Discuss this statement in reference to at least one work by each artist mentioned in this statement.

Realism is an approach to art in which subjects are portrayed in as straightforward manner as possible, without idealizing them and without following the rules of formal theory. Realism began as an artistic movement in the 18th Century in Europe and America. It was a revolt against the conventions of the classic view of art which suggested that life was more rational and orderly that it really is. It was also a revolt against the romantic traditions in art which suggested that life was more emotionally satisfying than it really is. Realism tries to portray life as objectively as possible. Realism was a broad spectrum movement involving painting, literature, drama in several European countries. Some of the leading French realist painters were Millet, Courbet and Daumier. Realist artists disapproved of fictional and traditional subjects and believed that the only true subject matter for artworks had to be found in reality. The artists aimed to represent their subject as realistically as possible, particularly in te

Gustav Courbet was born in a small down in eastern france. His family’s ambivalent social position, with peasant origins but a new bourgeois identity made Courbert particularly aware of the class divisions of rural france and this was central to his personal and artistic development. Courbet was often critisized for the ugliness of his paintings – he rejected the idealised images of Neo-Classical art and painted only real people, with ordinary, sometimes ugly, bodies. This was one of the ways in which he stressed the reality of what he painted. An example of this realistic representation of the human body is in The Bathers (1853), which provoked a scandal at the salon. Some described it as physically repulsive. Burial at Ornans (1849-1850) was the focus of attention and critisism at the Paris salon. It was one of Courbet’s first realist paintings, in which he treated an ordinary event on a vast scale which was usually confined to ‘history painting’. It has an autobiographical content which is typical of Courbet’s work. This huge painting contains near 60 life-size figures, the townsfolk of Ormans, gathered together for a funeral- with male an female mourners separated according to Catholic custom. It is this monumental treatment of contemporary daily life which makes this work one of Courbet’s major Realist paintings. People from the city saw it as “glorification of vulgarity” and were threatened by the uncomfortable life-like portrayal of a rural community. This painting shows Courbet’s own experiences, it shows his family, friends, local dignitaries and country people and is set in the newly consecrated cemetary on a hill outside his home town. The composition is, in many ways, classical, yet the subject matter-- the burial of an unknown villager--is starkly different from the grandiloquent depictions of famous historical events or wealthy, powerful people so common in contemporary 19th century painting. This deliberate and radical choice of subject is also reflected in the title of the painting, which only locates the burial by town and not person. The figures are mostly painted in black (a symbol of mourning) and seem to merge together as one. Important figures such as the priests are painted in brighter colours (in the case of the priests, this is red) which makes them stand out. The grouping of mourners and attendants follows the horizon or distant cliffs--no one's head extends into the sky. Only the crucifix, he

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