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Abstract Paintings For Sale
Period: 1950s
Period: 1980s
This Week's Listings Only
"Two Figures, " Louis Stone, Abstract, American WPA Modernism
Located in New York, NY
Louis K. Stone (1902 - 1984) Two Figures, 1980 Mixed media on paper Sight 52 x 42 inches Signed and dated lower right Louis King Stone was born in Findlay, Ohio in 1902 and received...
Category

1980s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Mixed Media

Antique American Modernist Surreal Beach Scene Still Life Framed Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Impressive early American modernist sunset beach scene oil painting. Framed. Oil on canvas. Signed. Image size, 24H by 20L.
Category

1980s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Large Mid Century California Modernist Sunset Landscape Framed Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist abstract oil painting. Oil on canvas. Framed.
Category

1950s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, 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

Vintage American Modernist Abstract Expressionist Framed Large Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist abstract oil painting by Adele Becker. Framed. Oil on canvas.
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Multicolor Geometric Cubist Gouache and Watercolor Painting by André Morin
Located in Atlanta, GA
This outstanding post-cubist and multicolor geometric composition, gouache, and watercolor painting was designed by French artist André Morin (20th Century). Geometric art is the use...
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor, Gouache

Pillar of Zen #124, unique signed gouache painting Andre Zarre Gallery, 1959
Located in New York, NY
Charmion von Wiegand Pillar of Zen #124, 1959 Gouache on paper painting Hand signed, titled and dated on the front Unique Provenance: Andre Zarre Gallery, with label verso (Estate of renowned gallerist Andre Zarre, ne Andre Sowulewski) Measurements: Framed 26.5 inches vertical by 25.5 horizontal by 2 inches Artwork: 21 inches vertical by 22 inches horizontal Mid century modern, geometric, spiritual abstraction, mystical The Estate of the celebrated artist Charmion Von Wiegand has been represented exclusively by Michael Rosenfeld Gallery since 1998. From March 3 to August 13, 2023, Charmion Von Wiegand was the subject of an acclaimed retrospective at the Kunstmuseum Basel, and she has received major attention in the price, including a June, 2023 ArtNews feature entitled, "Who Was Charmion von Wiegand and Why Is She Important?". Her work was also featured in a solo presentation by Rosenfeld Gallery at the New York Art Show held at the Park Avenue Armory, which also received critical acclaim. Artists Biography - courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery: Known for her vibrant, geometric paintings that originate a deeply personal language of spiritual enlightenment expressed through a constructivist mode of abstraction, Charmion von Wiegand (1896–1983) was born in Chicago but spent much of her childhood traveling. The daughter of a journalist for Hearst, von Wiegand eventually settled in New York in 1915 to attend Barnard College and Columbia University, where she took classes at the School of Journalism while nurturing a growing interest in art history. In 1925, von Wiegand realized that she wanted to be an artist and set up a studio in Greenwich Village, teaching herself how to paint while pursuing a career as a journalist. In 1929, she secured a position in Moscow as a foreign correspondent for Hearst, the only woman at the desk at the time. In 1932, von Wiegand returned to New York and married Russian émigré Joseph Freeman, who co-founded and edited the leftist journal New Masses. Von Wiegand began writing art criticism for New Masses as well as for other publications, including New Theatre, ARTnews, and Arts Magazine. When the Abstract American Artists (AAA) held their inaugural exhibition, von Wiegand reviewed it. An early champion of abstract art, von Wiegand became close friends with AAA founder Carl Holty. In 1941, Holty introduced von Wiegand to Piet Mondrian, who would have a profound impact on her art. Fascinated by Mondrian’s artistic philosophy, von Wiegand played a key role in the introduction of his work to American audiences, translating many of the Dutch artist’s writings into English and assisting in the composition of his influential article “Toward the True Vision of Reality” (1941). Through her friendship with Mondrian, von Wiegand re-kindled her interest in Theosophy (a religion established in the late 19th century that combines aspects of Hinduism, Buddhism, occultism, and esotericism) and embarked on an extended study of neoplasticism. In her artwork, she incorporated Mondrian’s iconic grid but rejected the constraints of pure neoplasticism and embraced a wide range of influences including surrealism and German expressionism. In 1942, von Wiegand became a member of the AAA, exhibiting regularly with the group and eventually serving as its president from 1951 to 1953. In the late 1940s, sculptor and fellow AAA member Ibram Lassaw gave her a translation of The Secret of the Golden Flower: A Chinese Book of Life, which inspired von Wiegand to immerse herself in a study of Buddhist art. She began incorporating Buddhist motifs such as stupas and mandalas into her paintings, and her spiritual practice steadily intensified throughout the 1950s. In 1953, her husband gifted her a copy of the Taoist I Ching Book of Changes, a guide for divining meaning from randomly derived numbers arranged in a hexagram—a form the artist readily incorporated into her painting. Von Wiegand’s study of Theosophy also intensified over these years, bolstered by her increased access to the religion’s primary sources composed by the religion’s founders and their successors at the New York Theosophical Society’s library. Von Wiegand’s search for the sacred and transcendent ultimately led her to Tibetan Buddhism and, in 1967, von Wiegand met Khyongla Rato Rinpoche, a Gelugpa monk who had recently arrived in New York, who would mentor her spiritual study in the tradition of Mahayana Buddhism until her death. Her travels in the 1960s and 1970s took her to Tibet and India, where she had an audience