Aesthetics of realism and naturalism

Significant changes in the life of society, caused by the growing discontent of the masses, the growth of the democratic and proletarian movement, could not but lead to changes in the artistic sphere. First, the bourgeois French Revolution of 1848, and then the world’s first proletarian revolution of 1871 (the Paris Commune) finally dispelled romantic illusions and made us look at the needs and aspirations of the common man.

Realistic art acts as a means of agitation and propaganda, and artists are actively involved in public life, protecting the interests of the masses. The contradictions between realistic and academic art are noticeably aggravated, the differences between realism and romanticism become even deeper and more irreconcilable.

If earlier realism and romanticism in their attitude to life and man mutually enriched each other, developed without conflict and in parallel, now their contradictions have manifested themselves. Differences in their attitude to reality were significant. If romanticism only fixed vices and shortcomings in the life of society, then realism drew attention to the reasons that gave rise to evil in society. If romanticism introduced a lot of subjective and individual into the image of the surrounding reality, then realism, on the contrary, strived for objectivity, often used artistic methods of satirical ridicule. Realism contrasted the advancement of a lofty romantic ideal with its categorical rejection. G. Courbet argued that “the basis of realism is the negation of the ideal.” There were also discrepancies in the choice of themes for works of art.

Significant contradictions between realism and romanticism concerned the peculiarities of the image of a person. Thus, the realists contrasted exceptional heroes in exceptional circumstances with the depiction of “typical characters in typical circumstances” (F. Engels). Moreover, they paid increased attention to the everyday life of a person of the lower classes.

If in the works of romantics the unity of the views of the author and his heroes was felt, then among the realists there was a certain distance between them. If among the romantics the personality could influence the society, then among the realists, on the contrary, the society exerted a significant influence on the person. Such disagreements could not but lead to the design of their own aesthetic program, which formally consolidated the basic requirements of realistic art.

Reproducing reality as it is, realist artists, however, did not strive to copy it exactly. In their works, there was enough room for creative imagination and imagination. E. Delacroix, who was alien to the realistic method, nevertheless emphasized:

“… Realism should not be confused with a visible likeness of reality … The perfection of the artistic image does not depend on the degree of imitation of nature.”

Otherwise, there was a danger of identifying realism with naturalism (lat.natura – nature, nature) – a creative trend in the visual arts, literature and theater, which was associated with exact copying of the phenomena of reality without taking into account their connections and relationships with each other. Naturalism was characterized by: submission to “positive” truth, rejection of typing, strict use of the results of experimental science, emphasized “photographic” images, de-aesthetization of the artistic form.

From the middle of the XIX century. the terms “realism” and “naturalism” were often used interchangeably, but since the 1870s. naturalism began to stand out in a special literary and artistic movement, known as the “natural school”.

Emile Zola (1840-1902), the most famous proponent of naturalism, emphasized that the artist must be an objective observer and experimenter. He can only depict what he himself saw and studied well. The “piece of reality” he reproduced with photographic precision is the opposite of “typical characters in typical circumstances.” The place of the plot was taken by description and analysis, while the author remains aesthetically neutral in relation to the depicted, he does not seek to look into the future. The world around us seems to be a static jumble of details, in which there are no distinctions between the beautiful and the ugly. If the ugly is depicted reliably, it acquires, in the eyes of naturalists, the meaning of genuine aesthetic value.

In the collection Experimental Novel (1880), E. Zola wrote:

“We, naturalist writers, are given an absurd reproach – as if we want to be only photographers … We proceed from true facts, reality is our indestructible foundation … The main task of a writer is precisely to study the mutual influence – society on the individual and the individual to society … We strive … to master the manifestations of intelligence and other properties of the human personality in order to be able to direct them … For us, man is a living machine, acting under the influence of heredity and environment. “

In Zola’s artistic work, features of naturalism were organically intertwined with features of critical realism. This circumstance played a positive role in the assessment of naturalism. It allowed him to gain not only universal recognition, but also to play a progressive role at a certain stage.



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