ROMANTIC REALISM
Photography
Portraiture
Landscape Photography
Pictorialism
Naturalism
Sequential Photography
Romantic-Realist Painting
Realism
Realist Architecture
Realism to Impressionism
Impressionism
Modern Photography
During the 1840s, while Romanticism is still the prevailing art movement, a new art form emerges as a result of the invention of photography. There are parallel developments and styles in photography and painting.
PHOTOGRAPHY
Although 1839 is the usual date for the invention of photography, there were a number of different circumstances at different times in history which led to its creation and evolution.
1725: 1st recorder discovery that certain chemicals turned black when exposed to light.
1500s: basic design of today’s camera was introduced = camera obscura.
DAGUERRE: CHAMBRE NOIRE
Chambre noire = one of the earliest camera designs.
Between 1816 and 1840 appeared the 1st printed photographs.
CAMERA OBSCURA,
16th and 17th C.
Camera obscura = Latin for “dark chamber”. It was a room or small building without
windows—only a tiny hole fitted with a lens that projected images from the outside onto
the opposite wall inside; resulting image was inverted (upside down) and often unclear.
It became a familiar tool for artists and scientists from 16th century on, as the image could
be traced to create an accurate sketch and be transformed into a painting.
EVOLUTION OF CAMERA OBSCURA,
16th century (1500s): room or building = permanent.
17th century (1600s): portable model could be moved from place to place.
17th-19th centuries (1600s-1800s): table top version; image formed by lens and reflected by
a mirror onto a ground glass to be traced.
Artist’s aim = illusion of reality.
NIEPCE: VIEW FROM HIS WINDOW AT GRAS, 1826
Image on glass (w/bitumen); 8-hour exposure.
Not a true photograph, but = oldest known permanent photographic image; tonally
reversed image created by exposing materials w/light-sensitized chemicals to light.
It’s a chemical process combined w/printmaking process.
| Jacques-Louis Mandé DAGUERRE, 1787-1851 |
French painter and showman who designed stage sets for opera and theatre.
Thus, he was also interested in the illusion of reality.
1829-33: DAGUERRE worked in partnership w/NIEPCE.
1835-39: DAGUERRE introduced daguerreotype = copper plate coated w/silver of iodide
which was exposed to light and resulting image was developed by mercury and made
permanent by salt solution.
The daguerreotype had no negative; the original plate became the sole/unique print.
This process was publicly announced in summer 1839.
DAGUERRE: PARIS BOULEVARD, 1838
Daguerreotype with exposure time of 15-30 minutes.
Early view of Paris was praised for its great detail.
1st human ever recorded in a photograph.
Meanwhile, in England, William Henry Fox TALBOT (1800-77) experimented with
photogenic drawings: leaves placed on paper coated with light sensitive chemicals, and
exposed them to light:
TALBOT: BOTANICAL SPECIMEN, 1839
Photogenic drawing that is a negative image of the leaves.
TALBOT: OPEN DOOR, Plate VI from “The Pencil of Nature”, 1843
Published in London, 1844
1 of earliest and most famous egs. of still life photographic arrangement, composed of a
broom, horse harness and lantern set against a threshold.
1833-39: Talbot created his own photographic process = calotype, using a paper negative
to create multiple copies of the same image.
1st exposure produced a negative image on paper treated w/silver compounds; exposed
paper was then placed over a 2nd sheet of treated paper and exposed to strong light to
create a positive image.
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PORTRAITURE
Portrait photography became popular in mid-19th century, because it was cheaper than having one’s portrait painted by an artist, and thus was more affordable to middle classes.
ENGLISH CARTE-DE-VISITE, 1860
Carte-de-visite: inexpensive paper print mounted on 2 1/4 x 4” card, usually depicting
portraits, but also included local attractions collected by tourists; the photographer’s name
was also printed on the card.
DAUMIER: PHOTOGRAPHY, A NEW PROCESS (lithograph), 1856
This caricature is 1 of more than 35 lithographs and drawings satirizing photography.
