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Abstract Paintings For Sale
Style: Modern
Style: Surrealist
1980’s French Surrealist Signed Oil Painting Abstract Shapes Composition
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Tristan Fabris 1970's-80's, French Surrealist artist Abstract Surrealist Figurative study oil on canvas, unframed signed and dated verso canvas: 23.5 x 32 inches private collection, ...
Category

Late 20th Century Surrealist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

French 20th Century Modernist Turquoise Still Life Spring Onions and Celeriacs
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Vegetable Still Life by Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) oil on artist paper, unframed painting : 21 x 16.5 inches stamped verso provenance: artists estate, France condition: very good...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

GENEVIEVE ZONDERVAN (1922-2013) SIGNED FRENCH SURREALIST OIL PAINTING - FRAMED
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
"Surrealist Landscape" by Geneviève Zondervan (French 1922-2013) oil painting on canvas, framed dated '99' signed lower corner framed: 19.25 x 14 inches A fine 20th century surreal...
Category

Late 20th Century Surrealist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Vintage Amazing Surreal Street Art Modern Abstract Framed Signed Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Vintage American school surreal oil painting. Oil on canvas. Signed verso. Framed. Measuring 24 by 30 overall and 22 by 28 painting alone.
Category

1960s Surrealist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"Walking my Baby Back Home" by L. A. Spowart - Large White and Yellow Figurative
Located in Carmel, CA
Lesley Anne Spowart (American, born 1957) "Walking my Baby Back Home" 2021 Acrylic Paint, Mixed Media, Canvas, Stretcher Bars The artist signed the bottom left and back of the painti...
Category

2010s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Mixed Media, Acrylic, Stretcher Bars

Untitled - Fisherfolk
Located in San Francisco, CA
Artist: Moshe Katz – Romanian/Israeli (1937-) Title: Untitled - Fisherfolk Year: 1966 Medium: Oil on canvas Size: 24 x 36 inches Framed size: 28.5 x 40.5 inches Signature: Signed, d...
Category

1960s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Signed 20th Century French Modernist Oil Painting Naked Woman on Beach
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Sur la Plage French Modernist artist, 20th century indistinctly signed oil on canvas, framed inscribed verso framed: 20.5 x 26.5 inches canvas : 20 x 26 inches provenance: private c...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Modern Abstract Muted Painting
Located in Houston, TX
Esthetic modern abstract painting in muted pastel colorblocks by French artist, Dante (2011). Signed by the artist at bottom right. Original one-of-a-kind work of art on paper disp...
Category

2010s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Acrylic

Abstract Expressionist Color Gouache Painting Mid Century Mod WPA Jewish Artist
Located in Surfside, FL
Louis Wolchonok was a social realist painter and member of the Woodstock Art Association. His work was exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the National Academy of Design...
Category

20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Pastel

Large Antique American Modernist Interior Kitchen Still Life Cubist Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Impressive early American modernist interior view still life painting. Oil on canvas. Framed. Image size, 34 by 40 inches.
Category

1940s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Large Contemporary Female American Modernist Abstract Oil Painting on Canvas
Located in Buffalo, NY
Wonderful large abstract painting by Betty Weiss. Oil on canvas. Signed with her married name "Betty Perez". Measuring 56 by 56 inches. Artist Bio: Betty Weiss has been a Ne...
Category

Early 2000s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Very Large French Surrealist Contemporary Painting Abstract Figures Embracing
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
French Surrealist artist, late 20th century/ early 21st. acrylic and pen painting on board, unframed board: 29.5 x 41.5 inches provenance: private collection, France condition: very...
Category

Early 2000s Surrealist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Acrylic, Pen

1980’s French Surrealist Huge Oil Painting Nude Sculpture in Green Landscape
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Tristan Fabris, 1980’s French Surrealist painter Abstract Surrealist Figurative nude work oil on canvas, unframed painting: 26 x 32 inches private collection, France The painting is...
Category

1980s Surrealist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Figurative Cubist Surrealist Abstraction Mid 20th Century American Modern Large
Located in New York, NY
Figurative Cubist Surrealist Abstraction Mid 20th Century American Modern Large O. Louis Guglielmi (1906 - 1956) OBSESSIVE THEME 44 x 33 inches Oil on canvas Signed and dated '48 lo...
Category

1940s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

French 20th Century Modernist Painting Tall Red Plant In Vase Still Life
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Red Plant Still Life by Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) oil on artist paper, unframed painting : 20 x 26 inches stamped verso provenance: artists estate, France condition: very good a...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Interesting Tropical Modernist Palm Tree Abstract Vintage Framed Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist signed abstract tropical oil painting. Oil on board. Framed.
Category

