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Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

ACADEMIC STYLE

During the Renaissance, the first European fine art academies were established in Italy and would guide the style and standards of visual culture in the following centuries. Academic art became dominant across the continent in the 17th century, with artists coming together to offer instruction in this style of painting and sculpture

The academic art period represented a significant change from the previous era when painters, sculptors and other artists were part of guilds and seen more as artisans than purveyors of culture. While patronage from the elite and the church remained pivotal, young artists were able to support themselves for the first time through academic exhibitions and an independent marketplace. The leading academies included the French Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture founded in Paris in 1648 (which became the Académie des Beaux-Arts after the French Revolution) and the London Royal Academy of Arts formed in 1768 under the inaugural leadership of painter Joshua Reynolds

Academy students sketched drawings based on prints, sculptures and, finally, live models. Movements including neoclassicism and romanticism were particularly popular in these art schools and institutions where the influence of Raphael and Nicolas Poussin was prominent. Beaux Arts architecture and furniture design drew on these movements, too, and, as they also originated at the Académie des Beaux-Arts, the disciplines share common ground with academic painting and sculpture.

Although academic art was a major shift for artistic status when it began, by the middle of the 19th century it was viewed as stodgy and resistant to new ideas, with the subject matter of artists such as William-Adolphe Bouguereau and Jean-Léon Gérôme generally limited to allegorical or mythological themes. Impressionism, realism and the other movements that engaged with contemporary issues that followed were direct reactions to the academic tradition, although it continued to inform the avant-garde as artists like Gustav Klimt and Pablo Picasso started their practices as academic realists.  

Find a collection of academic paintings, sculptures, prints and more art on 1stDibs. 

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Style: Academic
Moulin Rouge Dancer - Pencil drawing - circa 1916
Located in Paris, IDF
Georges CONRAD (1874-1936) Moulin Rouge Dancer Original pencil and color pencil drawing Signed with the stamp of atelier On paper 26.5 x 20 cm (c....
Category

1910s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Carbon Pencil, Color Pencil

The Balneator by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema
By Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema
Located in New Orleans, LA
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema 1836-1912 Dutch The Balneator Signed and inscribed "L Alma Tadema. op CLXXVI." (lower right) Pencil and watercolor with scratching out on paper on board ...
Category

19th Century Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor, Board, Pencil

Boats at the Dock
By Stephen Seymour Thomas
Located in Dallas, TX
gouache with pen and ink signed "Seymour Thomas" at lower right
Category

20th Century Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink, Gouache, Pen

"Young woman in evening dress" by Emile Hornung - Drawing 43x57 cm
Located in Geneva, CH
Work on paper Sketch of Pierrot tuning his guitar on the back of the artwork
Category

1910s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Crayon, Graphite

MB 017 (Figurative Life Drawing of Female Nude by Mark Beard)
Located in Hudson, NY
Academic style life drawing of female nude with charcoal and graphite by Mark Beard, "MB 017" graphite, Conte crayon and charcoal on Arches paper 30 x 22 inches unframed Signed, lowe...
Category

2010s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Conté, Charcoal, Archival Paper, Graphite

Henry Moore 1983 charcoal drawing of two heads, signed
Located in Petworth, West Sussex
Henry Moore O.M. C.H. (British, 1898–1986) Portrait of Two Heads II, 1983 Charcoal, conté and chalk on Bockingford White wove paper Signed lower right ‘Moore’ 8¼ × 11¾ in. (21 × 29.8...
Category

20th Century Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Charcoal

Libertine Carnaval in Venice - Ink drawing - circa 1916
Located in Paris, IDF
Georges CONRAD (1874-1936) Libertine Carnaval in Venice Original India ink and color pencil drawing Signed with the stamp of atelier On paper 26.5 x 20 cm (c. 10,4 x 7.8 in) Very ...
Category

1910s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

India Ink, Color Pencil

“India, 1912”
Located in Southampton, NY
Original watercolor and gouache on paper of a busy street scene in India done in 1912 by the American artist, William Henry Drake. Copyrighted signed and dated 1912 lower left. Condition is good. Recently professionally matted. Unframed. Overall matte size is 12 by 16 inches. Provenance: A Long Island, New York estate. William Henry Drake Born: 1856 New York Died: 1926 Los Angeles Nationality: American Education: Académie Julian, Art Students League of New York Known for: Painting, illustration Awards: National Academy Biography: Drake studied at the Académie Julian in Paris, with Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant and Henri Lucien Doucet. Back from Europe, he studied at the Cincinnati School of Design, and would often go to the zoo, where he could draw the animals. He was then employed by the Museum of Natural History. He continued to study at the Art Students League of New York. In 1878 he worked as a freelance pen-and-ink artist for such periodicals as Century or Harper’s with animal studies...
Category

