The thing I like most is the objectivity of the critical judgment... Just joking. As Mychkine said, you can be proud. Good work(s).
Turner - Alnwick Castle Turner - Warkworth Castle, Northumberland Turner - Norham Castle on the River Tweed Turner - Prudhoe Castle Turner - Barnard Castle A few places not a million miles from where I live...
Gotta admit I wonder why a painter would want to do such a piece of strict photorealism. I mean, if you're just looking to precisely document mundane reality, why not just take a picture?
It's not about documenting reality: From wiki By the time the Photorealists began producing their bodies of work the photograph had become the leading means of reproducing reality and abstraction was the focus of the art world.Realism continued as an on-going art movement, even experiencing a reemergence in the 1930s, but by the 1950s modernist critics and Abstract Expressionism had all but minimalized realism as a serious art undertaking.Though Photorealists share some aspects of American realists, such as Edward Hopper, they tried to set themselves as much apart from traditional realists as they did Abstract Expressionists.Photorealists were much more influenced by the work of Pop artists and were reacting against Abstract Expressionism. Pop Art and Photorealism were both reactionary movements stemming from the ever increasing and overwhelming abundance of photographic media, which by the mid 20th century had grown into such a massive phenomenon that it was threatening to lessen the value of imagery in art.However, whereas the Pop artists were primarily pointing out the absurdity of much of the imagery (especially in commercial usage), the Photorealists were trying to reclaim and exalt the value of an image. The association of Photorealism to Trompe L'oeil is a wrongly attributed comparison, an error in observation or interpretation made by many critics of the 1970s and 1980s. Trompe L'oeil paintings attempt to "fool the eye" and make the viewer think he is seeing an actual object, not a painted one. When observing a Photorealist painting, the viewer is always aware that they are looking at a painting
Dali's Christ of St. John of the Cross. First saw this in the Kelvingrove Art Gallery in Glasgow (whose city council bought the painting years ago). Would've been around 1983 I think.
I have always been impressed by the breadth of styles in the paintings of Paul Klee: Stage Landscape: Cat and Bird: Red Bridge: Castle and Sun:
Apologies if this was already mentioned - "The Triumph of Death" by Bruegel: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Triumph_of_Death Check out this high-res version: http://www.museodelprado.es/imagen/alta_resolucion/P01393.jpg a.maz.ing.
A great painter rarely mentioned, Rachel Ruysch painted her still lives with an astonishing level of detail. No reproduction of her work does it justice, but here goes:
Doppio ritratto dei duchi di Urbino (Paired Portraits of the Duke and Duchess of Urbino), Piero della Francesca, 1465-1472 circa. Uffizi, Florence, Italy.
Saw this at The Whitney's Edward Hopper exhibit on Sunday, and I don't think it was part of the retrospective they had many years ago. What's fascinating about the exhibit as a whole is that they've displayed his sketches and drawings for each of the exhibited paintings. As an insight to his working process it's invaluable. A must see if you're in the NYC area, I think it runs through October.
