Abstract Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
ABSTRACT STYLE
Beginning in the early 20th century, abstract art became a leading style of modernism. Rather than portray the world in a way that represented reality, as had been the dominating style of Western art in the previous centuries, abstract paintings, prints and sculptures are marked by a shift to geometric forms, gestural shapes and experimentation with color to express ideas, subject matter and scenes.
Although abstract art flourished in the early 1900s, propelled by movements like Fauvism and Cubism, it was rooted in the 19th century. In the 1840s, J.M.W. Turner emphasized light and motion for atmospheric paintings in which concrete details were blurred, and Paul Cézanne challenged traditional expectations of perspective in the 1890s.
Some of the earliest abstract artists — Wassily Kandinsky and Hilma af Klint — expanded on these breakthroughs while using vivid colors and forms to channel spiritual concepts. Painter Piet Mondrian, a Dutch pioneer of the art movement, explored geometric abstraction partly owing to his belief in Theosophy, which is grounded in a search for higher spiritual truths and embraces philosophers of the Renaissance period and medieval mystics. Black Square, a daringly simple 1913 work by Russian artist Kazimir Malevich, was a watershed statement on creating art that was free “from the dead weight of the real world,” as he later wrote.
Surrealism in the 1920s, led by artists such as Salvador Dalí, Meret Oppenheim and others, saw painters creating abstract pieces in order to connect to the subconscious. When Abstract Expressionism emerged in New York during the mid-20th century, it similarly centered on the process of creation, in which Helen Frankenthaler’s expressive “soak-stain” technique, Jackson Pollock’s drips of paint, and Mark Rothko’s planes of color were a radical new type of abstraction.
Conceptual art, Pop art, Hard-Edge painting and many other movements offered fresh approaches to abstraction that continued into the 21st century, with major contemporary artists now exploring it, including Anish Kapoor, Mark Bradford, El Anatsui and Julie Mehretu.
Find original abstract paintings, sculptures, prints and other art on 1stDibs.
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Style: Abstract
Sans titre
Located in PARIS, FR
Unique work
mixed media
signed
H 76 x W 61 cm (framed)
Category
Late 20th Century Abstract Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Mixed Media
Peinzende vrouw
Located in BLARICUM, NL
QUIRIJN VAN TIEL
Rotterdam 1900-1967 Rhoon
WOMAN ON RIVER
1951
Gouache on paper
41,5 x 59 cm.
Signed and dated: lower right ‘Quirijn van Tiel 51’
P...
Category
1950s Abstract Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Gouache
Geisha. Paper, colored pencils, 22x21 cm
Located in Riga, LV
Geisha. Paper, colored pencils, 22x21 cm
Ivars Zaikins (1942-2017)
Zaikins Ivars - an artist. He was born in 1942. During of the Soviet Union period, h...
Category
Early 2000s Abstract Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Color Pencil
Two dancers - watercolor on paper, framed, 24x17 cm.
Located in Nice, FR
Watercolor by Paul Guiraman. With frame 35x46 cm.
Category
1970s Abstract Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor
"Sushi Rolls with a Robot Appearing from a Subway Entrance, " - Abstract Drawing
Located in Houston, TX
This abstract drawing on paper features a highly expressive depiction of figure through manic and brazen employment of line work suggest a spirit that is meticulous in execution, yet...
Category
2010s Abstract Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Acrylic, Paper, Gouache
"Untitled, " Mixed Media on Paper - Expressive Drawing
Located in Houston, TX
In this mixed media drawing on paper, Ushio Shinohara's highly expressive depiction of form and figure via manic and brazen employment of line and color suggest a spirit that is meti...
Category
2010s Abstract Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Acrylic, Gouache
"A Big Snake and Three, " Mixed Media on Paper - Abstract Expressive Drawing
Located in Houston, TX
In this mixed media drawing on paper, Ushio Shinohara's highly expressive depiction of line and form suggest a spirit that is meticulous in execution, yet unencumbered by restraint.
...
Category
2010s Abstract Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Acrylic, Gouache
French Contemporary Art by Francine Ledieu - Saint Valery, Le Castel
Located in Paris, IDF
Ink on paper
Francine Ledieu is a French artist born in 1931 who lives and works in Paris, France. In the 50s, she was a student of Maurice Rocher who specialized in Sacred art. In the ’80s, Francine was a student of Jean Bertholle from the Saint Roch Academy. The artist had personal exhibitions at Maison Mansart from 1989 to 1993 and at Étienne de Causans Gallery in 1997. In 1998 & 2009 she exhibited at La Petite Galerie. Francien Ledieu had three exhibitions at La Capitale Gallery in 2001, 2004, and 2007. She also showed her paintings at L’Oeil du Huit in 2011, 2013, 2016 & 2019. She participated in many group exhibitions as at Strasbourg Contemporary Art Fair in 2005. She exhibited also at Réalités Nouvelles in 2006, 2007, 2010 & 2011. She also worked in stained glass and mosaics in France. She achieved artworks in 1963 at Saint-Henri Pontoise chapel, Saint-Pierre des Louvrais church in Pontoise in 1969 & Mosaic in the same year at Jean Moulin...
