Photorealist More Prints
A direct challenge to Abstract Expressionism’s subjectivity and gestural vigor, Photorealism was informed by the Pop predilection for representational imagery, popular iconography and tools, like projectors and airbrushes, borrowed from the worlds of commercial art and design.
Whether gritty or gleaming, the subject matter favored by Photorealists is instantly, if vaguely, familiar. It’s the stuff of yellowing snapshots and fugitive memories. The bland and the garish alike flicker between crystal-clear reality and dreamy illusion, inviting the viewer to contemplate a single moment rather than igniting a story.
The virtues of the “photo” in Photorealist art — infused as they are with dazzling qualities that are easily blurred in reproduction — are as elusive as they are allusive. “Much Photorealist painting has the vacuity of proportion and intent of an idiot-savant, long on look and short on personal timbre,” John Arthur wrote (rather admiringly) in the catalogue essay for Realism/Photorealism, a 1980 exhibition at the Philbrook Museum of Art, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. At its best, Photorealism is a perpetually paused tug-of-war between the sacred and the profane, the general and the specific, the record and the object.
“Robert Bechtle invented Photorealism, in 1963,” says veteran art dealer Louis Meisel. “He took a picture of himself in the mirror with the car outside and then painted it. That was the first one.”
The meaning of the term, which began for Meisel as “a superficial way of defining and promoting a group of painters,” evolved with time, and the core group of Photorealists slowly expanded to include younger artists who traded Rolleiflexes for 60-megapixel cameras, using advanced digital technology to create paintings that transcend the detail of conventional photographs.
On 1stDibs, the collection of Photorealist art includes work by Richard Estes, Ralph Goings, Chuck Close, Audrey Flack, Charles Bell and others.
1970s Photorealist More Prints
Mezzotint
Early 2000s Photorealist More Prints
Color, Lithograph, Offset
1980s Photorealist More Prints
Screen
Late 20th Century Photorealist More Prints
Screen
1970s Photorealist More Prints
Screen
Late 20th Century Photorealist More Prints
Screen
Late 20th Century Photorealist More Prints
Screen
Late 20th Century Photorealist More Prints
Screen
Early 2000s Photorealist More Prints
Screen
1990s Photorealist More Prints
Screen
21st Century and Contemporary Photorealist More Prints
Paper, Screen
21st Century and Contemporary Photorealist More Prints
Paper, Etching
21st Century and Contemporary Photorealist More Prints
Etching, Paper
1980s Photorealist More Prints
Screen
1950s Photorealist More Prints
Lithograph
1950s Photorealist More Prints
Lithograph
1950s Photorealist More Prints
Lithograph
Early 2000s Photorealist More Prints
Lithograph
Early 2000s Photorealist More Prints
Lithograph
Late 20th Century Photorealist More Prints
Screen
Early 2000s Photorealist More Prints
Screen
Early 2000s Photorealist More Prints
Screen
Early 2000s Photorealist More Prints
Screen
Early 2000s Photorealist More Prints
Screen
21st Century and Contemporary Photorealist More Prints
Paper, Offset
Early 2000s Photorealist More Prints
Screen
1970s Photorealist More Prints
Offset, Lithograph
2010s Photorealist More Prints
Engraving, Mezzotint
1990s Photorealist More Prints
Screen
1970s Photorealist More Prints
Lithograph, Offset, Other Medium
1980s Photorealist More Prints
Ink, Lithograph, Offset
Early 2000s Photorealist More Prints
Mezzotint, Aquatint
1980s Photorealist More Prints
Mezzotint
21st Century and Contemporary Photorealist More Prints
Lithograph, Offset
Mid-19th Century Photorealist More Prints
Engraving
Mid-19th Century Photorealist More Prints
Engraving
Late 20th Century Photorealist More Prints
Screen
1960s Photorealist More Prints
Lithograph, Pencil
1990s Photorealist More Prints
Screen
1980s Photorealist More Prints
Color, Screen
1980s Photorealist More Prints
Lithograph
Early 2000s Photorealist More Prints
Tissue Paper, Pencil, Lithograph, Screen
1940s Photorealist More Prints
Lithograph
Early 2000s Photorealist More Prints
Screen
2010s Photorealist More Prints
Canvas
2010s Photorealist More Prints
Inkjet
2010s Photorealist More Prints
Canvas
21st Century and Contemporary Photorealist More Prints
Canvas