with the Dalai Lama, who was living in exile in Dharamsala. Many works from these decades incorporate symbols and schematics drawn from Theosophical prismatic color charts, Chinese astrology and tantric yoga. In 1978, she was the subject of a PBS documentary titled The Circle of Charmion von Wiegand, which was scored by Philip Glass. In 1980, von Wiegand was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters and in 1982, the Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach (FL) organized her first retrospective exhibition. She died the following year in New York, bequeathing her estate to Khyongla Rato and the Tibet Center of New York. In 1998, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery became the sole representative of her estate and has presented her work in four solo and multiple group exhibitions. Recent notable exhibitions that have included her work are The Third Mind: American Artists Contemplate Asia (Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY, 2009) and Constructive Spirit: Abstract Art in South and North America (Newark Museum, NJ, 2010). In March 2023, the Kunstmuseum Basel (Switzerland) opened the first comprehensive museum retrospective of von Wiegand’s work in Europe. Von Wiegand’s work is represented in numerous museum collections including the Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy (Andover, MA); Albright-Knox Art Gallery (Buffalo, NY); Arithmeum, University of Bonn (Germany); Birmingham Museum of Art (Alabama); Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin; Brooklyn Museum (NY); Carnegie Museum of Art (Pittsburgh, PA); The Cleveland Museum of Art (OH); Indianapolis Museum of Art (IN); Fondazione Marguerite Arp (Locarno, Switzerland); Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Massachusetts); The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY); The Museum of Modern Art (New York, NY); Newark Museum of Art (New Jersey); Seattle Art Museum (WA); Smithsonian American Art Museum (Washington, DC); Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, MN); Weatherspoon Art Museum, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro; Wellin Museum of Art at Hamilton College (Clinton, NY); Whitney Museum of American Art (New York, NY); and Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven, CT). More about gallerist Andre Zarre A tribute in the New Criterion: Dispatch August 11, 2020 Andre Zarre, 1942–2020 by Dana Gordon On the late New York gallery pioneer. Art should never be aggressively explained; art should be felt. —Andre Zarre, 1977 Often, in the starlit New York cultural mecca, a longtime important figure fades away through the penumbra and dies without notice. Such was the fate of Andre Zarre, the contemporary art dealer, who passed away a few weeks ago. Andy, as he wanted friends to call him, opened his eponymous gallery in 1974 just off Madison Avenue on Sixty-ninth Street. He soon moved it to the omphalos of the art world in that era, 41 East Fifty-seventh Street, the Fuller Building. Over the years he moved to SoHo and then to Chelsea, as fashion and real estate prices pushed the art souk hither and thither. To understand his importance, all you need do is take a look at a list of artists who had solo shows at the Andre Zarre Gallery. This includes such names, from an early generation, as Sonia Delaunay, Nassos Daphnis, Sari Dienes, and Perle Fine. Among a subsequent generation are Pat Lipsky, Jay Milder, Thornton Willis, and Kes Zapkus.1 And this list does not include the many knowns and unknowns who were in his lively group shows. Zarre had a real “eye” and was a champion of abstract art from the moment he founded his gallery—even among the gathering storms of conceptual and political art, which he eschewed. He showed a good deal of figurative art as well. His galleries were always spacious and unpretentious, oriented simply to show the art. In the words of Dee Shapiro, who showed with the Zarre gallery many times, “He had a photographic memory and knew a lot about art and was always interested in the artist’s life.” Reliable biographical information on Zarre is scarce, but he said of his background that he was born in Poland in 1942 and that his parents were a diplomat and a socialite. He left home for the United States at the age of fifteen. During his decades as an art dealer in New York, Zarre did not appear to accumulate wealth, though he acquired a collection and lived on Park Avenue. “He was not personally aggressive in that way. People had to come to him,” Dee Shapiro said. He was honest in his financial dealings with artists, which not all art dealers are. For a long time while running the gallery he had a second job as a supervisor in an airline office and he kept little to no additional staff in the gallery. He supported a brother who remained in Poland. Among artists, Zarre was known to be quite ornery. After my show at his gallery in 1997, I refused to enter it for seventeen years. Then I ran into him in Chelsea and he offered me another show, an opportunity I gladly accepted, but he remained just as disagreeable. He showed the work of many women, probably more than any other gallery, save those devoted to showing only women. Collectors, curators, and writers found him mostly friendly. As Peter Reginato put it, Zarre was a “strange guy but I liked him. I think he was a dealer who was more interested in the art than in making money, but somehow he lasted forty-plus years.” Zarre is not known to have kept extensive or extant records of his gallery’s long history, though these may emerge in time. Scouring the Internet, one may compile a partial list of more than eighty artists who had solo shows at the Andre Zarre Gallery:Nancy Azara, Ellen Banks, Mary Barnes, Tony Bechara, Juan Bernal, Stephanie Bernheim, Randy Bloom, Elena Borstein, Michael Boyd, Fritz Bultman, Ed Buonagurio, Yoan Capote, Sonia Delaunay, Nassos Daphnis, Cathy Diamond, Sari Dienes, Joseph Dolinsky, Beata Drozd, Ronnie Elliot, William Fares, Perle Fine, Lynne Frehm, Ben Georgia, Mikel Glass, Dana Gordon, Juanita Guccione, Fred Gutzeit, Don Hazlitt, Amy Hill, Clinton Hill, Monroe Hodder, Budd Hopkins, Arlan Huang, Richard Hunt, Rhia Hurt, Buffie Johnson, Alexander Kaletski, Robert Kaupelis...
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Gouache

