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Figurative Paintings

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Figurative Paintings For Sale
Period: 1940s
Period: 1920s
Devil - Battle of Good and Evil - Nude woman Like Hieronymus Bosch
Located in Miami, FL
Will good ultimately triumph over evil? Or is it a perpetual tug of war? WPA Artist Leonard Lopez paints a complex figural work addressing the theme of "the fight between good and e...
Category

1920s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Antique American Impressionist New England Beach Bathers Landscape Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Nicely painted mid century impressionist bather scene by John Edward Costigan (1888 - 1972). Oil on board. Framed. Signed verso.
Category

1940s Impressionist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

French Neo-Romantic Surrealist Painting "Circus" by Kristians Tonny
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Kristians Tonny (French, born Holland; 1907-1977) Circus Oil on prepared board, 16 1/2 x 13 inches Framed: 22 x 19 inches (approx.) Inscribed on reverse: (in pencil) "cadre noir/ave...
Category

1920s Surrealist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

'Mother and Child', Woman Impressionist, Paris, Académie Julian, Benezit
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Initialed lower right, 'A.E.M' for Anna Elisabeth Munch (Danish, 1876-1960) and painted circa 1940. This notable Danish Modernist first studied with Karl Jensen (1889) and C. N. Overgaard (1891–1892). She later traveled and studied in Italy and, subsequently, at the Académie Julian under Jean Paul Laurens and Benjamin Constant. After her return to Denmark, Munch became a student of the Impressionist Julius Paulsen (1895-1897) and made her début at the 1898 Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition. Munch became the first Danish woman to receive commissions for large devotional altarpieces and her early subjects were often derived from Nordic and Christian mythology. These themes were also explored in the large fresco commissions she completed after studying fresco with Joakim Skovgaard (1909-10). Munch continued her studies in both France and Italy and also traveled extensively to Sweden and Norway. Together with the writer Sophie Breum, Munch built a house on the island of Funen at the artist's colony of Kerteminde. Munch illustrated several of Breum's books and, through her, was introduced to the women's movement. She furthered her art studies with Fritz Syberg...
Category

1940s Post-Impressionist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Jean-René Chatelain, Carnation Vase, Oil on Canvas
Located in Saint Amans des cots, FR
Oil on canvas dating from 1946 by Jean-René Chatelain. Beautiful canvas of a neo-realism soothed. Measurements : with frame: 81x72x7.5 cm - 31.9x28.3x3 inches, without frame: 68x58 c...
Category

1940s Post-Impressionist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Hortense (Ballerina) /// Impressionism Degas French Ballet Renoir Figurative Art
Located in Saint Augustine, FL
Artist: Pál Fried (Hungarian, 1893-1976) Title: "Hortense (Ballerina)" *Signed by Fried lower left Circa: 1940 Medium: Original Oil Painting on Canvas Framing: Framed in a light gold...
Category

1940s Art Deco Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Paint, Oil

Centaur and a woman
By Alexis Gritchenko
Located in Bayonne, NJ
This is a very rare to find painting that was exhibited by Alexis Gritchenko at the Athens Museum of Byzantine Art in 1923. Originally, 36 encaustic on cardboard pieces from the Gree...
Category

1920s Byzantine Figurative Paintings

Materials

Gouache, Encaustic

Silent Night (Stilla natt), 1921, Large Moonlight Oil Painting
Located in Stockholm, SE
"Silent Night, 1921" by Gottfrid Kallstenius is a wonderful painting that captures the beauty of the Swedish archipelago in moonlight. In our opinion, we think that this painting is ...
Category

1920s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"Clowns: Aren't We All?" Henry Glintenkamp, WPA Era Circus Figures, Modern
Located in New York, NY
Hendrik (Henry) J Glintenkamp Clowns: Aren't We All?, 1942 Signed lower left; signed, titled and dated on the reverse Oil on Masonite 20 x 16 inches The painter and illustrator Henr...
Category

1940s American Realist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Masonite, Oil

