A look at how out thirst for realism led to an abstraction of the formal elements and aesthetics in fine art. Very general and to be used as a prompt for discussion over how technology and innovations change cultural habits - in this case, the invention of the camera and photographic processes.

1. “From today,
painting is dead”
- Paul Delaroche, 1839

2. Our thirst for
realism...

3. Pre-historic Ancient Egyptian Greek Renaissance
24,000 2,500 150 1501
BCE BCE BCE AD

4. Renaissance - Re-birth
Rinascimento
The Medici Family

5. Michelangelo

6. Leonardo da Vinci

7. Albrecht Dürer

8. The Camera Obscura

11. Dipotrice The Camera Lucida
By Johannes Kepler, 1610 By William Hyde Wollaston, 1807

12. Jean-Auguste Ingres
Madame d'Haussonville
Pauline Eleanore de Galard de Brassac de Bearn, Princesse de Broglie , 1853

13. Optical Illusions & Theatrics

14. The Industrial Revolution: 18th-19th Century

15. vs.
William Henry Fox Talbot Louis Jacques Daguerre

16. Daguerreotype

17. Calotype

18. Meanwhile...

19. Common photographic
themes in the 19th century

25. The Bauhaus

27. Social Realism

29. How is realism represented in
contemporary art?

30. Chuck Close

31. Ron Mueck

32. Mark Quinn

33. Richard Billingham

34. Tracey Emin

35. What technology is challenging
the culture of today?