History of the development of realism. Realism in art (XIX-XX centuries) Paintings by realist artists of the 19th century

The style of realistic painting of the 19th century spread to almost all genres: portraits, landscapes, still lifes. Favorite themes of realist artists: paintings with genre scenes of rural and urban life of the working class, peasants, scenes of street life, cafes and nightclubs. Realists sought to convey a moment of life in dynamics, emphasizing as plausibly as possible the features of the appearance of the characters, their experiences and feelings.

Paintings depicting the human body are distinguished by their sensuality, emotionality, and naturalism. Realism reflects the progressive meaning and function of art. The founder of the style, according to researchers, is Gustav Kurbe.

The style has developed into many subtypes - socialist, social, magical, verism and others.

Style Features

Realism in painting actively developed in France, Great Britain, Russia, Italy, and the USA in the 19th century.

French features: the landscape genre was dominant. The artists sought to convey the real world, the nature of the province. According to painters, it is rural landscapes that demonstrate the “real” France.

Painters of this era depicted real people, not idealized types, and freely conveyed real situations on canvas, devoid of conventional aesthetics and universal truths.

The time of development was the 19th century, and the most prominent representatives: Jean-François Millet, Gustave Courbet, Honore Daumier. An interesting example of realism in Russia is the work of the Russian artist Ilya Repin. The paintings stand out: the tendency towards naturalism and impressionism made it possible to create recognizable, unique works.

The realistic direction was the result of the development of impressionism, naturalism, and romanticism. The strong influence of impressionism is observed in France.

The main schools of style during the 19th century are represented by:

• English Figurative School;
• French Courbet school;
• Repin School in Russia;
• German, led by Adolf von Menzel;
• American School of Thomas Eakins.

Numerous artists created paintings in combined styles. For example, Degas and Géricault combined the features of realism and romanticism in creating landscapes.

Main directions of realism

The period of the late 19th century - early 20th century forced painters to reconsider their views on the essence and deep meaning of fine art. Political events in the world, world wars gave new topics for work and an impetus for the formation of new schools of painting:

Verism

At the end of the 19th century - at the beginning of the 20th, verism arose in Italy. The paintings reliably conveyed the phenomena and objects of the surrounding reality literally, without the need for interpretation.

Precisionism

Developed in the USA in the 20s of the 20th century. American painters depicted urban and industrial landscapes using elements of futurism and cubism. The style was also known as "sharp focus realism". The most famous representatives of the movement were Charles Schiller, Charles Demuth and Georgia O'Keeffe.

Social

It arose in the 1920s - 1930s of the 20th century - an American trend during the Great Depression. It is a naturalistic view that focuses exclusively on social issues and everyday difficulties. The most famous representatives were Ben Shahn, Jack Levine and Jacob Lawrence.

Socialist

It arose during the era of the construction of the USSR state and developed in Russia in 1925 – 1935. This is a form of public propaganda of art, established by Joseph Stalin during the period of accelerated industrialization. The monumental-heroic style of art in Russia glorifies the Soviet way of development of society, man and worker in huge posters. The direction also developed in France and Spain.

Euston Road School

Formed in 1938, they are a contemporary realist group of artists who taught at or graduated from the Euston Road School of Painting and Drawing, London. Opposed to avant-garde art, their main goal was to depict traditional objects in a realistic manner, making art more socially relevant. Representatives: Graham Bell, William Coldstream, Lawrence Gowing, Rodrigo Moynihan, Claude Rogers.

Beaux Arts Quartet (1952 – 1955)

It was an important place for the development of modern realistic painting. The paintings were presented at personal exhibitions of four young realist artists John Bratby, Derrick Greaves, Edward Middledch, Jack Smith.

American modern

Appeared in the 1960s - early 1970s - a relatively simple realistic approach to art, common among artists of the post-abstract era. Representatives of the style prefer to create in a more traditional manner. Famous painters include William Bailey, Neil Welliver and Philip Pearlstein. The modern movement differs from photorealism due to its tendency to exaggerate the latter.

Wandering of the 19th century

Realism of Russia, representatives: Vasnetsov, Myasoedov, Serov, Repin and others.

Photorealism

Arose in the 1960s - 1970s - the direction of realism, characterized by a special creative technique. The goal is to convey reality as plausibly as possible, copying photographs.

