Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
SURREALIST STYLE
In the wake of World War I’s ravaging of Europe, artists delved into the unconscious mind to confront and grapple with this reality. Poet and critic André Breton, a leader of the Surrealist movement who authored the 1924 Surrealist Manifesto, called this approach “a violent reaction against the impoverishment and sterility of thought processes that resulted from centuries of rationalism.” Surrealist art emerged in the 1920s with dreamlike and uncanny imagery guided by a variety of techniques such as automatic drawing, which can be likened to a stream of consciousness, to channel psychological experiences.
Although Surrealism was a groundbreaking approach for European art, its practitioners were inspired by Indigenous art and ancient mysticism for reenvisioning how sculptures, paintings, prints, performance art and more could respond to the unsettled world around them.
Surrealist artists were also informed by the Dada movement, which originated in 1916 Zurich and embraced absurdity over the logic that had propelled modernity into violence. Some of the Surrealists had witnessed this firsthand, such as Max Ernst, who served in the trenches during World War I, and Salvador Dalí, whose otherworldly paintings and other work responded to the dawning civil war in Spain.
Other key artists associated with the revolutionary art and literary movement included Man Ray, Joan Miró, René Magritte, Yves Tanguy, Frida Kahlo and Meret Oppenheim, all of whom had a distinct perspective on reimagining reality and freeing the unconscious mind from the conventions and restrictions of rational thought. Pablo Picasso showed some of his works in “La Peinture Surréaliste” — the first collective exhibition of Surrealist painting — which opened at Paris’s Galerie Pierre in November of 1925. (Although Magritte is best known as one of the visual Surrealist movement’s most talented practitioners, his famous 1943 painting, The Fifth Season, can be interpreted as a formal break from Surrealism.)
The outbreak of World War II led many in the movement to flee Europe for the Americas, further spreading Surrealism abroad. Generations of modern and contemporary artists were subsequently influenced by the richly symbolic and unearthly imagery of Surrealism, from Joseph Cornell to Arshile Gorky.
Find a collection of original Surrealist paintings, sculptures, prints and multiples and more art on 1stDibs.
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Style: Surrealist
Decomposition, Surrealist Pencil Drawing by Charles Pfahl
Located in Long Island City, NY
Charles Pfahl, American (1946 - 2013) - Decomposition, Medium: Pencil drawing, signed in pencil lower right, Image Size: 8 x 8 inches, Frame Size: 19.75 x 21.25 inches
Category
Mid-20th Century Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Graphite
Paysage de l'infini by José Gerson - Drawing 50x70 cm
Located in Geneva, CH
Work on paper without frame
Category
1970s Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Color Pencil
$240 Sale Price
20% Off
Fernando Botero, Original drawing marker on paper signed/inscribed unique Framed
Located in New York, NY
Fernando Botero
Original drawing of a woman, 1997
Drawing done in marker, signed and inscribed
Boldly hand signed, dated and inscribed in black marker
Unique
This is an original, uni...
Category
1990s Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Permanent Marker
Anatomy of my Universe, Surrealist Ink Drawing by Andre Masson
By André Masson
Located in Long Island City, NY
Andre Masson, French (1896 - 1987) - Anatomy of my Universe, Medium: Ink Drawing, signed in pen, Size: 4.5 x 3.75 in. (11.43 x 9.53 cm), Frame Size: 14.25 x 11.25 inches, Descript...
Category
Mid-20th Century Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink
The feather of the soul by José Gerson - Gouache on paper 50x70 cm
Located in Geneva, CH
Work on paper without frame
Category
1970s Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Gouache, Color Pencil
$208 Sale Price
30% Off
Surrealist Painting Royal College of Art LGBTQ+ artist Blue Fountain Pink Poodle
By Isabel Rock
Located in Norfolk, GB
Isabel Rock is a creator of contemporary fairy tales. A graduate of the Royal College of Art in London, her work is an explosion of strange occurrences while a surreal narrative takes the audience on a journey into the imagination.
In October 2023 Isabel won the Evelyn Williams Drawing Award at the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize. Known as the UK’s most prestigious annual open exhibition for drawing; part of the prize is a solo show at Hastings Contemporary, scheduled for 2024.
Whilst Isabel always has a tale to tell for each of her images, you may or may not choose to go on the journey with her or you may indeed have a different story, one of your own that jumps off the page at you and you decide to follow.
Artwork Details:
Isabel Rock , 'Just another Day in Paradise', mixed media on best archival paper, 85cm x 140cm, unframed, 2022
In Rock's own words,
'It was just another day in Paradise for the Pink Poodle People of the Everlasting Fountain of Eternal Joy.
Since every day was Paradise it was just another normal day filled with love, ecstasy and wonder.
