Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
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.
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Style: Abstract
Period: 19th Century
Two Metamorphosed Women with a Mythological Creature
Located in Belgrade, MT
This lithograph is part of my private collection. It is limited in edition artist signed lower right and is in very good condition. Walter Becker was a German artist. Another impress...
Category
Mid-19th Century Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Lithograph
Untitled (Woman working in the fields)
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Untitled (Woman working in the fields)
Graphite on wove paper
Unsigned
Exhibited: Spanierman Galleries, In Praise of Women, Oct. 21-Nov. 20, 2010
Illustrated: Lisa N. Peters, In Praise of Women, Spanierman Galleries (see catalog entry in photos)
Condition: Excellent
Sheet size (sight): 14 1//2 x 10 5/16 inches
Provenance: Spanierman Galleries, New York
The young woman is a known model for Knight. She is depicted in numerous paintings. The striped skirt and wooden shoes she wears also is repeated in Knight's oeuvre.
"Daniel Ridgway Knight was born in Philadelphia to a Quaker family and studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts from 1858 to 1861, the year he became a founding member of the Philadelphia Sketch Club. He went to Paris and studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts from 1861 to 1863 with Charles Gleyre (1808-1874) and Alexandre Cabanel (1823-1889), and attended the Accademia di San Lucca, then in Venice, in 1863. Knight returned to Philadelphia that year, married, and served in the Union Army during the Civil War. He went back to France in 1871 and lived there for the remainder of his long and successful career. He settled in Seine-et-Oise near Poissy to study with the noted academic painter Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier (1815-1891) in 1873, and the two artists became close friends. Influenced by his French contemporaries Jules Bastien-Lepage (1848-1884) and Jules- Adolphe-Aimé-Louis Breton...
Category
1890s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Graphite
Worcester College Provost Richard Lynch Cotton Caricature photographic collage
Located in London, GB
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Provost Richard Lynch Cotton Caricature
A rare specimen of the Cotton-ia Worcester-iensis (not to be found) in the Botanic Gardens Oxford
Pen ink watercolour and photographic collage...
Category
1850s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
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Ink, Watercolor, Pen, Photographic Paper
Colorful Watercolor Portrait of Seated Female in White Shirt and Striped Hat
Located in Houston, TX
Colorful watercolor portrait of seated female in a white shirt and striped hat by Mexican artist, Nadine Mayes. Signed by the artist in the bottom right ...
Category
Late 19th Century Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Paper, Watercolor, Pen
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H 29 in W 18.25 in D 0.5 in
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Gerhard Richter was born in 1932 in Dresden, Germany. Throughout his career, Richter has negotiated the frontier between photography and painting, captivated by the way in which these two seemingly opposing practices speak to and challenge one another. From exuberant canvases rendered with a squeegee and acerbic color charts to paintings of photographic detail and close-ups of a single brushstroke, Richter moves effortlessly between the two mediums, reveling in the complexity of their relationship, while never asserting one above the other.
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![Two Men Punting. [untitled].](https://a.1stdibscdn.com/archivesE/upload/a_3312/1494618096367/56126_s.jpg "Reynolds Beal - Two Men Punting. [untitled].")
Abstract drawings and watercolor paintings for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Abstract drawings and watercolor paintings 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 drawings and watercolor paintings 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, purple, red and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Martin Reyna , Mila Akopova, Jaanika Peerna, and Sumit Mehndiratta. 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 drawings and watercolor paintings, so small editions measuring 0.5 inches across are also available. Prices for drawings and watercolor paintings 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 $1 and tops out at $400,000, while the average work sells for $1,408.
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