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 understand the differences between these two trends and to clearly distinguish between them, because understanding the characteristics of the development of culture of 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 the artist, writer and director.
Appearance conditions
Understanding what naturalism is is impossible without taking into account the social situation of the second half of the century. At the time under review, fundamental changes took place in science, which greatly influenced the creative intelligentsia of Europe and America. At this time, the dominant direction was positivism, which involved the study of nature and society, not on the basis of abstract mental constructions, but using specific facts. Therefore, many scientists abandoned theoretical research and proceeded 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, from now on the artist should 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 a new direction began to pursue. They began to describe and explain the psychology and character of a person by the characteristics of his physiology, race, and also the external conditions of existence. Disclosure of the spiritual world of the individual, his 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, a brutal struggle for survival. For some time, these ideas took a leading place in painting and literature. A distinctive feature of naturalism is satisfaction with life and unwillingness to change anything. If romanticism seeks a solution to problems in flight from reality, realism offers more or less specific measures to improve human society, then the new genre dwells on what portrays what its lack is. Nevertheless, naturalist authors have the idea that, with all its imperfections, the world is nevertheless 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 were no longer interested in the creative intelligentsia, which was looking for new forms of expression of their thoughts. Revolutions, social upheavals, wars, which were especially brutal, which marked the second half of the 19th century, could not but affect the spiritual life of society. Representatives of the new trend abandoned all conventions, often began to depict rude scenes from life. A characteristic feature of the direction was the de-esthetization 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 tendency often led to the appearance of works that are difficult to attribute to the sphere of art, since they were distinguished by special rudeness and ugliness of the plot and forms. Great importance was attached to the image of man in the material world. Artists paid attention to its external appearance, and writers - to 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 of the fact that its first manifestations date back to ancient times, when some thinkers explained all phenomena of reality, including the very personality of man, his nature (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 boils down to deducing everything that happens from concrete facts of nature. Some authors even tried to consider ethical concepts through the prism of human struggle for existence. These thinkers paid attention to natural instincts, the struggle of people for survival.
In prose
Naturalism in the literature sets the image of the human character as an object in connection with the description of everyday and material conditions of existence. Writers were inclined to explain the behavior of an individual by his 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 possibilities. Another drawback of this genre was the lack of ideology and a critical attitude to any kind of ideology in any manifestations, which, as you know, was the backbone of romanticism and realism.
Naturalism in literature is primarily associated with the name of the French author Zola. The main theme of his work was the image of a disordered petty bourgeois life. He focused on the everyday side of the existence of his heroes. However, in his works, despite the apparent rudeness of the images and plots, there is a philosophy of his own that sets this writer apart from his colleagues.
Examples in the literature
Representatives of naturalism made a significant contribution to the development of world literature. Guy de Maupassant was a prominent representative of this movement. He was a master of short prose and the creator of a whole series of famous short stories. It is significant that this writer rejected pure naturalism, but at the same time he sought to achieve almost documentary accuracy in the depiction of events. He refused to analyze human psychology and limited himself to only listing facts from the lives of heroes. At the same time, he was extremely susceptible to everything around him, which was reflected in his works, due to which the latter gained pan-European fame.
In painting
In 1870, naturalism took shape in the visual arts. The photo became, as it were, some 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 the transfer of emotions, which, of course, did not always work out. Landscape painters and portrait painters tried to objectively convey this or that phenomenon to the viewer without embellishment and aesthetic conventions. One of the prominent representatives of painting in a new direction was the French artist E. Manet.
He is considered to be the ancestor of impressionism, which quickly supplanted the considered direction in culture, 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.
This was exactly what naturalism was striving for. Photo has become for his adherents a real benchmark for work.
Other representatives
One of the shortcomings of the considered direction was the lack of artistic and ideological generalizations. The plots were not subjected to philosophical reflection, as well as to critical assessment and processing, which was characteristic of realism. However, the new trend had a number of advantages: reliable reproduction of reality, accurate transfer of details and details.
In addition to the indicated 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 crude scenes from simple life. Degas preferred to work as a pastel, which markedly stood out among his contemporaries. The features of naturalism were especially pronounced in the work of A. Lautrec.
His posters and paintings are characterized by a certain eccentricity and even liberty provocative for its time.
In the cinema
19th-century naturalism influenced the making of films. Already the first directors of only the emerging cinema began to apply its techniques in their practice. One of the first such films was the film adaptation of Zola’s novel "The Beast Man." In modern films, you can quite 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 military film "For Conscience," teeming with cruel scenes. So, the current in question has greatly influenced world cinema.
Comparison with the previous direction
The question of what the difference between naturalism and realism is, as a rule, causes serious difficulties for schoolchildren, since both trends at first glance have much in common. Their goal is to reproduce the phenomena of life with objective certainty and accuracy. Adherents of trends sought to give a true picture of the surrounding reality, but 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 out to copy the observed phenomenon and intentionally abandoned philosophy. Perhaps this is precisely the fundamental difference between naturalism and realism.
Subject Differences
Both directions achieve the veracity of reproduction of the phenomena of social reality. In this regard, they can be contrasted with romanticism, which, on the contrary, takes the reader into the beautiful world of dreams and fantasies. However, adherents of both trends in culture saw this reality in different ways. When depicting everyday life, realists emphasized the spiritual world of man, they were interested in the struggle of the individual with the philistine life. They focused on how people in difficult conditions maintained their spirituality. Naturalists, on the contrary, were exclusively interested in physiology and social conditions, which, 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 movement used many tricks to recreate the object of interest to them, while representatives of the new direction themselves limited themselves linguistically, avoiding metaphors and epithets, because they believed that they distract readers from specific facts.
New features
When it comes to what critical naturalism is, an analogy with realism usually comes to mind. This trend not only sought to faithfully depict reality, but also to criticize its shortcomings. Authors often raised acute social issues and touched on pressing topics of our time. At the same time, they often ridiculed the vices of society, using satire techniques for this. The same can be said of naturalism. However, if realist writers tried to comprehend the causes of socio-economic problems and even proposed solutions, then authors who limited themselves to listing the shortcomings of the depicted subject simply stated concrete facts, which, of course, were not always enough for a complete and objective depiction of a plot . It should be remembered that naturalism is a direction that does not pretend to philosophical reflection and generalization. He reproduces the object of interest only with photographic, almost documentary accuracy. Perhaps that is why this area is one of the most controversial in the culture, which did not last too long.
In domestic art
In our country, the same stages of development of romanticism and realism have passed . Naturalism, on the other hand, was not widely spread 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 current 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 time led to a change in public consciousness, breaking the usual foundations and morality.
Another prose writer, P.D. Bobrykin, was a clear imitator of Zola's work. In one of his most famous works, he almost with scientific accuracy reproduced the details of the merchant's life, the life of the nobles, described their housing. In Soviet times, naturalism was seen as the opposite of realism, so many critics were negative about 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 the construction of communism.
But, despite the negative attitude to naturalism, the direction in question was reflected in Soviet cinema. For example, the epic painting by A. Konchalovsky “Sibiriada” was shot under the strong influence of naturalism. This tape has received recognition in the West. In this picture, the director showed not very attractive aspects of people's lives in a distant, remote Siberian village at the turn of the era.
Value
Naturalism in art played a large role in the development of culture in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The desire of writers and artists to move away from some formal conventions and rules, coupled with an active search for new forms of expression of ideas and the desire to accurately reproduce the phenomena of surrounding reality, has led to new original solutions in the word of art and means of depiction. Some representatives of the trend 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.