Realist Art
Realist art attempts to portray its subject matter without artifice. Similar to naturalism, authentic realist paintings and prints see an integration of true-to-life colors, meticulous detail and linear perspectives for accurate portrayals of the world.
Work that involves illusionistic techniques of realism dates back to the classical world, such as the deceptive trompe l’oeil used since ancient Greece. Art like this became especially popular in the 17th century when Dutch artists like Evert Collier painted objects that appeared real enough to touch. Realism as an artistic movement, however, usually refers to 19th-century French realist artists such as Honoré Daumier exploring social and political issues in biting lithographic prints, while the likes of Gustave Courbet and Jean-François Millet painting people — particularly the working class — with all their imperfections, navigating everyday urban life. This was a response to the dominant academic art tradition that favored grand paintings of myth and history.
By the turn of the 20th century, European artists, such as the Pre-Raphaelites, were experimenting with nearly photographic realism in their work, as seen in the attention to every botanical attribute of the flowers surrounding the drowned Ophelia painted by English artist John Everett Millais.
Although abstraction was the guiding style of 20th-century art, the realism trend in American modern art endured in Edward Hopper, Andrew Wyeth and other artists’ depictions of the complexities of the human experience. In the late 1960s, Photorealism emerged with artists like Chuck Close and Richard Estes giving their paintings the precision of a frame of film.
Contemporary artists such as Jordan Casteel, LaToya Ruby Frazier and Aliza Nisenbaum are now using the unvarnished realist approach for honest representations of people and their worlds. Alongside traditional mediums, technology such as virtual reality, artificial intelligence and immersive installations are helping artists create new sensations of realism in art.
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1990s Realist Art
Acrylic
1990s Realist Art
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Archival Paper, Monotype
2010s Realist Art
Charcoal, Canvas, Chalk
2010s Realist Art
Charcoal, Chalk, Paper
1980s Realist Art
Acrylic
1990s Realist Art
Concrete
1990s Realist Art
Concrete
2010s Realist Art
Chalk, Charcoal, Paper
1990s Realist Art
Concrete
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Archival Paper, Monotype
1980s Realist Art
Canvas, Oil
1990s Realist Art
Concrete
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Archival Paper, Monotype
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Archival Paper, Monotype
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Handmade Paper, Monotype
1990s Realist Art
Acrylic, Canvas
2010s Realist Art
Canvas, Egg Tempera
1990s Realist Art
Conté
1890s Realist Art
Charcoal, Watercolor, Pencil
2010s Realist Art
Charcoal, Mixed Media, Archival Paper
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Acrylic, Canvas
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Pencil
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Pencil
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Archival Paper, Monotype
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Archival Paper, Monotype