Enlightenment realism in French painting of the 18th century. Realism in French painting-presentation by MHK
The art of France, a highly politicized country, invariably responded to events affecting the deep foundations of the world order. Therefore, the country, in the XIX century. survived the fall of the empire, the restoration of the Bourbons, two revolutions, participated in many wars, no longer needed an artistic presentation of power. People wanted to see, and the masters wanted to create canvases inhabited by contemporaries acting in real circumstances. The work of the great artist Honore Daumier (1808 - 1879) reflected the era of the 19th century, full of social upheavals. Widely known, having become a kind of chronicle of the life and customs of the era, was the graphics of Daumier, the master of political caricature, denouncing the monarchy, social injustice, militarism. Daumier's picturesque talent was revealed in the 1840s. The artist himself did not seek to exhibit his paintings. Only a few close people saw his canvases - Delacroix and Baudelaire, Corot and Daubigny, Balzac and Michelet. It was they who were the first to highly appreciate Daumier's pictorial talent, which is often called "sculptural". In an effort to bring his creations to perfection, the artist often sculpted figurines from clay, enhancing characteristic features or exaggerating natural proportions. Then he took a brush and, using this "nature", created picturesque images. In Daumier's painting, grotesque-satirical, lyrical, heroic, epic lines are usually distinguished.
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The art of realism in France in the mid-nineteenth century. Significance of the French Revolutions of 1830 and 1848 O. Daumier, F. Millet, G. Courbet, C. Corot. The Plein Air Problem and the Barbizon School. The lesson was prepared by the teacher of IZO MBU DO DSHI a. Takhtamukay Jaste Saida Yurievna
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Pierre Étienne Theodore Rousseau (1812 - 1867) The son of a Parisian tailor, seeing the wild for the first time, wanted to become an artist. He went to his first plein air at the age of 17 in the forest of Fontainebleau near the village of Barbizon, and could no longer stop. In nature, everything amazed him: the endless sky with sunsets, storms, clouds, thunderstorms, winds, or without all this; the greatness of the mountains - with stones, forests, glaciers; a wide horizon of plains with gently sloping pastures and patches of fields; all seasons (winter as it is, he wrote the first of the French); trees, the life of each of which is greater and more solemn than human; sea, streams, even puddles and swamps. Through the efforts of Rousseau, the landscape moved from a conditional image to a natural one, and from an auxiliary genre to a first-rate one (which only historical painting used to be).
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Sunset In order to write an anthology of the landscape of France, the "artist of his country" traveled and walked around all of it - fortunately he was a tireless pedestrian and a Spartan in everyday life and menus. And a perfectionist. The Paris Salon accepted the landscape of the 19-year-old Rousseau for an exhibition, and already at 23 refused his "daring composition and piercing color." For a dozen years without exhibitions, Rousseau softened the tone of his landscapes, the storms gave way to simplicity, silence and philosophical reflection. So his paintings became a set of heartfelt lyrics. He came to his beloved Barbizon every year, and at the age of 36 he moved permanently, disappointed both in love and in the crushing onslaught of the revolution. In the 30s-60s. 19th century Rousseau and his drawing of nature directly in nature in Barbizon were joined by other artists: Millet, Kaba, Daubigny and Dupre, who began to be called Barbizon - and the world began to learn about the "Barbizon school".
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One of the artist's earliest known works is a small painting kept in the Leningrad Hermitage - "Market in Normandy". Here is a street of a small town bustling with market trade. The trampled stony ground of the market square in a tiny town, built half of dense old stone and half of cracked darkened wood and variegated roofing shingles, occupies and, it seems, touches the artist no less than the local inhabitants. Shadow and light equally touch buildings and people, and in each patch soft color transitions indicate what Rousseau loves to “touch” with his eyes and brush: the texture of real things and the lively movement of the atmosphere. The artist is interested in all the details of city life - in the open window on the second floor of the house he notices a woman, he peers into the darkness in the depths of the open door, into the crowd of buyers and merchants depicted in the background. In the future, Rousseau departs from this type of "inhabited" landscape, he is attracted not by the views of houses and streets, but only by nature, the presence of man in which is episodic and insignificant. Market in Normandy. 1845-1848. The State Hermitage Theodore Rousseau. Hut in the Forest of Fontainebleau. 1855.
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At the World Exhibition of 1855, the 43-year-old Rousseau was awarded a gold medal for the painting “Exit from the Forest of Fontainebleau. The setting sun”, which meant recognition and creative victory. Later, he painted a painting paired with her “Forest of Fontainebleau. Morning". And finally, the Salon, and after it the World Exhibition of 1867, invited him to the jury. What did you draw? Nooks and crannies of wilderness, country back alleys, oaks, chestnuts, rocks, streams, groups of trees with small figurines of people or animals for scale, shivering and flickering of the air at different times of the day. What was useful to the Impressionists? Plein air, a stroke in the form of a comma, the ability to see the air, the overall tone of the picture thanks to the monochrome layer of chiaroscuro under the color upper layers. Leaving the Forest of Fontainebleau. The setting sun Theodore Rousseau. Forest of Fontainebleau. Morning. 1851
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Barbizon School In contrast to the idealization and conventionality of the "historical landscape" of academics and the romantic cult of the imagination, the Barbizon School asserted the aesthetic value of the real nature of France - forests and fields, rivers and mountain valleys, towns and villages in their everyday aspects. The Barbizons relied on the heritage of Dutch painting of the 17th century. and English landscape painters of the early 19th century. - J. Constable and R. Bonington, but, above all, they developed the realistic tendencies of French landscape painting of the 18th and 1st quarter of the 19th centuries. (especially J. Michel and the leading masters of the romantic school - T. Gericault, E. Delacroix). Work from life on a sketch, and sometimes on a painting, the intimate communication of the artist with nature was combined among the Barbizons with a craving for epic breadth of the image (sometimes not alien to a kind of romanticization and heroism), and chamber paintings alternated with large landscape canvases.
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The Barbizon School The Barbizon School developed a method of tonal painting, restrained and often almost monochrome, rich in subtle valères, light and color nuances; calm brown, brown, green tones are enlivened by separate sonorous accents. The composition of the landscapes of the Barbizon school is natural, but carefully constructed and balanced. The Barbizons were the founders of plein air painting in France, they gave the landscape an intimate and confidential character. The creation of a “mood landscape” was associated with the names of the Barbizonians, the forerunner of which was Camille Corot, a singer of predawn darkness, sunsets, and twilight. Charles Daubigny. Banks of the river Oise. Late 50s. 19th century State Hermitage
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Camille Corot (1796-1875) Camille Corot studied under the academic painters A. Michallon and V. Bertin, was in Italy in 1825-28, 1834 and 1843. Corot is one of the creators of the French realistic landscape of the 19th century. a passionate admirer of nature, he unconsciously paved the way for the Impressionists. It was Corot who spoke of the "picturesque impression". In an effort to convey the first, fresh impression, he rejected the romantic interpretation of the landscape with its inherent idealized forms and color scheme, when, in his pursuit of the sublime, divine, the romantic artist depicted a landscape in the picture that reflected the state of his soul. At the same time, the exact transmission of the real landscape did not matter. Protesting, perhaps unconsciously, against this approach to painting, Corot raised the banner of plein airism.
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Camille Corot The difference between Romantic landscape and Corot is the difference between fact and fiction. In general, before Corot, artists never painted landscapes in oil in nature. Romantics, like the old masters, sometimes made preliminary sketches on the spot, sketching with great skill (with pencil, charcoal, sanguine, etc.) the shapes of trees, stones, shores, and then painted their landscapes in the studio, using sketches only as auxiliary material. Theodore Gericault. "The Flood" 1814 Camille Corot. “Cathedral in Nantes”, 1860. It is interesting to note that the work on the landscape in the studio, away from nature, was generally accepted, and even Corot did not dare to bring the work to the last stroke in the open air and, out of habit, completed the paintings in the studio. Working from nature brings him closer to the Barbizon school.
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Camille Corot. Landscapes 1820–40s The sketches and paintings of Corot of the 1820–40s, depicting French and Italian nature and ancient monuments (“View of the Colosseum”, 1826), with their light coloring, saturation of individual color spots, dense, material paint layer, are vitally direct and poetic; Koro recreates the transparency of the air, the brightness of sunlight; in the strict construction and clarity of the composition, the clarity and sculptural form, the classicist tradition is noticeable, especially strong in the historical landscapes of Corot ("Homer and the Shepherds", 1845). "View of the Colosseum", 1826 "Homer and the Shepherds", 1845
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Camille Corot. Landscapes 1850–70s In the 1850s in the art of Corot, poetic contemplation, spirituality, elegiac and dreamy notes are intensified, especially in landscapes painted from memory - “Memories of Mortefontaine”, (1864), as its name indicates, a charming romantic landscape, animated by female and children's figures, inspired by pleasant memories about one of the beautiful days spent in such a picturesque place. This is an almost monochrome landscape with a quiet expanse of water, the outlines of an obscure shore fading in the fog, and a captivating quivering light-and-air environment, plunging the entire landscape into a light golden haze. His painting becomes more refined, quivering, light, the palette acquires the richness of valers. Recollection of Mortfontaine, 1864. Louvre.
