pictorialism

[ pik-tawr-ee-uh-liz-uh m, -tohr- ]

/ pɪkˈtɔr i əˌlɪz əm, -ˈtoʊr- /

noun

Fine Arts. the creation or use of pictures or visual images, especially of recognizable or realistic representations.

emphasis on purely photographic or scenic qualities for its own sake, sometimes with a static or lifeless effect: The movie's self-conscious pictorialism makes it little more than a travelogue.

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Compare representationalism.

Origin of pictorialism

First recorded in 1865–70; pictorial + -ism

OTHER WORDS FROM pictorialism

pic·to·ri·al·ist, noun

Words nearby pictorialism

pictogram, pictograph, pictography, pictor, pictorial, pictorialism, pictorialize, picture, picture book, picture card, picture disc