攝影術的發明，不但對十九世紀的印象派繪畫和廿世紀的現代藝術形成重大的影響，甚至迫使西洋繪畫藝術轉向，朝向攝影術所無法達到的領域發展。因此，攝影術的發明，就西洋傳統寫實繪畫的發展而言，所受到的打擊，可說是空前的。
鴉片戰爭後，隨著中國門戶的開放，照相機和攝影術很快的也傳到中國，且發展迅速蓬勃，照相業儼然成為晚清時期上海最受歡迎的新興行業之一。上海同時也是晚清時期中國畫家聚集最多的地方，這些畫家對日漸普及的照相術不可能毫無接觸，對攝影功能也不可能一無所知，這些浸淫於中國傳統文化已久的中國畫家，在嶄新的西洋攝影科技衝激下可有反應？有些什麼反應？是否和西洋畫家的反應相同？尤其對中國近代寫實繪畫的發展是否造成若干影響？這些問題便是本文所主要探討的重點。
研究結果顯示，攝影術的引進中國，不但對中國近代繪畫的發展有重大的影響，甚且是促使中國近代寫實主義繪畫發展的一大動力。其關鍵便在於晚清新聞畫家吳友如。吳友如不但對攝影術有相當深刻的認識，他的許多作品，尤其是他為時事畫報所繪製的大量新聞插圖，不但極為寫實，而且其繪畫正扮演如同現今之新聞紀實照片角色，堪稱是中國畫史上最具「寫實主義」特質的畫家。由於徐悲鴻深受吳友如的影響，其中西合璧與寫實主義畫風亦源自吳友如，由此可推出晚清民初中國盛行的寫實主義畫風，實源自於西洋攝影術引進的刺激。十九世紀末與二十世紀初中國與西洋繪畫皆受到攝影術的衝激與影響，然而其發展結果卻絕然不同，實是中、西繪畫發展史上最強烈鮮明的一個對比。
The invention of photography, not only had influenced on the Impressionism in the 19th and the Modern Art in the 20th century, but also enforced the west artists to turn to perform what photography can't attain. Therefore, the stimulation to the traditional west realistic drawing development from the invention of photography is remarkable.
After the Popium War, the Chinese market was opened, the cameras and photography were introduced to China and developed very quickly. This enterprise became the most popular business in Shanghai in the late Ching Dynasty. Chinese artists almost gathered in Shanghai. Those artists can't avoid the influence from photography and it is impossible to know nothing about that. Didn't they have any reaction to the west photography? What are the reaction of these artists who enjoyed Chinese traditional culture under the impact of modern photography? Did their reaction same as the west artists? Did the photography have any influence on the develpment of realistic drawing in the Chinese modern times? These abovementioned questions will be discussed in this study.
This study indicate that the introduction of photography to China not only had influenced on the Chinese modern times drawing development but also was the dynamic to the development of Chinese realistic drawing. The key person is, Wu Yo-ru, the artist for the newspaper in the late Ching Dynasty. Wu knows photography well and his works, especially illustrations in the newspaper are very realistic. The role of his drawing is equal to the realistic pictures in the current newspaper. Therefore, he can be regarded as the most “realistic artist” in Chinese drawing history. Xu Bei-hong was deeply influenced by Wu, his Chinese and west combining drawing style originates from Wu. So we can conclude that realistic drawing popular in late Ching Dynasty was influenced by the stimulation of west photography. Both of Chinese and west drawings are influenced by photography in the late 19th century and the early 20th century. But their develpment is absolutely different. It's the strong contrast in the Chinese and west drawing history.
