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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: 1940s
Margaret Balzer, 1946
Located in Washington, DC
Modern painting by Margaret Balzer Cantieni (1914-2002). Tempera on wood board. Signed in lower right corner "Balzer '46". Painting measures 1 1" x 14" with frame 16 1/2" x 19 1/2". Margaret Balzer studied at the Art Institute of Chicago with Lyonel Feininger, Josef Albers and William Stanley Hayter...
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Board, Egg Tempera

Vintage Mid Century Modern Large Abstract Expressionist Framed Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Vintage nicely painted abstract expressionist oil painting by Frederick James Gill (1906 - 1974). Oil on canvas. Framed. Signed.
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Antique American Abstract Expressionist Large Framed New York City Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Nicely painted mid century abstract oil painting. Great color. Framed.
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Antique American School Modernist Abstract Landscape Framed Original Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Vintage mid century abstract landscape. Oil on board. Framed. No signature found.
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

The Cross
Located in Palm Desert, CA
"The Cross" is a painting by Alexander Calder. The painting is signed in the lower right, "Calder". The framed dimensions are 30 x 37.5 x 1.75 in. "The Cross...
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Mid Century Bay Area Abstract Expressionist - Blue Hydrangeas by Honora Berg
Located in Soquel, CA
Mid Century Bay Area Abstract Expressionist Blue Hydrangeas in Acrylic on Paper Vining Blue Hydrangeas by San Francisco's artist Honora Berg (American, 1897-1985), 1946. The vertica...
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Oil

Mid Century Abstract Original Painting - Blue Calligraphy on Crimson Water
Located in Soquel, CA
Mid Century Abstract Original Painting - Blue Calligraphy on Crimson Water in Oil and Tempera on Paper Wonderful Bay Area abstract composition by San Francisco's artist Honora Berg ...
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Oil, Tempera

Key Sketch for 60 Foot Movie Announcement on “Safety First"
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Key Sketch for 60 Foot Movie Announcement on “Safety First,” 1948, oil on canvas, signed and dated lower right, 14.5 x 12.5 inches, titled in pencil verso; presented in a newer frame...
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Antique American School Abstract Expressionist Waterfall Nature-scape Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Nicely painted early American modernist abstract landscape. Oil on canvas. Framed.
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Leonard Flettrich New Orleans Abstract Expressionist Signed Mid Century Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Oil and gouache on paper. Signed. Framed. Executed by Leonard Flettrich (American/New Orleans, 1916).
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Watercolor

Antique American Early Modernist Abstract Nocturnal Arctic Landscape Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Nicely painted mid century abstract nocturnal winter landscape. Oil on canvas. Framed.
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Antique American School Modernist Cubist Abstract Signed Framed Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Nice colors and an early cubist work. Finely framed. Oil on board. Framed. Signed.
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Antique American Modernist Abstract Expressionist Period New York Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Very impressive and amazing mid 1900s abstract expressionist oil painting. Oil on canvas. No signature found. Framed.
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Antique American School Modernist Fauvist Abstract Framed Landscape Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Finely painted modernist abstract landscape painting. Oil on canvas. Framed.
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Antique American Rare Alaskan Artist Abstract Expressionist Framed Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Oil on canvasboard. Framed. Image size, 24H x 30L. Signed.
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Antique American School Signed Framed Abstract Expressionist Large Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist abstract signed oil painting. Oil on canvas. Signed illegibly. Framed. Image size, 36L x 16H.
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Monumental Vintage American School Modernist Landscape Abstract Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Large and impressive modernist landscape painting. Oil on canvas. Framed. Signed illegibly.
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Antique American School Modernist Abstract Mid Century Framed Rare Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Vintage American school modernist abstract painting. Oil on canvas. Housed in a great period modernist silver leaf frame.
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Mosaic II
Located in Greenwich, CT
Appropriately called the "Mosaic" period for important historical artist Carl Holty, this is a super example! His color use during this time frame was lively as he always used sky b...
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Antique American School Modernist Abstract Nature Study Virginia Trees Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Very finely painted abstract landscape by Nancy Weyl. Oil on canvas. Framed.
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Southern Modernist Abstract Musical Oil Painting by Ethel Davis, Alabama 1940
Located in Baltimore, MD
Ethel Rosetta Davis was born in Hardin County, Tennessee in 1897. She studied art in Birmingham, Alabama. Davis married and located to Tuscumbia a...
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Rescue abstract figurative oil painting by Maurice Golubov
Located in Hudson, NY
Rescue (c.1945) Oil on panel 14" x 17" 19 ½" x 22 ¼" x 1 ½" framed Signed "M. Golubov" lower right, titled "Rescue" verso. About this artist: "If you can imagine a point moving, i...
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Panel

