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Abstract Portrait 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
Color:  Gray
A Meeting on a Sunny Day by Annemarie Ambrosoli, Abstract Watercolor
Located in Kiens, BZ
A Meeting on a Sunny Day (2022), 19,5x45,5 cm, Watercolor Paper Fabriano 600 g, by Italian contemporary artist ©Annemarie Ambrosoli (ICA - International Certified Artist) The Fabria...
Category

2010s Abstract Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Day and Night Meeting by Annemarie Ambrosoli, Watercolor on paper, abstract
Located in Kiens, BZ
Day and Night Meeting (2022), 19,5x45,5 cm, Watercolor Paper Fabriano 600 g, by Italian contemporary artist ©Annemarie Ambrosoli (ICA - International Certified Artist) The Fabriano ...
Category

2010s Abstract Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

"Porcupine Quill Jacket" Abstract Minimalist Portrait of a Man
By Lisa Qualls
Located in Houston, TX
Graphite and watercolor drawing on mylar of a figure dressed in a quill jacket made by the Cameroon grass fields people in Africa by Florida artist Lisa Qualls. Titled “Porcupine Quill Jacket,” the work was created as part of a series titled “Strawmen and Sugarbones” made for the "RAW" exhibition at O'Kane Gallery in 2009. In her artist statement for this series Qualls states: “I have isolated pieces of costumes and placed them on a person who is naked in order to emphasize the relationship between the object and person, the materials and skin, the symbol and the living being. The garments and ritual objects relate to the body in specific ways and are used to explore gender roles, societal and cultural ideas, aesthetics and spirituality. The voyeuristic element of the audience to the subjects in the drawings further emphasizes the vulnerability of the figures and their introspective and intimate poses. The figures, part soft and vulnerable, part concealed and protected, live in these ambiguous spaces as they would in a vision.” Dimensions Without Frame: H 36 in. x W 24 in. Artist Biography: Lisa received her BFA and BA from the University of Texas at Austin. She continued her studies in Fine Art and Design at Parsons and FIT in New York, NY and CISIM in Ravenna, Italy. Her work is currently represented by Ann Connelly...
Category

Early 2000s Abstract Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Mixed Media, Watercolor, Graphite

Flock 3
Located in Deddington, GB
Flock 3 by Nigel Bird [2021] original Pencil on paper Image size: H:70 cm x W:70 cm Complete Size of Unframed Work: H:70 cm x W:70 cm x D:0.1cm Sold Unframed Please note that insitu...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pencil, Paper

Flock 2
Located in Deddington, GB
Flock 2 by Nigel Bird [2021] original Pencil on paper Image size: H:69 cm x W:69 cm Complete Size of Unframed Work: H:69 cm x W:69 cm x D:0.1cm Sold Unframed Please note that insitu...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Pencil

Collage
Located in ATLANTA, GA
You meet the Spanish artist Alexandro Santana and you think, cripes, can he be for real? So handsome, so flamboyant, so seductive, so amusing -- you’...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pencil

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 Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Color Pencil

Homenage Marcel Duchamp
Located in ATLANTA, GA
You meet the Spanish artist Alexandro Santana and you think, cripes, can he be for real? So handsome, so flamboyant, so seductive, so amusing -- you’...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pencil

Portrait of Aiko
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Seiichi Hara (Japanese). Portrait of Aiko, 1972. Pencil, gouache on paper. Sheet measures 16 x 20 inches. Signed lower right and en verso. Custom frame of hardwood with welded steel ...
Category

1970s Abstract Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Gouache, Pencil

Sophia Brunhard
Located in ATLANTA, GA
You meet the Spanish artist Alexandro Santana and you think, cripes, can he be for real? So handsome, so flamboyant, so seductive, so amusing -- you’...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pencil

The Origami Seller - Contemporary Art, Collage, Orange, Funny, 21st Century
Located in Berlin, DE
The Origami Seller, 2019 collage on paper 15 3/4 H x 11 13/16 W in. 40 H x 30 W cm The artist’s collages describe a series of faces composed of different materials – cardboards, tex...
Category

2010s Abstract Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper

Pen & Ink of Stravinsky by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
By Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Located in San Francisco, CA
Rare Pen & Ink of Stravinsky by Lawrence Ferlinghetti (American, b.1919) c.2009 Dedicated to "Peter" for his Birthday in 2009. We don't know who Peter is. H...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Felt Pen

The Jester in Disguise - 21st Century, Green, Yellow, Funny, Collage
Located in Berlin, DE
The Jester in Disguise, 2019 collage on paper 11 13/16 H x 15 3/4 W in. 40 H x 30 W cm The artist’s collages describe a series of faces composed of differ...
Category

