By: Krissia Keck, Alisa Lawrence, Eric Ng
Realism is the reaction to Romanticism. Artists of this movement rejected the idealized subjects of Romanticism, and sought to depict life as it really was. They also chose to represent peasants in their works, and illustrated the lives of the common people, who upheld the simple peasant virtues. Naturalism tends to focus on accurately depicting landscapes and the power of nature over the individual. Realism focuses more on the individual experience, and every day life. According to Eisenman: “The realist painter's role in the tragic drama was to undermine the elite class status of the genre by employing its scale, sophistication, and ambitiousness for the purpose of creating a new and politically contentious popular art intended for an audience of workers and peasants.” One of the greatest Realists was Courbet, who was often criticized for his extremely large paintings of subjects that deemed "unfit" to be portrayed in such majestic way: The struggling working class.
Presently, Kathryn Mapes Turner is a naturalist who describes her creative process as a "confluence of nature's inspiration and my personal interpretation of what I am experiencing. I strive to create paintings that record my own experience of the subject's essential spirit and energy, not an imitation of a fixed surface reality."Other contemporary artists such as Shepard Fairey and Kevin Doyle, are influenced by Social Realism, and depict the working class in their pieces. These artists have without a doubt, been influenced by the Realism and Naturalism movements of the 1800's.
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| Kathryn Mapes Turner. Trumpeter Swan. |
Works Cited
Eisenman, Stephen M. Nineteenth Century Art: A Critical History. 4th ed. New York, NY: Thames & Hudson, 2011.
Turner, Kathryn Mapes. Artist's Statement. Turner Fine Art. November 5th, 2012. <http://www.turnerfineart.com/portfolio/about/>
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