It started slowly at first, things began to appear in paradise, strange objects that the Pink Poodle People did not know what to do with. Some had sharp edges, others were so and smelt strange, bad strange. Some things glittered and shone. Every day more of these objects would arrive in Paradise.
' If this happens every day then soon Paradise will be full of these strange objects. Some of them are nice but many are bad and smelly. One day there will be no Paradise, only bad, sharp and smelly things.'
But the Pink Poodle People did not know what to do with the objects and every day more arrived.'
Artwork Provenance: from the Artist Studio
A certificate of authentication comes from Gallery Art 1821
photo credits, Isabel working, black and white shots, James Brown
About Isabel Rock and her work:
Taking inspiration from Japanese woodblock prints and Indian miniature painting Rock has developed a unique collage technique that combines bold structures with large-scale woodblock prints and intricate detailing. The subject is a grand mixture of humour, drama, hidden morals, fanciful characters, modern culture, mythical beings and fantastical situations.
Rock creates a world that pulls you in and demands your attention. Quality of line is paramount, the drawings are created using a dipping pen and acrylic ink. An essential tool is a squirrel...
Category
2010s Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paint, Mixed Media, Archival Paper, Pen
"Gehl Dairy Farm, " Original Mixed Media Surrealist signed by David Barnett
Located in Milwaukee, WI
"Gehl Dairy Farm" is an original mixed media piece by David Barnett and his daughter, Sarah Barnett, signed and dated in the lower right. Begun in 1997 and ...
Category
Early 2000s Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Mixed Media
'The Holy Grail', Last Supper, Egyptian Iconography, Seattle Art Museum, Surreal
By Leo Kenney
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Signed lower center, 'Leo Kenney' (American, 1925-2001) and dated 1947.
A seminal figure in the second generation of Northwest School artists, Leo Kenney was, like many of his conte...
Category
1940s Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, India Ink, Watercolor
Animal Capers (Black Surrealist Artist)
By Roland Ayers
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Surrealist proto-Afropunk drawing by African-American artist, Roland Ayers (1932-2014).
Animal Capers, ca. 1970 .
Ink on illustration board, image measures 20 inches. inches; illustration panel measures 21.5 inches. Unsigned.
Minor staining evident in detail photos
Artist and art educator, Roland Ayers was born on July 2, 1932, the only child of Alice and Lorenzo Ayers, and grew up in the Germantown district of Philadelphia. Ayers served in the US Army (stationed in Germany) before studying at the Philadelphia College of Art (currently University of the Arts). He graduated with a BFA in Art Education, 1954. He traveled Europe 1966-67, spending time in Amsterdam and Greece in particular. During this period, he drifted away from painting to focus on linear figurative drawings of a surreal nature. His return home inaugurated the artist’s most prolific and inspired period (1968-1975). Shorty before his second major trip abroad in 1971-72 to West Africa, Ayers began to focus on African themes, and African American figures populated his work almost exclusively.
In spite of Ayers’ travel and exploration of the world, he gravitated back to his beloved Germantown, a place he endowed with mythological qualities in his work and literature. His auto-biographical writing focuses on the importance of place during his childhood. Ayers’ journals meticulously document the ethnic and cultural make-up of Germantown, and tell a compelling story of class marginalization that brought together poor families despite racial differences. The distinctive look and design of Germantown inform Ayers’ visual vocabulary. It is a setting with distinctive Gothic Revival architecture and haunting natural beauty. These characteristics are translated and recur in the artist’s imagery.
During his childhood, one of the only books in the Ayers household was an illustrated Bible. The images within had a profound effect on the themes and subjects that would appear in his adult work. Figures in an Ayers’ drawing often seem trapped in a narrative of loss and redemption. Powerful women loom large in the drawings: they suggest the female role models his journals record in early life. The drawings can sometimes convey a strong sense of conflict, and at other times, harmony. Nature and architecture seem to have an antagonistic relationship that is, ironically, symbiotic.
A critical turning point in the artist’s career came in 1971 when he was included in the extremely controversial Whitney Museum show, Contemporary Black Artists in America. The exhibition gave Ayers an international audience and served as a calling card for introductions he would soon make in Europe.
Ayers is a particularly compelling figure in a period when black artists struggled with the idea of authenticity. A questioned often asked was “Is your work too black, or not black enough?” Abstractionists were considered by some peers to be sell-outs, frauds or worse. Figurative* work was accused of being either sentimental or politically radical depending on the critical source. Ayers made the choice early on to be a figurative artist, but considered his work devoid of political content.
Organizations such as Chicago’ s Afri-Cobra in the late 1960‘s asserted that the only true black art of any relevance must depict the black man and woman...