Cute Children's Book Illustration British Female Illustrator - Teddy Bears
Located in Miami, FL
A British Female Illustrator paints a warm and fuzzy scene from a child's imagination, with ducks and teddy bears gazing at a "Mr Willoughby's eyeglass" standing on it's edge as it l...
Category

1920s Victorian Figurative Paintings

Materials

Watercolor, Gouache

Landscape oil on cardboard painting impressionism spanish
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Joaquin Terruella Matilla (1891-1957) - Landscape - Oil cardboard Oil measures 33x41 cm. Frame measures 47x55 cm. Joaquim Terruella Matilla (1891 - 1957) Joaquim Terruella Matilla,...
Category

1920s Impressionist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Cardboard, Oil

At the fair
Located in Genève, GE
Work on canvas
Category

1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Same Old Story (Brooklyn Dodgers & St. Louis Cardinals Illustration)
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Bill Crawford (1913-1982). Original illustration artwork depicting teams as they advance to the World Series. Depicted are representations of the St. Louis Cardinals and The Brooklyn...
Category

1940s Realist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Paper, Charcoal, Ink, Gouache, Pencil

Pêcheur sur la Cure by Paulémile Pissarro - Landscape watercolour
Located in London, GB
Pêcheur sur la Cure by Paulémile Pissarro (1884-1972) Watercolour and ink on paper 23 x 30 cm (9 x 11 ³/₄ inches) Signed lower right, Paulémile- Executed circa 1920 This work is ac...
Category

1920s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Ink, Paper, Watercolor

Lucien-Victor Guirand de Scévola (1871-1950) Portrait of Lady, oil sketch signed
Located in Paris, FR
Lucien-Victor Guirand de Scévola ( 1871 – 1950) Portrait of a lady, a sketch signed lower right Oil on canvas transfered on cardboard 25 x 18 cm oval Framed : 31 x 24.5 cm This port...
Category

1920s Art Deco Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Winter Snow - Gstaad - Impressionist Landscape Oil by William Samuel Horton
Located in Marlow, Buckinghamshire
Signed oil on canvas landscape by American impressionist painter William Samuel Horton. The piece depicts a view of the town of Gstaad in Southwestern Switzerland. The buildings and ...
Category

1920s American Impressionist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Lumier et neige fondante - Impressionist Landscape Oil by William Samuel Horton
Located in Marlow, Buckinghamshire
Signed oil on canvas landscape by American impressionist painter William Samuel Horton. The piece depicts a nighttime view of Pontarlier, a commune in eastern France near the Swiss b...
Category

1920s American Impressionist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Young Girl with Horse Illustrations Original Oil on Linen by John Turner 1941
Located in Soquel, CA
Young Girl with Horse Illustrations Original Oil on Linen by John Turner Impressionist painting of a young horse enthusiast by John Turner (American, 19th,20th C). Exceptional detai...
Category

1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Linen, Oil

Countryside of France, Original Oil on cardboard, Impressionist style, signed
Located in PARIS, FR
*Dimensions include the frame This oil on cardboard by Robert Hofer (1885-1942), created in 1942, exudes the characteristic vibrancy and textural depth that is reminiscent of Impres...
Category

1940s Impressionist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Cardboard, Oil

Sophus Vermehren, Her Favourite Story, Oil Painting
Located in Cheltenham, GB
This mid-20th-century oil painting by Danish artist Sophus Vermehren (1866-1950) depicts a grandmother reading to her granddaughter, who is convalesci...
Category

1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Impressionist Over sized Ballerina Figurative Oil Painting
By Carole Nelson
Located in Douglas Manor, NY
#5-3022 Ballerina a 1940's large scale oil on canvas Signed lower left by Carole Nelson,displayed in a gilt wood curved frame.
Category

