Romanticism and Realism - Essay Example

Relationship of Art Historical Periods [The of the will appear here] [The of the will appear here] Introduction Throughout History, a great number of art movements have sprung up. Each movement is a reaction and a critique to the previous art movement. Art Movements usually evolved with the changing ideals and views of the society and therefore each art movement captures the philosophy of the prevalent societal views. In a similar way, Romanticism and Realism captures the philosophies of their time and even add to these philosophies in some ways. The paper explores the way these art movements developed and evolved. It compares the relationship between both the movements in terms of their similarities and differences. Romanticism Romanticism was an art movement that gained prominence in the late 18th century. This movement developed as a response against rationalism. It therefore aimed to bring out the emotional side of art. This art movement explored intense emotion by focusing on emotions such as awe, horror, grief and terror. Romantic artists were opposed to rules and laws in creating their art. Rather they stressed strongly in originality of design. The period of Romanticism began at a time when the society began rejecting the Age of Enlightenment. The Enlightenment era focused basically on reason and logic thus rejecting the importance of emotions in life. However, in the late 18 century, this era faced opposition from Counter-Enlightenment. Enlightenment was blamed for undermining the importance of beauty, emotions and history by labeling man as a rational and soulless person. Romantic artists aimed to bring back the charm of beauty and emotions back into arts. Since the movement was developed as a criticism to the Age of Enlightenment, the movement focused on spirituality, nature, democracy and the common man (Blunt, 1962). Realism The Realist art movement began in the 1850s. It originated from France by developing a rejection against Romanticism. This movement, as the name implies, aimed at creating realist impression in arts. According to Realist artists, the artwork should aim to present an objective picture without focusing on exotic or other unreal elements. Thus the ordinary became art. The exaggeration of emotion that was a characteristic of the previous Romantic era was completely rejected while the mundane and the typical were accepted. Realism was influenced greatly with photography which was gaining grounds in the 1850s. Photography allowed artists to capture images of scenes and people more easily. These they could paint later on by trying to capture as much of the reality as they could. Thus, realism was pushed in the art circle because of photography to a great extent (Morris, 2003) Romanticism and Realism Realism was an art movement that was born as a reaction against Romanticism. As the society evolved to reject logical and reason as the dominant human emotion, Romanticism was born. Romanticism then gave way to Realism as artists of the realist era rejected the overtly stylistic elements of the Romantic Era. Even though there were certain similarities between the two movements, Realism was born as a thought against Romanticism. The main difference between the two movements was in the way they approached their subjects. Romantic artists aimed to focus on the emotions of their subjects; often exaggerating the emotions to the extent of glorifying them. Realist artists went totally opposite by painting their subjects as real as possible. The common man with his ordinary life and ordinary issues became an important subject in this era. Also in terms of subjects, Romantic artists chose subjects that they could dramatize. Even when they chose the ordinary man; they chose to dramatize his emotions. Realist artists rather undermined the emotions and tried to be as objective as they could (Novotny, 1971). Even though, Realist art was born as a reaction against the Romantic era, there were certain similarities that can be found in both movements. While the Romantic and Realist era portrayed subjects differently, they used the same subjects. The subject was the common man as opposed to previous art movements where religion and mythology dominated the thoughts and subjects of the artists. It should be noted here that this was a time when religion had lost its hold over the common man with the advent of modernity. Religion and mythology were losing the charm and power they exercised over the common man. Also church was no longer the only powerful figure who commissioned artists to paint artworks on religious or mythological stories. Thus artists became inspired by the common man. In both the romantic and the realist era, common man gained a certain respect. Artists became fascinated with the life of the common man and focused on his life. The Romantic focused on the common man’s emotions while the realists focused on the commonness of man. Both the art movements were more inspired by the rural man rather than the urban one. This is because previously rural life had been ignored in the art circle and in the Romantic era, the subject came forward as an original subject or theme. This was then brought forward by the Realist movement where artists removed the exaggerated emotion from the common man and presented him as he was. Artworks In order to draw an effective comparison between the two movements, one artwork from both the movements would be analyzed. The artwork selected from the Romantic Era is The Raft of Medusa painted by Théodore Géricault. The painting selected from the Realist Era is Stone Breakers by Gustav Courbet. The Raft of Medusa depicts the survivors of the French naval frigate Meduse. It depicts a horrendous scene about how the survivors endured the destruction and how they lived. The Stone Breakers on the other hand depicts an ordinary village scene where two men are breaking stone. In The Raft of Medusa, the painter has focused on the emotions of the survivors. The artist has exaggerated the air of gloom and desperation of the people. The tension in the body of the people also collaborates with the mood that the artist sets in the painting. The emotions of this painting are completely opposed to that of the Stone breakers. In this painting, the artist focuses on the everyday work done by these stone breakers. The artist hides the faces of the subject with their hats and their postures as they face away from the viewers. It is hard to gauge whether the subjects are happy, sad, tired or frustrated. The way the both the artists have used light and color is also a point of difference. The dark palate of Gericault’s painting adds drama to the painting and injects a dreary atmosphere; which helps accentuate the emotions of the survivors. On the other hand, Courbet sets his painting in the day light which gives the painting a feeling of the everyday or the ordinary. In terms of similarities, both the paintings have used the common people and their lives as the subject. In The Raft of Medusa, Gericault has used a real life incident while Courbet uses an ordinary scene in the life of two stone breakers. Stylistic Influence of Realism One major influence of Realism in arts and other avenues was the interest that was sparked towards rural life. Artists began to travel to remote and rural areas to study and later portray the life of these otherwise ignored people. Even in literature, novelists began to explore rural life and wrote novels on the mundane and ordinary lives of these people. The practice of writing novels on everyday people continues to date. The Realist artists also explored an objective point of view. They presented life, the way it was. They did not try to infuse stylistic elements that would add an air of mystery or disbelief. Realist artists explored many subjects but in none of these subjects did they try to present their opinions or their thoughts. This later influenced other artists to explore art and architecture objectively. Conclusion Romanticism was an art movement that developed as a reaction against the undue importance given to logic and reason. It therefore focused on emotions. However, with Realism, the artists reverted to presenting subjects as they were without any exaggeration. The Realist art movement depicted the ordinary life and this sudden respect towards the ordinary continues to date. References Blunt, A. (1962) Anthony, Artistic Theory in Italy, 1450-1600, NewYork: OUP Novotny, F. (1971) Painting and Sculpture in Europe, 1780–1880 , London: Y ale University Presss Morris, P. (2003) Realism. 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