Photography and Realism

Question 1

Answer 1

Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre, Still Life in Studio, 1837

inventor of photography= “writing with light”

Daguerrotype: copper plates, polished with silver, coated with silver halide particles deposited by photo-sensitive iodine vapor,

positive print, could not be reproduced

1st time could accurately and objectively record the world; downside: single impression, cannot make copies- exposure time=15 to 30 minutes, stationary objects common

began with existing genres (still-life, portraiture, landscape)

Question 2

Answer 2

Gustave Courbet, The Stone Breakers, 1849 (destroyed 1945)

realism= only can show what can be seen at the moment

excellent example of realism- two people at beginning & end of life, extremely poor, shown poor (e.g. in tattered clothing), stark, monochromatic, anonymous, unidealized, manual labor

contemporary event but insignificant, lacks grand narrative/moral, monumental painting glorifying the mundane.modern

painted after 1848 workers revolt against Second Republic in France, would have made middle class and wealthy uncomfortable

Question 3

Answer 3

Edouard Manet, Olympia, 1863- father of “modernism,” liked to reveal assumption of academic art

1st modern nude- woman shown exactly as is- not in guise of figure from Bible, history, or mythology; lampoons Titian’s Venus of Urbino, same pose, but not coyly inviting, instead aggressive gaze; cat for dog, sevant with flowers not cassoni

prostitute= “cat house,”- “Olympia” popular name of low class, street walking prostitute

highly criticized because exposed hypocrisy of academic nude, 1st time a woman defies male gaze; female agency

Question 4

Answer 4

Thomas Eakins, The Gross Clinic, 1875- originally designed for Philadelphia exhibition of American Independence Centennial- rejected due to brutal realism

Dr. Samuel Gross in operating amphitheater, Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia

real operation with real doctor and real reactions- lectures nonchalantly with bloody scalpel in hand

recording events not showcasing individual- not pretense for another genre (like Rembrandt’s Dr. Tulp group portrait painting)