What's the difference between realism, photorealism and hyperrealism?

Hi everybody, this is Victoria. Welcome back to another new episode of Discovering Art Together. And in this week's video, we are going to discover together what is the difference between realism, photorealism, and hyperrealism. So we're going to take a deeper dive, a closer look at what are the resemblance between these three styles, and what makes a difference between the three styles. Because there is a very important difference between each of these styles over here, and that's what we're going to learn today. So if you guys are ready, let's get started. So this is probably one of the most common questions that people do ask me, and also students asking, and also just generally people want to know more. What is the actual true difference between realism, photorealism, and hyperrealism? Even though they're still kind of part of the realism family, there is a quite a large difference between these three main styles. So first, we're going to take a look at what is realism, and we'll kind of move towards photorealism, hyperrealism, and as you can see, the growth and slight difference between all three of them. But the only thing that do have quite the similarity is that they all focus on realism, but in a different way. Okay, so let's learn what is realism. So an easy way to understand what realism is, is that basically it is a replicate of something, whether it's a person, an animal, or a flower, a still life, or an object, and it has its original natural look to it. It looks natural, it looks real, but when we take a look at the painting, it still looks like a painting. So that's one of the main things about realism. So we can differentiate that even though we do stay true to the actual object, because realism does not allow us to have any kind of embellishment or idealistic way of seeing this object. We stay true to the original subject, but we can still see that it actually is a painting. Now let's take an example and see what realism looks like. William Adolph Bouguereau's The Elder Sister is a perfect example for realism. As you can see, we do see that he stayed very true to the subject. Everything looks natural and also real, but at the same time, when we take a look at Bouguereau's paintings, we know that it's a painting and not a photo. So that's the main big difference. It's realism, but not as real as photography. So now let's go ahead and jump into photorealism. Photorealism, on the other hand, is actually quite different. So the main goal of photorealism is to reproduce exactly what the photo is like. So basically, a one-on-one exact copy. Just one has been photographed and the other one is completely painted by hand and they look identical. So people usually would not be able to tell a difference whether if it's a photo or if it was the painting because they look so similar. Now let's take a look at an example of what photorealism looks like. So let's take a look at Richard S's painting of Cafe Express and Telephone Booths. So as you can see, these two paintings look exactly like the photo that he has taken. It's so close to the reality of what we would see if we were to look at a photograph, but except for this is hand painted by Richard. Now we got an understanding of what realism is and what photorealism is, let's take a look and understand what is hyperrealism. So hyperrealism is basically taking photorealism to the next level. The biggest difference between photorealism and hyperrealism is that hyperrealism is not chained down to its original subject. So basically, even though it looks so photorealistic, you are not exactly copying every single stroke, every single line that you see in the photograph. You're just taking the details in the photo reference and you're using that to create something new, something even more alive. So another way of taking a look at hyperrealism is that you're taking the technical skill and attention to detail from photorealism but improving and creating a new life out of it by expressing what the artist wanted to share and tell their story. You're recreating something in a way that is so lifelike, you could be tricked into thinking that it's the real thing. So that's the power of hyperrealism. So the artist has a thorough understanding of how this subject, whether it's a portrait or an object or a plant or animal and they fully understand how to be able to replicate the textures and breathe life into this though, but they're not actually exactly copying each strand of hair or each skin texture on the person that's in the photograph. It's just there to help them. That is just a tool for them to use so that they can paint what they want to express. So hyperrealism is a very, they kind of put a lot of their personal, emotional and also their particular taste and unique ways of seeing the the subject. That's what makes a big difference between hyperrealism and photorealism. I do know that a lot of people get it very confused between photorealism and hyperrealism because they do have quite the similarities because they originate from the same source, which is a photograph, but they kind of become very different outcomes where one is a lot more restricted because you're following exactly how the photo is like and the other one is more freedom to kind of change stuff, recreate things and to make it so that it matches what the artist wanted to express. And here are some of my favorite hyperrealistic artists that I would love to share with you guys so you guys can take a closer look and also discover the amazing effects and cool stuff that they can create. So let's take a look at first of all Marco Grazzi. We also have C.J. Hendry, Jono Dry, Cleo Newton, Anna Halden-Moll, Christiane Wigals, Philip Weber, Nick Sider, and Young Seung Kim. And definitely there is so much more amazing hyperrealistic artists out there but these are one of the most eye-catching and the one that inspired me to do hyperrealism and kind of create something new and beyond from the photo reference. Okay and that is it for today so I hope you guys enjoyed this brand new episode and I hope you learned the difference between realism, photorealism, and hyperrealism and understanding the qualities of each of these art styles and also the similarities of these art styles and the difference between all of these three. So yeah the secret is unlocked! So have fun browsing and taking a look at all these amazing artists out there and hoping that you guys can be inspired, be motivated, and also learn from them. There's so much to learn from each individual because they all specialize in a specific subject or a specific art style that they can create and makes it so realistic. Thank you again so much for joining me on this new video and kind of getting intro of what realism is, photorealism, and hyperrealism and also here's a mini exercise for you guys. Try to find some of your favorite hyperrealism artists and see if you can get some inspiration and also learning from their artworks so you can do master studies from them. I did a few master studies by Anna as you can see in the paintings behind there. I really love her work and there is so much to learn from these living masters so yep! Okay have fun, stay creative everybody, and I shall see you guys in the next episode and if you guys like this video please remember to click the like button, make sure to subscribe, and get notified for the upcoming video that's coming out next week. Okay take care, thanks again, bye!