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Modern Figurative Paintings

MODERN STYLE

The first decades of the 20th century were a period of artistic upheaval, with modern art movements including Cubism, Surrealism, Futurism and Dadaism questioning centuries of traditional views of what art should be. Using abstraction, experimental forms and interdisciplinary techniques, painters, sculptors, photographers, printmakers and performance artists all pushed the boundaries of creative expression.

Major exhibitions, like the 1913 Armory Show in New York City — also known as the “International Exhibition of Modern Art,” in which works like the radically angular Nude Descending a Staircase by Marcel Duchamp caused a sensation — challenged the perspective of viewers and critics and heralded the arrival of modern art in the United States. But the movement’s revolutionary spirit took shape in the 19th century.

The Industrial Revolution, which ushered in new technology and cultural conditions across the world, transformed art from something mostly commissioned by the wealthy or the church to work that responded to personal experiences. The Impressionist style emerged in 1860s France with artists like Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne and Edgar Degas quickly painting works that captured moments of light and urban life. Around the same time in England, the Pre-Raphaelites, like Edward Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, borrowed from late medieval and early Renaissance art to imbue their art with symbolism and modern ideas of beauty.

Emerging from this disruption of the artistic status quo, modern art went further in rejecting conventions and embracing innovation. The bold legacy of leading modern artists Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso, Frida Kahlo, Salvador Dalí, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, Marc Chagall, Piet Mondrian and many others continues to inform visual culture today.

Find a collection of modern paintings, sculptures, prints and other fine art on 1stDibs.

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Style: Modern
Face, Mixed Media on Paper by Modern Artist Jogen Chowdhury "In Stock"
Located in Kolkata, West Bengal
Jogen Chowdhury - Face Coloured Dry Pastel Charcoal , Wash on Paper 11.6 x 8.2 inches ( Unframed ) 2021 Signed in Bengali ( All in door delivered ; framed and ready to hang ) Style ...
Category

2010s Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Charcoal, Pastel, Mixed Media

American West Mountainscape by Gunnar Anderson
Located in New York, NY
Gunnar Donald Anderson (American, 1927-2022) Untitled, c. 20th Century Oil on board Sight: 11 1/2 x 15 3/4 in. Framed: 20 1/2 x 24 1/2 x 1 1/4 i...
Category

20th Century Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

The Fishermen
Located in London, GB
'The Fishermen', oil on canvas, by Anna Costa (circa 1970s). Cassis is a small, Provencal fishing village in southern France, located about 45 minutes east of Marseille and 45 minute...
Category

1970s Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

The Fishermen
The Fishermen
$2,228 Sale Price
20% Off
Still Life - Oil on board - Mid-20th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Still Life is an original modern artwork realized by an Unknown Artist in the mid-20th Century. A mixed colored oil on board. Hand signed on the lower left margin J. Meamier. Incl...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

'Women with Flowers', Early Los Altos California Modernist, Floral Still Life
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Signed verso, on stretcher bar, 'Janice Haefner' (American, 1919-2002) and painted circa 1960. A substantial mid-century, Expressionist figural abstraction showing two women seated ...
Category

1960s Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Resting Nude (Contemporary Figurative Oil Painting, Framed)
Located in New Orleans, LA
A gorgeous nude from 1969 by James Wallace, showing masterful foreshortening (very difficult to pull off this convincingly) and beautifully sensual. One tiny repair visible on back c...
Category

1960s Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

1975 Modernist Semi-Abstract Portrait Oil Painting - Figure in the Dark
Located in Bristol, GB
FIGURE IN THE DARK Size: 49 x 40 cm (including frame) Oil on canvas An emotive and expressive semi-abstract figurative portrait, executed in oil onto canvas and dated 1975. The co...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Vintage Abstract Expressionist Standing Pensive Figurative Nude - Heavy Impasto
Located in Soquel, CA
Vintage Abstract Expressionist Standing Pensive Figurative Nude - Heavy Impasto Abstract expressionist figurative composition of a nude woman by California artist Harald "Harry" Dr...
Category

1970s Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Stretcher Bars

Collioure, Home of the Fauvists, Fisherman at Their Nets
Located in Cotignac, FR
Early 20th Century oil on board view of fishermen in the port of Collioure in the south of France, home to the Fauvists, by D Cadine. The painting is signed bottom right. The paintin...
Category

Early 20th Century Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Huge 1960s French Signed Oil - Portrait of Fashionable Woman Emerald Green Dress
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Artist/ School: French School, circa 1960's, signed with monogram Title: Portrait of a fashionable lady in an emerald green dress. Medium: oil...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Large Oil Painting Of Cartoony Camouflage Tank in Illustration Style
Located in Surfside, FL
Seymour Chwast (born August 18, 1931) is an American graphic designer, illustrator, and type designer. Chwast was born in Bronx, New York, and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Cooper Union in 1951. With Milton Glaser, Edward Sorel...
Category

