Photorealism Since 1980

Donna Seaman

A Cadillac of a book--big, shiny, and handsome--this is the new model of Meisel's pioneering "Photo-realism" (1980). This baby is fully loaded with 1,120 reproductions, 560 in color, documenting the work of 25 artists who represent the best of the second decade of photo-realism. Meisel deftly establishes the historical context for photo-realism, one of the century's most popular art movements. His introduction also notes its pervasive influence, particularly in legitimizing the link between painting and photography, and praises its high level of craft and discipline. The paintings themselves embody a high-gloss and meticulously rendered world, as well as an iconography of kitsch. There are the optically complex store windows and signs of Richard Estes and Robert Cottingham; Charles Bell's marbles and pinball machines; John Baeder's diners; and Davis Cone's old movie theaters. Even people are reduced to scenes or objects in Chuck Close's faces and John Kacere's impossibly perfect, lingerie-wrapped female torsos. Some newcomers, Stephen Fox and Robert Gniewek in particular, bring a fresh fluidity and moodiness to photo-realism, demonstrating its continuing vitality and success in expressing certain significant elements of American culture.