Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
MODERN STYLE
The first decades of the 20th century were a period of artistic upheaval, with modern art movements including Cubism, Surrealism, Futurism and Dadaism questioning centuries of traditional views of what art should be. Using abstraction, experimental forms and interdisciplinary techniques, painters, sculptors, photographers, printmakers and performance artists all pushed the boundaries of creative expression.
Major exhibitions, like the 1913 Armory Show in New York City — also known as the “International Exhibition of Modern Art,” in which works like the radically angular Nude Descending a Staircase by Marcel Duchamp caused a sensation — challenged the perspective of viewers and critics and heralded the arrival of modern art in the United States. But the movement’s revolutionary spirit took shape in the 19th century.
The Industrial Revolution, which ushered in new technology and cultural conditions across the world, transformed art from something mostly commissioned by the wealthy or the church to work that responded to personal experiences. The Impressionist style emerged in 1860s France with artists like Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne and Edgar Degas quickly painting works that captured moments of light and urban life. Around the same time in England, the Pre-Raphaelites, like Edward Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, borrowed from late medieval and early Renaissance art to imbue their art with symbolism and modern ideas of beauty.
Emerging from this disruption of the artistic status quo, modern art went further in rejecting conventions and embracing innovation. The bold legacy of leading modern artists Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso, Frida Kahlo, Salvador Dalí, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, Marc Chagall, Piet Mondrian and many others continues to inform visual culture today.
Find a collection of modern paintings, sculptures, prints and other fine art on 1stDibs.
to
321
3,876
710
273
88
34
Overall Width
to
Overall Height
to
25
575
4,156
225
48
83
126
247
258
358
333
232
101
33
23
4,981
3,350
581
388
321
253
212
205
167
150
56
49
46
43
3,084
1,827
68
3,877
2,758
1,981
1,679
1,382
981
847
624
473
181
142
135
127
99
96
93
85
79
71
70
1,644
1,580
1,520
1,479
1,423
782
118
109
85
65
565
3,426
2,880
773
Style: Modern
Moby Dick 4 original mid century illustrations for Herman Melville's masterpiece
Located in Norwich, GB
A stunning ensemble of fiour original mid century illustrations for Herman Melville's "Moby Dick" . Whilst sharing the modernist, stylis...
Category
1940s Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Charcoal
Untitled-019 pastel on paper of three nude models by Hans Burkhardt
Located in Hudson, NY
Hans Burkhardt frequently used live models for his figural pastels, which he maintained an interest in throughout his long career.
Untitled (1972)
Pastel on paper, 25" x 19"
28" x 2...
Category
1970s Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Pastel
Head, Ink & Watercolour on Paper by Indian Artist Sunil Das "In Stock"
By Sunil Das
Located in Kolkata, West Bengal
Sunil Das - Head, Ink & Watercolour on paper - 11 x 17.25 inches (unframed size)
Free Shipping Without Frame
Sunil Das (1939-2015) was a Master Modern Indian Artist from Bengal. Ex...
Category
Early 2000s Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink, Charcoal, Watercolor
That's a Wrap, Playboy cartoon Illustration ,
By Dink Siegel
Located in Miami, FL
Dink Siegel (American, 1910-2003)
That's a Wrap, Playboy cartoon, August 1973
Mixed media on board
11.25 x 8.5 in.
Signed lower right
Category
1970s Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Mixed Media
Thinking about the Origin - Original Pencil Drawing by Mino Maccari - 1960s
By Mino Maccari
Located in Roma, IT
Thinking about the Origin of the World is an original pencil drawing on paper, realized around the Sixties by the great Italian artist and journalist, Mino Maccari (Siena, 1898 - 198...
Category
1960s Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Pencil
Portrait de Jean Desbordes - Lithograph by Jean Cocteau - 1929
By Jean Cocteau
Located in Roma, IT
Lithograph on vélin pur fil des Papeteries du Marais, realized by Cocteau in 1929.
Belongs to the suite "25 Dessins d'Un Dormeur", published by H. L. Mermod, Lausanne.