20th Century Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Paint, Board

1950's Symbolist Portrait Young Figure in Exotic Green Cloak
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Symbolist Portrait signed by Bernard Labbe (French mid 20th century) original oil on artist paper, mounted in a card frame overall size: 31.5 x 20 inches painting size: 27.5 x 18 inc...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

"Portrait d'Anne (Mme. Lhote)" [Portrait of Anne (Mrs. Lhote)]
Located in Astoria, NY
Andre Lhote (French, 1885-1962), "Portrait d'Anne (Mme. Lhote)" [Portrait of Anne (Mrs. Lhote)], Oil on Paper Laid to Canvas, 1930, signed "A. Lhote" lower right, Soufer Gallery and ...
Category

1930s Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Laid Paper

Interior Scene Still Life of Writing Desk Bureau with Table Lamp Glow
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Artist/ School: Jill Jackson, British contemporary, signed initials lower right corner Title: Interior scene with a writing desk or bureau, illuminated b...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

"Personage" Heavy Impasto Expressionist Portrait of Lady with a Hat
Located in Soquel, CA
"Personage" Heavy Impasto Expressionist Portrait of Lady with a Hat Abstract expressionist portrait of a woman wearing a hat by California artist Harald "Harry" Dry Schmidt (America...
Category

1970s Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Stretcher Bars

Mid Century Sgraffito, Saltimbanque and the Card Player, Circle of Picasso.
Located in Cotignac, FR
Mid 20th Century sgraffito work on plaster by Jean Pierre de Cayeux. The work is signed and dated on the skirt of the card player, bottom right, and on the stretcher of the chair, bo...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Enamel

1940s Modernist Oil Painting – Adobe Church Landscape, New Mexico Southwest Art
Located in Denver, CO
This evocative vintage oil painting from the 1930s–1940s captures a classic adobe church in New Mexico, likely inspired by the historic San Francisco de Asís Mission Church in Rancho de Taos. Painted by Denver modernist Paul K...
Category

1940s Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Simka Simkhovitch WPA W/C Painting Gouache American Modernist Beach Scene Nude
Located in Surfside, FL
Simka Simkhovitch (Russian/American 1893 - 1949) This came with a small grouping from the artist's family, some were hand signed some were not. These were studies for larger paintings. This is a watercolor and gouache beach scene three young men bathing...
Category

1930s Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Gouache, Board, Watercolor

Mid Century Modern Swedish Figurative Oil Painting - Moonrise with Yellow Cup
Located in Bristol, GB
MOONRISE WITH YELLOW CUP Size: 54.5 x 62.5 cm (including frame) Oil on canvas A quiet and introspective mid-century modernist figurative painting, executed in oil onto canvas by the...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Highway Sunset (Window, Skyscape, Warm, Bluesy, Dreamy, ~29% OFF)
Located in Kansas City, MO
Annieo Klaas Highway Sunset 2024 Oil on Canvas 40 x 30 inches (101.6 x 30.48 cm) Signed lower right COA provided *On stretcher frame - gallery wrapped - ready to hang Annieo Klaas’...
Category

2010s Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Stretcher Bars

Portrait of Woman - Oil Paint by Antonio Feltrinelli - 1930s
Located in Roma, IT
Portrait of Woman is an original artwork realized by the Italian artist Antonio Feltrinelli in the 1930s. Original oil on plywood. Beautiful and representative artwork of a female...
Category

1930s Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Woman reading
Located in Genève, GE
Illegible signature Work on canvas Golden wooden frame 46.5 x 41.5 x 5.5 cm
Category

1920s Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Portrait of Young Woman - Painting by Francesco Settimj - 1930s
Located in Roma, IT
Oil on canvas mounted on board, realized by Francesco Settimj in 1930s. Good condition.
Category

1930s Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Nude - Painting by Antonio Feltrinelli - 1930s
Located in Roma, IT
Nude woman is a beautiful and impressive oil on canvas by Antonio Feltrinelli. It was realized between the end of the 1920s and the beginning of t...
Category

1930s Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Paint

Landscape - Oil Painting by Kurt Schwitters - 1936
Located in Roma, IT
Landscape is a modern artwork realized by Kurt Schwitters in 1936. Mixed colored oil on canvas. Signed with monogram and dated on the lower right rec...
Category

1930s Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Large 1970's British Oil Painting Portrait of Seated Lady Black Dress Pearl Neck
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Portrait of a Lady, Black Dress and Pearl Necklace circa 1970's oil on canvas, unframed canvas: 36 x 24 inches provenance: private collection, England condition: good and sound condi...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