Félix Tournachon, known as NADAR (1820-1910)
1853-54, Nadar began his photographic career as portraitist of the rich and famous; he
produced a virtual who’s Who of mid-19th century Parisian life.
NADAR: NADAR’S STUDIO, PARIS
His photo studio was located in the heart of Paris’ commercial district.
Later, his studio was the site of the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874.
NADAR: SARAH BERNHARDT (1844-1923), 1859
-portrait of young actress at age 15, when she was just starting her career.
-Nadar’s typical style of neutral background and natural lighting.
NADAR: SARAH BERNHARDT, 1865
-famous French stage actress; began at Comédie Française, then opened her own theatre.
-dramatic pose & elaborate interior setting w/rich furnishings signify successful dramatic 21-year old acress.
NADAR: SELF PORTRAIT IN PARIS CATACOMBS, 1861
1861: Nadar took first photographs with artificial light in Paris catacombs and sewers using
electrical lights; these photos were published in Le Paris souterrain de Félix Nadar.
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LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHYI
n the mid-19th century as exposure times decreased, photographers began recording out-
door scenes of nature and modeled their pictures after current landscape paintings.
Thus, art influenced photography; however, photography also influenced art:
CUVELIER: OUTSKIRTS OF ARRAS (France), 1852
Halation: strong sunlight affects the structure of solid objects by eating out shadows and in
foliage, creating a feathery appearance.
Compare: COROT: SOUVENIR OF MORTEFONTAINE, 1864
o/c, 26"x35" -painting executed by leading French landscape artist which was great success at 1865 Paris
Salon (impt. annual art exhibition sponsored by French govt.).
Halation accounts for change in Corot’s painting style after 1850, at same time landscape
photography was becoming popular.
Compare: COROT: HAGAR IN THE WILDERNESS, 1835
-o/c, 71x106-1/2".
Corot’s earlier style was characterized by high contrast & solid form.
IS PHOTOGRAPHY ART?
Question arose as to whether photography could be considered art or was just a simple
mechanical process involving no artistic talent.
DAUMIER: NADAR ELEVATING PHOTOGRAPHY TO LEVEL OF ART, 1862 caricature with double meaning:
1st aerial photograph from hot-air balloon, 1858
1st recognition of photography as art
NADAR: CARICATURE (addressing this question):
Left: “INGRATITUDE OF PAINTING refusing the smallest place in its exhibition to
Photography to whom it owes so much”, 1857
Right: “PAINTING OFFERS PHOTOGRAPHY A PLACE in Paris Fine Arts exhibit”, 1859
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PICTORIALISM
= photographic movement whose members imitated themes in painting & created painterly effects by manipulating the image during picture-taking or processing.
| Julia Margaret CAMERON, 1815-79 |
Born into an aristocratic family in Calcutta, India; at 23 she married a British diplomat.
1848: settled in England, where their house became a meeting place for artists.
She = self-taught photographer.
1863: at middle age (48), she took up photography when given a camera by daughter.
Known for her allegorical & narrative photographs, & portraits of famous Englishmen.
CAMERON: PORTRAIT OF ELLEN TERRY, 1863
Staged scene with an actress imitates current Victorian (Pre-Raphaelite) painting style:
Compare: ROSSETTI: BEATA BEATRIX, 1863
= characteristic of Pre-Raphaelite painters during Victorian Period in England.
Left: ROSSETTI: JANE MORRIS (photo), 1865 & Right: ROSSETTI: REVERIE (colored chalk, 33x28”), 1868
Pre-Raphaelite artist uses photograph as model for his drawing.
Thus, photography also influences art.
CAMERON: CALL AND I FOLLOW, LET ME DIE, 1867
-soft focus technique resembles painting; melodramatic title and pose.
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N A T U R A L I S M
= photographic movement whose members believed that a photograph should capture
nature’s own truth, specializing in peaceful scenes of country life & soft focus, blurred edges.
| Peter Henry EMERSON, 1856-1936 |
1886: he co-authored Life & Landscape in the Norfolk Broads with 40 illustrations of East Anglican peasant life.
