Universal Principles of Art

70 REALISM

CLAIMING AN OBJECTIVE VIEW OF THE WORLD

More than simply representation, realism is the idea that the artwork presents a neutral and inclusive view of the world. The viewer is persuaded that he is being shown the world as it actually is. This is an idea that emerges perennially in art. In the late sixteenth century, Caravaggio (1571–1610) shocked and galvanized his viewers by using common people as models and including such realistic details as dirty fingernails and soiled clothing. Realism emerged again in the mid-nineteenth century as a powerful antidote to the foregoing Romantic movement. Artists such as Gustave Courbet (1819–77) began to paint the life of French peasants in an unadorned and matter-of-fact manner, belying previous ...