Hyperrealism

A general term describing an extreme form of realist painting and sculpture that emerged in the early 1970s. It is fundamentally different from photorealism: the latter is an exact copy of a photo, the first seeks to create a new reality such that viewers believe that the picture was painted from life.

Magic realism

It has features of surrealism and realism in the classical sense. The paintings reflect reality with fantasy details.

Surrealism

A style based on the theory of psychoanalysis of S. Freud and interest in the subconscious and the occult. Artists sought to move away from the tenets of painting and present something new.

Chinese

Realism in Chinese painting of the 1990s is distinguished by its acute social orientation with notes of irony and satire.

In a short video you can see the works of Iranian realist artists: Morteza Ketouzian, Iman Maleki and Kasr Kiai:

Meaning

One of the most famous trends in the development of painting of the 19th century, which became the basis for the development of new styles in the 20th century. The development of realism in almost all parts of the world became an entire era in art. Realism does not have clear origins from painting or philosophy - each variety has its own meaning and characteristics.

Regional features of the style are explained by specific features of political and economic development, level of culture, and ideology. The paintings are distinguished by their accuracy and natural rendering of shape and color. Realism has become one of the main directions of painting in Russia, the USA, and Western European countries.

Realism is a trend in literature and art that aims to faithfully reproduce reality in its typical features. The dominance of realism followed the era of Romanticism and preceded Symbolism.

1. At the center of the work of realists is objective reality. In its refraction through the worldview of art. 2. The author subjects life material to philosophical processing. 3. The ideal is reality itself. The beautiful thing is life itself. 4. Realists approach synthesis through analysis.

5. The principle of the typical: Typical hero, specific time, typical circumstances

6. Identification of cause-and-effect relationships. 7. The principle of historicism. Realists address the problems of the present. The present is the convergence of past and future. 8. The principle of democracy and humanism. 9. The principle of objectivity of the story. 10. Socio-political and philosophical issues predominate

11. psychologism

12. .. The development of poetry is somewhat calming down 13. The novel is the leading genre.

13. Heightened social-critical pathos is one of the main features of Russian realism - for example, “The Inspector General”, “Dead Souls” by N.V. Gogol

14. The main feature of realism as a creative method is the increased attention to the social side of reality.

15. The images of a realistic work reflect the general laws of existence, and not living people. Any image is woven from typical traits manifested in typical circumstances. This is the paradox of art. An image cannot be correlated with a living person; it is richer than a specific person - hence the objectivity of realism.

16. “The artist should not be a judge of his characters and what they say, but only an impartial witness

Realist writers

Late A. S. Pushkin is the founder of realism in Russian literature (the historical drama “Boris Godunov”, the stories “The Captain’s Daughter”, “Dubrovsky”, “Belkin’s Tales”, the novel in verse “Eugene Onegin” back in the 1820s - 1830s)

M. Yu. Lermontov (“Hero of Our Time”)

N. V. Gogol (“Dead Souls”, “The Inspector General”)

I. A. Goncharov (“Oblomov”)

A. S. Griboedov (“Woe from Wit”)

A. I. Herzen (“Who is to blame?”)

N. G. Chernyshevsky (“What to do?”)

F. M. Dostoevsky (“Poor People”, “White Nights”, “Humiliated and Insulted”, “Crime and Punishment”, “Demons”)

L. N. Tolstoy (“War and Peace”, “Anna Karenina”, “Resurrection”).

I. S. Turgenev (“Rudin”, “The Noble Nest”, “Asya”, “Spring Waters”, “Fathers and Sons”, “New”, “On the Eve”, “Mu-mu”)

A. P. Chekhov (“The Cherry Orchard”, “Three Sisters”, “Student”, “Chameleon”, “The Seagull”, “Man in a Case”

Since the middle of the 19th century, the formation of Russian realistic literature has been taking place, which was created against the backdrop of the tense socio-political situation that developed in Russia during the reign of Nicholas I. A crisis of the serfdom system is brewing, and contradictions between the authorities and the common people are strong. There is an urgent need to create realistic literature that is acutely responsive to the socio-political situation in the country.

