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Abstract Paintings For Sale
Period: 1950s
Period: 1980s
This Week's Listings Only
American Impressionist Coastal Seascape Framed Nautical Sailboat Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Nicely painted impressionist seascape painting. Oil on canvas. Framed.
Category

1980s Impressionist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Edge
Located in Austin, TX
Waterline Fine Art, Austin, TX is pleased to present the following work: Oil on board. Signed and dated lower right and verso, titled verso. 36.25 x 48 in. 40.5 x 52.25 in. (framed) Framed in contemporary silver, tiered floater frame. Dennis Eugene Norman Burton was a Canadian modernist who was born in Lethbridge, Ontario. He attended the Ontario College of Art from 1952 to 1956, and worked for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) as a graphic designer until 1960. Inspired by a 1955 exhibition of the “Painters Eleven” at Toronto’s Hart House, as well as American Abstract Expressionist artists such as Robert Motherwell, Jack Tworkov, and Willem de Kooning, Burton shifted his focus toward abstraction in the mid-1950s. Burton showed with the famed Isaacs Gallery in Toronto, becoming one of the youngest members on the gallery’s roster. A talented musician, he also played saxophone in the Artist’s Jazz Band in Toronto - a pioneering Canadian free-jazz group...
Category

1950s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Masonite, Oil, Board

Surreal Nudes Female Figurative painting by Mury
Located in Douglas Manor, NY
3809 Floating world surreal figurative painting signed on verso Mury
Category

1950s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Friedrich‘s Window: Variation IV (Water and Mist) 1981, Ian Hornak — Painting
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Ian Hornak (1944-2002) Title: Friedrich‘s Window: Variation # 4 Year: 1981 Medium: Acrylic on canvas Size: 36 x 48 inches Condition: Good Provenance: Fischbach Gallery, New Y...
Category

1980s Photorealist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Light from the Past, 1st version, 1985, Ian Hornak — Painting
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Ian Hornak (1944-2002) Title: Light from the Past, 1st version Year: 1985 Medium: Acrylic on double layered Masonite Size: 21.5 x 18 inches Condition: Good Provenance: Estate...
Category

1980s Photorealist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Masonite, Acrylic

Meditation on African Sculpture, mid-century figural abstract painting
Located in Beachwood, OH
Beni E. Kosh/Charles Elmer Harris (American, 1917-1993) Meditation on African Sculpture, 1957 Oil on found wood panel Signed and dated lower left 20 x 15 inches Charles Elmer Harris...
Category

1950s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Judy Rifka, Abstract Expressionist Oil Painting MIxed Media 3D Construction
Located in Surfside, FL
Hand signed verso, mixed media on two sections of joined canvas Work is titled "Ego Wall with Mess," circa 1983. Provenance: Brooke Alexander Gallery, New York, New York. bearing their label verso. 24 x 30 x 3-3/4 inches (61.0 x 76.2 x 9.5 cm) Hand signed on the reverse: Judy Rifka Judy Rifka (born 1945) is an American woman artist active since the 1970s as a painter and video artist. She works heavily in New York City's Tribeca and Lower East Side and has associated with movements coming out of the area in the 1970s and 1980s such as Colab and the East Village, Manhattan art scene. A video artist, book artist and abstract painter, Rifka is a multi-faceted artist who has worked in a variety of media in addition to her painting and printmaking. She was born in 1945 in New York City and studied art at Hunter College, the New York Studio School and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine. Rifka took part in the 1980 Times Square Show, (Organized by Collaborative Projects, Inc. in 1980 at what was once a massage parlor, with now-famous participants such as Jenny Holzer, Nan Goldin, Keith Haring, Kenny Scharf, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Kiki Smith, the roster of the exhibition reads like a who’s who of the art world), two Whitney Museum Biennials (1975, 1983), Documenta 7, Just Another Asshole (1981), curated by Carlo McCormick and received the cover of Art in America in 1984 for her series, "Architecture," which employed the three-dimensional stretchers that she adopted in exhibitions dating to 1982; in a 1985 review in the New York Times, Vivien Raynor noted Rifka's shift to large paintings of the female nude, which also employed the three-dimensional stretchers. In a 1985 episode of Miami Vice, Bianca Jagger played a character attacked in front of Rifka's three-dimensional nude still-life, "Bacchanaal", which was on display at the Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale. Rene Ricard wrote about Rifka in his influential December 1987 Art Forum article about the iconic identity of artists from Van Gogh to Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring, The Radiant Child.The untitled acrylic painting on plywood, in the collection of the Honolulu Museum of Art, demonstrates the artist's use of plywood as a substrate for painting. Artist and writer Mark Bloch called her work "imaginative surfaces that support experimental laboratories for interferences in sensuous pigment." According to artist and curator Greg de la Haba, Judy Rifka's irregular polygons on plywood "are among the most important paintings of the decade". In 2013, Rifka's daily posts on Facebook garnered a large social media audience for her imaginative "selfies," erudite friendly comments, and widely attended solo and group exhibitions, Judy Rifka's pop art figuration is noted for its nervous line and frenetic pace. In the January 1998 issue of Art in America, Vincent Carducci echoed Masheck, “Rifka reworks the neo-classical and the pop, setting all sources in quotation for today’s art-world cognoscenti.” Rifka, along with artists like David Wojnarowicz, helped to take Pop sensibility into a milieu that incorporated politics and high art into Postmodernism; Robert Pincus-Witten stated in his 1988 essay, Corinthian Crackerjacks & Passing Go that "Rifka’s commitment to process and discovery, doctrine with Abstract Expressionist practice, is of paramount concern though there is nothing dogmatic or pious about Rifka’s use of method. Playful rapidity and delight in discovery is everywhere evident in her painting." In 2016, a large retrospective of Rifka's art was shown at the Jean-Paul Najar Foundation in Dubai. In 2017, Gregory de la Haba presented a Rifka retrospective at the Amstel Gallery...
Category

