Visual Arts At The Turn Of The 20th Century

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Realism and Naturalism
In the same fashion, revolting against traditions and artistic values did not only concern literature. It spread to the visual arts as well. In this field, American Realism became the new direction for American visual arts at the turn of the 20th century. In fact, many artists after World War I adopted mainly numerous styles of Realism in addition to Naturalism in portraying urban and rural scenes in America. "The Ashcan School [for instance] was a movement within American Realism that came into prominence in New York City . . . and it is best known for works portraying scenes of daily life in New York's poorer neighborhoods." (“American Painting: The Ashcan School”) At this particular point, it is important to make a difference between Realism and Naturalism artistic styles first. …show more content…

In other words, Realist artists tend to illustrate real people not idealized types, going about their ordinary lives. They also focus on promoting social and political awareness. Those artists prefer principally painting scenes of rural and urban working class life, scenes of street-life, in addition to cafes and night clubs. However, the most interesting point is their interest in portraying showing nudity and sensual themes. This particular approach has shocked many of the arts' patrons of that time. On the other hand, Naturalism involves the representation of nature in addition to people. The naturalistic paintings have a tendency to resemble photographs because they involve some visual details in the