Illlusion and photo-realism
3-1 CLASSIC ILLUSION AND PHOTO-REALISM
Here we will examine the notion that good paintings can be
made by simply copying photographs. To do this we shall
return to the latter half of the last century when
photography was all the rage and the great debate of the
time was whether photography should confine itself to
science or also develop as an art form. The perceived
danger to painter's incomes was what spawned the
impressionsists who believed representational art was
doomed. Meanwhile it gave the academy painters something
to think about - rather like the late 1980's when the
champions of computer technology predicted the demise of
newspapers and books. It seems they too were a little
premature as trees seem in more danger now than then.
There is little doubt that Monet,Van Gough, Renoir, Cezanne
and others were artists of innovation and that the 'academy'
painters such as Bouguereau and Gerome, after Ingre
departed this mortal coil, were the next masters of the
classic western art technique. I call such painters as
Bouguereau and Waterhouse the painter's painters as they
combine advanced technique with subtelty to the extent you
almost forget the painting is merely a two dimensional
illusion. In the fervent battle to maintain a presence against
photography it was unfortunate the impressionists were
pitted against the academy artists for a shrinking art
market. While the impressionists mostly turned to landscape
the academy artists concentrated even more on developing
a more subtle techniques for figurative and portrait painting.http://www.geocities.com/~jlhagan/advanced/IianNeil.htm (1 of 3)1/13/2004 3:33:14 AM