Edition of 2...
Category
1920s Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Lithograph
After Ingres Drawing
Located in Palm Desert, CA
"After Ingres Drawing" is a figurative Modern pencil and watercolor on paper work by Paul Wunderlich in 1973. The artwork is 26 1/8 x 19 inches and 35 1/4 x 28 1/2 x 2 inches with th...
Category
20th Century Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Pencil, Watercolor
Untitled, Figurative, Watercolour on Paper by Modern Artist "In Stock"
By Sakti Burman
Located in Kolkata, West Bengal
Sakti Burman - Untitled
Watercolour on Paper
30 x 20 inches
Born : 1935 Kolkata
Education : 1956 Government College of Arts and Crafts in Kolkata and the Ecole Nationale des Beaux ...
Category
1960s Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
An Avant-Garde, Mid-Century Modern Abstract Female Figure Study by Harold Haydon
Located in Chicago, IL
A Dynamic, Avant-Garde, Mid-Century Modern Abstract Female Figure Study by Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). A striking, black & white figural studio ink drawing on paper depicting an...
Category
Mid-20th Century Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
Untitled (Wizard Fantasy)
By Morris Louis
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Untitled (Wizard Fantasy)
Pen and ink on paperboard, 1948
Signed and dated by the artist lower right
Extremely rare "Middle Period" drawing. One of two drawings that were given by the artist to Jeanette Kear, Chevy Chase, MD which were signed and dated by the artist. All others in the exhibition are from sketchbooks and have the estate stamp and numbering.
Exhibited at National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, Dec. 6 1979-Feb. 3, 1980
and
Fogg Museum of Art, Harvard University, Feb. 22-April6, 1980
Illustrated twice in the resulting catalog, The Drawings of Morris Louis, by Diane Upright Headly, Harvard Univeristy and author of the catalog essay and entries. (See photos)
Condition: Mounted to paper board by owner, Jeanette Kear for framing
Glazed with glass
Image size: 13 7/8 x 16 5/8 inches
Frame size: 20 x 23 x 3/4 inches
Provenance: Jeanette F. Kear, Chevy Chase, MD
Illustrated: National Collection of Fine Art, 1979: "The Drawings of Morris Louis,"
Catalog No. 1, illustrated D1, reproduced p. 73
Morris Louis Bernstein (November 28, 1912 – September 7, 1962), known professionally as Morris Louis, was an American painter. During the 1950s he became one of the earliest exponents of Color Field painting. While living in Washington, D.C., Louis, along with Kenneth Noland and other Washington painters, formed an art movement that is known today as the Washington Color Schoo
Early life and education
From 1929 to 1933, he studied at the Maryland Institute of Fine and Applied Arts (now Maryland Institute College of Art) on a scholarship, but left shortly before completing the program. Louis worked at various odd jobs to support himself while painting, and in 1935 was president of the Baltimore Artists' Association. From 1936 to 1940, he lived in New York City and worked in the easel division of the Works Progress Administration Federal Art Project. During this period, he knew Arshile Gorky, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and Jack Tworkov. He also dropped his last name.
Work
Color field painting
He returned to his native Baltimore in 1940 and taught privately. In 1948, he pioneered the use of Magna paint—a newly developed oil-based acrylic paint made for him by his friends, New York paintmakers Leonard Bocour and Sam Golden. In 1952, Louis moved to Washington, D.C. Living in Washington, D.C., he was somewhat apart from the New York scene and he was working almost in isolation. During the 1950s he and a group of artists that included Kenneth Noland, Gene Davis, Thomas Downing, Howard Mehring, Anne Truitt and Hilda Thorpe...
Category
1940s Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Graphite
Edward Bawden design of the listener, ink on paper, British painter, illustrator
Located in Petworth, West Sussex
An exceptional and rare example of Edward Bawden’s work in the field of graphic design, this original ink drawing was conceived as a proposed cover for The Listener magazine — a publ...
