Comparative Art: A Progression from Realism to Impressionism

While the painters after the Impressionism period were collectively called the “Post-Impressionists,” the label is quite reductive. Each artist had their own unique style, from Seurat’s pointillism to Signac’s mosaic-like divisionism, Cezanne, Émile Bernard, and others. These artists were all connected in that they were reacting to the aesthetics of Impressionism. Two of the more influential painters from this movement were Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin, who aimed to connect with viewers on a deeper level by access Nature’s mystery and meaning beyond its superficial, observable level. However, each artist’s approach to achieving this goal was different. In close examination of Vincent van Gogh’s Self-Portrait (Dedicated to Paul Gauguin) and Paul Gauguin’s Self-Portrait with Portrait of Émile Bernard (Les misérables), one may clearly see the two artists’ contrasting styles on display.

Art is able to transport its viewer through time and connect us as a community. Audiences are able to infer the content and context of the artwork. Art displayed through different mediums and about different topics can share many similarities and draw connections between one another. Exodus, created by Shelby Lechman (2015), uses oil paint on canvas to depict a young boy and father in a train car, leaving their home in Hungary during the time of the Hungarian Revolution (fig.1). Back into the Earth: Creation and the Interpretation of Meaning, created by Tamara Himmelspach (2015) is a series of 11 prints and a physical dress displaying the designer in a jingle dress representing the traditions of the Ojibwa culture

The Industrial Revolution started during the mid-nineteenth century. It was the major influence for the rise of Realism in the arts. Realism is a style of art that portrays the hardship and reality in life during the 1800s. Realism helped artists to express their feelings in a more realistic way, compared to the earlier style, Romanticism, which mainly contours imaginations and emotions. The Industrial Revolution facilitated the development of factories leading to. Realism artists were eager to express their feeling of dissatisfaction toward the Industrial Revolution in their artworks. The rise of Realism in arts was mainly caused by the Industrial Revolution during the mid-19th century, due to the harsh living conditions which stimulate people

Before the 19th century, artists mainly made artwork for the wealthy people and the religious groups. They were controlled by the academy and painted in a way that mainstream society recognized. Many of their paintings depicted scenes of mythology and church. However in the 19th century, industrialization brought many new technologies to ordinary people, making the impossible possible. Many artists began to create artworks to explore the concept of symbolism. Many of their subjects were daily things such as ordinary people, normal places and the things they had direct experience on. They challenged the traditional concept that artists must depict realistic worlds. Instead, they used a wide range of colors, materials and techniques to

Clark begins by stating how art produced during the mid-nineteenth century was seen as deeply political, explaining how the ideas of the avant garde were intrinsically linked to the wider social and historical conditions. Looking to the work of Courbet, Clark states that the artist was influenced by the Realism of the French avant garde, yet asserts that Realism itself was influenced by Positivism, which in turn is the result of ‘Capitalist Materialism’ (10). In order to uncover the relationship between art and its social context, Clark argues that one must deal only with ‘overt’ analogies between form and context, as these can be criticised directly (11). Such analogies, Clark asserts, must be considered alongside two key ideas. First is the artist’s relationship with the public, which Clark compares to the idea of the unconscious, implying that the artist possesses an innate awareness of society’s ingrained values and beliefs. Second is the notion of art’s independence from history, by which Clark refers to the aesthetic traditions which remain, unlike aesthetic ideologies, unaffected by the conditions in which they are

It is ironic that Meissonier played such a large role in the story of the rise of Impressionism because he was known for his detailed and accurate history paintings. In the artistic revolution of Realism and Impressionism, Meissonier became identified with those who blocked these developments. The first chapter discusses how detailed his works are stating his “punctilious craftsmanship” and how even though his painting were small in size, they “rewarded the closest and most prolonged observation.”. This is ironic because the other artists who are discussed were reprimanded for their controversial and noticeable mark-making. In the next chapter, Meissonier is compared to Manet: “Two years earlier a critic had praised Meissonier for painting his bonshommes so realistically that their lips appeared to move. Such mind-boggling manual dexterity and painstaking dedication to minutia were entirely absent from Manet’s work. He applied his paint thickly and in broad brushstrokes, suppressing finer details such as the facial features of his reeling drunkard and taking instead a more abstract approach to visual

