Developments in the 19th Century


 

Art Styles in 19th century - Art Map



 

The Birth of Realism




 

Federico de Madrazo y Kuntz

Anselm Feuerbach

George Caleb Bingham


 

see collections:


Franz von Lenbach

Giovanni Boldini

Thomas Eakins

Ilya Repin

Vasily Surikov

Vasili Perov

Winslow Homer

 

PORTRAITURE

Discarding academic forms and classical models, the new genre of portraiture focused on the contemporary middle class. The vivid and unsparing image of the imposing Monsieur Berlin the Elder by Ingres exemplified the power of the emergent social class. This "Buddha of the bourgeoisie" paved the way for a body of middle-class portraiture that had different connotations from country to country. In Spain, Federico de Madrazo y Kuntz (1815-94) proved himself a master of the techniques and styles of portrait painting and became a teacher and guide for later generations. In Germany, Anselm Feuerbach (1829-80), an artist who tried his hand at both historical and allegorical compositions, excelled in paintings of contemplative women, such as his portraits of Nanna Risi and Lucia Brunacci. Franz von Lenbach (1836-1904) was a celebrated society portrait artist noted for his acute observation and terse style. The Italian artist Giovanni Boldini (1842-1931), for a short while a disciple of the Macchiaioli, discovered English portrait painting in London and made a name for himself in that genre among Parisian society after 1871. In the US, Thomas Eakins (1844-1916) brought a sharp, precise sense of realism to his portraiture and group scenes. The most famous painter of the genre, John Singer Sargent (1856-1925), who celebrated the world of the Belle Epoque, brought the virtuosity of his silken brushwork to both the delicate flesh tones of his female sitters and the rustling materials in which they were dressed. Finally, in Russia, Ilya Repin (1844-1930) painted the celebrities of his time with realism and a sharp eye for detail, as can be seen in his sprightly Modest Mussorgsky and in Tolstoy at Work (1887). Meanwhile, photography had made a great impact on the portraiture business, with photographers creating sumptuous backdrops for their clients, placing them in false gondolas or under grand canopies. However, photography remained the humbler medium of portraiture and those wishing to pass their own image down through the generations still preferred the skills of a painter.
 

Ilya Repin
Tolstoy at Work
1887

 

Ilya Repin
Modest Mussorgsky

 

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Federico de Madrazo y Kuntz

(b Rome, 9 Feb 1815; d Madrid, 10 June 1894).

Son of José de Madrazo y Agudo. In 1818 the family returned from Rome to Madrid, where Federico studied painting under his father and the other leading Spanish Neo-classical painters Juan Antonio de Ribera and José Aparicio. Federico’s Continence of Scipio (1831; Madrid, Real Acad. S Fernando Mus.) gained him the status of academician. It shows the French Neo-classical traditions instilled in him at the Madrid Academia by his professors, all pupils of Jacques-Louis David and Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. Federico won immediate popularity in court circles with his sympathetic rendering of Ferdinand VII in the King’s Illness (1832; Madrid, Patrm. N.), and that same year (1832) he was named Pintor Supernumerario de Cámara.
 

Federico de Madrazo y Kuntz
Amalia de Llano y Dotres - The Countess of Vilches
1853
oil on canvas
Museo del Prado, Madrid


 

Federico de Madrazo y Kuntz
The General Duke of San Miguel
1854
oil on canvas
Museo del Prado, Madrid


 

Federico de Madrazo y Kuntz
Carolina Coronado


 

Federico de Madrazo y Kuntz
Retrato de joven


 

Federico de Madrazo y Kuntz
Isabel II

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Anselm Feuerbach
Self-Portrait
oil on canvas
The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

 

Anselm Feuerbach
Paolo And Francesca


 

Anselm Feuerbach
Mandolin Player

 

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THE RUSSIAN ITINERANTS

Realism in Russia was tinged with the mysticism of mankind's divine and eternal suffering. In St Petersburg and Moscow, a nationalistic form of painting emerged that was only marginally influenced by the French example (even though artists, such as Perov and Repin, visited Paris). In his essay the Aesthetic Relationship between Art and Reality (1865), Chernyshevski chose to regard the real as superior to the make-believe, and declared that the purpose of art was to educate and emancipate. The new generation of artists reacted against the official institutions, in 1863, they established an avant-garde group called the Society of Wandering (Travelling) Exhibitions, which took its name from the exhibitions organized periodically in various parts of Russia. There was a revival of religious and historical painting: in the art of Vasily Surikov (1848-1916), scenes of the past contained contemporary elements alluding to social and political issues.
The same feature is found in the portraits of Vasily Perov (1834—82), who had become familiar with the work of Courbet and Meissonier in Paris, and in the Russian landscape scenes of Isaak Levitan (1860-1900). Meanwhile, Ilya Repin (1844-1930) revealed a freshness in his representations of people in crowds and in groups.
 

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Realism in the United States

The realism that developed in the US was quite distinct from that seen in Europe. While many American artists embraced the concrete and the tangible in their paintings, they also created a strong sense of idealism. Thus the naturalistic renderings of virgin forests and undefiled landscapes of the artists of the Hudson River School, were sometimes obscured by mysticism. George Caleb Bingham (1811-79) embraced realist concepts inasmuch as he represented the commonplace, but his work also displays a romantic influence. He was fascinated by the traders and travellers who navigated the Missouri in flatboats - strong, purposeful figures in silent, light-filled settings. The Swiss-born artist Frank Buchser (1828-90) recorded the exploits of the North American Indians and the confrontations of Union and Confederate generals in the Civil War. Meanwhile, the sometimes spectacular heroism and courage of the fishermen of the North Atlantic was celebrated by Winslow Homer (1836-1910) in his famous marine paintings, executed during the 1890s at Prout's Neck in Maine. Homer, who had exhibited among the works representing American art at the Paris Exposition of 1867, expressed his attitude to his art in the words, "When I have selected the thing carefully, I paint it exactly as it appears." Homer's contemporary Thomas Eakins embodied the scientific interest of his generation; he constructed elaborate models and prepared detailed sketches to ensure the accuracy of his pictures. This disciplined naturalism was at odds with the immediacy sought by such artists as those of the Barbizon School.

 

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George Caleb Bingham

(b Augusta County, VA, 20 March 1811; d Kansas City, MO, 7 July 1879).

American painter. Raised in rural Franklin County, MO, Bingham experienced from an early age the scenes on the major western rivers, the Missouri and the Mississippi, that inspired his development as a major genre painter. During his apprenticeship to a cabinetmaker, he met the itinerant portrait painter Chester Harding, who turned Bingham’s attention to art. Teaching himself to draw and compose from art instruction books and engravings, the only resources available in the frontier territories, Bingham began painting portraits as early as 1834. The style of these works is provincial but notable for its sharpness, clear light and competent handling of paint.

 

George Caleb Bingham
Fur Traders Descending the Missouri


 

George Caleb Bingham
Raftsmen Playing Cards
1847


 

George Caleb Bingham
Cavassing for a Vote or Candidate Electioneering


 

George Caleb Bingham
Jolly Flatboatmen in Port


 

George Caleb Bingham
Martial Law
 

see collections:


Franz von Lenbach

Giovanni Boldini

Thomas Eakins

Ilya Repin

Vasili Surikov

Vasili Perov

Winslow Homer