Category
20th Century Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
Swimmer - Drawing By Isidore Pils - Mid-20th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Swimmer is an artwork realized by Isidore Pils in the Mid 20th Century.
China ink drawing.
In good conditions.
Hand-Signed.
Category
Mid-20th Century Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
The Consultations - Drawing by Mino Maccari - mid-20th Century
By Mino Maccari
Located in Roma, IT
Watercolor drawing on paper realized by Mino Maccari in the mid-20th Century.
Hand signed.
Matted, mat dimensions cm. 40x50.
Very good condition.
Category
Mid-20th Century Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor
Shiva
Located in Atlanta, GA
Born in 1964, Nebojsa Bezanic was predominantly influenced by the 1980s. The generation of artists that grew up in, and took inspiration from, the nineteen eighties was influenced by a period of quickly growing global capitalism, political upheaval, significant wealth discrepancy, global mass media and distinctive music and fashion, including electronic pop music and hip hop. The 1980s was the era of African famine, the height of the Cold War, and also the end of it, as marked by the fall of the Berlin Wall. significant art movements of the era include Neo Geo, The Pictures Generation and the global trend of Neo-Expressionism which manifested in Germany, the USA and Italy (where it was known as Transavanguardia). The decade was exemplified by artists like Anselm Kiefer, Jörg Immendorf...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink
$23,400
Cliffs near Paramé, France, vibrant seascape & landscape watercolor
By Frank Wilcox
Located in Beachwood, OH
Frank Nelson Wilcox (American, 1887-1964)
Cliffs near Paramé, France, c. 1926-7
Watercolor on paper
Signed lower right
11 x 14.5 inches
Frank Nelson Wilcox (October 3, 1887 – April 17, 1964) was a modernist American artist and a master of watercolor. Wilcox is described as the "Dean of Cleveland School painters". In 1906 Wilcox enrolled from the Cleveland School of Art...
Category
1920s Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor
Costume di Chieuti Albanesi - Watercolor by M. De Vito - 1820 ca.
Located in Roma, IT
Costume di Chieuti-Albanesi, 1820 c.a.
Watercolour on ivory colored paper, 1820 c.a.. Hand-titled "Costume di Chieuti-Albanesi", with autograph caption black ink "Provincia di Basili...
Category
1820s Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor
A Tender Bare Heart - Dreamlike Whimsical Figurative Watercolor Graphite Artwork
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Amanda Immurs, an artist hailing from Hamilton, Canada, creates enchanting watercolor artworks that bring whimsical scenes of children, animals, and flora to life. Immurs' art is gro...
Category
2010s Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Watercolor, Graphite
"New York Harbor Nocturne" Leon Dolice, Mid-Century New York Nocturnal Landscape
By Leon Dolice
Located in New York, NY
Leon Dolice
New York Harbor Nocturne
Signed lower right
Pastel on paper
12 x 19 inches
The romantic backdrop of Vienna at the turn of the century had a life-long influence upon the...
Category
1930s Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Pastel
Alfred Bendiner, (Baseball Hitter and Pitcher -- The Philadelphia Phillies?)
Located in New York, NY
Of course it's possible that these baseball players aren't from a Philadelphia team, but I doubt it. There was so much drama and intrigue with both the Philadelphia Phillies...
Category
Mid-20th Century Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
India Ink, Watercolor
Trout stream in Oxfordshire
Located in Harkstead, GB
A lovely vibrant watercolour capturing a shimmering English river
John Newberry (born 1934)
Stream at Wytham, Oxford
Signed
Watercolour
4¼ x 5¾ inches unframed
9 x 11 inches with fr...
Category
1990s Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
$240 Sale Price
30% Off
'The Young Flute Player', Music, Woodwind Instrument
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Signed lower right, "Julio Castillo" and painted circa 1960.
A substantial, mid-century figural watercolor showing a boy playing the flute and a girl watching...
Category
1960s Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink, Gouache
Fond Memory Framed Original Watercolor Painting Flower Seller Modern British Art
By Gordon King
Located in Sutton Poyntz, Dorset
Gordon King.
English ( b.1939 ).
