Realism Quotes

• True realism consists in revealing the surprising things which habit keeps covered and prevents us from seeing.

  Jean Cocteau

  Reality, Habit, Revealing

  "Le Mystère Laïc". Book by Jean Cocteau, 1928.

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• Realism is in the work when idealism is in the soul, and it is only through idealism that we resume contact with reality.

  Henri Bergson

  Reality, Soul, Resumes

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• The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are.

  Marcus Aurelius

  Motivational, Inspirational Running, Track

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• You are to draw not reality, but the appearance of reality!

  William Morris Hunt

  Reality, Appearance, Draws

  William Morris Hunt (1976). “William Morris Hunt on painting and drawing”, Dover Pubns

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• Realism is a corruption of reality.

  Wallace Stevens

  Reality, Corruption

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• Realism sets itself at work to consider characters and events which are apparently the most ordinary and uninteresting, in order to extract from these their full value and true meaning. It would apprehend in all particulars the connection between the familiar and the extraordinary, and the seen and unseen of human nature.

  George Parsons Lathrop

  Character, Order, Unseen

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• Painting is the representation of visible forms. The essence of realism is its negation of the ideal.

  Gustave Courbet

  Artist, Essence, Transcendentalism

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  The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.

  William Arthur Ward

  Inspirational, Inspiring, Leadership

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• We need realism to deal with reality.

  Slick Rick

  Reality, Needs, Deals

  "From the Vaults: Slick Rick, circa 98-99". Interview with Adisa Banjoko, allhiphop.com. March 1, 2005.

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• It has generally been assumed that of two opposing systems of philosophy, e.g., realism and idealism, one only can be true and one must be false; and so philosophers have been hopelessly divided on the question, which is the true one.

  Morris Raphael Cohen

  Philosophy, Two, Philosopher

  The Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 7, p. 407, 1910.

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• So-called "realist" photography does not capture the "what is." Instead, it is preoccupied with what should not be, like the reality of suffering for example.

  Jean Baudrillard

  Photography, Reality, Suffering

  "Photography, or the Writing of Light" by Jean Baudrillard, 2000.

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• If you finish like a photograph, on the other hand, the picture has as much personality as a photograph.

  Emile Gruppe

  Hands, Personality, Photograph

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• There is an instinct for realism, a powerful drive to reproduce oneself. The fascination of photorealistic paintings lies partly in their apparent replication of life, but these are not merely replications. These paintings are often out of life scale, varying from over life-size to under life-size, from brilliant, heightened color to pale, undertone hues.

  Audrey Flack

  Powerful, Lying, Color

  Audrey Flack (1986). “Art & soul: notes on creating”, Dutton Adult

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• Art Education is as important for a realist artist as an Alphabet is to learn a language.

  Igor Babailov

  Art, Important, Alphabet

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• It feels much better to me to think that an artist is working to show his appreciation of what already has been created than creating things himself.

  E. J. Hughes

  Appreciation, Artist, Thinking

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• I stopped making movies because I don't like taking my clothes off. Maybe it's realism, but in my opinion, it's utter filth.

  Debbie Reynolds

  Clothes, Filth, Opinion

  Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

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• Sometimes I start in a very realistic fashion, and as I go on from one painting to another of the same kind, it becomes simplified until it can be nothing but abstraction.

  Georgia O'Keeffe

  Fashion, Goes On, Painting

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• While we look to the dramatist to give romance to realism, we ask of the actor to give realism to romance.

  Oscar Wilde

  Giving, Romance, Acting

  Oscar Wilde (2014). “A Critic in Pall Mall: Being Extracts from Reviews and Miscellanies”, p.16, Simon and Schuster

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• I suggest that it is the honesty of the attempt to recreate the forms and spaces visually without artistic editing that is one of the hallmarks of realist painting.

  Philip Pearlstein

  Honesty, Space, Editing

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• Interesting is when one can produce a picture that is pretty, but with undercurrents. The metaphor that comes to mind is in the poems of Robert Frost.

  Jamie Wyeth

  Interesting, Mind, Frost

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• Magic Realism is not new. The label's new, the specific Latin American form of it is new, its modern popularity is new, but it's been around as long as literature has been around.

  Terri Windling

  Latin, Magic Realism, Hygiene

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• The average artist, if he chooses, could render an exact drawing of what he sees. Artistic work not only allows but demands some deviation from form and line. Just how far this may go depends on the viewpoint of each painter.

  Edgar Alwin Payne

  Artist, Average, Drawing

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• Without any intended hubris, I've lead a pretty exciting life. What I've tried to do in Mission Compromised is draw on those experiences to create a sense of excitement and realism within the story

  Oliver North

  Stories, Excitement, Hubris

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• Any number of holier-than-thou honorable realists walk around in the belief that they have accomplished something, simply because they tell you for the hundredth time that a field is green and a red-painted house is painted red.

  Edvard Munch

  Numbers, House, Green

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• a likeness different from the products of the God-fearing photographer.

  Vincent Van Gogh

  Different, Photographer, Products

  Vincent van Gogh (2014). “Delphi Complete Works of Vincent van Gogh (Illustrated)”, p.2765, Delphi Classics

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