The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (396 page)

realism
.

Term used with various meanings in the history and criticism of the arts. In its broadest sense the word is used as vaguely as
naturalism
, implying a desire to depict things accurately and objectively. Often, however, the term carries with it the suggestion of the rejection of conventionally beautiful subjects, or of idealization, in favour of a more down-to-earth approach, often with a stress on low life or the activities of the common man. In a more specific sense the term (usually spelled with a capital R) is applied to a movement in 19th-cent. (particularly French) art characterized by a rebellion against the traditional historical, mythological, and religious subjects in favour of unidealized scenes of modern life. The leader of the Realist movement was
Courbet
, who said ‘painting is essentially a concrete art and must be applied to real and existing things’. Since the 1950s the term has also been used in a contrasting sense, of art which eschews representation and depiction altogether and avoids all forms of illusionism. In this sense art is called ‘Realist’ when the materials or objects from which the work is constructed are presented for exactly what they are and are known to be. This usage is found particularly in the terms
New Realism
and Nouveau Réalisme. The term
Social Realism
has been applied to 19th- and 20th-cent. works that are realistic in the second sense described above and make overt social or political comment. It is to be distinguished from
Socialist Realism
, the name given to the officially approved style in the USSR and some other Communist countries; far from implying a critical approach to social questions, it involves toeing the Party line in an academic style.
Magic Realism
and
Superrealism
are names given to two 20th-cent. styles in which extreme realism—in the sense of acute attention to detail—produces a markedly unrealistic overall effect. See also
VERISM
.

 
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(1634–95).
Neapolitan still-life painter, the outstanding member of a family of artists. He specialized in pictures of fish, painted in an impressively grand style, but more austere than those of
Ruoppolo
, with whom he ranks as the most distinguished Italian still-life painter of his period.

 
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red-figure vase painting
.

One of the two major divisions of Greek vase painting, the other being
black-figure
. In the red-figure technique, the background was painted black, leaving the figures in the unpainted red colour of the pottery. Details of the figure could thus be added with a brush rather than incised through the black paint, allowing much greater flexibility and subtlety of treatment. Because of this advantage the red-figure technique, which developed in Athens from about 530 BC, rapidly superseded the black-figure technique.

 
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(1804–88).
English painter, writer, and art administrator. He began as a painter of anecdotal literary subjects, often in 18th-cent. costume, but in the 1840s he became a pioneer of scenes of contemporary social concern (
The Poor Teacher
, Shipley Art Gal., Gateshead, 1845). ‘It is one of my most gratifying feelings’, he wrote, ‘that many of my best efforts in art have aimed at calling attention to the trials and struggles of the poor and the oppressed.’ Much of his later career was taken up with administration—the posts he held included surveyor of crown pictures and keeper of pictures at the South Kensington (later Victoria and Albert) Museum—and as a painter he turned mainly to landscapes done in his spare time. His brother,
Samuel Redgrave
(1802–76), was a writer on art, the author of a still-useful
Dictionary of Artists of the English School
(1874). The brothers collaborated on
A Century of Painters of the English School
(1866), a valuable source of information on 18th- and 19th-cent. British artists.

 
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(1840–1916)
. French painter and graphic artist, one of the outstanding figures of
Symbolism
. He led a retiring life, first in his native Bordeaux, then from 1870 in Paris, and until he was in his fifties he worked almost exclusively in black and white—in charcoal drawings and lithographs. In these he developed a highly distinctive repertoire of weird subjects—strange amoeboid creatures, insects, and plants with human heads and so on, influenced by the writings of Edgar Allen Poe. He remained virtually unknown to the public until the publication of J. K. Huysmans's celebrated novel
A Rebours
in 1884; the book's hero, a disenchanted aristocrat who lives in a private world of perverse delights, collects Redon's drawings, and with his mention in this classic expression of decadence, Redon too became associated with the movement. During the 1890s Redon turned to painting and revealed remarkable powers as a colourist that had previously lain dormant. Much of his early life had been unhappy, but after undergoing a religious crisis in the early 1890s and a serious illness in 1894–5, he was transformed into a much more buoyant and cheerful personality, expressing himself in radiant colours in visionary subjects, flower paintings, and mythological scenes (
The Chariot of Apollo
was one of his favourite themes). He showed equal facility in oils and pastel. His flower pieces, in particular, were much admired by
Matisse
, and the
Surrealists
regarded Redon as one of their precursors. He was a distinguished figure by the end of his life, although still a very private person.

 
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