ISM: Realism (and Appealism)

How appealing do you like things to be?

Do you want others to want your things?

Do you want only you, to want your things?

What does it mean to "be real," if we're taught to care about others' feelings?

The boundary between selfishness and self-awareness is often blurred when examining Realism. The things you notice might be a result of how you would like things to be, as opposed to how they actually are. In that sense, Realism is a beautiful sense of the word, and a sense of the world.

L'Origin du Monde (The Origin of the World), 1866. Gustav Courbet. Oil on canvas, 46 x 55 cm. Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

Gustav Courbet is our canonically leading Realist. The conversation never ends around L'Origin du Monde (and we would ideally like it to continue here), a painting that captures the image of what the artist felt was a "real woman." An individual's ideas of reality is shaped by the society around him or her, but acknowledgedly they can also very much be a result of denying those very societal values. Therefore, it might be safe to say that Realism is an entirely individualistic notion.

At the same time, it is undeniable that this woman does seem very "realistic." So perhaps it is more accurate to say that art movements are defined by what the majority agrees upon. I would say this is an accurate woman, not because she is anatomically accurate or veers away from stereotype -- there is nothing stopping a doctor or biologist from stating that something is slightly off-- but because it presents an intention of honesty. A lover or sexual partner is what comes to mind from this perspective as opposed to a full view of a standing or sitting model, and Courbet is being honest in what a lover or sexual partner would see, think about, and express.

There has been and still is much speculation around this painting; it is an inevitable result of provocation. Think about the scandals of today, and about the type of questions you ask.

Realism bloomed in the nineteenth century. In what moments of the twenty-first do you see this movement similarly take flight?