Abstract Expressionist American Modernist Oil Monotype Monoprint Painting
Located in Surfside, FL
Larry Brown Long-time established New York painter as well as faculty member the The Cooper Union, Brown works in oil on canvas and tempera paints on paper. He deals with themes of science and universality. EDUCATION: 1970 M.F.A. in Painting, University of Arizona 1967 BA in Painting, Washington State University SELECT GROUP EXHIBITIONS: Mixed Company: Women Choose Men, AIR Gallery, New York, NY Easy Breezy, Sears-Peyton Gallery, New York, NY From Stone and Plate: Contemporary Prints from Tamarind Institute, California State University Change of View Tamarind Institute Gallery, Albuquerque, NM Animal As Muse, The Norton Museum of Art, W. Palm Beach, FL Painting--Larry Brown, Joseph Haske, David Schoffman, Helander Gallery, New York, NY Paper Houses, David Beitzel Gallery, New York, NY Curators Choice, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY Current Trends in Abstraction-- Larry Brown, Bill Drew...
Category

1980s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Monoprint, Monotype

L’horizon mensonger
Located in PARIS, FR
Georges Mathieu (1921 - 2012) L’horizon mensonger Alkyde sur toile / Alkyd on canvas Signé en bas à gauche, titré au dos / Signed lower left and titles on the back Circa 1990 Size : ...
Category

1980s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Mixed Media, Alkyd

'Burmese Dancers', Large Modernist Oil, Myanmar, Rangoon, SFMA, SFAI, PFA
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Signed lower left, 'Aung Aung Taik' (Burmese, born 1948) and dated 1981. Exhibited: San Francisco Cultural Center, 1981. A major work by this celebrate...
Category

1980s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Antique American School Abstract Expressionist New York City Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist abstract oil painting. Oil on canvasboard. No signature found. Framed. Image size, 24L x 18H.
Category