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In the works of this time (A Gust of Wind, 1865–70), Corot seeks to capture the instantaneous, changing states of nature, the light-air environment, and to preserve the freshness of the first impression; thus, Corot anticipates the impressionistic landscape. With its gloomy sky, rushing dark clouds, tree branches knocked to one side and an ominous orange-yellow sunset, everything is permeated with a sense of unrest in the painting “A Gust of Wind”. The female figure, breaking through towards the wind, personifies the theme of the opposition of man to the natural elements, which goes back to the traditions of romanticism. The subtlest transitions of shades of brownish, dark gray and dark green colors, their smooth overflows form a single emotional color chord that conveys a thunderstorm. The variability of lighting enhances the mood of anxiety in the landscape motif embodied by the artist. "Gust of wind", 1865-70
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Democratic Realism Between 1850 and 1860 in France, the triumphant procession of romanticism was stopped and a new direction, headed by Gustave Courbet, gained strength, which made a real revolution in painting - democratic realism. Its supporters set out to reflect reality as it is, with all its "beauty" and "ugliness". For the first time, representatives of the poorest sections of the population were in the center of attention of artists: workers and peasants, laundresses, artisans, urban and rural poor. Even the color was used in a new way. The free and bold strokes used by Courbet and his followers anticipated the technique of the Impressionists, which they used when working in the open air. The work of realist artists caused quite a stir in academic circles. The disappearance from their paintings of Greek gods and biblical characters was considered almost sacrilege. The masters of realistic painting of the democratic direction - Daumier, Millet and Courbet, who in many respects remained misunderstood, were accused of superficiality, of the absence of ideals.
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Gustave Courbet (1819–1877) Jean Desire Gustave Courbet was born in Ornans. The son of a wealthy farmer. From 1837 he attended the drawing school of S. A. Flajulo in Besançon. He did not receive a systematic art education. Living in Paris since 1839, he painted from life in private ateliers. He was influenced by Spanish and Dutch painting of the 17th century. He made trips to Holland (1847) and Belgium (1851). The revolutionary events of 1848, witnessed by Courbet, largely predetermined the democratic orientation of his work.
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Wounded Man with leather belt. 1849 Self-portrait "Man with a pipe" (1873-1874) Gustave Courbet Having passed a short stage of proximity to romanticism (a series of self-portraits); Self-portrait with a black dog 1842 "Self-portrait (Man with a pipe)". 1848-1849 "Despair. Self-portrait". 1848-1849.
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(“Lovers in the Village” or “Happy Lovers”, 1844), Courbet polemically opposes to it (as well as to academic classicism) a new type of art, “positive” (Courbet’s expression), recreating life in its course, affirming the material significance of the world and denying the artistic the value of that which cannot be realized tangibly and objectively. happy lovers
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Gustave Courbet In his best works "Stone Crushers" (1849), In a letter to Vey, Courbet describes the canvas and talks about the circumstances that gave rise to her idea: "I rode our wagon to the castle of Saint-Denis, near Seine-Vare, not far from Mézières , and stopped to look at two people - they were a complete personification of poverty. I immediately thought that in front of me was the subject of a new painting, invited both of them to my studio the next morning and since then I have been working on the painting ... on one “side of the canvas is a seventy-year old man; he was bent over at work, his hammer raised, his skin tanned, his head shaded by a straw hat, his trousers of rough fabric all patched, his heels sticking out of once blue torn socks and clogs that had burst from below. On the other side is a young guy with a dusty head and a swarthy face. Bare sides and shoulders are visible through a greasy, tattered shirt, leather suspenders hold up what were once trousers, holes gape in dirty leather shoes on all sides. The old man is on his knees; the guy drags a basket with rubble. Alas! This is how many people start and end their lives.”
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"Funeral in Ornans" (1849) Courbet shows reality in all its dullness and wretchedness. The compositions of this period are distinguished by spatial limitation, static balance of forms, compact grouping or elongated in the form of a frieze (as in the "Funeral in Ornan") arrangement of figures, soft, muted color system.
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Courbet's ability to work in his youth is amazing. He is engrossed in a grand design. On a huge canvas (3.14 x 6.65 m), in deference to the memory of his grandfather Udo, a republican of the French Revolution, who had a strong influence on the formation of Courbet's political views, he writes "Historical Picture of a Burial in Ornans" (1849 - 1850) - this is how he himself calls the "Funeral in Ornan". Courbet placed about fifty life-size figures on the canvas. two church watchmen Four people in wide-brimmed hats have just brought the coffin to Courbet's mother and his three sisters
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Gustave Courbet The principle of the social significance of art, put forward in modern Courbet art criticism, is embodied in his works “Meeting” (“Hello, Monsieur Courbet!”; 1854), which conveys the moment of the meeting of the proudly marching artist with patron A. Bruhat.
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The Atelier (1855) is an allegorical composition in which Courbet imagined himself surrounded by his characters and his friends.
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Gustave Courbet In 1856, Courbet painted the painting "Girls on the Banks of the Seine", thus making an important step towards rapprochement with the plein airists. Courbet performed it in a mixed manner: he painted the landscape directly in nature, and then attributed the figures in the studio. Having chosen the main means of the pictorial language not the local color, but the tone, its gradation, Courbet gradually moves away from the restrained, sometimes harsh palette of the 1840s - early 1850s, brightening and enriching it under the influence of work in the open air, achieving light saturation of colors and at the same time revealing the texture smear.
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During the short-lived Paris Commune of 1871, Courbet was chosen Minister of Fine Arts. He did a lot to save museums from looting, but he has one rather strange act on his conscience. On the Place Vendôme in Paris, there was a column - a copy of the famous Trajan's column - erected to commemorate the military victories of France. Among the Communards, this column was strongly associated with the bloody imperial regime. Therefore, one of the first decisions of the Commune was to demolish the column. Courbet was entirely in favor: - We will do a good deed. Perhaps then the girlfriends of the recruits will not wet so many handkerchiefs with tears. But when the column was brought down, Courbet became melancholy: - Falling, she will crush me, you'll see. And he turned out to be right. After the fall of the Commune, they remembered the column, began to call him a "bandit", and in the end the court accused him of destroying monuments. Gustave Courbet Courbet had to serve several months in prison. The artist's property was sold, but even after his release from prison he was obliged to pay 10,000 francs every year. He was forced to hide in Switzerland until his death from paying a huge fine. After 7 years, Courbet died in poverty.
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Honoré Victorien Daumier (1808-1879) The most important painter, sculptor and lithographer of the 19th century. was Honoré Victorien Daumier. Born in Marseille. The son of a master glazier. From 1814 he lived in Paris, where in the 1820s. took lessons in painting and drawing, mastered the craft of a lithographer, and performed small lithographic works. Daumier's work was formed on the basis of observation of the street life of Paris and a careful study of classical art.
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Daumier's caricatures Daumier apparently participated in the Revolution of 1830, and with the establishment of the July Monarchy he became a political cartoonist and won public recognition with a ruthlessly grotesque satire on Louis Philippe and the ruling bourgeois elite. Possessing political insight and the temperament of a fighter, Daumier consciously and purposefully connected his art with the democratic movement. Daumier's cartoons were distributed as single sheets or published in illustrated editions where Daumier collaborated. Caricature of King Louis Philippe
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Sculptures by Daumier Boldly and accurately molded sculptural sketches-busts of bourgeois politicians (painted clay, circa 1830–32, 36 busts have been preserved in a private collection) served as the basis for a series of lithographic caricature portraits (“Celebrities of the Golden Mean”, 1832–33).
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Caricature of the king In 1832, Daumier was imprisoned for six months for a caricature of the king (lithograph "Gargantua", 1831), where communication with arrested republicans strengthened his revolutionary convictions.
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Daumier achieved a high degree of artistic generalization, powerful sculptural forms, emotional expressiveness of contour and chiaroscuro in lithographs in 1834; they denounce the mediocrity and self-interest of those in power, their hypocrisy and cruelty (a collective portrait of the Chamber of Deputies - "The Legislative Womb"; "We are all honest people, let's embrace", "This can be set free"). "Legislative womb" "We are all honest people, let's embrace" "This can be set free"
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The prohibition of political caricature and the closure of Caricature (1835) forced Daumier to confine himself to everyday satire. In a series of lithographs "Paris types" (1839–40),
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"Matrimonial Morals" (1839-1842), "The Best Days of Life" (1843-1846), "People of Justice" (1845-48), "Good Bourgeois" (1846-49) Daumier caustically ridiculed and stigmatized the deceit and selfishness of bourgeois life , the spiritual and physical squalor of the bourgeois, revealed the nature of the bourgeois social environment that forms the personality of the layman. From the series "Marriage Mores" (1839-1842) From the series "The Best Days of Life" (1843-1846) From the series "People of Justice" (1845-48) From the series "Good Bourgeois" (1846-49)
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A typical image, concentrating the vices of the bourgeoisie as a class, Daumier created in 100 sheets of the Caricaturan series (1836-38), which tells about the adventures of the adventurer Robert Maker.
