Art Movements of 2000s: Classical Realism

Classical Realism identifies an artistic movement in late Twentieth century painting techniques that places a high value upon skill and sweetness, combining elements of Nineteenth century neoclassicism and realism.


Origins

The term “Classical Realism” was originally found in the title of a 1982 exhibition by Richard Lack (1928 - 2009), a pupil of R. H. Ives Gammell(1893-1981). The movement traces its lineage from Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824-1904) through William Paxton (1869-1941) from the Boston school.

By 1985 Richard Lack had begun publishing Classical Realism Quarterly, with articles published by Lack and the students, looking to inform people about traditional painting realistic.

Inside a separate vein, another major reason for the revival of traditional drawing and painting knowledge is the painter and art instructor Ted Seth Jacobs (1927 - ), who taught students in the Art Students League and the Nyc Academy of Art in New York City. Their lineage is rooted inside the Académie Julian, the Golden Age of Illustration in Ny, and the School of Paris. In 1987 Ted Seth Jacobs created his own art school, L’Ecole Albert Defois in Les Cerqueux sous Passavant, France (49). Lots of Jacobs’ students for example Anthony Ryder and Jacob Collins became influential teachers and acquired their own student following.

Style and philosophy

Classical Realist style is seen as a a love for the visible world and the great traditions of Western art, including Classicism, Realism and Impressionism. The movement’s aesthetic is Classical in that it exhibits a preference for order, beauty, harmony and completeness; it's Realist because its primary material comes from the representation of nature depending on the artist’s observation. Artists on this genre make an effort to draw and paint in the direct observation of nature, and eschew the usage of photography or another mechanical aids. In connection with this, Classical Realism is different from the art movements of Photorealism and Hyperrealism. Stylistically, classical realists freely borrow techniques from both Impressionism and Academic art.

Classical Realist painters have attempted to revive types of artistic training and techniques that pre-date Modern Art. To that end, they seek to create paintings using a high level of craftsmanship. Popular subject matter through this genre includes figurative whilst still being life paintings.

A central notion of Classical Realism will be the belief the Modern Art movements from the Twentieth century caused an interruption in the knowledge of art production as it was first conceived within the Classical period, resurrected in the Renaissance, and carried down from the academies towards the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Classical Realist artists try to revive the thought of art production since it was traditionally understood: mastery of your craft to make objects that gratify and ennoble people who see them. This craftsmanship is then applied to drawing, painting or sculpting contemporary subjects that your artist observes in the modern world.

Just like the 1800s academic models where it derives inspiration, the movement has drawn criticism for your premium placed upon technical performance, a tendency toward contrived and idealized depictions of the figure, and rhetorical overstatement when placed on epic narrative. Maureen Mullarkey ,with the Ny Sunreferred towards the school as “a contemporary style with retro, appeal- like Chrysler’s PT Cruiser”.