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Abstract Abstract Paintings

ABSTRACT STYLE

Beginning in the early 20th century, abstract art became a leading style of modernism. Rather than portray the world in a way that represented reality, as had been the dominating style of Western art in the previous centuries, abstract paintings, prints and sculptures are marked by a shift to geometric forms, gestural shapes and experimentation with color to express ideas, subject matter and scenes.

Although abstract art flourished in the early 1900s, propelled by movements like Fauvism and Cubism, it was rooted in the 19th century. In the 1840s, J.M.W. Turner emphasized light and motion for atmospheric paintings in which concrete details were blurred, and Paul Cézanne challenged traditional expectations of perspective in the 1890s.

Some of the earliest abstract artists — Wassily Kandinsky and Hilma af Klint — expanded on these breakthroughs while using vivid colors and forms to channel spiritual concepts. Painter Piet Mondrian, a Dutch pioneer of the art movement, explored geometric abstraction partly owing to his belief in Theosophy, which is grounded in a search for higher spiritual truths and embraces philosophers of the Renaissance period and medieval mystics. Black Square, a daringly simple 1913 work by Russian artist Kazimir Malevich, was a watershed statement on creating art that was free “from the dead weight of the real world,” as he later wrote.

Surrealism in the 1920s, led by artists such as Salvador Dalí, Meret Oppenheim and others, saw painters creating abstract pieces in order to connect to the subconscious. When Abstract Expressionism emerged in New York during the mid-20th century, it similarly centered on the process of creation, in which Helen Frankenthaler’s expressive “soak-stain” technique, Jackson Pollock’s drips of paint, and Mark Rothko’s planes of color were a radical new type of abstraction.

Conceptual art, Pop art, Hard-Edge painting and many other movements offered fresh approaches to abstraction that continued into the 21st century, with major contemporary artists now exploring it, including Anish Kapoor, Mark Bradford, El Anatsui and Julie Mehretu.

Find original abstract paintings, sculptures, prints and other art on 1stDibs.

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Style: Abstract
Period: 1950s
Bay Area Abstract Expressionist Composition in Oil Pastel on Cardboard
Located in Soquel, CA
Bay Area Abstract Expressionist Composition in Oil Pastel on Cardboard San Francisco Bay area abstract expressionist composition by Ho...
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil Pastel, Cardboard

Vintage Framed Signed American Modernist Abstract Expressionist Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American signed abstract expressionist oil painting. Oil on board. Signed. Framed. Image size, 24L x 18H. Circa 1960. This painting has a nice period frame and stong co...
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Antique American School Original Large Abstract Expressionist Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American school abstract oil painting. Oil on canvas. Framed. Image size, 25L x 47H.
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Vintage Mid Century Cubist Nocturnal Moody Abstract Expressionist Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist abstract oil painting. Oil on canvas. Framed.
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

'Roofs of Ravello', Mid-Century Abstract, Harvard Fogg Museum, SFAA, Carmel, AIC
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Initialed lower right, 'M. W.' for Margaret Wentworth (American, 1914-1999) and dated 1959. Exhibited: Feingarten Galleries, Carmel, California, 1960, and titled on label, verso, 'Ro...
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1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Egg Tempera, Postcard, Pen

Untitled
Located in Lawrence, NY
The art market--collectors, curators and museums--is in the early stages of a broad reappraisal of the contribution of previously overlooked groups to the development of post-war mod...
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Abstract Expressionist Bay Area Fauvist Oil on Paper Honora Berg Berkeley 1959
Located in Soquel, CA
Abstract Expressionist Bay Area Fauvist Oil on Paper Honora Berg Berkeley 1959 San Francisco Bay area abstract expressionist painting by Honora Berg (American, 1897-1985).A brilliant fauvist example of the bold slashes of colors Honora Berg creates. Splashes of blue over red and green hues with bright canary yellow swirls and patches. Estate stamp on verso "Estate of Honora Berg - Miller Fine Art" Unframed. 30"H x 22"W. Larry Miller 1958-2003, Larry was a specialist in bay area abstract artists and purchased numerous bay area artists estates. He purchased the entirety of the Honora Berg Estate and we purchased many of those works directly form Larry. Honora Berg, an Abstract Expressionist and Bay Area Figurative School artist, studied at the San Francisco Art Institute with David Park, Elmer Bischoff and James Budd Dixon...
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1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Archival Paper