Fond Memories.
Watercolor.
Signed Lower Right.
Image size 13.6 inches x 21 inches ( 34.5cm x 53.5cm ).
Frame size 22.4 inches x 29.9 inches ( 57cm ...
Category
Late 20th Century Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
The Companion - Drawing by Mino Maccari - mid-20th Century
By Mino Maccari
Located in Roma, IT
Watercolor on paper realized by Mino Maccari in the mid-20th Century.
Hand signed lower right.
Very good condition.
Category
Mid-20th Century Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor
Black Power, Attica Prison Riot Prisoners Racial Justice - African American Art
Located in Miami, FL
African American Artist Vincent D Smith makes a statement about racial justice. In this work from 1972, he depicts three African American prisoners with their faces pushed up agains...
Category
1970s Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor
Chapel and houses along a lake, New England Landscape - American School, 19th C
Located in Middletown, NY
Watercolor and pencil on buff wove watercolor paper, 10 x 8 inches (255 x 203 mm). In good condition with overall minor toning. Some watercolor paint splatters on the verso, contem...
Category
Early 1900s Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor, Pencil
A Charming 1930s Charcoal Study of Three Young Men Reading in a Lakehouse Window
Located in Chicago, IL
A Charming 1930s Charcoal Study of Three Young Men Reading by a Lakehouse Window by Notable Chicago Artist, Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). Most likely completed during the summer mo...
Category
1930s Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Charcoal
Edward Laning, Sketch for Sheraton East Hotel Mid-Century Mural of Ancient Myths
Located in New York, NY
This mural depicting ancient myths was designed for the Hotel Ambassador, a skyscraper at 345 Park Avenue, NYC; the building was converted to the Sheraton East in 1958. It was demolished in 1966. It could only be mid-century American!
Signed, titled, and annotated, 'Scale 2" = 1' in ink.
Edward Laning is largely known as a mural artist. His series The History of the Printed Word is installed at the New York Public Library at 42nd Street, New York City, and Building of the Transcontinental Railroad Mural, is in the Railroad Museum, Ogden, Utah. Laning was briefly a student of Kenneth Hayes Miller at the Art Students League, New York. They were lifelong colleagues and had studios on Union Square near friends Isabel Bishop, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Reginald Marsh, and Raphael Soyer. As a group they were the Fourteenth Street School...
Category
1950s Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor
J.B. Dolitro? Bedtime Story. Male French WWII Soldiers w. Kepis, Drinks, Cigars
Located in New York, NY
Clearly an ironic title, 'Bedtime Story,' conjures up homey childhood experiences -- not over-sized, cigar-smoking, and alcohol-abusing, French soldiers.
The artist who made Bedti...
Category
Mid-20th Century Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink
Church Interior - Ink and Watercolor by J. R. Leblanc - Early 20th Century
Located in Roma, IT
"Church Interior" is an original drawing in ink and watercolor on paper, realized by Jules Rene Leblanc.
Hand-signed on the lower right in pencil.
The state of preservation of the ar...
Category
Early 20th Century Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor, Ink
Donkey and Figures - Drawing - Early 20th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Donkey and figures is a drawing artwork realized by an Anonymous artist in early 20th century.
Pencil and china ink on paper
Good condition with foxing and stain on margins.
The t...
Category
Early 20th Century Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink, Pencil
Artist's Studio - Drawing - 1941
Located in Roma, IT
Artist's Studio is a modern artwork realized by an unknown artist in 1941.
Watercolor on paper.
Dated and Hand-signed, illegible.
Good conditions.
Category
1940s Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor
Fashion Model Illustration Perhaps for Vogue Magazine
Located in Miami, FL
This high-fashion illustration was most likely created between 1938 and 1940 for an inside editorial in a major newspaper, such as Vogue or McCall's. It showcases Ruth Grafstrom's d...
Category
1930s Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink, Watercolor
Rio della Misericordia, Venice.
