Magic realism

Magic realism (or magical realism) is a literary genre in which magical elements appear in an otherwise realistic setting. The term was coined in the 1920s by a German art critic to describe a trend in post-Expressionist German art (see History below), but it is most often associated with the Latin American literary boom of the twentieth century, marked by the publication of One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez in 1967, which is considered the seminal magical realist text. Magical realism can be detected in the supernatural tales of E.T.A. Hoffman, which are related in the down-to-earth tone of confessional journalism. Magical realism may be viewed as more than a specific historical-geographical literary movement; it is an element of style that can be located in a large variety of novels, poetry, painting, and even film.

Painting

In painting, magical realism is a term often used interchangeably with post-expressionism. In 1925, art critic Franz Roh used this term to describe painting which signalled a return to realism after expressionism's extravagances which sought to redesign objects to reveal the spirits of those objects. Magical realism, according to Roh, instead faithfully portrays the exterior of an object, and in doing so the spirit, or magic, of the object reveals itself.

Related Topics:
Post-expressionism - 1925 - Realism - Expressionism

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Other important aspects of magical realist painting, according to Roh, include:

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• A return to mundane subjects as opposed to fantastical ones
• A juxtaposition of forward movement with a sense of distance, as opposed to Expressionism's tendency to foreshorten the subject
• A use of minature details even in expansive paintings, such as large landscapes