1910s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor, Gouache

Academic Study for the Head of an Apostle or Saint
Located in Firenze, IT
Study for the Head of an Apostle or Saint Artist: Enrico Reffo (1831-1917) Medium: Charcoal and white chalk on colored paper Dimensions: [To be specified] Date: Late 19th - Early 20...
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Mid-19th Century Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Charcoal, Carbon Pencil

Dance school by Benjamin II Vautier - Drawing 33x46 cm
Located in Geneva, CH
Work on paper Golden wooden frame with glass pane 49,5 x 63 x 2 cm
Category

Mid-20th Century Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pencil

'Nymph with a Centaur', French School, Academic, Greek Mythological Grisaille
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
'Nymph with a Centaur' by T.M. French School, Academic, Framed Greek Mythological Grisaille --- An exceptionally fine, brush and wash, mythological figural study showing a centaur i...
Category

Early 1900s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor, Illustration Board

Edouard Detaille (1848 1912) Soldiers, a study, ink on wood
Located in Paris, FR
Edouard Detaille (1848-1912) Soldiers, a study Black ink on a wood panel 12.5 x 13 cm Framed : 20 x 20.5 cm On the back of the panel a label inscribed "Dessin à la plume par Detaill...
Category

1880s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink

The Carpet Seller 19th Century Orientalist Antique Watercolor Painting on Paper
Located in Jacksonville, FL
Provenance John Welles Hollenback, New York The Painting is Signed FBartolini Lower Right Federico Bartolini (Italian, 1861 - 1908) Description: Federico Bartolini was a renowned ...
Category

19th Century Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Fernand de Launay (1855-1904) Portrait of a child, 1890, original drawing
By Fernand de Launay
Located in Paris, FR
Fernand de Launay (1838-1904) Portrait of a child, probably the daughter of the artist Lead pencil on paper Signed and dated "4 septembre 1890" on the lower left 27 x 21 cm In quite ...
Category

1890s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Carbon Pencil

“Bedouin Encampment at Sunset”
Located in Southampton, NY
Beautiful orientalist original gouache by the well known French artist, Paul B. Pascal. Circa 1885. Signed lower right. Condition is excellent. The scene is of a Bedouin encampment at sunset. Newly professionally matted and framed in antique style frame. Under glass. Overall measurements are 11 by 13 inches. Provenance: A Sarasota, Florida estate. Paul B. Pascal (1839–1905) was a French landscape painter. He did landscape paintings of the Middle East and the Mediterranean coast with gouache. After he emigrated to the United States in 1893, he did paintings of the American wilderness...
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1880s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Gouache

“Villagers”
Located in Southampton, NY
Original watercolor with graphite tracings by the well known German artist, Peter Von Halm. Signed in pencil lower right. Condition is good. Several tiny foxing spots with small areas of mild wrinkles on the outer corners. Matted but not framed. He was the son of an innkeeper and brewer. Initially, he wanted to become an architect and, in pursuit of that goal, attended the Technische Universität Darmstadt. After 1875, he studied copper engraving with Johann Leonhard Raab and general art subjects with Ludwig von Löfftz, at the Munich Academy. From 1883 to 1885, he lived in Berlin at the invitation of his friend, Karl Stauffer-Bern, where he created graphic versions of the Old Masters for Wilhelm von Bode...
Category

1880s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Archival Paper, Graphite

Study Of A Woman Holding A Bowl
Located in Paris, Île-de-France
Isidore Pils (Paris, 1813 – Douarnenez, 1875) Study of a Woman Holding a Bowl Red chalk, heightened with white chalk, on buff paper 36.3 × 26.5 cm (14 ¼ × 10 ⅜ in.) Unsigned Prove...
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1850s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Chalk

Russell Flint watercolour of skiing near St. Moritz, British, 20th Century
Located in Petworth, West Sussex
Sir William Russell Flint (British, 1880 – 1969) Winter sports in the Engadine, possibly St. Moritz watercolour on paper signed ‘W RUSSELL FLINT’ (lower right) 12.1/2 x 19.3/8 in. (3...
Category

