Social realism
Social realism is the term used for work produced by painters, printmakers, photographers, writers and filmmakers that aims to draw attention to the real socio-political conditions of the working class as a means to critique the power structures behind these conditions. While the movement's characteristics vary from nation to nation, it almost always uses a form of descriptive or critical realism.[1]
The term is sometimes more narrowly used for an
Social realism should not be confused with socialist realism, the official Soviet art form that was institutionalized by Joseph Stalin in 1934 and was later adopted by allied Communist parties worldwide. It is also different from realism as it not only presents conditions of the poor, but does so by conveying the tensions between two opposing forces, such as between farmers and their feudal lord.[1] However, sometimes the terms social realism and socialist realism are used interchangeably.[3]
Origins
Social realism, as an art movement that became prominent in the US between the two world wars, as a reaction to the increasing hardship for ordinary people, was influenced by the social realist tradition in France which had existed for decades.[4]
Social realism traces back to 19th-century European Realism, including the art of Honoré Daumier, Gustave Courbet and Jean-François Millet. Britain's Industrial Revolution aroused concern for the poor, and in the 1870s the work of artists such as Luke Fildes, Hubert von Herkomer, Frank Holl, and William Small were widely reproduced in The Graphic.
In Russia,
Social realist photography draws from the documentary traditions of the late 19th century, such as the work of
Ashcan school
In about 1900, a group of
In paintings, illustrations, etchings, and lithographs, Ashcan artists concentrated on portraying
Notable Ashcan works include
Art movement
The term dates on a broader scale to the
In the more limited meaning of the term, Social Realism with roots in European
In Mexico, the painter
Many artists who subscribed to social realism were
Social realism has been summarized as follows:
Social Realism developed as a reaction against idealism and the exaggerated ego encouraged by Romanticism. Consequences of the Industrial Revolution became apparent; urban centers grew, slums proliferated on a new scale contrasting with the display of wealth of the upper classes. With a new sense of social consciousness, the Social Realists pledged to "fight the beautiful art", any style which appealed to the eye or emotions. They focused on the ugly realities of contemporary life and sympathized with working-class people, particularly the poor. They recorded what they saw ("as it existed") in a dispassionate manner. The public was outraged by Social Realism, in part, because they didn't know how to look at it or what to do with it.[7]
In the United States
Social realism in the United States was inspired by the muralists active in Mexico after the Mexican Revolution of 1910.
Farm Security Administration project
Social realist photography reached a culmination in the work of Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, Ben Shahn, and others for the Farm Security Administration (FSA) project, from 1935 to 1943.[1]
After
The FSA was a
WPA and Treasury art projects
The
Created in 1935, the
In Mexico, the painter
Many artists who subscribed to social realism were
World-War II to present
With the onset of abstract expressionism in the 1940s, social realism had gone out of fashion.[14] Several WPA artists found work with the United States Office of War Information during WWII, making posters and other visual materials for the war effort.[15] After the war, although lacking attention in the art market, many social realist artists continued their careers into the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and into the 2000s; throughout which, artists such as Jacob Lawrence, Ben Shahn, Bernarda Bryson Shahn, Raphael Soyer, Robert Gwathmey, Antonio Frasconi, Philip Evergood, Sidney Goodman, and Aaron Berkman continued to work with social realist modalities and themes.[16]
Whether in and out of fashion, social realism and socially conscious art-making continues today within the contemporary art world, including artists Sue Coe, Mike Alewitz, Kara Walker, Celeste Dupuy Spencer, Allan Sekula, Fred Lonidier, and others.[16]
Gallery
-
Thomas Hart Benton, People of Chilmark, 1920, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.
