I have known about Realism for a long time even before I realized it was Realism. Some of my favorite literature and authors have been heavily influenced by Realism including The Stranger by Albert Camus and East of Eden by John Steinbeck. Additionally 19th Century Europe and the political tyranny, conquest, unification, and discovery makes this time period my absolute favorite to learn about. It's a derailing train I get to watch in slow motion with the understanding of how the events that occurred then impacted 20th and 21st century western civilization to create the world we live in now. I went into this unit believing that Realism would be my favorite unit in this course and I was correct.
The Third-Class Carriage by Honoré Daumier was finished in 1864 France. This painting alone shows the deep empathy that is seen throughout the Realism movement. Daumier himself was born in Marseille but grew up in Paris forced to work by age twelve. His work reflects the understanding of the low class workers in France who had to endure the brute of poor working conditions and long hours of the industrial era while facing varying levels of oppression during the seemingly constant change in governmental power during 19th century France. Invasion, war, and censorship were explored throughout the Realism era. Daumier's thoughts on the treatment of the lower classes are evident in their depiction. We see the faces of the elderly woman and nursing mother most clearly. Their faces are illuminated through the window light revealing the dark lines on the elderly woman's face showing how decades of labor has broken her down. These dark lines are not only seen on her however, the young child resting on her shoulder can even be seen with these lines starting to form telling as to how Daumier views the evolution that will ensue throughout his life. The landscape is also much larger than foreground of this painting. It appears as though the richer middle and upper classes can be seen behind them. The linear perspective reveals a large separation between them even though physical distance doesn't appear to be very large. Those sitting behind them don't appear to be plagued with the same deep dark lines throughout their face and the shading of their skin gives them a much less pale complexion.
Young-Ladies of the Village by Gustave Courbet is my favorite Realism painting I have found. Finished in 1852 in Paris it is another French painting that depicts a very different lifestyle of that time period, middle class rural France. What I most enjoy in regards to this painting is the exposure of rural life in France. Courbet himself is from a village in France that he chose to depict in this painting. When he first displayed the work in Paris he was ridiculed for the small scale of the cattle and the perceived ugliness of the woman. I am not sure what makes these women particularly ugly but I am enamored with the use of accurate shading. The shadows under the foot of the younger girl and how the umbrella and bonnets perfectly cover the faces of the other woman. The use of color in their dresses blends perfectly with the landscape creating balanced subjects between them, the animals, and the landscape. The jutting edges of the hills surrounding them juxtaposed to the much softer rolling hills the women stand on reveals Courbet's sentiment towards rural France. Protected and safe from the turmoil Paris has be subjected to the last fifty years. These women appear to be prospering and the less concerned with the mixing of different classes that we see in the Daumier painting before it.
It is hard to have a preference in art style during the Romantic Era because Impressionist art has been so incredibly beautiful. My preference for Realism is much less in the stylistic choices and much more due to the story told among those pieces.
I chose Poppy field by Edouard Manet due to its similarities to Young-Ladies of the Village. Finished in 1873 France the painting has many immediate similarities in landscape, subject matter, and time period and yet the painting lacks the commentary of Courbet's work. Frivolous is how I would best describe this Impressionist painting. Manet was born to a rich family in Paris and was deeply inspired by Courbet and Realism. The vast landscape of this work feels empty and dull to me. The use of rich oranges, greens, blues, and white fail to invoke emotion. The lines and brushwork are much looser than the hills in Courbet's work. France in the final quarter of the 19th Century is finally enjoying stability and a return to peace and prosperity. This impressionist work depicts that gracefully. There is little attention or detail on the face's of the subjects allowing their sentiment to be up for interpretation. Like the realist paintings this impressionist work is a fleeting moment in time but it is capturing the good times. It makes me think of our society today. Those who take a picture of their meal before they eat it or capturing the beautiful December Alaskan sunset. There is an understanding that this moment won't last forever but the underlying sentiment and important aspects of our lives are not captured in these pictures, it's simply for our own self indulgence.
The final piece is another impressionist painting. The Dance Class by Edgar Degas was finished in France in 1874.
When I first saw this piece I knew it would be a perfect comparison to the Realist The Third-Class Carriage painting. Both paintings capture this communal space showing them intermingled together. The main difference that is incredibly telling for Impressionism to me is the lack of structured classes. A dance class where everyone is subjected to wear the same attire and perform the same choreography side by side is starkly different from what occurs in a carriage. A carriage is a mode of transportation of people forcing people of different economic backgrounds together. Daumier highlights in his painting the voluntary separation between those middle class, upper class, and lower class people within the confined space. Impressionism lacks that awareness purposefully. The linear perspective in this painting with the long lines that create the room walls give the impression that there is no true foreground or background. Instead there is a long hallway room that fails to separate the subjects in anyway. The dabs of color pull each subject into the other which prevents the viewer's attention from being pulled into any certain direction. In Daumier's work the use of detailed lines was most used on the subject's faces unlike what is seen here where the most detail is seen in the instruments and the accessories in the girl's hair. These stylistic choices are intentional in capturing the beauty of collectiveness. The viewer should not be concerned with the lives the characters live outside this room but instead how they create a beautiful performance together.
Works Cited
Edouard Manet and his Paintings Manet
Honoré Daumier The National Gallery of Art.
https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.1209.htmlThe Dance Class The Met Museum
The Monet Family in Their Garden at Argenteuil The Met Museum.
The Third-Class Carriage The Met Museum
Young Ladies of the Village The Met Museum
Young Ladies of the Village Artvee
I really enjoyed the pieces you chose. I like Young Ladies of the Village and that it shows a different lifestyle than one normally depicted. It’s unfortunate that it was met with criticism. I’m curious about why these women were perceived as ugly. Maybe they were only thought of as ugly because of their location? I think they are beautiful, and it's a beautiful painting. I think that may be my favorite realism painting so far as well. From your post I prefer the Realism paintings. I do like Impressionism paintings, I appreciate that they depict a fleeting moment in time. To me the blurry and chunkier quality makes the paintings seem sort of dream-like. I included Dance Class in my blog as welI, though the painting I included had a different quality and changes to the content of the painting itself. I wonder where that difference came from. I agree with the first painting of your post that there’s a comparison and understanding of the lower class.
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