Photorealism at Deutsche Guggenheim

www.vernissage.tv | Picturing America: Photorealism in the 1970s, the first major showing of Photorealism in Germany in nearly thirty years, features thirty-one paintings, a number of them the most iconic works of the period, by fourteen artists: Robert Bechtle, Charles Bell, Tom Blackwell, Chuck Close, Robert Cottingham, Don Eddy, Richard Estes, Audrey Flack, Ralph Goings, Ron Kleeman, Richard McLean, Malcolm Morley, John Salt, and Ben Schonzeit. The works in this exhibition provide a snapshot of both this important chapter in art history and a particular moment in American history.
The exhibition will acknowledge the recognition accorded to American Photorealism in Germany during the 1970s through the inclusion of numerous works collected by Peter and Irene Ludwig and a portfolio of ten lithographs produced in conjunction with Documenta V, which included a major presentation dedicated to the movement.
This video by Martin Griessmüller and Daniel Miller provides an exhibition walkthrough during the opening reception, an introduction by curator Valerie Hillings, and statements by the artists Ron Kleemann, Robert Bechtle, and Tom Blackwell.
Picturing America: Photorealism in the 1970s at Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin. The exhibition runs until the 10th May, 2009.

[@muchalova]

Photorealism is my all time favorite style of painting. SUCH talent. Amazing! Richard Estes is my favorite.

[@realist7250]

I have been a fan of these painters for years but have never seen them in person. Many thanks for posting the video.

[@TomTremayne]

Valerie Hillings is a genius.......best wishes to her from London.

[@falevelek]

Thank you very much!

[@isaian2e]

So much better than the scribbles on canvass at the Tate Modern.

[@z1522]

Notice how most are surprisingly smallish, i.e. not 10 x 12 feet "museum size" works only institutions and billionaires can afford to display. They were stepping down in scale during the era when the largest works were Abstract Expressionist style, where egos needed to be displayed as grandiose manifestations. There is also the forgotten aspect of "angle of view" or "proper viewing distance", where perspective and scale recreate the same size picture field that would be seen if viewing the real scene through a window the same size and distance away. Chuck Close is one exception, where the huge scale distorts the sense of reality even if one isn't aware of that aspect. Merely blowing up photos makes viewers instinctively try to move back; Life magazine photo essays worked supremely partly due to the use of lenses resulting in the image fitting the size viewed holding a magazine at reading distance. We modern viewers are so inured to widely varying scales that we are insensitive to any "correct viewing distance" any more, except in extremes like too close to a TV or movie screen.

[@nujij10]

Where is that Deutsche Guggenheim? I know the Guggenheim Museum in New York, Venice en Bilbao.

[@turnleftkr]

Interesting video. I just directed a doc featurette about Malcolm Morley (Malcolm Morley: A Studio Visit) who was one of the founders of the movement, and he HATES the term Photorealist. He considers it a put down...

[@kordianlewandowski]

kijkerttt . That is not be Chuck Close, but Ben Schonzeit, :) you can found this picture in net.

[@nujij10]

Ik heb nog nooit gehoord van het Deutsche Guggenheim. Waar is dat? Ik ken het Guggenheim in New York, Venetie en Bilbao. Is het een fantasie?

[@cimerioporinternet5989]

Buenos dias internet,creo q mis comentarios han sido censurados

[@TeoSpiller]

Hyper-real = more real than the real

[@TKMINES1]

The artist who paint like this are very talented but where is the feeling or painterly interaction between artist and subject ? you just get the cold hard facts of the subject matter , no thank you if I want photorealism I will pick up my camera instead of my paint brush . I'm not putting down another artist talent or work just my feeling on this.

[@repelghosts]

Crap...wait until you see Race Jaeger's fish realism...you'll all be begging for mercy...Gemma