Photorealism is an art movement that originated in the United States in the 1960s involving the realistic replication of photographic images in paintings and sculptures. Artists such as Don Eddy, Chuck Close, Richard Estes, and Duane Hanson used photographs and careful technical skills to create hyperrealistic works. While initially criticized for its embrace of photography, photorealism challenged artistic conventions. It has had lasting influence and continues to fascinate viewers with its photo-like illusions.

1. Jade Kuzak
Chandler Whitted
Brynna Samuels
PHOTOREALISM
**Ahead of time, we
apologize for the
background noise**
** Music: Artist - Philip Glass
Title of Song - Movement I - A Musical Portrait
of Chuck Close from Portraits

2. Photorealism is an art movement
that involves replicating the
original photo image into a
painting or
a sculpture

3. . . . because it challenged peoples art paradigms
and it also focused on American consumerism

4. • Photorealist shared with
minimalist a prediction to see
art making as a decision
making process
• Clearly deriving from Pop Art,
but without satirical
commentary
Photorealism originated in the
United States in the 1960’s

5. • Photorealism is also connected to Modernism,
the other way around. The critics were attacking
it because it was a betrayal to the modernist
principles due to its straight forward
representation.
• In the late 1960’s, several young artists in the
United States began capturing everyday motifs
from their immediate surroundings, expressing
the American way of life in large formatting
• For the first time in the 1970’s, photorealism was
shown in the Whitney Museum of American Art
in New York

6. The recent rediscovery of the style trompe
l’oeil, specifically still life paintings by Peto,
Harnett, and Haberle, in the late nineteenth
century as well as the photography craze
helped stimulate the emergence of
photorealism as a major style in the 70’s
trompe l’oeil – “deceive the
eye”; an art technique that
uses realistic imagery to
create the optical illusion
that the depicted objects
exist in three dimensions

7. • Most of the photorealist were either born in or
came from New York or from California
• THE PHOTOREALIST WERE NOT A
COHESIVE GROUP, nor did they consider
themselves part of a movement
• It was not the artists intention to compete with
the precision of a camera lens but rather them
being interested in the complicated
relationship between the reproduction and the
reproduced

8. Photorealist want almost all of
the decisions to be made before
they begin to paint to allow
them to concentrate on the
technical problems of painting

9. • Style involves consideration of
both technique and content
• Subjects have tended . . . to be
drawn from images of popular
culture or an obsessive personal
mythology

10. Photorealism
had the same
affectlessness
as minimalism
To some critics, they say the context is wrong, the scale is
off, and the visual language is often blatantly photographic
To be a photorealist
painter, the work should
adhere strictly to the
information found in the
photo

11. The subject should be found
rather than arranged
The artist should not go out of
their way to be pictorial

12. Change and movement must be
frozen to one second of time,
which must be totally and
accurately represented

13. Louis Meisel defined the characteristics
that qualify an artist as a full-fledged
contributor to the photorealist movement:
• The photorealist uses the camera/photographs to gather
information
• The photorealist uses a mechanical/semi-mechanical way
to transfer the information/picture to the canvas
• The photorealist must have the technical ability to make
the finished work appear photographic
• The artist must have been a photorealist by 1972 to be
considered one of the central photorealist
• The artist must have devoted at least 5 years to the
development and exhibition of photorealist work

14. Louis Meisel defined the characteristics
that qualify an artist as a full-fledge
contributor to the photorealist movement:
• The photorealist uses the camera/photographs to gather
information
• The photorealist uses a mechanical/semi-mechanical way
to transfer the information/picture to the canvas
• The photorealist must have the technical ability to make
the finished work appear photographic
• The artist must have been a photorealist by 1972 to be
considered one of the central photorealist
• The artist must have devoted at least 5 years to the
development and exhibition of photorealist work

16. Louis Meisel defined the characteristics
that qualify an artist as a full-fledge
contributor to the photorealist movement:
• The photorealist uses the camera/photographs to gather
information
• The photorealist uses a mechanical/semi-mechanical way
to transfer the information/picture to the canvas
• The photorealist must have the technical ability to make
the finished work appear photographic
• The artist must have been a photorealist by 1972 to be
considered one of the central photorealist
• The artist must have devoted at least 5 years to the
development and exhibition of photorealist work

17. Traditional
bristle brush
There are mainly two tools used by
photorealist to paint on canvases:
Airbrush
An airbrush is a very refined and
controllable spray gun

18. • From the critics eyes, they were full of
imagination, and according to them,
photorealism was not art, but masterful copying
• Photorealist have grown from and added to this
legacy of freedom in several important ways
‒ most notable being in the use of the photograph
• The artist avoided conscious expressiveness
• The work of photorealist was noteworthy for its
highly polished, seamless illusionism,
commonplace, and even banal subject matter

