PhotoRealism is a style of painting using photographs to create hyperrealistic images. Artists precisely replicate the details of a photograph using tools like cameras, projectors, and airbrushes. Popular in the 1960s-70s, PhotoRealist works depicted mundane urban environments and focused on technique over expression. Pioneering artists included Richard Estes, Ralph Goings, Chuck Close, and Duane Hanson, who created photo-realistic sculptures. While initially controversial, PhotoRealism influenced later hyperrealistic styles and can still be seen in video games and movies today.
1. PhotoRealism
5th hour
Courtney Farmer
Jacqueline Paetzold
Kendra Bartkowiak
2. What is it?
• Creating a painting
using a photograph
• People and objects
realistic
• AKA: SuperRealism,
Sharp-Focus Realism,
New Realism, Radical
Realism, Post-Modern
Illusionism, and Post-
Pop Illusionism
3. 5 Point Definition by Louis K. Meisel
• Uses camera & photograph
• Mechanical or semi-mechanical means of transfer
• Finished work appears photographic
• Created before 1972
• Devoted at least 5 years
4. Where Did PR Come From?
• Reactionary movement:
media
• Counter to abstract
expressionism and
minimalism
• Evolved from Pop Art
• Big in the US during the
1960s-70s
• Artists used it as act of
rebellion
5. Styles & Subject Matter
• Tight and precise
• Urban landscapes
• Great variation
• Non-emotive
• No appeal to subconscious
• Imitates photo strictly
• Omit certain aspects
• Focus on everyday, mundane imagery
11. • Advancement of
PhotoRealism HyperRealism
• Resembles high-resolution
photograph
• US & Europe since early
2000s
• Artists put their own
emotions in paintings
• Softer and more complex
focus
• False reality not seen in
photo
• Details more clear than in
actual photo
12. • Digital imagery/camera
• Photographic limitations
• Subject matter: portraits, figurative art, still life,
landscapes, cityscapes, and narrative scenes
• Expose bad situations
• 10 to 20 times size of photo
13. • Became art through
Photography
PhotoRealism
• Use of camera = acceptance of
modernism
• Photographic media
• Huge effects on artists
• Camera abilities changed
painting
• Camera used to obtain
information
• Used as a tool & as subject
matter
14. Sculptures
• Life-like, average
people with
simulated hair and
real clothes
• AKA Verists
• Desire to create
realistic figure
• Didn’t deal too much
with photographs
15.
16. Ralph Goings
•Painted ordinary objects, including trucks,
diners, and diner paraphernalia
•Portrayed the subject as it was—no
embellishing, censoring, or anything else
•Later began arranging objects in studio, which
allowed him to control lighting
22. Richard Estes
• Portrayed urban settings, usually anonymous streets
or buildings, with glass, metal, or other reflective
surfaces
• Not interested in evoking mood/emotion; created
depth and intensity that the eye normally wouldn’t
see
28. Duane Hanson
• Sculptures
• Sought to audience aware of ordinary people
(especially working class) and their contribution and
roles in society
• Didn’t idealize/romanticize subject; presented them
as the would appear in everyday life
• Goal was to make figure natural and authentic
33. Audrey Flack
• Attention to detail, all items contribute to the larger
whole
• Focused on public figures (Roosevelt, Kennedy,
Hitler), based on photographs taken from
documentary news
• She was a feminist, so this influenced her work
• Her works involve the viewer both aesthetically and
ethically (social and political implications, often
symbolically hidden)
43. Chuck Close
• Used famous people, but mainly used friends and
other people so that the actual art would come
through and people wouldn’t just be seeing faces as
the main point
• Concerned with visual elements—shapes, textures,
volume, shadows, and highlights—of the photo
• Aims to achieve an allover visual effect (so not
looking at individual cells), and he’s not a purist; only
interested in quality of end product
Critics thought that photorealism was mindless and it was nothing but copying and cheating real art. People also questioned if this art was real a lot of the time people would think that possibly the painting is not really a painting, it is just a photograph.Since most critics thought that this type of art was cheating they also thought that it was not unique in any way since they were just painting a picture that they had photographed. Also this is why they believe that it was not creative. Lastly, critics thought that it was cruel because they thought that artist from photorealism were just trying to make fun of other artists and their paintings. They thought that it was nothing but just a photo that was copied down and painted, there was no real meaning behind the artwork, there was never really a story to tell since most of the objects were things in America and it was primarily things that were bought.
This was painted by a newer artists, Jason De Graaf, this was more directed at photo realisms branch, hyperrealism, but in this photo its hard to tell if it is a painting or a photo, in reality it is a painting but this is where the controversy starts, people could just think that someone is trying to trick them into believing that this photo is really a painting and get credit for something that was not truly his own work.
Some positives towards photo realism were that people thought the artwork was incredible, they were able to see the intense detail that they wish they could have seen in a photo. It was so detailed that it seemed life like and people loved that they could come up with their own conclusions about the artwork, there was no insane deep meaning by something. They could tell their own story about a picture and still be correct.
Richard Estes created this piece, you can see that this picture looks extremely realistic and it is not about anything in particular, people could create their own story about this painting, they could say it was the day of 9/11 or just another day of people going to work or even leaving work.
Photorealism is the one of the most recent art movements so it is still used today, but not very much. It is now more popular in Europe then it is here.Photorealism has influenced a branch called hyperrealism, which is about using a photograph as a source but they change the picture in different ways it focuses on emphasizing and details in the photo.A lot of artists that are around today tend to say that photorealism gave them inspiration and they base a lot of their work off of that along with work done by photographers
It is no longer a American movement, for the primary of time photorealism had been only in America and now it has traveled over seas to Europe.European artists are (some) Clive Head, RaphaellaSpence, Bertrand Meniel, and RobertoBernardiSince 2002 only a few artists out of the original continue to create photorealist paintings, a lot of artists have stopped because it was so time consuming and it would take about 5 years for one painting to be completed.Photorealism is now used in video games and movies (HD) they created the form for video games to make video games to look really life like and create a better feel for the video game, along with animated movies, they all look so real now and photorealism helped create that feel.Obviously it is different types of creations but it still is the main concept, it is trying to create something that usually would look fake and create it into something so beautiful and so realistic
Picture from the popular video game, Gears of War
Someone is looking from behind a screen door in a video game and this is what they see
This is a clip from up, they made the clouds look life more than anything in this photo