Writers turn to socio-political problems of Russian reality. The genre of the realistic novel is developing. His works are created by I.S. Turgenev, F.M. Dostoevsky, L.N. Tolstoy, I.A. Goncharov. It is worth noting the poetic works of Nekrasov, who was the first to introduce social issues into poetry. His poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'?” is known, as well as many poems that reflect on the difficult and hopeless life of the people. End of the 19th century - The realistic tradition began to fade away. It was replaced by so-called decadent literature. . Realism becomes, to a certain extent, a method of artistic cognition of reality. In the 40s, a “natural school” arose - the work of Gogol, he was a great innovator, discovering that even an insignificant event, such as the acquisition of an overcoat by a minor official, can become a significant event for understanding the most important issues of human existence.

The “Natural School” became the initial stage in the development of realism in Russian literature.

Topics: Life, customs, characters, events from the life of the lower classes became the object of study by “naturalists”. The leading genre was the “physiological essay,” which was based on accurate “photography” of the life of various classes.

In the literature of the “natural school,” the hero’s class position, his professional affiliation, and the social function he performs decisively prevailed over his individual character.

Those who joined the “natural school” were: Nekrasov, Grigorovich, Saltykov-Shchedrin, Goncharov, Panaev, Druzhinin and others.

The task of truthfully showing and exploring life presupposes in realism many techniques for depicting reality, which is why the works of Russian writers are so diverse in both form and content.

Realism as a method of depicting reality in the second half of the 19th century. received the name of critical realism, because its main task was the criticism of reality, the question of the relationship between man and society.

To what extent does society influence the fate of the hero? Who is to blame for a person being unhappy? What to do to change a person and the world? - these are the main questions of literature in general, Russian literature of the second half of the 19th century. - in particular.

Psychologism - the characterization of a hero through the analysis of his inner world, consideration of the psychological processes through which a person’s self-awareness is realized and his attitude to the world is expressed - has become the leading method of Russian literature since the formation of the realistic style in it.

One of the remarkable features of Turgenev's works of the 50s was the appearance in them of a hero who embodied the idea of ​​the unity of ideology and psychology.

Realism of the 2nd half of the 19th century reached its peak precisely in Russian literature, especially in the works of L.N. Tolstoy and F.M. Dostoevsky, who at the end of the 19th century became the central figures of the world literary process. They enriched world literature with new principles for constructing a socio-psychological novel, philosophical and moral issues, new ways of revealing the human psyche in its deep layers

Turgenev is credited with creating literary types of ideologists - heroes, whose approach to personality and characterization of their inner world is in direct connection with the author’s assessment of their worldview and the socio-historical meaning of their philosophical concepts. The merging of the psychological, historical-typological and ideological aspects in Turgenev’s heroes is so complete that their names have become a common noun for a certain stage in the development of social thought, a certain social type representing a class in its historical state, and the psychological makeup of the individual (Rudin, Bazarov, Kirsanov , Mr. N. from the story “Asya” - “Russian man on rendez-vous”).

Dostoevsky's heroes are at the mercy of ideas. Like slaves, they follow her, expressing her self-development. Having “accepted” a certain system into their soul, they obey the laws of its logic, go through all the necessary stages of its growth with it, and bear the yoke of its reincarnations. Thus, Raskolnikov, whose concept grew out of rejection of social injustice and a passionate desire for good, passing through all its logical stages along with the idea that took possession of his entire being, accepts murder and justifies the tyranny of a strong personality over the voiceless masses. In lonely monologues-reflections, Raskolnikov “strengthens” in his idea, falls under its power, gets lost in its ominous vicious circle, and then, having completed the “experience” and suffering internal defeat, begins to feverishly seek dialogue, the possibility of jointly assessing the results of the experiment.

In Tolstoy, the system of ideas that the hero develops and develops in the course of his life is a form of his communication with the environment and is derived from his character, from the psychological and moral characteristics of his personality.

It can be argued that all three great Russian realists of the mid-century - Turgenev, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky - depict the mental and ideological life of a person as a social phenomenon and ultimately presuppose obligatory contact between people, without which the development of consciousness is impossible.

The characteristic features of realism are the typification of the facts of reality, the demonstration of contradictions and the development of life, the desire to show the essence of phenomena without the limitations of plots, moral background and educational impact.

