CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the work contained in the critical writing entitled “ Realism Art and

Courbet ”, submitted by Soumya Ranjan Samal(Roll no.- 03BVA19058) for the award of

the degree of Bachelor’s Of Visual arts to the ,B.K. College of Art and Crafts,

Bhubaneswar, is a record of bonafide research works carried out by him under my direct

supervision and guidance.

I considered that the writing has reached the standards and fulfil the requirements of

the rules and regulations relating to the nature of the degree. The contents embodied in

the thesis have not been submitted for the award of any other degree or diploma in this

or any other university.

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Signature of Supervisor:
 DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the critical writing  entitled ‘ Realism art and Courbet ‘, submitted

for the degree of , bachelor’s of Visual arts , is my original piece of work . This work is

never submitted anywhere for award of degree and fellowship .

I certify that

a. The work contained in the thesis is original and has been done by myself under the

supervision of my supervisor.

b. The work has not been submitted to any other Institute for any degree or diploma.

c. I have conformed to the norms and guidelines given in the Ethical Code of Conduct of

the Institute.

d. Whenever I have used materials (data, theoretical analysis, and text) from other

sources, I have given due credit to them by citing them in the text of the writing and

giving their details in the references.

e. Whenever I have quoted written materials from other sources and due credit is given

to the sources by citing them.

f. From the plagiarism test, it is found that the similarity index of whole thesis within

25% and single paper is less than 10 % as per the university guidelines.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I thank all who in one way or another contributed in the completion of this writing. First,

I give thanks to God for protection and ability to do work.

I am so grateful to the B.K. college of Art and Crafts , for this golden opportunity.

heartily thanks to my supervisor,Mr. Antaryami Das, who encouraged and directed me.

His challenges brought this work towards a completion. It is with his supervision that

this work came into existence. For any faults I take full responsibility.

I am also deeply thankful to my informants. Their names cannot be disclosed, but I want

to acknowledge and appreciate their help and transparency during my research. Their

information have helped me complete this critical writing.

I am also so thankful to my fellow students whose challenges and productive critics,

have provided new ideas to the work.

I also thank my family who encouraged me throughout the time of my research.

May the Almighty God richly bless all of you.

 ABSTRACT

The Realism art period was a stylistic and social movement that began in France in the

mid-nineteenth century. The Realism movement rejected the artistic approach of the

Romantic period that had preceded it, which glorified nature and heroic figures. Before

Realism, painting and sculpture had been concerned with rendering Biblical and

mythological figures that exalted the best of humanity. Human figures were presented

as Classical Greek ideals, with perfect bodies and beautiful, unblemished faces.

  Realism artists, on the other hand, began to paint human subjects as they really existed

in all their flaws, suffering, and imperfections. They wanted to hold up “regular” people

as worthy of artistic representation. The Realism movement grew out of the 1848

Revolution in France that established people’s “ right to work” and focused on worker’s

rights. In this way, it was as much a political as an aesthetic movement. 

This art movement was strengthen by an outstanding artist Gustave Courbet,

whose works are considered as best realism paintings.

 
 CONTENTS

1. WHAT IS AN ART MOVEMENT

2. A LOOK INTO THE EUROPEAN ART

3. THE CORE CONCEPT OF REALISM

4. THE DEVELOPMENT OF REALISM

5. GUSTAVE COURBET

6. FAMOUS WORKS OF GUSTAVE COURBET

1.WHAT IS ART MOVEMENT:

One speciality of this world is that every single thing is impermanent. Nothing is static or
permanent here. Everything changes with the flow of time. Simple we can say, in this
mortal world, whatever thing takes birth, that dies or everything has a start and end.
Therefore this principle also works in the field of art.

There was a time when human was living in forests and caves, and painting on the walls
of the caves, but now the total scenario is different, now human is living a life of
comfort, and while talking about art, he is experimenting with different mediums, and
techniques. This successful journey of art is possible because of the rising and falling of
various artistic periods. Every single art movement has its motive or philosophy.
Sometimes these art movements also give us a new perspective to see the world.

Many artists worked under many art movements, gave their best, and made those
successful. This is why today they are an example for us, and we call them master
artists.
Every single corner of this world has seen the rise and fall of many cultures and
civilizations, so as many art movements. So we can say art movements are an integral
part of human development and society.