When it came to 1897 Picasso’s realism became tinged with Symbolist influence, in series of landscape paintings rendered in non-naturalistic violet and green tones. From 1899 to 1900 was said

The realism era came about during the time of the Romantics, the time where imagination and ideology painted the artists canvas. To be a realist meant that an artist would paint what he actually saw and not an idea of something. For instance, if an artist were to paint a depiction of war, then all the gruesome details would probably be considered in the piece of art. The artist that essentially paved the way out of Romanticism and into the era of Realism was Gustave Courbet considered by some to be the first realist.

Visual opulence, creativity, inimitable vision, and a style that is highly influential are the many characteristics of an admired movement in art history called Post-Impressionism (1875-1892). This movement, which was the by-product of the Impressionism movement, is the bridging gap between the two movements known as Realism and Expressionism. Post-Impressionism takes on some of the stylistic characteristics of these movements; however, it does not contain the all too glossy visuals of Realism or the heavily fantastic visuals of Expressionism, rather it is the intermediary of these two poles. My paper will discuss why this link was absolutely essential to the history of art movements, and I will be specifically using the artworks of

The mid 1800’s in France was truly a period for challenging arising issues in the midst a great change. Gustave Courbet’s The Stone Breakers and-Jean Francois Millet’s The Gleaners, are two paintings that use the style of realism to convey a unique perspective of the reality around them. (subjects, brush stroke, background)

Comparing Medieval and Rennaisance Paintings In the following essay I shall compare and contrast paintings from the medieval and renaissance period. Medieval paintings were very realistic and precise. The king in the painting is in the middle, and anything painted in the middle is the center of attraction or the important object in the painting.

Impressionist art brought with it a characteristic and long-lasting originality and approachability that, until now, was never found in the art of earlier periods. The interests of these painters seem to be relevant to our own and function humbly by exciting our visual contentment. The term “impressionism” itself entails a great assemblage of extraordinary painters who have changed the artistic world, as we know it.

Artists of the Impressionist movement share a universal popularity of which other artistic groups know not of. This form of art expressed natural and simple beauty that captured life while it happened. The unique style brought out what’s worth appreciating; things we’re surrounded by every day, things that sometimes escape our gaze and go unnoticed. If one were considering to duplicate what they saw at any given time, they would have to also consider the broad range of colors the day produces. No matter the time of day or year, every moment proves unique if one were to take the time to notice the light, and what it does to the scenery.

By the year 1863 the sentry which allows the visual messages transmitted by the eye to penetrate to the brain only after a rigorous censorship, had admitted most aspects of visual truth, but there were two that had not yet officially passed the censor. They were (1) the colour and vibration of light and (2) the density of air. No one had ever painted the true colour of sunshine and shadow, and hardly anyone had thought it worthwhile to suggest that the density of the air is not always constant, that a picture could be painted, for instance, of a landscape seen through a heavy mist or fog.

“Modern painting, breaking through old conversation, has released countless suggestions which are still waiting to be used by the practical world.”(Gropius) The birth of modernism and modern art goes back to the Industrial Revolution, a period that lasted from the 18th to the 19th century, in which rapid changes in manufacturing, transportation, and technology profoundly affected the social, economic, and cultural conditions of life in Western Europe, North America, and eventually the world. Before the 19th century, artists created art pieces for wealthy people and institution places like the church where they can create art works about storytelling of religious or mythological scenes . These arts were there to instruct the viewers.However, this changed when during the 19th century many artists began to create works that were about people, places, or ideas that interested them, and of which they had direct experience. With the popularization of the idea of a subconscious mind, many artists began exploring dreams, symbolism, and personal iconography as avenues for the depiction of their subjective experiences.Challenging the notion that art must realistically depict the world, some artists experimented with the expressive use of color, non-traditional materials, and new techniques and mediums.