1950s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Duino Elegies study
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Richard Mann (1940-1990). Duino Elegies, 1981. Mixed media on rag paper, consisting of 3 sheets, each measuring 18 x 24 inches. Each vertical edge is hinged with mounting tape, resulting in a triptych presentation. Entire measurement: 24 x 54 inches w. Biography: Playwright, poet and visual artist, Rev. Richard Mann was born and educated in Melbourne Australia. At the height of America's counter-cultural revolution, Mann moved to New York City where he lived and worked in Harlem. He was influenced by surrealism, abstract expressionism, and calligraphy at the time of his arrival. Beginning in the mid-1970's, the extreme living conditions of Harlem and demands of his religious calling provided subject matter for his painting. Urban decay and ubiquitous public graffiti provide inspiration for compositions that include highly stylized writing. By the late 1970's many works incorporate writing exclusively, with areas of layered, obscured and illegible words, very much like repeatedly tagged walls. Education: Studied painting with Maurice Cantlon, Melbourne, Australia 1961-62. Liberal Arts Studies, Christ the King...
Category

1980s Neo-Expressionist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Charcoal, Ink, Acrylic, Pencil

Vintage Huge American Abstract Expressionist "Kaleidoscope" Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Vintage American modernist abstract oil painting. Oil on canvas. Signed verso.
Category

1950s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Untitled
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Roland Ayers (1932-2017). Untitled, 1983. Ink on paper, measures 17 x 23 inches. Unframed and unmounted. Signed and dated lower left. Ayers holds the distinction of having participated in the first important survey of African-Americans, Contemporary Black Artists in America, a 1971 show at The Whitney. Biography: Artist and art educator, Roland Ayers was born on July 2, 1932, the only child of Alice and Lorenzo Ayers, and grew up in the Germantown district of Philadelphia. Ayers served in the US Army (stationed in Germany) before studying at the Philadelphia College of Art (currently University of the Arts). He graduated with a BFA in Art Education, 1954. He traveled Europe 1966-67, spending time in Amsterdam and Greece in particular. During this period, he drifted away from painting to focus on linear figurative drawings of a surreal nature. His return home inaugurated the artist’s most prolific and inspired period (1968-1975). Shorty before his second major trip abroad in 1971-72 to West Africa, Ayers began to focus on African themes, and African American figures populated his work almost exclusively. In spite of Ayers’ travel and exploration of the world, he gravitated back to his beloved Germantown, a place he endowed with mythological qualities in his work and literature. His auto-biographical writing focuses on the importance of place during his childhood. Ayers’ journals meticulously document the ethnic and cultural make-up of Germantown, and tell a compelling story of class marginalization that brought together poor families despite racial differences. The distinctive look and design of Germantown inform Ayers’ visual vocabulary. It is a setting with distinctive Gothic Revival architecture and haunting natural beauty. These characteristics are translated and recur in the artist’s imagery. During his childhood, one of the only books in the Ayers household was an illustrated Bible. The images within had a profound effect on the themes and subjects that would appear in his adult work. Figures in an Ayers’ drawing often seem trapped in a narrative of loss and redemption. Powerful women loom large in the drawings: they suggest the female role models his journals record in early life. The drawings can sometimes convey a strong sense of conflict, and at other times, harmony. Nature and architecture seem to have an antagonistic relationship that is, ironically, symbiotic. A critical turning point in the artist’s career came in 1971 when he was included in the extremely controversial Whitney Museum show, Contemporary Black Artists in America. The exhibition gave Ayers an international audience and served as a calling card for introductions he would soon make in Europe. Ayers is a particularly compelling figure in a period when black artists struggled with the idea of authenticity. A questioned often asked was “Is your work too black, or not black enough?” Abstractionists were considered by some peers to be sell-outs, frauds or worse. Figurative* work was accused of being either sentimental or politically radical depending on the critical source. Ayers made the choice early on to be a figurative artist, but considered his work devoid of political content. Organizations such as Chicago’ s Afri-Cobra in the late 1960‘s asserted that the only true black art of any relevance must depict the black man and woman...
Category

1980s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Ink

"Israeli Road Block" - 1980 Original Abstract
Located in Soquel, CA
"Israeli Road Block" - 1980 Original Abstract Rich 1980's abstract oil painting titled "Israeli Road Block" by Bay Area artist Helen Konkoff (American, 1912-1988). Hues of browns, g...
Category

1980s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Jacob's Well
Located in New Orleans, LA
Richard Saba Birthplace: Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1946 Education: Minneapolis College of Art & Design, B.F.A. 1968 Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, 1967 University of Washington...
Category