1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Donkey Rides - Impressionist Figures in Landscape Oil by Jules Rene Herve
Located in Marlow, Buckinghamshire
Signed figures and animals in cityscape oil on canvas circa 1940 by French impressionist painter Jules Rene Herve. This large piece depicts a view of Paris on a bright summer's day. Children enjoy donkey rides in the shade of the green trees and there is a view of the Champs-Elysees. Signature: Signed lower left & again verso Dimensions: Framed: 40"x48" Unframed: 32"x40" Provenance: Private UK collection Jules Rene Hervé began his formal art studies in an evening school in Langres, France. Hervé was trained at the Ecole nationale supérieure d’arts decoratifs of Paris, and studied with Fernand Cormon and Jules Adler...
Category

1940s Impressionist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Surrealist Still Life with Apples, Mid 20th Century Cleveland School Artist
Located in Beachwood, OH
Clarence Holbrook Carter (American, 1904-2000) Still Life with Apples, 1940 Oil on canvas Signed and dated upper right 18 x 24 inches Clarence Holbrook Carter achieved a level of na...
Category

1940s American Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Modernist Judaica Jewish Ink Drawing Painting "New Immigrant" Off the Boat WPA
Located in Surfside, FL
An ink drawing Judaic painting by modern artist Ben-Zion Weinman. It depicts a portrait of an old Jewish man. Coming over from Europe on a ship crossing. The work is signed "Ben-Zion". Born in 1897, Ben-Zion Weinman celebrated his European Jewish heritage in his visual works as a sculptor, painter, and printmaker. Influenced by Spinoza, Knut Hamsun, and Wladyslaw Reymont, as well as Hebrew literature, Ben-Zion wrote poetry and essays that, like his visual work, attempt to reveal the deep “connection between man and the divine, and between man and earth.” An emigrant from the Ukraine, he came to the US in 1920. He wrote fairy tales and poems in Hebrew under the name Benzion Weinman, but when he began painting he dropped his last name and hyphenated his first, saying an artist needed only one name. In 1920 he settled in America, where he found little interest in his writing. He began teaching Hebrew to support himself and then in the early 1930s returned to painting. He used his art to comment on the rise of fascism in Europe, events he felt could not be adequately explored with words. Largely self-taught, Ben-Zion visited the museums of New York City to learn his new trade. His first painting on a large scale, Friday Evening (1933, Jewish Museum, New York), depicts a Sabbath dinner table as recalled from his family home. Ben-Zion supported himself by working odd jobs until the establishment of the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project. Under the auspices of the wpa, Ben-Zion thrived and galleries began to show his work. In 1936, after his first one-man show at the Artists' Gallery in New York Ben-Zion was a founding member of “The Ten: An Independent Group” The Ten” a 1930’s...
Category

1940s American Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Watercolor, Gouache

Antique English Beer Drinker Figurative Pub Interior Scene Oil Painting 1940
Located in Douglas Manor, NY
5-3731 Oil on canvas applied to board Set in a wood frame
Category

1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Study of Blue Boy
By Mary Welch
Located in Soquel, CA
Oil painting of a study of "Blue Boy" standing with his hat in his left hand by Mary Welch (American, 1875-1967). Circa 1918. Signed "M. Welch" lower left and gifted circa "1955" on verso. Image: 6"L x 9"H. Mary Welch, born 10 years after the end of the Civil War, was a woman ahead of her time. She signed her paintings M. Welch, hoping that potential buyers wouldn't discover she was a woman. More often than not, when they learned her sex, art dealers lost interest. The Hutchinson artist never married, never had children. But when she died in 1967, she left an impressive body of paintings, many of them familiar Kansas landscapes...
Category

1920s Impressionist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Board, Oil

Place de l'Opera - Impressionist Cityscape Oil Painting by Jules Rene Herve
Located in Marlow, Buckinghamshire
Signed impressionist figures in cityscape oil on canvas circa 1940 by French painter Jules Rene Herve. This bustling evening scene depicts a view of The Place de l'Opera square in Paris, France. Signature: Signed lower left & again verso Dimensions: Framed: 25"x29" Unframed: 18"x22" Provenance: Private French collection Jules Rene Hervé began his formal art studies in an evening school in Langres, France. Hervé was trained at the Ecole nationale supérieure d’arts decoratifs of Paris, and studied with Fernand Cormon and Jules Adler...
Category