20th Century Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

ACADEMIC MALE NUDE FIGURE STUDIES
Located in Portland, ME
Michallet (attributed). ACADEMIC MALE NUDE FIGURE STUDIES. Four Charcoal drawings, each on heavy wove paper, 19th Century. 24 1/2 x 19 1/8 inches (s...
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Mid-19th Century Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Charcoal

Theodore Blake Wirgman (1848-1925) Portrait of Ernest Albert Waterlow, drawing
By Theodore Blake Wirgman
Located in Paris, FR
Theodore Blake Wirgman (1848-1925) Portrait of Sir Ernest Albert Waterlow RA, (1850-1919) pen and black ink on paper, inscribed with thename of the sitter on the verso of the sheet, now not visible under the framing 15 x 12 cm In a modern frame 34.5 x 30 cm Theodore Blake Wirgman (29 April 1848 – 16 January 1925) was an English painter and etcher who moved to London, studied at the Royal Academy schools, became a painter of history and genre subjects, and worked as a portrait artist for The Graphic. A number of these portraits are held at the National Portrait Gallery. Theodore Blake Wirgman was born in Belgium and died in London. He worked from a studio at 24 Dawson Place, Notting Hill, London, and joined The Arts Club in 1892. Wirgman was part of a group of avant-garde young artists who emulated Edward Burne-Jones and Simeon Solomon...
Category

1880s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink

French Woman with Japanese Inspired Gown - Pencil drawing - circa 1916
Located in Paris, IDF
Georges CONRAD (1874-1936) French woman with Japanese inspired gown Original pencil drawing Signed by stamp of atelier On paper 26.5 x 20 cm (c. 10,4 x 7.8 in) Good condition, pap...
Category

1910s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pencil

“European Village”
Located in Southampton, NY
Original watercolor on archival paper laid down to heavy card stock by the American artist, Edward Loyal Field. The watercolor is of a European scene, perhaps Holland when the artist...
Category

1870s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Archival Paper

Ernest Howard Shepard, illustration of Punch magazine, signed, inkpen
Located in Petworth, West Sussex
Ernest Howard Shepard (British, 1879–1976) Laying Breaks on a London Street, an Illustration for Punch Magazine Inkpen and body colour Signed ‘Ernest H. Shepard’ (lower left) 8 1/8 x...
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20th Century Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Ink

Secretary in the Subway - Pencil drawing - circa 1913
Located in Paris, IDF
Georges CONRAD (1874-1936) Secretary in the Subway Original pencil and color pencils drawing Signed with the stamp of atelier On paper 26.5 x 20 cm (c. 10,4 x 7.8 in) Good conditio...
Category

1910s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Carbon Pencil, Color Pencil

French School 19th Century, A Muskeeter, original pencil drawing
Located in Paris, FR
French school 19th Century A Muskeeter Pencil on paper 26.5 x 17 cm Bears a signature "F. Roybet" in the lower right In quite good condition, bears some visible foxings, In an old mount (some damages) (not framed) Even if the style, execution and of course subject are those of Ferdinand Roybet...
Category

1890s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Carbon Pencil

1980 Fauno e Ninfa Faun and Nymph Pencil on Paper Figurative Drawing
Located in Brescia, IT
This delicate drawing of the dance between a Faun and the Nimph, looks following the Jean Cocteau clean line drawings. We can see in this scene, the grace and simplicity of the Neoc...
Category

1980s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper

Two divine women - Pencil drawing - circa 1914
Located in Paris, IDF
Georges CONRAD (1874-1936) Two divine women Original pencil and color pencil drawing Signed with the stamp of atelier On paper 26.5 x 20 cm (c. 10,4 x 7.8 in) Very good condition, ...
Category

1910s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Carbon Pencil, Color Pencil

Le Vengeur
Located in BOULOGNE-BILLANCOURT, FR
Après une formation à l’École des beaux-arts de Paris auprès de Jean-Léon Gérôme et Édouard Detaille, Gustave Bourgain se spécialise dans les marines ...
Category

1890s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

French School circa 1880, Portrait of a boy holding a book, drawing
Located in Paris, FR
French school circa 1880 Portrait of a boy holding a book graphite and white gouache on paper 39.5 x 32 cm oval view in good condition, slightly yellowed with age In its original ova...
Category

