American Realism

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American Realism

• Late 19th and Early 20th Century Painting

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Thomas Eakins (1844-1916)

• Of course, it is well to go abroad and see the
  works of the old masters, but Americans must
  strike out for themselves, and only by doing this
  will we create a great and distinctly American
  art.
• turned attention to contemporary American life.
• work is an affirmation of the pragmatic American
  temperament and a celebration of scientific and
  technological advancements.

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• Thomas Eakins. Baseball Players Practicing.
  1875.

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• Thomas Eakins. The Gross Clinic. 1875.

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• Max Schmidtt in a Single Scull, 1871

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Mary Cassatt (1844-1926)

• born into a wealthy and cultivated Pa. family
• fiercely independent woman
• boldly and defiantly moved to Paris alone to
  study painting
• influenced by the old masters and by
  Impressionism

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• Mary Cassatt. The Caress (1902)

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• Mary Cassatt. The Childs Bath

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• Cassatt. Mothers Goodnight Kiss. 1888.

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Cassatts Work

• Her paintings show a singular devotion to the
  depiction of maternal scenes.
• the intimacy of domestic life
• Theres only one thing in life for a woman its
  to be a mother. A woman artist must be capable of
  making primary sacrifices.

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John Singer Sargent (1856-1925)Elizabeth
Winthrop Chanler, 1893
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• Madame X 1883-84
• caused an outcry in Paris, where it was
  exhibited.
• Madame Gautreau was a well-known American
  ex-patriot socialite and adulterer.

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• The Ashcan School (NYC)

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• The Ashcan Artists
• The Ashcan artists wanted to rescue American
  art from restrictive official ideology of the
  Gilded Age, especially its narrow emphasis on
  cultural refinement and its cautious and
  controlling assessment of American society.
• smash the glass and breathe freely experience
  real life in all its intensity

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Towards American ModernismThe Ashcan Artists

• George Luks, Hester Street (1905)

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The Ashcan Artists
VS.

• George Bellows, Both Members of This Club (1909)

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• John Sloan, Movies 5 Cents (1907)

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Winslow Homer

• Realism, Naturalism and
• Watercolor

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• Gulfstream (1899)

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• The Lifeline (1884)