Category
1960s Abstract Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
French Contemporary Art by Francine Ledieu - Landscape
Located in Paris, IDF
Gouache on craft paper
Francine Ledieu is a French artist born in 1931 who lives and works in Paris, France. In the 50s, she was a student of Maurice Rocher who specialized in Sacred art. In the ’80s, Francine was a student of Jean Bertholle from the Saint Roch Academy. The artist had personal exhibitions at Maison Mansart from 1989 to 1993 and at Étienne de Causans Gallery in 1997. In 1998 & 2009 she exhibited at La Petite Galerie. Francien Ledieu had three exhibitions at La Capitale Gallery in 2001, 2004, and 2007. She also showed her paintings at L’Oeil du Huit in 2011, 2013, 2016 & 2019. She participated in many group exhibitions as at Strasbourg Contemporary Art Fair in 2005. She exhibited also at Réalités Nouvelles in 2006, 2007, 2010 & 2011. She also worked in stained glass and mosaics in France. She achieved artworks in 1963 at Saint-Henri Pontoise chapel, Saint-Pierre des Louvrais church in Pontoise in 1969 & Mosaic in the same year at Jean Moulin...
Category
1960s Abstract Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Gouache
Un Dios Tres
Located in New York, NY
Martin Palottini
Un Dios Tres, 2017
Graphite on paper
22h x 22w in
55.88h x 55.88w cm
Category
2010s Abstract Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Graphite
Chinese Contemporary Art by Wu You - There is No Pressure On The Water
Located in Paris, IDF
Ink & colour on paper - The artwork comes with COA
Framed 51 x 171 x 4 cm
Category
2010s Abstract Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
Chinese Contemporary Art by Wu You - Heart
Located in Paris, IDF
Ink & colour on paper - The artwork comes with COA
Framed 35 x 141 x 4 cm
Category
2010s Abstract Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
Chinese Contemporary Art by Wu You - If I Want to Die, I Must Die at Your Hands
Located in Paris, IDF
Ink & colour on paper - The artwork comes with COA
Framed 101 x 51 x 4 cm
Category
2010s Abstract Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
Chinese Contemporary Art by Wu You - A Companion Like a Tiger
Located in Paris, IDF
Ink & colour on paper - The artwork comes with COA
Framed 101 x 51 x 4 cm
Category
2010s Abstract Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
Chinese Contemporary Art by Wu You - Look of A Bird
Located in Paris, IDF
Ink & colour on paper - The artwork comes with COA
Framed 101 x 51 x 4 cm
Category
2010s Abstract Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
Chinese Contemporary Art by Wu You - You Have Me and I Have You
Located in Paris, IDF
IkInk & colour on paper - The artwork comes with COA
Framed 101 x 51 x 4 cm
Category
2010s Abstract Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
Chinese Contemporary Art by Wu You - Heart Sutra Floating in the World
Located in Paris, IDF
Ink & colour on paper - The artwork comes with COA
Framed 101 x 51 x 4 cm
Category
2010s Abstract Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
Chinese Contemporary Art by Wu You - Self Defence
Located in Paris, IDF
Ink & colour on paper - The artwork comes with COA
Framed 101 x 51 x 4 cm
Category
2010s Abstract Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
Chinese Contemporary Art by Wu You - Half Memory Half Expectation
Located in Paris, IDF
Ink & colour on paper - The artwork comes with COA
Framed 171 x 51 x 4 cm
Category
2010s Abstract Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
Chinese Contemporary Art by Wu You - Time Toys
Located in Paris, IDF
Ink & colour on paper - The artwork comes with COA
Framed 101 x 51 x 4 cm
Category
2010s Abstract Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
Chinese Contemporary Art by Wu You - I
Located in Paris, IDF
Ink & colour on paper - The artwork comes with COA
Framed 171 x 51 x 4 cm
Category
2010s Abstract Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
Chinese Contemporary Art by Wu You - Withstand
Located in Paris, IDF
Ink & colour on paper - The artwork comes with COA
Framed 101 x 51 x 4 cm
Category
2010s Abstract Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
Chinese Contemporary Art by Wu You - If Love
Located in Paris, IDF
Ink & colour on paper - The artwork comes with COA
Framed 101 x 51 x 4 cm
Category
2010s Abstract Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
Georgian Contemporary Art by Nino Eliashvili - She Unknown
Located in Paris, IDF
Watercolor on paper
Category
2010s Abstract Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
Georgian Contemporary Art by Nino Eliashvili - Ridley Goes Fashion
Located in Paris, IDF
Watercolor on paper
Category
2010s Abstract Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
Georgian Contemporary Art by Nino Eliashvili - Parted
Located in Paris, IDF
Watercolor on paper
Category
2010s Abstract Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
Georgian Contemporary Art by Nino Eliashvili - Inner
Located in Paris, IDF
Watecolor on paper
Category
2010s Abstract Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
Georgian Contemporary Art by Nino Eliashvili - Incarnate
Located in Paris, IDF
Watecolor on paper
Category
2010s Abstract Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
Georgian Contemporary Art by Nino Eliashvili - Light Corset
Located in Paris, IDF
Watecolor on paper
Category
2010s Abstract Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
Georgian Contemporary Art by Nino Eliashvili - G-Love
Located in Paris, IDF
Watecolor on paper
Category