1980s Pop Art Abstract Paintings

Materials

Linen, Oil

John Hatch American Cubist Abstract Oil Painting 1950's Mid C Egyptian Mural
Located in Buffalo, NY
An original oil on board painting by American modernist John W. Hatch. This incredible cubist painting was created in the 1950's. Estate stamped on the reverse. The painting comes housed in a modern black frame presentation. John Woodsum Hatch 1919-1998 During his fifty-year career as an artist, John Woodsum Hatch explored the people, the landscape, and the seascape around him. From his extensive travels to his years in New Hampshire, he developed a body of work that captures a sense of place. Through watercolor, ink and sand, he depicted the grandeur of the White Mountains. The crisp light and distinct topography of the Isles of Shoals and Great Bay Estuary are precisely and clearly documented in acrylic and tempera paintings. His ability to convey the sheer scale and longevity of the mountains and sea, and by comparison the fleeting nature of human life, conveys in a not-so-subtle way that the natural environment is to be revered and preserved. Hatch took his first teaching job at the University of New Hampshire in 1949, the same year he graduated from Yale University. He never left. A former student, Sam Cady, described his contributions: “He was a wonderful mix of jokester and sage. A teacher who obviously loved people, loved teaching, and had a great gift for it.” After retiring in 1985, he was made an honorary Professor Emeritus at UNH. Hatch contributed to New Hampshire's cultural life in three areas: his teaching, his art, and his community service. His effectiveness in these three areas can be traced his commitment to give something of himself to help others. Many artists teach by necessity and resent it as a drain on their creative energies but Hatch found his greatest fulfillment from a combination of teaching, making art, and being deeply involved with his community as an art historian and as an environmentalist. Hatch’s work can be seen in numerous public collections, including: the Addison Gallery of American Art; DeCordova Museum; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts; State of New Hampshire's Living Treasures Collection, and the Portland Museum of Art in Maine. John Woodsum Hatch, New Hampshire's 1997 Living Treasure Award recipient, died on August 6, 1998, at the age of 78. Hatch was a draftsman, an artist and a muralist. His works can be found in public and private collections throughout the region. He exhibited at the New Hampshire Art...
Category

1950s Cubist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

Abstract Composition in Pink and Black in Acrylic on Cardboard
Located in Soquel, CA
Abstract Composition in Pink and Black in Acrylic on Cardboard Dynamic abstract in black and pink by Honora Berg (American, 1897-1985). This piece is composed of multiple layers, with bright, bold colors at the bottom, building to black on top. Pink, magenta, yellow, and orange shine through a net of black. Unsigned, but was acquired with a collection of the artist's work. Estate stamp on verso "Estate of Honora Berg - Miller Fine Art" Numbered "246" on verso Unframed. Art size: 21.25"H x 14"W Honora Berg (American, 1897-1985) was an Abstract Expressionist and Bay Area Figurative School artist who studied at the San Francisco Art Institute with David Park, Elmer Bischoff and James Budd Dixon. Berg's friend Edith Truesdell — David Park's aunt — suggested a move to California in 1951 to study under Park. She exhibited at the 25th Annual Drawing, Print and Sculpture Exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1961. Provenance, Estate of Honora Berg - David Carlson Gallery, Larry Miller...
Category

1950s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Cardboard, Acrylic

The Old Ways
Located in New York, NY
The Old Ways is a watercolor and graphite painting on paper by Italian-born multidisciplinary artist Lucio Pozzi. It is currently housed at Hal Bromm Gallery.
Category

1980s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor, Graphite

The Fall of Eden (Garden of Eden)—Untitled
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Ian Hornak (1944-2002) Title: The Fall of Eden (Garden of Eden)—Untitled Year: 1985 Medium: Acrylic on Canvas Size: 48 x 24 inches Condition: Excellent Inscription: Signed, ...
Category

