Until the mid 19th Century by and large artists strove to create painting that represented reality as closely as possible. Great efforts were put into hiding brushstrokes and getting lighting and spatial elements to appear real. Towards the end of the 18th Century two important developments came into play; commercial paints in vibrant colors and the new technology of photography. These development shaped the direction of art away from realism.
Once photography arrived many artist began to realize that capturing reality as closely as possible and hiding any evidence of brush strokes was a pointless venture. Since they could only hope to approach the accuracy of an actual photograph why even bother. Instead the daring artist drifted in the other direction and sought to create an unreal representation of the everyday day world that could never be photographed. The brushstrokes themselves became a form of artistic expression and were intentionally coarse, distinctive, and out front. Lighting and spatial perception were subjective which opened up whole new ways of engaging the viewer.
Once photography arrived many artist began to realize that capturing reality as closely as possible and hiding any evidence of brush strokes was a pointless venture. Since they could only hope to approach the accuracy of an actual photograph why even bother. Instead the daring artist drifted in the other direction and sought to create an unreal representation of the everyday day world that could never be photographed. The brushstrokes themselves became a form of artistic expression and were intentionally coarse, distinctive, and out front. Lighting and spatial perception were subjective which opened up whole new ways of engaging the viewer.
Around the time photography came into use the chemistry of paint also made huge advances. Before this paints were often mixed by the artist themselves using techniques and material recipes that had been passed from one artist the other and often held in secrecy. These home brewed paints often lacked vibrancy which over-all meant that even though the artist was striving to match reality the results were often muted and dull. Once new types of paints created on an industrial scale came on the scene they allowed for striking color vibrancy. This allowed a more accurate depiction of reality but surprisingly this new vibrancy had a bigger impact in moving art into new non-real frontiers. colors were used as a form of expression and exaggerated and substituted in striking ways.
The en devour to create accurate realism in paintings did not go away however. The new colorful paints and the obvious competition of photography allowed many painter to get get recognized for their real world accuracy, Often these artist implemented romantic scenic elements that captivated wealthy art patrons but which ultimately received poor critical review do to the sometimes tacky appearance. Meanwhile the practitioners of the non-reality art camp pushed further outward and developed art that was purely abstract. The man on the street often disdained this new art but many including art intellectuals appreciated this new direction.
Today there has been a renewed interest in Realism. Practitioners have pushed the boundary of technique to the point were some paintings are indistinguishable from photographs. Often time the tools of choice for this Hyper-Realism is a digital tablet combined with computer software. This allows the artist to zoom in for detailed work, undo mistakes, and to run sophisticated filters. A surprising number of people are enthralled with Hyper-Realism and the skill it takes to pull it off, but this is really an appreciation of the process rather than of the end result. Many critics wonder why spend countless hours creating something that could have just been done with a camera? There are of course practical benefits of such skills in creating alternate realities in film CGI, computer gaming and the photoshopping of existing images. As far as value in collectible fine art goes Hyper-Realism will always remain of limited worth. Since it doesn't really expand expressive creativity it lacks many of the qualities of Fine Art. For the most part this current fad really just represents the worship of an impressive stunt, like a daredevil jumping a canyon, but the end result has does really added to human culture.
