Well if you look at art history, in particular painting, there was a steady move towards more realism (particulary with the arrival of the Renaissance) until the advent of photography. Once photography became very common there was a push into modernism and deliberate thoughtful abstraction became the avant garde. To the point that conventional representational works were regarded in a not so favorable light in critical art circles, being relegated to "merely illustration". The attitude persisted, and perhaps still does in Fine Art intelligentsia attitudes and academia, although since "postmodernism" there's... ah nevermind.

Anyway. I'm willing to bet that once really convincing "photo" "realism" is a common, inexpensive, uncomplicated/easily achieved thing in digital animation and art... that is, you can open your Poser 2035 and there's a completely photoreal figure in an idle animation waiting there... there will be a push toward deliberate abstraction and exploration. Me personally I like a sort of magic realism, illustrative blend of things. It's funny that the most naive Poser render that would be scoffed at by purists or bleeding edge types would be considered very realistic to illustrators from 50 years ago.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_realism