1980s Photorealist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Keith Haring original card. 8.5 x 13.5 cm
Located in CORAL GABLES - MIAMI, FL
Keith Haring. 1958-1990. The iconography of his drawings includes dancing animals and figures, dogs, crawling babies, pyramids, televisions, telephones, and flying saucers. The idea ...
Category

1980s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Mixed Media

Moonrise Over Colorado Springs: 1950s Abstract Oil Painting Green, Blue & Ochre
Located in Denver, CO
"Moonrise Over Colorado Springs" is a striking 1950s abstract expressionist oil painting by renowned artist Charles Ragland Bunnell. Created in 1952, this captivating piece features ...
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Celestial Sky in Reds
Located in Greenwich, CT
This Celestial Sky painting is what Michael Forster is most celebrated for in his highly interesting career spanning working in Mexico and Canada. The brushwork creates a reverberati...
Category

1980s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Antique American School Signed Abstract Expressionist Framed Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American school signed abstract oil painting. Oil on canvas. Signed. Framed. Image size, 19L x 13H.
Category

1950s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Spring - large, bright, yellow, orange, gestural abstract, acrylic on canvas
Located in Bloomfield, ON
Passages of butter yellow, rose and light green float on a washed spring yellow ground in this elegant abstract painting by Milly Ristvedt. Milly Ristvedt (b. 1942, Kimberley, BC) MA, RCA, began her career in Toronto in 1964 after studies with Takao Tanabe...
Category

1980s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

"St. George and the Dragon" - Large Late 20th Century Framed Painting
Located in New Orleans, LA
You don't have to be a Catholic, or a medievalist, or a Catholic medievalist (Tolkien?) to appreciate this striking image of St. George taking on the dragon. In style it falls somewhere between Cubism and Guernica, to my eye. The limited color palette, with the bold red, gives it the energy of early 20th-century Russian poster...
Category

1980s Cubist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Red Idol 2 - Scottish 1959 Abstract Expressionist art oil painting
Located in London, GB
This superb Abstract Expressionist Scottish oil painting is by noted artist William Gear. It was painted in 1959 and is entitled Red Idol 2. This abstract com...
Category

1950s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Large Antique American Abstract Landscape Framed Vintage Original Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist abstract oil painting. Oil on canvas. Framed.
Category

1950s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

City Graffiti Abstract Art Oil Painting #2 by S. Mooney
By S.Mooney
Located in Douglas Manor, NY
4091 Graffiti art oil on artist board displayed in a custom -made wood frame. Signed by S.Mooney 1987. Image size 12H x12W
Category

1980s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

John Hatch American Cubist Landscape Oil Painting Massachusetts Seascape 1952
Located in Buffalo, NY
An original oil on board painting by American modernist John W. Hatch. This incredible cubist landscape was created in 1952. Estate stamped and dated on the reverse. Titled, "Nahant Rocks, Lynn, MA " with a partial exhibition label on the reverse. The painting comes housed in a black wood frame presentation. John Woodsum Hatch 1919-1998 During his fifty-year career as an artist, John Woodsum Hatch explored the people, the landscape, and the seascape around him. From his extensive travels to his years in New Hampshire, he developed a body of work that captures a sense of place. Through watercolor, ink and sand, he depicted the grandeur of the White Mountains. The crisp light and distinct topography of the Isles of Shoals and Great Bay Estuary are precisely and clearly documented in acrylic and tempera paintings. His ability to convey the sheer scale and longevity of the mountains and sea, and by comparison the fleeting nature of human life, conveys in a not-so-subtle way that the natural environment is to be revered and preserved. Hatch took his first teaching job at the University of New Hampshire in 1949, the same year he graduated from Yale University. He never left. A former student, Sam Cady, described his contributions: “He was a wonderful mix of jokester and sage. A teacher who obviously loved people, loved teaching, and had a great gift for it.” After retiring in 1985, he was made an honorary Professor Emeritus at UNH. Hatch contributed to New Hampshire's cultural life in three areas: his teaching, his art, and his community service. His effectiveness in these three areas can be traced his commitment to give something of himself to help others. Many artists teach by necessity and resent it as a drain on their creative energies but Hatch found his greatest fulfillment from a combination of teaching, making art, and being deeply involved with his community as an art historian and as an environmentalist. Hatch’s work can be seen in numerous public collections, including: the Addison Gallery of American Art; DeCordova Museum; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts; State of New Hampshire's Living Treasures Collection, and the Portland Museum of Art in Maine. John Woodsum Hatch, New Hampshire's 1997 Living Treasure Award recipient, died on August 6, 1998, at the age of 78. Hatch was a draftsman, an artist and a muralist. His works can be found in public and private collections throughout the region. He exhibited at the New Hampshire Art...
Category

1950s Cubist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

1960s Bay Area Landscape Blue Mountains
Located in Arp, TX
Thelma Corbin Moody Blue Mountains c. 1960's Gouache on Arches Paper 19 1/4" x 24 3/4", Unframed Unsigned Lovely, mid century gouache painting, b...
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Gouache