1959 Geometric Abstraction by Francis Almeida Luzzatto
Located in Larchmont, NY
Francis Almeida Luzzatto (American, 1935-1999) Untitled, 1959 Oil on canvas 40 x 48 1/2 in. Signed and dated lower right: Luzzatto 59 Partial label verso: The Art Rental Gallery, Wa...
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1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Vintage American Modernist Outsider Pop Art Abstract Large Original Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Vintage American modernist abstract oil painting. Oil on canvas. Signed.
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Untitled
Located in Austin, TX
Oil on canvas. Estate stamped and numbered verso; initialed “SF22” verso. 48.25 x 34.25 in. 49.25 x 35 in. (framed) Custom framed in a solid maple floater. Provenance Estate of Samuel Feinstein McCormick Gallery, Chicago Samuel Lawrence...
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1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Antique American School Framed Modern Abstract Expressionist NYC Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist abstract oil painting. Oil on canvas. Framed. Image size, 30L x 24H.
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

American School Signed Framed Fauvist Abstract Modernist Cloudscape Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist signed abstract oil painting. Oil on canvas. Signed. Framed. Image size, 36L x 31H.
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Mid-Century Paleolithic Hunt Scene
By Nan Street Fowler
Located in Soquel, CA
A wonderful mid-century interpretation of prehistoric, Paleolithic cave paintings; done in reddish earth tones and rich in visual texture by Sausalito, California artist Nan Street F...
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Masonite, Oil

Bay Area Abstract Expressionist Fauvist Oil on Paper Honora Berg Berkeley 1959
Located in Soquel, CA
Bay Area Abstract Expressionist Fauvist Oil on Paper Honora Berg Berkeley 1959 San Francisco Bay area abstract expressionist painting by Honora Berg (American, 1897-1985).A brilliant fauvist example of the melting pot of colors Honora Berg creates. Splashes of red over hues of blue with bright canary yellow swirls and patches. Estate stamp on verso "Estate of Honora Berg - Miller Fine Art" Unframed. 30"H x 22"W. Larry Miller 1958-2003, Larry was a specialist in bay area abstract artists and purchased numerous bay area artists estates. He purchased the entirety of the Honora Berg Estate and we purchased many of those works directly form Larry. Honora Berg, an Abstract Expressionist and Bay Area Figurative School artist, studied at the San Francisco Art Institute with David Park, Elmer Bischoff and James Budd Dixon...
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Archival Paper, Oil

Bay Area Abstract Expressionist Oil on Illustration Board Honora Berg Berkeley
Located in Soquel, CA
San Francisco Bay area abstract expressionist painting by Honora Berg (American, 1897-1985). A nocturnal setting adds more interest and dimension. Estate stamp on verso "Estate of Honora Berg-Larry Miller Fine Art" Unframed. 36"H x 30"W. Larry Miller 1958-2003, Larry was a specialist in bay area abstract artists and purchased numerous bay area artists estates. He purchased the entirety of the Honora Berg Estate and we purchased many of those works directly form Larry. Honora Berg, an Abstract Expressionist and Bay Area Figurative School artist, studied at the San Francisco Art Institute with David Park, Elmer Bischoff and James Budd Dixon...
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Illustration Board

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 Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

