Skip to main content

Neo-Expressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

NEO-EXPRESSIONIST STYLE

A resurgence of interest in Expressionism, Pop art, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism and other movements gained steam among artists of the 1970s and ’80s, in part as a reaction to the austerity of the prevailing minimalism and Conceptual art of the era. A decadent, bold and brash art style called Neo-Expressionism saw painters returning to figural representation, creating highly textured works that were imbued with intensely personal narratives.

Neo-Expressionist paintings are sensuous in nature and highly subjective in meaning. Expressive brushwork, highly pigmented colors and layered forms and materials lent sculptural attributes to the work and were used to depict symbolic narratives from history, mythology and the artist’s personal experience. 

Prominent figures such as Jean-Michel Basquiat led the Neo-Expressionist movement in the United States with paintings and prints that were raw, emotional and often violent in nature. In Germany, Die Neuen Wilden (the “New Fauves”) was the name given to a group of postwar artists that included the likes of sculptor Georg Baselitz and Gerhard Richter, a painter and photographer who explored the possibilities of both abstraction and realism, sometimes in a single piece. The work of the New Fauves — labeled as such for its return to Fauvism’s textured brushwork and use of vibrant colors — shares commonalities with Neo-Expressionism, and Baselitz was a pioneer of the movement in Europe. In addition, Willem de Kooning’s pulsating action paintings and Julian Schnabel’s experimentation with the materiality of paintings also took shape during this period.

“I was trying to make paintings different from the paintings that I saw a lot of at the time, which were mostly minimal, and they were highbrow and alienating, and I wanted to make very direct paintings that most people would feel the emotion behind when they saw them,” said Basquiat. 

Neo-Expressionism generated some polarizing opinions, with some celebrating the revival of personal subjectivity in art while others criticizing the movement for being too commercially driven and nostalgic. But most experts agree that Neo-Expressionism was a huge commercial success and culturally impactful, paving the way for the postmodern work of artists like Richter and Sigmar Polke

Find original Neo-Expressionist paintings, prints, mixed-media works and other art on 1stDibs.

to
1
4
3
5
1
5
2
3
2
1
1
Overall Height
to
Overall Width
to
1,097
633
132
77
77
58
57
46
44
28
17
12
10
9
4
4
3
3
1
1
1
1
5
2
1
1
3
1
1
1
1
4
2
2
2
2
Style: Neo-Expressionist
FAST FOOD BREAKFAST Signed Oil Pastel on Paper, Take Out Food Drive-Thru Window
Located in Union City, NJ
FAST FOOD BREAKFAST is an original oil pastel drawing on brown paper grocery bag by the self taught African American artist Reginald K. Gee, born April 28, 1964, in Milwaukee, Wiscon...
Category

1990s Neo-Expressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Oil Pastel

Romantic Pastel Jester Clown Figure Nature Expressionism Female Artist Signed
Located in Milwaukee, WI
"Everybody Kisses a Fool Sometime" is a pastel signed by Della Wells. It depicts a black woman kissing a figure wearing a white mask and a comedia del'arte costume also known as the ...
Category

1990s Neo-Expressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pastel, Paper

Klimt Tattoo, disrupted realism charcoal acrylic on Strathmore paper red, tan
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Charcoal, acrylic mixed media As a feminist artist, Audrey Anastasi's first commitment is to painting other women, the human face, and figure. Whether working with figurative descri...
Category

2010s Neo-Expressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Charcoal, Acrylic, Archival Paper

Black and White Charcoal Portrait of a Woman by Max Turner
Located in Pasadena, CA
In this drawing, the background is deliberately neutral to accentuate the prominence of the face. Charcoal is a "free" drawing medium known for its expressive qualities, requiring artists to work within its unique constraints. As an experienced figure work instructor at the California Art Institute, Max Turner...
Category

1960s Neo-Expressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Charcoal

Les bonshommes 2021 - Pastel contemporary drawing
Located in PARIS, FR
Oeuvres papier de l'artiste française Camille Cottier. Ses “bonhommes”, aux visages honnêtes, sont le reflet de sentiments universels: la solitude, l’amour, l’attente, le rêve
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Neo-Expressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Oil Pastel

"Pre-show briefing" by Luc Michel Schüpfer - Pastel on paper
Located in Geneva, CH
Pastel work on paper without frame
Category

1950s Neo-Expressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pastel

Christus by Gilbert Pauli - Gouache on paper 31x45 cm
Located in Geneva, CH
Gouache on paper with frame size 91x76 cm, excellent state
Category

1990s Neo-Expressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Gouache

Related Items
"Truer Than True" ballpoint pen, figurative portrait
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Original drawing by Lauren Rinaldi float mounted in the pictured simple white frame measuring 17in x 14in. Lauren Rinaldi works using unbiased portraits of women’s bodies as a veh...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Neo-Expressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ballpoint Pen, Archival Paper, Graphite, Oil Pastel