1880s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Gouache, Pencil

'Study for a Stained Glass Window', Devotional, Ecclesiastical, Pre-Raphaelite
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
A sensitively drawn and highly-detailed study for a three-panel set of stained glass windows showing the ascension of Jesus by angels and mortals. Initialed, lower right, 'EB-J', an...
Category

1920s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink, Watercolor, Gouache

Elegant Woman Seen in Cafe de la Paix (Paris) - Pencil drawing - circa 1914
Located in Paris, IDF
Georges CONRAD (1874-1936) Elegant Woman Seen in Cafe de la Paix (Paris) Original pencil and color pencils drawing Signed with the stamp of atelier On paper 26.5 x 20 cm (c. 10,4 x ...
Category

1910s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Carbon Pencil, Color Pencil

Study of female nude and a couple - Pencil drawing - circa 1914
Located in Paris, IDF
Georges CONRAD (1874-1936) Study of female nude and a couple Original pencil drawing Signed with the stamp of atelier On paper 26.5 x 20 cm (c. 10,4 x 7.8 in) Good condition, paper...
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1910s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pencil

Attractive Young Woman Sitting in Chair and Looking Upwards in Domestic Setting
Located in Miami, FL
Female Illustrator of the Golden Age Alice Barber Stephens renders in an academic style and women sitting in a chair and responding to something outside of the frame. Signed lower left. Most likely done for a major newsstand magazine like Harper's, Century or Scribner's Monthly. Work is framed under glass in a simple black wood frame. Perhaps period. Matt is new. Frame size: 20.5 x 14.5 From: Wikipedia Alice Barber Stephens (July 1, 1858 – July 13, 1932) was an American painter and engraver, best remembered for her illustrations. Her work regularly appeared in magazines such as Scribner's Monthly, Harper's Weekly, and The Ladies Home Journal. Early life and education Alice Barber was born near Salem, New Jersey. She was the eighth of nine children born to Samuel Clayton Barber and Mary Owen, who were Quakers. She attended local schools until she and her family moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At age 15 she became a student at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women (now Moore College of Art & Design), where she studied wood engraving. The Women's Life Class (1879), Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was admitted to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1876 (the first year women were admitted), studying under Thomas Eakins. Among her fellow students at the Academy were Susan MacDowell, Frank Stephens, David Wilson Jordan, Lavinia Ebbinghausen, Thomas Anshutz, and Charles H. Stephens (whom she would marry). During this time, at the academy, she began to work with a variety of media, including black-and-white oils, ink washes, charcoal, full-color oils, and watercolors. In 1879, Eakins chose Stephens to illustrate an Academy classroom scene for Scribner's Monthly. The resulting work, Women's Life Class, was Stephens' first illustration credit. New Woman As educational opportunities were made more available in the nineteenth century, women artists became part of professional enterprises, including founding their own art associations. Artwork made by women was considered to be inferior by the art world, and to help overcome that stereotype women became "increasingly vocal and confident" in promoting women's work, and thus became part of the emerging image of the educated, modern and freer "New Woman". Artists then, "played crucial roles in representing the New Woman, both by drawing images of the icon and exemplifying this emerging type through their own lives." Alice Barber Stephens, The Women Business, oil, 1897, Brandywine River Museum, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania One example of overcoming women stereotypes was Stephens' Woman in Business from 1897, which showed how women could focus not only in the home, but also in the economic world.[8] As women began to work, their career choices broadened and illustration became a commendable occupation. People's ideas about education and art started to merge, and the outcome of a certain sensitivity to the arts began to be seen as uplifting and educational. By using illustration as a means to further their practices, women were able to fit the traditional gender role while still being active in their pursuits for the "New Woman". According to Rena Robey of Art Times, "The early feminists began to leave the home to participate in clubs as moral and cultural guardians, focused on cleaning up cities and helping African Americans, impoverished women, working children, immigrants, and other previously ignored groups." Stephens took advantage of the explosion of illustration opportunities, including the opportunity to work from home. Women's education Edwin Forrest House, formerly the home of the Philadelphia School of Design for Women. Throughout the period before the civil war, textile and other decorative work became acceptable occupations for those who aspired to be in the middle class. The Philadelphia School of Design for Women, founded in 1848 by Sarah Worthington Peter was first among a group of women's design schools established in the 1850s and 1860s; others appeared in Boston, New York, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati. It began as a charitable effort to train needy and deserving young women in textile and wallpaper design, wood engraving, and other salable artistic skills, providing a means for training women who needed wage work. The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) was established in 1805 by painter and scientist Charles Willson Peale, sculptor William Rush...
Category