By James McBey
Located in Storrs, CT
Rio della Misericordia. October 1924. Watercolor. 14 x 8 3/4. McBey did a striking nocturnal view of the bridge in his 1926 drypoint, The Bridge by Night Carter 232. Signed and dated, lower right; titled verso. Housed in a French mat and a 22 x 16 1/2-inch gold leaf frame.
The Rio Della Misericordia ( from the Venetian to the Misericordia Canal ) is a canal from Venice in the sestiere of Cannaregio, Contrada San Marzillan in Italy.
The river runs along the old Servite convent. The canal is crossed by two bridges, from east to west:
the San Marziale spawning linking the campo of the same name with the Fondamenta de la Misericordia and
the dei dei Servi or Betania linking the Mensa di Betania to the Fondamenta de la Misericordia .
Born in Newburgh near Aberdeen, James McBey attended evening classes at Graydon's School of Art and taught himself etching, building his own press at the age of fifteen. He moved to London to prepare for a one-man show at Goupil's Gallery, and shortly after this highly successful first show, he traveled to Morocco with James Kerr...
Category
Mid-20th Century Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
India Ink, Watercolor
$5,000 Sale Price
33% Off
Modern Colorful Pastel Drawing of a Pair of Sumo Wrestlers in Blue and Green
Located in Houston, TX
Modern pastel drawing of a pair of sumo wrestlers in the middle of a match wearing green and blue mawashi set against an orange floor. Signed by the artist in the front lower right c...
Category
20th Century Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Pastel
Landscape - Etching by Jean-Léon Gérome - 19th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Landscape is a drawing realized by Jean-Léon Gérome (1824-1904).
Good condition on a yellowed pper, included a white cardboard passpartout (37.5x55 cm).
Stamp signed on the back of the little paper.
Jean-Léon Gérôme (11 May 1824 – 10 January 1904) was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as academicism. His paintings were so widely reproduced that he was "arguably the world's most famous living...
Category
19th Century Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Pencil
Untitled IV, Nude drawing on paper
Located in Miami Beach, FL
Untitled IV, 1992 by Enrique Grau
Graphite on ight cardboard
Image size: 17 in H x 14 in W
Frame size: 32 in H × 28.5 in W × 2 D in
Signed and dated in th...
Category
1980s Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Graphite, Cardboard
Nude Man and Woman (Desire and sexual tension) - In Celebration of Pride Month
By Tom Leveritt
Located in New Orleans, LA
Stone and Press Gallery is excited to offer several works in celebration of the LGBTQ community.
Is it lust? Is it love? A pencil drawing shows a nude man and a nude woman on the same page. Sexual tension and desire are paramount in this composition.
Tom Leveritt...
Category
2010s Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Charcoal
A Triptych: The Olympic Games, Modern British Drawing, Ancient Greek, Nude
Located in London, GB
Graphite on paper
Image size of rectangular works: 33 x 43 inches (84 x 109 cm)
Image size of arched central work: 38 1/4 x 29 inches (97 x 73.5 cm)
Provenance
Private Collection of Seymour Stein, Vice President of Warner Bros Records
Sotheby's 'Modern British and Irish Art,' London, 19 May 2004, lot 92
The three impressive drawings are studies for Stroudley’s ‘Olympic Games in a Demi-Lune’. From left to right the studies depict groups of athletes practicing diving, a conversing crowd of oarsmen, hurdlers mid jump and a collection of javelin throwers. This study was created in 1930 when Stroudley practiced in the British School in Rome. There are few surviving works from Stroudley’s short stay in Rome, with the compositions from his Rome period being among the last wholly successful decorative cycles produced by a Rome Scholar prior to World War II. Indeed, as can be seen here, his drawings from this period are technically brilliant and even bear comparison with those of Eric Kennington.
James Stroudley
Stroudley was born in London on 17 June 1906, the son of James Stroudley, showcard and ticket writer. He studied at Clapham School of Art (1923-27) and then at the Royal College of Art (1927-30), where his teachers included Alan Gwynne-Jones and William Rothenstein. As a recipient of the first Abbey Scholarship he was able to spend three years in Italy from 1930, where he absorbed the influences of Giotto and Piero della Francesca, and produced one of the last wholly satisfying decorative cycles by a Rome Scholar of the period. From 1934, he exhibited at the Royal Society of British Artists, and was elected to its membership in the following year.
