The Great Correction: Art’s Return to Tradition & Excellence

This essay, written by artist Kevin G. Saunders, is a manifesto born from a decade of quiet, contrarian work. It documents a profound shift in the international art market and details how a deliberate focus on traditional craftsmanship, incubated in San Antonio, is now being validated on the global stage. This is the story of that foresight.

The Great Correction: How a Decade of Conviction Positioned San Antonio at the Forefront of a Global Artistic Resurgence

By Kevin G. Saunders

Introduction: The Turning of the Tide

An undeniable shift is occurring in the international art world. After a decade dominated by the ephemeral and the abstract, a great correction is underway—a global resurgence of appreciation for technical mastery, enduring quality, and profound human emotion. Collectors and institutions, fatigued by fleeting trends, are once again seeking out works of unmistakable excellence and permanent value. This is not a new phenomenon. History shows that in times of great uncertainty—from the Second World War to the recent pandemic—society inevitably rediscovers its appetite for the real, the masterfully made, and the timeless.

Eleven years ago, I foresaw this turning tide. From my San Antonio studio, I began the long, quiet work of building a new system for creating portraiture with the gravitas of a Sargent painting, but grounded in a modern, hyperrealistic process. Working independently of prevailing trends, I dedicated a decade to mastering a craft many had forgotten. Today, that quiet conviction has been validated on the global stage. This is the story of that foresight, and of the unique opportunity it now presents for San Antonio to champion a homegrown innovation when the world is ready to embrace it.

Section I: A Deliberate Incubation – Building a New Paradigm in San Antonio

In 2014, the art world was a different place. The prevailing winds favored conceptualism and identity-driven narratives. In this environment, a focus on traditional craftsmanship was a contrarian bet. I made that bet. Inspired by the powerful, character-driven work of Yousuf Karsh, I began the painstaking process of reverse-engineering the techniques of the 20th-century masters, acquiring and refurbishing vintage Mole-Richardson cinema lights to recreate their classic, painterly style.

This was not a commercial endeavor; it was an artistic incubation. Working in a self-imposed vacuum, free from the pressures of local trends, allowed for the development of a proprietary system—a method that uses a slow shutter speed not as a technical choice, but as a tool to calm the subject, allowing for the capture of a relaxed, authentic presence reminiscent of a painted portrait. This process led to the creation of two cornerstone fine art collections long before the market was ready for them: the World Heritage Missions Collection (2015), which captured the city’s most treasured landmarks at the unrepeatable moment of their UNESCO induction, and the Notable People of San Antonio in 2020 Collection (2020), which documented not the panic of the pandemic, but the quiet dignity of the leaders who guided our community through it.

Section II: The Global Vindication – A Market Catches Up to the Vision

While this work matured in San Antonio, the global art market underwent a profound transformation. The very trends that made my approach an outlier a decade ago began to show their limitations. As noted by the Art Basel & UBS Global Art Market Report, by 2023, a clear “return to tradition” was underway, with a documented surge in demand for portraiture demonstrating high technical skill. Collectors were now actively seeking ‘technical skill and emotion’ after years of conceptual fatigue, as reported by The Observer.

This global correction has created a robust new market for precisely the work I have spent the last eleven years perfecting. The “bold, contrarian bet” made in isolation in San Antonio has been unequivocally validated by the world’s most sophisticated arbiters of value.

Section III: The San Antonio Opportunity – Championing a Homegrown Asset

The final chapter of this story is local. San Antonio has always been a city of deep cultural heritage, but its conservative nature can sometimes make it slow to embrace its own innovators. The groundwork has been laid. The Missions Collection has been exhibited to millions of San Antonio International Airport travelers, and the Notable People Collection was successfully exhibited at the Brick Event Center at the Blue Star Arts Complex.

The tide is turning locally as well. There is a growing appetite for authenticity and excellence. This is the pivotal moment for the city’s visionary leaders to recognize and champion a homegrown artistic system that is now perfectly aligned with a global cultural movement. By doing so, they are not taking a risk on an unknown outsider; they are investing in a proven innovator and a unique cultural asset that can represent the city nationally. This is an invitation to partnership—to be the patrons who ensure that this next chapter of San Antonio’s artistic story is one of bold confidence and enduring excellence.

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