Naturalism: what it is, characteristics and representatives of the movement

Naturalism it is a literary, artistic and philosophical current that takes place at the end of the 19th century.

Naturalism is often seen as a more extreme bias of realism, its contemporary. However, although they have common features that came to overshadow idealism and romantic subjectivism, naturalism abandons the desire for denunciation promulgated by the realists.

Émile Zola, French writer, considered the greatest exponent and theoretician of naturalism, defined it “no only as a literary movement, but as a new way of conceiving man and studying his behaviour". To do this, the author must free himself from emotions and focus on the study of behaviors closely linked to the scientific method.

Let us know, next, the features and the main managers of this movement in literature and painting.

Scientific and Philosophical Bases of Naturalism

Naturalism finds the basis in some scientific and philosophical theories that would be reflected in the author's way of doing as well as in the result, his own work. Among them are:

Determinism

This philosophy explains that human behavior is predetermined by a series of social circumstances and even by biological inheritance.

In naturalistic works, the protagonists are marked by the social context and their own nature.

Experimental science

Naturalists understand the scientific method as the only system capable of achieving knowledge. So they stick to the principles of observation, objectivity, and precision, which they use as tools to do their job.

That is, the author could be equated to a scientist who uses the method to obtain new knowledge through observation and experimentation.

Materialism

This philosophy considers only matter and denies the spiritual part of the individual. In this sense, spirit would be a consequence of matter. In this way he opposes romantic idealism.

Naturalism in literature

Naturalism was born in France and later spread to different European countries and even outside the continent. Also, naturalism arises parallel to realism. But what are its peculiarities?

Characteristics of naturalism

Pretension of impartiality

Naturalistic authors put objectivity before subjectivity, predominant in romantic writers.

For naturalists his works serve to portray the calamities of individuals. They are a photograph of matters such as corruption, alcoholism or disease. Ultimately, these are stories that lack individual hope.

Although Realism already started from observing and reflecting reality in a reliable way. Naturalism takes a more extreme step and tries to photograph human misery. For this, the authors try to reproduce the reality that they find before their eyes with the maximum detail. It is, therefore, about presenting reality as it is, both the most pleasant and the hardest.

Detailed description of environments

If the authors reflect the cruellest side of society through individuals living in miserable situations, they also attach importance to the description of environments. These are, for the most part, sordid and deplorable environments. For this, the writers attached great importance to the detailed description in their works.

Observation taken to the extreme

The observation was also of great importance to the royalists. But, naturalistic authors take it to the limit and contemplate with disgust the reality of their time. They do so by showing a decomposed society and, at times, they show traditional institutions.

Marginal social classes as a focus

Naturalistic authors focus on the most disadvantaged or marginalized classes to try to give a materialistic explanation for the origin of social problems. Unlike the realists who criticize the bourgeois class.

For the bourgeoisie, naturalistic works became a more elusive option, compared to realistic creations that denounced their own social class.

Lack of lyricism

Naturalists do not seek the beauty of language, it is a careless style. Rather, his technique is intended to be a reproduction of popular jargon.

Authors of naturalism

Émile Zola is considered the forerunner of the current in literature. However, different authors followed in her footsteps throughout the world geography. These are some of the most significant representatives of this literary movement:

Émile Zola (France)

He is considered the greatest exponent of French naturalism. Her works greatly influenced the twentieth century novel. Although he started out with poetry and later wrote small serialized creations, he ultimately opted exclusively for the novel. Zola's style is truly meticulous and full of verismo. Among his works are: Les Rougon-Macquart (1871-1893) Thérèse Raquin (1867), Naná (1880) and Germinal (1885).

Guy Maupassant (France)

He is one of the representatives of the naturalistic school, with great influence from Gustave Flaubert, his greatest mentor. In his short life, he found in the short story the most precise genre to develop his literary career. He went on to write more than a hundred stories, although he also inquired into the novel. Among his works are: Tallow ball (1880) or A life (1883).

Thomas Hardy (Great Britain)

English writer and poet. He is one of the greatest representatives of British naturalism. He first devoted himself to architecture, a discipline that he later left to dedicate himself to writing. His early novels are romantically inspired. Afterwards, they are pessimistic and existentialist in nature, strongly influenced by determinism. Among his creations are: Tess D´Urbevilles (1891), Jude the Dark (1895) and The return of the native (1898).