"Mesa Verde", 1980s Original Abstract Landscape Oil Painting, Yellow, Pink, Gold
Located in Denver, CO
This striking original abstract oil painting, titled Mesa Verde, was created by artist Wilma Fiori (1929–2019) on November 17, 1988. The piece is a vibrant...
Category

1980s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

"Nature morte" Bela de Kristo, Mid-century Cubist Still Life Abstract Cello
By Bela De Kristo
Located in New York, NY
Bela de Kristo Nature morte, circa 1956 Signed lower right Oil on board 19 5/8 x 11 3/4 inches Provenance: Alexander Kahan Fine Arts, New York Private ...
Category

1950s Cubist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

Large Plein Air Landscape Oil Painting, Peach & Plenty, Hamptons, Janet Jennings
Located in Surfside, FL
Janet Jennings Oil Painting on Canvas Peace and Plenty, 1989. Hand signed Dimensions: Canvas, 65 1/2" x W: 59 1/2". framed 68 X 62 inches Janet Jennings received her BFA from the University of Dayton and attended The Dayton Art Institute, Antioch College and The Art Students League. Her paintings are in numerous corporate and private collections worldwide. She has exhibited at numerous galleries on Long Island, the Hamptons and New York City including The New York Design Center, Hampton Road Gallery, Pamela Williams Gallery, Folioeast, Lizan-Tops Gallery, Chase Edwards Gallery, Gallery North, Elaine Benson Gallery, Glenn Horowitz Gallery, Mark Humphrey...
Category

1980s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

'Surrealist Abstract', Chouinard Institute, LACMA, MGM studios, Dr. Seuss, Osaka
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Signed lower left, 'Inman' for Robert Inman (American, 1927–2016) and dated, beneath the mat, 'September, 1983'. Titled on old backing 'The Wanderer'. Pap...
Category

1980s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil Pastel, Mixed Media, Gouache, Paper

Jorge Castillo 186 Golden Yellow Surreal. 1985 original abstract acrylic canvas
Located in CORAL GABLES - MIAMI, FL
Original work by the Spanish artist Jorge Castillo Perfect state CASTILLO, Jorge (Pontevedra, 1933). Since childhood, Jorge Castillo is passionate about drawing, and takes only te...
Category

1980s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Last Song: Im Abendrot—In Evening‘s Glow (homage to Richard Strauss)
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Ian Hornak (1944-2002) Title: Last Song: Im Abendrot (In Evening’s Glow) Year: 1985-2001 Medium: Acrylic on Canvas, with Artist Painted Frame Size: 47 x 59 inches Condition: ...
Category

1980s Photorealist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Untitled abstract expressionist oil painting by Cleveland School artist
Located in Beachwood, OH
Richard Andres American, 1927-2013 Untitled, c. 1980 acrylic and ink on paper mounted on canvas 30 x 34 inches Richard Andres was born in Buffalo, New York in 1927. A graduate of th...
Category

1980s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Ink, Acrylic

"Deux Harlequins" Abstract Figurative Portrait Painting
Located in Houston, TX
Blue and green-toned modern abstract figurative portrait painting by Houston, TX artist David Adickes. The work features two men figures standing side by s...
Category

1950s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Trees Park Slope
Located in Buffalo, NY
Harriet was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, and lived with her husband in Park Slope for over 35 years. She attended the Brooklyn Museum School at...
Category

1950s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Abstract in Yellow Green & Red - British 1955 abstract art oil painting
Located in London, GB
This superb British 1950's abstract oil on board painting is by noted Slade School trained contemporary artist Leo Davy. Davy was born in Yorkshire but settled in Cornwall in 1968 an...
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Antique American School Signed Modernist Abstract Coastal Harbor Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Very nicely painted American modernist harbor oil painting. Framed. Oil on board. Signed. Image size, 16H by 20L.
Category

1950s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

John Hatch American Cubist Abstract Oil Painting 1950's Mid C Black and White
Located in Buffalo, NY
An original oil on board painting by American modernist John W. Hatch. This incredible cubist painting was created in the 1950's. Estate stamped on the reverse. The painting com...
Category

1950s Cubist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Abstract Composition - Yugoslavian French Abstract
Located in London, GB
ZORA STAACK 1910-2001 (Yugoslavian/Active in France) Title: Abstract Composition, 1958 Technique: Original Signed and Dated Oil Painting on Canvas size:...
Category

1950s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Vintage Surreal Modernist Nude Erotic Macabre Skeleton Original Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Vintage and usual American school painting. Oil on board.
Category

1950s Impressionist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Vintage Signed Architectural Modern Medieval Revival Framed Landscape Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique English modernist landscape oil painting by Phillip Castle (Born 1943). Oil on canvas. Framed. Signed verso.
Category

