Photorealism is a genre of art that encompasses painting, drawing and other graphic mediums,
in which an artist studies a photograph and then attempts to reproduce the image as realistically
as possible in another medium.
Although the term can be used to broadly describe artworks in many different mediums, it is
also used to refer specifically to a group of paintings and painters of the United States
art movement that began in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
History Origins
As a full-fledged art movement, Photorealism evolved from Pop Art and as a counter to Abstract
Expressionism as well as Minimalist art movements in the late 1960s and early 1970s in the United
States.
Photorealists use a photograph or several photographs to gather the information to create
their paintings and it can be argued that the use of a camera and photographs is an
acceptance of Modernism.
However, the admittance to the use of photographs in Photorealism was met with intense criticism
when the movement began to gain momentum in the late 1960s, despite the fact that visual
devices had been used since the fifteenth century to aid artists with their work.
The invention of photography in the nineteenth century had three effects on art: portrait
and scenic artists were deemed inferior to the photograph and many turned to photography
as careers; within nineteenth- and twentieth-century art movements it is well documented that artists
used the photograph as source material and as an aid—however, they went to great lengths
to deny the fact fearing that their work would be misunderstood as imitations; and through
the photograph's invention artists were open to a great deal of new experimentation.
Thus, the culmination of the invention of the photograph was a break in art's history
towards the challenge facing the artist - since the earliest known cave drawings - trying
to replicate the scenes they viewed.
By the time the Photorealists began producing their bodies of work the photograph had become
the leading means of reproducing reality and abstraction was the focus of the art world.
Realism continued as an on-going art movement, even experiencing a reemergence in the 1930s,
but by the 1950s modernist critics and Abstract Expressionism had all but minimalized realism
as a serious art undertaking.
Though Photorealists share some aspects of American realists, such as Edward Hopper,
they tried to set themselves as much apart from traditional realists as they did Abstract
Expressionists.
Photorealists were much more influenced by the work of Pop artists and were reacting
against Abstract Expressionism.
Pop Art and Photorealism were both reactionary movements stemming from the ever increasing
and overwhelming abundance of photographic media, which by the mid 20th century had grown
into such a massive phenomenon that it was threatening to lessen the value of imagery
in art.
However, whereas the Pop artists were primarily pointing out the absurdity of much of the
imagery, the Photorealists were trying to reclaim and exalt the value of an image.
The association of Photorealism to Trompe L'oeil is a wrongly attributed comparison,
an error in observation or interpretation made by many critics of the 1970s and 1980s.
Trompe L'oeil paintings attempt to "fool the eye" and make the viewer think he is seeing
an actual object, not a painted one.
When observing a Photorealist painting, the viewer is always aware that they are looking
at a painting.
Definition The word Photorealism was coined by Louis
K. Meisel in 1969 and appeared in print for the first time in 1970 in a Whitney Museum
catalogue for the show "Twenty-two Realists."
It is also sometimes labeled as Super-Realism, New Realism, Sharp Focus Realism, or Hyper-Realism.
Louis K. Meisel, two years later, developed a five-point definition at the request of
Stuart M. Speiser, who had commissioned a large collection of works by the Photorealists,
which later developed into a traveling show known as 'Photo-Realism 1973: The Stuart M.
Speiser Collection', which was donated to the Smithsonian in 1978 and is shown in several
of its museums as well as traveling under the auspices of SITE.
The definition for the ORIGINATORS was as follows:
1.
The Photo-Realist uses the camera and photograph to gather information.
2.
The Photo-Realist uses a mechanical or semimechanical means to transfer the information to the canvas.
3.
The Photo-Realist must have the technical ability to make the finished work appear photographic.
4.
The artist must have exhibited work as a Photo-Realist by 1972 to be considered one of the central
Photo-Realists. 5.
The artist must have devoted at least five years to the development and exhibition of
Photo-Realist work.
Styles Photorealist painting cannot exist without
the photograph.
In Photorealism, change and movement must be frozen in time which must then be accurately
represented by the artist.
Photorealists gather their imagery and information with the camera and photograph.
Once the photograph is developed the artist will systematically transfer the image from
the photographic slide onto canvases.
Usually this is done either by projecting the slide onto the canvas or by using traditional
grid techniques.
The resulting images are often direct copies of the original photograph but are usually
larger than the original photograph or slide.
This results in the photorealist style being tight and precise, often with an emphasis
on imagery that requires a high level of technical prowess and virtuosity to simulate, such as
reflections in specular surfaces and the geometric rigor of man-made environs.
Artists The first generation of American photorealists
includes such painters as John Baeder, Richard Estes, Ralph Goings, Chuck Close, Charles
Bell, Audrey Flack, Don Eddy, Robert Bechtle, and Tom Blackwell.
Often working independently of each other and with widely different starting points,
these original photorealists routinely tackled mundane or familiar subjects in traditional
art genres--landscapes, portraits, and still lifes.
In the UK, photorealist approaches were favoured by many artists including Mike Gorman and
Eric Scott who were represented by the Nicholas Treadwell Gallery, London.
The introduction of these European painters to a wider US audience was brought about via
the 1982 'Superhumanism' exhibition at the Arnold Katzen Gallery, New York.
Though the movement is primarily associated with painting, Duane Hanson and John DeAndrea
are sculptors associated with photorealism for their painted, lifelike sculptures of
average people that were complete with simulated hair and real clothes.
They are called Verists.
Since 2000
Though the height of Photorealism was in the 1970s the movement continues and includes
several of the original photorealists as well as many of their contemporaries.
According to Meisel's Photorealism at the Millennium, only eight of the original photorealists
were still creating photorealist work in 2002; ten including John Baeder and Howard Kanovitz.
Artists Charles Bell, John Kacere, and Howard Kanovitz have died; Audrey Flack, Chuck Close,
and Don Eddy have moved in different directions other than photorealism; and Robert Cottingham
no longer considers himself a photorealist.
Newer Photorealists are building upon the foundations set by the original photorealists.
Examples would be the influence of Richard Estes in works by Anthony Brunelli or the
influence of Ralph Goings and Charles Bell in works by Glennray Tutor.
However, this has led many to move on from the strict definition of photorealism as the
emulation of the photograph, and the artist Clive Head now actively disassociates himself
from the term, even though he has been closely associated with photorealism in the past.
Photorealism is no longer simply an American art movement.
Starting with Franz Gertsch in the 1980s Clive Head, Raphaella Spence, Bertrand Meniel, and
Roberto Bernardi are several European artists associated with photorealism that have emerged
since the mid-1990s.
This internationalization of photorealism is also seen in photorealist events, such
as The Prague Project, in which American and non-American photorealist painters have traveled
together to locations including Prague, Zurich, Monaco and New York, to work alongside each
other in producing work.
The evolution of technology has brought forth photorealistic paintings that exceed what
was thought possible with paintings; these newer paintings by the photorealists are sometimes
referred to as "Hyperrealism."
With new technology in cameras and digital equipment, artists are able to be far more
precision-oriented.
List of photorealists Original photorealists
Significant artists whose work helped define Photorealism:
Other photorealists Significant artists whose work meets the criteria
of Photorealism: See also
References Notes
Bibliography
External links The dictionary definition of photo-realism
at Wiktionary