What does it mean when a painting is said to be narrative?

Question

Or any visual art for that matter? What does it mean to have a narrative photo/painting/sculpture/etc? What is the difference between narrative and illustrative?

Answer 1

the narrative form of art is really only the focus of an artist upon one particular subject matter, story line or for that matter,.......idea.
to illustrate,.... is the same thing as "to tell a story or bit of a story" .....in picture form even if it's a sculpture, the illustration captures part of "something" the narrative defines "details of a story,...... or of a thing, along a seemingly longer line of narration.......more of the whole story in a summed up group of details,........take the "dogs playing poker" painting for instance,....it infers alot more than what you see! and suggests a whole lot more about stereotypes than we may be comfortable with as "males" in a world of males and females.

Answer 2

There's not a big difference between narrative and illustrative.

Narrative is when a painting tells a story.

And Illustrative is when a painting or drawing is made to accompany a text, as in literature books with illustrations.

Here's a very interesting Narrative painting by Rafael Gaytán:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v476/yakusokowairanai/cacomiztle/?action=view¤t=greyhound.jpg
try to think about the story this painting tells.

Answer 3

Wooly is correct. Narrative would be like medieval paintings of the Nativity Story (Angel Gabriel, travelling to Bethlehem, shepherds, Kings, Flight into Egypt all in one painting). Illustrative would be something like the Virgin and Child (ie one scene).

Answer 4

Narrative art tells a story about the piece...dont know about Ilustrative, could be about the intensity maybe (?)..lol..idk

Answer 5

Here's a whole lot of information that should help:
http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/n/narrative.html
http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/pharos/sections/intro/narrative_INTRO.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrative_art

Answer 6

Would seem to be: "There's more to the story than meets the eye!"