1980s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Patricia Zippin "Study for Anaganaga 2/6" 1980s Abstract Painting
Located in Arp, TX
Patricia Zippin Study For Anaganaga 2/6 1980s Mixed Media 30"x 23", unframed Signed in pencil bottom right and titled bottom left and signed and titled in pencil on reverse Patricia...
Category

1980s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Encaustic, Acrylic, Pencil

Antique American Framed Mid Century Modern Abstract Expressionist Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Very nicely painted mid century abstract expressionist oil painting. Oil on board. Framed. Great colors and bold brush strokes.
Category

1950s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Landscape. Oil on canvas by Tetsuo Mizu (1987) (abstract geometric painting)
Located in Hong Kong, HK
Tetsuo Mizu (1944) Landscape Executed in 1987 Oil on canvas 80.3 x 100 cm (39 3/8 x 31 1/2 in) Dated and Signed “1987 MIZU” (lower left) Signed, dated, an...
Category

1980s Abstract Geometric Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Architecture
Located in Genève, GE
Collage, mixed technique Work on paper Black wooden frame with glass pane 75.3 x 93.2 x 3.7 cm
Category

1980s Abstract Geometric Abstract Paintings

Materials

Adhesive, Gouache, Tissue Paper

Boathouse at Night, Modernist Two Toned Color-field Abstracted Seascape
Located in Soquel, CA
Boathouse at Night, Modernist Two Toned Color-field Abstracted Seascape Nocturnal seascape by Vasil (Victor) Papkov (20th Century). At the top of the piece, the moon is obscured beh...
Category

1980s Impressionist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Masonite, Oil

Vintage Signed Israeli American Modernist Beach Scene Framed Signed Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Modernist abstract landscape painting by Abraham Pariente. Oil on canvas, circa 1990. Signed. Displayed in a giltwood impressionist frame.
Category

1980s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Portrait of a Woman with Short Hair
Located in London, GB
'Portrait of a Woman with Short Hair', oil on board, by Peter Robert Keil (1983). A wide-eyed woman gazes out to the viewer with a tranquil smile. The colou...
Category

1980s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

Flowers of life. Bilateral. Oil on cardboard, 73x65 cm
Located in Riga, LV
Flowers of life. Bilateral. Oil on cardboard, 73x65 cm Aleksandr Rodin (1922-2001) Painter Born in a family of farmers. Wife Rasma Lace - art scholar. Studied at the Stalingrad Sch...
Category

1980s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Cardboard

Untitled
Located in Torino, TO
The work was created with enamel and pastel on canvas; it is signed and archived by the Schifano Archive
Category

1980s Pop Art Abstract Paintings

Materials

Enamel

"Four Winds" Blue House with White Roof in Yellow Field Abstract Landscape
Located in Houston, TX
Abstract drawing of a blue house in a yellow field by German-American painter, Wolf Kahn. Signed and dated by the artist in the lower right corner. Framed and matted in a silver wood...
Category

1980s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Pastel

Waiting for the Barbarians, Ian Hornak
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Ian Hornak (1944-2002) Title: Waiting for the Barbarians Year: 1985 Medium: Acrylic on double layered Masonite Size: 37 x 31 inches Condition: Good Provenance: Estate of Ian ...
Category

1980s Photorealist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Masonite, Acrylic

Dynamic & Colorful Mid-Century Painting by French Artist Michel Patrix
Located in Chicago, IL
A dynamic & colorful Mid-Century painting (ca. 1950) by French Artist Michel Patrix, in purples, yellow and reds. The painting is titled "Coings au Plateau Noir" or (Quinces on a bl...
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

1970s Abstract Figurative Oil Painting – Modernist City Scene With Couple
Located in Denver, CO
Artist: George Cecil Carter (1908–1993) Medium: Oil on board Size: Image: 16 ⅞ x 9 ⅞ in Framed: 20 ⅝ x 13 ½ x 1 ⅞ in Style: Mid-Century Modern, Abstract Figurative This striking 1950s oil painting by celebrated Colorado abstract expressionist George Cecil Carter presents a modernist portrayal of a couple, believed to depict Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O’Keeffe. Rendered in bold brushstrokes and a rich color palette, the piece showcases Carter’s unique ability to merge abstraction with figurative expression, creating a sense of movement and emotion. Housed in a custom frame, this original mid-century artwork is a must-have for collectors of modernist and abstract figurative art. Provenance: From a private collection in Denver, Colorado. About the Artist – George Cecil Carter Born in Oklahoma in 1908, Carter became a leading figure in Colorado’s abstract expressionist movement, working alongside artists like Al Wynne, Mary Chenoweth...
Category

