What is naturalism in art?

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The question "what is naturalism" is one of the most difficult in science, since quite often this direction is confused with realism in general and the art of photography in particular. Therefore, it is necessary to clearly imagine the differences between these two currents and clearly distinguish between them, because the understanding of the features of the development of culture in the second half of the 19th century depends on this. First of all, one should remember the circumstances and prerequisites for the emergence of new ideas about the tasks of an artist, writer and director.

Appearance conditions

Understanding what naturalism is is impossible without taking into account the social situation of the second half of this century. During the period under review, fundamental changes took place in science, which greatly influenced the creative intelligentsia of Europe and America. At that time, the dominant trend was positivism, which involved the study of nature and society not on the basis of abstract mental constructions, but with the help of concrete facts. Therefore, many scientists abandoned theoretical studies and moved on to a detailed analysis of specific phenomena. This principle was quickly picked up by a number of cultural figures, in particular, the famous writer E. Zola actively developed it in his works. According to the new concept, the artist from now onhad to depict reality as it is, without embellishment and conventions, following the rules of pure, positive, experimental science.

Theme

The study of the problem "What is naturalism" should be continued with an analysis of new ideas that representatives of the new direction began to pursue. They began to describe and explain the psychology and character of a person by the peculiarities of his physiology, race, as well as the external conditions of existence. Disclosure of the spiritual world of the individual, its complex contradictory nature, moral quest has ceased to interest the adherents of the new trend. They were much more interested in human pathologies, social conflicts, rough struggle for survival. For some time, these ideas occupied a leading place in painting and literature. A hallmark of naturalism is life satisfaction and unwillingness to change anything. If romanticism is looking for a solution to problems in flight from reality, realism offers more or less concrete measures to improve human society, then the new genre stops at what it depicts, what is its shortcoming. Nevertheless, naturalist authors hold the idea that, for all its imperfections, the world is still more or less stable, and therefore everything in it deserves attention, even the most unsightly details.

Features

To better understand what naturalism is, you need to remember the conditions of the time in which it arose. Romanticism and realism no longer interested the creative intelligentsia, who were looking for new forms of expression of their thoughts. Revolutionssocial upheavals, wars, distinguished by particular cruelty, which marked the second half of the 19th century, could not but affect the spiritual life of society. Representatives of the new movement abandoned all conventions, often began to depict rough scenes from life. A characteristic feature of the direction was the de-aestheticization of art. Artists and writers described and reproduced the negative aspects of human existence, believing that in this way they demonstrate objective reality. Unfortunately, this trend often led to the appearance of works that are difficult to attribute to the realm of art, as they were particularly rude and ugly in plot and form. Great importance was attached to the image of man in the material world. Artists paid attention to his appearance, and writers paid attention to his physiology and instincts.

Ideological basis

A new trend in art and culture did not arise from scratch. He had his own philosophy, which inspired his supporters. It is indicative that its first manifestations date back to ancient times, when some thinkers explained all the phenomena of reality, including the very personality of a person, by the nature surrounding him (Epicurus, representatives of Stoicism). In modern times, this ideology was developed in the work of a number of philosophers and authors of educational literature. They pointed out that the essence of naturalism is reduced to the derivation of everything that happens from the concrete facts of nature. Some authors even tried to view ethical concepts through the prism of human struggle forExistence. These thinkers paid attention to natural instincts, people's struggle for survival.

In prose

Naturalism in literature puts the human character as an object of depiction in connection with the description of everyday and material conditions of existence. Writers were inclined to explain the behavior of a person by heredity and physiological characteristics. A distinctive feature of the work of a number of authors was the imitation of scientific methods, which, unfortunately, led to the impoverishment of artistic means and opportunities. Another drawback of this genre was the lack of ideology and a critical attitude to any kind of ideologies in any manifestations, which, as you know, was the backbone of romanticism and realism.

Naturalism in literature is associated primarily with the name of the French author Zola. The main theme of his work was the image of the disordered petty-bourgeois life. He focused on the everyday side of the existence of his characters. However, despite the apparent rudeness of images and plots, his works have their own philosophy, which distinguishes this writer from his colleagues.

Examples in literature

Representatives of naturalism have made a significant contribution to the development of world literature. Guy de Maupassant was the most prominent representative of this movement. He was a master of short prose and the creator of a whole cycle of well-known short stories. It is indicative that this writer rejected pure naturalism, but at the same time he himself sought to achieve almost documentary accuracy in depicting events. Heabandoned the analysis of human psychology and limited himself to listing facts from the lives of heroes. At the same time, he was extremely receptive to everything around him, which was reflected in his works, due to which the latter gained pan-European fame.

In painting

In the 1870s, naturalism took shape in the visual arts. The photo became, as it were, some kind of model for artists who sought the most reliable picture. At the same time, they tried to abstract as much as possible from the depicted subject, tried to avoid conveying emotions, which, of course, did not always work out. Landscape and portrait painters tried to convey this or that phenomenon to the viewer as objectively as possible without embellishment and aesthetic conventions. One of the prominent representatives of the new direction of painting was the French artist E. Manet.

He is considered to be the founder of impressionism, which quickly supplanted the trend in culture under consideration, but he began by reproducing the depicted object with photographic accuracy. One of his most famous paintings, which depicts a bar worker, is striking in its specificity and detail.