-
Walker Evans, Floyd Burroughs, Alabama cotton Sharecropper, Hale County, Alabama, c. 1935–1936, photograph
-
Ben Shahn, detail of The Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti (1967, mosaic), Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
-
Walker Evans, Allie Mae Burroughs, Wife of a Cotton Sharecropper, Hale County, Alabama, c. 1935–1936, photograph
-
Arthur Rothstein, A Farmer and His Two Sons During a Dust Storm, Cimarron County, Oklahoma, 1936, photograph considered as an icon of the Dust Bowl
-
Santiago Martinez Delgado, mural for the 1933 Chicago International Fair
-
José Orozco, detail of mural Omnisciencia, 1925
-
Man, Controller of the Universe), originally created in 1934
-
Constantin Meunier, Miner at the Exit of the Shaft, 1880s, Meunier Museum, Brussels
-
Eugène Laermans, Emigrants, central panel, 1896, Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp
In Latin America
Muralists active in Mexico after the Mexican Revolution of 1910 created largely propagandizing murals which emphasized a revolutionary spirit and a pride in the traditions of the indigenous peoples of Mexico, and included
In Europe
In Belgium, early representatives of social realism are found in the work of 19th century artists such as
The political polarization of the period resulted in social realism's distinction from socialist realism becoming less obvious in public opinion, and by the mid-20th century abstract art had replaced it as the dominant movement in both Western Europe and the United States.[1]
France
Russia and the Soviet Union
The French Realist movement had equivalents in all other Western countries, developing somewhat later. In particular, the Peredvizhniki or Wanderers group in Russia who formed in the 1860s and organized exhibitions from 1871 included many realists such as Ilya Repin and had a great influence on Russian art.
From that important trend came the development of
The ideology behind social realism, communicated by depicting the heroism of the working class, was to promote and spark revolutionary actions and to spread the image of optimism and the importance of productiveness. Keeping people optimistic meant creating a sense of patriotism, which would prove very important in the struggle to produce a successful socialist nation. The Unions Newspaper, the Literaturnaya Gazeta, described social realism as "the representation of the proletarian revolution". During Joseph Stalin's reign, it was considered most important to use socialist realism as a form of propaganda in posters, as it kept people optimistic and encouraged greater productive effort, a necessity in his aim of developing Russia into an industrialized nation.
A wide-ranging debate on art took place;[when?] the main disagreement was between those who believed in "Proletarian Art" which should have no connections with past art coming out of bourgeois society, and those (most vociferously Leon Trotsky) who believed that art in a society dominated by working-class values had to absorb all the lessons of bourgeois art before it could move forward at all.
The taking of power by Joseph Stalin's faction had its corollary in the establishment of an official art: on 23 April 1932, headed by Stalin, an organization formed by the central committee of the Communist Party developed the Union of Soviet Writers. This organization endorsed the newly designated ideology of social realism.
By 1934, all other independent art groups were abolished, making it nearly impossible for someone not involved in the Union of Soviet Writers to get work published. Any literary piece or painting that did not endorse the ideology of social realism was censored or banned. This new art movement, introduced under Joseph Stalin, was one of the most practical and durable artistic approaches of the 20th century. With the communist revolution came also a cultural revolution. It also gave Stalin and his Communist Party greater control over Soviet culture and restricted people from expressing alternative geopolitical ideologies that differed to those represented in socialist realism. The decline of social realism came with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