From the Second World War – in which he worked with the Camouflage Unit – Stroudley taught at St Martin’s School of Art and was a visiting lecturer at the Royal Academy Schools. Though he continued to live in London, his later work, exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1955, indicated regular painting trips to Kent and Sussex coasts. However, much of his later work was abstract. In 1971, his former student, Peter Coker, paid homage to Stroudley by including his work in the exhibition ‘Pupil & Masters’, held at Westgate House, Long Melford, Suffolk.
Stroudley married three times, and his wives included the fashion artist to the Sun newspaper...
Category
1930s Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Graphite
1951 Graphite on Paper Figure Study of a Standing Male by Artist Harold Haydon
Located in Chicago, IL
A 1951 black and white figure study of a nude male, by artist Harold Haydon. Artwork size: 19" x 12 1/2".
Archivally matted to 24" x 20". Provenance: Estate of the Artist. Esta...
Category
1950s Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Graphite, Paper
"Figure Study in Red"
By Jean Hélion
Located in Southampton, NY
Early 1960's watercolor and gouache figure study by Jean Helion. Signed with initial H lower right and dated lower left February, 1963. Condition is fair with crease above the letter...
Category
1960s Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Mixed Media
$1,760 Sale Price
20% Off
Nude - Original Watercolour by Jean Delpech - Mid 20th century
By Jean Delpech
Located in Roma, IT
Nude is an original drawing in watercolor, realized in the Mid-20th Century by Jean Delpech (1916-1988).
Good conditions except for consumed margins and some foxings.
Jean-Ray...
Category
Mid-20th Century Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor
Original unique drawing of three parrots in monograph by renowned Chinese artist
By Walasse Ting
Located in New York, NY
Walasse Ting 丁雄泉
Original three parrots drawing, 1984
Original parrots drawing done in ink with inscription held inside elegant hardback monograph with ...
Category
1980s Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink, Mixed Media, Lithograph, Offset
Plowman, Brecksville, Ohio, Early 20th Century Farm Landscape, Cleveland School
By Frank Wilcox
Located in Beachwood, OH
Frank Nelson Wilcox (American, 1887–1964)
Plowman, Brecksville, Ohio, c. 1922
Watercolor on paper
Signed lower right
22.5 x 27.75 inches
27.75 x 34.5 inches, framed
Frank Nelson Wilcox (October 3, 1887 – April 17, 1964) was a modernist American artist and a master of watercolor. Wilcox is described as the "Dean of Cleveland School painters," though some sources give this appellation to Henry Keller or Frederick Gottwald. Wilcox was born on October 3, 1887 to Frank Nelson Wilcox, Sr. and Jessie Fremont Snow Wilcox at 61 Linwood Street in Cleveland, Ohio. His father, a prominent lawyer, died at home in 1904 shortly before Wilcox' 17th birthday. His brother, lawyer and publisher Owen N. Wilcox, was president of the Gates Legal Publishing Company or The Gates Press. His sister Ruth Wilcox was a respected librarian.
In 1906 Wilcox enrolled from the Cleveland School of Art under the tutelage of Henry Keller, Louis Rorimer, and Frederick Gottwald. He also attended Keller's Berlin Heights summer school from 1909. After graduating in 1910, Wilcox traveled and studied in Europe, sometimes dropping by Académie Colarossi in the evening to sketch the model or the other students at their easels, where he was influenced by French impressionism. Wilcox was influenced by Keller's innovative watercolor techniques, and from 1910 to 1916 they experimented together with impressionism and post-impressionism. Wilcox soon developed his own signature style in the American Scene or Regionalist tradition of the early 20th century. He joined the Cleveland School of Art faculty in 1913. Among his students were Lawrence Edwin Blazey, Carl Gaertner, Paul Travis, and Charles E. Burchfield. Around this time Wilcox became associated with Cowan Pottery.