1950s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

"El Innombrable" Fernando de Szyszlo, Red Mysticist Abstract Composition
Located in New York, NY
Fernando de Szyszlo El Innombrable, 1980 Titled inscribed dated verso: Orrentia 1980 "El Innombrable" Signed lower bottom edge center "Szyszlo" Oil on canvas 59 1/2 x 59 inches Fernando de Szyszlo was a Peruvian painter...
Category

1980s Surrealist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Large American Impressionist Abstract Framed Modern Flower Still Life Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Impressive large American school modernist flower still life painting. Oil on canvas. Handsomely framed. Signed illegibly. Very nice impasto and color.
Category

1980s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Mid Century Modernist NYC Cubist Abstract Large Framed Exhibited Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American abstract cubist composition "Terra Firma Theme 10" by Augustus Goertz (Born 1948) . Oil on canvas, circa 1958. Housed in a period gi...
Category

1950s Cubist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

'Abstracted Cityscape', Modernist Abstract Oil, David Rockefeller Estate
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Signed lower right, 'Max Gunther' (German, 1934-1974); additionally signed verso, dated 1958 and titled 'Cité Décomposée'. Provenance: Estate of David Rockefeller...
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Musicians and dancers from Mallorca oil on board painting Spain
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Josep Coll Bardolet (1912-2007) - Musicians and dancers Mallorca - Oil on panel Oil measurements 33x41 cm. Frame measurements 44x52 cm.
Category

1980s Post-Impressionist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

Duino Elegies study
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Richard Mann (1940-1990). Duino Elegies, 1981. Mixed media on rag paper, consisting of 3 sheets, each measuring 18 x 24 inches. Each vertical edge is hinged with mounting tape, resulting in a triptych presentation. Entire measurement: 24 x 54 inches w. Biography: Playwright, poet and visual artist, Rev. Richard Mann was born and educated in Melbourne Australia. At the height of America's counter-cultural revolution, Mann moved to New York City where he lived and worked in Harlem. He was influenced by surrealism, abstract expressionism, and calligraphy at the time of his arrival. Beginning in the mid-1970's, the extreme living conditions of Harlem and demands of his religious calling provided subject matter for his painting. Urban decay and ubiquitous public graffiti provide inspiration for compositions that include highly stylized writing. By the late 1970's many works incorporate writing exclusively, with areas of layered, obscured and illegible words, very much like repeatedly tagged walls. Education: Studied painting with Maurice Cantlon, Melbourne, Australia 1961-62. Liberal Arts Studies, Christ the King...
Category

1980s Neo-Expressionist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Charcoal, Ink, Acrylic, Pencil

"Ouverture, with Cypress Forms" Stephen Edlich, Abstract Geometric Painting
Located in New York, NY
Stephen Edlich Ouverture, with Cypress Forms, 1982 Signed, dated and titled on the stretcher Acrylic paint, mixed media, and burlap on canvas 60 x 40 inches An artist who worked in the post-cubist and constructivist traditions, Stephen P. Edlich gained a considerable amount of acclaim in the 1970s and 1980s for his collages, sculpture, and paintings. His promising career was cut short due to his untimely death at age 45 in 1989. Edlich was born in New York City. He received his undergraduate degree with a major in fine arts studies from New York University in 1967. During his college years, he traveled to London, where he met the art dealer Victor Waddington and created his first white on white collage. In that same year, he attended a major exhibition of the work of Ben Nicholson, which would be influential source in his art. Edlich returned to England in 1967, where he met Barbara Hepworth and Patrick Heron in London and traveled to St. Ives, Cornwall, long a favorite artists' haunt. Edlich began creating acrylic reliefs...
Category

1980s Abstract Geometric Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Burlap, Mixed Media, Acrylic

Marigold Joy
Located in Toronto, Ontario
It is hard to reconcile Gershon Iskowitz's (1921-1988) aesthetic with his personal history. Born to a religious family in Poland, Iskowitz was allowed to leave Yeshiva (Jewish relig...
Category

1980s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

4.84
Located in Phoenix, AZ
oil and wax on canvas 1927 - 2017 Mala Breuer grew up attending classes in painting and drawing from a young age at the California College of Arts and Crafts. After high school sh...
Category

1980s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Wax, 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

