About This Lesson
Use this tic-tac-toe game to explore the motivations and inspirations of American Realist painters.
While strains of Realism have long existed, it crystalized as an art movement in the shadow of the social and political revolutions that swept Europe in the mid-1800s. Realism took root in America as the United States experienced its own revolutions. As conflicts erupted on the Western frontier a horrific Civil War ravaged the East. Waves of immigration coupled with urbanization and industrialization saw the population shift from loose-knit agricultural communities to 12 major cities. Overcrowded housing, unsanitary conditions, and difficult working conditions followed. In the arts Romanticism’s optimistic lens and fantastic ideas gave way to a Realism that focused on common people and life’s realities.
These nine galleries exhibit the works of American Realist painters. Their genre paintings reflect the diversity in American life. Each gallery has four paintings, three by a Realist painter and one by another artist who shared an interest or style. Can you pick which painting is not like the others?