In 1916 Wilcox married fellow artist Florence Bard, and they spent most of their honeymoon painting in Berlin Heights with Keller. They had one daughter, Mary. In 1918 he joined the Cleveland Society of Artists, a conservative counter to the Bohemian Kokoon Arts Club, and would later serve as its president. He also began teaching night school at the John Huntington Polytechnic Institute at this time, and taught briefly at Baldwin-Wallace College.
Wilcox wrote and illustrated Ohio Indian Trails in 1933, which was favorably reviewed by the New York Times in 1934. This book was edited and reprinted in 1970 by William A. McGill. McGill also edited and reprinted Wilcox' Canals of the Old Northwest in 1969. Wilcox also wrote, illustrated, and published Weather Wisdom in 1949, a limited edition (50 copies) of twenty-four serigraphs (silk screen prints) accompanied by commentary "based upon familiar weather observations commonly made by people living in the country."
Wilcox displayed over 250 works at Cleveland's annual May Show. He received numerous awards, including the Penton Medal for The Omnibus, Paris (1920), Fish Tug on Lake Erie (1921), Blacksmith Shop (1922), and The Gravel Pit (1922). Other paintings include The Trailing Fog (1929), Under the Big Top (1930), and Ohio Landscape...
Category
1920s Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor
Joyce Wieland "Marie Antoinette"
Located in Toronto, Ontario
Joyce Wieland (1931-1998) is one of the most accomplished and versatile Canadian artists. She achieved a level of commercial and critical success in her lifetime that was exceptional for a woman during an era in a male-dominated field.
Notably, she was the first female artist to have a solo exhibition at the National Gallery (Ottawa) in 1971 and the Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto) in 1987.
Although Wieland was an artist who was always drawing, she launched her career as a painter. Always experimenting, her art practice expanded to incorporate a range of media and materials, from textile works to film. In New York City, she was best known as an experimental filmmaker.
In the mid 1960s Wieland began to embrace more representational and narrative elements in her work. Inspired by comic books, and her background in film as an animator, Wieland embraced figuration albeit clearly influenced by Pop Art.
One of the reoccurring motifs in Wieland's oeuvre is playing with and subverting icons of femininity. In this work Wieland presents icons inspired by the French Queen Marie-Antoinette: a jewelry or hat box, a hairbrush, a medallion. The artist seems to be willing to give a make-over to the Queen. In the "nice medallion painting...
Category
1960s Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Color Pencil
Untitled III, Nude drawing on paper
Located in Miami Beach, FL
Untitled III, 1984 by Enrique Grau
Graphite on paper
Signed in the top right corner. Great condition.
Provenance: Private collection.
Image size: 12 in H ...
Category
1980s Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Archival Paper, Graphite
Forest Landscape, watercolour by George Bissill
Located in London, GB
George Bissill (1896-1973)
Forest Landscape
Watercolour
9 x 18 cm
Born in 1896, George Bissill was a British miner, painter and furniture designer. Raised in the mining village o...
Category
Mid-20th Century Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor, Pencil
Duncan Grant original 1954 watercolour 'Hero and Leander', signed with initials
By Duncan Grant
Located in Petworth, West Sussex
Duncan Grant (British, 1885 – 1978)
Hero and Leander, 1954
Watercolour and gouache with crayon
Signed with initials and dated ‘DG. / 54’ (lower right)
8.3/4 x 13.7/8 in. (22.3 x 35.3 cm.)
Provenance: Paul Roche...
Category
20th Century Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Crayon, Watercolor, Gouache
1950's Modernist/ Cubist Painting - Blues and Green French Landscape
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
French Landscape
by Bernard Labbe (French mid 20th century)
original gouache on artist paper mounted on board, unframed
size: 18.5 x 15.5 inches
condition: very good and ready to be ...