Set of 9 Figure Illustrations Egyptian Classical Characters Listed American
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Set of x 9 figures original watercolour painting on artist paper signed by Marjorie Schiele (1913-2008) *see notes below piece of paper is 14 x 10 inches In good condition provenance...
Category

Early 20th Century Neo-Expressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

World Series Bench - Chicago Cubs, Bryant, Rizzo & Russell, Graphite on Paper
Located in Chicago, IL
The "World Series Bench" by Margie Lawrence consists of three key players in the Chicago Cubs for the long awaited World Series win in 2016. From the ...
Category

2010s Neo-Expressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Graphite, Paper

Track Star - Figurative Portrait of an African American Man in Pastel on Paper
Located in Soquel, CA
Track Star - Abstracted Portrait of an African American Man in Pastel on Paper Bold and imaginative pastel drawing of a man in a track suit by an unknown artist (20th Century). An A...
Category

Late 20th Century Neo-Expressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Oil Pastel

'Portrait of a Young Navajo', Native American, Arizona, California Woman artist
By Victoria Creech Stewart
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Signed lower left 'Creech PSWC' and created circa 1975 A compelling pastel study showing the subject dressed in brightly-colored ceremonial robes and gazing past the viewer. An eleg...
Category

1970s Neo-Expressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pastel, Archival Paper

Rare Modernist Hungarian Rabbi Pastel Drawing Gouache Painting Judaica Art Deco
Located in Surfside, FL
Rabbi in the synagogue at prayer wearing tallit and tefillin. Hugó Scheiber (born 29 September 1873 in Budapest – died there 7 March 1950) was a Hungarian modernist painter. Hugo Scheiber was brought from Budapest to Vienna at the age of eight where his father worked as a sign painter for the Prater Theater. At fifteen, he returned with his family to Budapest and began working during the day to help support them and attending painting classes at the School of Design in the evening, where Henrik Papp was one of his teachers. He completed his studies in 1900. His work was at first in a post-Impressionistic style but from 1910 onward showed his increasing interest in German Expressionism and Futurism. This made it of little interest to the conservative Hungarian art establishment. However, in 1915 he met the great Italian avant-gardist Filippo Tommaso Marinetti and the two painters became close friends. Marinetti invited him to join the Futurist Movement. The uniquely modernist style that he developed was, however, closer to German Expressionism than to Futurism and eventually drifted toward an international art deco manner similar to Erté's. In 1919, he and his friend Béla Kádar held an exhibition at the Hevesy Salon in Vienna. It was a great success and at last caused the Budapest Art Museum to acquire some of Scheiber's drawings. Encouraged, Scheiber came back to live in Vienna in 1920. A turning point in Scheiber's career came a year later, when Herwarth Walden, founder of Germany's leading avant-garde periodical, Der Sturm, and of the Sturm Gallery in Berlin, became interested in Scheiber's work. Scheiber moved to Berlin in 1922, and his paintings soon appeared regularly in Walden's magazine and elsewhere. Exhibitions of his work followed in London, Rome, La Paz, and New York. Scheiber's move to Germany coincided with a significant exodus of Hungarian artists to Berlin, including Laszlo Moholy-Nagy and Sandor Bortnyik. There had been a major split in ideology among the Hungarian avant-garde. The Constructivist and leader of the Hungarian avantgarde, Lajos Kassák (painted by Hugó Scheiber in 1930) believed that art should relate to all the needs of contemporary humankind. Thus he refused to compromise the purity of his style to reflect the demands of either the ruling class or socialists and communists. The other camp believed that an artist should be a figurehead for social and political change. The fall out and factions that resulted from this politicisation resulted in most of the Hungarian avant gardists leaving Vienna for Berlin. Hungarian émigrés made up one of the largest minority groups in the German capital and the influx of their painters had a significant effect on Hungarian and international art. Another turning point of Scheiber's career came in 1926, with the New York exhibition of the Société Anonyme, organized by Katherine Dreier. Scheiber and other important avant garde artists from more than twenty-three countries were represented. In 1933, Scheiber was invited by Marinetti to participate in the great meeting of the Futurists held in Rome in late April 1933, Mostra Nazionale d’Arte Futurista where he was received with great enthusiasm. Gradually, the Hungarian artists began to return home, particularly with the rise of Nazism in Germany. Kádar went back from Berlin in about 1932 and Scheiber followed in 1934. He was then at the peak of his powers and had a special flair in depicting café and cabaret life in vivid colors, sturdily abstracted forms and spontaneous brush strokes. Scheiber depicted cosmopolitan modern life using stylized shapes and expressive colors. His preferred subjects were cabaret and street scenes, jazz musicians, flappers, and a series of self-portraits (usually with a cigar). his principal media being gouache and oil. He was a member of the prestigious New Society of Artists (KUT—Képzőművészek Új Társasága)and seems to have weathered Hungary's post–World War II transition to state-communism without difficulty. He continued to be well regarded, eventually even receiving the posthumous honor of having one of his images used for a Russian Soviet postage stamp (see image above). Hugó Scheiber died in Budapest in 1950. Paintings by Hugó Scheiber form part of permanent museum collections in Budapest (Hungarian National Museum), Pecs (Jannus Pannonius Museum), Vienna, New York, Bern and elsewhere. His work has also been shown in many important exhibitions, including: "The Nell Walden Collection," Kunsthaus Zürich (1945) "Collection of the Société Anonyme," Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut (1950) "Hugó Scheiber: A Commemorative Exhibition," Hungarian National Museum, Budapest (1964) "Ungarische Avantgarde," Galleria del Levante, Munich (1971) "Paris-Berlin 1900-1930," Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (1978) "L’Art en Hongrie, 1905-1920," Musée d’Art et l’Industrie, Saint-Etienne (1980) "Ungarische Avantgarde in der Weimarer Republik," Marburg (1986) "Modernizmus," Eresz & Maklary Gallery, Budapest (2006) "Hugó Scheiber & Béla Kádár," Galerie le Minotaure, Paris and Tel Aviv (2007) Hugó Scheiber's paintings continue to be regularly sold at Sotheby's, Christie's, Gillen's Arts (London), Papillon Gallery (Los Angeles) and other auction houses. He was included in the exhibition The Art Of Modern Hungary 1931 and other exhibitions along with Vilmos Novak Aba, Count Julius Batthyany, Pal Bor, Bela Buky, Denes Csanky, Istvan Csok, Bela Czobel, Peter Di Gabor, Bela Ivanyi Grunwald, Baron Ferenc Hatvany, Lipot Herman, Odon Marffy, C. Pal Molnar...
Category

