Realism in art / by Sidney Finkelstein.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 182-186) and index.

1. Introduction -- 2. The Labor process and beauty -- 3. The emergence of the human subject - 4. Art, religion, and class struggles -- 5. Real life on its own terms -- 6. Art and the nation -- 7. Revolt and pseudo-revolt -- 8. Realism and democratic struggles in U.S. art.

"This book is a study of realism in the arts of painting and sculpture. It is necessary to raise the subject, because most people in the United States today have little belief that these arts can be of any importance to their lives. The reason is not that what is being done in these arts is too deep for them to understand. It is that the greatest part of the painting and sculpture being one today does not aim at giving the people any enlightening knowledge of themselves, their fellow human beings, and the land they live in. In other words, it is not realistic art...Works of art are produced by individual artists, but art itself is part of social life, and if painting and sculpture were not part of social life the production of individual paintings and sculptural works would have been impossible. Art itself is highly skilled labor, which does not aim at producing the immediate necessities of life such as food and shelter. But the very awareness of the artist of what he himself is, as well as what life is, depends upon the basic labor process which keeps society itself alive and changing. To find a clue to the nature of art and beauty we must first examine the labor process." -- Summorized from the introduction.

From the library of Karl and Elizabeth Niebyl.