Thursday, 2 October 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 any form of art that has strong and recognizable references to the real world. The importance is given to perspective, volume, shape and structure. Artists use lines, shades, color and different materials to accentuate volume and perspective, or to achieve other effects. All techniques are accepted, as long as everything is based on the real world.

When it comes to painting, the form can be really simplified, and it would still be figuratism. Unless it is abstract. Generally, it can be said that all artworks created before fist abstract forms are considered as figuratism. After that, if it is based on the real world and recognizable, this form is figurative. If you cannot recognize the subject of this particular work, it is probably something abstract.

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.

So, there are two poles of figurative art. On one side there is the photo realism, where everything has to be exactly as it really is. Other extreme is almost unrecognizable figuration, which is nearly abstract. Cubism is a very good example of this second extreme. Take for example Picasso's work. When it comes to his analysis of woman's face, it doesn't look exactly as a face, but you can tell that it is.

Contemporary artists became more interested in this form in last few decades. Some of them can really offer something extraordinary. For example, John Currin, Jas Knight, Gillian Carnegie and Jenny Saville. If you aren't familiar with their work, you should definitely correct this mistake. You might be pleasantly surprised.

Different abstract art forms popular in twentieth century made figurative arts a little bit neglected. They tried to improve the art. In the eighties, this forgotten art form became popular again, thanks to numerous enthusiasts such as John Currin. Contemporary figurative art reflect modern world and definitely has something to offer. Maybe art cannot be improved, but it can offer something new and exciting.




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