Category
1970s Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink, Archival Paper
"Le combat des poissons "Pencil study with annotations , cm. 30 x 20 1940 ca
By André Masson
Located in Torino, IT
André Masson ( 1896-1987)
Pencil study with annotations on the right side, acquired by the previous owner from Luis Masson son of Andrè Masson
Category
1940s Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Pencil
Surrealist Painting Royal College of Art LGBTQ+ Women artist Chicken Love
By Isabel Rock
Located in Norfolk, GB
Isabel Rock is a creator of contemporary fairy tales. A graduate of the Royal College of Art in London, her work is an explosion of strange occurrences while a surreal narrative take...
Category
2010s Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paint, Mixed Media, Acrylic, Archival Paper, Pen
Abstract Surrealist Botanical
Located in Soquel, CA
Detailed drawing of several flowers and geometric shapes by an unknown artist (20th Century). Signed (illegible) and dated on the right side. Presented in a new double mat (grey, and...
Category
2010s Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Felt Pen
$280 Sale Price
20% Off
Original Dora Maar, (Picasso's muse) fine ink drawing of abstract forms, 1998
By Dora Maar
Located in Petworth, West Sussex
This is a beautiful and fine avant-garde finished drawing of abstract forms by the French female artist, Dora Maar. Dora Maar was a distinctive artist in her own right marked by str...
Category
20th Century Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
Collage Watercolor Painting David Gilhooly California Funk Surrealism MixedMedia
Located in Surfside, FL
DAVID JAMES GILHOOLY (American, 1943-2013),
Mixed media collage
6 x 4 inches,
Hand signed and dated verso
Napoleon from the back, with King Henry VIII holding a pastry.
titled: "England cannot be conquered by a few French pastries"
cut and pasted cardstock assemblage, collaged art.
David Gilhooly RCA (1943 – 2013), was an American ceramicist, sculptor, painter, printmaker, and professor. He is best known for pioneering the Funk art movement. He made a series of ceramic frogs called FrogWorld, as well as ceramic food, planets, and other creatures.
David James Gilhooly III was born on April 15, 1943, in Auburn, California. He was raised in Los Altos, California; Saint Croix in the Virgin Islands; and Humacao, Puerto Rico.
He enrolled in University of California, Davis (UC Davis) initially studying biology, followed by anthropology, and ending with a focus on fine art. While attending UC Davis, Gilhooly served as artist Robert Arneson assistant starting in 1963. He graduated from UC Davis with a BA degree in 1965, and an MA degree in 1967.
Gilhooly, together with Robert Arneson, Peter Vandenberge, Chris Unterseher, and Margaret Dodd, working together in TB-9 (temporary building 9) were what was later to be called, The Funk Ceramic...
Category
2010s Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink, Watercolor
A 1959 Black & White, Mid-Century, Surrealist Abstraction by Desmond McLean
Located in Chicago, IL
A 1959 black and white, Mid-Century, Surrealist watercolor on paper by artist Desmond McLean in a cerused black frame. Image size: 12" x 30". Framed size: 19 3/4" x 25 3/4".
McL...
Category
1950s Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor
Funny and Sad Faces, Surrealist Geometric Colorful Drawing, France 1960
Located in Atlanta, GA
This exceptional original project drawing, painted with colored pencil on translucent tracing paper, is by a French artist, circa the 1960s. The original painting features a geometri...
Category
1960s Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Color Pencil
"Study for Ladders" Juanita Guccione, Abstract Surrealism, Female Artist
Located in New York, NY
Juanita Guccione (1904 - 1999)
Study for Ladders, 1948
Gouache on paper
17 x 13 inches
Signed lower left, dated, and inscribed “Study for Oil Painting...
Category
1940s Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Gouache
$20,000 Sale Price
20% Off
Surrealist landscape with organic shapes
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Surrealist landscape with organic shapes
Watercolor on paper, 1960-1970
Signed CE Harris lower right corner (see photo)
Stamped with the artist’s estate stamp verso (see photo)
Reference: Beni Kosh Collection Estate Stamp #705
Provenance: Estate of the artist
A wonderful example by one of the few African American Surrealist painters.
“An African-American born Charles E. Harris, the name under which he painted until the early 1960s when he took the name of Kosh. His paintings span the period 1949-71, and reflect abstract and surreal figurative subjects which include Cleveland street scenes, jazz clubs, and depictions of Christ.”
Courtesy of Rachel Davis Fine Art
“Beni E. Kosh was born as Charles Elmer Harris, in Cleveland Ohio. He changed his name in the 1960’s, which translates to “Son of Ethiopia”. He rarely exhibited or sold his work and was affiliated with the African-American artists’ “Sho-nuff Art Group” and the Karamu House and studied under Cleveland artist Paul Travis. His style is very diverse and he experimented with Cubism, portraiture and abstractions in series. His paintings span from 1949 – 1971, and reflect abstract and surreal figurative subjects, which include Cleveland street scenes, jazz clubs, and depictions of Christ. He received little recognition during his lifetime and was only “rediscovered” literally days after his death when hundreds of his paintings were rescued by an art dealer.”