1950s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Untitled Large Abstract Expressionist Color Oil Painting Tom Lieber
Located in Surfside, FL
In 1974, Tom Lieber attended the University of Illinois and earned his M.F.A. Lieber then moved to San Francisco to fulfill his afinity with Ba...
Category

1980s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Sunflowers Garden With Children Oil Painting
By Sotiris Corzo
Located in Lake Worth Beach, FL
"Dans Le Jardin"Sunflower garden with children canvas 36x36 framed 45x45x1.5 signed in the lower-left corner. Sotiris was born in Athens, Greece i...
Category

1980s Impressionist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Cotton Canvas

Untitled (Scottish Pastoral Landscape), circa 1982, Ian Hornak — Painting
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Ian Hornak (1944-2002) Title: Untitled (Scottish Pastoral Landscape) Year: 1982 Medium: Acrylic on canvas Size: 16 x 20 inches Condition: Good Provenance: Estate of Ian Horna...
Category

1980s Photorealist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Landscape n°95 by Jean Krillé - Oil on masonite 100x100 cm
Located in Geneva, CH
Oil on masonite sold with frame Total size with frame 102x102 cm Jean Krillé is a Swiss artist from Geneva, recognized for his significant contributions to contemporary art. Born in...
Category

1980s Neo-Expressionist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Two Faces of Gemini oil Painting 1986
Located in Douglas Manor, NY
5022 Surreal Abstract set in a brushed aluminum frame Signed P.Russo 1986
Category

1980s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Antique American School Signed Framed Exhibited Cubist Still Life Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Vintage American school signed modernist cubist still life oil painting and collage. Oil and mixed media on board. Signed. Framed. I...
Category

1950s Cubist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Standing Figure: Contemporary Figurative Oil Painting by John Emanuel
Located in Brecon, Powys
Large oil on paper by this well collected British artist. Signed and dated 1980 lower left. Superb example of this artists work. Behind glass in excellent condition, new mount origin...
Category

1980s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Oil

Abstract Painted Ceramic Tile Pop Art Painting Italian Neo Figurative Painting
Located in Surfside, FL
This painted ceramic tile by Italo Scanga, epitomizes the characteristics of his oeuvre. Polychrome and vibrant art from the Memphis Milano era. This is signed with his initials. This is reminiscent of the mid century work of Jean Lurcat and Jean Picart le Doux. Italo Scanga (June 6, 1932 - July 7, 2001), an Italian-born American artist, was known for his sculptures, prints and, paintings, mostly created from found objects. In his youth in Calabria, Italy he worked as a cabinetmaker's apprentice and studies sculpture with a man who carved statues of saints. Italo Scanga was an innovative neo Dada, neo-Expressionist, and neo-Cubist multimedia artist who made assemblage, collage, sculptures of ordinary objects and created prints, glass, and ceramic works. Modern Italian abstract geometric folk art. Scanga's materials included natural objects like branches and seashells, as well as kitsch figurines, castoff musical instruments and decorative trinkets salvaged from flea markets and thrift shops. He combined these ingredients into free-standing assemblages, which he then painted. Although visually ebullient, the results sometimes referred to gruesome episodes from Greek mythology or the lives and deaths of martyred saints. He considered his artistic influences to be sweepingly pan-cultural, from African sculpture to Giorgio de Chirico. He often collaborated with the sculptor Dale Chihuly, who was a close friend. Constructed of wood and glass, found objects or fabric, his ensembles reflect a trio of activities—working, eating, and praying. These activities dominate the lives of those who live close to the land, but they are also activities that are idealized by many who contemplate, romantically, a simpler, bucolic life. Italo graduated from Michigan State University where he befriended fellow artists Richard Merkin and David Pease. He studied under Lindsey Decker who introduces him to welding and sculpture after his initial interest in photography. Also studies with Charles Pollock, the brother of Abstract Expressionist Jackson Pollock. His first teaching job was at University of Wisconsin (through 1964). where he met Harvey Littleton, a fellow instructor. He later moves to Providence, Rhode Island,I to teach at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). Is colleagues with artists Richard Merkin and Hardu Keck. Starts a correspondence with HC Westermann. Spends summers teaching at Brown University; colleague of Hugh Townley. Moves to State College, PA, and teaches at Pennsylvania State University for one year. Meets artists Juris Ubans, Harry Anderson, Richard Frankel, and Richard Calabro, who remain friends throughout his career. 1967: David Pease helps him get a tenure track position at Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, PA, . Artists he works closely with include Ernest Silva, Lee Jaffe, Donald Gill, and William Schwedler. Meets graduate student Dale Chihuly while lecturing at RISD and develops a lifelong friendship. 1969: One person exhibition, Baylor Art Gallery, Baylor University, Waco, TX. Works very closely with students Larry Becker and Heidi Nivling (who later run a gallery in Philadelphia, PA), and Harry Anderson. Welcomes many artists into his home including Donald Judd, Dan Flavin, Bruce Nauman (a former student), Vito Acconci, Ree Morton and Rafael Ferrer. 1973: "Saints Glass" at 112 Greene Street Gallery, NYC. Installation at the Institute of Contemporary Art at University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. Meets Gordon Matta Clark and contributes to an artist cookbook. Goes to Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, WA, founded by Dale Chihuly, as a visiting artist. He continues to work there annually through 2001. Works over the years with Pilchuck artists Richard Royal, Seaver Leslie, Jamie Carpenter, Joey Kirkpatrick, Flora Mace, Robbie Miller, Billy Morris, Buster Simpson...
Category