1940s Impressionist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Training Day - Mid 20th Century Impressionist Oil Horse & Jockey by Kay Hinwood
By Kay Hinwood
Located in Watford, Hertfordshire
Kay Hinwood (1920 - 2006) This piece titled Training Day was created using oil on board and is in a handmade swept composite frame. It features: Horse, horses, training, people, ho...
Category

1940s Post-Impressionist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

Portrait of a lady
Located in Genève, GE
Work on canvas Burgundy wooden frame 75.5 x 65 x 4 cm
Category

1920s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Antique Italian Cobbler Figurative Oil Painting by L. Colli 1920
Located in Douglas Manor, NY
5-112 Italian oil on canvas Displayed in custom wood frame Image size 10.5x13.5" Signed A. Colli
Category

1920s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

French Impressionist Figurative Oil Pastel Painting"Resting Mother with Child"
Located in Douglas Manor, NY
5-2620 Vintage original colored pastel on paper displayed in a gilt wood frame under glass.Arist unknown
Category

1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Pastel

Antique English Oil Painting on Wood Panel "The Middle Age Trial"
Located in Douglas Manor, NY
#5-2984 Lawbreaker Painting Plaque,scene of Middle Ages court ,vintage English oil on wood panel.Signed E.B /2
Category

1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Boys Swimming Industrial Landscape WPA Mid 20th Century Social Realism Modernism
Located in New York, NY
Boys Swimming Industrial Landscape WPA Mid 20th Century Social Realism Modernism Henry Schnakenberg (1982 - 1970) Boys Swimming Industrial Landscape 11 1/2 x 15 1/2 sight Oil on Canvas Signed lower left 14 1/2 x 18 1/2 inches, Framed Bio In many cases, American artists visited the Armory Show in New York in 1913, and returned to their studios to react to or against what they saw. However, for Henry Ernest Schnakenberg it was much more life altering. Prior to visiting this important exhibition of American and European modernist art...
Category

1940s American Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Castle at riverside, Original French Watercolor, Impressionist style
Located in PARIS, FR
*Dimensions include the frame This French watercolor from around 1940 captures a picturesque view reminiscent of the Impressionist penchant for natural light and landscape scenes. ...
Category

1940s Impressionist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Watercolor

20th Century Spanish Seaside Village (Cadaques Catalonia), Cleveland School
Located in Beachwood, OH
Rolf Stoll (American, 1892-1978) Spanish Seaside Village (Cadaques Catalonia) Oil on canvas Signed lower right 28 x 38 inches Exhibited: The 11th Annual May Show, Cleveland Museum of Art, 1929 Rolf Stoll, a painter of figure subjects, landscapes and floral still lifes, was an important member of the Cleveland art scene during the second quarter of the century. He was also an influential teacher, as well as one of Ohio’s foremost portrait painters. Rolf Stoll was born in Heidelberg, Germany, in 1892. As a boy, he attended a military academy, during which time he developed an interest in art. He received his early formal training at the Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart. He emigrated to the United States in 1912, settling in New York City. A decade later, after studying at the school of the National Academy of Design and supporting himself by working as a commercial artist, Stoll decided to leave New York. Upon the recommendation of Warren Pryor, one of his teachers, he decided to move to Cleveland, Ohio. After arriving in Cleveland, Rolf Stoll continued to work as a commercial artist. However, in 1926, he joined the faculty of the Cleveland School of Art, where he taught drawing. Two years later Stoll was appointed head of the school’s portrait painting department. A talented portraitist, Stoll’s sitters included industrialists, community leaders and many prominent members of Cleveland and Ohio society, as well as over twenty faculty members from Case Western Reserve University. Stoll also gave portrait classes at the John Huntington Polytechnic Institute from 1926 to 1953. In his male portraits especially, he was admired for his ability to convey the dignity of his sitter’s professional position without sacrificing individuality. As noted by one contemporary reviewer, Stoll was a “master of rich color, a searching student of human types, a forceful portrayer of all that the face reveals of the mind and the soul.” In addition to his activity as a portraitist, Rolf Stoll painted figure subjects and floral still lifes. He was also known for his views of the Ohio countryside and Canada. Stoll also painted views of Spain and depictions of Spanish peasants, inspired by an extended trip to that country (1926), during which time he was entertained by the famous Spanish portrait painter, Ignacio Zuloaga. Moving easily between oil and watercolor, Stoll worked in an direct realist style, combining his characteristic firm draftsmanship with the use of simplified forms and decorative color. Rolph Stoll was a member of the Cleveland Society of Artists, the Cleveland Print Club...
Category

