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a person who tends to view or represent things as they really are.
an artist or a writer whose work is characterized by .
Philosophy. an adherent of .
of or relating to or to a person who embodies its principles or practices:
the realist approach to social ills; realist paintings.
Contemporary Examples

But for all the fantasies he devised, Levine, who died Tuesday at 83, was a realist.
The Man With the Sharpest Pen David Margolick December 29, 2009

I find myself mostly in the realist camp, looking hard at achievable goals and usable power.
We Need Liberals Now! Leslie H. Gelb October 27, 2011

Mugglemarch Ian Parker, The New Yorker J.K. Rowling writes a realist novel for adults.
The Week’s Best Longreads: The Daily Beast Picks for Sept. 29, 2012 David Sessions September 28, 2012

Cozzens, largely forgotten these days, was a 20th-century realist writer in the mode of Theodore Dreiser.
Scott Turow: How I Write Noah Charney October 22, 2013

But I assume its author would have been drummed right out of the realist Fiction Writers League.
Why Does Everyone Hate Women? Megan McArdle October 23, 2012

Historical Examples

More and more as a realist he devoted himself to the presentation of character at the expense of plot.
A History of American Literature Percy H. Boynton

“They don’t have much choice,” Captain Feldman said, always the realist.
Zen Jerome Bixby

Whether or not realistic fiction shrinks from the unpleasant depends also on the particular nature of the realist.
Materials and Methods of Fiction Clayton Hamilton

In the first place, it does not mean that Greek art is what we call ‘naturalist’ or ‘realist’.
The Legacy of Greece Various

What puzzled Philip was that this fabricator of “stories” for the newspaper should call himself a “realist.”
That Fortune Charles Dudley Warner

noun
a person who is aware of and accepts the physical universe, events, etc, as they are; pragmatist
an artist or writer who seeks to represent the familiar or typical in real life rather than an idealized, formalized, or romantic interpretation
(philosophy) a person who accepts realism
(modifier) of, relating to, or characteristic of realism or realists in the arts, philosophy, etc: a realist school
n.

c.1600, in philosophy, from real (adj.) + -ist, and cf. French réaliste. Also see realism.