1980s Neo-Expressionist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Enamel

Large Color California Abstract Expressionist Copolymer Vinyl Painting Ron Davis
Located in Surfside, FL
Ronald Davis (American, b. 1937) Pitch, 1983 cel-vinyl copolymer on canvas Hand signed verso and further inscribed with title, date, size and PTG 751 67 x 110 1/2in. Framed 69 x 112in. Bears remnants of old gallery label to reverse. Ronald Ron Davis (born 1937) is an American painter whose work is associated with geometric abstraction, abstract illusionism, lyrical abstraction, hard-edge painting, shaped canvas painting, color field painting, and 3D computer graphics. He is a veteran of nearly seventy solo exhibitions and hundreds of group exhibitions. Born in Santa Monica, California, he was raised in Cheyenne, Wyoming. In 1955–56 he attended the University of Wyoming. In 1959 at the age of 22 he became interested in painting. In 1960–64 he attended the San Francisco Art Institute. Abstract expressionism, the prevailing artistic movement of the time, would have an influence on many of his future works. In 1962 he was a Yale-Norfolk Summer School Grantee. In 1963 his paintings became hard-edged, geometric and optical in style, and by 1964 his works were shown in important museums and galleries. He lived and worked in Los Angeles, 1965–71, and in Malibu, California, 1972–90. Since 1991 he has lived and worked in Arroyo Hondo on the outskirts of Taos, New Mexico. Ronald Davis from the earliest days of his career had a significant impact on contemporary abstract painting of the mid-1960s. According to art critic Michael Fried: Ron Davis is a young California artist whose new paintings, recently shown at the Tibor de Nagy Gallery in New York, are among the most significant produced anywhere during the past few years, and place him, along with Frank Stella and Walter Darby Bannard, at the forefront of his generation. He had his first one-person exhibition at the Nicholas Wilder Gallery in Los Angeles in 1965. Barbara Rose wrote an in depth essay about Davis' paintings of the 1960s in the catalogue accompanying an exhibition of his Dodecagon Series in 1989 in Los Angeles. Among other observations she wrote: Davis saw a way to use Marcel Duchamp's perspective studies and transparent plane in The Large Glass for pictorial purposes. Instead of glass, he used fiberglass to create a surface that was equally transparent and detached from any illusion of reality. Because his colored pigments are mixed into a fluid resin and harden quickly, multiple layers of color may be applied without becoming muddy. his is essentially an inversion of Old Master layering and glazing except that color is applied behind rather than on top of the surface. Alone among his contemporaries, Davis was equally concerned with traditional problems of painting: space, scale, detail, color relationships and illusions as he was with the California emphasis on hi-tech craft and industrial materials. His work has some connection to the Light and Space art movement related to op art and minimalism. He was a contemporary of Peter Alexander, Larry Bell, Robert Irwin, Ron Cooper...
Category

1980s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic Polymer

'West Side, New York', Central Park, Manhattan Modernist Abstract, BMFA, Harvard
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Signed lower left, 'Stoltenberg' for Donald Hugo Stoltenberg (American, 1927-2016) and dated 1957. Titled, verso on original artist's label, 'West Side, New York'. Provenance: Mr. & ...
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Cyan & Orange Seascape at Sunset by Victor Papkov
Located in Soquel, CA
Expressive and colorful seascape by Vasil (Victor) Papkov (20th Century). The vivid cyan blue churning waves mirror the sky above, with a glowing orange sunset splitting the canvas o...
Category

1980s Abstract Impressionist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Masonite, Oil

Antique American Framed Original Vintage Abstract Nude Woman Signed Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American exhibited cubist nude portrait oil painting. Oil and casein on board. Framed. Signed. Exhibition label verso.
Category