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In the series "Ancient History" (1841-43), "Tragic-classical physiognomies" (1841), Daumier maliciously parodied bourgeois academic art with its hypocritical cult of classical heroes. Daumier's mature lithographs are characterized by dynamics and juicy velvety strokes, freedom in the transfer of psychological shades, movement, light and air. Daumier also created drawings for woodcuts (mainly book illustrations). The Beautiful Narcissus Alexander and Diogenes The Abduction of Helen From the Tragico-Classical Faces Series (1841)
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A new short-lived rise in French political caricature is associated with the Revolution of 1848–49. Welcoming the revolution, Daumier exposed its enemies; The personification of Bonapartism was the image-type of the political rogue Ratapual, first created in a grotesque dynamic statuette (1850), and then used in a number of lithographs. Daumier O. "Ratapual". Ratapual and the Republic.
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Painting by Daumier In 1848, Daumier completed a painting sketch for the competition entitled The Republic of 1848. Since that time, Daumier devoted himself more and more to painting in oils and watercolors. Daumier's painting, innovative in subject matter and artistic language, embodied the pathos of the revolutionary struggle (The Uprising, 1848; The Family at the Barricades) and the unstoppable movement of crowds (The Emigrants, 1848–49), the artist's respect and sympathy for the working people (Laundress ”, 1859–60; “3rd Class Wagon”, 1862–63) and an evil mockery of the unscrupulousness of bourgeois justice (“Defender”). "Republic of 1848" "Uprising", 1848 "Family at the Barricades" "Emigrants", 1848-49 "Laundress", 1859-60 "3rd Class Carriage", 1862-63 "Defender" 1865
French realism of the 19th century goes through two stages in its development. The first stage - the formation and establishment of realism as the leading trend in literature (late 20s - 40s) - is represented by the work of Beranger, Merimet, Stendhal, Balzac. The second (50-70s) is associated with the name of Flaubert - the heir to realism of the Balzac-Stendhal type and the forerunner of the "naturalistic realism" of the Zola school.
The history of realism in France begins with the songwriting of Beranger, which is quite natural and logical. The song is a small and therefore the most mobile genre of literature, instantly reacting to all the remarkable phenomena of our time. In the period of the formation of realism, the song gives way to the primacy of the social novel. It is this genre, due to its specificity, that opens up rich opportunities for the writer to broadly depict and in-depth analysis of reality, allowing Balzac and Stendhal to solve their main creative task - to capture in their works the living image of contemporary France in all its completeness and historical uniqueness. A more modest, but also very significant place in the general hierarchy of realistic genres is occupied by a short story, the unsurpassed master of which in those years Merimee is rightfully considered.
The formation of realism as a method takes place in the second half of the 1920s, i.e., at a time when romantics play a leading role in the literary process. Next to them, in the mainstream of romanticism, Merimee, Stendhal, Balzac begin their writing journey. All of them are close to the creative associations of romantics and actively participate in their struggle against the classicists. It was the classicists of the first decades of the 19th century, patronized by the monarchical government of the Bourbons, who in these years were the main opponents of the emerging realistic art. Almost simultaneously published the manifesto of the French Romantics - the preface to the drama "Cromwell" by Hugo and Stendhal's aesthetic treatise "Racine and Shakespeare" have a common critical focus, being two decisive blows to the code of laws of classic art that has long since become obsolete. In these most important historical and literary documents, both Hugo and Stendhal, rejecting the aesthetics of classicism, stand up for expanding the subject matter in art, for the abolition of forbidden plots and themes, for representing life in all its fullness and inconsistency. At the same time, for both, the highest model to be guided by when creating a new art is the great Renaissance master Shakespeare. Finally, the first realists of France and the romantics of the 1920s are also brought together by a common socio-political orientation, which is revealed not only in opposition to the Bourbon monarchy, but also in a sharply critical perception of bourgeois relations being established before their eyes.
After the revolution of 1830, which was a significant milestone in the history of France, the paths of realists and romantics will diverge, which, in particular, will be reflected in their controversy in the early 1930s. Romanticism will be forced to yield its primacy in the literary process to realism as a trend that most fully meets the requirements of the new time. However, even after 1830, the contacts of yesterday's allies in the fight against the classicists would continue. Remaining true to the fundamental principles of their aesthetics, the romantics will successfully master the experience of the artistic discoveries of the realists, supporting them in almost all the most important creative endeavors.
Realists of the second half of the 19th century. will reproach their predecessors for the "residual romanticism" found in Mérimée, for example, in his cult of the exotic (so-called exotic novels such as "Mateo Falcone", "Colombes" or "Carmen"). In Stendhal's passion for portraying bright personalities and passions of exceptional strength ("Parma Monastery", "Italian Chronicles"), in Balzac - in craving for adventurous plots ("History of Thirteen") and the use of fantasy techniques in philosophical stories and novels "Shagreen leather". These accusations are not without foundation. The fact is that between French realism of the first period - and this is one of its specific features - and romanticism there is a complex "family" relationship, which is revealed, in particular, in the inheritance of techniques characteristic of romantic art and even individual themes and motifs (the theme of lost illusions, the motive of disappointment, etc.).
Note that in those days there was no delimitation of the terms "romanticism" and "realism". Throughout the first half of the nineteenth century. the realists were almost invariably called romantics. Only in the 1950s - already after the death of Stendhal and Balzac - French writers Chanfleury and Duranty proposed the term "realism" in special declarations. However, it is important to emphasize that the method, the theoretical substantiation of which they devoted many works to, was already significantly different from the method of Stendhal, Balzac, Mérimée, which bears the imprint of its historical origin and the dialectical connection with the art of romanticism due to it.
The importance of romanticism as the forerunner of realistic art in France can hardly be overestimated. It was the romantics who were the first critics of bourgeois society. They also have the merit of discovering a new type of hero who enters into confrontation with this society. Consistent, uncompromising criticism of bourgeois relations from the high positions of humanism will be the strongest side of the French realists, who expanded and enriched the experience of their predecessors in this direction and, most importantly, gave anti-bourgeois criticism a new, social character.
One of the most significant achievements of the Romantics is rightfully seen in their art of psychological analysis, in their discovery of the inexhaustible depth and complexity of the individual personality. This achievement of romance also rendered a considerable service to the realists, paving the way for them to new heights in the knowledge of the inner world of man. Special discoveries in this direction were to be made by Stendhal, who, relying on the experience of modern medicine (in particular, psychiatry), would significantly refine the knowledge of literature on the spiritual side of human life and connect the psychology of the individual with his social being, and present the inner world of a person in dynamics, in evolution, due to the active influence on the personality of the complex environment in which this personality resides.
Of particular importance in connection with the problem of literary continuity is the principle of historicism, inherited by realists, the most important of the principles of romantic aesthetics. It is known that this principle involves considering the life of mankind as a continuous process in which all its stages are dialectically interconnected, each of which has its own specifics. It was her, named by the romantics as historical color, that the artists were called upon to reveal the word in their works. However, the principle of historicism among the romantics, which was formed in a fierce polemic with the classicists, had an idealistic basis. It acquires a fundamentally different content from the realists. Based on the discoveries of the school of contemporary historians (Thierry, Michelet, Guizot), who proved that the main engine of history is the struggle of classes, and the force that decides the outcome of this struggle is the people, the realists proposed a new, materialistic reading of history. This is what stimulated their special interest both in the economic structures of society and in the social psychology of the broad masses. Finally, speaking of the complex transformation of the principle of historicism discovered by the romantics in realistic art, it must be emphasized that this principle is put into practice by realists when depicting recently past eras (which is typical for romantics), and modern bourgeois reality, shown in their works as a certain stage in the historical development of France.
The heyday of French realism, represented by the work of Balzac, Stendhal and Mérimée, falls on the 1830s and 1840s. This was the period of the so-called July Monarchy, when France, having done away with feudalism, establishes, in the words of Engels, “the pure rule of the bourgeoisie with such classical clarity as no other European country. And the struggle of the proletariat, which is raising its head against the ruling bourgeoisie, also appears here in such a sharp form, which is unknown to other countries. The "classical clarity" of bourgeois relations, the particularly "sharp form" of the antagonistic contradictions that have come to light in them, is what paves the way for exceptional accuracy and depth of social analysis in the works of the great realists. The sober look at modern France is a characteristic feature of Balzac, Stendhal, Merimee.