(Courtesy Pennsylvania Art...
Category
20th Century Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor
Surrealist composition of José Gerson n°1 - Drawing 67x46 cm
Located in Geneva, CH
Work on paper without frame
Category
1970s Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Carbon Pencil
$240 Sale Price
20% Off
Paysage linéaire by José Gerson - Gouache on paper 69x50 cm
Located in Geneva, CH
Work on paper without frame
Category
1980s Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Pastel, Gouache, Carbon Pencil
$240 Sale Price
20% Off
A 1946 Mid-Century Modern Surrealist Male Portrait Study, Binocular Vision
Located in Chicago, IL
A 1946 Mid-Century Modern Surrealist Male Portrait Study by Noted Chicago Artist, Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). A compelling portrait study, perhaps a self portrait of the artist,...
Category
Mid-20th Century Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Charcoal
Drain Vortex, Surrealist Mixed Media Drawing by Thom Cooney-Crawford
Located in Long Island City, NY
Thom Cooney-Crawford, American (1944 - ) - Drain Vortex, Year: 2000, Medium: Acrylic, Collage and Gold Leaf on Paper, signed and dated in pencil lower right, Size: 30 x 41.25 in. ...
Category
Early 2000s Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Gold Leaf
Surrealist composition by José Gerson n°2 - Gouache on paper 42x62 cm
Located in Geneva, CH
Work on paper without frame
Category
1970s Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Pastel, Gouache, Carbon Pencil
Surrealist Drawings Geometric Colorist Project, France circa 1960
Located in Atlanta, GA
These exceptional original project drawings, painted with colored pencil on translucent tracing paper, are by a French artist, circa the 1960s. The two paintings feature a geometric ...
Category
1960s Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper
Kyle Andrew Szpyrka - Lotus, Drawing 2015
Located in Greenwich, CT
Sutra, a Sanskrit word meaning “thread”, is a word or small group of words that summarize an entire complex web of ideas, truths, wisdoms, or teachings all woven together into a sing...
Category
2010s Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Pencil, Graphite
Epreuve d'artiste by José Gerson - Drawing 26x33 cm
Located in Geneva, CH
Work on paper without frame
Category
1980s Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Carbon Pencil
Les Voiles by Léopold Survage - Abstract watercolour, Landscape, Modern
Located in London, GB
Les Voiles by Léopold Survage (1987-1968)
Watercolour on paper
23 x 38 cm (9 x 15 inches)
Monogrammed, stamped and dated lower right
Executed in 1945
Provenance
Private collection, ...
Category
1940s Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
Surrealist composition by José Gerson n°3 - Pastel on paper 45x69 cm
Located in Geneva, CH
Work on paper to frame
Category
1980s Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Pastel, Ink, Gouache
1960s Illegibly signed surrealist ink drawing
Located in New York, NY
Unknown Artist
Untitled, c. 1960s
Ink on paper
Sight size: 10 x 7 in.
Framed: 15 1/4 x 12 1/4 in.
Signed illegibly lower right: Jack Bl...?
Category
1960s Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
Personne Suite No. 5
Located in Columbia, MO
Dorothea Tanning (American, 1910–2012)
Initially associated with the Surrealist movement, Dorothea Tanning developed a personal visual language that blurred the boundaries between r...
Category
Mid-20th Century Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Etching
Contemporary School Surrealist Composition Ink
Located in Astoria, NY
Contemporary School, Surrealist Composition, Ink on Paper, illegibly signed "Ken ....?" lower right, wood frame. Image: 9.5" H x 6.25" W; frame: 16" H x 13" W. Provenance: From a Cen...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
Cadaques No. 24, Surrealist Figure Painting by Eduardo Arranz-Bravo
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Eduardo Arranz-Bravo, Spanish (1941 - )
Title: Cadaques No.24
Year: 1994
Medium: Mixed Media (Watercolor and Color pencil) on paper, signed and dated
Size: 13.75 x 5 in. (34....
Category
1990s Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor, Color Pencil
Composition avec cheval en movement, original engraving
Located in Belgrade, MT
Roderick Fletcher Mead (American, 1900-1972) was an important painter and printmaker, best known for his surrealist landscapes and figural compositions reminiscent of Pablo Picasso a...
Category
Mid-20th Century Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Engraving
$636 Sale Price
29% Off
Personne Suite No. 9
Located in Columbia, MO
Dorothea Tanning (American, 1910–2012)
Initially associated with the Surrealist movement, Dorothea Tanning developed a personal visual language that blurred the boundaries between r...