1950s Cubist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Blue Wall, mid-century abstract expressionist, geometric blue, black & pink work
Located in Beachwood, OH
Richard Andres (American, 1927-2013) Blue Wall, c. 1959 oil on canvas signed and titled verso 42 x 60 inches Richard Andres was born in Buffalo, New York in 1927. A graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Art in 1950, he was immediately drafted and served for two years in the army as a mural painter. He received his Master of Arts from Kent State in 1961. A frequent exhibitor at galleries and museums and winner of multiple May Show prizes, Andres taught art in the Cleveland Public Schools for 28 years, as well as teaching the University of Buffalo, the Cleveland Institute of Art and the Western Reserve University. Very little in Richard Andres’ childhood would have predicted his love of classical music, mid-century-modern architecture and certainly not his lifelong passion for art and in particular abstract art. Richard’s father, Raymond, had no more than a third-grade education, and his mother, Clara, was one of thirteen children – only three of whom lived into adulthood and none of whom attended high school. They lived, when Richard was a boy, in a dingy area of Buffalo, NY in a walk-up apartment situated above a tavern. Raymond and Clara supplemented the income from their factory jobs in the bar downstairs with Raymond playing ragtime on the piano and Clara serving drinks. This often left Richard and his two older brothers at home alone to fend for themselves. The two older boys, Raymond and Russell, were - unlike Richard- rather rough and tumble and entertained themselves with stickball, boxing and the like. Richard, on the other hand, from a very young age liked to draw, or better yet even, to paint with the small set of watercolors he received for Christmas one year. Paper, however, at the height of the depression, was hard to come by. Luckily, Clara used paper doilies as decoration for the apartment and Richard would contentedly paint and then cut up doilies, gluing the pieces together to create collages. At eight-years-old, he discovered the Albright-Knox Museum (then known as the Albright Art Gallery) and spent several hours a week there studying the paintings. He was particularly fond of Charles Burchfield‘s landscapes, enamored with their ‘messiness’ and thinking that they somehow captured more ‘feeling’ than works he was previously familiar with. For his tenth Christmas, he asked for and received a ‘how-to’ paint book by Elliot O’Hare. Through this self-teaching, he assembled the portfolio needed for acceptance to Buffalo Technical High School where he studied Advertising Arts. In his Junior year, he was encouraged to enter a watercolor painting, “Two Barns,” in the national 1944-45 Ingersoll Art Award Contest and was one of twelve grand prize winners – each one winning one hundred dollars. More importantly the painting was exhibited at the Carnegie Institute Galleries, which resulted in his winning a national scholarship to the Cleveland School of Art (The Cleveland Art Institute). He flourished at the art school under the tutelage of faculty members such as Carl Gaertner, as well as that of visiting artists such as William Sommer and Henry George Keller. He would say in later years that Gaertner, in particular, influenced his attitude toward life as well as art. “Gaertner,” Andres said, “believed that there was no need to be a ‘tortured artist’, that an artist should rather enjoy beauty, family, and life in general.” Free to spend his days as he chose, he wandered the Cleveland Art Museum for most of the hours he was not attending classes or painting; the remaining time was spent drinking coffee at a local hangout with art school friends – which is where he met fellow Henry Keller scholarship winner, Avis Johnson. Richard was immediately smitten with Avis, but being rather shy, it took him the entire summer of 1948 to build up his courage to ask her out. Over that summer he ‘thought about Avis’ and worked in a diner to save money. He also used the hundred-dollar prize money won in High School to visit the first Max Beckmann retrospective in the United States at the City Art Museum in St. Louis. Over a half century later he spoke of that exhibit with a reverence usually reserved for spiritual matters, “I walked in and it was like nothing I had ever seen before... the color...It just glowed.” Returning to campus in the Fall, the first thing he did was go to the coffee shop in hopes of finding Avis. He did, and she, upon seeing him, realized that she was also smitten with him. They quickly became known as ‘the couple’ on campus, and a year later, with Richard being drafted for the Korean war, they were quickly married by a Justice of the Peace, celebrating after with family at Avis’s Cleveland home. As a gift, faculty member John Paul Miller designed and made the simple gold wedding ring Avis wore for their 65 years of marriage. During those 65 years neither wavered in their mutual love, nor in the respect they shared for one another’s art. The couple lived in a converted chicken coop in Missouri while Richard was in boot camp. At the camp, he would volunteer for any job offered and one of those jobs ended up being painting road signs. His commander noticed how quickly and neatly he worked and gave him more painting work to do - eventually recommending him for a position painting murals for Army offices in Panama. Until her dying day, Avis remained angry that “The army got to keep those fabulous murals and they probably didn’t even know how wonderful they were.” In Panama, their first son, Mark, was born. After Richard’s discharge in 1953, they moved back to the Cleveland area and used the GI bill to attend Kent State gaining his BA in education. The small family then moved briefly to Buffalo, where Richard taught at the Albright Art School and the University of Buffalo – and their second son, Peter, was born. Richard had exhibited work in the Cleveland May Show and the Butler Art Museum during his art school years, and during the years in Buffalo, his work was exhibited at the gallery he had so loved as a child, the Albright Art Gallery. In 1956, the family moved back to the Cleveland area and Richard began teaching art at Lincoln West High School during the day while working toward his MA in art at Kent State in the evenings. Avis and Richard, with the help of an architect, designed their first home - a saltbox style house in Hudson, Ohio, and in 1958, their third son, Max (after Max Beckmann) was born. Richard enjoyed the consistency of teaching high school as well as the time it gave him to paint on the weekends and during the summer months. In 1961, he received his MA and his daughter, Claire, was born. With a fourth child, the house was much too small, and Avis and Richard began designing their second home. An admirer of MCM architecture, Richard’s favorite example of the style was the Farnsworth house – he often spoke of how the concepts behind this architectural style, particularly that of Mies van der Rohe, influenced his painting. Andres described himself as a 1950’s...
Category

