Introduction chapter the start of American realism

CHAPTER I. History of American realism
1.1 The start of American realism
Some examples of what can now be termed 'realism' could be seen in American literature from as early as the 1830s, such as in Augustus Baldwin Longstreet's Georgia Scenes (1835), which aimed to capture what Longstreet remembered from his time in Georgia authentically. However, the movement was popularised toward the end of the American Civil War in 1865, and lasted into the twentieth century.
The American Civil War was fought between the North and South of America between 1861 and 1865. It began over tensions over slavery.
The Civil War was devastating to America. It challenged people's sentimentalism and optimism, the driving forces behind the romantic movement. After the pain of war, romanticism felt fake, like it was offering a glimpse into an ideal world that didn't exist.
Industrialisation, increasing literacy rates and expanding populations were all contributing to a society that was always evolving. This led to an increased demand for literature that authentically dealt with the rapid cultural change occurring day to day in the United States. Authors, therefore, began to depict real people in real situations, reacting to the often challenging events happening in the world around them.
William Dean Howells (1837-1920) was the first author to be credited as wholly 'realist' and is considered the father of American realism. His work revolved around middle and upper-class life, and featured a truthfulness that brought close attention to societal problems.
Other early, influential American realists include Samuel Clemens (better known by his pen name, Mark Twain (1835-1910)), Henry James (1843-1916) and Stephen Crane (1871-1900). Mark Twain was famed for his realistic, colloquial dialogue that provided America with a new way to define its national voice.¹
The birth of Realism in art is often given a specific time and place - France, 1840 - from whence it spread (and transformed) as a pan-European response to the age of industrialization. It remains, however, an open-ended concept that has taken on a uniquely national bent when applied to American art. What might be generally agreed is that Realism is a tendency whereby the artist in question has either subverted, or overlooked altogether, Academy (or typical orthodox) standards in pursuit of a more "authentic", or "relevant", figurative art. Realist art typically responds to contemporary events and situations, sometimes as a form of social commentary or documentation. Not so much a movement, then, American Realism is a tendency that has traveled the timeline of American history since its birth as an independent country. Indeed, through its various manifestations, Realism has become an important instrument in shaping America's self-identity as a nation.²
By most art historians' accounts, John Singleton Copley holds the rank the greatest American painter of the eighteenth century. Known primarily for his portraits, he developed a realist style that captured his sitters, some of them the most important pioneers of the New World, in a naturalistic way and with very fine attention to small detail. Priding himself on his political neutrality, Copley brought a level of objectivity to portraiture that was wanting in even the best examples of his more austere European contemporaries.
In was an English émigré named Thomas Cole who instigated the rise of America's first school of landscapists. On the one hand, the Hudson River School was captivated by the majesty of the American landscape and its members bought into the European idea of the sublime power of nature. At the same time, the group, who took great national pride in the majesty of their own natural surroundings, began to record the dawning of the industrial age and America's ability to harness this "untamable" force. Overall what they achieved was a fine balance between the realms of realism and illusionism.
The loose-knit group of New Yorkers, known as The Ashcan School, delivered American art into the twentieth century by countering the soft palettes and flights of colorful splendor associated with the American Impressionists. The Ashcan School believed that an authentic American art could only be achieved through direct experience and by capturing the dynamics of city life on their canvases. Though they were apt to intensify the drama of their pictures through their preference for dark palettes and loose brushstrokes, theirs was a gritty and vital take on the realities of New York street-life at the beginning of the century.
The combined impact of Great Depression and the Dust Bowl crisis of the 1930s led to the development of national relief programs that included roles for artists and photographers in the worst-affected communities. In the Mid-Western Heartlands a style known as Regionalism emerged. Reviving the traditions of folk art, the Regionalists promoted archetypal American rural subjects that embodied the values of hard work, community, and austerity. The social project was mirrored in cities like New York where the Social Realists were producing figurative and realistic public murals of and for "the workers". The Social Realists insisted that their art be uses as a political "weapon" to be deployed against the perceived ills of American capitalism.
Following the intervention of Abstract Expressionism, American art renewed its interest in realism in the 1960s. The Photorealists, or Hyperrealists as they were also known, produced paintings that drew heavily on photography. With the photographic image projected onto the canvas, the Photorealists then produced precisely detailed paintings that they then made "hyperreal" by "touching up" with the veneer of an airbrush. Focusing mostly on machinery and objects of industry (cars, trucks, planes, vending machines and so on) and (specifically in the work of Audrey Flack) current news photography, the Photorealists offered a counter to the rise of Conceptualism and Minimalism. Edward Hopper, a careful, thoughtful, artist who would observe his scenes for hours before putting brush to canvas, created more than 800 paintings, watercolors and prints, as well as numerous drawings and illustrations. He depicted the realities of modern alienation through images of people whose faces were often so still they seem arrested by time. As art historian Avis Berman wrote: "Each canvas represented a long, morose gestation spent in solitary thought". Nighthawks has become one of the best known images of twentieth-century art. Inspired by a restaurant on New York's Greenwich Avenue where two streets meet, the image - with its carefully constructed composition and total lack of narrative - has a timeless, universal quality that transcends its particular locale. The large windows of the diner show four individuals, sitting together but alone at a countertop under fluorescent lighting. They are seemingly sat in silence, lost in thought at an unspecified time of night. If there is conversation, the viewer is not invited. Of Nighthawks Hopper said: "unconsciously, probably, I was painting the loneliness of a large city".³
This piece embodies the Americana that much of the Realist art of the time displayed; the coffee, the cigar advert, the cash register, the salt and pepper shaker and napkin holders all invite the viewer to share in their lived experience of the anonymous diners. It was signifiers such as these that prompted some critics to associate Hopper with the Ashcan School (although at that suggestion the artist himself baulked, "I've never painted an ash can in my life" he said). As art historian Dr Beth Harris said: "There is an implication that we are alone. It almost starts to feel frightening. But you can imagine light around it at another time of the day. It's now eerily silent. We just want to know - what are these figures doing here". This echoed the heightened feeling of alienation during wartime America. The cities emptied under the cloud of anxiety hanging over the nation.