Abstracted pair of oil paintings by Carl Holty
Located in Hudson, NY
These artworks by Carl Holty are only sold as a pair. Each painting measures 9" x 11" and framed 18" x 20.25" x 2.5" The red and gold work is signed "Carl Holty" in the lower right. About this artists: Carl Holty was awakened to his interest in art as a child through visits to the Layton Art Gallery of Milwaukee, and began painting lessons with Friedrich Wilhelm Heine at a young age. Though born in Freiburg, Germany, in 1900, he was raised in Wisconsin and enrolled at Marquette University. Before long, Holty abandoned his pre-medical studies in order to pursue art. He spent a summer at the School of the Chicago Art Institute in Saugatuck, Michigan, and set off for New York in 1920. He then studied at the National Academy of Design under Francis Coates Jones...
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Abstract Landscape Red Green - Scottish Abstract Expressionist art oil painting
Located in London, GB
This stunning Scottish Abstract Expressionist oil painting is by noted Scottish artist William Gear. Painted in 1949 it is an early and significant painting which dates to the early part of his career. Entitled Abstract Landscape with Red and Green it was painted during Gear's time in Paris and involvement with COBRA. Mostly red and green shapes are incased in black on a vivid yellow background. A really pleasing composition to the eye and perfectly housed in an ebonised frame, it is an excellent example of Gear's work. Signed and Dated '49 lower right. Inscribed, titled and dated verso. Provenance: Cornish collection. Condition. Acrylic on canvas 25 inches by 20 inches and in good condition. Frame. Housed in an ebonised frame, 30 inches by 25 inches and in good condition. Few British painters have played an active role in the modern abstract movement of post-war Europe. William Gear was the most passionate and committed exception. He continued the tradition of the Edinburgh-Paris axis established by J.D. Fergusson, Samuel Peploe and others, spending vital years between 1947 and 1950 living and working in Paris. Significantly, in recent years, he received the greatest acclaim in France, Germany and the Netherlands. He was born in 1915 in Methil, Fife, into a mining family; the particular landscape of "pitheads, the sea, rocks, castles, trees, storms and poverty" marked his earliest identity with a place and probably remained the most influential to his art. Years later he recalled as a schoolboy visiting the local art gallery in Kirkcaldy and seeing 12 colourful still-lifes by Peploe. Art-history lessons during student years at Edinburgh College of Art, in particular Byzantine classes under David Talbot Rice, also influenced his concern for structure. This had as much to do with the formal language of painting as sheer delight in the medium itself. Gear never missed an opportunity to show people the merits of a well-constructed painting. On a travelling scholarship in 1937, he chose to study with Fernand Leger, described by Gear as "a keystone for me, seldom abstract, rather a degree of abstraction". The Second World War interrupted these formative years and, by 1940, Gear had joined the Royal Corps of Signals. Dispatched to the Middle East, he still had the discipline to paint - mostly works on paper of damaged landscapes - with exhibitions in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Cairo as well as Siena and Florence. His naturally robust and tenacious temperament was profoundly affected by visiting Bergen-Belsen, and this certainly influenced the later experiments with the black armature. As the British officer in Celle, working for the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Section of the Control Commission, he focused on securing the safety of the Berlin Art Collection in Schloss Celle, and organised an important series of modern art exhibitions, including the rejected work of Karl Otto Gotz...
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Subjective Farm Landscape abstract oil painting by Ralph Rosenborg
Located in Hudson, NY
Subjective Farm Landscape 1940 Oil on canvas, 24" x 30" 37.5" x 31" x 2" framed - frame is original to this artwork Signed recto lower right: "rosenborg 40" & arrow box cypher. Signe...
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Scottish 1949 Abstract - Interieur Forme Blanche - CoBrA art oil painting
Located in London, GB
This stunning Scottish Abstract oil painting is by much noted artist William Gear. It was painted in 1949, not long after Gear de mobbed in 1947, moved to Paris and established a one room studio at 13 Quai des Grands Augustins, hence the title Interieur, Forme Blanche. At the same time, Gear was introduced to CoBrA, allowing him to exhibit in important early CoBrA shows in Copenhagen and in Amsterdam in 1949. The same year saw an exhibition at the Betty Parsons Gallery in New York, alongside Jackson Pollock. Gear remained in Paris until the early fifties. This bold abstract mixes blocks of solid colour with more geometric lines and is an excellent and important example of his period in Paris. Signed and dated '49 lower left. Provenance: Private London collection. Condition. Oil on canvas, 24 inches by 20 inches and in good condition. Frame. Housed in a wooded white painted frame, 34 inches by 30 inches and in good condition. Few British painters have played an active role in the modern abstract movement of post-war Europe. William Gear was the most passionate and committed exception. He continued the tradition of the Edinburgh-Paris axis established by J.D. Fergusson, Samuel Peploe and others, spending vital years between 1947 and 1950 living and working in Paris. Significantly, in recent years, he received the greatest acclaim in France, Germany and the Netherlands. He was born in 1915 in Methil, Fife, into a mining family; the particular landscape of "pitheads, the sea, rocks, castles, trees, storms and poverty" marked his earliest identity with a place and probably remained the most influential to his art. Years later he recalled as a schoolboy visiting the local art gallery in Kirkcaldy and seeing 12 colourful still-lifes by Peploe. Art-history lessons during student years at Edinburgh College of Art, in particular Byzantine classes under David Talbot Rice, also influenced his concern for structure. This had as much to do with the formal language of painting as sheer delight in the medium itself. Gear never missed an opportunity to show people the merits of a well-constructed painting. On a travelling scholarship in 1937, he chose to study with Fernand Leger, described by Gear as "a keystone for me, seldom abstract, rather a degree of abstraction". The Second World War interrupted these formative years and, by 1940, Gear had joined the Royal Corps of Signals. Dispatched to the Middle East, he still had the discipline to paint - mostly works on paper of damaged landscapes - with exhibitions in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Cairo as well as Siena and Florence. His naturally robust and tenacious temperament was profoundly affected by visiting Bergen-Belsen, and this certainly influenced the later experiments with the black armature. As the British officer in Celle, working for the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Section of the Control Commission, he focused on securing the safety of the Berlin Art Collection in Schloss Celle, and organised an important series of modern art exhibitions, including the rejected work of Karl Otto Gotz...
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Untitled Abstract Composition signed Joe Stefanelli
Located in New York, NY
This Untitled Abstract Composition in Oil on Canvas signed Joe Stefanelli is a gem of Mid-Century American Abstraction. This painting brilliantly exemplifies the approach and movemen...
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paint