1940s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Large Abstract landscape of Jerusalem Israeli Oil Painting Judaica
Located in Surfside, FL
Large gilt framed abstract modernist landscape of Jerusalem. Framed it measures 33.25 X 41.25 inches. Canvas measures 28 x 36 inches. Bold Blue sky. Avraham Binder was born in 1906 in Vilnius (or Vilna), now part of Lithuania. He began painting at an early age and completed the prescribed studies in painting at the academy of arts in his native city. Upon graduation, at the commencement exhibition of works submitted by the graduates, he was awarded a prize in recognition of his talents. Artistic talent had deep roots in the Binder family. Avraham's father and grandfather were both artistically inclined, as was his sister Zila Binder and daughter Yael. In fact, he came from a long line of master artistic bookbinders, hence the family surname. The Binder family emigrated to Palestine in 1920. There, his father established a bookbinding workshop in Tel-Aviv while Avraham pursued painting. Binder has not identified with any particular modern school nor narrow artistic doctrine. He struggles to verbally explain his personal conception. Instead, he derives inspiration from emotions, resulting in a great variety of artistic treatments. Particularly memorable are his urban landscapes with their predominance of blues and aquamarines, composed of a profusion of squares and rectangles, crowding one another and covering nearly the entire canvas. The angular shapes are interspersed with radiant dots of red, gold and yellow, like the lights of the big city. Those squares and rectangles reflect, perhaps, impressions of a childhood spent among books which were scattered about the home and workshop of his father, the bookbinder. These shapes, no doubt, had their influence upon the artist whose first youthful impressions were – books. Traces of these shapes are discernible in Binder’s work to this day, in the angularity of splashes of color which, no longer crowded together, are now well separated to create an airy spaciousness. Not only the splashes of color – the inventing space, too – creates figurative effects in the artist’s treatment. Avraham Binder is not a “cerebral” painter. Neither identified with any particular modern school, nor preaching any narrow artistic doctrine, he is an emotional artist: his inspiration, derived from the heart, leads him on to the most varied range of treatments in his artistic work. In vain might one try to persuade him to define his personal conception of painting. He is not one to indulge in verbal explanation. But his sheer artistic skill, his virtuosity with the paint brush, did impel him to experiment widely with the artistic techniques of the modern age. And his exceptional talent stood him in good stead in all this experimentation. Binders large-scale urban landscapes are not mere constructs to represent our present-day architecture with its pervasive angularity. Made up as they are of color, Binder’s unique color composition qualifies these canvases to be ranked among the foremost artistic works in Israeli painting. They are uniquely Binder, very different from what we see in the work of his contemporaries. Here and there, Binder also introduces the human element into these paintings. He lives and breathes the atmosphere of his surroundings, deeply experiencing the sea and the shore of Tel-Aviv that confront him day after day, and which he has transferred to his canvases, as metaphors in paint, throughout the life. More recently, he has created a new series of shore-and-seascapes, in tones ranging from brown to blue. ochre, violet and pale yellow – marvelous views of the sea and of figures enlivening its shore. In yet another series, featuring nearly the same range of hues, he lets us view, through his eyes, the Carmel Market in Tel-Aviv, or the city’s coffee houses with their crowds of people, heads bunched together as if in search of human closeness, with the windows looking in upon them. He has also done large paintings of Jerusalem – not the Jerusalem of gloom and holiness, but a Jerusalem in contrast to the flat topography of Tel-Aviv; it is this different topography which here provides the challenge for him as a painter. And the colors – the colors are bright, full of light, an inner illumination which seems to emanate from the artist himself, rather than from the sun beating down from above. So many great artists have built their life’s work upon watercolors. Binder’s watercolors are in no way inferior in their artistic worth to many of those, what with their spontaneity, their translucent quality, their color combinations, and the artist’s ability to say so much with an economy of brush strokes. We have here a painter who, until the end of his life, was still in his full creative powers, and who continued to add to his impressive storehouse of artistic works. Hundreds of his paintings grace the homes of collectors in Israel and throughout the world, or hang in his private collection; they include Israel landscapes and, most importantly, cityscapes; an exquisite series of wild flowers; many portrait paintings; experimental wood sculptures; murals painted on wood panels; reliefs…, etc. All these are testimony to an artist who refuses to rest on his laurels, who forever reaches out to try his hand at new challenges, strikes out in novel directions, discovers innovative techniques, and experiments in all the dimensions of the plastic arts. On the Israel Museum website they have listed an exhibition of his Artists in Israel for the Defense, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Helena Rubinstein Pavilion, Tel Aviv 1967 Artists: Avraham Binder, Motke Blum, (Mordechai) Samuel Bak, Yosl Bergner, Nahum Gilboa, Jean David, Marcel Janco, Lea Nikel, Jacob Pins, Esther Peretz Arad, Dani Karavan, Reuven Rubin, Zvi Raphaely, Yossi Stern...
Category