19. • Photorealists ability to address the century-
old issue of painting and photography
influenced generations of artists
• The photorealists were looking for a method
of reapproaching realist painting in a
contemporary fashion/way
• A photo offered a method of capturing a
subject that is fixed in a moment of time
‒ HOWEVER, the use of a photo inevitably
altered the way the subject was painted

20. DON EDDY

21. • Don Eddy is better known as a spiritual realist
• Typical for Eddy to find the abstraction in
representation
• He distorts and messes with all-American appearances
• Eddy does aesthetic violence to appearances, making
them more exciting and seductive than they ordinarily
were
• Eddy represents external physical reality in a
straightforward, descriptive way

22. • Eddy creates higher meaning where there is none
• Eddy’s space is the solid object as well as the space that
is the void around it
• He has dematerialized
and de-realized this
slice of everyday
reality by making it
abstract

23. Uses cheap toys/stuff because:
• This is what he grew up with
• Buying upscale would be a betrayal of his core self as
well class identity
• Suggest the objects in his painting are more important
than the art itself
• His father owned a garage, where teenage Eddy
performed custom paint jobs on cars with the airbrush
• This is how he became aware of the surfaces of the
automobile and why airbrush is his natural tool

24. • His paintings include precision in which he creates his
surfaces
• When you think or see an Eddy painting, think of a
Chinese take-out box

25. BUMPER SECTION XIII (1970)

26. PRIVATE PARKING I (1971)
PRIVATE PARKING IV (1971)
PRIVATE PARKING X (1971)
WRECKING YARD II (1971)

27. CHUCK CLOSE

28. • Diagnosed with prosopagnosia (face blindness)
and cannot recognize faces
‒ His reason for painting portraits
• Chuck liked to take his time creating his
paintings, which would lead to abstract color
applications
• He is so good, a full page reproduction in an art
book of “The Big Self Portrait” still cannot be
distinguished from a photograph
• Described himself as “an artist looking for
trouble” over his of 30 years as a photorealist

29. • Placed artificial restrictions upon himself before
his paralysis
‒ Adopted materials and techniques not
“friendly” to photorealist for achieving the
photorealist effect
• He abandoned his paintbrush and used (mainly)
random objects: airbrush, razor blades, a piece of
rubber mounted on a power drill
‒ Wanted to push his practice in new directions
and force artistic breakthroughs

30. • December 7th, 1988, Close experienced a seizure
that left him paralyzed from the neck down
‒ Chose to call that day “the event”
• After 8 months, he strengthened enough muscles to
allow him to paint with a brush taped to his wrist
• After “the event”, he continued to create large-scale
portraits using the grid system
‒ From afar, these paintings still give the impression of a
painting, just in a more pixelated way
‒ From up close, each square is an individual pool of
color and shapes contrasting with the background

31. • Close’s dependence on the grid-system is as a
metaphor for his analytical processes, which
suggest the “whole” is rarely more or less than the
sum of its parts

32. BIG NUDE (1967)

33. THE BIG SELF-PORTRAIT (1967-1968)

34. SELF-PORTRAIT (1997)

35. RICHARD ESTES

36. • Paid close detail to reflective surfaces
‒ Paints highly reflective surfaces
• Proposed that painting was just the
technique/finishing of the art piece
• In later years (2009), Estes switched
from city landscapes to more natural
landscapes

37. CANADIAN CLUB (1974)

38. CANADIAN CLUB (1974)

39. BEAVER DAM POND (2009)

40. BEAVER DAM POND (2009)

41. DUANE HANSON

42. • One of a couple photorealist sculptors
• Liked to play around with the idea of the
middle class
• Instead of using photographs, his
inspiration was actual people
• Played around with the perception of
everyday people and objects
• Makes a statement about human values

43. • One of a couple photorealist sculptors
• Liked to play around with the idea of the
middle class
• Instead of using photographs, his
inspiration was actual people
• Played around with the perception of
everyday people and objects
• Makes a statement about human values

44. QUEENIE II (1988)

45. QUEENIE II (1988)

46. TOURIST II (1988)

47. SUPERMARKET SHOPPER (1970)

48. INFLUENCES ON TODAY
• Photorealism can look back on almost 50 years
of history, yet the fascination it holds for the
viewer is still unbroken. It has consistently
intensified over three generations as the degree
of sharpness in the resolution of these works has
also grown.

49. INFLUENCES ON TODAY
• Today’s photorealists, such as Roberto Berhardi,
Clive Head, Ben Johnson, Peter Maler, Yigal
Ozeri, and Robert Neffson, are using highly
modern digital technology to take realist painting
into a new dimension; their paintings’ naturalistic
details are so deceptive to the eye that more than
ever, the viewer doubts the reality of the art.

