Figurative art, sometimes written as figurativism, describes artwork (particularly paintings and sculptures) that is clearly derived from real object sources and so is, by definition, representational. The term is often in contrast to abstract art:

<blockquote>Since the arrival of abstract art the term figurative has been used to refer to any form of modern art that retains strong references to the real world.</blockquote>

Painting and sculpture can therefore be divided into the categories of figurative, representational and abstract, although, strictly speaking, abstract art is derived (or abstracted) from a figurative or other natural source. However, "abstract" is sometimes used as a synonym of non-representational art and non-objective art, i.e. art which has no derivation from figures or objects.

Figurative art is not synonymous with figure painting (art that represents the human figure), although human and animal figures are frequent subjects.

Formal elements

The formal elements, those aesthetic effects created by design, upon which figurative art is dependent, include line, shape, color, light and dark, mass, volume, texture, and perspective, although these elements of design could also play a role in creating other types of imagery—for instance abstract, or non-representational or non-objective two-dimensional artwork. The difference is that in figurative art these elements are deployed to create an impression or illusion of form and space, and, usually, to create emphasis in the narrative portrayed.

Evolution

thumb|230px|[[Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, Le Bain Turc (The Turkish bath), 1862, oil on canvas, 108 × 110 cm, Louvre, Paris]]

Figurative art is itself based upon a tacit understanding of abstracted shapes: the figure sculpture of Greek antiquity was not naturalistic, for its forms were idealized and geometric. Ernst Gombrich referred to the strictures of this schematic imagery, the adherence to that which was already known, rather than that which is seen, as the "Egyptian method", an allusion to the memory-based clarity of imagery in Egyptian art.

Eventually idealization gave way to observation, and a figurative art which balanced ideal geometry with greater realism was seen in Classical sculpture by 480 B.C. It introduced the female nude as subject and started a long line of famous paintings.

Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665), a French painter in the classical style whose work predominantly features clarity, logic, and order, and favors line over color, served as an alternative to the more narrative Baroque style of the 17th century. He was a major inspiration for such classically oriented artists as Jacques-Louis David, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres and Paul Cézanne. The rise of the Neoclassical art of Jacques-Louis David ultimately engendered the realistic reactions of Gustave Courbet and Édouard Manet leading to the multi-faceted figurative art of the 20th century.

In November, 2018, scientists reported the discovery of the oldest known figurative art painting, over 40,000 (perhaps as old as 52,000) years old, of an unknown animal, in the cave of Lubang Jeriji Saléh on the Indonesian island of Borneo.

Architecture, townscape

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File:Durer-Castle-Innsbruck.jpg|Albrecht Dürer (1494) Courtyard of Innsbruck Castle

File:Jan van der Heyden - The Church at Veere.jpg|Jan van der Heyden (1652) The Church at Veere

File:Piazzetta and Bacino di San Marco - Giovanni Antonio Canal commonly known as Canaletto.jpg|Canaletto (c. 1737) View of the Piazzetta and The Bassin of San Marco in Venice

File:Burgos Cathedral painting Bossue.jpg|alt=|Burgos Cathedral (1851) by <bdi>François Bossuet </bdi>

</gallery>

History painting

<gallery widths="190px" heights="170px"><!--chronological order-->

File:San Romano Battle (Paolo Uccello, London) 01.jpg|Paolo Uccello (1438–1440) The Battle of San Romano

File:Jacques-Louis David - Oath of the Horatii - Google Art Project.jpg|Jacques-Louis David (1786) Oath of the Horatii

File:John Everett Millais - Christ in the House of His Parents (`The Carpenter's Shop') - Google Art Project.jpg|John Everett Millais (1854–1860) Christ In The House Of His Parents

File:Lourens Alma Tadema - De Egyptische weduwe..jpg|Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1872) The Egyptian Widow

</gallery>

Human forms

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File:Roman fresco with a Woman on a Balcony - Getty Villa Collection.jpg|Ancient Roman woman on a balcony (9–14 CE), Getty Villa

File:Kenyon Cox nude study2.jpg|Kenyon Cox (1896) Nude study

File:Joseph Csaky, 1911-1912, Groupe de femmes, Groupe de trois femmes, Groupe de trois personnages..jpg|Joseph Csaky (1911–1912) Groupe de femmes (Group of Women), plaster

File:Raymond Duchamp-Villon, 1914, Femme assise, plaster, 65.5 cm (25.75 in), photograph by Duchamp-Villon.jpg|Raymond Duchamp-Villon (1914) Femme assise, plaster

File:Statue from Ain Ghazal in Louvre Abu Dhabi.jpg|ʿAin Ghazal statues, from approximately 9000 years ago

File:'David' by Michelangelo Fir JBU004.jpg|David (1504), by Michelangelo

File:"Seated Dress Impression with Drapery" by Karen LaMonte.jpg|alt=|Seated Dress Impression with Drapery (2005), by Karen LaMonte

File:Mother and her child.jpg|alt=|Mother and her child by Leah Michlson.

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Landscape, seascape

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File:Albrecht Altdorfer 007.jpg|Albrecht Altdorfer (), Danube landscape near Regensburg

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder- The Harvesters - Google Art Project.jpg|Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1565) The Harvesters

File:The Fighting Temeraire, JMW Turner, National Gallery.jpg|J. M. W. Turner (1839) The Fighting Temeraire

File:Monet - Regen bei Eretat.jpg|Claude Monet (1886) Rain at Eretat

File:Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) - Wheat Field with Crows (1890).jpg|alt=|Wheat Field with Crows (1890) by Vincent van Gogh

File:Georgia O'Keeffe, Palo Duro Canyon, 1916-1917.tif|alt=|Palo Duro Canyon (1916) by Georgia O'Keeffe

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Still life

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File:Alexander Coosemans - Still Life with Lobster and Oysters.jpg|Alexander Coosemans () Still Life with Lobster and Oysters

File:Cezanne, Nature morte au compotier.jpg|Paul Cézanne (1879) Nature morte au compotier

File:Henri Matisse, 1899, Still Life with Compote, Apples and Oranges, oil on canvas, 46.4 x 55.6 cm, The Cone Collection, Baltimore Museum of Art.jpg|Henri Matisse (1899) Still Life with Compote, Apples and Oranges

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Cave painting

<gallery widths="190px" heights="150px"><!--chronological order-->

File:Lascaux painting.jpg|Upper Paleolithic art, c. 17,300 years old, showing aurochs, horses, and deer. Lascaux, France

File:Bestias11.JPG|Neolithic rock art, over 7,000 years old. Cave of Beasts, Egypt

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See also

  • Illustration
  • Narrative art
  • Neofigurative Art
  • Stuckism

Notes and references

  • Figurative art at TATE.org