Important Early American School Abstract Geometric Precisionist Signed Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Step into the enigmatic world of abstract art with this captivating original oil painting from 1945. This masterpiece, signed with a mysterious monogram by an unknown artist, embodie...
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

City Scape Abstract Expressionist Composition -Jackson Pollack Friend
Located in Miami, FL
The fame, notoriety, and monetary value of an artist's work in today's market are not based on one's talent and vision. Factors such as marketing and media momentum play a defining r...
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Gouache

Vintage Art Deco Abstract Spot Light Aeronautical Framed Landscape Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist signed abstract oil painting. Oil on canvas. Signed. Framed.
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Abstract Post War Still Life
Located in Greenwich, CT
An exciting, rare and impressive painting that is of a great size for a sofa or long wall. Very hard to find paintings with this format. It is of an early and important historical ...
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

VENUS I by Auguste Herbin - Abstract, geometric painting
Located in London, GB
VENUS I by Auguste Herbin (1882-1960) Oil on canvas 100 x 81 cm (39 ³/₈ x 31 ⁷/₈ inches) Signed and dated lower left, herbin 1945 Provenance: Private collection, Stockholm Galerie d...
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Large Important Modernist Framed Original Cubist Abstract Still Life Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist signed abstract oil painting. Oil on canvas. Signed. Framed. Image size, 42L x 24H.
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Untitled
Located in Lawrence, NY
Pastel and colored pencil on paper Samuel Esses, estate of Samuel Esses, thence by descent Never afraid of trying new styles, curious and opinionated, constantly engaged with the wo...
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Pastel