Early 1900s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Board, Charcoal

Edouard Detaille (1848 1912), A Carnival scene, watercolor signed
Located in Paris, FR
Edouard Detaille (1848-1912) A carnival scene 21 x 16.5 cm Watercolor and brown ink on paper Signed lower right Period frame : 35 x 30 cm (lacks in...
Category

1880s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink, Watercolor

19th Century drawing attributed to John Flaxman of a classical maiden
By John Flaxman
Located in Petworth, West Sussex
Attributed to John Flaxman (British, 1755- 1826) Study of a classical maiden Pen and ink on paper 5.1/2 x 3.1/8 in. (14 x 8 cm.)
Category

19th Century Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Ink, Pen

Edouard Detaille (1848 1912), A Carnival character, original signed Drawing
Located in Paris, FR
Edouard Detaille (1848-1912) A Carnival character and a Zouave 19.5 x 12.5 cm Pen and ink on paper Signed lower left with the initials (faded) In a modern framing : 35 x 28 cm T...
Category

1880s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink

A Fine Orientalist Pencil and Watercolor Reclining Middle Eastern Beauty
By Francesco Ballesio 2
Located in LA, CA
Francesco Ballesio (Italian, 1860-1923). A fine orientalist pencil and watercolor heightened with gum Arabic on paper figure of "A Middle-Eastern Beauty at Rest" depicting a young ma...
Category

Early 1900s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor, Pencil

Apelles holding his palette and brushes
Located in Paris, Île-de-France
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (Montauban 1780 – Paris 1867) Apelles holding his palette and brushes Late reinterpretation after The Apotheosis of Homer – c. 1860 Black chalk, stump...
Category

1860s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Laid Paper, Pencil

Louis Charles Auguste Couder (1789-1873) Portrait of a young man, signed pastel
By Louis Charles Auguste Couder
Located in Paris, FR
Louis Charles Auguste Couder (1789-1873) Portrait of a young man signed on the right border Pastel on paper 28.5 x 21 cm In good condition In a modern frame : 48 x 40.5 cm Augu...
Category

1860s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pastel

Isidore Pils (1813-1875) An Orientalist scene, signed watercolor
Located in Paris, FR
Isidore Pils (1813-1875) An Orientalist scene Signed lower left Pencil and heightenings of watercolor on paper ​​​​​​​15 x 24 cm paper yellowed by time, stains and a small repaired tear on the upper right edge. In a modern mount 40.5 x 53 cm Isidore-Alexandre-Augustin Pils (1815–1875) was a French academic painter of religious and military subjects. Pils was born in Paris as the son of a soldier François Pils. At the age of twelve, he studied with Guillaume Guillon-Lethière for four years. In 1831 he became a student at the École des Beaux-Arts and studied under François-Édouard Picot. He competed for the Prix de Rome, which he won in 1838 for a history painting, St. Peter Healing a Lame Man at the Door of the Temple. Although in poor health, Pils then spent the customary three years at the French Academy in Rome at the Villa Medici, which then had Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres as its director. While in Italy he visited Naples, Venice, and Florence. Pils's earlier paintings have religious themes. In 1849 he completed his most famous work, Rouget de L'Isle Singing La Marseillaise, which now resides at the Musée historique de Strasbourg. After experiences travelling with French troops through the Crimea, his themes took on military and nationalistic subjects. He later produced many military scenes during the siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Pils was appointed professor of painting at the École des Beaux-Arts in 1863 but left the same year for two years in Algeria. In 1868 he was elected to seat #14 of the Académie des Beaux-Arts. Among his students were Adrien Moreau...
Category

1870s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Studies of Goats and Sheep, Cairo (c. 1871)
Located in Stockholm, SE
Swedish artist Egron Lundgren sketched a small herd of goats and sheep resting together in this scene. Two goats recline quietly at the center while another stands nearby, creating a...
Category