That was exactly what naturalism was aiming for. The photo has become a real standard of work for his adherents.

Other Representatives

One of the shortcomings of the direction under consideration was the lack of artistic and ideological generalizations. The plots were not subjected to philosophical reflection, as well as criticalevaluation and processing, which was characteristic of realism. However, the new trend had a number of advantages: reliable reproduction of reality, accurate transmission of details and details.

In addition to the specified artist, E. Degas worked in this style. His paintings are imbued with simplicity and harmony, which distinguishes the author's canvases from the works of those who preferred to depict rough scenes from a simple life. Degas preferred to work in pastel, which markedly stood out among his contemporaries. The features of naturalism were especially pronounced in the work of A. Lautrec.

His advertising posters and paintings are somewhat eccentric and even defiant for their time.

In the cinema

19th century naturalism influenced film making. Already the first directors of the newly born cinematography began to apply its techniques in their practice. One of the first such films was the adaptation of Zola's novel "The Beast Man". In modern films, you can often find elements of this style, especially in action films and horror films. An example is the movie "Fight Club", in which there are a lot of scenes of violence and cruelty. Recent premieres show that directors are still interested in this direction.

For example, the recently released war film "Hacksaw Ridge", replete with violent scenes. Thus, the trend under consideration had a strong influence onworld cinema.

Comparison with the previous direction

The question of what is the essence of the difference between naturalism and realism, as a rule, causes serious difficulties for schoolchildren, since both movements at first glance have much in common. Their goal is to reproduce the phenomena of life with objective reliability and accuracy. Adherents of the directions sought to give a true picture of the surrounding reality, but they achieved their goal in different ways. Realists looked for typical features in the depicted object, which they comprehended, generalized and represented in individual images. Naturalists, on the other hand, initially set themselves the goal of copying the observed phenomenon and deliberately abandoned philosophy. Perhaps this is the fundamental difference between naturalism and realism.

Differences in themes

Both directions strive for the veracity of the reproduction of the phenomena of social reality. In this respect, they can be contrasted with romanticism, which, on the contrary, takes the reader into a beautiful world of dreams and fantasy. However, adherents of both currents in culture saw this very reality in different ways. Realists, when depicting everyday life, focused on the spiritual world of a person, they were interested in the struggle of the individual with the petty-bourgeois life. They focused on how people preserved their spirituality in difficult conditions. Naturalists, by contrast, were exclusively interested in the physiology and social conditions that, in their opinion, determined the existence of man. In connection with these differences, realism and naturalism use different artistic and visual means. Those who were adherents of the first trend used many techniques to recreate the object of interest to them, while the representatives of the new direction limited themselves in terms of language, avoiding metaphors, epithets, because they believed that they distract readers from specific facts.

New Traits

When it comes to what critical naturalism is, the analogy with realism usually comes to mind. This direction not only sought to accurately depict reality, but also to criticize its shortcomings. The authors often raised acute social issues, touched on topical issues of our time. At the same time, they often ridiculed the vices of society, using satire techniques for this. The same can be said about naturalism. However, if realist writers tried to comprehend the causes of socio-economic problems and even offered solutions, then the authors, who limited themselves only to listing the shortcomings of the depicted subject, simply stated specific facts, which, of course, was not always enough for a complete and objective depiction of a particular plot.. It should be remembered that naturalism is a direction that does not pretend to philosophical reflections and generalizations. He only reproduces the object of interest to him with photographic, almost documentary accuracy. Perhaps that is why this direction is one of the most controversial in culture, which did not last too long.

In domestic art

Romanticism and realism have gone through the same stages of development in our country. Naturalism,on the contrary, it has not received much distribution in Russia. Some authors explain this by the peculiarities of Russian culture and mentality, pointing to patriarchy and a high degree of spirituality. Nevertheless, some features of the trend under consideration are still reflected in a number of works of literature and some films. So, the books of the writer D. N. Mamin-Sibiryak were written under the clear influence of this style. The author depicted the life of the population of the Urals, describing how the post-reform period led to a change in public consciousness, breaking the usual foundations and morality.

Another prose writer - P. D. Bobrykin - was an obvious imitator of Zola's work. In one of his most famous works, he reproduced the details of the merchant's life, the life of the nobles, almost with scientific accuracy, and described their housing. In Soviet times, naturalism was seen as the opposite of realism, so many critics had a negative attitude towards the techniques and methods of its representatives. In their opinion, the authors focused on the dark sides of human existence, while Soviet propaganda cultivated the idea of constructive activity of people in building communism.

But, despite the negative attitude towards naturalism, the direction in question was reflected in Soviet cinema. For example, the epic painting by A. Konchalovsky "Siberiad" was shot under the strong influence of naturalism. This tape has received recognition in the West. In this picture, the director showed the not very attractive side of people's lives in a distant remote Siberian village at the turn of the era.

Meaning

Naturalism in art played a big role in the development of culture in the second half of the 19th - early 20th century. The desire of writers and artists to move away from some formal conventions and rules, combined with an active search for new forms of expression of ideas and the desire to reproduce the phenomena of the surrounding reality as accurately as possible, led to new original solutions in the artistic word and means of representation. Some representatives of the movement still retained some philosophy in their works, which, combined with a convincing description of the life of ordinary people, allowed them to create memorable works in literature, painting and cinema.