Realism vs. Post Impressonism in the Romantic Era

 

Rosa Bonheur

Plowing in the Nivernais

Oil on canvas, 1849

Musee d'Orsay, Paris

    This is a fine, fine example of a painting of the "Realism" facet of the Romantic Era.  The colors and tones work together to create shadows from a central light source, that source being the sun, the shadows of the oxen, the shadows cast by the clods of soil, all fall in the same direction.  You can see the muscle rippling under the kin of the oxen.  The slightly diagonal line of the furrows they're plowing bring our focus from the lead oxen on the right, down the string of animals to the countryside, and up through the clouds where the changing hue of the blues, working with the light hue of the green further away to the darker green in the foreground, really give off a sense of depth and distance; the grass is darker and greener up close, as is the skylarker blue, where both fade in the distance.  The texture of the ox hides brings them to life, you can almost tell what direction the hair lays, and the texture brings the dirt up almost off the canvas, you can see clods on the clods.

    Bonheur moved to the countryside from the city after the French Revolution of 1848, their fourth in 60 years.  It was an odd time to leave the city, considering that cities were burgeoning with the Industrial Revolution.  But she was looking for what she painted here; a simple life, trading the shit stained streets for pastures with patches of manure.  I'd bet money she had the same reaction to the reality she found as I did to this painting.  I relaxes me, it makes me happy.  Sure, it's a representation of toil, and strife, but from that work will come food.  It also demonstrates a relationship between man and beast, they're working together with a shared goal, even if the ox can't do that math he will still benefit from the crop he's sowing. 

 

Gustave Courbet

The Painter's Studio: A Real Allegory Summping up Seven Years of my Life as an Artist

1854-5, oil on canvas

Musee d'Orsay

 

 

 

 

     This is another example of Realism from the Romantic Era.  Courbet's use of the space here is interesting.  He places himself and his current work at the center, though the light seems to fall brightest on the nude model.  Her presence puzzles me, though nude models in studios was regular, she isn't the subject of the painting, she's admiring what he's creating. Is this an allegory for him being God, that he is creating?  At her feet is her dress, the use of tones creating texture causing it look like layers of her dress have fallen upon each other, and if a breeze kicked up they'd billow in the wind.  Completing the center trinity (unless you count the cat) is a child, likely a boy.  The wall in the back is difficult to discern, perhaps intentionally. Back to his use of space; on the left are rougher, lower class looking people, near them hidden behind the painting is crucified Christ.  To our right are finer looking people, including the poet Baudelaire, a close friend of Courbet.  His friends placement there is odd though if you consider this piece possibly being modeled after Giotto's Last Judgement.        

  Why would Courbet put his friend with the politicians and higher class, who might be responsible for the turmoil in France at the time, and might be damned to Hell if the painting is modeled after Last Judgement?  If it is so modeled, the people to the left of modest stature, and not responsible for the turmoil of the time, will be going to heaven.  It's a puzzling piece, it doesn't elicit much from me, unlike Plowing which made me very happy.  I'm mostly just puzzled, I don't know what's going on, but I do enjoy looking at it and trying to figure it out.  

Henry d Toulouse-Lautrec

At the Moulin Rouge 

oil on canvas, 1893-95

Institute of Art in Chicago

    This piece is god awful.  I've never cared for this type of art.  It scares me and grosses me out.  I don't mind bars or burlesque, though it's cheaper to drink at home with friends, but this presentation of where I might have played pool as a younger man just isn't pleasant.  It looks like an acid dream, like the horrible scene in Dumbo.  The colors are gross, the lines are angular and harsh but soften in the background to give you a sense of distance.  Maybe it's just the woman's face with the neon tan that looks angular, its brightness against the rest of the piece causes me to focus on her.  

Gauguin,

Self-Portrait with Portrait of Émile Bernard (Les misérables)

1888, oil on cavas, Van Gogh Museum

    That piece by Gauguin is another grotesque of Pos-Impressionism.  Maybe I'm too hollow of person to appreciate the...not realism.  It's not the sort of caricature that I appreciate.  The light falls on his face  and clothing creating appropriate shadows, but they're too much.  The colors aren't pastels, I'm not sure what they are.  The texture created by the different tones in the background, meaning the off turquoise colors...It looks like ice cream vomit to me, though I'd never...well I'd try very hard to avoid denigrating anybody for liking this piece.  

    I much prefer Realism to Post-Impressionism from the Romantic Era.  I like the way the colors work together with the with the lines in general, how it looks like a photograph, or how I'd remember something having seen it with my own eyes.  It's hard for me to see the effect of the time period in the Post Impressionistic art.  In the Realism pieces I can understand why Bonheur left the city; the crowds of people, the arterial traffic, the recent societal discord.  She left to a calm place, where she could smell the earth, see birds, and get a result from sweaty work.  

    I can see that Courbet is eschewing the elites who he may consider to blame for society's woes.  I can understand wanting to be innocent again like the child in the foreground.  I get it.

    I don't get Post-Impressionism.  I can't see anything from it.  It doesn't speak to me.

“Research Guides: French Revolution of 1848 and the Second Republic: Topics in Chronicling America: Introduction.” Introduction - French Revolution of 1848 and the Second Republic: Topics in Chronicling America - Research Guides at Library of Congress, guides.loc.gov/chronicling-america-french-revolution-1848. Accessed 13 July 2023.

Harris, Dr. Beth, and Dr. Steven Zucker. “Rosa Bonheur, Plowing in the Nivernais (or the First Dressing).” Smarthistory, smarthistory.org/rosa-bonheur-plowing-in-the-nivernais-the-first-dressing/. Accessed 13 July 2023.

Harris, Dr. Beth, and Dr. Steven Zucker. “Gustave Courbet, the Painter’s Studio: A Real Allegory Summing up Seven Years of My Life as an Artist.” Smarthistory, smarthistory.org/courbet-the-artists-studio/. Accessed 13 July 2023.

Zucker, Dr. Steven, and Dr. Beth Harris. “Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, at the Moulin Rouge.” Smarthistory, smarthistory.org/henri-de-toulouse-lautrec-at-the-moulin-rouge/. Accessed 13 July 2023.

Harris, Dr. B., & Zucker, Dr. S. (n.d.). Gauguin, self-portrait with portrait of émile Bernard (Les Misérables). Smarthistory. https://smarthistory.org/gauguin-self-portrait/