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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
Recognized Seller Listings
2.1M TINTIN EN AMERIQUE. Drawing on paper
Located in Miami Beach, FL
2.1M TINTIN EN AMERIQUE, 2023 by Rodrigo Spinel Chinese ink on Fabriano paper 250 g. Frame size: 43 cm H x 34 cm W x 3 cm D Image size: 30 cm H x 21 cm W Unique Ivory Wood Brown F...
Category

2010s Abstract Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

India Ink, Paper

1M 1 CENT POSTAGE DUE. Drawing on paper
Located in Miami Beach, FL
1M 1 CENT POSTAGE DUE, 2023 by Rodrigo Spinel Chinese ink on Fabriano paper 250 g. Frame size: 43 cm H x 43 cm W x 3 cm D Image size: 30 cm H x 30 cm W Unique Ivory Wood Brown Fra...
Category

2010s Abstract Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, India Ink

1.2M BAT MAN. Drawing on paper
Located in Miami Beach, FL
1.2M BAT MAN, 2023 by Rodrigo Spinel Chinese ink on Fabriano paper 250 g. Frame size: 43 cm H x 34 cm W x 3 cm D Image size: 30 cm H x 21 cm W Unique Ivory ...
Category

2010s Abstract Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

India Ink, Paper

15M RINGERS. Drawing on paper
Located in Miami Beach, FL
15M RINGERS, 2023 by Rodrigo Spinel Chinese ink on Fabriano paper 250 g. Frame size: 43 cm H x 43 cm W x 3 cm D Image size: 30 cm H x 30 cm W Unique Ivory Wood Brown Frame As a r...
Category

2010s Abstract Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

India Ink, Paper

1.0 M (DETECTIVE COMICS). Drawing on paper
Located in Miami Beach, FL
1.0 M (DETECTIVE COMICS), 2023 by Rodrigo Spinel Chinese ink on Fabriano paper 250 g. Frame size: 43 cm H x 34 cm W x 3 cm D Image size: 30 cm H x 21 cm W Unique Ivory Wood Brown ...
Category

2010s Abstract Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

India Ink, Paper

3.2 M (ACTION COMICS). Drawing on paper
Located in Miami Beach, FL
3.2 M (ACTION COMICS), 2023 by Rodrigo Spinel Chinese ink on Fabriano paper 250 g. Frame size: 43 cm H x 34 cm W x 3 cm D Image size: 30 cm H x 21 cm W Unique Ivory Wood Brown Fra...
Category

2010s Abstract Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

India Ink, Paper

29.4M. CRYPTO PUNK. Drawing on paper
Located in Miami Beach, FL
29.4M. CRYPTO PUNK, 2023 by Rodrigo Spinel Chinese ink on Fabriano paper 250 g. Frame size: 43 cm H x 43 cm W x 3 cm D Image size: 30 cm H x 30 cm W Unique Ivory Wood Brown Frame ...
Category

2010s Abstract Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

India Ink, Paper

Carolyn (Arms raised to her head)
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Carolyn (Arms raised to her head) Graphite on laid paper Unsigned Provenance: Estate of the artist by descent to his Grandson Depicts the artist's wife Carolyn. Most probably created in Nashville, Indiana Related to the painting entitled "Maiden" in the Haan Museum, Lafayette, IN (see photo) Condition: Excellent Archival framing with TruVue Conservation Clear glass Image size: 10 3/4 x 8 1/2 inches Frame size: 18 7/8 x 16 inches Louis Oscar Griffith (1875-1956) Born in Greencastle, Indiana, Griffith grew up in Dallas, Texas where Texas artist and teacher Charles Franklin Reaugh recognized young “Griff’s” artistic talent. At age 18, Griffith moved to St. Louis where he attended the St. Louis School of Fine Arts. In 1895, he moved to Chicago where he worked making color prints for the firm Barnes and Crosby. He attended the Art Institute of Chicago and during a brief stay in New York, the National Academy of Design. A successful commercial artist with a studio in the Chicago Loop, Griffith was a member and president of the Chicago Palette and Chisel Club. He made his first trip to Brown County...
Category