EMERSON: HAYMAKING IN NORFOLK BROADS, 1890
He based his photographs on scientific principles & British painter Constable’s landscapes
from 70 years earlier:
Compare -- CONSTABLE: THE HAYWAIN, 1821
Romantic interest in natural phenomenon based on actual observation.
EMERSON finally decided that photography was a science & not an art, because it
was machine-made & not personal.
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SEQUENTIAL PHOTOGRAPHY
| Eadweard MUYBRIDGE, 1830-1904 |
British-American photographer who explored stop action & sequential photography in
order to study motion.
MUYBRIDGE: HORSE IN MOTION, 1878
(collodion = wet plate photo)
He recorded for 1st time actual motion of a galloping horse to settle a bet as to whether
running horses lift all 4 hooves off the ground at once.
He discovered that all 4 feet are off the ground only when they are directly underneath the
horse (2nd & 3rd frames), not while stretched out.
Muybridge set up along side a race track 12 cameras the shutters of which were triggered
as the horse passed.
Compare -- GÉRICAULT: HORSE RACING AT EPSOM, 1821
Painting by 19th-century French Romanticist with all 4 feet off ground while stretched out.
Thus, photography is more truthful than painting in this case.
DEGAS/MUYBRIDGE: TROTTING HORSES, 1870s
French Impressionist painter used Muybridge’s action photos for his exploration of stop-
action motion.
DEGAS: HORSE TROTTING (bronze), 1880
-sculpture accurately expresses the horse’s motion.
MUYBRIDGE: ZOOPRAXISCOPE, 1880
1880: Muybridge invented the zoopraxiscope (pre-cursor to projector) which produced a
series of images of a moving object.
Thus, photography = practical art for aiding artistic and scientific investigation.
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ROMANTIC-REALIST PAINTING
| Jean-François MILLET, 1814-75 |
Born in Normandy (northwestern France)
1848: he became a member of the Barbizon School of painters.
His characteristic subjects: peasants and common agricultural activities of sowing seed,
harvesting, plowing and gleaning.
MILLET: THE SOWER, 1850
o/c, 40x32-1/2", Boston MFAHis 1st great masterpiece, exhibited at Salon of 1850-51.
Classical: large scale heroic genre (face in shadow makes him anonymous)
Romantic: biblical subject: parable of the sower from the New Testament (regeneration
of earth by man, symbolizes the change of seasons.
Realist: shows contemporary agricultural practice in France at the time.
Painterly style: toned canvas with earth tones, applies other colours on top, direct process.
MILLET: THE GLEANERS, 1857
o/c, 32-1/2 x 43-1/2", Orsay.
Presents peasant farm workers as dignified people: 3 solid forms stand out from landscape
background, where the harvesting activity takes place.
Content: the scene symbolizes charity, as the act of gleaning involves picking up leftovers
after the harvest.
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With the emergence of Realism in the mid-19th century, there’s more awareness of French geographical locations and the artist as an individual. One gains a better understanding of
the artist and his oeuvre by studying him within the context of his origins.
| Gustave Courbet, 1819-1877 |
He was born in Ornans, province of Franche-Comté (eastern part of France)
= leader of the Realist movement, who broke academic tradition by revolutionizing subject
matter and style.
His native province has a rich and varied topography: plateaux, narrow river valleys and
the rugged Jura mountains, foothills to the Alps.
His hometown of Ornans is located in a narrow river valley surrounded by high cliffs and
vineyards on the gentler slopes.
Aside from some peripheral expansion, the centre of town remains somewhat the same
today as it did in Courbet’s time.
Courbet family house is a large 17th century bourgeois house along the Loue River.
Courbet family = large property owners and had a second house in a nearby village.
1839: Courbet went to Paris to study law, but studied art instead.
COURBET: AFTER-DINNER AT ORNANS,1848-49
o/c, c.6x8', Lille
Large scale painting with life-size figures seated around a table in front of a large stone
kitchen fireplace.
Bourgeois setting is similar to that of the Courbet family kitchen.
Painted in dark earth tones, it was praised for its “Dutch quality.” There was current
interest in Rembrandt and Courbet had visited Holland the previous year (1846/47).
