THREE REALISTS

Alamango, Dahl,
Eakins
Malta Norway
USA

Was the original title but the piece morphed into a

DENIAL OF DEFINITION.
I now have a problem with the on-line dictionary which
states that realism in art is:
a. treatment of forms, colors, space, etc., in such a manner as to emphasize their
correspondence to actuality or to ordinary visual experience. Compare IDEALISM (def. 4),
NATURALISM (def. 2). This sounds o.k. but IS this a definition, that is a define ition?
 A definition, BY definition is supposed to tell us the limits of something,
before the something becomes something else
b. a style of painting and sculpture developed about the mid-19th century in which figures and
scenes are depicted as they are experienced or might be experienced in everyday life. Now,
this statement, as a definition, should bother even a bright 12 year-old. If the
concept of “realism” was, as this says, developed about 1850..just what are we
supposed to do with all those realistic-appearing art products that were created
in all those different centuries, for thousands of years before then? Such as the

following works:

Albrecht Durer (see below)*

I imagine that a strong

argument might be made for the “degrees of realism” present in a work
when, for example, we compare the Greek work above with the 18th
century work by Falconet (1716-1791)
*This work was purposefully introduced to this group because of the very
different approach to representation. All the other works, except this one
etching, define the subject matter by the its dekimitations, that is, the
visual concentration is on the subject. In this etching which is one I did of
a student the subect is defined rather by what surrounds it rather than
what it actually is.

This drawing by Jan

 Zahourek remains, for me, a jewel of expression where the expressive
motor freedom of the artist has been put to the service of more than
adequately describing the motor expressiveness of another human
body while, at the same time, allowing the marks on the paper to retain
their own expressive character.

This is an important point to remember when considering aspects of

realism…which of the numerous facets embedded in the concept of
realism is one talking about?

I also found the following, but, in this instance, I’ll leave

these be.
one that makes logs into fence rails

a person who commits larceny

This definition would seem to imply, that nothing that appeared before Johan
Christian Dahl was realistic. In such an event, then we have a definitive problem in
dealing with what our sense tells us and by what rationale should we be able to
exclude the following?

additionally, we find different types of realism, apparently, including the

following: classical ( I found no reference to a non-classical), hyper, kitchen sink,
magic, poetic, social, romantic and Nazi. Now, I understand that Wickipedia
is considered, to some small extent at least, an authority as are other
dictionaries. My private conclusion must be that these authorities have
authored confusion. On the other hand (and there is always another hand), the
officially expressed “confusion” may be some implied consent that I
permission to add my own little bit of dissension and state that the above
three examples can be considered examples of realism ONLY if “realism” is
referencing the artist’s focus of interest and his point of view

Etymology:
Middle English, from Anglo-French larecin theft, from Latin latrocinium
robbery, from latron-, latro mercenary soldier, probably from Greek *latrōn,
from latron pay
Date:
15th century
 larceny is a common law crime involving theft [could this “theft” be a kin to stealing
one’s “identity”

DEFINING “abstract”:
The abstract also records all deeds, wills, mortgages, and other documents
that affect ownership of the property. An abstract describes a chain of
transfers from owner to owner and any agreements by former owners that
are binding on later owners. What is “abstracted” here are the
facts of the history of ownership. There is no alteration of
these facts and no other unrelated facts are included.
Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a
composition which exists independently of visual references
law crime involving theft
larceny is a common The abstract also records all deeds, wills, mortgages, and
other documents that affect ownership of the property. An abstract
describes a chain of transfers from owner to owner and any agreements by
former owners that are binding on later owners.
In law, an abstract is a brief statement that contains the most important points of a
long legal document. There is no editorializing or elaboration in the
document that fits this definition.
John James Audubon. It was certainly Audubon’s intention to
be as accurate in his visual reporting as he could manage and this effort was
made, I suspect, at the sacrifice of having his representations possess the
“sense of life” which result may be borne out by the fact, I believe it is a fact,
that the birds were dead when he painted them and the backgrounds made
up “after the fact”. It becomes important to remember that in the very act of
looking there exists an element of distortion of “reality” that 1) may be
related to the physical movement involved in looking and 2) in the
psychological interpretations placed on the “reality” of what is seen.

There is a story some anthropologists tell about a group of scientists visiting

a primitive group somewhere where come out from the shore in the boats
with sails to defend themselves , perhaps, from what they perceive may be a
threat. It must be close to evening, or even dark when some mischievous
anthropologists cast a movie of attacking lions onto the sail which terrifies
the natives and they all jump ship.
 Paul Henrickson “Wales”
This painting and the seven others I did of a similar subject were the result of
“real” responses many of them strongly psychological, to the extraordinary
experience of seeing a lovely bucolic landscape appear and disappear in the
slow drifting of the heavy mist.

Sinalese masked
dancers. Such representations from this and other cultures such as the
American Pueblo Indian are related to beliefs in a variety of factors which
influence their lives. As such, depending upon the strength or power of the
belief, the belief functions as an aspect of their cosmic reality. Such a
statement has much to do with the performance of psychological factors
which might well determine a measureable outcome and, as such, might
with justification be considered “real”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-R0quok0dR0 This link brings you to a

short video tape of the Introduction of Qeequeg in the John Huston film
“Moby Dick” I have chosen it to further dismantle any preconceptions the
reader might have concerning the reality of things. The transformation of

Count Ledebur of Austria. Ishmael and Queequeg (although,

I think, this character is not the one played by Ledebur) Nor is this video but
it does illustrate the point. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-R0quok0dR0
However, this video does show Ladebur as Queequeg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZD9zCLRB1g . The importance in the
difference is that Ledebur was a European aristocrat and the first Queequeg
a native of the Pacific Islands. Consequently, reality is stretched in the one
and adhered to in the other.

Now, on the matter of body decoration, or, as the film “The illustrated Man”
would prefer, “body illustration” the process is a matter of and does involve
a process of enlarging upon or stretching the “reality” of that body as the
following examples would demonstrate.

The image of the tatooed “granny” provides an entirley different set of

questions regarding the creative motivations than from those which might
explain the ceremonial, but temporary, skin decorating associated, I believe,
with an East Indian marriage ceremony. The man in the third image is a
chief from the Pacific Island of Ulithi and he proudly stood to be
photographed I lacked the shutzpa to ask what the markings all meant. The
fourth image, howver, comes from the traditional work assoicated with, most
especially, Hispanic prisoners of the state who selected the image of the
Virgin of Christianity for the back in the belief, I have been told, that this
would keep them from being sodomized by other prisoners. Of course, in the
dark it might not work at all.
 The exterior wall decoration of a
Romanian church

Texas Prison tattoos Andrew Lichtenstein

 Sigarijah wall fresco, Sri
Lanka
 Lorenzo Veneziano
This 14th Century Italian artist was well-known for his religious subjects.
Actually, at that time that was just about all any artist created. The church
was, after all one of the controlling factors in a society’s organization.
Concepts that unify tend to obliterate differences and the power of
consensus belief is a very very powerful tool. This is why, for example, one
does not find in 14th century art subjects such as
one finds in Aubrey Bearsdley’s work, but while Beardsley was notably
creative, or at least varied, in his subject matter Veneziano managed to
produce variations within some rather narrow areas of acceptable
differences. In two of three virgins shown here only one has her hair
uncovered, and that is both blond and loose, “unbound”, as the expression
used to be, and even within our life -times one of the cinematic devices that
indicate a woman’s readiness for erotic involvement is the loosening of the
hair.