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Realism is an approach to cultural production that argues for an art, including writing, that is formed from, and in the image of, life. Realist art attempts to depict social or physical reality rather than subjective or idealised visions.

"Socialist Realism" was adopted by the first All Union Congress of Soviet Writers (17 August-1 September 1934). It was based on the principle that the arts should glorify political and social ideals of communism. In 1934, Pravda defined socialist realism thus:
"Socialist realism, the basic method of Soviet artistic literature and literary criticism, demands truthfulness ('pravdivost') from the artist and an historically concrete portrayal of reality in its revolutionary development. Under these conditions, truthfulness and historical concreteness of artistic portrayal ought to be combined with the task of the ideological remaking and education of laboring people in the spirit of socialism."

In the mid-twentieth century the socialist realist line influenced some conceptions of the radical potential of art in Australia. There has also been a debate over the merits of a more broadly conceived realism set against other types of modernism, such as surrealism.

Resources

Books

• Mortier, Paul, Art: its origins and social function, Current Book Distributors, Sydney, 1955. Image PDF Details
• New Theatre Melbourne, 50 Years of New Theatre. Melbourne N.T. 1936-86, Melbourne, 1986, 54 pp. PDF Details

Book Sections

• Lindsay, Jack, 'Towards a Marxist aesthetic', in Decay and Renewal: critical essays on twentieth century writing, Wild & Woolley and Lawrence & Wishart, Sydney and London, 1976, pp. 422-47. Details
• Smith, Bernard, 'Epilogue', in Bernard Smith (ed.), Noel Counihan: artsist and revolutionary, 1993 edn, Oxford University Press, Melbourne & New York, pp. 539-46. Details
• Smith, Bernard, 'Years of hope', in Noel Counihan: artsist and revolutionary, 1993 edn, Oxford University Press, Melbourne & New York, pp. 198-225. Details
• Smith, Bernard, 'The realisms of war', in Noel Counihan: artist and revolutionary, 1993 edn, Oxford University Press, Melbourne & New York, pp. 180-97. Details
• Smith, Bernard, 'Noel Counihan 1945', in The critic as advocate selected essays, 1948-1988, 1989 edn, Oxford University Press Australia, Melbourne, 1989, pp. 55-7. Image Details
• Smith, Bernard, 'The new realism in Australian art', in The critic as advocate: selected essays 1941-1988, Oxford University Press Australia, Melbourne, 1989, pp. 35-41. Details
• Smith, Bernard, 'The studio of realist art', in The critic as advocate: selected essays 1941-1988, Oxford University Press Australia, Melbourne, 1989, pp. 42-3. Details

Fliers

• The Realist Writers' Group and the Arts Council of Australia invite all teachers and students all lovers of Australian literature to leading Australian novelists Katharine Susannah Prichard and Flora Eldershaw, Melbourne. PDF Details

Journal Articles

• 'The new realism', Proletariat (Melbourne), vol. 1, no. 1, April 1932. Image PDF Details
• Diamond, D, 'Art and the struggle', Communist Review, November, Central Committee Communist Party of Australia, Sydney, 1943, pp. 151-3. Image PDF Details
• Editorial Board, 'Down at the old bull and bush', Realist Writer (Melbourne), no. 10, 1962, pp. 3-5. PDF Details
• Miles, J.B, 'Art for the people', Communist Review, August, Central Committee Communist Party of Australia, Sydney, 1948, pp. 260-1. Image PDF Details
• Morrison, John, 'What shall we do about the Australian tradition', The Realist (Melbourne), no. 15, 1964, pp. 24-26. PDF Details
• O'Connor, V.G, 'Art and Fascism', Australian new writing, vol. 2, Current Book Distributors, Sydney, March 1944, pp. 47-52. PDF Details
• Prichard, Katharine Susannah, 'Anti-Capitalist core of Australian literature', Communist Review, August, 1943, pp. 106-7. Transcript HTML Transcript PDF Details
• Prichard, Katharine Susannah, 'Hoax renders service to literature', Communist Review, March, 1945, pp. 457-7. Image PDF Details
• Prichard, Katharine Susannah, 'Some thoughts on Australian Literature', The Realist, no. 15, 1964, p. 11. PDF Details
• Reed, John, 'Take the people to art', Australian new writing, vol. 2, Current Book Distributors, Sydney, March 1944, pp. 43-6. PDF Details
• Shaw, R. M, 'The artist in our society', Communist Review, August, Central Committee Communist Party of Australia, Sydney, 1948, pp. 258-9. Image PDF Details
• Watson, Kathleen, 'Art and the individual', Communist Review, March, Central Committee Communist Party of Australia, Sydney, 1944, p. 223. Image PDF Details

See also

• 'Editorial', Proletariat, vol. 1, no. 2, Melbourne University Labor Club, Melbourne, July 1932. Image PDF Details
• 'Foreword', Australian new writing, vol. 1, Current Book Distributors, Sydney, March 1943, pp. 4-6. PDF Details
• 'A general demand for art', Overland, Overland, Melbourne, March 1959, pp. 19-20. PDF Details
• 'H.M', 'A further reply to John Reed's views', Communist Review, July, Central Committee Communist Party of Australia, Sydney, 1944, pp. 285-6. PDF Details
• Mortimer, Paul, 'Artists and the class struggle', Communist Review, February, Central Committee Communist Party of Australia, Sydney, 1948, pp. 59-60. Image PDF Details
• O'Connor, Vic, 'A criticism of Adelaide's "Angry Penguins"', Communist Review, August, Central Committee Communist Party of Australia, Sydney, 1944, pp. 302-3. Image PDF Details
• Prichard, Katharine Susannah, 'On purpose and propaganda', in Throssell, Ric (ed.), Straight left : articles and addresses on politics, literature and women’s affairs over almost 60 years, from 1910 to 1968, Wild & Woolley, Sydney, 1982, pp. 117-21. PDF Details
• Reed, John, 'Signs of an "infantile disorder" on the cultural front', Communist Review, July, Central Committee Communist Party of Australia, Sydney, 1944, pp. 284-5. Image PDF Details
• Waten, Judah, 'Australian literature in 1962', Realist Writer (Melbourne), no. 12, 1963, pp. 26-8. PDF Details