Meal theme recalls religious context: Rembrandt’s Supper at Emmaus (in Louvre at time).
The After-dinner was praised as genre painting presented on the scale of history painting.
It also relates to the French 17th century tradition of genre painting (anonymous figures in
daily activity) as seen in Le Nain’s Peasant’s Meal, 1642.
However, the subject category of Courbet’s After-dinner is neither religious nor genre.
The 4 men are identified in the 1849 Salon notice as the artist’s father and 3 close friends.
Thus, Courbet records an after-dinner atmosphere of relaxation, listening to music, which he
himself had experienced.
Style: painterly, using dark, earthy colours thickly applied.
Subject: new subject, in which Courbet presents a circumstance that is neither picturesque
nor anecdotal. He accurately depicts his provincial, bourgeois background on the scale
and with the seriousness usually reserved for history painting.
This becomes personal history painting.
For this painting Courbet received a 2nd class gold medal from the unusually liberal Salon
jury in 1849 & exempted him from subsequent salon juries.
1849 marks his 1st official artistic recognition & establishes his reputation.
COURBET: THE STONEBREAKERS (destroyed during WWII), 1849
= another eg. of his drawing inspiration for his painting from his Franc-comtois experiences.
This subject of rural labour is not new. But it is the way Courbet presents it that is new:
the large, unidealized figures are given the same detail as the rocks.
The adolescent carrying the basket of rocks recalls the pose of Millet’s Winnower,
exhibited at the previous Salon in 1848.
However, Courbet’s unidealized figure in dirty rags is a strong contrast to Millet’s “clean”
idealized/sentimentalized peasant.
Content: poverty (road building was the lowest kind of job at the time).
Salon critics had mixed reactions: from positive (showing a slice of life) and negative
(poor painting).
COURBERT: A BURIAL AT ORNANS, 1849-50
o/c, c. 10x22, Orway.
Large scale canvas with life-size figures depicts a burial in the artist’s hometown.
It was exhibited at the Salon of 1850-51, but not well received.
Critics reactions varied from calling it the: “pillars of Realism”, “Mannerist of ugliness”,
“democratic”, to “simple record of provincial life.”
Parisian public objected to the triviality of modern life used as subject matter.
Courbet had raised this record of an event in his native town to the level of history painting,
which then became personal history painting.
Charcoal sketch (15x37”) portrays his original composition, which he modified on the
final large canvas.
As in his other personal history paintings, the scene depicts an event that the artist himself
had witnessed: the burial of a family member, generally thought to be his grandfather,
and actually turns out to be his grand uncle. Many of the mourners are either members
of the Courbet family or close friends.
It’s also the first burial in a new cemetery whose creation had been controversial.
Courbet felt that an artist should record his own epoch and not draw subjects from preceding
times. Here he records the passing of a generation.
To him “history painting” was a record of contemporary life, personal history and local
importance (cemetery controversy).
Manifesto of Realism: this picture sums up all of the characteristics of Realist movement.
She was an independent and unconventional female Realist artist.
Animals were her favorite subject matter; she wore men’s clothing in order to sketch
animals at slaughterhouses, cattle markets and horse fairs.
1865: First woman artist to receive the prestigious cross of the French Legion of Honour.
BONHEUR: THE HORSE FAIR, 1853
o/c, 8’ x 16’3”, NY Met.
Large scale canvas, based on many sketches done outdoors.
This is her most famous work: depicts a contemporary event wherein horses are exercised.
She realistically documents these work horses, rather than telling a story.
BONHEUR
: SHEEP BY THE SEA 1869
(12 3/4 x 18”, Ntl. Mus. of Women in Arts),
Smaller scale; painted after her visit to England and the Scottish Highlands
Born in Marseille, not a native of Paris, but captured the essence of the French capital
through his lithographs and paintings.
He’s known mostly as a social caricaturist for Parisian newspapers; he was briefly
imprisoned when he turned to political satire.
c.1860, he began to paint everyday scenes of modern Paris and people’s reactions to it
(also covered in literature of the time, i.e., Balzac, Dickens).