2010s Abstract Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
Georgian Contemporary Art by Nino Eliashvili - Fluffy Style
Located in Paris, IDF
Watecolor on paper
Category
2010s Abstract Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
Georgian Contemporary Art by Nino Eliashvili - I Hissing
Located in Paris, IDF
Watecolor on paper
Category
2010s Abstract Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
Georgian Contemporary Art by Nino Eliashvili - Hill and Hoop
Located in Paris, IDF
Watecolor on paper
Category
2010s Abstract Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
Georgian Contemporary Art by Nino Eliashvili - Daydream
Located in Paris, IDF
Watecolor on paper
Category
2010s Abstract Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
Georgian Contemporary Art by Nino Eliashvili - Embody
Located in Paris, IDF
Watecolor on paper
Category
2010s Abstract Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
Georgian Contemporary Art by Nino Eliashvili - Blued Lightness
Located in Paris, IDF
Watercolour on paper
Category
2010s Abstract Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
Mystical Indian Tribes of Arizona and Mexico with Head of Vulture
Located in Miami, FL
This work was done on the assignment and illustrate myths and culture of a book on the Pima and Papago Indian tribes of southern Arizona and northern Mexico. Tinkelman's vision of t...
Category
1970s Abstract Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink, Pen
Underworld (2a)
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Robbie Cornelissen is one of the leading contemporary draughtsmen in the Netherlands. Cornelissen has established a reputation for the monumental, architectural drawings that he has ...
Category
2010s Abstract Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Graphite
42A410
Located in Boston, MA
Artist Commentary:
no comment.....
Keywords: representaional, people, humor, surreal, imagination
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Color Pencil
"Abstract Composition II" Watercolor painting 10" x 14" in by Shaker El Maadawy
Located in Culver City, CA
"Abstract Composition II" Watercolor painting 10" x 14" in by Shaker El Maadawy
signed & dated
Shaker El Maadawy graduated from the Faculty of Fine...
Category
20th Century Abstract Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
Peinzende man
Located in BLARICUM, NL
QUIRIJN VAN TIEL
Rotterdam 1900-1967 Rhoon
PEINZENDE MAN
1945
watercolor on paper
36 x 46 cm.
Signed and dated: lower left ‘Quirijn van Tiel 45’
Pr...
Category
1940s Abstract Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Gouache
Feeding the Birds, Colourful 20th Century Oil Painting, Female Artist
By Lena Gurr
Located in London, GB
Oil on board, signed verso
Image size: 40 1/4 x 29 inches (102.25 x 73.5 cm)
Hand made contemporary style frame
Here we see a smartly dressed woman sat on a park bench, feeding a group of pigeons that surround her. Lena Gurr had a prolific career in which she painted landscape scenes and still lifes but her most noted works are ones such as these, showing everyday city scenes that were laced with social commentary. Indeed, Gurr noted that her artwork always aimed to show "the joys and sorrows of everyday life."
During the course of her career Gurr's compositions retained emotional content as they evolved from a naturalistic to a semi-abstract cubist style. Discussing this trend, she once told an interviewer that as her work tended toward increasing abstraction she believed it nonetheless "must have some kind of human depth to it."
Lena Gurr
Lena Gurr, born in Brooklyn in 1897, studied at the Brooklyn Training School for Teachers, the Educational Alliance Art School, the Arts Students League with John Sloan, and with Maurice Sterne in Paris as well as in Mentone and Nice, France.
Gurr was a member of the Artists League of America, the National Association of Women Artists, the New York Society of Women Artists, the Brooklyn Society of Artists, Audubon Artists and the American Artists Congress. She exhibited in numerous exhibitions held by these organizations as well as the Whitney Studio Club, National Academy of Design, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Brooklyn Museum, and the 1939 World's Fair.
Her work is included in the collections of the Biro-Bidjan Museum, Russia and the Library of Congress, where she has been selected as a "Curator's Choice" in the Smithsonian Archives of American Art. In addition to her career as a painter, lithographer and serigrapher, she also taught art in the New York City public school system. She had three solo exhibitions at the ACA Gallery in 1935, 1939 and 1945, and a retrospective in 1963.
Notable among Gurr's colleagues - many of them WPA artists - were Mary Cecil Allen...
Category
Mid-20th Century Abstract Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Oil, Board
Abstract figurative drawings and watercolors for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Abstract figurative 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 figurative 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, orange and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Zsolt Berszán, Nino Eliashvili , Antoni Janusz Pastwa, and David Dew Bruner. 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 Abstract figurative drawings and watercolors, so small editions measuring 3 inches across are also available. Prices for figurative 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 $121 and tops out at $90,000, while the average work sells for $1,150.