Category
Mid-20th Century Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Etching
Surrealist Geometric Variation Colors Drawings on Tracing Paper, France 1960s
Located in Atlanta, GA
These stunning original project drawings, hand-painted with colored pencil on translucent tracing paper, were designed by a French artist circa the 1960s. The two paintings feature a...
Category
1960s Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Color Pencil
1959 Black & White Mid-Century, Surrealist Abstraction by Artist Desmond Mclean
Located in Chicago, IL
A 1959 black and white, Mid-Century, Surrealist watercolor on paper by artist Desmond McLean in a cerused black frame. Image size: 15 1/2" x 22 1/2". Framed size: 25" x 21".
McL...
Category
1950s Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor
Surrealist composition by José Gerson n°4 - Drawing 42x28 cm
Located in Geneva, CH
Work on paper without frame
Category
1980s Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Color Pencil
$220 Sale Price
20% Off
Personne Suite No. 6
Located in Columbia, MO
Dorothea Tanning (American, 1910–2012)
Initially associated with the Surrealist movement, Dorothea Tanning developed a personal visual language that blurred the boundaries between r...
Category
Mid-20th Century Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Etching
Personne Suite No. 3
Located in Columbia, MO
Dorothea Tanning (American, 1910–2012)
Initially associated with the Surrealist movement, Dorothea Tanning developed a personal visual language that blurred the boundaries between r...
Category
Mid-20th Century Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Etching
Forward
Located in Oslo, NO
The picture was painted in an original style. The artist conveys the forms in an original interpretation. Composition and interpretation of forms are timeless. This is the kind of sl...
Category
2010s Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor
$1,072
Personne Suite No. 8
Located in Columbia, MO
Dorothea Tanning (American, 1910–2012)
Initially associated with the Surrealist movement, Dorothea Tanning developed a personal visual language that blurred the boundaries between r...
Category
Mid-20th Century Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Etching
Personne Suite No. 7
Located in Columbia, MO
Dorothea Tanning (American, 1910–2012)
Initially associated with the Surrealist movement, Dorothea Tanning developed a personal visual language that blurred the boundaries between r...
Category
Mid-20th Century Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Etching
Simulacre, Surrealist Pencil Drawing by Andre Masson
By André Masson
Located in Long Island City, NY
Andre Masson, French (1896 - 1987) - Simulacre, Medium: Pencil Drawing on laid paper, Image Size: 10 x 7.5 inches, Size: 14.5 x 11.5 in. (36.83 x 29.21 cm), Description: From the...
Category
Mid-20th Century Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Graphite
The society gravitates to an uncertain core by José Gerson - Pastel 68x50 cm
Located in Geneva, CH
Work on paper without frame
Category
1970s Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Pastel, Color Pencil
Untitled Concert Hall painting Mid Century Surrealistic spiritual unique signed
Located in New York, NY
Agatha Wojciechowsky
Untitled Concert Hall Abstraction Watercolor, 1964
Watercolor on thick wove paper (with original label from Cordier & Ekstrom Gallery)
Signed and dated by the artist on the lower-right front
19 3/4 × 15 inches
Unframed
Dazzling 1960s, modern abstraction watercolor piece. This work was acquired from the legendary Cordier & Ekstrom Gallery
Agatha Wojciechowsky (1896 -1986) was recognized during her lifetime as a Surrealist. Although not following an art movement, her work reflected the sentiment of Art Informel of the 1950's. She had solo exhibitions from the 1960's to the present in New York, Cologne, Berlin, and Hamburg. Group exhibitions included shows with Man Ray, Marcel Duchamp, Jean Dubuffet, Isamu Noguchi, Francis Picabia, Romare Bearden. Her artwork can be found in numerous public collections including Museum of Modern Art, the Prado, the Menil Collection, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Whitney Museum.
Agatha lived her earlier years in Steinach de Saale, and then sailed to the United States in 1923 to be a German-speaking governess in a German baron...
Category
Mid-20th Century Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Mixed Media, Watercolor
Composition - Drawing by Roberto Matta - 1970s
Located in Roma, IT
Composition is a wonderful Pastel drawing on paper realized in the early 1970s by the Surrealist artist Sebastián Matta (Santiago de Chile, 1911 - Civitavecchia, 2002).
Not signed,...
Category
1970s Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Pencil
Sans Titre 1
Located in Hollywood, FL
Artist: Roberto Matta
Title: Sans Titre 1
Medium: Original pastel/drawing on paper
Signed: Hand Signed
Year: 1969
Measurements: 12" x 16"
Framed: 20" x 24"
Authentication: Kajsa...