2010s Abstract Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper

Self Portrait, 1970's Ink Drawing by Josep Grau-Garriga
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Josep Grau-Garriga, Spanish (1929 - 2011) Title: Self Portrait II Year: circa 1976 Medium: Ink on Paper Size: 28 x 24 in. (71.12 x 60.96 cm)
Category

1970s Abstract Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink

Untitled: Portrait of a Woman
Located in New York, NY
Pier Canosa (Italian, b. 1940), "Untitled: Portrait of a Woman", Abstract Figurative/ Portrait Charcoal Drawing Signed and Dated on Paper, 24.50 x 18.50, Late 20th Century, 1969 Col...
Category

1960s Abstract Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Charcoal

Untitled (Rabbi Scholar)
Located in New York, NY
Seymour Rosenthal (American 1921-2007) "Untitled: Rabbi Scholar", Figurative Pen/Watercolor on Paper signed in bottom right hand corner, 10.50 x 8 (24 x 20.50 In Frame), Late 20th Ce...
Category

Late 20th Century Abstract Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Pen

Un rio contra ora
Located in New York, NY
Martin Palottini Un rio contra ora, 2017 Pencil and acrylic on paper 21h x 19w in 53.34h x 48.26w cm
Category

2010s Abstract Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Acrylic, Pencil

Classical Female Head (woman portrait)
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Beautiful 1950 drawing by Spanish artist, Federico Castellon (1914-1971). Graphite on wove paper, sheet measures 12 x 18 inches. Excellent condition with no restoration or damage. Signed lower right. Unframed. From a recently discovered collection of over 60 important Castellon drawings and watercolors c.1939-1950. Birth place: Almeria, Spain Death place: New York, NY Addresses: NYC (immigrated 1921; citizen, 1943) Profession: Painter, graphic artist, sculptor, etcher, illustrator, teacher Exhibited: Weyhe Gal., 1934, 1936-40; AIC, 1935-47 (prize, 1938); AFA traveling exh., 1937; WMAA, 1938-45; PAFA, 1938-39, 1940 (prize), 1941-42; Carnegie Inst., 1942; PAFA, 1943-53; Assoc. Am. Ar., 1946 (prize), 1952 (solo); Corcoran Gal, 1947; LOC, 1949 (prize); Paris, France, 1952; Bombay, India, 1952; Gallery 10, 1961; Dintenfass Gal., N.Y., 1963; Phila. Pr. Cl., 1964 (prize); Hudson Gld. A., 1964; Great Neck, L.I., 1964; SAGA, 1964 (prize). In 1953, under the auspices of State Dept. Specialist Div., of I.E.S., he exhibited in Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Bolivia, Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, with lectures in each country. Awards: F., Spanish Republic, 1934-36; fellow, Guggenheim Fnd., 1941, 1950; Nat. Inst. A. & Let. Grant, 1950. Member: NA; SAGA Work: WMAA; PAFA; MoMA; PMA; MMA; BM; AIC; NYPL; LOC; Univ. KY; San Diego Mus. FA; Newark (NJ) Pub. Lib.; Princeton Univ. (Frank Jewett Mather Coll.). Comments: A Surrealist painter whose imagery of the 1930s was greatly influenced by Dali. His full name was Federico Cristencia de Castellón y Martinez. Teacher: Columbia Univ., 1946-61; Pratt Inst., Brooklyn, 1952-61. Illustrator: Shenandoah, 1941; I Went into the Country, 1941; Bulfinch's Mythology, 1948; The Story of Marco Polo, 1954; The Man Who Changed China, 1954; The Story of J. J. Audubon, 1955; The Little Prince, 1954; The Life of Robert L. Stevenson, 1954. Reproduction of paintings on The Sumerian Civilization" for Life series "The Epic of Man," 1956; 15 paintings on "The History of Medicine" for MD magazine, 1960-61; The Story of Madame Curie...
Category

1950s Abstract Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Graphite

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Located in Miami, FL
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N4
Located in Yerevan, AM
N4, 2021, 42x29,7 cm
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2010s Abstract Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

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Paper, Acrylic

N4
N4
H 16.54 in W 11.42 in
The Magic Producer - Contemporary Art, Collage, Mixed Media, Green, Funny
Located in Berlin, DE
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Haku Shah (India) Original Pen & Ink Drawing Indian Woman with Child c.1968
By Haku Shah
Located in San Francisco, CA
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Located in Houston, TX
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Abstract portrait drawings and watercolors for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Abstract portrait 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 portrait 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, orange and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Annemarie Ambrosoli, Raluca Arnăutu, Oleksandr Miroshnychenko, and Anastasia Kurakina company. 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 portrait drawings and watercolors, so small editions measuring 5.5 inches across are also available. Prices for portrait 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 $200 and tops out at $36,875, while the average work sells for $1,110.

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