Definition of realism

The history of realism finds its origins somewhere around the second half of the 19th century, mainly from 1830 to 1870. Among its main principles realism establishes itself as a way of thought more than a movement within a specific genre. It seeks to express an object, scene or even a subject through that which is perceivable, negating all romanticism and subjectivism or any other elements which may distort something as it really exists. These realists, also known as positivists, found their faith in the fact that all knowledge obtained from science and its objectives would, in essence, solve all human problems. Read more...

Realism art work can most probably be described as an artistic endeavour to imitate nature with the use of a paintbrush. Such is the aspirations to those who belonged to this movement and believed that classicism, romanticism and subjectivism portrayed fallacies of nature in more than one way. Read more...

Like all other artistic movements, realism also had its own prominent front runners. First and probably foremost among these is Gustave Corbert who is credited for giving this movement its name and can therefore be regarded as the "father of realism". He was born in 1819 in Ornans, France into a wealthy farming family and mainly studied the works of other artists as a primary means of education. Through his work Corbert sought to eradicate social imbalances through an artistic pursuit of the truth. Read more...

As every period in art is characterised by the works produced by its artists; so is realism a manifestation of the principles held by those who aspired to its true ideology. In its broadest sense, realism was seen as the pursuit of truth through art to depict the life, conditions and hardships of the contemporary citizens, more notably the poor of society. Read more...