Category
1960s Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper
Personne Suite No. 1
Located in Columbia, MO
Dorothea Tanning (American, 1910–2012)
Initially associated with the Surrealist movement, Dorothea Tanning developed a personal visual language that blurred the boundaries between r...
Category
Mid-20th Century Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Etching
Hesitation Blues (Black Surrealist Artist)
By Roland Ayers
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Surrealist proto-Afropunk drawing by African-American artist, Roland Ayers (1932-2014). Hesitation Blues, 1968. Ink on paper, sheet measures 13 x 23 inches; 14 x 18 inches in archival pH-neutral matting. Signed and dated lower right. Excellent condition with no damage or restoration.
Provenance: Sheila Ayers-Whitelaw
Exhibition History: Roland Ayers: Calligraphy of Dreams, Woodmere Art Museum, 07/10/2021 - 10/24/2021
Artist and art educator, Roland Ayers was born on July 2, 1932, the only child of Alice and Lorenzo Ayers, and grew up in the Germantown district of Philadelphia. Ayers served in the US Army (stationed in Germany) before studying at the Philadelphia College of Art (currently University of the Arts). He graduated with a BFA in Art Education, 1954. He traveled Europe 1966-67, spending time in Amsterdam and Greece in particular. During this period, he drifted away from painting to focus on linear figurative drawings of a surreal nature. His return home inaugurated the artist’s most prolific and inspired period (1968-1975). Shorty before his second major trip abroad in 1971-72 to West Africa, Ayers began to focus on African themes, and African American figures populated his work almost exclusively.
In spite of Ayers’ travel and exploration of the world, he gravitated back to his beloved Germantown, a place he endowed with mythological qualities in his work and literature. His auto-biographical writing focuses on the importance of place during his childhood. Ayers’ journals meticulously document the ethnic and cultural make-up of Germantown, and tell a compelling story of class marginalization that brought together poor families despite racial differences. The distinctive look and design of Germantown inform Ayers’ visual vocabulary. It is a setting with distinctive Gothic Revival architecture and haunting natural beauty. These characteristics are translated and recur in the artist’s imagery.
During his childhood, one of the only books in the Ayers household was an illustrated Bible. The images within had a profound effect on the themes and subjects that would appear in his adult work. Figures in an Ayers’ drawing often seem trapped in a narrative of loss and redemption. Powerful women loom large in the drawings: they suggest the female role models his journals record in early life. The drawings can sometimes convey a strong sense of conflict, and at other times, harmony. Nature and architecture seem to have an antagonistic relationship that is, ironically, symbiotic.
A critical turning point in the artist’s career came in 1971 when he was included in the extremely controversial Whitney Museum show, Contemporary Black Artists in America. The exhibition gave Ayers an international audience and served as a calling card for introductions he would soon make in Europe.
Ayers is a particularly compelling figure in a period when black artists struggled with the idea of authenticity. A questioned often asked was “Is your work too black, or not black enough?” Abstractionists were considered by some peers to be sell-outs, frauds or worse. Figurative* work was accused of being either sentimental or politically radical depending on the critical source. Ayers made the choice early on to be a figurative artist, but considered his work devoid of political content.
Organizations such as Chicago’ s Afri-Cobra in the late 1960‘s asserted that the only true black art of any relevance must depict the black man and woman...
Category
1960s Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink, Archival Paper
$3,000 Sale Price
62% Off
Surrealist composition by José Gerson n°5 - Drawing 37x60 cm
Located in Geneva, CH
Work on paper without frame
Category
1980s Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Color Pencil
$232 Sale Price
22% Off
Surrealist Large Painting Royal College of Art LGBTQ+ Female Artist Yellow Red
By Isabel Rock
Located in Norfolk, GB
Isabel Rock is a creator of contemporary fairy tales. A graduate of the Royal College of Art in London, her work is an explosion of strange occurrences while a surreal narrative takes the audience on a journey into the imagination.
In October 2023 Isabel won the Evelyn Williams Drawing Award at the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize. Known as the UK’s most prestigious annual open exhibition for drawing; part of the prize is a solo show at Hastings Contemporary, scheduled for 2024.
Whilst Isabel always has a tale to tell for each of her images, you may or may not choose to go on the journey with her or you may indeed have a different story, one of your own that jumps off the page at you, that that you decide to follow.
Artwork Details:
The Storm, 140x140cm, collaged woodblock print, acrylic ink, acrylic paint, 2020
* Please note this artwork is on two separate pieces of paper that have been joined together. The join is not obvious when looking at the work. At the time Isabel was desperate to make the piece but did not have a large enough piece of paper in the studio, so she joined two together.