In film
Social realism in cinema found its roots in Italian neorealism, especially the films of Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio De Sica, Luchino Visconti and to some extent Federico Fellini.[26][27]
In British cinema
Early
After World War I, the British middle-class generally responded to realism and restraint in cinema, while the working-class generally favored Hollywood genre movies. Thus realism carried connotations of education and high seriousness. These social and aesthetic distinctions would soon become running themes as social realism is now associated with the arthouse auteur, while mainstream Hollywood films are shown at the multiplex.[28]
Producer Michael Balcon revived this distinction in the 1940s, referring to the British industry's rivalry with Hollywood in terms of "realism and tinsel". Balcon, the head of Ealing Studios, became a key figure in the emergence of a national cinema characterized by stoicism and verisimilitude. "Combining the objective temper and aesthetics of the documentary movement with the stars and resources of studio filmmaking, 1940s British cinema made a stirring appeal to a mass audience", noted critic Richard Armstrong.[28]
Social realism in cinema was reflecting Britain's transforming wartime society. Women were working alongside men in the military and its munitions factories, challenging pre-assigned gender roles. Rationing, air raids and unprecedented state intervention in the life of the individual encouraged a more social philosophy and worldview. Social realist films of the era include Target for Tonight (1941), In Which We Serve (1942), Millions Like Us (1943), and This Happy Breed (1944). Historian Roger Manvell wrote, "As the cinemas [closed initially because of the fear of air raids] reopened, the public flooded in, searching for relief from hard work, companionship, release from tension, emotional indulgence and, where they could find them, some reaffirmation of the values of humanity."[28]
In the postwar period, films like Passport to Pimlico (1949), The Blue Lamp (1949), and The Titfield Thunderbolt (1952) reiterated gentle patrician values, creating a tension between the camaraderie of the war years and the burgeoning consumer society.[28]
A British New Wave movement emerged in the 1950s and 1960s. British auteurs like Karel Reisz, Tony Richardson, and John Schlesinger brought wide shots and plain speaking to stories of ordinary Britons negotiating postwar social structures. Relaxation of censorship enabled film makers to portray issues such as prostitution, abortion, homosexuality, and alienation. Characters included factory workers, office underlings, dissatisfied wives, pregnant girlfriends, runaways, the marginalized, the poor, and the depressed. The New Wave protagonist was usually a working-class male without bearings in a society in which traditional industries and the cultures that went with them were in decline.[28]
Mike Leigh and Ken Loach also make contemporary social realist films.[34]
List of British New Wave films
- Room at the Top (1958)
- Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960)
- The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962)
- A Kind of Loving (1962)
In Indian cinema
Social realism was also adopted by
List of neorealist/social realist films in American cinema
- Body and Soul (1947)
- Thieves' Highway (1949)
- The Young Lovers(1949)
- Outrage (1950)
- Hard, Fast and Beautiful (1951)
- The Bigamist (1953)
- The Hitch-Hiker (1953)
- Little Fugitive (1953)
- Salt of the Earth (1954)
- On the Bowery (1957)
- Shadows (1959)
- The Exiles (1961)
- The Cool World (1963)
- Nothing But a Man(1964)
- Wanda (1970)
- Dusty and Sweets McGee (1971)
- Killer of Sheep (1978)
- Northern Lights (1978)
- Bush Mama (1979)
- El Norte (1983)
- My Brother's Wedding (1983)
- Bless Their Little Hearts (1984)
- Stranger Than Paradise (1984)
- Down By Law(1986)
- Border Radio (1987)
- American Me (1992)
- Clerks (1994)
- Friday (1995)
- 8 Mile (2002)
- Half Nelson (2006)
- Chop Shop (2007)
- Frownland (2007)
- The Visitor(2007)
- Frozen River (2008)
- Sugar (2008)