Antique American Architectural Rare Abstract Expressionist Mid Century Modern
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist abstract street scene oil painting. Oil on board. Framed. Image size, 12L x 7H.
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Environs of a Bridge oil painting by Seymour Franks
Located in Hudson, NY
Hand-signed and dated "Franks 44" lower right. This work is in its original hand painted frame, made by the artist. The frame measures 29 ½" x 35 ½" x 1 ¾" and the canvas measures 26...
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Snowstorm, Morningside Heights, New York City - Monochromatic
Located in Miami, FL
Eugene Camille Fitsch Am./Fr., 1892-1972 - Signed lower right. Framed dimensions 20 3/4" x 34 7/8" framed Provenance: Studio of the Artist to Private Collection Boston, Massachuse...
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Casein

Antique American Abstract Expressionist Vintage Framed New York School Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist abstract painting. Oil on canvas, circa 1940. Housed in a vintage frame. Image size, 18L x 24H.
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Phoebus
Located in Genève, GE
Work on wood
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Arthur Dove 1940 "Sun" Painting
Located in San Francisco, CA
Arthur Dove: 1880-1946. One of the most important early American Modernists and Abstract Expressionists. He has had auction results over $8,000,000 and that record was 2 weeks ago. A...
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Mixed Media

Antique American Abstract Expressionist New York School Circa 1940 Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist abstract expressionist painting. Oil on board, circa 1940. Image size, 24L x 20H.
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Antique American School Abstract Landscape Fauvist Beach Framed Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist abstract landscape oil painting. Oil on canvas. No signature found. Framed. Image size, 24L x 22H.
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Double Sided Abstractions, American Modernist Work on Paper
Located in Doylestown, PA
"Abstractions" by American modernist painter Leonard Nelson is a double sided work on paper. The front is 10.5" x 7.5" and the back side drawing is 10" x 6.75". Both sides are signed and dated "Nelson 46", and the artworks are matted and framed behind glass. Leonard Nelson (1912 - 1993) Born in Camden, New Jersey, Nelson applied for a scholarship at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, regardless of having no portfolio. He was persuasive enough to be given one semester and subsequently was awarded an Academy fellowship to study painting. Nelson went on to earn the Academy's prestigious Cresson Traveling Scholarship award in 1939. He studied at PAFA from 1936 - 1940 with, among others, Henry McCarter...
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Crayon, Gouache, Archival Paper, Pen

Modernist Mexican Artist "Porters Garden" Abstract Expressionist Oil Painting
By Ernesto Linares
Located in Surfside, FL
Genre: Modern Subject: Abstract Medium: Oil Surface: Board Dimensions: 16" x 19 3/4" x 1/4" Dimensions w/Frame: 19 1/4" x 23 1/4" Ernesto Linares Early Mexican Modernist Abstract...
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

Antique American Abstract Expressionist Signed Mid Century Original Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist abstract painting. Watercolor, and pastel on paper. Framed. Signed. Image size, 6.5H by 10L
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Antique American Signed Abstract Expressionist Museum Size Rare Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist abstract oil painting by Arnold Aaron Friedman (1874 - 1946). Oil on canvas. Signed on verso. Framed.
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Vintage American Modernist Abstract Minimalist New York School Original Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American abstract minimalist painting. Oil and gouache on paper, circa 1950. Housed in a period frame. Image size, 22L x 30H.
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Gouache

Antique American School Abstract Expressionist Hat Shop Brilliant Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Vintage modernist abstract hat shop painting. Oil on canvas, circa 1950. Housed in a period frame. Image size, 32L x 26H.
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Abstract Landscape, large mid-century green painting, COBRA art movement
Located in Beachwood, OH
Erik Ortvad (Danish, 1917 - 2008) Abstract Landscape, 1946 Oil on canvas Signed and dated lower right 32 X 37.5 inches 35 x 40.5 inches, framed Born in 1917 in Copenhagen, Erik Ortvad was a surrealist painter and a founding member of the COBRA art...
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

American School Modernist Abstract Nautical Seascape Signed Framed Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American school signed seascape painting. Oil on board. Signed. Framed. Image size, 24L x 18H.
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Antique American Abstract Expressionist Signed Vintage Original Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Vintage modernist abstract expressionist painting. Oil on canvas. Housed in a period frame. Image size, 24L x 36H. Signed.
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