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

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 Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Composition in Red and Blue - Abstract Expressionist 1950s Oil Painting
Located in Denver, CO
'Composition in Red and Blue' is a vintage abstract expressionist original oil painting on board by Charles Bunnell (1897-1968) from 1951. Signed and dated by the artist in the lower left corner. Abstract composition painted in shades of white, cream, blue, red, and tan. Presented in a vintage frame, outer dimensions measure 28 ½ x 22 ½ x 1 inches. Image size is 24 x 18 inches. About the Artist: Charles Bunnell developed a love for art at a very young age. As a child in Kansas City, Missouri, he spent much of his time drawing. When he was unable to find paper he drew on walls and in the margins of textbooks for which he was often fined. Around 1915, Bunnell moved with his family to Colorado Springs, Colorado. He served in World War I and later used his GI Training to study at the Broadmoor Art Academy (later renamed the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center) during 1922 and 1923. In 1922, he married fellow student, Laura Palmer. He studied with Ernest Lawson in 1927-1928 and, in the winter of 1928-1929, he served as Lawson’s assistant. In the late 1920’s, the Bunnell’s settled just west of Colorado Springs and 1928, they welcomed the first of their three children. Their one-acre homesite, which they referred to as “Old Home Place”, was situated between two sets of railroad tracks at the foot of Pike’s Peak. Charlie converted an old railroad boxcar into his studio, where he later gave lessons. Beginning in 1931, Bunnell spent a year and a half studying under Boardman Robinson. The two men clashed constantly due to a generation gap and markedly different philosophies. Robinson encouraged his students not to stray from realism and though Bunnell mastered Robinson’s preferred style of American Scene painting, he regularly irritated his professor with his abstract sketches. Bunnell taught at the Kansas City Art Institute during the summers of 1929, 1930, 1940, and 1941. Between 1934 and 1941, he painted and taught under federal projects which included assisting Frank Mechau on murals for the Colorado Springs Post Office. However, he did not take to mural making and, after criticism from Boardman Robinson about his use of “heavy daubs which have no place in mural work,” he abandoned mural-making altogether. By the late 1930’s, Bunnell’s work departed from the American Scene/Modernist style he was trained in towards abstraction. This is marked by his “Black and Blue” series, consisting of 83 abstracted ink and watercolors. Affected by the Second World War and the loss of his 10-year old son, Bunnell’s work of the early 1940’s took on a Transcendental and Surrealist tone. The works from this period are moody and readily reflect the political and personal turmoil experienced by the artist. In the late 1940’s, Bunnell began experimenting with Abstract Expressionism. He alone is credited with introducing Colorado Springs to the new style as it was excluded from the Fine Art Center’s curriculum by Boardman Robinson. Bunnell excelled in Abstract Expressionism and continued to evolve in the style through the 1950’s continuing to his death in 1968. He was recently recognized as a premier American Abstract Expressionist by his inclusion in the book American Abstract Expressionism of the 1950’s: An Illustrated Survey. Solo Exhibits: Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Missouri, 1930; Santa Fe Museum, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1947; University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, 1948; University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, 1949; Taos Gallery, Taos, New Mexico, 1951; Carl Barnett Galleries, Dallas, Texas, 1952; The Bodley Gallery, New York, 1955; Amarillo, Texas, 1955; Haigh Gallery, Denver, Colorado, 1955; Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 1956; Dord Fitz Art Gallery, Amarillo, Texas, December 1956 – February 1957, 1959, 1969 (retrospective). Group Exhibits: Carnegie Institute, 1927-1928; Colorado State Fair, 1928 (1st prize); Artists Midwestern, Kansas City, Missouri, 1929 (Gold Medal); Art Institute of Chicago, 1947 (the exhibit traveled to ten major museums in the United States); “Artists West of the Mississippi”, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Colorado Springs, Colorado (7 times); Denver Art Museum Western Annual, Denver, Colorado (5 times); Mid-America Annual, Kansas City, Missouri, 1958; First Provincetown Festival, 1958; Southwestern Annual, Santa Fe, New Mexico, Winter 1957-1958; Central City, Colorado; Cañon City...
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

