ASPECTS OF CATALAN REALISM. (VOLUMES I AND II) (CATALONIA, SPAIN).
Item
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Title
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ASPECTS OF CATALAN REALISM. (VOLUMES I AND II) (CATALONIA, SPAIN).
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Identifier
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AAI8611359
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identifier
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8611359
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Creator
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LIPTON, JOAN.
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Contributor
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Linda Nochlin
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Date
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1986
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Fine Arts
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Abstract
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Mid-nineteenth century Catalan Realism is the region's first artistic movement that can be considered modern. It coincides with catalanismo: Catalonia's socio-political and economic self-identity and with the Renaixenca: Catalonia's cultural emergence in language, literature and the visual arts. It reflects the ethnic pride of the people, their accomplishments, their daily activities and their varied landscape.;The present study emphasizes the career of Ramon Mart(')i Alsina who introduced Realism into Catalan art, having rejected the timeless, idealized and often spiritualized figures and settings of traditional academicism and Nazarene Romanticism. Instead, he chose to represent the here and now and the matter of fact appearance of his specific time and place in directly observed, truthfully rendered canvases. A proud catalanista, Alsina visually described all aspects of his beloved region in the many genres that art offered: history, portraiture, peasants, landscape, seascape, cityscape, still-life and animal life. As the "Catalan Courbet," he was certainly aware of the advance made by the principal French Realist. Indeed, Alsina's best works--unidealized, unadorned and robust country folk and country life--readily conjure up his counterpart's works. He must have also known about the alternative realist styles of Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot and Jules Breton because a number of his campestral interpretations closely parallel theirs.;The early chapters of the dissertation trace the historical, literary and artistic background of Spain in general and Catalonia in particular, from the early nineteenth century to the onset of Realism. The subject of the final chapter is the continuation of Realism by the pupils and followers of Mart(')i Alsina. In his seven private studios and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Barcelona, he taught his innovative Realist methods to two generations of Catalan landscape painters who later helped to bring about modernismo, a vanguard art movement which was no longer regional but international in scope and reputation.;Although Catalan Realism has been treated at some length by native writers, it has been virtually ignored in American art historical discourse. The Catalan variety of the style is now added to the investigations that previously centered upon France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Art History