Emilia Pardo Bazán (Spain)

Relating to the aristocracy, Emilia Pardo Bazán was an intellectual woman in her time and she received a thorough education and literary culture. She wrote unusual works for her social position, including, The rostrum (1882), a novel about the proletariat. In addition to his literary creation, he also highlights The pazos de Ulloa (1886), one of his best novels, later published Mother Nature (1887).

Emilia Pardo Bazán also identified with Realism and Symbolism in some of his works.

Vicente Blasco Ibáñez (Spain)

He is the highest representative of Spanish naturalism. From a young age he was strongly influenced by the French Balzac and Zola. For some years he devoted himself to literature and politics in parallel. Later he left politics and dedicated himself to writing. Among his most outstanding novels is Rice and tartana (1894), The barrack (1898), Reeds and mud (1902) and The four horsemen of the apocalypse (1916).

Theodore Dreiser (United States)

Representative of American naturalism. Theodore Dreiser was a novelist and journalist born into a lower-class family. In his novels the characters are usually mired in poverty or marginal situations, from which they try to flee. Dreiser was critical of the so-called "American dream." Among his works are: Jennie gerhardt (1912), The financial (1913), The Titan (1914) and An american tragedy (1925).

Frank Norris (United States)

He is one of the greatest exponents of American naturalism. Frank Norris had the opportunity to spend a season in Paris, this fact makes him very close and influenced by the work of Zola. He was one of the authors who introduced the naturalistic current in the United States. His most outstanding works were: McTeague (1899), The Octopus: A California Story (1901) and The Pit (1903).

Eugenio Cambaceres (Argentina)

He was an Argentine writer and politician, calling himself a naturalist. One of his best known works was In the blood (1889), in it he condemns luxury and shows that personality is conditioned by genetic inheritance.

Federico Gamboa (Mexico)

Mexican writer and diplomat and one of the greatest exponents of the naturalistic trend in his native country. This is reflected, especially, in novels like Santa (1903). In it the author portrays, from his own personal experience, the life of the Mexican capital, through the eyes of a young peasant woman.

Naturalism in painting

The plastic arts, specifically painting, were strongly influenced by contemporary literature. In this sense, the painters tried to replicate reality as naturally as possible, excluding any type of moral judgment.

Characteristics

Lack of moral judgment

Naturalist painters do not pretend to criticize or denounce through their works. Rather, for them the most important thing is to show reality in an objective way, naturally and without any kind of judgment. That is, it is not about reporting, but about showing regardless of whether what is exposed is more or less cruel.

Importance of details

Naturalists try to show reality without distortion, that is, they want to avoid any kind of interpretation to achieve maximum authenticity. Therefore, in their attempt to replicate reality, they give special importance to details.

Predilection for natural spaces

Naturalist painters, on many occasions, chose scenarios related to nature as the motive for their works.

Representatives

Jean - François Millet (France)

French realist painter who, however, made his way among the naturalists. Millet opposed the critical perspective of pictorial realism. One of his most representative works of naturalism is The Angelus.

Maria Bashkirtseff (Ukraine)

She was a painter and sculptor born on the Gavrontsy estate (Russian Empire) although she spent most of her life in France. In his creations, the artist bets on urban scenes, paying attention to details.

John James Audubon (France)

John James was a French ornithologist and naturalist painter, with American nationality. He dedicated himself to painting and documenting all kinds of American birds in detail. His creation The Birds of America (1827-1839) is an important ornithological work with a great variety of illustrations of different North American birds.

Marianne North (UK)

English painter and naturalist whose work is not only valued artistically but also scientifically. Among his artistic creation, his paintings of plants and landscapes stand out. Marianne North traveled through different countries portraying native plant species of each place. Among them, California, Japan or Spain.

Alfred Parsons (UK)

Representative of English pictorial naturalism. His works include landscape painting and his illustrations of plants. Parallel to her artistic creation, she designed different gardens in her country and in the United States.

Richard Friese (Germany)

He was a German painter whose creation focuses on landscapes and animals, becoming one of the most brilliant animal painters in his country. Among his works stand out The Tiger.

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