To Be or Not To Be
Located in Santa Fe, NM
Casein on board, signed lower right. 22 x 29.5 inches; 33 x 39.5 inches framed. Provenance: Paul Burlin Art Trust Hollis Taggart Galleries, New York, ...
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Casein, Board

"Harvard vs Yale" Charles Green Shaw, Football, Ivy League Sports, Abstract
Located in New York, NY
Charles Green Shaw Harvard vs. Yale, 1944 Signed and dated on the reverse Oil on canvasboard 9 x 12 inches Provenance: Harvey and Francois Rambach, New Jersey Private Collection, California Washburn Gallery, New York D. Wigmore Fine Art, New York Private Collection, New York Charles Green Shaw, born into a wealthy New York family, began painting when he was in his mid-thirties. A 1914 graduate of Yale, Shaw also completed a year of architectural studies at Columbia University. During the 1920s Shaw enjoyed a successful career as a freelance writer for The New Yorker, Smart Set and Vanity Fair, chronicling the life of the theater and café society. In addition to penning insightful articles, Shaw was a poet, novelist and journalist. In 1927 he began to take a serious interest in art and attended Thomas Hart Benton's class at the Art Students League briefly in New York. He also studied privately with George Luks, who became a good friend. Once he had dedicated himself to non-traditional painting, Shaw's writing ability made him a potent defender of abstract art. After initial study with Benton and Luks, Shaw continued his artistic education in Paris by visiting numerous museums and galleries. From 1930 to 1932 Shaw's paintings evolved from a style imitative of Cubism to one directly inspired by it, though simplified and more purely geometric. Returning to the United States in 1933, Shaw began a series of abstracted cityscapes of skyscrapers he called Manhattan Motifs which evolved into his most famous works, the shaped canvases he called Plastic Polygons. The 1930s were productive years for Shaw. He showed his paintings in numerous group exhibitions, both in New York and abroad, and was also given several one-man exhibitions. Shaw had his first one-man exhibition at the Valentine Dudensing Gallery in New York in 1934, which included 25 Manhattan Motif paintings and 8 abstract works. In the spring of 1935 Shaw was introduced to Albert Gallatin and George L.K. Morris. Gallatin was so impressed with Shaw's work, he broke a policy against solo exhibitions at his museum, the Gallery of Living Art, and offered Shaw an exhibition there. In the summer of 1935 Shaw traveled to Paris with Gallatin and Morris who provided introductions to many great painters. Shaw regularly spent time with John Ferren and Jean Hélion. The following year Gallatin organized an exhibition called Five Contemporary American Concretionists at the Reinhardt Gallery that included Shaw, Ferren, and Morris, Alexander Calder, and Charles Biederman...
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

Antique American School Modern Abstract Expressionist Minimalist NYC Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Vintage American modernist abstract drawing. Pencil and graphite on paper, circa 1970. Unsigned. Image size, 31L x 23H. Housed in a period frame.
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Graphite

The Night Journey - Drip Painting like Jackson Pollock
Located in Miami, FL
In Byron Brown's "The Night Journey", 1947, Picasso meets Jackson Pollock. Here Brown strikes a balance between fanciful representation and abstraction. ...
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

'Abstract in Coral and Jade', Painters Eleven, Ontario, Canadian Modernist Oil
By Hortense Mattice Gordon
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Signed lower left, 'Hortense M. Gordon' for Hortense Crompton Mattice Gordon (Canadian, 1886-1961) and dated 1949. Previously with: Dominion Gallery of Montreal (stamp, verso). Phot...
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

Falling Figure
Located in Santa Fe, NM
Print engraving, soft ground and scouper on paper; ed. 45/50 24 x 20 inches; 26.25 x 23 inches framed Signed and dated lower center, "SW Hayter 47", titled in pencil lower center Pro...
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Engraving

Ortez (Modernist Family Portrait), Abstracted Figural Group of Five, Interior
Located in Denver, CO
"Ortez (Modernist Family Portrait)" is a gouache on paper abstract painting by Lewis Lee Tilley (1921-2005) from 1947 of five family members sitting on a couch. Painted in jewel tone...
Category

1940s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Gouache

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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