20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Johann Strauss & Artie Shaw - Mid Century Modern Abstract
By Clark Blocher
Located in Soquel, CA
Johann Strauss & Artie Shaw - Mid Century Modern Abstract Swirling vortex of color and the words: "Johann Strauss' Tale(s) from the Vienna (Woods) Artie Shaw & Orchestra" by Kansas ...
Category

1960s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Masonite, Oil

"The Gate Keeper", Bay Area Figurative Abstract
By John Hoft
Located in Soquel, CA
A highly abstracted figure emerges in fluid, elegant brush strokes, reminiscent of the works of Francis Bacon, in this striking abstract painting by Bay...
Category

1980s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Wood, Oil

197's French Modernist Signed Oil Palm Trees in Village Landscape Large Painting
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
The Pathway by Andre Guillou (French 1925-2017) signed and dated 1970 oil on canvas, unframed canvas: 23.5 x 29 inches provenance: private collection, Fr...
Category

1970s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Large Mid-Century Modern Abstract Cityscape Oil Painting, Red, Black & Gold
Located in Denver, CO
This stunning mid-20th-century oil and spackle painting by Henriette "Yetti" Stolz captures a bold, abstract cityscape with a dramatic bridge and towering buildings. The striking com...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Putty

"Zuen, " 1960s Modern Abstract Painting
Located in Westport, CT
"Zuen" by Stanley Bate is a Modern abstract painting made in 1951, featuring geometric shapes, line work, and light blue shapes complemented by pops of muted yellow, red, deep eggpla...
Category

1960s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

The mermaid who couldn't climb the iceberg . Framed painting
Located in Miami Beach, FL
The mermaid who couldn't climb the iceberg painting by Suzzane Law Image size: 12.6 in. H x 17.1 in W Framse size: 18.1 in. H x 22.4 in W x 1 in D W...
Category

1990s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Acrylic, Wood

Fish and Loaves, Surrealist Abstract Oil Painting, Signed
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Fish and Loaves, Surrealist Abstract Oil Painting, Signed By British artist, Kate Orr, late 20th Century Signed by the artist on the lower right hand corner Signed and titled by the artist verso Oil painting on canvas, unframed Canvas size: 24 x 30 inches Vibrant surrealist painting of a figure offering copious amounts of bread and fish. As with all abstract...
Category

Late 20th Century Surrealist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Antique Spanish School Surrealist Modernist Portrait Framed Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique Spanish school modernist surreal portrait oil painting. Oil on board. Framed. Measuring 18 by 24 inches overall and 15 by 21 painting alone.
Category

1960s Surrealist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Pastel Tones, Moss Green, Yellow, Purple, Simple Round Shapes Transparencies
Located in Barcelona, ES
"Simple Tilted Landscape Icon" is a hand-painted acrylic painting on high-quality 300g paper by artist Ryan Rivadeneyra. These painting, influenced by modernist artists of the 50's,...
Category

2010s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil Pastel, Ink, Sumi Ink, Oil, Acrylic, Watercolor, Archival Paper

"Enhanced" Contemporary Pastel Surrealist Biomechanical Portrait Painting
Located in Houston, TX
Surrealist influenced biomechanical painting by contemporary artist Henry David Potwin. The work features a figure of a woman hooked up to a machine with tubes coming out of her head in pink, purple, and yellow pastel tones. Signed at bottom right corner. Titled and dated on reverse. Currently unframed, but options are available. Artist Biography: Born in Dallas, Texas David Potwin is the oldest of three children. He first started to paint at the age of 8 years old. As a young boy, Potwin's family would summer vacation in Taos, New Mexico. During the family vacations in 1965, he met artist Eric Gibberd...
Category

2010s Surrealist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Walking Head with Cat. Framed Surrealist Seascape, De Chirico-Inspired Landscape
By Gozo
Located in FISTERRA, ES
Surrealist seascape with integrated frame, merging figure, architecture, and horizon into a metaphysical composition evoking solitude and silent narrative. Walking Head with Cat i...
Category

2010s Surrealist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Acrylic, Spray Paint

Antique American Modernist Horse Carousel Animal Portrait Framed Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Really impressive early American modernist painting. Oil on board. Framed.
Category

1940s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Tooth Ache
Located in Dallas, TX
In The New York Times Arts in America column, Edward M. Gomez writes of Valton Tyler, "visionary seems the right word for describing his vivid, unusual and technically refined painti...
Category

1980s Surrealist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

The Chair by the Window, Superb Large Surrealist oil painting on canvas
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
The Chair by the Window Surrealist School, circa 1970's signed lower left, indistinctly (see photos) framed: 24 x 30.5 inches provenance: private collection, London Superb Surreali...
Category

