A comparison paper on European Art of 19th Century: Realism and Impressionism

Published under category: Essay Writing Tips | 2015-05-19 20:42:40 UTC

Context: Art

This is a custom written art paper analyzing various works of art by different artists. Essays on art such as sculptures by Michelangelo to painting by Leonardo da Vinci are written on this website. Order a art paper or an analysis essay of any painting from this custom writing service.
Essay 1: Bonheur the Horse Fair and Millet The Sower versus Caillebotte Floor Scrappers and Degas The Interior In both comparisons of paintings, a sense of realism and impressionism can be observed although in the second comparison of paintings, the artists appear to be depicting a change or transition from realism to impressionism. In the first comparison, realism comes out stronger in the second painting, the sower, which appears to be communicating the theme of the social realist movement. Instead of ignoring the peasant man or even idealizing him in the painting, Jean-Francois Millet presents the peasant man as a well built, sturdy young man who adorns some simple yet practical peasant clothing. The peasant man, from a realistic perspective, represents a fighter for social justice and representative of lower social class individuals who are fighting to gain social mobility by planting the seeds of dissent and mobility. In the horse fair, although Rosa Bonheur ignores the political and social problems depicted in the other realistic paintings of that time , realism can be observed in the way she portrays the movement also in the way she depicts the energy in the painting. The artist’s depiction of ridged edges, dirt flying in the air and the sprawling manes of the horses make the painting seem energetic in a realistic way. The movement of the horses, the dramatic coloring and the lack of some details in the paintings all work to demonstrate extreme movements and the intensity of the effort or energy applied by the men who are trying to control the horses. In the second comparison realism is also shown in both paintings. The floorscapers by Gustave Caillebotte depicts realism given that Caillebotee sought to illustrate his works as it existed and in the way he perceived it. This work could also be classified as impressionist because even though realism is depicted by the depiction of realistic work, the artist’s use of light and tendency to illustrate brushstrokes is impressionist. Perhaps the artist was trying to illustrate a transition from realism to impressionist. Meanwhile, the interior by Edgar Degas also has some realistic and impressionist characteristics. Even though Degas considered himself a realistic artist, impressionism can be observed in the interior and many other of his works in the way the artist uses vivid colors and bold brushwork. Impressionism in the interior is also illustrated in the dramatic lighting of the painting.
Essay 2: Bonheur the Horse Fair and Millet The Sower versus Caillebotte Floor Scrappers and Degas The Interior In the first compassion of paintings, the artists uses the space in the canvas to both give the paintings a realistic nature and helps the artist to communicate the theme of the painting. In the first painting, Bonheur uses the massive canvas space to depict energy in such a way that it gives the viewer the effect of feeling the action depicted in the painting. The effect of the horses going round in a cycle adds to this effect and makes an observer to almost imagine hearing the clattering hooves and experiencing the commotion depicted in the picture. In the sower, the artist uses most of the space to paint the peasant man and in so doing, makes the laborer appear strong and well built in line with social realism’s depiction of the laborers . As aforementioned, social realists did not ignore the plight of the laborers as did everyone else but sought to make them appear like heroes just as the man in the painting appears. In the second comparison, space is also used to depict the theme of the painting. An examination of the floor scrapers illustrates an unusual perspective that has a raised horizontal line and illustrates a dramatic tilting of the floor. This view makes the viewer of the painting feel as though they are looking down on the floor scrapers and this, perhaps, illustrates how the rick individuals viewed laborers. The exaggerated view of the floor could also be depicted as illustrating the laborers having too much work to complete. In the interior, space is also used to demonstrate the theme of the painting which is the lack of emotion between the man and the semi-nude lady. In this painting, the man and woman are painted on opposite sides of the painting, the woman faces a way from the man, and the artist uses perspective to make the woman appear further away from the man. Impressionism can be observed in both comparisons of paintings particularly in the way the artists use lose brush strokes, color blotches and sketchy lines to give a fleeting moment. In the first comparison, this can clearly be seen in both paintings. In the horsefair, the loose strokes that depict the dust that has been kicked by the horse hooves illustrates movement while in the sower, and the sketchy lines that depict the birds in the horizon also illustrates movement and therefore impressionism. As mentioned above, both paintings in the second comparison illustrate impressionism. Bibliography Kleiner, Fred. Gardner’s art through the ages: back pack edition, book D, Modern Europe and America. New Jersey: Cengage, 2009. Morgan Stacy. Rethinking Social Realism: African American Art and Literature. Georgia: University of Georgia press. 2004 ORDER PLAGIARISM FREE PAPER