1920s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Homestead, Regional American Landscape by Pennsylvania Impressionist
Located in Doylestown, PA
"Homestead" is a regional, American landscape by Pennsylvania Impressionist and New Hope School painter Harry Leith-Ross. The painting is a 14" x 19" watercolor on paper, signed "Lei...
Category

1940s American Impressionist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Watercolor, Archival Paper

"Man on First" James Chapin, Baseball Sports, Figurative WPA, American Scene
Located in New York, NY
James Chapin Man on First, 1948 Signed lower right Oil on canvas 28 x 24 inches Provenance: D. Wigmore Fine Art Co., New York William L. Gladstone Collection Exhibited: Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Lehigh University Art Galleries, Zoellner Arts Center, Baseball Art from the Gladstone Collection, March 14 - June 10, 2001. Concord, Massachusetts, Concord Museum, The Art of Baseball, April 17 - September 20, 2015. Literature: Shelly Mehlman Dinhofer, The Art of Baseball: The Great American Game in Painting, Sculpture & Folk Art, New York, 1989, fig. 56, illustrated. Michael Ruscoe, Baseball: A Treasury of Art and Literature, Southport, Connecticut, 1993, pl. 46, p. 139, illustrated. Joseph Stanton, "Painting Baseball," NINE: A Journal of Baseball History and Culture, University of Nebraska Press, Vol. 25, No. 1, 2016. James Ormsbee Chapin was born in West Orange, New Jersey, on July 9, 1887. When he was sixteen, he took a job in a New York bank. In the evenings, he attended drawing classes at Cooper Union and later at the Art Students League. Six years or so later, with a small but sufficient sum of money to sustain him, Chapin left the bank to study in Europe. He distinguished himself as an award-winning student at the Royal Academy in Antwerp, Belgium, before leaving for Paris where he was influenced by the work of Cezanne. Chapin returned to the United States in 1912 to alleviate family debts by working at various illustration jobs. In 1915 or 1916 he met Robert Frost at his publishers, Henry Holt & Co., for whom he designed books. This friendship lasted over 30 years. After several years working as a commercial artist, Chapin found he was greatly dissatisfied. In 1924 he fled New York, settling in the quiet mountains of New Jersey. There he rented a log cabin on the farm of the Marvin family for four dollars a month. Chapin spent the next four and a half years painting the Marvin family as he saw them day by day. In 1935 Chapin accepted a one-day-a-week job at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts as instructor to the advanced portrait class. In the late 1930s, he accepted a teaching position in California. There he met and soon after married Mary Fischer...
Category

1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Fine Impressionist American School Oil on Canvas; Family Picnic or Outing, 1925
Located in Baltimore, MD
This lovely impressionist painting portrays what appears to be a family outing or picnic. There are many beautifully dressed women with their children in a park setting. Oddly, wha...
Category

1920s American Impressionist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

South of France, Original Oil on Card, Post Impressionism, Signed and Dated
Located in PARIS, FR
*The dimensions include the frame This oil on cardboard scene is steeped in the warmth of the South of France, its style nodding to the Impressionists with a touch of Post-Impressio...
Category