Mid-20th Century Surrealist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"Libérer" by Gilbert Pauli - Oil on canvas
Located in Geneva, CH
Oil paint on burlap with c-us frame Total size with frame 115x85 cm
Category

Early 2000s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

American School Modernist Framed Pink Kitchen Still Life Abstract Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist signed abstract still life oil painting. Oil on canvas. Framed.
Category

1950s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Vintage Mid-Century Modern Swedish Mini Abstract Oil Painting - Fleck
Located in Bristol, GB
FLECK Size: 31 x 34.5 cm Oil on Canvas A small but very engaging and brilliantly executed abstract composition, painted in oil onto canvas and dated 1973. Set against a tranquil b...
Category

1970s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"Clump of Trees, Yellow & Maroon" Modern Abstract Landscape Painting on Board
Located in Houston, TX
Modern abstract landscape painting by the iconic Houston based artist David Adickes. The work features a group of yellow and maroon trees set against a light yellow sky. Signed in th...
Category

2010s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

20th Century German Modernist Oil Painting Beautiful Harbour Colors
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Artist: Elisabeth Hahn (German 1924-2021), Elisabeth Hahn was born in Dortmund, Germany, where she began her artistic studies. In 1953, she moved to Paris. She continued her studie...
Category

20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

"Untitled #17 (Samurai), " 1960s Modern Abstract Painting
Located in Westport, CT
This Modern Abstract Expressionist painting by Stanley Bate is made with oil paint and 3-dimensional wooden shapes on canvas. The warm metal grey paint is highly textured, while the ...
Category

1960s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Wood

Large French Surrealist Oil Painting Figurative Scene Nudes on Motorbikes
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Figurative Abstract French School dated 1972 oil painting on board overall size: 19.5 X 19 condition: overall very good and pleasing provenance: from a private collection of this art...
Category

20th Century Surrealist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

1960's British Surrealist Oil Painting - 'Fairy Pool' Fantasy Abstract
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Stunning original oil painting by Elvic Steele depicting this surrealist fantasy abstract painting. Elvic Steele is a fascinating English painter. Her works entrance the observer, d...
Category

Mid-20th Century Surrealist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Israeli Surrealist Judaica Abstract Oil Painting Naftali Bezem Bezalel School
Located in Surfside, FL
Shabbat Evening Large Israeli masterpiece painting. Hand signed lower right Provenance: Sara Kishon Gallery Naftali Bezem (Hebrew: נפתלי בזם‎‎; born November 27, 1924) is an Israel...
Category

20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

French Modernist Green Landscape Oil Painting framed and signed
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Green landscape Huguette Ginet-Lasnier (French 1927-2020) inscribed verso framed signed oil painting on canvas framed: 13 x 11 inches canvas: 11 x 9 inches. All the paintings we have...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"Untitled"
By Sidney E. Zimmerman
Located in Southampton, NY
Sidney E.Zimmerman USA (1926-2007) studied at the Brooklyn a Museum of Art after returning from Europe during WWII. In 1950, he studied with Morris Kantor and Vaclav Vytlacil at the ...
Category

1960s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

"Untitled"
"Untitled"
$1,200 Sale Price
46% Off
Night Garden, mid-century figural surrealist acrylic painting, Cleveland School
Located in Beachwood, OH
Clarence Holbrook Carter (American, 1904-2000) Night Garden, 1972 Acrylic on scintilla Signed and dated lower right 21.5 x 21.5 inches 24.25 x 24.25 inches, framed Clarence Holbroo...
Category

1970s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

"Blue Nude" Modern Abstract Style Modigliani Study Oil Painting on Canvas
Located in New York, NY
Exploring the purity of the feminine form and the drama of French haute couture, artist Cindy Shaoul creates a dialogue between the figurative and the abstract. Her spirited composit...
Category