1950s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Untitled abstract expressionist oil painting by Cleveland School artist
Located in Beachwood, OH
Richard Andres American, 1927-2013 Untitled, c. 1980 acrylic and ink on paper mounted on canvas signed lower right 24 x 20 inches 25 x 21 inches, framed Richard Andres was born in B...
Category

1980s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Ink, Acrylic

Large Abstract Modernist Monterey Series Mixed Media Monotype Colorful Painting
Located in Surfside, FL
Terence La Noue was born in Hammond, Indiana in 1941. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1964. After going to Berlin as a Fulbright Meister Student ...
Category

1980s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paint, Mixed Media, Monotype

Red and Blue Abstract - Original Oil On Canvas
By J. Greene
Located in Soquel, CA
Red and Blue Abstract - Original Oil On Canvas Original oil painting depicting blue, red and yellow geometric shapes by J. Greene (American, 20th Century). Shapes of red and yellow ...
Category

1980s Abstract Geometric Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Multicolor Abstract Cubist Oil Painting with Monogram Signature MJ
Located in Atlanta, GA
This stylish abstract cubist oil on board painting with a monogram signature "M.J." is from a German artist (20th Century). The colorful painting features a stylized abstract composi...
Category

1950s Cubist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

The Train, Vintage Vibrant Folk Art Oil Painting with Bold Colorful Details
Located in Denver, CO
Discover the vibrant world of Martin Saldana, a talented Mexican-American folk artist known for his captivating rustic and naïve style. This original painting, titled "The Train", wa...
Category

1950s Folk Art Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Red Idol - British 50's art abstract oil painting - Modernist COBRA - provenance
Located in London, GB
An original oil on canvas by the noted Scottish artist William Gear. A fabulous painting. One of his best and a seminal work which dates to 1959. Provenance. Douglas Foulis Art Galle...
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Patricia Zippin "Temescal 3" 1980s Abstract Painting Academie Julian Paris
Located in Arp, TX
Patricia Zippin Temescal 3 1980s Mixed Media 30.5"x 22.5", unframed Signed in paint on bottom right and signed and titled on reverse in pencil Patricia Jayne Zippin (1930-2015) She ...
Category

1980s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Encaustic, Acrylic, Pencil

Guinovart. painting cardboard
Located in CORAL GABLES - MIAMI, FL
Guinovart. Josep Guinovart i Bertran (Barcelona 1927-2007) was a painter, draftsman and engraver from Catalonia, Spain. After studying at the School of the Lonja and the Promotion ...
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Original Abstract Paintings for Sale on 1stDibs

Bring audacious experiments with color and textures to your living room, dining room or home office. Abstract paintings, large or small, will stand out in your space, encouraging conversation and introducing a museum-like atmosphere that’s welcoming and conducive to creating memorable gatherings.

Abstract art has origins in 19th-century Europe, but it came into its own as a significant movement during the 20th century. Early practitioners of abstraction included Wassily Kandinsky, although painters were exploring nonfigurative art prior to the influential Russian artist’s efforts, which were inspired by music and religion. Abstract painters endeavored to create works that didn’t focus on the outside world’s conventional subjects, and even when artists depicted realistic subjects, they worked in an abstract mode to do so.

In 1940s-era New York City, a group of painters working in the abstract mode created radical work that looked to European avant-garde artists as well as to the art of ancient cultures, prioritizing improvisation, immediacy and direct personal expression. While they were never formally affiliated with one another, we know them today as Abstract Expressionists.

The male contingent of the Abstract Expressionists, which includes Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning and Robert Motherwell, is frequently cited in discussing leading figures of this internationally influential postwar art movement. However, the women of Abstract Expressionism, such as Helen Frankenthaler, Lee Krasner, Joan Mitchell and others, were equally involved in the art world of the time. Sexism, family obligations and societal pressures contributed to a long history of their being overlooked, but the female Abstract Expressionists experimented vigorously, developed their own style and produced significant bodies of work.

Draw your guests into abstract oil paintings across different eras and countries of origin. On 1stDibs, you’ll find an expansive range of abstract paintings along with a guide on how to arrange your wonderful new wall art.

If you’re working with a small living space, a colorful, oversize work can create depth in a given room, but there isn’t any need to overwhelm your interior with a sprawling pièce de résistance. Colorful abstractions of any size can pop against a white wall in your living room, but if you’re working with a colored backdrop, you may wish to stick to colors that complement the decor that is already in the space. Alternatively, let your painting make a statement on its own, regardless of its surroundings, or group it, gallery-style, with other works.

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