Why am I drawn to Realist, Figurative Art?
When I am working on a drawing or a painting, and I am moving backwards and forwards, squinting my eyes and tilting my head, wondering whether what I am making feels right, I ask myself why my ambition is to make works that match what I see with my eyes.
Is it because I find works that closely resemble the real world are somehow more honest? Honest according to who? The reality being depicted is dependent on a series of artistic tricks that convince the viewer that what is being depicted is real - so how is that trickery a form of honesty? I guess realism then, is also a form of fantasy creation, a kind of convincing escape, a creation of a convincing parallel world.
I find that there are some forms of realist art that draw me in more than others. This preference makes me wonder whether I am drawn to the work because it uses realist techniques and I am therefore convinced by its depiction of reality; or whether it’s something else, which is more elusive and harder to define. I suspect the latter case is what’s going on…
A (Very) Brief History of Realist techniques
In the Palaeolithic Era as well as in other Ancient Civilizations humans strived to depict the forms around them, including the human form, with varying levels of symbolic and narrative qualities; these forms were often stylised and simplified, yet still recognisable as the things they were depicting. In terms of Western Art, the Renaissance from the 14th to the 18th Centuries saw a profound interest in the human form, with masters such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo immersing themselves in the study of anatomy, botany, physics, biology and depicting what they saw and understood.
Yet it was perhaps in the mid-19th Century that Realism came into itself as a movement, which also had its mirror in naturalist literature at the time, and was characterised by depicting reality as it was, not in an idealised or mythical way. Artists such as Gustave Courbet, Jean-François Millet and Honoré Daumier were looking at labourers, contemporary social issues and ordinary people in an unidealised way.
Between 1868 and 1873, the artist Charles Bargue created a series of lithographs that were assembled into a book that aimed to provide a rigorous foundational knowledge of drawing skills. These lithographs depict simple linear elements of plaster casts, as well as more complete master drawings and finally depictions of drawings from life. Students of this course are meant to copy the lithographs exactly using a method of breaking down the components into manageable shapes and shadow forms before developing subtle and concise rendering. “Sight-sizing” is a key part of the Bargue Method, that urges the student to accurately develop their their own sense of proportion and observation through patient study of these masterfully rendered drawings.
The Bargue Method is considered a foundational drawing method that develops important drawing skills, which has been followed by artists such as Vincent van Gogh and Pablo Picasso. Today, the method remains an important element of art ateliers the world over and is highly valued for its systematic approach to mastering drawing skills and capturing forms in a realistic way. The skills developed as part of learning the Bargue Method are applicable to drawing any forms, and are highly effective in being able to render a convincing version of reality.
Personal Desire and Discovery
Like many people, when I first came across accurately rendered and realistic drawings, I was blown away. When I witnessed first-hand the creation of a realistic drawing, the experience was strangely moving: how was it possible that this version of reality was being transferred and captured by a human hand, a human eye, a human brain, all working in synchronicity? There was (and to me, there still is), something mysterious and miraculous at work that is also so intensely human, speaking to a core part of us that has always had that urge to understand what’s around around us, and to show it to others.
This sense of wonder and excitement towards figurative realism is still there, though perhaps I have more of a sense of discernment; not all artists that work in this style are artists that I respond to. For example, almost all fantasy work does nothing for me, and realist depictions of animals and landscapes sometimes leave me cold. I also find that there are depictions of the human nude that are often tacky and ugly, despite being rendered in a highly realistic way. Realism then is not a guarantee that the art created will be any good, or that everyone will respond to it with universal praise.
It’s very difficult then to describe with any accuracy what it is that I respond to in realistic, figurative art.
Beyond Technique
Perhaps what is key, for me, is that something unexpected and emotionally captivating is rendered in a way that provides an honest insight into the artists world, and that I can recognise that artists’ way of seeing and describing the world. Also, I find myself asking whether the portrayal of the subject in this work make me want to stay with the work, to contemplate it over time, to digest it, have it speak to me and have me speak to it?
I strive then, to also make work that asks and answers the above questions.
Plate 53 of Charles Bargue’s “Cours de Dessin” is probably the most well-known of his lithographs