1870s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Edouard Detaille (1848 1912), A trophy of arms, original signed Drawing
Located in Paris, FR
Edouard Detaille (1848-1912) A trophy of arms 11.5 x 20 cm Pen and ink with heightenings of white gouache on paper Signed and dated 1885 lower right and annotated "Armée française...
Category

1880s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink

Feeding the Kittens - Little cat mother -
Located in Berlin, DE
Ernst Albert Fischer-Cörlin (1853 Körlin - 1932 Persante). Feeding the Kittens, 1893. Pencil on painting cardboard, 38 x 29 cm. Signed and dated by the artist at lower left "E[rnst] A[lbert] Fischer=Cörlin 1893". - Lightly stained, somewhat dusty and minimally foxed. - Little cat mother - About the artwork Daughter, mother and grandmother gather in the sunlight to feed a litter of kittens. The mother and grandmother hold the lively, playful animals in their arms, while the young girl feeds two of the four kittens with cookies. There is also a small bucket of milk and a bowl of milk. The women and the girl watch as the cute, still blind animals eat. It is a scene taken from everyday life, but it also has an allegorical dimension, bringing maternal care into the representation. Three generations are represented, with the grandmother and the mother already mothers. They not only offer the kittens to the youngest, but also proudly observe the maternal care that the youngest gives to the kittens. Like the kittens, she will grow up and become a mother herself, so the image is also an allegory of life's ever-new beginnings. In keeping with this, the morning sun shines into the picture from the right. Fischer-Cörlin has masterfully worked out the quality of the light, with its light and dark areas, with the pencil used...
Category

1890s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Cardboard, Carbon Pencil

Edouard Detaille (1848 1912), The Young Paperboy, signed watercolor
Located in Paris, FR
Edouard Detaille (1848-1912) The Young Paperboy 16.5 x 20.5 cm Watercolor and brown ink on paper Signed lower right In good condition, the paper is slightly yellowed by time, some o...
Category

1880s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Ink

Attributed to Eugène Lami (1800-1890) A Maid feeding rabbits, Watercolor
By Eugène Louis Lami
Located in Paris, FR
Attributed to Eugène Lami (1800-1890) A maid feeding rabbits Watercolor on paper Bears a monogramm E L on the lower right 12.5 x 12.5 cm In good condition, some foxings in the uppe...
Category

1860s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Et in Arcadia ego Pencil and charcoal on paper J. Miro
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Title: Et in Arcadia ego Artist: Signed “J. Miró” Technique: Pencil and charcoal on paper Paper size: 49 × 39 cm (19.3 × 15.4 in) Framed size: 64 × 53 cm (25.2 × 20.9 in) Date: Decem...
Category

Early 1900s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pencil

Resting Man (Man relaxes draped only in a small towel) - In Celebration of Pride
Located in New Orleans, LA
Stone and Press Gallery is excited to offer several works in celebration of the LGBTQ community. A rare pencil drawing by John Lear created in 1957, signed and dated in pencil. John Brock Lear...
Category

1930s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pencil, Graphite

The Buttonhole By Charles Spencelayh
Located in New Orleans, LA
Charles Spencelayh 1865-1958 British The Buttonhole Signed “C.SPENCELAYH” (lower left) and inscribed “This Drawing was accepted into the Royal Academy but crowded out for want of ...
Category

20th Century Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor, Pencil

Stipple Drawing in Black and White of the First Lady of Haiti - African American
Located in Miami, FL
1942 Calendar illustration featuring the First Lady of Haiti (Madame Elie Lescot]) rendered in a precise stipple effect and celebrating African-American women which was titled "Twelve American Women." It was executed during the hight of World War II. Lois Mailou Jones...
Category

1940s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink, Pencil

French 19th Century Romantic Period 1830s Paris Society Beauty Portrait
Located in Norwich, GB
A astounding portrait of a society beauty by Adele Grasset (active ca 1830-1850). With an open face and and lightly smiling lips, she is wearing a gown typical of the romantic period. Drawn in graphite and heightened with white, the drawing is dated 1836 As often with woman artists of the 18th and 19th century, there is little biographical information available on Adèle Grasset. We do know however, that she had studied with the highly prominent artist François Gérard (1770-1837) , known also as the Baron Gérard...
Category

1830s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Charcoal, Gouache

Girl Kneeling - female, figurative, nude, pencil drawing on paper
Located in Bloomfield, ON
It is a classic drawing in pencil. A young woman, nude, kneels, hands behind her head. She is looking away from the viewer into the distance, a solemn gaze. Christopher Pratt, one of...
Category

