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Realism

(with a capital 'r') refers to mid-nineteenth century art works that deliberately represented wretched and even ugly subjects, usually for a political reason. The term was first used to describe works of the french painter gustave courbet. Realism defined itself against the idealism associated with romanticism. It is distinguished from the paintings of, for example, velasquez, murillo, and caravaggio who used farmers and the members of the urban poor as models. Realism with a lower case 'r' may be contrasted with the 'abstract' in art. It is useful to distinguish realism from the desire to reproduce in an image an exact replica of something seen: such representation is commonly termed 'naturalism'.

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  • Part of Speech: noun
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  • Industry/Domain: Art history
  • Category: Visual arts
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