9/30/2014

About Figurative And Genre Art

By Elsa Noel


Genre art pictures scenes from everyday life, usually people doing something. According to the Academy systematization, genre painting is one of the types of paintings, together with history painting, portraiture, landscape, animal paining and still life. Figurative and genre art aren't synonyms, although they can both picture animal or human figures in different situations. Genre art is figuratism, while figuratism doesn't have to be genre art.

Figurative art is even easier to describe. It always refer to the real world, and presented themes should always be recognizable. Of course, artists can picture this real world on their unique way, and they don't have to follow any special principle. They use all imaginable techniques and materials, using shades, lines and colors to achieve different effects, volume or perspective.

Although figuratism may contain different simplifications of the form, especially when it comes to paintings, this type of art is basically representational rather than abstract. Generally it may be said that figurative may be applied to all art before abstract. Today, this term is mostly used to define any art form that isn't abstract. In short, if you can tell what it is, it is definitely figuratism.

It doesn't matter what media is used. All are accepted, including oil, watercolor and pastel. People are the main subject, whether they have their clothes or not. Of course, some artists are more interested in describing particular emotions or moods, while others might be more focused on reality. Generally, all portraits that are recognizable are certainly figurative artworks.

Although this representation is based on a real figure, using different materials, media and techniques results in really wide variety of different styles. All expressionistic artworks belong to figuratism, because they are mostly focused on shapes, colors and structure. Some other forms, for example cubism, sometimes belong to this category as well, if the figure is recognizable at some point, whatever technique is used.

As you can see, there are some extremes in this categorization. On one side you will find something barely recognizable, while there is other extreme as well, for example photo realism. If you check Picasso's artworks, some of his works are very good examples for this. His woman looks really distorted, yes, but you can certainly recognize her as a woman. So, it is figuratism, although the cubism is actually abstract art.

Numerous contemporary artists represent different approaches to figuratism. Some of the most interesting ones are John Currin and Jenny Saville, for example. If you would like to explore the world of modern figurative artists, make sure to check the work of Hollis Dunlap, Johan Van Mullem, Marlene Dumas, Jas Knight, Gillian Carnegie and numerous other interesting artists.

Twentieth century was not very good period for figuratism. Abstract art forms and different avant-garde movements were just about everywhere. Luckily, in the eighties, figuratism was re-discovered. John Currin is one of the most popular representatives of this new age. Interested in real arts, not in changing or improving something perfect. It would be hard to improve Titian or Michelangelo. The point is to offer valuable art that reflects the world that exists today.




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