Grey Landscape - 1950s - Piero Sadun - Painting - Contemporary
Located in Roma, IT
Hand signed on the rear, in excellent conditions.
Category

1950s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Large Signed Exhibited Abstract Expressionist Original Framed Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American signed abstract expressionist oil painting. Oil on canvas. Signed. Framed. Image size, 41.5L x 31.5H.
Category

1950s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Antique European Summer Impressionist Bustling Beach Scene Framed Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Impressive European impressionist summer beach scene oil painting. Framed. Oil on canvas. Image size, 20H by 24L.
Category

1950s Impressionist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

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

Vintage American School Modernist Abstract Expressionist Framed Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist framed oil painting. Oil on board. No signature found. Framed. Image size, 13L x 12H.
Category

1950s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Star Fighter
Located in Henderson, NV
Star Fighter evolved out of Clifford Singer's work during the 1980s using arcs and straight lines.
Category

1980s Abstract Geometric Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Abstract Painting
Located in Houston, TX
Abstract painting accented in bright hues of red, blue and a soft lavender by French artist AM Vivent, 1986. Signed and dated lower right. Original artwork on paper displayed on a ...
Category

1980s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Acrylic

Antique American School Large Great Color Abstract Modernist Original Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American school modernist abstract oil painting. Oil on canvas, circa 1950. Unsgned. Image size 36L x 60H.
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

UNTITLED
Located in Portland, ME
Shulman, Morris (American, 1912-1978). UNTITLED. Casein on paper, circa 1951. Signed, lower left. 14 1/2 x 21 3/4 inches, framed to 23 x 30 inches. In excellent condition. Shulman st...
Category

1950s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Casein

Composition - Oil on Canvas by Mario Asnago - Mid-20th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Composition is an original contemporary artwork realized in the mid-20th Century by Mario Asnago. Mixed colored oil painting. Hand signed on the lower margin. Includes frame: 90x5...
Category

1950s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Naturalistic Fanciful Townscape
Located in Houston, TX
Fanciful landscape with buildings that look like castles. Trees fill the landscape with a path that curves through it. The painting is mainly grey and pink tones. The painting has th...
Category

1980s Naturalistic Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Workers
Located in Riga, LV
Aleksandr Rodin (1922-2001) Painter Born in a family of farmers. Wife Rasma Lace - art scholar. Studied at the Stalingrad School of Art, Saratov Art School, graduated from the Depar...
Category

1980s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Cardboard, Canvas

Monumental Abstract Expressionist Signed 1953 Framed Original Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist abstract expressionist oil painting. Oil on canvas. Signed. Framed.
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Abstract still life. Oil on cardboard, 85x74 cm
Located in Riga, LV
Aleksandr Rodin (1922-2001) Painter Born in a family of farmers. Wife Rasma Lace - art scholar. Studied at the Stalingrad School of Art, Saratov Art School, graduated from the Depar...
Category

1980s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Cardboard

Russian Cubist Portrait of a Woman
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Beautiful cubist portrait of a woman by unknown Russian artist. Oil on canvas measures 17 x 25 inches. Signed and dated lower right. Label fragments affixed on verso.
Category

1980s Cubist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Passages in Light III - Abstract Oil Painting Like a Tiepolo Sky
Located in New York, NY
Ruggero Vanni's Passages in Light III is a 49 x 35 inch abstract oil painting. The main colors are red, pink and gray. There is a reference to nature, like clouds up in the sky. It ...
Category

1980s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Bright Country Barns - Abstracted Modern Farm Landscape in Acrylic on Paper
Located in Soquel, CA
Bright Country Barns - Abstracted Modern Farm Landscape in Acrylic on Paper Vivid abstracted landscape of brightly colored barns in the countryside by San Francisco artist Michael W...
Category

1980s Pop Art Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Acrylic, Laid Paper

Florentine Expressions: A Portrait Series XX (circa 1980s-90s)
Located in London, GB
"Florentine Expressions: A Portrait Series XX", oil on canvas mounted on board, Florentine School (circa 1980s-90s). This gallery has acquired a number of paintings through an interm...
Category

1980s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Board

Mountains in the Clouds in Tuscany Italy by 20th Century Italian Artist
Located in Preston, GB
Mountains in the Clouds in Tuscany Italy by 20th Century Italian Artist Armando Romano Art measures 20 x 16 inches Frame measures 26 x 22 inches In...
Category

1980s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

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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