1920s Abstract Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Graphite

untitled Woman by the Windows
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Untitled (Woman by the Windows) Unsigned. Pastel on board, c. 1915 Created while the artist was in Giverny, France Provenance: Gift of the artist to his wife, Mary Hess Buehr by Descent to the artist's niece, daughter of Will Hess. David Salzman Robert Henry Adams Fine Art, Chicago Ronald C. Sloter, Columbus One of the early Chicago artists to adopt Impressionism, Karl Buehr became a figure and landscape painter. As a figure painter, his specialty became "gorgeously colored images of young women on porches overlooking brilliant summertime gardens." (Kennedy 98) His later work often showed a female figure with serious expression engaging the viewer with a direct stare. In his landscapes, he was noted for his strong coloration. In a December 1896 student exhibition at the Art Institute, a reviewer for the "Chicago Times Herald" described Buehr's landscapes as "blithe and joyous" with "country roads brilliant in sunlight . . . fields rich in summer verdure, under soft skies painted in a high, musical key." (Gerdts 68) Buehr was born as one of seven sons to a prosperous German family who immigrated to America and settled in Chicago in 1869. He was first exposed to his signature style of Impressionism in 1888 when he enrolled in night classes at the Art Institute while working in the shipping department of a lithographic firm near the Institute. He remained a student there until 1897 and was recognized in a "Chicago Times Herald" editorial of June 13, 1897 as one of the Institute's most outstanding pupils. The next year, his art career was temporarily put on hold when he briefly enlisted with the U.S. Army in the Spanish American War. In 1899, he resumed his art studies, this time with Frank Duveneck. He exhibited a painting at the Paris Salon of 1900. In 1905, thanks to a wealthy Chicago patron, Buehr and his family moved to France. They spent the following year in Taormina, Sicily, and spent time in Venice as well. In Paris, Buehr studied at the Academy Julian with Raphael Collin for two years. Then he went to England, enrolling in the London Art School but had returned to Paris by 1908. During this time, he began painting at Giverny, the home of Impressionist leader Claude Monet (1840-1926, and by 1912, Buehr was listing that village as his home address. One of his good friends and associates at Giverny was Frederick Frieseke. One of Buehr's paintings from that time, "News from Home", was exhibited in 1913 at the French Salon in Paris and at the annual exhibit of the Chicago Art Institute. It shows a woman in floral dress sitting on a porch with a background with potted flowers and lush greenery background. Of his painting done at Giverny, Buehr wrote in 1912 to William Macbeth of Macbeth Galleries in New York: "My figures painted in and around Giverny are costumed and in appropriate out door settings." (Gerdts 68) In 1914, he returned to the United States and took a teaching position in Chicago at the Art Institute, which he held for the remainder of his life. He was married to Mary Hess, a painter of miniatures and decorative works. In 1928-29, he was a guest artist at Stanford University. Courtesy: AskArt “Karl Albert Buehr (1866–1952) was a painter born in Germany. Buehr was born in Feuerbach - near Stuttgart. He was the son of Frederick Buehr and Henrietta Doh (Dohna?). He moved to Chicago with his parents and siblings in the 1880s. In Chicago, young Karl worked at various jobs until he was employed by a lithograph company near the Art Institute of Chicago. Introduced to art at work, Karl paid regular visits to the Art Institute, where he found part-time employment, enabling him to enroll in night classes. Later, working at the Institute as a night watchman, he had a unique opportunity to study the masters and actually posted sketchings that blended in favorably with student's work. Having studied under John H. Vanderpoel, Buehr graduated with honors, while his work aroused such admiration that he was offered a teaching post there, which he maintained for many years thereafter. He graduated from the Art Inst. of Chicago and served in the IL Cav in the Spanish–American War. Mary Hess became Karl's wife—she was a student of his and an accomplished artist in her own right. In 1922, he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member. Art Studies in Europe In 1904, Buehr received a bronze medal at the St. Louis Universal Exposition, then, in 1905, Buehr and his family moved to France, thanks to a wealthy Chicago patron, and they spent the following year in Taormina, Sicily, where the artist painted local subjects, executing both genre subjects and landscapes as well as time in Venice. Buehr spent at least some time in Paris, where he worked with Raphaël Collin at the Académie Julian. Giverny and American Impressionism Prior to this time, Buehr had developed a quasi-impressionistic style, but after 1909, when he began spending summers near Monet in Giverny, his work became decidedly characteristic of that plein-air style but he began focusing on female subjects posed out-of-doors. He remained for some time in Giverny, and here he became well-acquainted with other well known expatriate America impressionists such as Richard Miller, Theodore Earl Butler, Frederick Frieseke, and Lawton Parker. It seems likely that Buehr met Monet, since his own daughter Kathleen and Monet’s granddaughter, Lili Butler, were playmates, according to George Buehr, the painter’s son. His other daughter Lydia died before adulthood due to diabetes. He returned to Chicago at the onset of World War I and taught at The Art Inst for many years. One of his noted pupils at the Art Institute was Archibald Motley...
Category

1910s Abstract Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pastel

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Previously Available Items
95K LOVE ME DO. Drawing on paper
Located in Miami Beach, FL
95K LOVE ME DO, 2023 by Rodrigo Spinel Chinese ink on Fabriano paper 250 g. Frame size: 43 cm H x 43 cm W x 3 cm D Image size: 30 cm H x 30 cm W Unique Ivory Wood Brown Frame As ...
Category

2010s Abstract Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

India Ink, Paper

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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