2010s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

North on West Street (West Side Highway NYC Cityscape)
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
De Hirsh Margules (1899-1965). North on West Street , 1939. Watercolor on Arches wove paper. Signed and dated in pencil by artist lower margin. Sheet measures 15 x 22 inches. Framed measurement: 27 x 34 inched. Incredibly vibrant and saturated color with no fading or toning of sheet. Provenance: Babcock Galleries, NYC De Hirsh Margules (1899–1965) was a Romanian-American "abstract realist" painter who crossed paths with many major American artistic and intellectual figures of the first half of the 20th century. Elaine de Kooning said that he was "[w]idely recognized as one of the most gifted and erudite watercolorists in the country". The New York Times critic Howard Devree stated in 1938 that "Margules uses color in a breath-taking manner. A keen observer, he eliminates scrupulously without distortion of his material." Devree later called Margules "one of our most daring experimentalists in the medium" Margules was also a well-known participant in the bohemian culture of New York City's Greenwich Village, where he was widely known as the "Baron" of Greenwich Village.[1] The New York Times described him as "one of Greenwich Village's best-known personalities" and "one of the best known and most buoyant characters about Greenwich Village. Early Life De Hirsh Margules was born in 1899 in the Romanian city of Iași (also known as Iasse, Jassy, or Jasse). When Margules was 10 weeks old, his family immigrated to New York City. Both of his parents were active in the Yiddish theater, His father was Yekutiel "Edward" Margules, a "renowned Jewish actor-impresario and founder of the Yiddish stage." Margules' mother, Rosa, thirty-nine years younger than his father, was an actress in the Yiddish theater and later in vaudeville. Although Margules appeared as a child actor with the Adler Family[11] and Bertha Kalich, his sister, Annette Margules, somewhat dubiously continued in family theater and vaudeville tradition, creating the blackface role of the lightly-clad Tondelayo (a part later played on film Hedy Lamarr) in Earl Carroll's 1924 Broadway exoticist hit, White Cargo. Annette herself faced stereotyping as an exotic flower: writing about her publicist Charles Bouchert stated that "Romania produces a stormy, temperamental type of woman---a type admirably fitted to portray emotion." His brother Samuel became a noted magician who appeared under the name "Rami-Sami." Samuel later became a lawyer, representing magician Horace Goldin, among others. A family portrait including a young De Hirsh, a portrait of Rosa and Annette together, and individual photos of Rosa and Edward can be found on the Museum of the City of New York website. At around age 9 or 10, Margules took art classes with the Boys Club on East Tenth Street, and his first taste of exhibition was at a student art show presented by the club. By age 11, he had won a city-wide prize (a box camera) at a children's art show presented by the department store Wanamakers. As a young teenager, Margules was already displaying a characteristic kindness and loyalty. Upon hearing that two friends (one of them was author Alexander King), were in trouble for breaking a school microscope, the nearly broke Margules gave them five dollars to repair the microscope . Margules had to approach a wealthy man that Margules had once saved on the subway from a heart attack. Margules didn't reveal the source of the five dollars to King until twenty-five years later. In his late teens, Margules studied for a couple of months in Pittsburgh with Edwin Randby, a follower of Western painter Frederic Remington. Thereafter he pursued a two-year course of studies in architecture, design and decoration at the New York Evening School of Art and Design, while working as a clerk during the day at Stern's Department Store. He was encouraged in these artistic pursuits by his neighbor, the painter Benno Greenstein (who later went by the name of Benjamin Benno). Artistic career In 1922, Margules began work as a police reporter for the City News Association of New York .Margules then considered himself something of an expert on art, and the painter Myron Lechay is said to have responded to some unsolicited analysis of his work with the remark "Since you seem to know so much about it, why don't you paint yourself?" This led to study with Lechay and a flurry of painting. Margules' first show was in 1922 at Jane Heap's Little Review Gallery. Thereafter Margules began to participate in shows with a group including Stuart Davis, Jan Matulka, Buckminster Fuller (exhibiting depictions of his "Dymaxion house") in a gallery run by art-lover and restaurateur Romany Marie on the floor above her cafe. Jane Heap, left, with Mina Loy and Ezra Pound During the 1920s, Margules traveled outside of the country a number of times. In 1922, with the intent of reaching Bali, he took a job as a "'wiper on a tramp steamer where [he] played nursemaid to the engine." He reached Rotterdam before he turned back. He would return to Rotterdam shortly thereafter. In 1927, Margules took a lengthy leave of absence from his day job as a police reporter in order to travel to Paris, where he "set up a studio in Montmartre's Place du Tertre, on the top floor of an almost deserted hotel, a shabby establishment, lacking both heat and running water." He studied at the Louvre and traveled to paint landscapes in provincial France and North Africa. Margules also joined the "Noctambulist" movement and experimented with painting and showing his artwork in low light.Jonathan Cott wrote that: the painter De Hirsch Margulies sat on the quays of the Seine and painted pictures in the dark. In fact, the first exhibition of these paintings, which