A distinctive feature of this direction in painting is also the artists’ approach directly to depicting the everyday life of people, without religious or mythological overtones. The development of realism was largely due to the development of social consciousness, the establishment of materialist philosophy, and progress in the field of industry, technology and natural science.

Having first appeared in the art of Holland in the 17th century, realistic trends in painting became especially widespread in France during the Enlightenment. At first, details of realism were only present in works of art of other movements. Thus, the works of E. Delacroix, although they belong to romanticism, have elements of realism, since they fully describe real events with all their inherent dramatic conflicts.

The birth of realism as an independent movement in painting is usually associated with the name of the French painter Gustave Courbet (1819-1877). In 1855, the artist opened a personal exhibition “Pavilion of Realism” in Paris. Courbet wrote mainly genre scenes, depicting the simple life of a working man, while he knew how to make each character typically recognizable. The works were usually simple in composition, executed in discreet earthy tones (“Stone Crusher”, 1849; “Funeral in Ornans”, 1849-1850; “Bathers”, 1853, etc.).

Other famous realist artists are Jean François Millet (1814-1875) and Honoré Daumier (1808-1879). Honore Daumier was a draftsman and caricaturist by vocation. According to the poet Baudelaire, Daumier “made caricature a genre of serious art.” His works (“Third Class Carriage,” 1862; “Uprising,” 1848; “Washwoman,” 1861, etc.) have a dry and rough style, and in the scenes presented on the canvases one can discern the harsh truth of life, seasoned irony and sometimes even caustic ridicule of the author.

The theme of Jean François Millet's works was mainly peasant life in all its manifestations. On small canvases (“The Sower”, 1850; “The Way to Work”, 1851-53; “Angelus”, 1857-1859), the artist created a generalized image of a worker closely connected with nature.

The most important achievements of realism in conveying the nuances of living nature, the affirmation of the artistic value of everyday city life were inherent in the work of the French impressionists (C. Monet, E. Degas, O. Renoir, C. Pissaro, etc.).

In Russia, the beginning of the development of realism is associated with the name of A. G. Venetsianov (1780-1847), who is the founder of the peasant everyday genre. Canvases depicting the everyday and labor activities of peasants (“Reapers,” 1825; “On the arable land. Spring,” early 1820s; “The Threshing Barn,” 1821, etc.) are imbued with love for their native land and great sympathy to the characters.

At the origins of the genre of critical realism in Russian painting was P. A. Fedotov (1815-1852). He wrote a series of paintings of the everyday genre, in which, using satire, he denounced the existing vulgar and dark morals of Russian life and sympathized with the disadvantaged (“Fresh Cavalier,” 1846; “Major’s Matchmaking,” 1848).

The spread of realism in Russian painting in the 2nd half of the 19th century. directly related to the rise of the democratic social movement. A whole cohort of realist artists of the late 19th century. united into a group of Itinerants (V.G. Perov, I.N. Kramskoy, V.I. Surikov, I.E. Repin, N.N. Ge, I.I. Shishkin, A.K. Savrasov, I.I. . Levitan and others). The range of creativity of the Itinerant artists was very wide - they worked in the everyday genre, in the historical genre, as well as in portraits and landscapes. The works of realist artists are imbued with a careful study of the life of the people, combined with criticism of the bourgeois-serf system. In their canvases, artists achieve great depth of psychological generalizations.

The painter V. G. Perov (1833-1882) created a number of paintings with a realistic plot, where he exposes the ugly phenomena of reality during the times of reforms and the abolition of serfdom. (“The last tavern at the outpost”, 1868, “Rural religious procession at Easter”, 1861). The painter also created a number of realistic portraits of famous people, incl. A. N. Ostrovsky, F. M. Dostoevsky, V. I. Dahl and others.

The rise of Russian realistic painting is associated with the name of I. E. Repin (1844-1930). Since the early 1870s. he acts as a democratic artist, fighting against academicism, which idealizes reality and is unable to reflect life. The painter criticized the exploitation of the people, showing the hidden power growing in them (“Barge Haulers on the Volga” 1870-73, “Refusal of Confession” 1879-85). The canvas “The Procession in the Kursk Province” (1880-83) can be called an encyclopedia of Russian life - the artist so masterfully and accurately captured the diversity of characters from life and captured it. The power of a realist artist was also evident in Repin’s portraiture. “Portrait of M.P. Mussorgsky” (1881) is completely realistic; it not only accurately conveys the entire appearance and character of the person being portrayed, but also shows the state of a person in physical torment and mental confusion.

