photorealism

American  

[foh-toh-ree-uh-liz-uhm] / ˌfoʊ toʊˈri əˌlɪz əm /

Sometimes photo realism

noun

(sometimes initial capital letter)

1. a style of painting flourishing in the 1970s, especially in the U.S., England, and France, and depicting commonplace scenes or ordinary people, with a meticulously detailed realism, flat images, and barely discernible brushwork that suggests and often is based on or incorporates an actual photograph.

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photorealism British  

/ ˌfəʊtəʊˈrɪəˌlɪzəm /

noun

1. a style of painting and sculpture that depicts esp commonplace urban images with meticulously accurate detail

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Other Word Forms

• photorealist
  noun
• photorealistic
  adjective

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Etymology

Origin of photorealism

First recorded in 1960–65; photo- + realism

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

photorealism

Since most scenes occur in the forest glade, the artists at Pixar have created strikingly rendered settings which, while aiming for photorealism, also have a fantastical glow to them, highlighting the inherent magic of nature.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 6, 2026

"If you don't do that, it does not come across as photorealism," argues Mr Whitten.

From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2023

The aesthetics, no matter the chosen style, seemed anime-inflected, with a dose of photorealism.

From New York Times ● Jan. 11, 2023

While other photorealism painters such as Richard Estes and Ralph Goings favored images such as gleaming diners or glassy street scenes, Mr. Gertsch first gained attention as an observer of the Swiss counterculture.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 23, 2022

On the plus side, Linda was smart to go deliberately abstract here, shunning the attempted photorealism of her peers for something with a little more artistic licence.

From The Guardian ● Sep. 23, 2020

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