naturalism

naturalism Term denoting an approach to art in which the artist endeavours to represent objects as they are empirically observed, rather than in a stylized or conceptual manner. Bellori (1672) was the first to apply the term to a particular type of painting in discussing the followers of Caravaggio, with reference to their doctrine of copying nature faithfully whether it seems to us ugly or beautiful. Naturalism, however, is not incompatible with the idealization of nature, for Greek sculpture may be naturalistic in its command of anatomy but idealistic in that it sets up a standard of physical beauty remote from the everyday world. Nor need the term imply minute attention to detail, although this is often part of a naturalistic approach. The shade of meaning to be attached to the word can thus vary greatly according to context; when used in its broadest sense it may suggest little more than that a work is representational rather than abstract. The terms ‘naturalistic’ and ‘realistic’ are often used more or less synonymously, but Realism with a capital R has a specific meaning in the history of art and should not be used loosely.