Realism

T: Gleaners

A: Jena- Francois Millet

D: 1857

L: Musee d’Orsay, Paris

Short Bio:

Jean Francois Millet was born in Normandy, France 1814. He was the first child and grew up in stock life. Millet was guided by two priests from which he acquired american literature from before heading to study with Paul Dumouchel, a portrait painter. By age 21, Millet became a full time student in painting, but after his scholarship terminated in 1839, he was rejected submission to the salon. After leaving to Paris, a year later, Millet went back to Cherbourg, where he wanted to continue his career as a painter and married a young lady known as Pauline- Virginie Ono- they then moved back to Paris. Throughout the years, Millet was rejected many submissions into the salon, and sadly his wife passed away. Millet went back to Cherbourg, where he found and married Catherine Lemair in 1853. She produced 9 of his children and they remained inseperable for the rest of their lives. Millet was highly influenced with painting peasant features in a Barbizan school, by and artists known as Honore Daumier and Alfred Sensier, with their draughtmanship of figures and political views. The 1850s was when Millet started gaining popularity in his paintings. He endured artistic shifts, where he went from representing peasant life to depicting the modern social conditions during his time. Coming from peasant stock, Millet looked up to farmers and thought agriculture life to be beauty. Millet wanted to depict the reality of stock life. Towards the end of his career, Millet started using loose brush strokes and a lighter palette which was starting to tie into the Impressionist style, but he still maintained a distance from that stylistic era. Jean Francois Millet died on January 20, 1875 in Barbizon, he depicted many images of peasant life and did so with great value and empathy, he became a great influence to artists like Van Gogh, Pissaro, Seurat, Boudin, Monet, and many more.

Realism:

Social Structure: The Industrial Revolution increased urbanization and led to the alienation and immigration of many individuals. It aroused abuses toward the urban working class which led to the formation of labor unions. The bourgeoisie was greedy and enjoyed increased prosperity and leisure time.  

Political Structure: Socialism emerged as a method for curing society’s ills.  

Style: Artworks made after 1860s were known as “Modern” or “Modernist”. We learn that art was made for art’s sake rather than for patrons. Artists and society had a critical view of the industrial way of life and greed. Art focused on sympathy for the working class and a desire to depict a truthful vision- the reality. Photography: New Medium of the late 19th century, but was questioned if Photography was to be considered art. In 1888, Eastman develops the first snapshot camera, making photography accessible to the public. Many realists used photographs as reference for their paintings.

Interpretation and Explanation:

Based off of my research on Millet, He tried to depict the reality of urban poverty. This image also known as Gleaners shows the rural work that these women carried out on a daily basis. Gleaners were known to be poor women who were allowed to pick the last of the grains after a day's harvest. After farm land was cleared, women stayed to pick extra/ forgotten grains. It represents the nobility of the unfortunate poor and their hard work. This image was not meant to be patronized, in fact Millet wanted to show the concept of women's work. During this era we learned about the abuse towards the lower, working class which plays a role into Millet's theme of moral messages. Millet harshly depicts the back breaking duties of these women, his usage of certain bright colors draws attention to the backs, necks, and arms of the wome. We also see a landlord at the distance, thus Millet proves how the wealthy isolates themselves or have distanced themselves from the poor, also to show that the urban life was far from theirs. I learned that Millet was in love with depicting rural life and objects, I can tell that this was one of those images in which he tried to show the reality of urban life. Millet wanted to reveal the ugly truth - which is that of the real world. Millet succeeded in depicting the social and political changes during his time period.

Connection:

  I can interpret that realism today is represented in many of today's movies. For example in the movie, 12 years a slave, a colored man was abducted and sold into slavery. Solomon was free once, but he started to experience the reality of being a slave. They had worse struggles than to struggle for food- many things he could get before his abduction. Another movie, Slumdog millionaire, we see the realities of poverish life in India. Not only did I learn about the realities of how females were treated, but this movie captured how many children endured a life without parents, struggling to survive.

Resources:

http://www.jeanmillet.org/biography.html

http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/millet/

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/382878/Jean-Francois-Millet

http://arthistory.about.com/cs/namesmm/p/millet.htm

Realism Content Guide

03.11.14 Realism Notes

T: Starry Night

A: Vincent Van Gogh

D: 1889

Vincent Van Gogh was born in Groot-Zundert, Holland on March 30, 1853. Although Van Gogh was upbrought from very religious parents, he was highly emotional and had very low self-esteem. When Van Gogh decided to pursue a career in art, he was devastated by 2 failed romances and had poor jobs at the time. After studying in Britain and meeting artists like Monet, Pissarro, and Gaugin, and working in Paris, Van Gogh began to lighten his very dark palette and to paint in the short brushstrokes of the Impressionists. He didn't really associate with many due to his anxiety problems. Later on, Van Gogh and Gaugin faced problems and Van Gogh attacked him with a razor but ended up cutting his own ear off. He later went to a treatment center and two months after release he shot himself "for the good of all". 

By 1886 Critics had accepted impressionists as artists, but most had felt the movement was at an end. Post impressionists felt that impressionists neglected formal elements too much. During this period, there is not just one specific style. Artists become the principal style. Some artistswere more emotional/ representational than others. We see many concepts of internalization,personal understanding of the world. There was much experiment between artists and their art.

This image represents Van Gogh's view of the world. The symbolism from his point of view is that this landscape is from his room at the mental treatment hospital he stayed at. This image is usually seen as bright, but it was meant to be gloomy, knowing the type of character he had. There is a persuasive use of blue to identify with his mood of depression. Van Gogh expressed himself most in the night sky; the idea of this was getting across his perspective of the questionable world( also known as his own inner turmoils).

I feel this is related to today's society because of all the questions in today's society. We have many loosing their minds, found in dark oxygen-less boxes, people who can't deal with their emotional problems. They don't all paint images all in blue, but we have really high suicide rates. Like Van Gogh, and his representations of the world , people become antisocial and don't see themselves as a part of the world and tend to isolate themselves.

1. http://www.vangoghgallery.com/
2. 03.18.14 Impressionism Notes

Napoleon Enthroned

A: Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres
T: Napoleon I on his Imperial Throne
D: 1806
L: Musee de l’Armee, Paris
Bio Of Ingres: Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres was introduced to art through his father which passed the culture of art to Ingres since he was the most talented. Beggining his career, many of his works were known to be controversial, throughtout his whole career his works were harshly criticized by claiming that his art didn't fit in with the normal culture. Ingres was'nt a great fan of commissioned works, yet those were his best art form.
Brief Description Of Ramanticism: The Romanticism era was meant to capture the inner emotion. During this period in time, there were many technological advances that made artists want to depict the spirit of the external natural world. There were manypolitical and social upheavals and revolutions in society which involved many painters in revolutionary movements and started a solicitude toward the helpless and downtrodden that found most passionate and powerful expression in the works presented.
Personal Explanation: I honestly liked the fact that Napoleon used appropriation on point. As we have seen in past styles like the Baroque or Rococo, we saw a lot of playfulness but now Napoloeon brought back many old concepts that actually play a serious role into emphasizing his power and dominance.
Connection to Modern World: This is really identifyable with today's art. I see this especially with rap artists. They sit on these chairs as to seem like thrones. They all want to compete for the title of best rapper, but in this case they want to show off their riches and fame, they want to seem more dominant and more famous than others.
Resources: 

• http://www.artble.com/artists/jean_auguste_dominique_ingres/more_information/biography
• 3/6/14 Romanticism Reading Notes