Realism in 20th Century Painting

World of Art

by Brendan Prendeville

This first ever survey of the subject demonstrates that realism has had a continuous yet restlessly changing place in American and European painting throughout the twentieth century--from Eakins, Bellows, and Homer, through Vuillard, Bonnard, Schiele, Morandi, Hopper, and Giacometti, to Balthus, Lucian Freud, and David Hockney. Most accounts of twentieth-century art have tended to overlook the persistent, diverse, vibrant, and powerful presence of realist painting. Brendan Prendeville discusses the historical, artistic, and critical contexts in which painting has taken a realist turn, from the Ashcan School to Soviet Socialist Realism, from painting of the Existentialist era to the time of Photorealism. In this period, he argues, the western tradition of pictorial realism has in fact been renewed and modified through the diverse influences of modernism, political conflict, and new visual technologies. 180 illustrations, 80 in color.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Art History, Essays, History

240 pages, Paperback

First published October 30, 2000

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting survey of realist art in the 20th century, when realism was discarded in pursuit of other forms of visual expression.

The language assumes that the reader has some familiarity with art history and its lingo. If you aren't already familiar with the broad sketches of western art history, you may find a few passages that are a challenge to understand.

A good read and good exposure to artists who soldiered on while Jackson Pollock was dribbling on his canvases....

[Stamen Parushev · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good overview

[Alejandro Torresano · Rating 3 out of 5]

Libro de difícil lectura, parece más un libro universitario que un libro de divulgación. Además, creo que sobrepondera a pintores americanos.
Lo bueno es que incluye bastantes ilustraciones (192, de las cuales, 92 en color), y te descubre pintores desconocidos para el gran público.

[Valerie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm new to reading art criticism so this went in one ear and out the other, but I enjoyed sitting there and reading it and found some cool paintings.

[Lise · Rating 2 out of 5]

La définition du réalisme est complexe or faire un livre sur cette partie de l'histoire de l'art mérite une définition générale qui n'est pas présente. La lecture devient donc compliquée puisque l'auteur se perd dans des détails qui n'ont pas lieu d'être dans une introduction. De plus, le propos et son développement n'est pas assez recentré autour de l'argumentation. La masse d'information est perdue dans un volume de texte qui gagnerait à être beaucoup plus concis pour être beaucoup plus lisible. Bref, trop d'informations mal rapportées, aller à l'essentiel et classer les informations, puis les résumer en quelques points aurait permis à ce livre d'être utile. Utilisé pour compléter des cours d'histoire de l'art et malheureusement non terminé.

[Ed Smiley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad book. I think that it follows conventional critical practice by deconstructing "realism", but somewhat tends to put Humpty Dumpty back together again for you. This is a small survey book, the reproductions are itty bitty, but that seems to work all right. It does make the salient point that there are "realisms", and that realism brings with it certain concerns that have implications for all kinds of painting, not just strictly representational work.

[Karla Huebner]

This seems like a really good overview. It examines realism in the sense of 19th-century Realism (Courbet et al.) rather than in the sense of visually plausible representation, so leaves out artists like Lempicka, Gill, Meštrovic. Its weakness, from what I've read so far, is that it doesn’t seem to include Eastern Europe, China, or Japan, only Russia. But it should be a good textbook.

[Megan Noel · Rating 5 out of 5]

not light reading but really helped me put more meaning to my work and understand why i am drawn to realism in modern painting...