Category
Mid-20th Century Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Gouache
Sleeping Cat, Early 20th Century, Cleveland School Artist
Located in Beachwood, OH
Clarence Holbrook Carter (American, 1904-2000)
Sleeping Cat, 1929
Watercolor on paper
Signed and dated upper right
15 x 19 inches
21.25 x 25.25 inches, framed
Clarence Holbrook Car...
Category
1920s Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor
Nude of Little Girl - Original Pencil and Pastels on Paper - Early 20th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Nude of little girl is an original pencil and pastels drawing on ivory paper by Anonymous Artist of the Early 20th Century.
In very good condition...
Category
Early 20th Century Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Pastel, Pencil
Nude signed Arno Breker
Located in Pasadena, CA
Arno Breker is an artist supported by the Nazi regime and a German sculptor whose neoclassical works meet the military aesthetic of the regime. Breker was born on July 29, 1900, in E...
Category
Mid-20th Century Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Color Pencil
The Rock - Drawing by Albert Gaulme - 1950s
Located in Roma, IT
China ink and watercolor on cardboard realized by Albert Gaulme in 1950s.
Not signed.
Very good condition.
Category
1950s Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor, Ink
Nudes - Drawing by Mino Maccari - 1934 ca.
By Mino Maccari
Located in Roma, IT
Pencil and pastel drawing realized by Mino Maccari, on recto and verso of the sheet, in 1934 ca.
Hand signed.
Very good condition.
Category
1930s Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Pencil, Pastel
Woman - Original Drawing - Mid-20th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Woman is an original modern artwork realized in the half of 20th century by Marguerite Bordet.
Pastel and ink drawing.
Hand signed on the lower margin.
Includes frame (fair condit...
Category
Mid-20th Century Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Pastel, Ink
Signs of the Zodiac - Drawing by Jacques Villon - 1937
Located in Roma, IT
Signs of the Zodiac, Taurus and Gemini is a modern artwork realized by Jacques Villon in 1937.
China ink drawing on paper.
Hand signed and dated on the lower margin.
Vintage frame included in this rare artwork...
Category
1930s Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink, Paper
Horse's Head - Drawing - Late 19th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Horse's Head is an original pencil drawing on paper, attributed to Luigi Galli and realized in the late 19th Century.
With another drawing of hands...
Category
Late 19th Century Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Pencil
1950's Big Modernist/ Cubist Painting - The Couple In The Carriage
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
French Landscape
by Bernard Labbe (French mid 20th century)
original gouache on card
size: 19 x 25 inches
condition: very good and ready to be enjoyed
provenance: the artists atelie...
Category
Mid-20th Century Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Gouache
3rd Grade Reader: Figurative Drawing of Feathers and Blue Wave on Antique Paper
Located in Hudson, NY
Figurative chalk drawing of colorful feathers and blue wave on vintage collaged book pages
'The Third Grade Reader- Feathers on Water' by Louise Laplante in 2022
pastel on collaged v...
Category
2010s Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Chalk
The Painter Giorgio De Chirico - Drawing by Mino Maccari - 1950 ca
By Mino Maccari
Located in Roma, IT
Watercolor on paper realized by Mino Maccarin in the 1950s. It depicts the painter and Master of Pittura Metafisica Giorgio De Chirico.
Hand signed.
Very good condition.
Category
1950s Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor
Horse Riding - Drawing by Mino Maccari - Mid-20th Century
By Mino Maccari
Located in Roma, IT
Horse Riding is a Pastel and Charcoal drawing realized by Mino Maccari (1924-1989) in the Mid-20th Century.
Hand-signed.
Good conditions with slight foxing.
Mino Maccari (Siena, ...
Category
Mid-20th Century Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Pastel, Charcoal, Watercolor
Modern figurative drawings and watercolors for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Modern 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 orange, blue, yellow, purple and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Mino Maccari, Flor David, Gabriele Galantara, and Alberto Ziveri. Frequently made by artists working with Paint, and Watercolor and other materials, all of these pieces for sale are unique and have attracted attention over the years. Not every interior allows for large Modern figurative drawings and watercolors, so small editions measuring 0.25 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 $648,500, while the average work sells for $409.