Discovering Art Together. Today we are going to learn about realism. So this art movement came right after the romanticism art movement. So we're going to jump in today and see what in the world is realism if you don't know much about it. So I'm going to give you a little intro to it and we'll discover together to see what realism has to offer for us. So we're going to check out what in the world is realism. We're also going to check out the ideals of the realists and also characteristics about realism and what makes it actually realism and also checking out some of the famous artists from this time period that made a revolutionary way of seeing art for many future generations. So if you guys are ready, let's get started. So first question is what is realism? Realism is basically an art movement around mid-19th century and it started around 1848 until the end of the 1900s or to be precisely, it ended in 1900. The artists mainly painted subjects from everyday life and mainly focused on keeping the subjects as truthful as they could. So basically not deviating any of the truth of what we see in the real world. So they are realists, kind of says it in the name, where basically they stay true to the subject that they are painting. So not really changing anything, keeping it as raw and clear as possible. So now we have a rough idea of what realism is, so let's check and see what are the ideals of the realists and what they wanted us to focus on. So one of the main goals of what the realists wanted is being true to the reality is very important for them. So that is the main idea for realism, to accurately and honestly represent the world through painting and other medias. Realism art is actually also often deals with subjects such as poor and working class lives in order to show the truth of the world through the depiction of reality. So they focused on different subjects, very different from what the previous art movement, which is the romanticism, where they painted more of the exotic and made it a lot more, I wouldn't say exaggerated though, but it's more beautiful, where the realist's main focus is to paint what they see and then not trying to deviate them. But they actually brought in a lot of interesting subjects to the art world, which we usually wouldn't actually pick to paint or draw. So let's take a look at some characteristics of what makes realism, realism. So the first thing is that they have such great photographic accuracy. That is one of the main features of realism is that they also capture a lot of details. That is also one of the main characteristics and also focusing on contemporary subjects and settings. Another really interesting characteristics about realism is also emphasis on everyday life and the use of color and the use of detail. So that really kind of brought a revolution to art, where they kind of went back to, I would say, a little bit more restriction in its own way, but making it even more detailed. So less imaginary stuff, staying true to what they see. That includes color, lighting, how the subject looks like, and not try to kind of beautify it. It's the raw beauty that they want to show everybody with their paintings and artworks. Now let's take a look at one of the important things that we want to know about realism. Realism actually revolted against the exotic subject matters and the exaggerated emotional and dramatical forms of the romantic paintings of the romantic movement. Instead, the realists mainly focused their goals in directing and portraying the real and typical contemporary people and situations with truth and accuracy, and not avoiding unpleasant or sordid. And sordid basically means immoral or dishonest aspects of life. So there you go. It's kind of interesting to see the drastic changes from the romantic period to the realism art movement, how they kind of clash and they kind of want to liberate themselves from what they used to do, kind of got tired of that, sick and tired, and just like, okay, let's do a little bit more realism. So let's go ahead and check out now some of the famous artists that are a part of the realism movement and see what are some of the awesome new artworks and ways of seeing art that they have brought to us today. So first we have Gustave Courbet. Courbet's way of seeing the art world revolutionized the western art. His new form of realism paved the way for other modern movements like the impressionism and also the post-impressionism, which is not exactly the art movement that happens after realism. There's something else in between that before I actually went to impressionism and post-impressionism. He also influenced many great artists like Manet, Renoir, Monet, and others who had direct contact with Courbet and were profoundly affected by the man and his paintings. Some of his famous paintings are The Desperate Man and also L'Origine du Monde. Next we have Edouard Manet. Manet is one of the first 19th century artists to paint modern life as well as a pivotal figure in the transition of realism to impressionism. His bold styles, contemporary subject matters, and determination to challenge entrenched academic models influenced younger artists who could come to be known as the impressionists. So he is also kind of like a founding father for the impressionists but kind of staying true to what he sees, what he paints, and giving the younger generation a new way of seeing art and also expressing themselves through art as well. So that's pretty cool. Next we have Jean-Francois Millet, known as the painter of peasants. Hmm I wonder why we know him as the painter of peasants. Millet was one of the founding members of the Barbizon school. So the Barbizon school is a group of artists who painted landscapes in a realistic term and manner and basically they painted for the sake of the landscape itself. And he's also well known for his work of naturalism and realism with his peasant subjects at the forefront of his painting. So putting peasants and farmers as the main subject to many of his paintings. So that's a really cool niche, really interesting subject that not most people would actually paint everyday life and specifically farmers to be exact as they work in fields and stuff. So it's really cool to see that and how he revolutionized the way of seeing the world. And another artist that we will look into here that also is really interesting is Honoré Daumier. Daumier is known for his French caricaturist, I don't know even how to pronounce this okay, caricaturist which is basically a humorous drawing or description that makes someone most noticeable features even more noticeable. So it's kind of like cartoons in a way and yeah his cartoons and drawings of satirizing 19th century French politics and society was very interesting. I actually did not know that comics actually started that early on in the 19th century so it was very much a new way of expressing views of the world and society. So that makes it really cool that now we've known cartooning and also caricature, what is it? Caricaturist. Caricaturist is also a thing now. And last but not least we have Jean-Baptiste Camus Corot. He is known for his beautiful landscape paintings of Italy and his soulful figure paintings. His way of portraying light on landscapes is just amazing. His influence on later 19th century landscape paintings including the Impressionist is so wonderful that he revolutionized the way of seeing the world and how he actually is able to capture those quick passing moments because when you're painting plein air and out in the open, the weather changes so quickly. The sun, the clouds, they move so quickly so you have to be able to know exactly what you're actually painting, what colors to use, lighting values and all that stuff. So he definitely mastered that and I'm really really grateful for him for inspiring many of the other future generations of art and the younger generations and the young artists. Okay and that is all for today. So I hope you guys enjoyed this brand new episode about realism and we learned a few new things and explored more about what's important, characteristics, some of the ideals of the realists and also who is really well known that changed the art world and also inspired many of the younger generations later on. And if you want to find out more, that's going to be your mini exercise for this week. So feel free to kind of discover research on your own, see if you can dig more information if you're curious about certain artists or curious about this particular movement. Have fun and check those out. Okay and next week I think who's is the next or sorry not who is the next, what is the next art movement? I believe it is Art Nouveau. I think that's what it's called. Let me check. Yeah yeah so it's Art Nouveau and we're going to check that out together. I'm not very well versed in Art Nouveau so we're going to take a look at that together, discover what is Art Nouveau all about and let's learn and explore together. Be open to learn, stay creative and also just having fun and expanding our knowledge in art history and see if we can actually also add some of these inspirations to our own artworks. Okay and I shall see you again next time. If you like this video please remember to comment below, click the like button and also subscribe to check out new videos that come out each week. There's a new art video coming out each week so don't miss out on that and yeah and that's it. Awesome I shall see you guys in the next video. Till next time have fun and happy painting. Bye!