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I was told by my art teacher in high school that they intentionally didn't go for total realism as that was imitating God's work or some religious reasoning (th

I was told by my art teacher in high school that they intentionally didn't go for total realism as that was imitating God's work or some religious reasoning (they cared more about the story/theme than the execution). I never really bought into that reasoning 100% as they seem to get really detailed with the furniture and clothing for instance, but then fall flat with the perspective/shadows.

dkarl 4y ago
> I was told by my art teacher in high school that they intentionally didn't go for total realism as that was imitating God's work I heard this story as well and always suspected that it was an urban legend. I heard the same story about a Buddhist painter who intentionally added a poor brushstroke to every painting, to reflect that everything is imperfect and changing. Neither story makes sense in the context of Christian belief or Buddhist conviction. A Christian would have to be incredibly arrogant to think they had to take special measures to avoid rivaling the work of God — it would be hard to call such a person Christian. Similarly for the Buddhist. If they believed that everything that can be experienced has a certain characteristic, then it wouldn't be necessary to impose that characteristic on their artwork.
bazoom42 4y ago
> they intentionally didn't go for total realism as that was imitating God's work This is not true. Renaissance painters generally did strive for realism in perspective, anatomy etc. Sometimes they failed because it is really difficult. (After the invention of photography artists just use photo references which makes it a lot easier.) Sometimes they let artistic considerations take priority. In historical and mythological paintings they didn’t stive for realism in subject matter and overall impression, but they did strive to get the physical details correct or better than reality.

dkarl 4y ago

> I was told by my art teacher in high school that they intentionally didn't go for total realism as that was imitating God's work I heard this story as well and always suspected that it was an urban legend. I heard the same story about a Buddhist painter who intentionally added a poor brushstroke to every painting, to reflect that everything is imperfect and changing. Neither story makes sense in the context of Christian belief or Buddhist conviction. A Christian would have to be incredibly arrogant to think they had to take special measures to avoid rivaling the work of God — it would be hard to call such a person Christian. Similarly for the Buddhist. If they believed that everything that can be experienced has a certain characteristic, then it wouldn't be necessary to impose that characteristic on their artwork.

bazoom42 4y ago

> they intentionally didn't go for total realism as that was imitating God's work This is not true. Renaissance painters generally did strive for realism in perspective, anatomy etc. Sometimes they failed because it is really difficult. (After the invention of photography artists just use photo references which makes it a lot easier.) Sometimes they let artistic considerations take priority. In historical and mythological paintings they didn’t stive for realism in subject matter and overall impression, but they did strive to get the physical details correct or better than reality.