2. A LOOK INTO THE EUROPEAN ART:

The term 'European art' refers to the artistic developments that took place in the
various places of the European continent, through the succession of time.
The journey of European art starts from the lithic ages, whose best examples are
present in the caves of Altamira, Spain, and Lascaux, France. During the neolithic period,
when humans saw the germination of a seed, they got the idea of 'agriculture' and
started living near rivers and water sources, in settlements. By that time, those
settlements converted into civilizations. As this many civilizations occurred, and Greek
civilization is one of them, from which it's believed that western classical art started.
Then Romans came, and after them, Christians came, and practised art till the medieval

period,
through a succession of various art movements. And following the same process,
Medieval art made its way towards Modern art. This particular section saw many vital
art movements, which brought a huge evolution in the field of art. Out of all those art
movements, the 'Realism' art movement is considered very important, which started
with a fresh vision and gave birth to further art movements.

3. THE CORE CONCEPT OF REALISM :

The realism art movement was initiated with a unique perspective, which created a
huge impact on the subject matter of paintings, during this period. Many people think
that the word 'realism' refers to the realistic depiction of the subject matter, but the fact
is very different from this. The word 'realism' in the realism art movement, denotes the
depiction of realistic subject matter. For example, before, artists were depicting the
gods and goddesses, or life events of Jesus and other mythological concepts mostly,
which were beautiful yet not real, as we all have never seen gods and goddesses
through our eyes, we just imagine the characters studying scriptures and represent
those in our work. So, whatever the artists were painting was not real, but mere
imagination. So, during this time artists decided to represent only realistic subject
matters or the things that they were seeing through their eyes. So, during this time the
subjects like landscapes, seascapes, live events, portraits and still-life works got priority.
Which represented fully realistic subject matter.
4.THE DEVELOPMENT OF REALISM:
Widely thought to signify the beginning of modern art, Realism was an art movement
that discarded the traditional elements that had previously governed artworks. This shift
allowed subject matter and scenes to be depicted as they were truly viewed. The
Realism Art movement created artworks that were as realistic as possible, as artists
attempted to portray their subject matter in an honest and accurate light without
disguising the more unpleasant elements of life.

Realism, sometimes referred to as Naturalism, appeared in France during the 1850s,

after the 1848 Revolution. Following this upheaval, the right to work had firmly been
established in France, with this movement depicting the average, working-class
population, as well as their current settings and everyday scenes, in a new light. Thus,
common individuals were suddenly seen as interesting and respectable subjects, with
artists beginning to represent the broader society within their work.
Before the Realism movement, Romanticism was the reigning style that was used in the
creation of art. This artistic movement, which was defined by an elevated sense of
emotion and intensified drama, typically displayed exotic and mythological figures and
grand scenes of nature in a glorified light. Realist artists dismissed this within their
artwork, as they believed that everyday life and the modern world existed
as appropriate subjects for art.

This anti-Romantic development paved the way for Realism in art, which sought to
embrace the aims of modernism through reexamining and overthrowing traditional
values and beliefs within society. Within the mid-19th century, Realism focused on how
life was socially, economically, politically, and culturally arranged. This led to
unwavering and often horrible portrayals of life and its unpleasant but raw moments.
            Many artists gave their outstanding contributions to the development of this
unique art movement, and some of those artists are Gustave Courbet, Jean-Francois
Millet, Ilya Repin and Adolf Menzel etc. Out of all these artists, the role of Gustave
Courbet is considered important and often he is considered the father of the realism art
movement.
During this movement, artists understood their role in society. They started capturing
the daily life of poor and lower middle-class people. They represented the extreme
realities of society. The hate for the higher class and aristocrats can be easily visible in
the works of this time's artists. Artists also depicted the scenario of their art studios.
Artists of this movement also ignored the classical style and rules as they ignored the
classical themes. The realism artists were anti-intellectual and anti-ideal because they
were not adding any imaginary touch to make their art or work look beautiful. As
everything starting from subject to technique was real, that's why this art movement is
known as the realism movement.
5. GUSTAVE COURBET:

Gustave Courbet was a famous painter of the realism period, who was born in 1819 in

Ornans, which is a place in between France and Switzerland. He was committed to only

depicting those subjects in his paintings, that he could see. He became a perfect

example of an independent artist. He was free from classical styles and subjects, so he

became a perfect inspiration for the artists of later art movements like Impressionism,

and Cubism.

In the year 1840, he went to Paris, and created copy work of famous works in the

louvre, along with that he got a job at the shop of an artist. Slowly slowly the effect of

naturalism evolved in his artworks, which were influenced by Caravaggio and other

Venetian artists. He mainly depicted landscapes, seascapes, still life, and portraits. Most

of the natural depictions or landscapes, he depicted, were the area near his hometown,

which was beautiful and mountainous.He had a strong hate for the high class and

religious authorities. Once he depicted a priest drinking wine in his painting which

created a huge chaos.