1940s Post-Impressionist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Cardboard

Antique American School Modernist WPA Winter Ice Skating Framed Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Impressive American modernist winter landscape. Detailed and well painted skating scene. Oil on canvas. Nicely framed.
Category

1940s Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

The Dugout, Post Cover
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Signed by Artist Lower Left The present work was published on the cover of the September 4th, 1948 edition of The Saturday Evening Post. An accompanying “Keeping Posted” article abo...
Category

1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Gouache, Oil

Summery terrace scene by the German paintres Gabrielle Daube from Hamburg
Located in DEVENTER, NL
Charming summery terrace scene dominated by an elegant lady with a white hat and green gloves, next to her a suitor drinking wine and smoking a cigarette. At the table another elegant lady with red hair. A waiter and a man on a neighboring table look on how the romance will unfold. A blue- turquoise and white sun screen...
Category

1920s Impressionist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Antique Scandinavian Female Figurative Oil Painting of A Bather
Located in Douglas Manor, NY
4032 Scandinavian painting of a female bather on cut out wood applied to a painted backround Set in a wood frame image size 8.5x10.5"
Category

1920s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Antique French Female Figurative Oil Painting " Farm Girl Gathering Fruit" 1940
Located in Douglas Manor, NY
3893 French Impressionist oil on artist board set in a gilt wood frame Image size 14.25x14.25"
Category

1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Pere Creixams Spanish Woman, Oil on Canvas
Located in Saint Amans des cots, FR
Oil on canvas by Pere Creixams Pico (1893-1965), School of Paris, ca.1920. Beautiful Spanish woman. Provenance: Charpentier Gallery, 76 rue du Faubourg Saint Honore, Paris (Sotheby's...
Category

1920s Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Itzhak Holtz (Judaica Master) Oil Painting Portrait John Sloan Ashcan Artist WPA
By Itshak Holtz
Located in Surfside, FL
Oil Painting Portrait of Ashcan Artist John Sloan. Signed I. Holtz. The youngest of four children, Holtz was born and spent his early childhood in Skierniewice, Poland, a small town near Warsaw. His father was a hat maker and a furrier. In 1935, prior to World War II, when Holtz was ten years old, his family moved to Jerusalem, Israel, where they settled in the Geula neighborhood near Meah Shearim. Itzhak Holtz's passion for art began early. When he was five years old, in Poland, his father first drew a picture of a horse and sled in the snow for him. The young Holtz looked at the drawing and studied it in wonderment. From that moment on, Holtz remembers, he constantly begged his father to draw for him. His enthusiasm for art grew and Holtz longed to study art. In 1945, he enrolled at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem, where he primarily studied lettering and poster work in a program geared toward commercial art Holtz became interested in painting, prompting him to move to New York City in 1950 to study at the Art Students League of New York under Robert Brackman and Harry Sternberg, and then at the National Academy of Design under Robert Philipp. Holtz has stated that his artwork, which primarily but not exclusively, depict scenes of Jewish spirituality and tradition, is driven by his Orthodox Jewish beliefs: "You have to live that religious life to fully capture it on canvas." He has been classified in the school of genre painting, often depicting street scenes of ordinary people in everyday Jewish life in the back alleys and markets of Jerusalem neighborhoods such as Me'ah Shearim and Geula; and in New York neighborhoods and hamlets such as Monsey, Boro Park and Williamsburg. Along with street scenes, his work includes portraits of scribes, tailors, cobblers and fishmongers, and images such as shtetls, lighthouses, and wedding scenes. He started out painting mostly portraits in order to support his family, before expanding to include street scenes. His beloved subject matter is painting scenes of Jewish life, his childhood memories when his mother took him along shopping for the Sabbath to the markets of Meah Shearim, has left a deep impression on him and influenced many of his works. Holtz has experimented in the abstract, but then reverted to representational and figurative art to which he devoted himself exclusively. His Israeli street scenes are said to combine “an affectionate recollection of the past with the brilliance of the color of modern Israel.” Holtz has stated that he struggled at first when he arrived to the USA because of financial reasons and because he only knew Polish, Yiddish and Hebrew, but then made good ties with his instructor who greatly influenced him Robert Philipp who helped him make friends and referred him to paint portraits. Examples of Holtz's work throughout the years include: Yerusalem Wedding (2010), depicting a Chuppa in Jerusalem on early evening, oil on canvas; The Funeral(1966), depicting five stoic Hasidim carrying a body on a bier over to a gravesite, with the people behind them crying, in charcoal on paper and oil on canvas; Rejoicing (1974), an image of religious men dancing, in felt pen and marker on paper; and the oil painting Shamash Learning in Shul (2003), a portrait of a pious Jew studying the Talmud inside a claustrophobic synagogue scene. Throughout the years Holtz has created hundreds of works in many art mediums, including, genre scenes, portraits, still lifes and landscape scenery, his works are sought after by art collectors worldwide, and he has been called the greatest living Jewish artist. It is said that no artist ever explored the Jewish subject like Holtz. Today some of his oil paintings have been commanding over $100,000. Holtz creates his scenes after researching locations, and often uses locals as models. He paints slowly and with great care, but with a swift Impressionistic style. The people in his portraits and scenes are generally more cheerful and optimistic than standard portraits of Hassidic individuals. He paints oils and watercolors, and also does felt pen, pastel, marker, ink and charcoal drawings, as well as woodcuts. His oil paintings typically have a brown hue, while his work with felt pen is often in sepia tones, and on some of his works he used very bright colors, with a strong emphasis on the interplay of light and shadow. He is heavily influenced by the ancient staircases and alleyways of Jerusalem, with its modest religious population, which has made a strong impression on him in his youth, the streets of Tzfat, and the works of Rembrandt, Johannes Vermeer and Peter Bruegel, as well as Jewish artists Moritz Daniel Oppenheim...
Category