could be seen only in a darkened room, took place in [ Walter Lowenfels'] Paris apartment. Elaine de Kooning remarked that studying the works of the Noctambulists confirmed Margules' "direction toward the use of primary colors for perverse effects of heavy shadow." It was also in Paris that Margules initially conceived his idea of "Time Painting", where a painting is divided into sectors, each representing a different time of day, with color choices meant to evoke that time of day. In Paris, his social circle included Lowenfels, photographer Berenice Abbott, publisher Jane Heap, composer George Anthiel, sculptor Thelma Wood, painter André Favory, writer Norman Douglas, writer and editor George Davis, composer and writer Max Ewing, and writer Michael Fraenkel. Upon his return to New York in 1929, Margules attended an exhibition of John Marin's paintings. While at the exhibition, he "launched into an eloquent explanation of Marin to two nearby women", and was overheard by an impressed Alfred Stieglitz. The famous photographer and art promoter invited Margules to dine with his wife, the artist Georgia O'Keeffe, and his assistant, painter Emil Zoler. Stieglitz thereafter became a friend and mentor to Margules, becoming for him "what Socrates was to his friends." Alfred Stieglitz Stieglitz introduced Margules to John Marin, who quickly became the most important painterly influence upon Margules. Elaine de Kooning later noted that Margules was "indebted to Marin and through Marin to Cézanne for his initial conceptual approach - for his constructions of scenes with no negative elements, for skies that loom with the impact of mountains." Margules himself said that Marin was his "father and ... academy." The admiration was by no means unreciprocated: Marin said that Margules was "an art lover with abounding faith and sincerity, with much intelligence and quick seeing." Stieglitz also introduced Margules to many other artistic and intellectual figures in New York. With the encouragement of Alfred Stieglitz, Margules in 1936 opened a two-room gallery at 43 West 8th Street called "Another Place." Over the following two years there were fourteen solo exhibitions by Margules and others, and the gallery was well-respected by the press. It was in this gallery that the painter James Lechay, Myron's brother, exhibited his first painting. In 1936, Margules first saw recognition by major art museums when both the Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston purchased his works. In 1942, Margules gave up working as a police reporter, and apparently dedicated himself thereafter solely to an artistic vocation. "The Baron of Greenwich Village"[edit] Margules made his mark not only as an artist, but also as an outsized personality known throughout Greenwich Village and beyond. To local residents, Margules was known as the "Baron", after Baron Maurice de Hirsch, a prominent German Jewish philanthropist. Margules was easily recognizable by the beret he routinely wore over his long hair. Writer Charles Norman said that he "dressed with a flair for sloppiness." He was said to "know everybody" in Greenwich Village, to the extent that when the novelist and poet Maxwell Bodenheim was murdered, Margules was the first one the police sought to identify the body. Margules' letters show him interacting with art world figures such as Sacha Kolin, John Marin and Alfred Stieglitz, as well as with prominent figures outside the art world such as polymath Buckminster Fuller and writer Henry Miller. Most of his friends and acquaintances found Margules a generous and voluble man, given to broadly emotionally expressive gestures and acts of kindness and loyalty. In 1929, he exhibited an example of this loyalty and fellow-feeling when he appeared in court to fight what the wrongful commitment of his friend, writer and sculptor Alfred Dreyfuss, who appeared to have been a victim of an illicit attempt to block an inheritance. The Greenwich Village chronicler Charles Norman described the bone-crushing hugs that Margules would routinely bestow on his friends and acquaintances, and speaks of the "persuasive theatricality" that Margules seemed to have inherited from his actor parents. Norman also wrote about Margules' routine acts of kindness, taking in homeless artists, constantly feeding his friends and providing the salvatory loan where needed. Norman also notes that Margules was blessed with a loud and good voice, and was apt to sing an operatic air without provocation. The writer and television personality Alexander King said I think the outstanding characteristics of my friend's personality are affirmation, emphasis, and overemphasis. He chooses to express himself predominantly in superlatives and the gestures which accompany his utterances are sometimes dangerous to life and limb. Of the bystanders, I mean. King also spoke with affectionate amusement about Margules' pride in his cooking, speaking of how "if he should ever invite you to dinner, he may serve you a hamburger with onions, in his kitchen-living room, with such an air of gastronomic protocol, such mysterious hints and ogliing innuendoes, as if César Ritz and Brillat-Savarin had sneaked out, only a moment before, with his secret recipe in their pockets." Margules was such a memorable New York personality that comic book writer Alvin Schwartz imagined him at the Sixth Avenue Cafeteria in a risible yet poignant debate with Clark Kent about whether Superman had the ability to stop Hitler. Margules' entrenchment in the Greenwich Village milieu can be seen in a photograph from Fred McDarrah's "Beat Generation Album" of a January 13, 1961 writers' and poets' meeting to discuss "The Funeral of the Beat Generation", in Robert Cordier [fr]'s railroad flat at 85 Christopher Street. Among the people in the same photograph are Shel Silverstein...
Category