The great realists see their main task in the artistic reproduction of reality as it is, in the knowledge of the internal laws of this reality, which determine its dialectics and variety of forms. “The French society itself was supposed to be the historian, I had only to be its secretary,” Balzac states in the Preface to The Human Comedy, proclaiming the principle of objectivity in the approach to depicting reality as the most important principle of realistic art. But the objective reflection of the world as it is - in the understanding of the realists of the first half of the XIX century. - not a passive-mirror reflection of this world. For sometimes, Stendhal notes, “nature shows unusual spectacles, sublime contrasts; they may remain incomprehensible to the mirror, which unconsciously reproduces them. And, as if picking up Stendhal's thought, Balzac continues: "The task of art is not to copy nature, but to express it!" The categorical rejection of planar empiricism (which some realists of the second half of the 19th century would sin against) is one of the notable features of classical realism of the 1830s and 1840s. That is why the most important of the installations - the recreation of life in the forms of life itself - by no means excludes for Balzac, Stendhal, Merimee such romantic devices as fantasy, grotesque, symbol, allegory, subordinate, however, to the realistic basis of their works.
The realism of the second half of the 19th century, represented by the work of Flaubert, differs from the realism of the first stage. There is a final break with the romantic tradition, officially declared already in the novel Madame Bovary (1856). And although bourgeois reality remains the main object of depiction in art, the scale and principles of its depiction are changing. The bright personalities of the heroes of a realistic novel of the 1930s and 1940s are being replaced by ordinary, unremarkable people. The multi-colored world of truly Shakespearean passions, cruel fights, heartbreaking dramas, captured in Balzac's Human Comedy, the works of Stendhal and Merimee, gives way to the "world of moldy color", the most remarkable event in which is adultery, vulgar adultery.
Fundamental changes are marked, in comparison with the realism of the first stage, and the relationship of the artist with the world in which he lives and which is the object of his image. If Balzac, Stendhal, Merimee showed an ardent interest in the destinies of this world and constantly, according to Balzac, "felt the pulse of their era, felt its illnesses, observed its physiognomy", i.e. felt like artists deeply involved in the life of modernity, then Flaubert declares a fundamental detachment from bourgeois reality that is unacceptable to him. However, obsessed with the dream of breaking all the threads that bind him to the “mildew-colored world”, and hiding in the “ivory tower”, devoting himself to the service of high art, Flaubert is almost fatally riveted to his modernity, remaining its strict analyst and objective judge all his life. Brings him closer to the realists of the first half of the XIX century. and anti-bourgeois orientation of creativity.
It is precisely the deep, uncompromising criticism of the inhumane and socially unjust foundations of the bourgeois system, established on the ruins of the feudal monarchy, that constitutes the main strength of the realism of the 19th century.
From the end of the XVIII century. France played a major role in the socio-political life of Western Europe. 19th century was marked by a broad democratic movement that embraced almost all sectors of French society. The revolution of 1830 was followed by the revolution of 1848. In 1871, the people who proclaimed the Paris Commune made the first attempt in the history of France and all of Western Europe to seize political power in the state.
The critical situation in the country could not but affect the attitude of the people. In this era, the advanced French intelligentsia seeks to find new ways in art and new forms of artistic expression. That is why realistic tendencies were discovered in French painting much earlier than in other Western European countries.
The revolution of 1830 brought democratic freedoms into the life of France, which graphic artists did not fail to take advantage of. Sharp political cartoons aimed against the ruling circles, as well as the vices prevailing in society, filled the pages of the Sharivari and Caricature magazines. Illustrations for periodicals were made in the technique of lithography. Such artists as A. Monnier, N. Charlet, J. I. Granville, as well as the remarkable French graphic artist O. Daumier worked in the caricature genre.
An important role in the art of France between the revolutions of 1830 and 1848 was played by the realistic trend in landscape painting - the so-called. barbizon school. This term comes from the name of the small picturesque village of Barbizon near Paris, where in the 1830s and 1840s. many French artists came to study nature. Not satisfied with the traditions of academic art, devoid of living concreteness and national identity, they rushed to Barbizon, where, carefully examining all the changes taking place in nature, they painted pictures depicting modest corners of French nature.
Although the works of the masters of the Barbizon school are distinguished by truthfulness and objectivity, they always feel the mood of the author, his emotions and experiences. Nature in the landscapes of the Barbizons does not seem majestic and distant, it is close and understandable to man.
Often, artists painted the same place (forest, river, pond) at different times of the day and under different weather conditions. The etudes made in the open air were processed in the workshop, creating a picture that was integral in terms of composition. Very often, in the finished painting work, the freshness of colors characteristic of etudes disappeared, so the canvases of many Barbizons were distinguished by a dark color.
The largest representative of the Barbizon school was Theodore Rousseau, who, already a well-known landscape painter, moved away from academic painting and came to Barbizon. Protesting against barbarian deforestation, Rousseau endows nature with human qualities. He himself spoke of hearing the voices of the trees and understanding them. An excellent connoisseur of the forest, the artist very accurately conveys the structure, species, scale of each tree (“Forest of Fontainebleau”, 1848-1850; “Oaks in Agremont”, 1852). At the same time, the works of Rousseau show that the artist, whose style was formed under the influence of academic art and the painting of the old masters, could not, no matter how hard he tried, solve the problem of transmitting light and air. Therefore, the light and color in his landscapes are most often conditional.
The art of Rousseau had a great influence on young French artists. Representatives of the Academy, involved in the selection of paintings in the Salons, tried to prevent the work of Rousseau at the exhibition.
Famous masters of the Barbizon school were Jules Dupre, whose landscapes contain features of romantic art (The Big Oak, 1844-1855; Landscape with Cows, 1850), and Narcissus Diaz, who inhabited the forest of Fontainebleau with nude figures of nymphs and ancient goddesses (Venus with cupid", 1851).
The representative of the younger generation of Barbizons was Charles Daubigny, who began his career with illustrations, but in the 1840s. dedicated to the landscape. His lyrical landscapes, dedicated to the unpretentious corners of nature, are filled with sunlight and air. Very often Daubigny painted from life not only sketches, but also finished paintings. He built a workshop boat on which he sailed along the river, stopping at the most attractive places.
The life of the largest French artist of the 19th century is close to the Barbizons. K. Koro.
Jean Baptiste Camille Corot
Camille Corot - French painter and graphic artist, master of portrait and landscape, is one of the founders of the French landscape school of the 19th century.
Born in Paris in 1796. He was a student of A. Michallon and JV Bertin - academic artists. Initially, he adhered to the generally accepted point of view that only a landscape with a historical plot, taken mainly from ancient history or mythology, is high art. However, after visiting Italy (1825), his views change dramatically, and he begins to search for a different approach to reality, which is already evident in his early works (View of the Forum, 1826; View of the Colosseum, 1826). It should be noted that Corot's sketches, where he changes his attitude to the nature of lighting and color gradations, conveying them more realistically, are a kind of impetus in the development of a realistic landscape.
However, despite the new principle of writing, Corot sends paintings to the Salon that meet all the canons of academic painting. At this time, in the work of Corot, there is a gap between the sketch and the picture, which will characterize his art throughout his life. Thus, the works sent to the Salon (including Hagar in the Desert, 1845; Homer and the Shepherds, 1845) indicate that the artist not only refers to ancient subjects, but also preserves the composition of the classical landscape, which nevertheless less does not prevent the viewer from recognizing the features of the French landscape in the depicted area. In general, such a contradiction was quite in the spirit of that era.
Very often, the innovations that Corot gradually comes to, he fails to hide from the jury, so his paintings are often rejected. Especially strong innovation is felt in the summer studies of the master, where he seeks to convey the various states of nature in a given period of time, filling the landscape with light and air. Initially, these were predominantly urban views and compositions with architectural monuments of Italy, where he again went in 1834. For example, in the landscape “Morning in Venice” (c. 1834), sunlight, blue sky, and air transparency are beautifully conveyed. At the same time, the combination of light and shadow does not break the architectural forms, but on the contrary, it seems to model them. Figures of people with long shadows extending from them in the background give the landscape a feeling of almost real spatiality.
Later, the painter will be more restrained, he will be interested in a more modest nature, but he will pay more attention to its various states. To achieve the desired effect, Koro's color scheme will become thinner, lighter and begin to line up on variations of the same color. In this regard, such works as “The Bell Tower in Argenteuil” are characteristic, where the delicate greenery of the surrounding nature and the humidity of the air very subtly, but at the same time with great certainty convey the charm of spring, “Hay Carriage”, in which one can feel the joyful thrill of life.
It is noteworthy that Corot evaluates nature as a place where a simple person lives and acts. Another feature of his landscape is that it is always a reflection of the emotional state of the master. Therefore, landscape compositions are lyrical (the above-mentioned "Belfry in Artangei") or, conversely, dramatic (study "Gust of Wind", ca. 1865-1870).
Corot's figurative compositions are full of poetic feeling. If in the early works a person seems somewhat detached from the world around him (“The Reaper with a Sickle”, 1838), then in later works the images of people
are inextricably linked with the environment in which they are located ("The Reaper's Family", ca. 1857). In addition to landscapes, Corot also created portraits. Women's images are especially good, enchanting with their naturalness and liveliness. The artist painted only people who were spiritually close to him, so his portraits are marked by the author's sincere sympathy for the model.