Artwork Provenance: from the Artist Studio
photo credits, Isabel working, black and white shots, James Brown
In Isabels own words:
The Storm
It started with a butterfly flapping its wings, which caused an ant to drop a leaf it was carrying, the leaf fluttered and spun, it tickled the nose of a fox returning to its den, the fox sneezed which awoke a sleeping dog, the dog barked and the fox screamed, a baby in a house began to cry. The storm clouds gathered, threatening, grey, black, blue, like swollen bruises from the blows of life. Round and round they whirled, the butterfly flapping and flipping with them. People looked out of their windows and knew that the sky was falling on their heads. The swirling vortex opened and all life was sucked away, never to be seen again. All that was left was the tiny butterfly who shrugged its tiny shoulders and flapped its wings.
*Please note we are happy to ship this work rolled in an art tube. Whilst the work is on heavy duty art paper and mixed media, the artist is happy that the painting will be fine rolled in a tube. This is a more cost effective and environmentally sound method of shipping. Shipping via this method is free.
Artwork Provenance: from the Artist Studio
A certificate of authentication comes from Gallery Art 1821...
Category
2010s Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paint, Mixed Media, Acrylic, Archival Paper, Pen, Woodcut
Kyle Andrew Szpyrka - Learning to Fly, Drawing 2015
Located in Greenwich, CT
Sutra, a Sanskrit word meaning “thread”, is a word or small group of words that summarize an entire complex web of ideas, truths, wisdoms, or teachings all woven together into a sing...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Foam Board, Pencil, Graphite
Geometric Multicolor Surrealist Drawings on Tracing Paper, France 1960s
Located in Atlanta, GA
These lovely original project drawings, hand-painted with colored pencils on translucent tracing paper, were designed by a French artist circa the 1960s. The two paintings feature a study of kitchen accessories: a soup tureen and a vintage coffee bean...
Category
1960s Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Color Pencil
Sans Titre 2 Original Pastel/Drawing on Paper
Located in Hollywood, FL
Artist: Roberto Matta
Title: Sans Titre 2
Medium: Original pastel/drawing on paper
Signed: Hand Signed
Measurements: 20" x 25"
Framed: 28" x 35"
Authentication: Kajsa Westling N...
Category
1960s Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Archival Paper
Untitled - Early Surrealist Pencil Drawing by Roberto Matta - 1950s
Located in Roma, IT
Surrealist Drawing is an exceptional pencil drawing by the artist Roberto Sebastián Antonio Matta Echaurren, who signed on the lower right of the paper “Matta”. The artwork is in ver...
Category
1950s Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Pencil
Collage Watercolor Painting David Gilhooly California Funk Surrealism MixedMedia
Located in Surfside, FL
DAVID JAMES GILHOOLY (American, 1943-2013),
Mixed media collage
6 x 4 inches,
Hand signed and dated verso
Napoleon from the back, holding a heart.
cut and pasted cardstock assemblage, collaged art.
David Gilhooly RCA (1943 – 2013), was an American ceramicist, sculptor, painter, printmaker, and professor. He is best known for pioneering the Funk art movement. He made a series of ceramic frogs called FrogWorld, as well as ceramic food, planets, and other creatures.
David James Gilhooly III was born on April 15, 1943, in Auburn, California. He was raised in Los Altos, California; Saint Croix in the Virgin Islands; and Humacao, Puerto Rico.
He enrolled in University of California, Davis (UC Davis) initially studying biology, followed by anthropology, and ending with a focus on fine art. While attending UC Davis, Gilhooly served as artist Robert Arneson assistant starting in 1963. He graduated from UC Davis with a BA degree in 1965, and an MA degree in 1967.
Gilhooly, together with Robert Arneson, Peter Vandenberge, Chris Unterseher, and Margaret Dodd, working together in TB-9 (temporary building 9) were what was later to be called, The Funk Ceramic...
Category
2010s Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink, Watercolor
Exquisite Corpse, Cadavre Exquis, Spanish Surrealist Drawing 3 Artists
By Xisco Mensua
Located in Surfside, FL
Provenance: This piece was deaccessioned from the Bass museum in Miami Beach florida.
This piece is a good museum example of Exquisite corpse, also known as exquisite cadaver (from the original French term cadavre exquis), A method by which a collection of words or images is collectively assembled. This example is by Manuel Saez, Xisco Mensua and Guillermo Paneque.
Each collaborator adds to a composition in sequence, either by following a rule or by being allowed to see only the end of what the previous person contributed. The technique was invented by surrealists. Surrealism principal founder André Breton reported that it started in fun, but became playful and eventually enriching. In the beginning were Yves Tanguy, Marcel Duchamp, Jacques Prévert, Benjamin Péret, Pierre Reverdy, and André Breton. Other participants probably included Max Morise, Joan Miró, Man Ray, Simone Collinet, Tristan Tzara, Georges Hugnet, René Char, and Paul and Nusch Éluard. Henry Miller often partook of the game to pass time in French cafés during the 1930s.
