The realism movement is an artistic movement

The realism movement is an artistic movement that began in the 1850s in the aftermath of the 1848 revolution. Prior to this time, the French art industry had been dominated by romanticism, and realism artists were so opposed to it that a revolution occurred. To put out their different themes, artists used to exaggerate the subject of emotionalism. In addition, during the worldwide economic crisis of the 1920s, social realism political and cultural movements flourished. Following the Russian and Mexican revolutions, ethnic tensions renewed the social realist political artists' ability to paint and vigorously depict portraits of the lower classes. In a nutshell, it can be proper to hypothesize that the social realism political movements were motivated by the heightened use of art to display wellness and spread inequality (Lapidaki, 2014). Moreover, other artists had failed to address the problems ordinary individuals experienced. Political, social and economic exclusions of lower-class members like the laborers in a way improved and motivated the united attack on the status quo by the social realists and this paper will work towards proving that.
Before Realism
Before the onset of the realism movement in the early nineteenth century, Romanticism was the order of the day. Artists emphasized on the appreciation of nature beauties, a general exaltation of senses over intellect and emotion over reason, and a regurgitated interest and concentration on imagination as the only route to inspiring truth. However, the realism artists got tired of the over-imaginations and inclusion of romantic content as part of the art. They perceived such art not to be an accurate representation of the reality and therefore, formed a revolution to transform portrayal of art. The truthful and precise description of artworks created the main inspiration of realist artists in the early nineteenth century (Bell, 2016).
Realist artists, the likes of Gustave Courbet, depicted individuals of all classes, situations arising from different aspects of life be it ordinary and even those brought about by commercial and industrial revolutions. However, as a result of the introduction of photography, the art of realism grew tremendously to spread throughout the entire Europe. Moreover, the desire to depict and represent objects and images objectively real within the people also increased with time. The realism artists portrayed matters and issues affecting ordinary workers in an attempt to raise awareness among the public of the rights of those despised in the society (Yarrington & Everest, 2016).
The new artistic style avoided too much drama and the cases of smoothing or omitting subjects of untidiness. According to this version of art, painting of human subjects as heroes was so much avoided because it contributed to the unfair treatment of others perceived less heroic. Social realism, for instance, is considered as one way that got used to advocate for the fair and equal treatment of the working class of persons. We realize that the working class was depicted in the same manner as the other categories of employees (Bell, 2016).
The influence of realism spread throughout Europe under the leadership of Gustave, who is believed to be the pioneer of the style. However, with time, the style diffused completely till its peculiarity to define art faded away paving the way for Impressionism. Primarily the realists did not believe in too much prettifying of portraits and paintings but insisted in presenting paintings and photographs in a simple but real manner. For example, Courbet in his “A Burial at Ornans” showed regular characters from his native surroundings (Goudie, 2015).
Relevance of Realism in French Politics
Before the 1848 revolution, the society formed perceptions around classism and portrayed the negatives in the positive. Additionally, artists and other literature participants biasedly depicted various matters in the community especially in a period which saw a lot of discrimination of the laborers. Idealized classicism in a way gained a lot of pushing from the art industry in particular through the widespread use of romanticism. Revolutionary artists such as Gustave identified and came up to revolutionize the inspiration for artwork (Goudie, 2015; Facos, 2011).
Realism was centered on simple observation and presentation of the reality as the artist observed it. Henceforth, wrongs were not hidden by coloration or prettification of the subject but instead, art is used to enlighten the society not only to entertain. In some way, realism contributed to the outbreak of the 1848 revolution in France. Workers became portrayed similarly as other classes to deconstruct the ideologies of classicism in the society. The working class got to be informed of their rights bringing about the need to form local movements to defend the rights of laborers (Wilson, 2015).
The French Revolution, a period of despondency, violence and strict control of the art industry, the theater became an option for people to relinquish the negative consequences of the wars. Moreover, the revolution came with freedom from monarchy restrictions and censorship of the various arts of performance including dance and painting. For instance, the administration censored the type of roles that both male and female could take part in plays. In that respect, the women became portrayed as responsible mothers who ought to take care of the homes and families. On the other hand, the men had the responsibility to go out and defend the society against outside aggression in wars (Yarrington & Everest, 2016).
Primary Contributors to Realism
Realism is believed to begin in the period between the 1830s and 1848 when the media and journalists had a lot of freedom to report on entirely everything freely. The press was given greater freedom in the first few years of Louis Phillippe allowing artists like Daumier to perform their artistic work to produce works of art like the Gargantua which was created in 1831. The caricature portrayed the monarchy as a gluttonous institution. The painting angered the administration of Louis who sent many representatives to purchase as many copies of the cartoon for destruction (Gardner & Kleiner, 2013).
The act of portraying the King as a giant gluttonous Gargantua resulted in Daumier getting a six months imprisonment. The sentence did not discourage him from producing more artwork. He critically composed his paintings which he distributed across the entire French nation. One of his formidable works in 1834 included the realist portrayal of how brutally the French government massacred the working-class innocents. After the release of this artwork, the monarchy considered it a threat to its influence over the people and therefore, the threat had to get contained. So as to contain the growing influence by Daumier, the government bought in large numbers the portraits to destroy them (Wilson, 2015).
Moreover, Daumier continued to produce paintings and engravings several other years despite the constraints. For instance, the Third-Class Carriage became such a social inspiration for the people and the activist groups.