'Abstract, Terracotta and Jade', Large, Mid-century American Oil, Abstraction
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
A substantial, mid-century oil abstract comprising contiguous and overlaid areas of jade, terracotta and forest-green laid on a lilac and parchment background. Signed lower right, 'E...
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Framed American Modernist Abstract Expressionist Fauvist Landscape Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Vintage American abstract landscape oil painting. Oil on canvas. Signed. Framed. Image size, 18L x 24H.
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Untitled Mid Century Modern abstract sculptural drawing
Located in New York, NY
Dorothy Dehner Untitled Mid Century Modern abstract sculptural drawing, 1955 Marker and graphite on paper Signed and dated by Dorothy Dehner in black felt tip pen on the front Frame ...
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1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Permanent Marker, Graphite, Mixed Media

1950s Abstract Expressionist Composition, Mid Century Oil Painting, Blue Yellow
Located in Denver, CO
Original 1958 mid-century modern oil painting by Charles Bunnell (1897-1968), abstract expressionist composition in colors of Yellow, Blue, Teal, Green, Gray, Orange, Red & White, signed and dated lower right. Presented in a vintage gold tone frame, outer dimensions measure 34 ¾ x 28 ¾ x 1 ½ inches. Image size is 29 ¾ x 23 ¾ inches. Painting is clean and in very good vintage condition - please contact us for a complete condition report. Provenance: Estate of Charles Ragland Bunnell Expedited and international shipping is available - please contact us for a quote. About the Artist: Charles Bunnell developed a love for art as a child in Kansas City, Missouri. Around 1915, Bunnell moved with his family to Colorado Springs, Colorado. He served in World War I and later used his GI Training to study at the Broadmoor Art Academy (later renamed the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center) during 1922 and 1923. In 1922, he married fellow student, Laura Palmer...
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

Out of the Deep, 1950s Abstract Oil Painting, Vertical, Blue Pink Orange Gray
Located in Denver, CO
Oil on canvas abstract painting titled 'Out of the Deep' by Watson Bidwell (1904-1964) from 1959. Presented in a custom frame measuring 51 ½ x 37 ½ inch...
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1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Abstraction
Located in Saratoga Springs, NY
Signed lower right Agnes Hart was born in Meridan, Connecticut. She studied at the Ringling School of Art in Sarasota, Florida; at Iowa State University with Josef Presser, Paul Burlin and Lucile...
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1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Sandstone

American Modernist Abstract Expressionist Oil Painting Carving William Pellicone
Located in Surfside, FL
William Pellicone (American 1915-2004) Mixed media, pyrography, oil on wood carving painting. Dated 1958 Title - Enthymeme #14. Oil painting on carved and burnt distressed wood panel. Inscribed verso Enthymeme Wm. Pellicone #14, 9-4-58. Label on reverse with a typed definition for Enthymeme. Dimensions: 27 inches high, 42.5 inches wide. Metal wrap frame. Provenance: from a Shelter Island NY home that was designed by architect Henry J. Gazon - A.I.A. built in 1959. William Pellicone (1915-2004) was an American painter known for his abstract compositions and use of vibrant colors. He was born in New York City and studied at the Art Students League and the Brooklyn Museum Art School. Pellicone's early work was influenced by the Social Realist movement of the 1930s and 1940s, with his paintings often featuring realistic depictions of urban scenes and working-class people. However, in the 1950s he shifted towards abstraction, exploring the interplay of color and form. Pellicone's mature style was characterized by his use of vibrant, saturated colors, often applied in thick layers of paint. His paintings often featured geometric shapes and organic forms, with a strong sense of movement and energy. In addition to his painting, Pellicone was also a respected teacher and arts administrator. He taught at the New York Institute of Technology and the State University of New York, and served as the director of the Islip Art Museum on Long Island. Pellicone's artwork was exhibited widely during his lifetime, and he was the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including a National Endowment for the Arts grant in 1977. Today, his paintings can be found in the collections of museums and galleries around the world, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. William Pellicone (Born 1915) is active/lives in New York. William Pellicone is known for Abstract expressionist, landscape and non-objective art. An American artist, sculptor, architect. He exhibited at Pennsylvania Academy Fine Arts...
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Wood, Oil

