The late nineteenth century witnessed a flowering in the art of illustration, due in large part to advances in printing technology. Reproductions suddenly became near-copies of the originals, and talented painters achieved wealth and celebrity exploring the new media. Before the 1880s illustrations were a familiar element of American publishing, but they were not the dominant cultural force they would become.

The traveling exhibition “David Bierk: History” commemorates an artist (1944–2002) known for his interpretations of paintings from the past. Although he is sometimes described as a postmodernist, Bierk avoids the traps of smug revisionism. No tinge of irony corrodes his reverence for the old masters and the giants of the nineteenth century. At the same time, he fully acknowledges the gap separating us from their worlds.

Contemporary Spanish painters are doing some of the most interesting work of the current realist revival. In October Bernarducci Meisel Gallery in New York City showcased recent paintings by Bernardo Torrens (b. 1957), a native of Madrid who taught himself to draw and paint while studying medicine. His mastery of anatomy and humane engagement with his sitters are everywhere evident in these accomplished acrylic-on-wood works.

In Fall 2005 Ann Nathan Gallery in Chicago presented “Steven Assael: Painting and Drawings, an exhibition of recent works by this contemporary realist master. Assael (b. 1957), who graduated from Pratt Institute and has taught both there and at the School of Visual Arts, has an academic mastery of the nude, seen here in some inventive tondo compositions. But he is also attracted to the mysteries of human character, which he explores in individual and group portraits.

This fall Klaudia Marr Gallery in Santa Fe presented its 12th Annual Realism Invitational, showcasing thirty-five contemporary artists. As usual, the exhibition cast a wide net. Some artists use the figurative idiom to chronicle pop culture or comment on the state of society, as Kenny Mencher does in his 2004 oil Dog, depicting an alienated couple and their oversized pet in an updated Hopperesque interior.