Corot was not only a talented painter and graphic artist, but also a good teacher for young artists, reliable
comrade. This fact is noteworthy: when O. Daumier did not have the funds to pay the rent of his house, Corot bought this house and then presented it to a friend.
Corot died in 1875, leaving behind a huge creative heritage - about 3,000 paintings and graphic works.
Honore Daumier
Honoré Daumier, French graphic artist, painter and sculptor, was born in 1808 in Marseille into the family of a glazier who wrote poetry. In 1814, when Daumier was six years old, his family moved to Paris.
The future artist began his career as a clerk, then worked as a salesman in a bookstore. However, he was not at all interested in this work, he preferred all his free time to wander the streets and make sketches. Soon, the young artist begins to visit the Louvre, where he studies ancient sculpture and the works of old masters, of which Rubens and Rembrandt fascinate him to a greater extent. Daumier understands that by studying the art of painting on his own, he will not be able to advance far, and then (since 1822) he begins to take drawing lessons from Lenoir (administrator of the Royal Museum). However, all teaching was reduced to simple copying of plasters, and this did not in the least satisfy the needs of the young man. Then Daumier leaves the workshop and goes to Ramole to study lithography, while at the same time earning money as a messenger.
The first work that Daumier did in the field of illustration dates back to the 1820s. They almost did not survive, but what has nevertheless come down to us allows us to speak of Daumier as an artist in opposition to the official power represented by the Bourbons.
It is known that from the first days of the reign of Louis Philippe, the young artist draws sharp caricatures of both himself and his entourage, thereby creating a reputation for himself as a political fighter. As a result, Daumier is noticed by the publisher of the weekly "Caricature" Charles Philippon and invites him to cooperate, to which he agrees. The first work, published in "Caricature" dated February 9, 1832 - "Applicants for Places" - ridicules the servants of Louis Philippe. After her, satires on the king himself began to appear one after another.
Of the earliest lithographs by Daumier, Gargantua (December 15, 1831) deserves special attention, where the artist depicted a fat Louis Philippe, absorbing gold taken from a hungry and impoverished people. This sheet, exhibited in the window of the Aubert company, gathered a whole crowd of spectators, for which the government took revenge on the master, sentenced him to six months in prison and a fine of 500 francs.
Despite the fact that Daumier's early works are still quite overloaded compositionally and affect not so much the expressiveness of the image as the narrative, they already have a style. Daumier himself is well aware of this and begins to work in the genre of a caricature portrait, while he uses a very peculiar method: first he sculpts portrait busts (in which the characteristic features are brought to the grotesque), which then will be his nature when working on lithography. As a result, he obtained figures that differed in the maximum volume. It was in this way that the lithograph “The Legislative Womb” (1834) was created, which shows the following picture: directly in front of the viewer on the benches located in the amphitheater, the ministers and members of the Parliament of the July Monarchy settled down. In each face, a portrait resemblance is conveyed with deadly accuracy, while the most expressive group is represented by Thiers listening to Guizot's note. Exposing the physical and moral inferiority of the ruling elite, the master comes to the creation of portrait types. Light plays a special role in them, it emphasizes the author's desire for the greatest expressiveness. Therefore, all the figures are given under harsh lighting (it is known that, while working on this composition, the master put the busts-models under the bright light of a lamp).
It is not surprising that with such hard work, Daumier found a great monumental style in lithography (this is very strongly felt in the work "Down the curtain, the farce is played", 1834). The power of influence is just as high in works that reveal the role of workers in the fight against oppressors: “He is no longer dangerous to us”, “Do not interfere”, “Transnonen Street April 15, 1834”. As for the last leaf, it is a direct response to the uprising of the workers. Almost all the people actually living in one of the houses on Transnonen Street (including children and the elderly) were killed because one of the workers dared to shoot a policeman. The artist captured the most tragic moment. The lithograph depicts a terrible picture: on the floor, next to an empty bed, lies the corpse of a worker, crushing a dead child under him; in a darkened corner is a murdered woman. On the right, the head of a dead old man is clearly visible. The image presented by Daumier evokes a double feeling in the viewer: a sense of horror from what he has done and indignant protest. The work performed by the artist is not an indifferent commentary on events, but an angry denunciation.
The drama is enhanced by the sharp contrast of light and shadow. At the same time, although the details recede into the background, they at the same time clarify the situation in which such atrocity took place, emphasizing that the pogrom was carried out at a time when people were sleeping peacefully. It is characteristic that already in this work the features of Daumier's late paintings are visible, in which a single event is also generalized, thereby giving the composition a monumental expressiveness in combination with the "accident" of a snatched life moment.
Such works largely influenced the adoption of the "September Laws" (which entered into force at the end of 1834), directed against the press. This led to the fact that it became impossible to fully work in the field of political satire. Therefore, Daumier, like many other masters of political caricature, switches to topics related to everyday life, where he searches for and brings to the surface burning social issues. At this time, entire collections of cartoons were published in France, depicting the life and customs of the society of that era. Daumier, together with the artist Travies, creates a series of lithographs called "French Types" (1835-1836). Like Balzac in literature, Daumier in painting exposes his contemporary society, in which money rules.
Minister Guizot proclaims the slogan "Get rich!". Daumier responds to him by creating the image of Robert Macher - a swindler and a rogue, either dying or resurrecting again (series "Caricaturan", 1836-1838). In other sheets, he addresses the theme of bourgeois charity ("Modern Philanthropy", 1844-1846), the venality of the French court ("Judges of Justice", 1845-1849), the pompous complacency of the townsfolk (sheet "It is still very flattering to see your portrait at the exhibition" , part of the Salon of 1857 series). Other series of lithographs were also executed in a denunciatory manner: “The Bachelor’s Day” (1839), “Matrimonial Mores” (1839-1842), “The Best Days of Life” (1843-1846), “Pastorals” (1845-1846).
Over time, Daumier's drawing is somewhat transformed, the stroke becomes more expressive. According to contemporaries, the master never used new sharpened pencils, preferring to draw with fragments. He believed that this achieved a variety and liveliness of the lines. Perhaps that is why his works over time acquire a graphic character, displacing their earlier plasticity. It must be said that the new style was more suitable for graphic cycles, where the story was introduced, and the action itself unfolded either in the interior or in the landscape.
However, Daumier is still more prone to political satire, and as soon as the opportunity arises, he again takes up his favorite pastime, creating sheets filled with anger and hatred for the ruling elite. In 1848 there was a new revolutionary surge, but it was suppressed and the republic was threatened by Bonapartism. Responding to these events, Daumier creates Ratapual, a cunning Bonapartist agent and traitor. This image captivated the master so much that he transferred it from lithography to sculpture, where he was able to achieve great expressiveness with a bold interpretation.
It is not surprising that Daumier hates Napoleon III with the same force as Louis Philippe. The artist does his best to make his accusatory works make the inhabitants feel the evil that comes from the privileged class and, of course, the ruler. However, after the coup that took place on December 2, 1852, the political cartoon was again banned. And only towards the end of the 1860s, when the government became more liberal, Daumier turned to this genre for the third time. So, on one sheet, the viewer could see how the Constitution shortens the dress of Liberty, and on the other - Thiers, depicted as a prompter, telling every politician what to say and what to do. The artist draws many anti-militarist satires (“The world swallows a sword”, etc.).
From 1870 to 1872, Daumier created a series of lithographs exposing the criminal actions of the perpetrators of the disasters in France. For example, in a sheet called "This Killed That," he lets the viewer know that the election of Napoleon III marked the beginning of many troubles. Notable is the lithograph "The Empire is the World", which shows a field with crosses and tombstones. The inscription on the first tombstone reads: "Dead on the Boulevard Montmartre on December 2, 1851", on the last - "Dead at Sedan 1870". This sheet eloquently testifies that the empire of Napoleon III did not bring the French anything but death. All images in lithographs are symbolic, but the symbols here are not only ideologically saturated, but also very convincing.
Another well-known lithograph by Daumier, made in 1871, is noteworthy, where against the background of a formidable and cloudy sky, the mutilated trunk of a once powerful tree blackens. Only one branch survived, but it does not give up and continues to resist the storm. Under the sheet is a characteristic signature: "Poor France, the trunk is broken, but the roots are still strong." With this symbolic image, the master not only demonstrated the results of the tragedy he experienced, but with the help of light and shade contrasts and dynamic lines, he brought out a vivid image that embodies the power of the country. This work suggests that the master did not lose faith in the strength of France and the abilities of its people, who could make their homeland as great and powerful as before.
It should be noted that Daumier created not only lithographs. Since the 1830s he also works in painting and watercolor, but his early paintings (“The Engraver”, 1830-1834; self-portrait, 1830-1831) are characterized by the absence of a developed manner; sometimes it can be difficult to distinguish them from the works of other artists. Later, there is a honing of style, the development of certain themes. So, for example, in the 1840s. the master wrote a series of compositions under the single name "Lawyers". In these paintings, the same grotesque images appear as in the graphic works of Daumier.