1980s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Carbon Pencil

French Watercolor Academic 19th GHESQUIER Portrait young Italian woman Roma 1880
Located in PARIS, FR
Désiré Auguste GHESQUIER Lille, 1861 – Lille, 1934 Portrait of an Italian Woman from the Back Watercolor on paper Signed lower right "D. Ghesquier" 39.5 x 27 cm (43.5 x 30.5 cm with ...
Category

1880s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Procession Four girls with flowers - English Female Illustrator
Located in Miami, FL
Four young English girls with flowers are shown in a line and moving from left to right. They are pushed forward on the picture plane as if they were on a stage with a simple indica...
Category

1890s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

“Bringing Home the Game”
Located in Southampton, NY
Original watercolor with graphite tracings of a hunter bring home the fresh game by the British artist, George Anderson Short. Signed top right. ...
Category

1940s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Archival Paper, Graphite

Studious Girl Reading a Book - Women's Education - Female Illustrator
Located in Miami, FL
The work represents a carefully rendered and meticulously observed environmental portrait of a young girl absorbed in study in front of a book case. It celebrates the intelligence of womanhood from a woman's perspective. Initialed in cartouche lower right literature: "The Silver Pencil", Hardy, Harper's Monthly, June 1912, pg. 22 Elizabeth Shippen Green (September 1, 1871 – May 29, 1954) was an American illustrator. She illustrated children's books and worked for publications such as The Ladies' Home Journal, The Saturday Evening Post and Harper's Magazine. Education Green enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1887 and studied with the painters Thomas Pollock Anshutz, Thomas Eakins, and Robert Vonnoh.[2] She then began study with Howard Pyle at Drexel Institute where she met Violet Oakley and Jessie Willcox Smith. New Woman As educational opportunities were made more available in the 19th century, women artists became part of professional enterprises, including founding their own art associations. Artwork made by women was considered to be inferior, and to help overcome that stereotype women became “increasingly vocal and confident” in promoting women's work, and thus became part of the emerging image of the educated, modern and freer “New Woman”.[4] Artists "played crucial roles in representing the New Woman...
Category

1910s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Chalk, Charcoal

Study for Alyssa II
Located in Sag Harbor, NY
A charcoal portrait drawing of a young woman. "The emotional intensity found in Bauman’s figurative work is astounding. A hallmark of Bauman’s character portraits is that, somehow,...
Category

2010s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Charcoal, Archival Paper

Vogue Magazine Illustration Turn of the Century - Woman Illustrator
Located in Miami, FL
Early in the artist's career most likely for Vogue Magazine. Signed lower left. Helen Dryden (1882–1972) was an American artist and successful industrial designer in the 1920s and 1...
Category

1910s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

India Ink, Pencil, Graphite, Gouache

The Swiss by Otto Vautier - Drawing 31x24 cm
Located in Geneva, CH
Work on canvas Otto Vautier is a renowned Swiss painter, born in 1863 in Düsseldorf. He was influenced by a family of artists and developed his style dur...
Category

1910s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Crayon, Watercolor

Street Costumes, Gay Nineties Fashion - Female Illustrator
Located in Miami, FL
Street Costumes by Ruth Kreps. Signed lower right. Most likely for a book published in the 1930's about turn of the century women's fashion. "Costume Design of the Gay Nineties" T...
Category

1930s Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink, Watercolor, Board

Pair of Kate Greenaway original watercolour artworks 'Under the Window', 1879
Located in Petworth, West Sussex
Kate Greenaway (British, 1846 – 1901) ‘Prince Finikin and his Mamma sat sipping their bohea..’; and ‘You see, merry Phyllis, that dear little maid, Has invited Belinda to tea..’ Penc...
Category

19th Century Academic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Pencil

Academic figurative drawings and watercolors for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Academic figurative drawings and watercolors available for sale on 1stDibs. Works in this style were very popular during the 20th Century, 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 and other colors. Frequently made by artists working with Archival Paper, and Archival Tape and other materials, all of these pieces for sale are unique and have attracted attention over the years. Not every interior allows for large Academic figurative drawings and watercolors, so small editions measuring 2.56 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 $11 and tops out at $288,500, while the average work sells for $747.

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