DAUMIER: THE PRINT COLLECTOR, c.1865
(Petit Palais, Paris) Subject of collecting prints is relevant to the artist’s livelihood.
Uses strong light to create simple, solid forms; thick application of paint.
DAUMIER: THE THIRD CLASS CARRIAGE, 1862
(o/c, 26 x 35 1/2”, NY Met.),
DAUMIER: INTERIOR OF A FIRST CLASS CARRIAGE (pencil & watercolour).
Different class railway carriages provide new method of transportation.
He portrays people reacting to urban life: being alone in a crowd/anonymity.
3 generations of a family are portrayed in foreground: grandmother, mother and child.
Style: more like the draughtsman quality of his caricatures with emphasis on line.
Thinner application of pigment, but heavy modeling with realist dark earth tones.
He used grid lines to enlarge his smaller sketches onto the canvas.
He had already treated this subject in an earlier lithograph of 1855 (Impressions of Train
Travel).
Daumier’s images can be considered an urban counterpart of Millet’s contemporary
depictions of rural peasants.
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REALIST ARCHITECTURE
With the development of Realism in painting, there was a parallel development in architecture which stressed the rational and the practical. The function of the building became more important than an attempt to revive past history. Cast iron and other materials produced by the Industrial Revolution permitted engineering advances in construction of larger, stronger and more fire resistant structures.
| Sir Joseph PAXTON, 1801-65 |
PAXTON: CRYSTAL PALACE, 1850-51
London.
Designed for 1st International Exhibition/World’s Fair, which needed to enclose a large,
light-filled space for numerous displays from different countries.
The structure consisted of an iron skeleton covered with a skin of glass.
TALBOT: CRYSTAL PALACE INTERIOR (photo), 1850-51
1st use on grand scale of pre-fabricated parts, allowed for rapid construction (6-9 mos.),
and it was portable (could be moved, disassemble & reassemble)
| Gustave Eiffel, 1832-1932 |
AERIAL VIEW: EIFFEL TOWER, Paris, 1887-89
Built for the Exposition Universelle/World’s Fair of 1889 which marked the centennial of
the French Revolution.
World’s Fair took place on Champs-de-Mars in Paris, and was 1st to be lit by electricity.
Bold scale: it was the tallest structure in the world for 40 years.
EIFFEL: EIFFEL TOWER, 1887-89
Paris, h. 300m. 984'.
Engineering masterpiece of exposed metal construction was originally painted iridescent
colours.
Compare: EIFFEL: GARABIT VIADUCT, 1880-84
Tower’s structure was based on engineering properties of Eiffel’s bridge spans which
demonstrated the tensile strength of metal (resistance to length-wise stress).
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REALISM TO IMPRESSIONISM
Parisian dandy from wealthy upper middle-class family; he originally chose a naval career
instead of law, but failed the entrance exam to the Naval School in 1848.
As a member of the bourgeoisie, he did not need to paint for a living.
NADAR: PORT. OF EDOUARD MANET, 1865
By 1861, Manet had met the French poet & art critic Baudelaire, who was calling for a
“painter of modern life” concerned with depicting contemporary Parisian life.
MANET: LUNCHEON ON THE GRASS/DEJEUNER SUR L’HERBE, 1863
7' X 8'10".
It was refused admittance to the Salon of 1863 due to subject and style.
There were so many works refused (3/5 of works submitted) due to lack of technical
expertise, etc., that Napoleon III held a Salon des Refusés, which received a lot of
publicity and attracted crowds.
Luncheon on the Grass was exhibited there under the safer title “The Bath”, thereby giving
it mythological associations.
Subject: 2 clothed men in contemporary dress are seated with a nude woman along a river
bank while another woman washes in the background.
Figures are identifiable: Manet’s brother and 18-year-old Victorine Meurent, who was a
well-known courtesan in Paris.
However, it was the way (style) Manet rendered the subject that was more shocking: he
simplified shapes through his method of applying pigment, eliminating transitional
areas of traditional volumetric rendering.