Early 20th Century Neo-Expressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Charcoal, Pastel, Watercolor, Gouache

Albert Paul Guilmet (1879-1922) Portrait of a man, signed drawing
Located in Paris, FR
Albert Paul Guilmet (1879-1922) Portrait of a man, signed upper left charcoal on paper 26.5 x 33,8 cm Framed : 43.5 x 52 cm Little is known about Abert Paul Guilmet, apart from th...
Category

Early 1900s Neo-Expressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Charcoal

Originals-Meeting Raphael-Studies of Movement and Form-UK Award Artist- Set of 2
Located in London, GB
This set of drawings included Two Studies of Raphael's paintings in National Gallery, London where Shizico Yi learned her craft in drawings from old masters in Museums, a project she...
Category

2010s Neo-Expressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink, Archival Paper

Boissier, Portrait of a Young Man, 1802, Pastel signed and dated
By Boissier
Located in Paris, FR
Boissier (painter and portraitist active at the end of the 18th century) Portrait of a young man Signed and dated "Boissier f(ecit) 1802" on the lower right Pastel on paper transfere...
Category

Early 1800s Neo-Expressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pastel

France circa 1820, Portrait of a gentleman, black chalk and pastel drawing
Located in Paris, FR
France circa 1820 Portrait of a gentleman Black chalk and pastel on paper 12 x 10 cm In its original mount, modern oak frame : 25 x 22.5 cm
Category

1820s Neo-Expressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Chalk, Pastel

Autoportrait, circa 1940, Graphite pencil and charcoal on paper
Located in PARIS, FR
Henry Mirande (1877-1955) Self-portrait, circa 1940 Graphite pencil and charcoal on paper Signed "HM" lower right and signed with the stamp on the reverse Annotation faintly legible ...
Category

Early 20th Century Neo-Expressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pencil, Charcoal

Kurt Scooby AKA @Channel2Scooby, Charcoal drawing, Professional Boxer,
Located in Houston, TX
Kurt Scooby AKA @Channel2Scooby is a charcoal drawing on paper. Kurt Scooby is a professional boxer who started training out of Churchill Boxing Club in Los Angeles. This drawing was taken by prominent boxing photographer Mayumi Cabrera...
Category

2010s Neo-Expressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Charcoal

Neo-expressionist portrait drawings and watercolors for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Neo-Expressionist 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 and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Audrey Anastasi, Reginald K. Gee, and Gilbert Pauli. Frequently made by artists working with Crayon, and Charcoal and other materials, all of these pieces for sale are unique and have attracted attention over the years. Not every interior allows for large Neo-Expressionist portrait drawings and watercolors, so small editions measuring 4.93 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 $300 and tops out at $1,975, while the average work sells for $763.

Recently Viewed

View All