Vintage Female Modernist Abstract Nature Painting Albright Knox Provenance
Located in Buffalo, NY
Vintage American modernist abstract oil painting by Jane Lapey. Oil on canvas. Exhibition label verso. Framed. Image size, 28L x 22H.
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

New York School Abstract Expressionist Mixed Media Painting Handmade Paper Board
Located in Surfside, FL
This is an interesting abstract work done with handmade Japanese Kozo or Washi type fiber paper mounted on board. Hand signed and dated in wonderful muted earth tones of fall foliage. Taro Yamamoto (1919 – 1994) belonged to the New York School Abstract Expressionist artists whose artistic innovation by the 1950s had been recognized across the Atlantic, including Paris. New York School Abstract Expressionism, represented by Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline and others became a leading art movement of the post World War II era. He was also associated with Action painting Yamamoto was born in Hollywood, California. He lived in Japan from age six to age nineteen. In 1936 he returned to the USA and began studies in cubism at Los Angeles City College. In 1941 he joined the U.S. Army and served during WWII. After being discharged from the service he returned to California where he studied at the Santa Monica City College. 1950-1952 at The Art Students League of New York, under Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Morris Kantor, Reginald Marsh, Byron Browne and Vaclav Vytlacil; 1951-1953 at the Hans Hofmann School of Fine Arts in New York City. In 1952 he won a John Sloan Fellowship from the Art Students League. The next year he traveled to Europe under a Edward G. MacDowell Traveling Fellowship where he studies in Stuttgart, Germany with Willi Baumeister. He also exhibited at Galerie Huit in Paris. In 1954 Yamamoto was invited to a residency at the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire. There he worked alongside Stuart Davis, Milton Avery, Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko developing his unique abstract expressionist style. Later in his life he devoted himself to a more hard-edge geometric style of painting. He married Gwyneth Cotton, a naturalized English woman, in 1955, and they lived in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. They were active at the Universalist Church of Provincetown. (He descended from a long line of Shinto priests) Yamamoto died in Provincetown in 1994. Selected Solo Exhibitions 1953: Galerie Huit, Paris; 1955: The Art Students League of New York, NYC; 1960-1962: Krasner Gallery, NYC; 1963-1964: 371 Gallery, Provincetown, MA; Selected Group Exhibitions 1951: Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts; 1952: NY Contemporary Gallery, NYC; 1952, 1955, 1956, 1962: Provincetown Art...
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1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paint, Mixed Media, Board, Handmade Paper

Vintage Mid Century Modern Abstract Expressionist Signed Framed Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist signed abstract oil painting. Oil on board. Signed. Framed. Image size, 24L x 20H.
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Does the Black Intrude
Located in Lawrence, NY
Gouache on paper Estate of Samuel Esses Never afraid of trying new styles, curious and opinionated, constantly engaged with the world around him, Rolph Scarlett more than once prove...
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Gouache

Abstract composition - Gouache on paper 14x22 cm
Located in Geneva, CH
Work on paper glued to cardboard Dimensions of the "passe-partout" frame 29 x 22.5 x 0.7 cm Work signed lower right and monogram F.V.S. and dated on the up...
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Gouache

1950s Abstract Expressionist Oil Painting, Blue Brown Orange Sage Green
Located in Denver, CO
Abstract expressionist oil painting on board from 1955 by Charles Bunnell. Abstract shapes in layers of sage green, light blue, brown, gold, and black. Presented in a custom frame, o...
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Board, Oil

Antique Mid Century Modern Abstract Expressionist Framed Signed Oil Painting
By Suzanne McCullough
Located in Buffalo, NY
Vintage modernist abstract painting by Suzanne McCullough (b.1916). Oil on canvas. Housed in a period frame. Image size, 24L x ...
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Signed Framed Antique American School Signed Abstract Expressionist Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American abstract expressionist signed oil painting. Oil on canvas. Signed. Framed. Image size, 26L x 20H.
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