The photo shows a painting depicting the third class carriage which most people including social activitis used (Source: John, 2013).
The Revolutions of 1948 and the Origins of Socialism
In 1848, the July monarchy crashed down giving rise to the second republic between 1848 and 1851 being part of a bigger wave of revolution in Europe. The revolution gave birth to widespread social vagaries and fluctuations in Germany, Poland, Netherlands, Austrian Empire and Italy (Facos, 2011). Coupling this with the publication of the Philosophy of Poverty in 1846 and the communist manifesto, the only language to represent these facts became realism. The Philosophy of Poverty produced by Pierre-Joseph lay the foundation upon which Gustave forged relentless assault on the French political arena (Gardner & Kleiner, 2013).
Gustave’s works became so influential in communicating the wrongs that went unresolved in the society under the watch of the government. He became so prolific in advocating for the portrayal of the pure truth, clear articulation of issues as they were. The debut of realism was marked by Gustave’s “A Burial at Ornans” which was a depiction of how funerals took place in the rural area. The piece of work was followed by the Stone Breakers of 1849. The piece of art resonated well in the minds of the middle-class workers who sparked a lot of contentions giving rise to socialism (Rockmore, 2015).


The photo is an 1849 painting by realist Gustave Courbet that depicts the stone breakers and the work the kind of work they got engaged in. It shows two lower-class laborers engaging in strenuous work and worst of all lowly-paid (Source: Facos, 2011).
Rebellion By Realists
While before realism set in, artists used to do portrayals of imaginations, for instance, people drew and sculptured things of the past as well as past experiences, and the realists only subscribed to things they saw happen. They claimed that current happenings inspired their art and therefore they could only portray the truth as they witnessed it. Gustave is quoted saying that he had bever seen an angle and hence he could not draw a portrait of the same. In this view, art that had come before them was based on false information and lies and unacceptable. Gustave defined art as an exhibition of what is taking place in the society in the present times and not past experiences which in his view was a mere imagination (Goudie, 2015).
During this period of revolution, the Romantics had a passion for painting the representations of mystical nature. On the other hand, the central focus for the realists became the depiction of lower-class workers and the intolerable working conditions they had to put up with in a bid to fend for their families. In a way, the realists involved themselves in social activism activities hence had to deconstruct the political agenda of artists glorifying the working class (Lapidaki, 2014). According to them, the workers lived idealized lives probably due to mythology, religion, history, and literature. It took a bold step for the realists to revolt aginst the usual norm in art representations. The conventional academic rules of art required that an artist receives training so that their paintings could get an exhibition at the Academy. On several accounts, Coubert’s works got rejected something that angered him until he started showcasing his artworks individually (Gardner & Kleiner, 2013).
Gustave and his associates’ works became regarded as radical defying the rules of art in the French academies. The act of realist art raised a lot of concerns especially in the enlightenment of members of the public to know their rights and duties. For instance, Gustave’s Third-class carriage depicts lower-class individuals traveling in deplorable conditions. Carriages get crowded such that the chances of contracting contagious infections are high. Additionally, Gustave produced an at called the Stone Breakers which shows two men working on a mining site under poor conditions. Despite the work being hard, the workers get paid small amounts of compensation. The act of severally portraying the monarchy as gluttonous and unmindful of the plights of the poor in the society, the government became so angered by such works of artist like Daumier. Daumier suffered the consequences of the revolt including imprisonment of six months. His works were destroyed by the monarchy’s representatives so as to reduce the damage they were thought to be causing (Rockmore, 2015).
Conclusion
France became the inspiration for revolution across Europe in 1848. Most of these revolutions were headed by groups of workers who demanded better working conditions, better pay and voting rights for the male workers. The employees became aware of their rights out of the work of artist and most importantly the realists. The realist movements reported issues as they were and did not account for past experiences something that became a significant threat to the unity and peace of the states. The likes of Daumier and Coubert painted sculptures depicting ill-treatment and poor working conditions for the blue collar employees (Goudie, 2015). Most of the realist artists were at the same time social activists defending the rights of the despised and ignored lower class members of the society. For instance, Coubert’s sculpture of Stone Breakers portrayed two workers working in mining fields under debilitating conditions, with little compensation. Furthermore, these men did not have voting rights to vote in the people they wanted to lead them. Realism inspired political revolution as was witnessed in the nineteenth century as spearheaded by the workers in search for better compensation and health as well as safe working conditions.






References
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