Realistic painting as a cultural phenomenon: Academic reflection, museum practices, cultural industries

Abstract

The article is devoted to the dynamics of realism as a cultural paradigm in Russia’s visual arts. Realism in Russian visual arts is a vibrant phenomenon of contemporary culture. The study indicates a correlation between a research interest in realism in visual arts and social context. The article explores the forms of realism in fine art in the museum space. A realistic painting is a significant part of the cultural heritage. It creates the visual range of the exhibition space and unites the country’s museums thematically. The article discusses the marketing trends in realism in visual arts. Realistic paintings are part of both the elite and mass art market. The article provides reasons for the popularity of realism in visual arts in modern popular culture, namely, in cultural industries. Popular culture actively exploits the potential of the realistic painting — the popularity of the artist’s name, the clarity of the visual image, the richness of references to human experience, i. e. childhood memories, illustrations in school textbook, memories of expositions in the country’s leading museums. The study identified the most stable trends in domestic research of realism in Russia’s visual arts (art history, aesthetics, sociology of culture, cultural studies). The subject of discussion is the definition of realism in art. Theorists of art tend to supplement the basic term “realism” with definitions that shift the emphasis and add nuances to the interpretation of realism. The article also highlights the expansion of the field of research in humanities.