The traditions of realism in Russia were established and continued in the works of such artists as A. N. Serov, K. A. Korovin, S. V. Ivanov and others. After the revolution, on the basis of the traditions of critical realism, socialist realism began to develop, proclaiming a truthful reflection of life in its revolutionary development. The most famous representatives of socialist realism in painting are K. S. Petrov-Vodkin, K. F. Yuon, A. A. Rylov, I. I. Brodsky, A. A. Deineka and others.

Realism as a literary movement

Literature is a constantly changing, continuously developing phenomenon. Speaking about the changes that have occurred in Russian literature in different centuries, it is impossible to ignore the topic of successive literary trends.

Definition 1

A literary direction is a set of ideological and aesthetic principles characteristic of the works of many authors of the same era.

There are a huge variety of literary trends. This includes classicism, romanticism, and sentimentalism. A separate chapter in the history of the development of literary movements is realism.

Definition 2

Realism is a literary movement that strives for an objective and truthful reproduction of the surrounding reality.

Realism tries to depict reality without distortion or exaggeration.

There is an opinion that, in fact, realism originated in the period of Antiquity and was characteristic of the works of ancient Roman and ancient Greek writers. Some researchers separately distinguish ancient realism and realism of the Renaissance.

Realism reached its highest point in both Europe and Russia in the middle of the 19th century.

Realism in Russian literature of the 19th century

Realism replaced the previously dominant romanticism in literature. In Russia, realism originated in the 1830s, reaching its peak by the middle of the century. Realist writers consciously refused to use any sophisticated techniques, mystical ideas or attempts to idealize a character in their works. Realists use ordinary, sometimes even everyday images, transferring the real person as she is onto the pages of their books.

As a rule, works written in the spirit of realism are distinguished by their life-affirming beginning. In contrast to romantic works, in which the acute conflict between the hero and society rarely ended in anything good.

Note 1

Realism sought to find truth and justice, to change the world for the better.

Separately, it is worth highlighting critical realism, a direction that actively developed in the middle of the 19th century and soon became leading in literature.

The development of Russian realism is associated primarily with the names of A.S. Pushkin and N.V. Gogol. They were among the first Russian writers who moved from romanticism to realism, to a reliable, rather than idealized, depiction of reality. In their works, the lives of the heroes for the first time began to be accompanied by a detailed and realistic social background.

Note 2

A.S. Pushkin is considered the founder of Russian realism.

Pushkin was the first to convey on the pages of his works the essence of the most important events in the life of a Russian person, presenting them as they were - vivid and, most importantly, contradictory. The analysis of the internal experiences of the characters deepens, the inner world becomes richer and wider, the characters themselves become more alive and close to real people.

Russian realism of the 19th century was characterized by increased attention to the socio-political life of Russia. At that time, the country was experiencing great changes and was on the verge of abolishing serfdom. The fate of the common people, the relationship between man and government, the future of Russia - all these themes are found in the works of realist writers.

The emergence of critical realism, the purpose of which was to address the most pressing issues, is directly related to the situation in Russia.

Some works of Russian realist writers of the 19th century:

1. A.S. Pushkin - “The Captain’s Daughter”, “Dubrovsky”, “Boris Godunov”;
2. M.Yu. Lermontov - “Hero of Our Time” (with features of romanticism);
3. N.V. Gogol - “Dead Souls”, “The Inspector General”;
4. I.A. Goncharov - “Oblomov”, “Ordinary History”;
5. I.S. Turgenev - “Fathers and Sons”, “Rudin”;
6. F.M. Dostoevsky - “Crime and Punishment”, “Poor People”, “Idiot”;
7. L.N. Tolstoy - “Anna Karenina”, “Sunday”;
8. A.P. Chekhov - “The Cherry Orchard”, “Man in a Case”;
9. A.I. Kuprin - “Olesya”, “Garnet Bracelet”, “Pit”.

Realism in Russian literature of the 20th century

The turn of the 19th and 20th centuries was a time of crisis for realism. A new direction appeared in the literature of this time - symbolism.