Manuel Sáez (born 6 March 1961) is a Spanish, self-taught artist. Since 1984, he has been living and working in Valencia.
The Enciclopedia Universal Ilustrada Europeo-Americana describes Manuel Sáez as among the most important painters of the turn of the 21st century owing to his simultaneously sensual and psychological approach to the world of objects, landscapes, figures and portraits.
As a resident fellow of the Spanish Fine Arts Academy in Rome in 1990, Sáez elaborated a series of portraits called Biografia no autorizada In 1991 Sáez held his first important show at the Fundació La Caixa. in Valencia In 1996 he presented his first retrospective, Colección Exclusiva 1984-1995, in the Club Diario Levante of Valencia, as well as the Madrid Circle of Fine Arts, the Salas Verónicas of Murcia, the Castellón Delegation and the Brocense of Cáceres. In 2000 Sáez exhibited in Mexico City's Museo Rufino Tamayo and in the Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno (IVAM) in Valencia. In 2008 Sáez's work could be seen at the Sala Parpalló in Valencia.
In 2003-04, Dispersions was exhibited at the Bass Museum of Art in Miami. In 2007, Sáez's work is featured in the Valencian Institute of Modern Art's (IVAM) El Pop Art en la Colección del IVAM ("Pop Art in the IVAM Collection") in Valencia.[12]
Xisco Mensua
Initially studied at Escuelas Virtèlia, but followed an atypical school career due to illness. Began to paint in 1978. Took a course in painting at the Escola d’Arts i Oficis (Valencia), where he had lived since the age of eight. Lived in Barcelona from 1982 to 1987, studying art at the Escola Eina for the first two years. Returned to Valencia and began exhibiting in 1990. Produced works in co-operation with Fernando Ros and Mim Juncà, as well as designing stage sets for the theatre. Now forms part of the Jacques Moran collective. Through drawing, Mensua creates a fictional world in an exercise in which he transfigures common references, whether intimate or biographic, political or social.
Guillermo Paneque
Seville, 1963 Spanish painter.
He completed his artistic training at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Seville, Director and founder, along with Rafael Agredano and José Espaliú, of the magazine Figura in 1984. It is in the mid-eighties when his work is made known within the Andalusian artistic scene, through the production of small format paintings populated with references and symbols from the religious and everyday environment that the author mixes with a playful sense and with erotic characters that reveal a clear rejection of the Andalusian artistic tradition. His work evolves towards a formal synthesis and an iconographic cleansing in the line of conceptual art. He has starred in numerous solo exhibitions and participated in important collectives, among which include: Aperto 86 at the Venice Biennial (1986), Spain 87. Dynamiques and Interrogations (1987) at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville in Paris, Spanish natures...
Category
20th Century Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Charcoal, Carbon Pencil
Composition - Original Drawing by Antoine Mayo - 1970s
Located in Roma, IT
Composition is an original ink and watercolor drawing on paper, realized by the artist Antoine Mayo (1905-1990) in the 1970s.
Good conditions.
Antoine M...
Category
1970s Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink, Watercolor
Figure - Original Mixed Media by Sergio Barletta - 1960s
Located in Roma, IT
Figure is an original drawing in mixed media, ink and tempera on cardboard, realized by Sergio Barletta.
In good conditions except for some decoloration along the margins.
Applied ...
Category
1960s Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Mixed Media, Ink, Tempera
(Apocalyptic Tropical Landscape) Untitled
By Ian Hornak
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Ian Hornak (1944-2002)
Title: Untitled (Apocalyptic Tropical Landscape)
Year: 1973
Medium: Ink on heavy archival paper
Size: 22 x 30 inches
...
Category
1970s Surrealist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink
$3,880 Sale Price
70% Off
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Find a wide variety of authentic Surrealist abstract drawings and watercolors available for sale on 1stDibs. Works in this style were very popular during the 21st Century and Contemporary, but contemporary artists have continued to produce works inspired by this movement. If you’re looking to add abstract drawings and watercolors created in this style to introduce contrast in an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include elements of blue, purple, green, pink and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Cheolyu Kim, Benjamin G. Benno, Ian Hornak, and Roberto Matta. Frequently made by artists working with Paper, and Paint and other materials, all of these pieces for sale are unique and have attracted attention over the years. Not every interior allows for large Surrealist abstract drawings and watercolors, so small editions measuring 4 inches across are also available. Prices for abstract drawings and watercolors made by famous or emerging artists can differ depending on medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $187 and tops out at $50,000, while the average work sells for $1,800.
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