Would you classify Albert Bierstadt's work as realism?

Question

I am doing a power point on realism painting for my painting two class and i don't want to put him in there if he wasn't a Realist painter.

 

Answer 1

Yes. His landscapes are realistic depictions, but probably somewhat idealized and manipulated for aesthetic purposes, but probably not more-so than many other mid to late 19th century painters. He was a member of the Hudson River School of painting (look it up, it's cool) and they often put in dramatic lighting effects in their landscape paintings. This was called Luminism.

Answer 2

No. He's a landscape artist and if you really need to classify him, I'd put him into the naturalism category. His art is really the oposite of realism. I think you may have a problem with your presentation and understanding the difference between realism and realistic. You might want to investigate further.