Styles ART RESEARCH

Popular from the mid 20th-century, it is a painting and drawing style in which people, objects and scenes are depicted with such naturalism that the paintings resemble photographs - an almost exact visual duplication of the subject. New York art dealer Louis Meisel is credited with originating the term. Painters and their subjects include Richard Estes, reflective windows; Malcolm Morley, tourists on cruise ships; Chuck Close, face portraits; Duane Hanson, human figures; Gordon Snidow, cowboys; and Mel Ramos, flashy nudes. Sources: Artlex.com, courtesy Michael Delahunt; Robert Atkins, "Art Speak"; AskART database.