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 Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Antique American School Modernist Abstract Framed Geometric Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist abstract oil painting. Oil on canvas. Framed. Image size, 30L x 24H.
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Edge
Located in Austin, TX
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 Abstract Paintings

Materials

Masonite, Oil, Board

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...
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor, Gouache

Encaustic Abstract Untitled Painting 010 by Frederik Ottesen
Located in Hudson, NY
The bold texture of this artwork engages the viewer. The textures Ottesen created are not as apparent until seem from close up. A subtle stunner. Framed this piece measures 29.25" ...
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Encaustic

Encaustic Abstract Untitled Painting 002 by Frederik Ottesen
Located in Hudson, NY
The texture of this artwork by Frederik Ottesen is mesmerizing. Seen from a distance, it invites the viewer to come closer and they are rewarded with the gorgeous encaustic surface O...
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Encaustic

Encaustic Abstract Untitled Painting 001
Located in Hudson, NY
The texture of this artwork is both subtle and engaging. Standing far away this painting invites the viewer to step forward and see up close the eye-catching texture Ottesen created....
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Encaustic

"Harmony" Diptych
By Richard W. Dempsey
Located in Washington, DC
A pair of abstract modern paintings by Richard W. Dempsey (1909 - 1987). Paintings are oil on masonite and signed "Dempsey" front bottom corner. On the back of each painting on tape is written "Harmony". Richard Dempsey was born in Ogden, Utah, on September 14, 1909. His youth was spent in Oakland, CA, where he attended Sacramento Junior College (1929-31) as an art major. He then studied at The California School of Arts and Crafts (1932-34) and the Students Art Center (1935-40), where he was taught by the sculptor Sargent Johnson. In 1941, he moved to Washington, DC and studied at Howard University...
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Masonite, Oil

Vintage Modernist Abstract Flower Field European Town Landscape Framed Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique European flower field oil painting. Oil on canvas. Signed. Framed. Image size, 24L x 18H.
Category

1950s Abstract 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, 36L x 30H.
Category

1950s 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 Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Vintage Mid-Century Swedish Abstract Oil Painting - Dimension, Framed
Located in Bristol, GB
DIMENSION Size: 52 x 52 cm (including frame) Oil on canvas A simple yet very effective abstract composition in oil, painted onto canvas. A set of bright abstract forms sit against ...
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Warm-Toned Abstract Figurative Portrait of Boxer Jack Johnson
Located in Houston, TX
Warm-toned abstract figurative painting by an unknown artist. The painting depicts Galveston, TX boxer John Arthur Johnson in profile view. Unsigned. Unframed but framing options are...
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Abstract Non Objective Mid 20th Century American Modern Color Field 1950s
Located in New York, NY
Abstract Non Objective Mid 20th Century American Modern Color Field 1950s James Daugherty (1887 – 1974) Abstraction 84-1/2 x 42-1/2 inches Signed and ...
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Red Horizon
Located in Lawrence, NY
Oil on linen Neuman's work assimilated a wide variety of influences, including Bay Area Abstraction, the New York School and European Art Informel. Not bad for a young man raised in ...
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Brutalist Still Life in the Summer, Oil on Canvas Painting by E.J.E. Dulfer
Located in Atlanta, GA
This stunning abstract still-life composition was signed by Dutch artist E.J.E. Dulfer (Rotterdam 1909 - Bussum 1965), dated 1958, and named "Summer in the windowsill" (Zomer in de v...
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Paint