1930s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Watercolor, Rag Paper

"Shattered" WPA Mid 20th Century Modernism American Scene Surrealism Figurative
Located in New York, NY
"Shattered" WPA Mid 20th Century Modernism American Scene Surrealism Figurative Estate stamp on the stretcher, verso. Provenance: Estate of the artist. 20 x 24 inches. BIO Leon Bibel continued painting through 1941 and resumed work in both painting and especially wood sculpture by 1960. He worked until his very last day in 1995. His last series of large wood sculptures were modeled on spice boxes, which were miniature buildings...
Category

1930s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Huge French Surrealist Fantasy Oil Painting Carnival Figures Colorful
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Artist/ School: signed verso, dated 1999 Title: Carnival Figures Medium: signed oil painting on canvas, framed framed: 26.5 x 37 inches canvas: ...
Category

20th Century Surrealist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

"Blue Girl" Modern Abstract Style Modigliani Figure Oil Painting on Canvas
Located in New York, NY
Exploring the purity of the feminine form and the drama of French haute couture, artist Cindy Shaoul creates a dialogue between the figurative and the abstract. Her spirited composit...
Category

2010s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

20th Century German Modernist Oil Painting - Expressionist Town with Palm Tree
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Artist: Elisabeth Hahn (German 1924-2021), Elisabeth Hahn was born in Dortmund, Germany, where she began her artistic studies. In 1953, she moved to Paris. She continued her studie...
Category

20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

"Paphos, " 1960s Modern Abstract Painting
Located in Westport, CT
This textured, Modern Abstract Expressionist painting Stanley Bate features a neutral palette with both warm and cool undertones. Muted blues and reds seem to be incorporated into a ...
Category

1960s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Untitled, Abstract Expressionist Oil Painting on Canvas by Victor Chab
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Victor Chab, Argentine (1930 - ) Title: Untitled - Abstract Bird Year: 1964 Medium: Oil on Canvas, signed and dated verso Size: 32 x 25.5 inches (81 x 65 cm)
Category

1960s Surrealist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"Birthday, " 1960s Modern Abstract Painting
Located in Westport, CT
This Modern Abstract Expressionist painting by Stanley Bate is made with oil paint on canvas. It features a muted, earth-toned palette with contrasting warm yellow, orange, and red accents throughout. The painting is framed in a floater frame with gold face and black sides. It is 22" x 36" and measures 24" x 38" x 2" framed. This painting is not signed by the artist, but has been authenticated by his estate. It is stamped with the estate seal on the back of the painting, and on the back of the frame. Ready to hang. Stanley Bate was born on March 26, 1903 in Nashville, Tennessee. The Bates were an established Tennessee family, in fact, Henry’s brother William Bate was the governor of Tennessee from 1883-1887 and a United States Senator from 1887-1905. Stanley studied art at the Watkins Institute in Nashville. In the 1920’s Bate moved to New York City to study at the Art Students League under Frederick Bridgman. He soon landed a job with Encyclopedia Britannica, and from 1927-1929 served as art editor. From 1929 until his death in 1972, Stanley was a self-employed artist. He taught art classes at both the Art Students League and the Albany Institute of History and Art and brought in extra income by making illustrations for magazines such as “Outdoor Life” and “Popular Science”. On January 27, 1934 Stanley married Emilie Rossel. Emilie had emigrated from Switzerland to New York in 1923. She found work as a governess to Alfred Vanderbilt and later as an executive secretary for Wall Street investment brokers Kahn, Loeb and Co. Emilie met Stanley in New York in the early 1930’s when she attended one of his art exhibitions with a friend. The couple, who had no children, lived on 34th Street in Manhattan. During this period, Bate was producing and exhibiting his art and joined several artists groups. Stanley and Emilie became part of the New York art scene, dining weekly at the Society of Illustrators Clubhouse. Stanley Bate’s time in New York was pivotal in the formation of his painting style. He lived in New York during the inception of one of the most important Modern Art movements, one that helped New York replace Paris as the center of avant-garde art. This movement, which was called the New York School of artists, was later known as Abstract Expressionism. It was comprised of a loosely associated group of vanguard artists working in New York City during the 1940s and 1950s. The New York School was not defined by a specific style, but instead reflected a fusion of European Modernism and American social relevancy that was depicted in many individual styles. Influences of Surrealism, Cubism, and Modernism can be found in their work, along with an interest in experimenting with non-traditional materials and methods. American art was in the forefront of international avant-garde for the first time. Stanley Bate was undoubtedly exposed to the varied styles and techniques that were emerging during the formative years of the New York School. Mark Rothko and Robert Motherwell were formulating their versions of color field paintings. Joseph Cornell was experimenting with assemblages, collage and the use of different types of textured paints. Jackson Pollock was adhering objects such as buttons and coins into his early works, while Louise Nevelson was using found objects. Helen Frankenthaler added sand to her early paintings. The New York School artists were undermining traditional fine art by using mixed media and non-traditional methods. Stanley Bate absorbed these varied influences and soon his early realistic landscapes and still-lifes were replaced with something entirely new. The influence of Cubism, notably the flat shallow space of the picture plane, is obvious in many of Bate’s paintings. Surrealism is evident in Bate’s use of subjects from myth, primitive art and antiquity, along with the Automatism-like line work in his more linear images. The unfettered experimentation of the New York School is everywhere in Stanley Bate’s work. We see nods to color field, collage, the mixing of textures into paint, mixed media, the inclusion of found objects and thick, luscious impasto. Bate was prolific and experimented in various media including oil, watercolor, lithography, silk screen, wood cut, drawing, collage, ceramics and sculpture. Bate is considered a true Modernist. His work is largely abstract, but sometimes figures and buildings are discernable. He frequently mixed paint, sand and glue together to achieve a textured surface, and then scraped and scratched through this layer to expose some of the underpainting below. His sculpture, which is often whimsical, also reflects the non-traditional methods of the New York School. Bate pioneered the use of enamel and copper in his work. The sculptures are not carved or modeled as was done in the past, but instead are built using mixed media and new materials. In addition to the New York School influence, many of Bate’s works exhibit a strong connection to the Spanish school, especially the work of Antonio Tapies and Modesto Cuixart. These artists were both part of an avant-garde group known as Art Informel, the Spanish equivalent of Abstract Expressionism. These artists likewise worked in mixed media and introduced objects and texture into their work. Many of Bate’s subjects and titles relate to Spanish locations and words. It is likely that Stanley spent time in Spain and found inspiration there. By the early 1940s, Stanley and Emilie had started spending weekends in a barn they purchased in Craryville, New York, a few hours north of Manhattan. The barn had no electricity or plumbing, but when the Bates eventually decided to leave New York and live full time in Craryville, they remodeled the barn, putting a gallery downstairs and a studio and living quarters upstairs. Although the Bates moved out of New York City, Stanley remained part of the New York art scene, exhibiting in New York and elsewhere throughout the 50s and 60s. During his lifetime he was represented by the New York galleries Knoedler and Company, Kennedy Galleries, Rose Fried Gallery and Key Gallery, along with Tyringham Gallery located in Tyringham, Massachusetts. Craryville was Stanley’s home until his death on August 21, 1972. Emilie died 1984...
Category

