Social realism facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
El Tres de Mayo, by Francisco de Goya, from Prado in Google Earth
Goya, The Third of May, 1808, (1814) Spain

Social realism is a style of art, fiction, movies and plays. It describes the daily life of workers and poor people. Social realist artists try to show people and their lives in a realistic way. This means that they often show things which are not beautiful or attractive. They may show people who are elderly, sick, sad, insane or have a disability. This does not mean that a Realist work of art or literature is ugly. It can be made beautiful by the way that the artist or writer creates it.

Social realism art does not belong to one period of history, but has been the style of some artists in different centuries and different countries. Caravaggio, who was a late Renaissance artist, painted "Realist" pictures. Several Spanish painters were "Realists": Velazquez, Esteban Murillo and Francisco de Goya. There were many realist painters in the 19th century, including Gustave Courbet in France and Luke Fildes in England.

Social Realism was popular in Russian art and literature. In the 20th century it became the main type of literature in the Soviet Union. It was also used by David Siqueiros to depict daily struggles of the people in his country, Mexico.

Gallery

Other pages

Images for kids

  • Grant Wood - American Gothic - Google Art Project

    Grant Wood's American Gothic, 1930, has become a widely known (and often parodied) icon of social realism.

  • Poster RegtoVote

    Ben Shahn, Register to Vote, Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) poster, 1946

  • Brodski lenin

    Lenin in Smolny, Isaak Brodsky, 1930.

  • Lange-MigrantMother02

    Dorothea Lange, Migrant Mother, 1936. A portrait of Florence Owens Thompson (1903-1983).

  • People-of-Chilmark-Benton-1920-lrg

    Thomas Hart Benton, People of Chilmark, 1920, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC.

  • Coit Mural Agriculture

    Maxine Albro, California (mural), 1934, Coit Tower, San Francisco

  • Floyd Burroughs sharecropper

    Walker Evans, Floyd Burroughs, Alabama cotton Sharecropper, Hale County, Alabama, c. 1935-1936, photograph

  • Allie Mae Burroughs print

    Walker Evans, Allie Mae Burroughs, Wife of a Cotton Sharecropper, Hale County, Alabama, c. 1935-1936, photograph

  • Farmer walking in dust storm Cimarron County Oklahoma2

    Arthur Rothstein, A Farmer and His Two Sons During a Dust Storm, Cimarron County, Oklahoma, 1936, photograph considered as an icon of the Dust Bowl

  • Palacio de Bellas Artes - Mural El Hombre in cruce de caminos Rivera 3

    Diego Rivera, Recreation of Man at the Crossroads (renamed Man, Controller of the Universe), originally created in 1934, Mexican muralism movement

  • SiqueirosMuralSanMiguel

    David Alfaro Siqueiros, Unfinished Mural, c. 1940s, in Escuela de Bellas Artes, (School of Fine Arts), a cultural center in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

mk:Социјалистички реализам


All content from Kiddle encyclopedia articles (including the article images and facts) can be freely used under Attribution-ShareAlike license, unless stated otherwise. Cite this article:
Social realism Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.