New genres in literature gave the public a taste for different forms of narrative. Here’s a short account of the response in ‘problem pictures’ from Hunt to Collier.
Krohg
Besieged with inquiries from people who couldn’t sleep, Yeames judged a contest to explain his painting. It was clear that even he didn’t know the answer.
Fine naturalist paintings from this Spanish master, showing the hard lives of fishermen, a young woman arrested for killing her child, religious ceremony, and prostitution.
Views from a balcony, notably developed by Gustave Caillebotte in 1880, but continued in paintings by Lovis Corinth, and Pierre Bonnard.
Religious works, including two Nativities and a fine painting of Joseph and Mary walking to Bethlehem, Naturalist and Impressionist styles too.
A lot changed in painting in the 1890s. Within just a few years, Naturalism went from being all the rage to old hat. These paintings show how.
Naturalist painting both supported the State, and attacked it – sometimes so much that works had to be suppressed. The real history of art at the end of the 19th century.
From Dante Gabriel Rossetti, through Lovis Corinth, to Alphonse Mucha and Christian Krohg – modern masterpieces.
Unlike Impressionism, which spread relatively slowly, Naturalism was prominent in the Salon, so spread across Europe and North America like wildfire.
The very large Paris Salon of 1883 introduced the public and critics to a new and growing movement in painting. It wasn’t Impressionism or Post-Impressionism, though.