50. INFLUENCES ON TODAY
• But, works by the photorealists are becoming
exceedingly rare. Their invaluable contribution to
preserving the entire concept of craftsmanship,
discipline, and realism in art must be documented
and preserved for a time in the future when it
will be openly respected once again.

51. Painting
Sculpture
Drawings
PHOTOREALISM

52. Painting

53. Painting

54. Painting

55. Painting

56. Painting

57. Painting

58. Painting

59. Painting

60. Sculpture

61. Sculpture

62. Drawing

63. Drawing

64. Jade Kuzak
Chandler Whitted
Brynna Samuels
PHOTOREALISM
THE END

65. ‒ Bumper Section: http://www.doneddyart.com/1967-72/
‒ Private Parking I: http://www.doneddyart.com/1967-72/
‒ Private Parking IV: http://www.meiselgallery.com/LKMG/artist/works/detail.php?wid=374&aid=13
‒ Private Parking X: http://www.doneddyart.com/1967-72/
‒ Wrecking Yard II: http://www.doneddyart.com/1967-72/
‒ Big Nude: http://www.pacegallery.com/artists/80/chuck-close
‒ Self-Portrait: http://www.pacegallery.com/artists/80/chuck-close
‒ The Big Self-Portrait: http://www.walkerart.org/collections/artworks/big-self-portrait
‒ Canadian Club: http://www.all-art.org/art_20th_century/Estes1.html
‒ Beaver Dam Pond: http://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/online/estes/art/14.cfm
‒ Queenie II: http://www.saatchigallery.com/artists/artpages/duane_hanson_queenie_2.htm
‒ Supermarket Shopper: http://artspla.over-blog.com/article-la-societe-de-consommation-duane-
hanson-71022025.html
‒ Tourist II: http://www.saatchigallery.com/artists/artpages/duane_hanson_tourists_2.htm
Music: Artist - Philip Glass
Album - Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts
Title of Song - Movement I - A Musical Portrait of Chuck Close from Portraits

66. Additional Resources:
‒ http://www.glennraytutor.com/gallery.php
‒ http://bestcarspecs.info/tag/united-states-outline
‒ http://arthistoryresources.net/modernism/roots.html
‒ http://www.nga.gov/feature/wilmerding/jwcat24.htm
‒ http://www.presentermedia.com/
‒ http://pixshark.com/clip-art-man-thinking.htm
‒ http://novakart.com/exhibitions-2/photorealism-the-everyday-illuminated/automobiles-
motorcycles/
‒ http://photorealism.com/artists/mark-schiff/
‒ http://www.a-sense-of-place.com/2012/07/artsmart-roundtable-chuck-close-and-
photorealism.html/olympus-digital-camera-22
‒ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ralph_Goings.jpg
‒ http://vincentzambranofilms.com/wrdprs/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/DSC021601.jpg
‒ http://www.easyreadsystem.com/news/famous-dyslexics-chuck-close/
‒ http://www.dickblick.com/brushes/bristle/
‒ http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/PaascheAirbrush.jpg
‒ http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/Polaroid_600_sunflower.jpg
‒ http://store.airbrushaction.com/pages/Don-Eddy.html

67. Additional Resources (continued):
‒ https://www.google.com/search?q=don+eddy+toys&espv=2&biw=1242&bih=585&source
=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=BpYwVYHFD4zdsATx2YHAAQ&ved=0CAYQ_A
UoAQ#imgrc=kGIABUJ9XXuOYM%253A%3BisTlKaJeQBqMqM%3Bhttp%253A%
252F%252Ffc09.deviantart.net%252Ffs71%252Fi%252F2013%252F187%252F7%252
Fb%252Fupdate_of_my_ed__edd_n_eddy_collection__by_edness_madness-
d6c9g6z.png%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fedness-
madness.deviantart.com%252Fart%252FUpdate-of-my-Ed-Edd-n-Eddy-collection-
383393339%253Foffset%253D20%2523comments%3B1024%3B573
‒ http://www.ebay.com/itm/20-Pagoda-Pint-Chinese-Take-Out-Box-16-oz-Food-Pail-Party-
Favor-Wedding-Candy-/261300496766#ht_1179wt_1238
‒ http://www.pacegallery.com/artists/80/chuck-close
‒ http://cape.k12.mo.us/cjhs/finearts/wilson/closeportraits.htm
‒ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Estes
‒ http://www.voelklinger-huette.org/en/world-cultural-heritage-site-voelklingen-ironworks/artist-
projects/duane-hanson/
‒ http://www.ignant.de/2012/11/21/best-of-photorealism/
‒ https://callumnakajima.wordpress.com/2013/10/16/impressionism-and-photorealism/
‒ http://pixgood.com/photorealism-art-movement.html
‒ http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/hyperrealistic-sculptures-by?context=tag-man
‒ https://www.tumblr.com/search/photorealistic%20pencil%20drawing