- Wendy and Lucy (2008)
- Meek's Cutoff (2010)
- Winter's Bone (2010)
- Nebraska (2013)
- Tangerine (2015)
- American Honey (2016)
- The Rider (2017)
- Patti Cake$ (2017)
- The Florida Project (2017)
- Leave No Trace (2018)
- Roma (2018)
- Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020)
- Red Rocket (2021)
Filmmakers associated with American neorealism/social realism
- Chloe Zhao
- Ramin Bahrani
- Sean Baker
- Charles Burnett
- John Cassavetes
- Shirley Clarke
- Ida Lupino
- Coleman Francis
- Jim Jarmusch
- Barbara Loden
- Kent Mackenzie
- Kelly Reichardt
Sources:[38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59]
List of artists
The following incomplete list of artists have been associated with social realism:
Artist | Nationality | Field(s) | Years active |
---|---|---|---|
Abbot, Berenice | American | photography | 1923–1991 |
Anand, Chetan | Indian | film | 1944–1997 |
Barnet, Will | American | painting, illustration, printmaking | 1930–2012 |
Bearden, Romare | American | painting | 1936–1988 |
Beckmann, Max | German | painting, printmaking, sculpture | unknown–1950 |
Bellows, George | American | painting, illustration | 1906–1925 |
Benton, Thomas Hart | American | painting | 1907–1975 |
Billman, Torsten | Swedish | printmaking, illustration, painting | 1930–1988 |
Bishop, Isabel | American | painting, graphic design | 1918–1988 |
Blanch, Arnold | American | painting, etching, illustration, printmaking | 1923–1968 |
Bogen, Alexander | Polish/ Israeli | painting, etching, illustration, printmaking | 1916–2010 |
Bourke-White, Margaret | American | photography | 1920s–1971 |
Brocka, Lino | Filipino | Film | 1970–1991 |
Cadmus, Paul | American | painting, illustration | 1934–1999 |
Camarena, Jorge González | Mexican | painting, sculpture | 1929–1980 |
Caruso, Bruno | Italian | painting, illustration, printmaking | 1943–2012 |
Castejón, Joan | Spanish | painting, sculpture, illustration | 1945–present |
Charlot, Jean | French | painting, illustration | 1921–1979 |
Chua Mia Tee | Singaporean | painting | 1956-1976 |
Counihan, Noel | Australian | painting, printmaking | 1930s–1986 |
Curry, John Steuart | American | painting | 1921–1946 |
Dehn, Adolf | American | lithography, painting, printmaking | 1920s–1968 |
Delgado, Santiago Martínez | Colombian | painting, sculpture, illustration | 1925–1954 |
de la Fresnaye, Roger | French | painting | 1912–1925 |
de Vlaminck, Maurice | French | painting | 1893–1958 |
Dix, Otto | German | painting, printmaking | 1910–1969 |
Douglas, Aaron | American | painting | 1925–1979 |
Evans, Walker | American | photography | 1928–1975 |
Evergood, Philip | American | painting, sculpture, printmaking | 1926–1973 |
Fautrier, Jean | French | painting, sculpture | 1922–1964 |
Garza, Federico Cantú | Mexican | painting, engraving, sculpture | 1929–1989 |
Ghatak, Ritwik | Indian | film, theatre | 1948–1976 |
Gropper, William | American | lithography, painting, illustration | 1915–1977 |
Grosz, George | German | painting, illustration | 1909–1959 |
Gruber, Francis | French | painting | 1930–1948 |
Guayasamín, Oswaldo | Ecuadorian | painting, sculpture | 1942–1999 |
Guston, Philip | American | painting, printmaking | 1927–1980 |
Gwathmey, Robert | American | painting | unknown–1988 |
Henri, Robert | American | painting | 1883–1929 |
Hine, Lewis | American | photography | 1904–1940 |
Hirsch, Joseph | American | painting, illustration, printmaking | 1933-1981 |
Hopper, Edward | American | painting, printmaking | 1895–1967 |
Kahlo, Frida | Mexican | painting | 1925–1954 |
Koch, Pyke | Dutch | painting | 1927–1991 |
Kollwitz, Käthe | German | painting, sculpture, printmaking | 1890–1945 |
Kuhn, Walt | American | painting, illustration | 1892–1939 |
Lamangan, Joel | Filipino | Film, Television, Theater | 1991–present |
Lange, Dorothea | American | photography | 1918–1965 |
Lawrence, Jacob | American | painting | 1931–2000 |
Lee, Doris | American | painting, printmaking | 1935–1983 |
Lee, Russell | American | photography | 1936–1986 |
Levine, Jack | American | painting, printmaking | 1932–2010 |
Lozowick, Louis | American | painting, printmaking | 1926–1973 |
