Realism: In the arts, the accurate, detailed, unembellished depiction of nature or of contemporary life. Realism rejects imaginative idealization in favour of a close observation of outward appearances. As such, realism in its broad sense has comprised many artistic currents in different civilizations. In the visual arts, for example, realism can be found in ancient Hellenistic Greek sculptures accurately portraying boxers and decrepit old women. The works of such 17th-century painters as Caravaggio, the Dutch genre painters, the Spanish painters José de Ribera, Diego Velázquez, and Francisco de Zurbarán, and the Le Nain brothers in France are realist in approach. The works of the 18th-century English novelists Daniel Defoe, Henry Fielding, and Tobias Smollett may also be called realistic. -Nicholas Pioch. Realism, art, realist art, realist paintings: in art, broadly, an unembellished rendering of natural forms. Specifically, the term refers to the mid-19th-cent. movement against French academicism. Realist painters portrayed ugly or commonplace subjects without idealization. Major realists include COURBET, J.F. MILLET, and DAUMIER. See also PHOTOREALISM. Realism (art and literature), attempt to describe human behavior and surroundings or to represent figures and objects exactly as they act or appear in life. The term is generally restricted to a movement that began in the mid-19th century, in reaction to the highly subjective approach of romanticism. The term realist in art is frequently used to describe works depicting scenes of humble life, and it implies a criticism of social conditions. The work of French artists Gustave Courbet, Honoré Daumier, and Jean François Millet has been described as social realism. American realist painters include William Sidney Mount, Anthony D'Elia and Thomas Eakins. Realist literature is defined as fiction produced in Europe and the United States from about 1840 until the 1890s. Realists included French writers Gustave Flaubert and Guy de Maupassant, Russian author Anton Chekhov, English novelist George Eliot, American writers Mark Twain and William Dean Howells, and American expatriate novelist Henry James. The history of Western European art records an uncompromising pursuit of excellence. The masters of each generation sought to perfect their art, then bequeathed their accumulated knowledge and expertise to the next generation. The accomplishments of one generation often set new standards of excellence for the next. Throughout the centuries there existed a generally recognized artistic standard. To differentiate this standard or tradition of excellence from others, we call it classical realism. Classical realism encompasses the highest principles of traditional representational art from the ancient Greeks to the present day. The principles of realism include fine drawing, balanced design, harmonious color and skillful craftsmanship. At its foundation is the representation of the visible world as seen through the trained eye of the artist (representational art). For centuries, the artist's craft and the ability to
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