'Study of a Woman Reading', American Mid-Century Figurative Interior Scene Oil
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Inscribed verso, 'P. Johnstone' (American, 20th century) and painted circa 1965. A substantial Modernist figural oil of a young woman shown reading a book in a rose-colored room, wi...
Category

1960s Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

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

20th Century Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Portrait of a Man
By Yvonne Guégan
Located in London, GB
'Portrait of a Man', oil on canvas, by Yvonne Guégan (circa 1970s). This is not a portrait of the reclusive billionaire, Howard Hughes. Regrettably, we d...
Category

1970s Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

19th Century Landscape of Shepherdess w/ Sheep & Dog, Munich, Cleveland School
Located in Beachwood, OH
Henry George Keller (American, 1869–1949) Shepherdess with Sheep and Dog, Munich, 1891 Oil on canvas Signed and dated lower left 19 x 24 inches 25 x 30 inches, framed Keller, a lead...
Category

1890s Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Stunning Mid Century French Portrait of Young Lady, signed oil painting
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Artist/ School: French School, mid 20th century, indistinctly signed lower right corner. Title: Portrait of a Young Girl Medium: oil on canvas, framed Framed: 23.5 x 17 inches Pa...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

1950's French Modernist Signed Oil Painting Portrait of Young Lady in Green
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Portrait of a Young Lady French School, mid 20th century signed, S. Ascher signed oil on canvas, unframed canvas: 16 x 13 inches provenance: private collection, Paris condition: good...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

1960's Oil Painting Tennis Match Sports Scene After Leroy Neiman Sporting Art
By Paolo Corvino
Located in Surfside, FL
Oil on canvas 24 x 18 in., 27 x 21 in with frame. This is a tribute painting, it was inspired and dedicated to Leroy Neiman. Paolo Corvino was born September 20, 1930 in Bronx, New ...
Category

20th Century Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Large Modernist French Landscape with Figures Sunbathing by the River Signed Oil
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
On the River Huguette Ginet-Lasnier (French 1927-2020) signed and inscribed verso in a wooden frame oil painting on canvas framed: 29 x 37 inches All the paintings we have for sale b...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Did you see the moon tonight
Located in Zofingen, AG
When the sun hits and the moon is shining, when dreams are confusing and the picture in the trees hides my thoughts, you immediately saw these frames
Category

2010s Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Acrylic

Landscape with Boats - Paint by Mustapha Yehya - mid-20th Century
Located in Roma, IT
 Realized by Mustapha Yehya in the mid-20th century. Hand signed. In excellent condition, it includes a coeval wooden frame.
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

English 20th century landscape with a pussy cat, buttercups, daisy's and flowers
Located in Woodbury, CT
Alison Bolton studied fine art at Salisbury School of Art and Hornsey College of Art with Maurice de Sausmarez. After leaving college, Alison resumed painting once her children were ...
Category

1990s Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

20th Century French Abstract Portrait of Child Circle of Picasso style
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Portrait of a Child French abstract artist, circa 1960's circle of Pablo Picasso oil on board, unframed board: 26 x 21 inches provenance: private collection, Luberon Valley, Provence...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

A Captivating, Mid-Century Modern Painting of a Standing Female Nude Model
Located in Chicago, IL
A Captivating, Mid-Century Modern Painting of a Standing Female Nude Model. Great colors! Painted in the 1960s, this wonderful "Mod" studio scene exemplifies the abstracted Modern ...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Dichotomy, mid-century figural abstract green oil painting
Located in Beachwood, OH
Clarence Holbrook Carter (American, 1904-2000) Dichotomy, 1962 Oil on paper Signed and dated upper left 20 x 25 inches Mid-century figural abstract green painting of woman swimming ...
Category

1960s Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Morning Sunrise, Mid Century Laguna Hills Figurative Landscape
Located in Soquel, CA
Beautiful mid century plein air figural landscape of Laguna Niguel, California by an unknown artist (American, 20th Century). The morning sun gli...
Category

1950s Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Cardboard

North African Orientalist Scene Man on Horseback with Dogs outside City Building
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Orientalist Scene European artist, late 20th century possibly a copy of an earlier work judging from the style oil on canvas, unframed canvas : 24 x 20 inches provenance: private col...
Category

Late 20th Century Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

French Geometric Painting Of Purple Tulips In A Vase
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
by Paul-Louis Bolot (French 1918-2003) signed original gouache painting on thick paper/ card unframed condition: very good and sound; the edges have a few curls and scuffs/ edge tear...
Category

20th Century Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Gouache

Milly
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
George Petrie (1790–1866) - Romantic Irish Landscape, Oil on Canvas This captivating oil on canvas by the renowned Irish artist George Petrie, often referred to as the "Father of Ir...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Milly
Milly
$1,657 Sale Price
30% Off
Sky is the Limit (Oil Painting, Impasto, Impressionism, Colorful, Pastel, Cool)
Located in Kansas City, MO
Genevieve Hamel Sky is the Limit Oil on Wood Panel Year: 2024 Size: 36 x 18 x 1.625 inches Signed by hand COA provided *wired and ready to hang Genevieve Hamel’s passions for desi...
Category