Flatness of nude figure reveals the influence of flashgun of photography.
Compare: GIORGIONE: PASTORAL SYMPHONY (now attributed to Titian), 1510
Manet stated that he wanted to “re-do” Giorgione’s Renaissance Pastoral Symphony then in
the Louvre Museum, Paris.
Compare: RAIMONDI: Engraving after RAPHAEL’S JUDGMENT OF PARIS, 1513-34
Composition of Manet’s central figures was inspired by another Renaissance work.
Group of river gods at lower right are inspired from ancient sources (Roman sarcophagi).
So, Manet draws upon past & traditional art. But his modern recasting of tradition creates
a shock factor.
As with Courbet, it’s difficult for Manet to extend tradition & be immediately accepted. People are conservative in taste due to the economic & political transformation of society;
numbers of the new wealthy are not as well educated as past aristocracy.
The full impact of Manet’s Luncheon on the Grass on the Impressionists was not realized
until 1865.
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In summer 1874, Manet joined younger Impressionist artists Monet and Renoir working at Argenteuil.
MANET: THE RAILROAD/GARE ST-LAZARE, 1873
o/c c.37x45”, NG Wash.)
Scene: Victorine Meurent seated in the fenced-in area of Paris train station.
Cropped composition influenced by photography and Japanese print..
Exhibited at the Salon of 1874 where it received negative criticism:
-“in prison for having lost the respect owed to the public”
-“title: Woman with a Seal”
Example of Manet’s Impressionist phase, in which he paints his subjects flatly without chiaroscuro.
Most important member of Impressionist; most experimental in his approach and most consistent in relying on his own visual sensations as he executed the entire painting outdoor/plein air.
MONET: ARGENTEUIL, 1872
(o/c, c.20x26”, NG Wash.)
-subject: village along the Seine River near Paris.
-interest in light rendered in high-keyed palette, especially in the sky and reflecting water.
-he used flat brushstrokes and patches of color as he records the effects of light on surfaces rather than imitating the texture of objects.
MONET: IMPRESSION—SUNRISE, 1873
(o/c, c.20x24”)
Scene: sunrise over the harbor at the seaport Le Havre.
Technique: painted on rough canvas that has been primed white; he uses divisionist brushstroke in the water to create broken color and suggest objects through optical mixture.
MONET: ROUEN CATHEDRAL—MORNING (BMFA), 1894
MONET: ROUEN CATHEDRAL, MIDDAY, 1894
(NG, Wash.)
MONET: ROUEN CATHEDRAL, SUNSET (o/c, c.40x25”, BMFA), 1894
| Auguste RENOIR (1841-1919) |
Oblique view, simplified colour forms and flat composition are influenced by Degas and Japanese prints.
Traditional theme of motherhood is characteristic of her work.
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MODERN PHOTOGRAPHY
Important changes occur at turn of century (19th to 20th century).
| Alfred STIEGLITZ, 1864-1946 |
1st modern American photographer
STIEGLITZ: VIEW OF THE SEINE, 1894
Started off w/Pictorialism, manipulating images to imitate painting.
1902: founded Photo-Secession movement.
1903: established Camera Work = quarterly magazine which promoted photography as an independent art form.
1905: Stieglitz opened “Gallery 291” in NYC, which endorsed photography as well as
modern European and American art.
STIEGLITZ: THE STEERAGE, 1907
Introduced “straight photography”: exploiting optical & aesthetic properties of
photographic techniques w/o light effects or darkroom enhancement.
| Edward STEICHEN, 1879-1973 |
1905: with STIEGLITZ, he established “Gallery 291”.
STEICHEN: RODIN, THE THINKER, 1902
Portays famous French sculptor with his masterpiece, The Thinker.
Started off w/Pictorialism, imitating painting.
STEICHEN: PORTRAIT OF COLETTE, PARIS, 1920s
Famous French writer (1873-1954), Author of Gigi (1943)
1920s: STEICHEN abandoned his early Pictorialism & became successful celebrity
& fashion photographer.
STEICHEN: GRETA GARBO, 1920s
Portrait of famous silent movie star.
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