Florentine Night, 1950s Abstract Oil Painting by Edward Chavez, Purple Blue
Located in Denver, CO
"Florentine Night" is an oil on canvas painting by Edward (Eduardo) Arcenio Chavez (1917-1995) circa 1951 signed and titled on back of canvas. Signed and titled by the artist verso. Abstract painting in bright blue, purple, green, yellow, and orange. Presented in the original artist frame measuring 28 x 33 inches, image size is 24 x 30 inches. Expedited and International shipping is available - please contact us for a quote. About the Artist: Born 1917 Died 1995 Born in Wagonmound, New Mexico, Eduardo Chavez...
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Huge Antique American School Abstract Expressionist Original NYC Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist abstract oil painting. Oil on canvas. No signature found. Framing is available.
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"Red abstract composition" Oil on paper cm. 43 x 30
Located in Torino, IT
Pink,red,white,yellow, Picasso Dora Maar is the pseudonym of Henrietta Theodora Markovitch (Paris 1907 - 1997). Shrouded in the monumental shadow of Picasso, she has long been - and...
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Oil

Landscape Abstraction - Mid-Century - Twenty Paintings in One
Located in Miami, FL
At the height of Abstraction Expressionism, overlooked Academic Artist John Atherton created a wonderfully complex painting that embodies many of the characteristics of what was going on in Mid-Century American Art. The work is simultaneously abstract as it is representational. Like a Bento Box, it's divided into sections by dividers. On close inspection, each section stands on it's own as a beautiful mini-painting yet coalesces as part of the whole. From a distance, it is eye-pleasing, but as the view gets closer and closer, new structures and details gloriously reveal themselves. This is an important painting and not unlike the work of Joaquín Torres-García. It was done in the last year of the artist's life. Signed lower right. Canvas is relined. Framed size: 30 x 41.25. The work is best viewed with top gallery lights to bring out color. Atherton exhibited at the famous Julien Levy Gallery in New York and his fine art is mainly associated with Magic Realism. He participated in the seminal 1943 Museum of Modern Art exhibition, American Realists and Magic Realists. The Museum of Modern Art has 4 Atherton paintings in its collection. As an Illustrator, Atherton did covers for the Saturday Evening Post, Fortune and Holiday Magazine...
Category

1950s Abstract 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 Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Radiant Reflections Abstract 1950s Oil Mid 20th Century American Woman Artist
Located in New York, NY
Radiant Relections. Abstract Non-Objective 1950s Oil Mid 20th Century American Woman Female Artist. Signed lower right. Provenance: Estate of Foy C. Casper, Norfolk, Virginia (a close personal friend of the artist and a former director of the Irene Rice-Pereira Foundation). Sothebys American art sale October 10, 2008. The canvas measures 50 x 40. The work has been restored, relined and is housed in its original frame, made by the artist's second husband, George Wellington Brown, a marine engineer from Boston. BIO Periera was an American abstract artist, poet, and philosopher who played a significant role in the development of modernism in America. She is known for her work in the Geometric abstraction, Abstract expressionist, and lyrical abstraction genres and her use of the principles of the Bauhaus school. She helped found the Federal Art Project...
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Untitled Abstract
Located in Santa Fe, NM
mixed media on paper Signed in blue, lower right 18.25 x 25 inches; 27 x 33.375 framed Provenance: Private Collection, Denver, CO
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Mixed Media

Abstract expressionist, white and yellow mid-century modern geometric painting
Located in Beachwood, OH
Richard Andres (American, 1927-2013) White & Yellow, c. 1953 oil on canvas signed lower right, signed and titled verso 30 x 20 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...
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Abstract abstract paintings for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Abstract abstract paintings available for sale on 1stDibs. Works in this style were very popular during the 21st Century and Contemporary, but contemporary artists have continued to produce works inspired by this movement. If you’re looking to add abstract paintings created in this style to introduce contrast in an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include elements of blue, purple, orange, red and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Nestor Toro, Giorgio Lo Fermo, Newel Hunter, and Sumit Mehndiratta. Frequently made by artists working with Paint, and Synthetic Resin Paint and other materials, all of these pieces for sale are unique and have attracted attention over the years. Not every interior allows for large Abstract abstract paintings, so small editions measuring 0.1 inches across are also available.

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