He was also involved in the 1848 Revolution, and as a result, he had to bear a huge loss.

In the year 1871, he broke a commemorative pillar of Nepolian, and as a result, he was

imprisoned. At last, he went to Switzerland, and he died there.

Courbet mainly depicted rural life scenes and daily life scenes of farmers and labourers.

The poor and general public became a priority in his works, rather than elite people.
Courbet removed the religious storytelling aspect (which means painting based on a

story), in full major, and represented the extreme realities of the society through art.

Imagination became a fully different thing from art during this period. Because of this

new change artists got a chance to observe the world more precisely.
Courbet represented rural figures with harsh bodies and dirty, clumsy clothes. He didn't

try to make them look ideal, which proved these works of Courbet are different from

works of classical and medieval artists. His drawings and his colour scheme became a

trend in the world of art. Even the Romantic painter Delacroix praised his style of work.

When his works were rejected by the jury of the academy, he organised his solo

exhibition and made a path for upcoming artists, which influenced artists like Degas,

Pissarro, Manet and others.Although he was very influential for many artists, still his

influence became limited for others. The reason behind this was, he mainly depicted

rural themes, which were difficult for city artists to connect with. Similarly, in terms of

techniques, Manet's experiments left him back behind. Courbet was also not interested

to teach his styles to new artists. After all this, still he became an influential artist in the

field of realism.

He believed that depicting rural life and the poor is the true responsibility of an artist. So

that society will realise how much struggle these people are doing to get their bread, to

whom they ignore.Courbet was anti-ideal and anti-intellectual. His works were always

there in Paris salon, and he also got the gold medal in 1849. His works were also

criticized in the international exhibition in France, in the year 1855, and 1867. He

organised his solo exhibition, rather than taking part in the exhibition. Which started a

trend of organising solo exhibitions among artists. All the above proves that Courbet

was a great realist painter.

6.FAMOUS  WORKS OF COURBET:

As we all know, Gustave Courbet only depicted realistic subject matter, so in almost all

of his paintings we can see the daily life of the poor and labourers,  landscapes,

seascapes, still life, portraits and other events, which he witnessed. Some of his best

works are the following,

STONE BRAKERS:

The stone Breaker painting is one of the famous works of Gustave Courbet. He painted

this in 1849, which depicts two peasants, out of which one is a young man and another

one is an old man, who is shown breaking the rocks. The medium of the painting is Oil
on Canvas. This painting was first exhibited at the Paris salon of 1850.

In simple we can say, it's a painting of the daily life of labourers. Courbet didn't show

any faces in the painting,  as he depicted the life and struggle of every poor labourer, so

he didn't show any individual's face. The dark rocky background also complements the

theme. The torn and dirty dresses represent the struggle life of the poor. This painting

was destroyed in world war ll, along with other 154 paintings.

THE DESPERATE MAN:

This painting is a self-portrait of Gustave Courbet. The medium is Oil on Canvas. This

painting was produced during his Paris stay. During the 1840s Courbet produced many

copy works of Velasquez, Rembrandt and other artists. During this period he also
painted many portraits, which also comprised self-portraits. 'The desperate man' is one

among them, in which he has represented himself with a desperate expression. The use

of light and shade is also giving a vital effect on the painting.

THE BURIAL AT ORNANS:

The burial at Ornans is a painting of Gustave Courbet. It's an important work of his

career, which was made between 1844-1850. The painting represents the funeral

ceremony of Courbet's great uncle, in the year 1848, in his hometown. This painting got

an explosive reaction in 1850-1851, Paris salon, which gave instant fame to Gustave

Courbet. This is an oil painting made on canvas. He painted the real people of his

hometown, who were present there, rather than taking models for this. So the painting

is a super realistic presentation of that funeral event. This painting is a large work, which

is about 10feet×22feet. Although this painting represents a funeral scene, still no person

in the painting shows a sad expression, which became a reason for criticism.
THE PAINTER’S STUDIO:

This is also an important work of Gustave Courbet and the medium is Oil on Canvas. He

painted this in Ornans in 1855.In this painting, Courbet is shown sitting at the centre and

painting a landscape, while he shows himself turned aways from a nude model, which is

a symbol of academic art. We can see many people present on both sides. On his left

side people from various levels of society are present, who are the supporters of

Courbet.
As many interpretations of this painting are present, so it's considered as a mysterious

painting.