Color realism (art style)

Detail of Woman with a Water Pitcher, by Johannes Vermeer, showing arm broken into two large areas of mixed color.

Color realism is a fine art style where accurately portrayed colors create a sense of space and form. It employs a flattening of objects into areas of color, where the modulations occur more as a result of an object interacting with the color and light of its environment than the sculptural modeling of form or presentation of textural detail. The actual color of an object, or 'local color', is held secondary to how that color interacts with surrounding light sources that may alter the look of the original color. Warm light of the sun, cool light from the sky, and warm reflected light bouncing off other objects are all examples of how a local color may be affected by its location in space.

Earliest proponents of this style include the Dutch Master Johannes Vermeer and Hendrick Terbrugghen.

The Lute Player by Hendrick Terbrugghen, detail of hand and sleeve showing skin color and white shirt broken into planes of color from direct light and reflected light of room.

Recent artists working with this style include the Boston School of painters, such as Edmund Tarbell and William McGregor Paxton. These artists combined vibrant Impressionist pastel colors with a more traditional palette, to create color-realist works that have a full range of dark to light values.^[1] Contemporary artists utilizing elements of this style include Sam Vokey, Charles Tersolo, and Barbara Glee Lucas.

Detail of Woman with a Water Pitcher, by Johannes Vermeer, showing yellow bodice becoming a mixture of purple and orange-yellow in shadow between waist and arms from reflected light

References

^ A Legacy of Beauty: Paintings in the Boston School Tradition by Christopher Volpe

Color topics (Index)

Color science

Color physics	Electromagnetic spectrum Light Rainbow Visible Spectral colors Chromophore Structural coloration Animal coloration On Vision and Colors Metamerism Spectral power distribution

Color perception	Color vision Color blindness test Tetrachromacy Color constancy Color term Color depth Color photography Spot color Color printing Web colors Color mapping Color code Color management Chrominance False color Chroma key Color balance Color cast Color temperature

Color psychology	Color symbolism Color preferences Lüscher color test Kruithof curve Political colour National colours Chromophobia Chromotherapy

Color philosophy

Color space	Color model additive subtractive Color mixing Primary color Secondary color Tertiary color (intermediate) Quaternary color Quinary color Aggressive color (warm) Receding color (cool) Pastel colors Color gradient

Color scheme	Color tool Monochromatic colors Complementary colors Analogous colors Achromatic colors (Neutral) Polychromatic colors Impossible colors Light-on-dark Tinctures in heraldry

Color theory	Chromaticity diagram Color solid Color wheel Color triangle Color analysis (art) Color realism (art style)

Color terms

Basic terms	Red Green Yellow Blue Orange Purple Pink Cyan Magenta Violet Brown Black Gray White

Cultural differences	Linguistic relativity and the color naming debate Distinction of blue and green in various languages Color history Color in Chinese culture Traditional colors of Japan Human skin color

Color dimensions	Hue Dichromatism Colorfulness (chroma and saturation) Tints and shades Lightness (tone and value) Grayscale

Color organizations

Lists

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Color realism (art style)