American Realism

Despite the acclaim given since 1945 to American abstract painting and sculpture, realism has continued to play a uniquely important role in American art. This lavishly illustrated book explores the tremendous scope, richness, toughness, sensibility, and liveliness of the American realist tradition. Sixteen sections discuss and display the finest and most important work of different artists, groups, schools, and periods—including American Impressionism, the Ashcan School, Precisionism, American Scene Painting, Edward Hopper, Urban realism, Photorealism, and Postmodern realism today—and provide convincing proof that the American realist legacy occupies an unparalleled position in the world art of the past one hundred years. Edward Lucie-Smith discusses the work of pioneering masters of American realism such as Thomas Eakins, Mary Cassatt, Charles Sheeler, Thomas Hart Benton, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Andrew Wyeth. He then examines the work of contemporary realist painters, from Wayne Thiebaud, Leon Golub, Isabel Bishop, Alice Neel, and Fairfield Porter to younger artists, such as Eric Fischl and Jeff Koons, who have achieved star status as practitioners of this innovative tradition. The book thus carries the story of American realism up to the present, showing how it continues to flourish in the United States today as strongly as it has in the past. A magnificent volume, with over one hundred color plates, American Realism both celebrates and reveals the strengths of a great American legacy. 250 illustrations, 115 in color.