Magic Realism: Post-Expressionists' Return to Realism
Magic Realism – The Concept
In the art genre Magic Realism, actual scenarios are interwoven with fascinating and dreamy elements in sharp details, all blended in a 'Realist' flavor. The fictitious fragments are often derived from myth or fairy tales associated with an artist's culture. Such works reveal the sophisticated fantasy world, a painter perceives outside the objective mainstream of a common person. In effect, Magic Realism is a tool to explore the miraculous world from the respective artist's view.
The History
Franz Roh (1890-1965) a German historian, photographer, and art critic first used the term 'Magic Realism' in 1925 in his book 'After Expressionism: Magic Realism: Problems of the newest European paintings.' Through this Roh aimed an art style 'New Objectivity' to describe an emerging Post-Expressionist form in the Western Art. It tried emphasizing the 'magic,' everyday objects carry in the form of their strange appearances. During 1940-50, Magic Realism hinted at the fantastic artworks of the American Post-Expressionists. However, the term soon got associated with the 'metafictional' work of writers, such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Columbia, 1927), Gunter Grass (Germany, 1927), and John Fowles (England, 1926-2005). Thereafter, apart from art this term is also employed for literature and films, amalgamating reality and fantasy.
The Artworks
- 'The Door' (1941), 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' (1944), 'Portrait of Mary Block' (1957), and 'The Window' (1963) by Ivan Albright (America, 1897-1983)
- 'The Fleet's In!' (1934), 'Herrin Massacre' (1940), 'The Seven Deadly Sins' (1949), and 'Male Nude' (1966) by Paul Cadmus (America, 1904-1999)
- 'Subway' (1950), 'Government Bureau' (1956), and 'Lunch' (1964) by George Tooker (America, 1920)
- 'Richmond Bridge' (1948), 'Boy with a Donkey' (1948), and 'Portrait with a Rose' (1955) by Bettina Shaw-Lawrence (England, 1921)
- 'The Story of Richmond Hill' (1937) and 'Cotton from Field to Mill' (1938) by Philip Evergood (America, 1901-1973)
- 'Christina's World' (1948), 'In the Orchard' (1974), and 'Gone' (2002) by Andrew Wyeth (America, 1917-2009)
- 'Iconography of Myths and Legends of Chile' (2002) by Marcela Donoso (America, 1961)
- 'Car' (1973) and 'Self-Portrait' (1979) by Gregory Gillespie (America, 1936-2000)
Conclusion
Even in the Contemporary Art scene, the term 'Magic Realism' encompasses both, 'magic in everyday reality' and 'fantasy overtones in the real world.' Many artists continue to derive inspiration from Roh's ideals of faithfully rendering reality to reveal the inherent magic in ordinary objects. Another close genre of artists creates overly fantastic work quite similar to the Latin American literary Magic Realism. Exploited optimally in literature in Visual Arts, the Magic Realist depictions are ironically hardcore routine and real! Bordering on the line of Post-Expressionism and often even used interchangeably, Magic Realism has been a 'mundane' art frontier. The 'regular' and 'provided' themes are covered with an approach to explore the obvious intrinsically. The contradictory definitions of the art style however has debased the term over the years.
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