1940s Realist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Symbolic Crucifixion
By Jules Kirschenbaum
Located in New York, NY
Symbolic Crucifixion 1949 Signed and dated, l.r. Oil on canvas 24 x 14 inches (61 x 35.6 cm), canvas 25.25 x 15.25 inches (64.1 x 38.7 cm), framed This work is offered by CLAMP i...
Category

1940s Contemporary Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

The Steeple Chase figurative
Located in Soquel, CA
A vintage, dramatic scene of the rigorous sport of steeplechasing by artist Benton Henderson Clark (American, 1895-1964). Signed and dated lower right "Benton Clark 1945." Presented ...
Category

1940s American Impressionist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Gouache, Paper

Impressionist painting of a house in the sun (1920s) by Rudolph Wytsman
Located in Oostende, BE
Rodolphe Wytsman (1860-1927) was a Belgian impressionist painter. He trained at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, and was one of the founding members of Les XX, a group...
Category

1920s Impressionist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas

The White Horse - Abstracted Landscape, In The Style Of Charles Heaney
Located in Soquel, CA
The White Horse - Abstracted Landscape, In The Style Of Charles Heaney Abstracted landscape oil painting depicting a white horse. Attributed to and painted in the style of Charles Edward Heaney (American, 1897-1981). A white horse grazes alone in a grass field, as mountains of brown are intertwined with abstracted white clouds. Deep greens, browns and reds make up this piece. Presented in a distressed wooden frame. Frame: 21.5"H x 39"W Image: 15.5"H x 32.5"W Unsigned. Charles Heaney lived in Oregon and was primarily known for his landscapes of Oregon and Nevada. From 1917 until well into the 1920s, Heaney studied intermittently at the Pacific Northwest College of Art. One of his primary instructors was legendary painter Harry Wentz, who befriended and inspired him. A fellow student was Kyuzo Furuya who, Heaney recalled, goaded him into taking himself seriously as an artist. But Heaney's deepest friendship was with Clayton Sumner (C.S.) Price, an artist twenty-three years Heaney's senior who settled in Portland in 1929 and who would become a pioneering figure in Oregon modern painting. Heaney admired and emulated Price's dedication to art-making and found in the older man an important companion. Heaney's prints of the 1920s and 1930s were mostly woodcuts, a technique he learned from Catherine DeWitt MacKenzie, a fellow student at the Pacific Northwest College of Art. In the 1930s, he experimented with etchings with his friend William McIlwraith and studied intaglio processes with William Givler...
Category

