Realism and Revival

The last time Art in America devoted an issue to the subject of realism was nearly forty years ago, in the midst of a recession, on the cusp of the Reagan revolution, and at a time when art publications were filled with speculation about postmodernism. Photorealists and figurative painters aligned with feminist politics had taken up the realist mantle. So what, exactly, did that portend?
In her essay for A.i.A.’s September 1981 issue, Linda Nochlin argued that the foundational avant-garde