Figurative art, sometimes written as figurativism, describes (particularly paintings and sculptures) that is clearly derived from real object sources and so is, by definition, representational. The term is often in contrast to abstract art:
Since the arrival of abstract art the term figurative has been used to refer to any form of modern art that retains strong references to the real world.[
]
Painting and sculpture can therefore be divided into the categories of figurative, representational and abstract, although, strictly speaking, abstract art is derived (or abstracted) from a figurative or other natural source. However, "abstract" is sometimes used as a synonym of non-representational art and non-objective art, i.e. art which has no derivation from figures or objects.
Figurative art is not synonymous with figure painting (art that represents the human figure), although human and animal figures are frequent subjects.
Formal elements
The formal elements, those aesthetic effects created by design, upon which figurative art is dependent, include ,
shape,
color,
light and
dark,
mass,
volume, texture, and perspective,
[Adams, Laurie Schneider, The Methodologies of Art, pages 17–19. Westview Press, 1996,] although these elements of design could also play a role in creating other types of imagery—for instance abstract, or non-representational or non-objective two-dimensional artwork. The difference is that in figurative art these elements are deployed to create an impression or illusion of form and space, and, usually, to create emphasis in the narrative portrayed.
Evolution
Figurative art is itself based upon a tacit understanding of abstracted shapes: the figure sculpture of
Greece antiquity was not naturalistic, for its forms were idealized and
geometric.
[Kenneth Clark, The Nude: A Study in Ideal Form, pages 31–2. Princeton University Press, 1990.] Ernst Gombrich referred to the strictures of this schematic imagery, the adherence to that which was already known, rather than that which is seen, as the "Egyptian method", an allusion to the memory-based clarity of imagery in
Egyptian art.
[ The Gombrich Archive: Press statement on The Story of Art ]
Eventually idealization gave way to observation, and a figurative art which balanced ideal geometry with greater realism was seen in Classical sculpture by 480 B.C.
[ The Greeks referred to the reliance on visual observation as mimesis. Until the time of the Impressionists, figurative art was characterized by attempts to reconcile these opposing principles.][
]
From the early Renaissance, Mannerism and the Baroque through 18th-, 19th- and 20th-century painting Figurative art has steadily broadened its parameters. An important landmark in the evolution of figurative art is the first known reclining nude in Western painting in Sleeping Venus (1510) by Giorgione.
Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665), a French Painting in the Classicism style whose work predominantly features clarity, logic, and order, and favors line over color, served as an alternative to the more narrative Baroque style of the 17th century. He was a major inspiration for such classically oriented artists as Jacques-Louis David, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres and Paul Cézanne. The rise of the Neoclassicism art of Jacques-Louis David ultimately engendered the realistic reactions of Gustave Courbet and Édouard Manet leading to the multi-faceted figurative art of the 20th century.
In November, 2018, scientists reported the discovery of the oldest known figurative art painting, over 40,000 (perhaps as old as 52,000) years old, of an unknown animal, in the cave of Lubang Jeriji Saléh on the island of Borneo.
Architecture, townscape
File:Durer-Castle-Innsbruck.jpg|Albrecht Dürer (1494) Courtyard of Innsbruck Castle
File:Jan van der Heyden - The Church at Veere.jpg|Jan van der Heyden (1652) The Church at Veere
File:Piazzetta and Bacino di San Marco - Giovanni Antonio Canal commonly known as Canaletto.jpg|Canaletto (c. 1737) View of the Piazzetta and The Bassin of San Marco in Venice
File:Burgos Cathedral painting Bossue.jpg|alt=| Burgos Cathedral (1851) by François Bossuet
History painting
File:San Romano Battle (Paolo Uccello, London) 01.jpg|Paolo Uccello (1438–1440) The Battle of San Romano
File:Jacques-Louis David - Oath of the Horatii - Google Art Project.jpg|Jacques-Louis David (1786) Oath of the Horatii
File:John Everett Millais - Christ in the House of His Parents (`The Carpenter's Shop') - Google Art Project.jpg|John Everett Millais (1854–1860) Christ In The House Of His Parents
File:Lourens Alma Tadema - De Egyptische weduwe..jpg|Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1872) The Egyptian Widow
Human forms
File:Roman fresco with a Woman on a Balcony - Getty Villa Collection.jpg|Ancient Roman woman on a balcony (9–14 CE), Getty Villa
File:Kenyon Cox nude study2.jpg|Kenyon Cox (1896) Nude study
File:Joseph Csaky, 1911-1912, Groupe de femmes, Groupe de trois femmes, Groupe de trois personnages..jpg|Joseph Csaky (1911–1912) Groupe de femmes (Group of Women), plaster
File:Raymond Duchamp-Villon, 1914, Femme assise, plaster, 65.5 cm (25.75 in), photograph by Duchamp-Villon.jpg|Raymond Duchamp-Villon (1914) Femme assise, plaster
File:Statue from Ain Ghazal in Louvre Abu Dhabi.jpg|ʿAin Ghazal statues, from approximately 9000 years ago
File:'David' by Michelangelo Fir JBU004.jpg| David (1504), by Michelangelo
File:"Seated Dress Impression with Drapery" by Karen LaMonte.jpg|alt=| Seated Dress Impression with Drapery (2005), by Karen LaMonte
File:Mother and her child.jpg|alt=| Mother and her child by Leah Michlson.
Landscape, seascape
File:Albrecht Altdorfer 007.jpg|Albrecht Altdorfer (), Danube landscape near Regensburg
File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder- The Harvesters - Google Art Project.jpg|Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1565) The Harvesters
File:The Fighting Temeraire, JMW Turner, National Gallery.jpg|J. M. W. Turner (1839) The Fighting Temeraire
File:Monet - Regen bei Eretat.jpg|Claude Monet (1886) Rain at Eretat
File:Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) - Wheat Field with Crows (1890).jpg|alt=| Wheat Field with Crows (1890) by Vincent van Gogh
File:Georgia O'Keeffe, Palo Duro Canyon, 1916-1917.tif|alt=| Palo Duro Canyon (1916) by Georgia O'Keeffe
Still life
File:Alexander Coosemans - Still Life with Lobster and Oysters.jpg|Alexander Coosemans () Still Life with Lobster and Oysters
File:Cezanne, Nature morte au compotier.jpg|Paul Cézanne (1879) Nature morte au compotier
File:Henri Matisse, 1899, Still Life with Compote, Apples and Oranges, oil on canvas, 46.4 x 55.6 cm, The Cone Collection, Baltimore Museum of Art.jpg|Henri Matisse (1899) Still Life with Compote, Apples and Oranges
Cave painting
File:Lascaux painting.jpg|Upper Paleolithic art, c. 17,300 years old, showing aurochs, horses, and deer. Lascaux, France
File:Bestias11.JPG|Neolithic rock art, over 7,000 years old. Cave of Beasts, Egypt
See also
Notes and references
External links