His oil paintings and watercolors, as well as lithographs, are imbued with sarcasm. Daumier paints figures of lawyers speaking to the public with theatrical gestures (The Defender, 1840s) or smugly discussing their dirty machinations beyond the reach of someone else's gaze (Three Lawyers). When working on canvas, the painter often resorts to a close-up, depicting the most necessary objects and only outlining the details of the interior. With special care, he draws faces, sometimes stupid and indifferent, sometimes cunning and hypocritical, and sometimes contemptuous and self-satisfied. Depicting black lawyer's robes on a golden background, the author achieves a unique effect, opposing light and dark.
Over time, satire leaves the painting of Daumier. In the compositions of the late 1840s. the central place is occupied by spiritualized and heroic images of people from the people, endowed with strength, inner energy and heroism. A striking example of such works are the paintings "Family at the Barricade" (1848-1849) and "Uprising" (c. 1848).
The first canvas depicts revolutionary events and the people participating in them. The heroes are so close to the frame that only a part of the figures is visible. The artist tries to direct the viewer's attention to the faces fashioned by light. An old woman and a man are marked by severity and concentration, a young woman is marked by sadness and melancholy, and a young man, on the contrary, is filled with desperate determination. It is noteworthy that the heads of the characters are shown in different rotations, which gives the impression that the figures are moving, which further emphasizes the tension of the composition.
The second composition ("Uprising") is an image of a rushing crowd, seized by a revolutionary impulse.
The dynamics of events is conveyed not only by a gesture of a raised hand and figures rushing forward, but also by a strip of light.
Around the same time, Daumier painted paintings dedicated to refugees and emigrants, but these images are not found in his work very often. He found all the subjects for his paintings in everyday life: a laundress going down to the water; barge hauler pulling a boat; worker climbing onto the roof. It is noteworthy that all works reflect separate fragments of reality and influence the viewer not by narrative, but by visual means that create an expressive, in some cases tragic image.
In this spirit, the painting “Burden” was made, which has several options. The plot of the work is simple: a woman slowly walks along the embankment; With one hand she drags a huge laundry basket; nearby, clinging to her skirt, a child trudges along with small steps. A sharp wind blows in the faces of the heroes, which makes it much more difficult to walk, and the burden seems heavier. Daumier's usual everyday motive takes on almost heroic features. The woman looks detached from all worries. In addition, the master omits all the landscape details, only casually outlining the outlines of the city on the other side of the river. The muted and cold shades with which the landscape is painted enhance the feeling of drama and hopelessness. It is noteworthy that the interpretation of the image of a woman contradicts not only the classical canons, but also the ideals of human beauty among the romantics; it is given with great expression and realism. An important role in creating images is played by light and shadow: thanks to the lighting, which goes in an even strip, the figure of a woman seems surprisingly expressive and plastic; the dark silhouette of a child stands out on a light parapet. The shadow from both figures merges into a single spot. Such a scene, observed many times by Daumier in reality, is presented not in genre, but in monumental terms, which is facilitated by the collective image he created.
Despite the generalization, in each work of Daumier an extraordinary vitality is preserved. The master is able to catch any gesture characteristic of the person he depicts, to convey a pose, etc. The canvas “Print Lover” helps to make sure of this.
Although during the 1850-1860s. Daumier works very fruitfully in painting, but the problem of the open air, which occupied many painters of that time, does not interest him at all. Even when he depicts his characters in the open air, he still does not use diffused light. In his paintings, light performs a different function: it carries an emotional load, which helps the author to place compositional accents. Daumier's favorite effect is backlighting, in which the foreground is darkened against a light background (“Before Bathing”, c. 1852; “Curious at the Window”, c. 1860). However, in some paintings, the painter turns to another technique, when the twilight of the background seems to dissipate towards the foreground and white, blue and yellow colors begin to sound with greater intensity. A similar effect can be seen in such canvases as Leaving School (c. 1853-1855), Third Class Carriage (c. 1862).
In painting, Daumier did no less than in graphics. He introduced new images, interpreting them with great expressiveness. None of his predecessors wrote so boldly and freely. It was for this quality that progressively thinking contemporaries of Daumier highly valued his paintings. However, during the life of the artist, his painting was little known, and the posthumous exhibition in 1901 was a real discovery for many.
Daumier died in 1879, in the town of Valmondois near Paris, in a house donated to him by Corot.
The revolution of 1848 led to an extraordinary upsurge in the social life of France, in its culture and art. At that time, two major representatives of realistic painting worked in the country - J.-F. Millet and G. Courbet.
Jean Francois Millet
Jean-Francois Millet, a French painter and graphic artist, was born in 1814 in the town of Gruchy, not far from Cherbourg, into a large peasant family that had a small plot of land in Normandy. From childhood, young Millet was surrounded by an atmosphere of diligence and piety. The boy was very quick-witted, and his talent was noticed by the local priest. Therefore, in addition to schoolwork, the boy, under the guidance of a church minister, began to study Latin, and after some time, along with the Bible, the works of Virgil became his favorite reading, for which the painter had an addiction throughout his life.
Until the age of 18, Millet lived in the countryside and, being the eldest son, performed a variety of peasant work, including those related to the cultivation of the land. Since the ability to fine arts awakened in Mill very early, he painted everything that surrounded him: fields, gardens, animals. However, the sea aroused the greatest interest among the young artist. Millet dedicates his first sketches to the water element.
Millais was distinguished by subtle powers of observation, and his eyes, which noticed the beauty of nature, did not escape the calamities suffered by a person who entered into confrontation with her. Throughout his life, the master carried a tragic memory, a terrible storm that wrecked and sank dozens of ships, which he observed in early childhood.
Later, the young painter went to Cherbourg, where he studied painting first with Mouchel, and then with Langlois de Chevreville (a student and follower of Gros). At the request of the latter, he received a scholarship from the municipality and went to continue his studies in Paris. Leaving his homeland, Millet listened to the instructions of his grandmother, who told him: "Francois, never write anything obscene, even if it was by order of the king himself."
Arriving in Paris, the artist entered the workshop of Delaroche. He studied there from 1837 to 1838. Simultaneously with classes in Millet's workshop, he visited the Louvre, where he studied the famous paintings, of which Michelangelo's works most impressed him. Millet did not immediately find his way into art. His first works, created for sale, were made in the manner of A. Watteau and F. Boucher, called maniere fleurie, which means “flowery manner”. And although this way of writing is distinguished by external beauty and grace, in reality it creates a false impression. Success came to the artist in the early 1840s thanks to portrait works (Self-Portrait, 1841; Mademoiselle Ono, 1841; Armand Ono, 1843; Deleuze, 1845).
In the mid-1840s, Millet was working on a series of portraits of sailors, in which his style is completely freed from mannerisms and imitation, which is typical of the artist’s early works (“Naval Officer”, 1845, etc.). The master painted several paintings on mythological and religious subjects (St. Jerome, 1849; Hagar, 1849).
In 1848, Millet became close to the artists N. Diaz and F. Jeanron and exhibited for the first time at the Salon. First
the picture presented by him - "Veyatel" depicts rural life. Since that time, the master once and for all refuses mythological subjects and decides to write only what is closer to him.
To implement his plans, he and his family moved to Barbizon. Here the artist is completely immersed
into the world of rural life and creates works that correspond to his worldview. These are The Sower (1849), The Seated Peasant Woman (1849), etc. In them, Millet, with great persuasiveness, truthfully displays the representatives of the peasant class, focusing mainly on the figure, as a result of which sometimes one gets the impression that the landscape in his paintings performs background role.
In the works of Millet in the early 1850s. also dominated by the lonely figures of peasants engaged in ordinary affairs. Creating canvases, the artist sought to elevate the most prosaic work. He was convinced that "true humanity" and "great poetry" could only be conveyed by depicting working people. The characteristic features of these works are simplicity of gestures, ease of poses, voluminous plasticity of figures and slowness of movements.
Looking at the famous painting by Millet "The Seamstress" (1853), the viewer sees only the most necessary attributes of a dressmaker: scissors, a needle bed and irons. There is nothing superfluous on the canvas, there is exactly as much space as necessary - with this the master makes the image significant and even monumental. Despite the apparent static nature of the composition, the image of a woman is full of inner movement: it seems that her hand holding the needle is making more and more stitches, and her chest is rhythmically heaving. The worker carefully looks at her product, but her thoughts are somewhere far away. Despite the ordinariness and some intimacy of the motive, solemnity and grandeur are inherent in the picture.
The painting Rest of the Reapers, exhibited by the master at the Salon of 1853, is executed in the same spirit. Despite some generalization of rhythmic figures, the composition filled with light evokes a sense of integrity. The images of the peasants harmoniously fit into the overall picture of nature.
It is characteristic that in many of Millet's works, nature helps to express the mood of the hero. So, in the painting “Seated Peasant Woman”, the unfriendly forest perfectly conveys the sadness of a girl, deeply immersed in her restless thoughts.