Definition 3

Symbolism is a movement in art that was characterized by a desire for experimentation, a desire for innovation, and the use of symbolism.

Adapting to changing life circumstances, realism changed its focus. 20th-century realism drew attention to the complexity of human personality formation, the factors influencing this process, and, most importantly, the impact of history on the main character.

Realism of the 20th century was divided into several movements:

• Critical realism. Adherents of this movement adhered to the traditions of classical realism, laid down in the 19th century, and in their works they focused on the influence of society on the realities of life. This direction includes the works of A.P. Chekhov and L.N. Tolstoy;
• Socialist realism. Appeared during the era of the revolution and was typical for most works of Soviet authors;
• Mythological realism. This direction rethought historical events through the prism of legends and myths;
• Naturalism. Naturalist writers in their works depicted reality as truthfully and in detail as possible, and therefore often unsightly. Naturalistic are “The Pit” by A.I. Kuprin and “Notes of a Doctor” by V.V. Veresaeva.

Hero in realist literature

The main characters of realistic works, as a rule, reason a lot, analyzing the world around and the world within themselves. After much thought and deliberation, they make discoveries that help them understand these worlds.

Realistic works are characterized by psychologism.

Definition 4

Psychologism is an image of the hero’s rich inner world, his thoughts, feelings and experiences in a work.

The mental and ideological life of a person becomes the object of close attention of writers.

It is important to note that the hero of a realistic work is not the person he is in real life. This is in many ways a typical image, which is often richer than the personality of a real person, who depicts not so much an individual personality as the general patterns of life of a certain historical era.

But, of course, the heroes of realist literature are more similar to real people than others. They are so similar that they often “come to life” under the writer’s pen and begin to create their own destiny, leaving their creator as an outside observer.

Each literary movement is characterized by its own characteristics, thanks to which it is remembered and distinguished as a separate type. This happened in the nineteenth century, when some changes took place in the writing world. People began to comprehend reality in a new way, to look at it from an absolutely different perspective. The peculiarities of 19th century literature lie, first of all, in the fact that now writers began to put forward ideas that formed the basis of the direction of realism.

What is realism

Realism appeared in Russian literature at the beginning of the nineteenth century, when a radical revolution took place in this world. The writers realized that previous trends, such as romanticism, did not satisfy the expectations of the population, since their judgments lacked common sense. Now they tried to depict on the pages of their novels and lyrical works the reality that reigned around, without any exaggeration. Their ideas were now of the most realistic character, which existed not only in Russian literature, but also foreign literature for more than one decade.

Main features of realism

Realism was characterized by the following features:

• depiction of the world as it is, truthful and natural;
• at the center of the novels is a typical representative of society, with typical problems and interests;
• the emergence of a new way of understanding the surrounding reality - through realistic characters and situations.

Russian literature of the 19th century was of great interest to scientists, because through the analysis of works they were able to understand the very process in literature that existed at that time, as well as give it a scientific basis.

The emergence of the era of Realism

Realism was first created as a special form for expressing the processes of reality. This happened back in the days when such a movement as the Renaissance reigned in both literature and painting. During the Enlightenment, it was conceptualized in a significant way, and was fully formed at the very beginning of the nineteenth century. Literary scholars name two Russian writers who have long been recognized as the founders of realism. These are Pushkin and Gogol. Thanks to them, this direction was comprehended, received theoretical justification and significant distribution in the country. With their help, Russian literature of the 19th century received great development.

Literature now lacked the sublime feelings that the Romantic movement possessed. Now people were worried about everyday problems, their solutions, as well as the feelings of the main characters that overwhelmed them in a given situation. Features of the literature of the 19th century are the interest of all representatives of the direction of realism in the individual character traits of each individual person for consideration in a given life situation. As a rule, this is expressed in a clash between a person and society, when a person cannot accept and does not accept the rules and principles by which other people live. Sometimes at the center of the work is a person with some kind of internal conflict, which he is trying to cope with himself. Such conflicts are called personality conflicts, when a person understands that from now on he cannot live as he lived before, that he needs to do something to get joy and happiness.

Among the most important representatives of the trend of realism in Russian literature, it is worth noting Pushkin, Gogol, and Dostoevsky. World classics gave us such realist writers as Flaubert, Dickens and even Balzac.

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