Realism in 20th Century Painting

What is realism, and just how real are its images? Quite apart from the eye and mind of the artist then the vision and interpretation or reaction of the viewer, there are different kinds of realism: social, political, visual, academic, scientific, journalistic among them. This is a book of interpretation and ideas, claimed as the first comprehensive and critical survey of realist painting in twentieth century art. Realism is shown, contrary to general assumption, to have had a constant and important role in US and European painting throughout the last century.

We have indicated elsewhere the role of a major...