Over time, Millet, who painted pictures in which monumental images were displayed against the backdrop of a landscape, begins to create somewhat different works. The landscape space in them expands, the landscape, which still plays the role of a background, begins to play a more significant, semantic role. Thus, in the composition "The Gatherers" (1857), the landscape in the background includes the figures of peasants harvesting.
Millet gives a deeper meaning to the picture of nature in the small canvas "Angelus" ("Venus Ringing", 1858-1859). The figures of a man and a woman praying in the middle of a field to the quiet sounds of a church bell do not seem alienated from the calm evening landscape.
When the master was asked why most of his paintings have a sad mood, he answered:
“Life has never turned a joyful side to me: I don’t know where she is, I have never seen her. The happiest thing I know is the peace, the stillness that one enjoys so admirably in the woods or on the arable land, whether they are suitable for cultivation or not; agree that this always disposes to sad, though sweet dreaminess. These words fully explain the dreamy sadness of his peasants, which harmonizes so well with the peace and silence of the fields and forests.
A completely opposite mood is observed in Millet's program composition "A Man with a Hoe", exhibited at the Salon of 1863. The fact that this work stands apart from everything that has already been written was realized by the author himself. Not without reason, in one of his letters in 1962, Millet noted: “The Man with the Hoe will bring me criticism from many people who do not like to be occupied with affairs not of their circle, when they are disturbed ...”. Indeed, his words were prophetic. Criticism passed its verdict, describing the artist as a person "more dangerous than Courbet." And although in this picture the viewer sees only a peasant leaning on a hoe, one glance is enough to feel: he just walked with a heavy tread, hitting the ground with his tool. A man tired of work is depicted with great expressiveness: both in the face and in the figure, the fatigue and hopelessness of his life are clearly read - all that hundreds of thousands of French peasants actually experienced.
However, among works of this type (especially in the late 1860s and early 1870s) there are works imbued with optimism. These are paintings in which the master focuses his attention on the landscape, flooded with sunlight. Such are the canvases “Bathing the Shepherdess of Geese” (1863), “Bathing the Horses” (1866), “The Young Shepherdess” (1872). In the last Millet, the sunbeam passes very subtly, passing through the foliage of trees and playfully caressing the dress and face of the girl.
In the last period of creativity, the artist tries to capture and capture on the canvas the brief moments of life. This desire to fix the moment was caused by the desire to directly reflect the reality. So, for example, in the pastel "Autumn, the departure of the cranes" (1865-1866), the gesture of a shepherd girl watching the flight of a flock of cranes is about to change; and if you look at the composition "Geese", exhibited at the Salon of 1867, it seems that in another moment - and the flickering light will change. This principle would later find its expression in the works of the Impressionist painters.
However, it should be noted that in the last works of Millet, especially in his figurative compositions, the search for monumentality is again palpable. This can be seen especially clearly on the canvas “Return from the field. Evening ”(1873), in which a group of peasants and animals stands out against the background of the evening sky as a merging generalized silhouette.
So, from 1848 until the end of his life, Millet limited himself to depicting the village and its inhabitants. And although he did not at all strive to give his works a sharp social meaning, but only wanted to preserve patriarchal traditions at all costs, his work was perceived as a source of revolutionary ideas.
Millet ended his life in Barbizon in 1875.
Gustave Courbet
Gustave Courbet, French painter, graphic artist and sculptor, was born in 1819 in the south of France, in Ornans, into a wealthy peasant family. He took his first painting lessons in his native city, then studied for some time at Besançon College and at the drawing school of Flajulo.
In 1839, having convinced his father of the correctness of the chosen path with great difficulty, Courbet went to Paris. There he simultaneously visited the well-known at that time workshop of Suisse, where he worked hard with living nature, and the Louvre, copying the old masters and admiring their work. The young artist was especially impressed by the work of the Spaniards - D. Velasquez, J. Ribera and F. Zurbaran. Visiting his native places from time to time, Courbet paints landscapes with great pleasure, sculpting volumes with a thick layer of paint. In addition, he works in the portrait genre (most often he himself is the model) and paints canvases on religious and literary subjects (“Lot with his daughter”, 1841).
Creating self-portraits, Courbet somewhat romanticizes his appearance (“Wounded”, 1844; “Happy Lovers”, 1844-1845; “Man with a Pipe”, 1846). It was a self-portrait that was first exhibited by him at the Salon (“Self-Portrait with a Black Dog”, 1844). Poetry and sentimental daydreaming pervaded the canvas "After dinner in Ornans" (1849). With this picture, the artist seems to be defending his right to depict what he is well aware of, what he observed in a familiar setting: in the kitchen, where, after finishing dinner, the artist himself, his father, the musician Promaillet and Marlay, are sitting. All characters are depicted exactly as they actually looked. At the same time, Courbet managed to convey the general mood created by the music that the characters in the picture listen to. In addition, by arranging the figures on a large canvas, on a large scale, the artist created generalized images, achieving monumentality and significance, despite the seemingly ordinary everyday plot. This circumstance seemed to the modern painter to the public an unheard-of impudence.
However, Courbet does not stop there. In the works exhibited at the next Salon (1850-1851), his audacity goes even further. So, in the canvas "Stone Crushers" (1849-1850), the painter deliberately laid the social meaning. He set a goal with merciless truthfulness to portray the backbreaking work and hopeless poverty of the French peasantry. No wonder Courbet wrote in an explanation to the painting: “This is how they begin and this is how they end.” To enhance the impression, the master generalizes the images presented. Despite some conventionality in the transmission of light, the landscape is perceived very truthfully, however, like the figures of people. In addition to Stone Crushers, the painter exhibited at the Salon the canvases Burial at Ornan (1849) and Peasants Returning from the Fair (1854). All these paintings were so unlike the works of other exhibitors that they amazed Courbet's contemporaries.
Thus, "Funeral in Ornan" is a large-format canvas, unusual in design and significant in artistic skill. Everything in it seems unusual and unusual: the theme (the funeral of one of the inhabitants of a small town), and the characters (petty bourgeois and wealthy peasants, realistically written). The creative principle of Courbet, proclaimed in this picture - to truthfully show life in all its ugliness, did not go unnoticed. No wonder some modern critics called it “the glorification of the ugly,” while others, on the contrary, tried to justify the author, because “it’s not the artist’s fault if material interests, the life of a small town, provincial pettiness leave traces of their claws on faces, make eyes go out, forehead wrinkled and meaningless mouth expression. The bourgeois are like that. M. Courbet writes to the bourgeois."
And indeed, although the characters drawn on the canvas are not marked by any special beauty and spirituality, nevertheless they are given truthfully and sincerely. The master was not afraid of monotony, his figures are static. However, by the expression of the faces deliberately turned towards the viewer, one can easily guess how they relate to the ongoing event, whether it excites them. It should be noted that Courbet did not immediately come to such a composition. It was originally intended not to draw each individual face - this can be seen from the sketch. But later the idea changed, and the images acquire clearly portrait features. So, for example, in the mass you can recognize the faces of the father, mother and sister of the artist himself, the poet Max Buchon, the old Jacobins Plate and Cardo, the musician Promaye and many other inhabitants of Ornan.
In the picture, as it were, two moods were combined: gloomy solemnity, corresponding to the moment, and everyday life. The black color of mourning clothes is majestic, the facial expressions are strict and the poses of those who see them off on their last journey are motionless. The gloomy mood of the funeral rite is also emphasized by severe rocky ledges. However, even in this extremely sublime mood, the prose of life is woven, which is emphasized by the indifference of the face of the servant boy and the clerks, but the face of the person supporting the cross seems especially ordinary, even indifferent. The solemnity of the moment is also violated by the dog with its tail between its legs, depicted in the foreground.
All these clarifying details are very important and significant for an artist who is trying to oppose his work to the official art of the Salon. This desire can be traced in the further works of Courbet. For example, in the canvas “Bathers” (1853), which caused a storm of indignation due to the fact that the fat representatives of the French bourgeoisie shown in it turned out to be unlike transparent nymphs from the paintings of salon masters, and their nudity is presented by the artist with the utmost tangibility and volume. All this was not only not welcomed, but, on the contrary, caused a storm of indignation, which, however, did not stop the artist.
Over time, Courbet realizes that he needs to look for a new artistic method. He could no longer be satisfied with what had ceased to meet his plans. Soon Courbet comes to tonal painting and the modeling of volumes with light. He himself says about it this way: "I do in my paintings what the sun does in nature." At the same time, in most cases, the artist writes on a dark background: first he puts dark colors, gradually moves to light ones and brings them to the brightest glare. The paint is applied confidently and vigorously with a spatula.
Courbet does not get stuck on any one topic, he is constantly in search. In 1855, the painter exhibited the "Artist's Studio", which is a kind of declaration. He himself calls it "a real allegory that defines the seven-year period of his artistic life." And although this picture is not the best work of Courbet, its color scheme, sustained in silver-gray tones, speaks of the coloristic skill of the painter.