1960s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Vehement
Located in Kansas City, MO
Ted Hinrichs Vehement Acrylic on Canvas Year: 2021 Size: 48x40in Framed: 50x42x2.5in Signed by hand COA provided Ref.: 24802-1716 *Framed in black Wood ...
Category

2010s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Vehement
Vehement
$3,333 Sale Price
43% Off
Flowers on Green Background - Oil Paint - 2013
Located in Roma, IT
Flowers on green background is an artwork realized by an unknown artist in 2013. Mixed colored oil painting. Includes frame. Signature by the artist and dediation on the lower mar...
Category

2010s Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

The Football Match 20th Century German Modernist Oil Painting playing football
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Artist: Elisabeth Hahn (German 1924-2021), Elisabeth Hahn was born in Dortmund, Germany, where she began her artistic studies. In 1953, she moved to Paris. She continued her studie...
Category

20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

1970's French Surrealist Signed Oil Figurative Abstract Amazing Colors
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Artist/ School: T. Fabris 1973, French Title: Abstract Surrealist Figurative study Medium: oil on canvas, framed Framed: 27 x 20.5 inches Painting: 26 x 19 inches Provenance: pri...
Category

1970s Surrealist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

YiJian Wang Surrealist Original Oil On Canvas "Caprice 2"
Located in New York, NY
Title: Caprice 2 Medium: Oil on canvas Size: 15.5 x 11.5 inches Frame: Framing options available! Condition: The painting appears to be in excellent condition. Note: This painting is unstretched Year: 2015 Artist: YiJian Wang...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Chimeras, mid-century figural abstract blue acrylic painting
Located in Beachwood, OH
Chimeras, 1974 Acrylic and pastel on textured paper Mid-century figural abstract blue acrylic painting Clarence Holbrook Carter achieved a level of national artistic success that w...
Category

1970s American Modern Abstract Paintings

Materials

Pastel, Acrylic

Cloud Family, Hudson Vallery, NY
Located in Hudson, NY
"Clouds, from all sides now, 2025" Cohn delves into the enigmatic qualities of clouds—how they symbolize both the fleeting and the eternal. Cloud illusions are a sensory journey t...
Category

2010s Surrealist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Acrylic

1960's British Surrealist Oil Painting - Bright & Colourful Abstract Design
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Stunning original oil painting by Elvic Steele depicting this surrealist fantasy abstract painting. Elvic Steele is a fascinating English painter. Her works entrance the observer, d...
Category

Mid-20th Century Surrealist Abstract Paintings

Materials

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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