Dear Ilia,

Thank you very much for your reply.

Sorry, I did not mean that the realism in Dutch painting can be avan-garde of comtemporary art. On the contrary, I am one of the persons, who wonder the meaning of linear art history. The linear art history often produces labels for art movements and tries to link those to particular eras in history. This creates the erroneous impression that art is a progressive activity, that newest and latest is all-important, and that styles and approaches from earlier periods, such as realism, are somehow unfit for the serious contemporary artists. As each artist strives to assimilate formed techniques from long history of Western art, each creates his or her unique gblend.h For this reason, I wanted to say that quality realist painting is a vibrant and exciting area of contemporary art, which seems losing its vigor. I thought it is an original idea to turn the spotlight on not only the newest movements but also on the vibrant painters with realistic paintings. If it is not so original, could you please show me some examples. I am really interested in the contemporary realistic paintings, which vividly describe our life. Because of the absence of attention and criticism from both museums and the art media, I cannot really search the realistic paintings. Luckily, I can reach erealf artists around here in Amsterdam at leastc

If possible, could you also recommend some books to learn the history of art models in Western art. I would like to write articles on art models in Amsterdam, but most of the art book is not on models but on painters.