Richard Estes American, b. 1932

Richard Estes is the standard-bearer of photorealist painting and its most devoted and accomplished practitioner. He commands distinction not by his spectacular commitment to fidelity nor the quotidian truths in his depictions but through a unique creative process in which he develops an image in his mind and paints a vision of his reality. Estes encapsulates timeless, pristine images of the city and his many adventures in travel and is one of the world's most avid interpreters. Over the last half-century, this process has captured the world with a rare kind of integrity as it changes—our cities, our landscapes, our rituals—slow and steady, then all at once. Estes helps us to unveil a true understanding of the world around us. As realism nudges to the fore along the pendulum swing between abstraction and realism, he has stepped forward as one of the leading realist painters of the 20th century. Estes currently lives and works in Maine and New York.