Luks, George | American | painting, illustration | 1893–1933 |
Marsh, Reginald | American | painting | 1922–1954 |
Meltsner, Paul | American | painting | 1913–1966 |
Montenegro, Roberto | Mexican | painting, illustration | 1906–1968 |
Myers, Jerome | American | painting, drawing, etching, illustration | 1867–1940 |
Orozco, José Clemente | Mexican | painting | 1922–1949 |
O'Hara Mario | Filipino | Film | 1976–2012 |
Parks, Gordon | American | photography, film | 1937–2006 |
Pippin, Horace | American | painting | 1930–1946 |
Portinari, Candido | Brazilian | painting | 1928–1962 |
Prestopino, Gregorio | American | painting | 1930s–1984 |
Ray, Satyajit | Indian | film | 1947–1992 |
Reisz, Karel | British | film | 1955–1990 |
Richardson, Tony | British | film | 1955–1991 |
Rivera, Diego | Mexican | painting | 1922–1957 |
Rothstein, Arthur | American | photography | 1934–1985 |
Roy, Bimal | Indian | film | 1935–1966 |
Schlesinger, John | British | film | 1956–1991 |
Shahn, Ben | American | painting, illustration, graphic art, photography | 1932–1969 |
Siporin, Mitchell | American | painting | unknown–1976 |
Siqueiros, David Alfaro | Mexican | painting | 1932–1974 |
Siskind, Aaron | American | photography | 1930s–1991 |
Sloan, John French |
American | painting | 1890–1951 |
Soyer, Isaac | American | painting | 1930s–1981 |
Soyer, Moses | American | painting | 1926–1974 |
Soyer, Raphael | American | painting, illustration, printmaking | 1930–1987 |
Stackpole, Ralph | American | sculpture, painting | 1910–1973 |
Steichen, Edward | American | photography, painting | 1894–1973 |
Sternberg, Harry | American | painting, printmaking | 1926–2001 |
Tamayo, Rufino | Mexican | painting, illustration | 1917–1991 |
Toorop, Charley | Dutch | painting, lithography | 1916–1955 |
Ulmann, Doris | American | photography | 1918–1934 |
Walker, John Augustus | American | painting | 1926–1967 |
Williamson, James | British | film | 1901–1933 |
Wilson, John Woodrow | American | lithography, sculpture | 1945-2001 |
Wolcott, Marion Post | American | photography | 1930s–1944 |
Wong, Martin | American | painting | 1946–1999 |
Wood, Grant | American | painting | 1913–1942 |
İlhan, Attilâ[60] | Turkish | poetry | 1942-2005 |
See also
- American realism
- British New Wave
- Gabriel Bracho, exponent of the social realism artistic movement in Venezuela
- Italian neorealism
- Kitchen sink realism
- Naturalism
- Realism
- Film
References
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- ^ Social Realism defined at the MOMA
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- ^ "SOCIALIST REALISM". Tate. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
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- ^ 1850; Dresden, destroyed 1945
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{{cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires|journal=
(help) - ^ "The New Social Realism of American Cinema". Film School Rejects. 17 January 2018.
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- ^ "Jarmusch in Tucson". The Criterion Collection.
- ^ "Why Clerks Still Works". The Baffler. 6 December 2019.
- ^ Welch, Ara H. Merjian,Rhiannon Noel; Merjian, Ara H.; Welch, Rhiannon Noel (22 September 2020). "It's a Neorealist World".
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "Jim Jarmusch. Stranger Than Paradise. 1984 | MoMA". The Museum of Modern Art.
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- ^ Salvato, Larry. "15 Great American Movies Influenced by Italian Neo-Realism".
- ^ "UCR ARTS".
- ^ "Gregory Nava's film 'El Norte' marks 25th anniversary". Los Angeles Times. 28 January 2009.
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- ^ "About "Neo-Neo Realism"". The New Yorker. 19 March 2009.
- ^ "How Sean Baker Became America's Neorealist" – via CineFix on YouTube.
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- ^ American Neorealism Now|Current|The Criterion Collection
- ^ American Neorealism|Current|The Criterion Collection
- ^ The Trouble with Lupino - Comparative Cinema
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- Media related to Social realism at Wikimedia Commons