Gennady Sukhanov
1980s Realist Landscape Paintings
Paper, Watercolor
People Also Browsed
1950s American Impressionist Landscape Paintings
Oil, Board
Jon BlanchetteOn Broadway, Santa Cruz, Southern California, 1950s Landscape Oil Painting, circa 1955
1950s Modern Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1970s Modern Landscape Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1990s American Bohemian Paintings
Wood, Paint
Mid-20th Century North American Bohemian Paintings
Wood, Paint, Paper
1950s American Impressionist Landscape Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Cardboard
Vintage 1970s Danish Modern Paintings
Paint
20th Century Portrait Paintings
Oil
1970s American Impressionist Landscape Paintings
Oil, Linen
1950s American Impressionist Landscape Paintings
Oil
Mid-20th Century North American Mid-Century Modern Paintings
Paint
Vintage 1960s Paintings
Vintage 1970s Mid-Century Modern Paintings
Wood
Antique 19th Century French Other Paintings
Paint
Mid-20th Century Swedish Paintings
Other
Vintage 1960s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Paintings
Paper
Recent Sales
1970s Realist Abstract Prints
Lithograph, Paper
A Close Look at 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.
Find authentic realist paintings, sculptures, prints and more art on 1stDibs.