1940s Abstract Expressionist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Linen, Oil

Antique American Duck Hunt Painting 1946
Located in Douglas Manor, NY
5041 Duck hunt painting Set in a 19th century solid oak frame Rigned Rocco Lotto 46
Category

1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Gouache

Vintage French Parisian Can Can Dancer 1945
Located in Douglas Manor, NY
5042 French Can Can dancer Oil on artist board Framed Signed on Jean Galmett
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1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Untitled oil painting of children playing by Eugenie Schein
Located in Hudson, NY
Eugenie Schein was both a dancer and an artist. Her artwork subjects revolved primarily around dancers and dancing, though she also captured everyday scenes in New York. Both Midto...
Category

1940s Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Le Pont de Charenton - Post Impressionist Landscape Oil by Nathan Grunsweigh
Located in Marlow, Buckinghamshire
Signed post impressionist oil on canvas riverscape circa 1920 but Polish painter Nathan Grunsweigh. The work depicts a view of the bridge over the River Seine in Paris. A beautifully...
Category

1920s Post-Impressionist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Antique French Impressionist Winter Snow Landscape Oil Painting 1920's
Located in Douglas Manor, NY
#5-2997 Winter Snow,a 1920's oil painting on canvas depicting the isolation and beauty of a fresh fallen snow.Displayed in a gilt wood frame.Artist unknown
Category

1920s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

La Pointe-Rouge - Post Impressionist Sea Landscape Oil by Louis Gaussen
Located in Marlow, Buckinghamshire
Signed oil on panel seascape circa 1920 by French post impressionist painter Adolphe Louis Gaussen. The work depicts a view of waves cascading against a rocky shore. A sail boat is s...
Category

1920s Post-Impressionist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Panel

Antique French Bucolic Scene Landscape Gouache 1940's
Located in Douglas Manor, NY
5-100 A 1940's bucolic scene,finely executed gouache on paper signed lower left by F.L.B displayed in a wood-gold trim frame
Category

1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Gouache

"Swinging Harmony" A Black Dancers" Couple by Edgar O'Kiechle - Oil Painting
Located in Pasadena, CA
"Swinging Harmony," is an oil painting on canvas by Edgar O'Kiechle. It transports viewers into a lively dance scene featuring a couple of black dancers swinging at the heart of the...
Category

1940s Post-Impressionist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas

Figurative Paintings for Sale

Figurative art, as opposed to abstract art, retains features from the observable world in its representational depictions of subject matter. Most commonly, figurative paintings reference and explore the human body, but they can also include landscapes, architecture, plants and animals — all portrayed with realism.

While the oldest figurative art dates back tens of thousands of years to cave wall paintings, figurative works made from observation became especially prominent in the early Renaissance. Artists like Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and other Renaissance masters created naturalistic representations of their subjects.

Pablo Picasso is lauded for laying the foundation for modern figurative art in the 1920s. Although abstracted, this work held a strong connection to representing people and other subjects. Other famous figurative artists include Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud. Figurative art in the 20th century would span such diverse genres as Expressionism, Pop art and Surrealism.

Today, a number of figural artists — such as Sedrick Huckaby, Daisy Patton and Eileen Cooper — are making art that uses the human body as its subject.

Because figurative art represents subjects from the real world, natural colors are common in these paintings. A piece of figurative art can be an exciting starting point for setting a tone and creating a color palette in a room.

Browse an extensive collection of figurative paintings on 1stDibs.

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