In 1855, the artist arranged a personal exhibition, which became a real challenge not only to academic art, but to the entire bourgeois society. The preface written by the author to the catalog of this peculiar exhibition is indicative. So, revealing the concept of "realism", he directly states his goals: "To be able to convey the customs, ideas, appearance of my era according to my assessment - in a word, to create living art - that was my goal." Courbet saw all aspects of reality, its diversity and tried to embody it in his work with maximum truthfulness. Whether it is work on a portrait, landscape or still life, the master everywhere conveys the materiality and density of the real world with the same temperament.
In the 1860s, the lines between the portrait and genre composition were blurred in the painter's works (in the future, this trend would be characteristic of the work of E. Manet and other impressionist artists). In this regard, the most revealing paintings are "Little Englishwomen at an open window on the seashore" (1865) and "Girl with seagulls" (1865). A distinctive feature of these works is that the painter is interested not so much in the complex experiences of the characters as in the beauty inherent in the material world.
It is characteristic that after 1855 the artist increasingly turned to the landscape, observing with great attention the air and water elements, greenery, snow, animals and flowers. Many landscapes of this time are dedicated to hunting scenes.
The space and objects presented in these compositions feel more and more real.
Working in this manner, Courbet pays a lot of attention to lighting. So, in "Roes by the Stream" we can observe the following picture: although the trees are perceived as less voluminous, and the animals almost merge with the landscape background, on the other hand, space and air are felt quite real. This feature was immediately noted by critics who wrote that Courbet had entered a new stage of creativity - "the path to light tone and light." Of particular note are seascapes (“The Sea off the Coast of Normandy”, 1867; “Wave”, 1870, etc.). Comparing different landscapes, one cannot
not notice how the gamut of colors changes depending on the lighting. All this suggests that in the late period of Courbet's work, he seeks not only to capture the volume and materiality of the world, but also to convey the surrounding atmosphere.
Concluding the conversation about Courbet, one cannot but say that, having turned to landscape works, he did not stop working on canvases with social themes. Here it is necessary to especially note "Return from the Conference" (1863) - a picture that was a kind of satire on the clergy. Unfortunately, the painting has not survived to this day.
Since the 1860s in the circles of the bourgeois public, there is a rise in interest in the artist's work. However, when the government decides to award Courbet, he refuses the award, as he does not want to be officially recognized and belong to any school. During the days of the Paris Commune, Courbet takes an active part in revolutionary events, for which he subsequently goes to prison and is expelled from the country. While behind bars, the artist creates many drawings depicting scenes of massacre against the Communards.
Exiled from France, Courbet continues to write. So, for example, in Switzerland he created several realistic landscapes, of which “The Cabin in the Mountains” (c. 1874) is of particular admiration. Despite the fact that the landscape is notable for its small size and the specificity of the motive, it has a monumental character.
Until the end of his life, Courbet remained true to the principle of realism, in the spirit of which he worked throughout his life. The painter died away from his homeland, in La Tour de Pels (Switzerland) in 1877.
Realism began to take shape in the depths of romanticism at the beginning of the 19th century. This new turn was associated with progressive public sentiments and the intensification of the formation of nations, national cultures, interest in ethnic history and culture, primarily in national literature. We will talk about romanticism and symbolism later, somehow within the framework of a separate topic. For now, it is important and sufficient to say that romanticism debunked and rejected the leading role of classicism and academism in the development of fine arts.
First time term realism in the middle of the 19th century, the French writer and literary critic J. Chanfleury introduced it. Realism was understood as a complete and accurate reflection of the surrounding real life, which involuntarily exposed the vices and problems of the bourgeois reality of the era.
J. Chanfleury
However, realism as an aesthetic phenomenon in artistic culture was not an absolute novelty, without the use of appropriate terminology, it was already felt in the Renaissance - “Renaissance realism”, and during the Enlightenment period - “enlightenment realism”. But in the XIX century in different countries it had its own specific features.
In France, realism, called critical realism , was associated with pragmatism and the predominance of materialistic views, the dominant role of science and national French literature in determining the objectives of the development of fine arts. Among the largest representatives of French critical realism in literature were O. Balzac, V. Hugo and G. Flaubert, whose works were well known among the educated part of Russian society and have already been partially translated.
Honore de Balzac
Victor Hugo Gustave Flaubert
The main representatives of critical realism in French painting were Honore Daumier, Gustave Courbet, Francois Millet, Camille Corot and Theodore Rousseau.
Revolution of 1830 opened a new stage in the development of fine arts, caricature, in particular brilliant, expressive images O. Daumier (1818-1879) made satirical graphics a true art.
Honore Daumier portrait of O. Daumier in the genre of caricature
Daumier's graphic and pictorial works are designated by series or cycles: "Don Quixote" and "People of Justice" ("Judges and Lawyers"), but the first was a revolutionary series, consisting of two parts: 1830 and 1848. The most significant works of this cycle are "Uprising" and "The Legislative Assembly".
By depicting only a few people diagonally, the artist achieved the impression of the movement of a large crowd of people. The emphasis is on the figure of a young man in a light shirt, who is subordinate to the general movement and directs it, pointing the way to the goal with his raised hand.
Insurrection. 1830
On the engraving / lithograph, the artist depicted the Legislative Assembly or the Legislative Womb of ministers and members of the government in the form of an ugly and morally wretched company.
Legislative womb
In the series "Judges and Lawyers" - a display of a terrifying contrast between the appearance, the external appearance of a person, and his essence. Daumier's lawyers and judges are the quintessence of falsehood, hypocrisy and vice, the personification not only of the bourgeois court, but of part of society as a whole.
Court Defense Counsel
The interpretation of the images of the heroes of the cycle "Don Quixote" - the demonstration of the tragic contradiction between the two sides of the human soul has no analogues in world art. Don Quixote, emaciated, incredibly tall, rides amid a gloomy hilly landscape on the monstrously bony Rocinante, invariably follows forward, true to his dream, he is not stopped by obstacles, life's blessings are not attracted, he is all in motion, in search. Behind him is his opposite - on a donkey, always lagging behind, cowardly Sancho Panza, who, as it were, says: enough ideals, enough struggle, it's time to finally stop.
Don Quixote Sancho Panza and Don Quixote
The central theme of the artist's work was ordinary people: workers, small employees, artisans, laundresses, whom he painted, reflecting not only their plight, but the value of their labor and personality. His catchphrase "one must be a man of one's time" reflected the general direction of critical realism.
Burden or Laundress Lover of prints
3rd class carriage
The main figure in French critical realism is Gustave Courbet (1819-1877).
Gustave Courbet
He was the first of the Western European artists to openly proclaim realism as his creative method: without embellishment, idealization and sentimentality, depicting the most unsightly aspects of life. The characters of his paintings were representatives of all strata of the population, including the lowest - workers, beggars, prostitutes.
The main thing in Courbet's work was his ability, when depicting specific people, to give their appearance features of typical significance, and simple genre scenes in Courbet's plots acquired features of monumentality.
Winnowers Stone Crushers
Funeral in Ornan
Even portraits, the artist often gives a genre character, depicting a model in a specific everyday environment. One such example is a scene depicting the artist's father and friends relaxing in a small local cafe.
Afternoon Ornane
Other examples of Courbet's portraits are the image of a person as a symbol of a certain direction in artistic creativity.
on the left - a portrait of Hector Berlioz - the founder of program symphonism
on the right - a portrait of Charles Baudelaire, a classic of French poetry (Flowers of Evil, etc.) - the founder of decadence and symbolism.
The most indicative is the painting by Courbet Atelier or the Artist's Workshop - a complex allegorical composition, where behind each realistic, recognizable portrait image there is a certain type, elevated by the artist to the rank of a symbol.
Atelier or Artist's Studio
At the same time, the artist emphasized that this is a new type of allegory, realistic, having nothing to do with romantic fantasy or tearful sentimentality of symbolism.
For Courbet, the most important quality of realistic art was not sympathy for the disadvantaged and oppressed, but the depiction of their usefulness as members of society; not a reflection of the inner world, but a social characteristic of the models.
Courbet believed that the essence of realism is the denial of the ideal, as such, the mind should prevail in everything that concerns a person. Only such a position, the artist believed, leads to the liberation of the individual and, ultimately, to democracy.
Coming from a peasant family F. Millais (1814-1875), he made the life and work of the peasant the main theme of his paintings, showing rural labor as a natural state of man, a form of his being.
Jean Francois Millet
The artist believed that it is in labor that a person's connection with nature, which educates and ennobles him, is manifested.
Planting Potatoes Gatherers
In the middle of the 19th century, artists appeared in France who worked mainly in the field of the national landscape. The leading role in the realistic landscape belongs to Camille Corot (1796-1875).
Camille Corot
In an effort to create a realistic generalized image of nature, Corot tried to express his feelings and moods in it. The artist considered the calmly diffused, subtlest light of cloudy days to be the main means. He worked hard on the transmission of light in the picture, looking for many shades of the same color, different in aperture ratio, the so-called valers, trying to give trembling to his landscapes.
Gust of Wind Source
View of Riva. Italian Tyrol Tivoli, gardens of Villa d Este, outskirts of Rome, Italy
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