2010s Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Wood Panel

1900's French Oil Painting Impressionist Portrait Sketch Portrait Young Lady
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Portrait of Young Lady French School, early 1900's period oil on canvas, unframed canvas: 26 x 21 inches provenance: private collection, Paris condition: very good and sound condition
Category

Early 1900s Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Art Institute
Located in Buffalo, NY
An original 1942 oil on board painting by American female artist Catherine Koenig depicting the interior of the Buffalo Art Institute which was home to the legendary Charles Burchfie...
Category

1940s Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil Crayon

Day at the Park - Surreal Figurative
Located in Soquel, CA
Bold figurative work by Richard Cronin (American, b. 1952). Two figures are at the edge of the sea, one of which is seated and holding two beach balls. ...
Category

1970s Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

French Painting Of Flowers Beside Windowsill In A Blue Gloomy Scene
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
by Paul-Louis Bolot (French 1918-2003) signed original gouache painting on thick paper/ card unframed condition: very good and sound; the edges have a few curls and scuffs/ edge tear...
Category

20th Century Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Gouache

A Large Exceptional Mid-Century Modern Painting of a Chicago Night Club Showgirl
Located in Chicago, IL
A Large, Sensational Mid-Century Modern Painting of a Chicago Night Club Showgirl. Painted in the 1950s, this is a large, vertical, abstracted portrayal of a standing Burlesque danc...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Masonite, Oil

Colorful Samurai, Large-Scale Modern Figural Geometric Abstract
Located in Soquel, CA
Colorful Samurai, Large-Scale Modern Figural Geometric Abstract Colorful modern figural abstract of a samurai figure fractured into fields of color and pattern by S. Baker (Susan Baker...
Category

1990s Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Stretcher Bars

Madame in the Blossom Garden - Tempera on Paper by Lucie Navier - 1931
Located in Roma, IT
Madame in the blossom garden is an original painting realized by Lucie Navier in the 1931. Original tempera on paper. Very good conditions. Colorful composition representing a f...
Category

1930s Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Tempera

Mid 20th Century Stylish Portrait of a Young Lady French oil painting
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Portrait of a Lady by Maurice Delavier (French 1902-1986) stamped verso with the artists studio mark oil on board, unframed board: 7.75 x 9.5 inches provenance: private collection, F...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Fleeting beauty
Located in Zofingen, AG
This painting captures the fleeting beauty of tulips. The delicate flowers, embraced by the young woman, symbolize the transient nature of life’s most exquisite moments. Their soft p...
Category

2010s Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

A ca. 1935 Painting of a Boxing Match in Mexico City by Artist Francis Chapin
Located in Chicago, IL
A ca. 1935 painting of a boxing match in Mexico by artist Francis Chapin. Image size: 12" x 28". Framed size: 15 1/2" x 31 1/2". Provenance: Estate of the artist. Francis Chapin, affectionately called the “Dean of Chicago Painters” by his colleagues, was one of the city’s most popular and celebrated painters in his day. Born at the dawn of the 20th Century in Bristolville, Ohio, Chapin graduated from Washington & Jefferson College near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania before enrolling at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1922. He would set down deep roots at the Art Institute of Chicago, exhibiting there over 31 times between 1926 and 1951. In 1927 Chapin won the prestigious Bryan Lathrop Fellowship from the Art Institute – a prize that funded the artist’s yearlong study trip to Europe. Upon his return to the United States, Chapin decided to remain in Chicago, noting the freedom Chicago artists have in developing independently of the pressure to conform to pre-existing molds (as was experienced by artists in New York, for example). Chapin became a popular instructor at the Art Institute, teaching there from 1929 to 1947 and at the Art Institute’s summer art school in Saugatuck, Michigan (now called Oxbow) between 1934 – 1938 (he was the director of the school from 1941-1945). Chapin’s contemporaries among Chicago’s artists included such luminaries as Ivan Le Lorraine Albright...
Category

1930s Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Torre di Tiberio, Tower of Tiberius, Capri, Italy Landscape, Cleveland School
Located in Beachwood, OH
Clarence Holbrook Carter (American, 1904-2000) Torre di Tiberio, 1951 Oil on canvas Signed and dated lower left 21 x 18 inches 28.5 x 26.5 inches, framed Clarence Holbrook Carter ac...
Category

1950s Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Reclined Nude - Oil Paint by Antonio Feltrinelli - 1930s
Located in Roma, IT
Reclined Nude with Parrot is an original artwork realized by the Italian artist Antonio Feltrinelli in 1930s. Oil on canvas Beautiful and representative artwork depicting a reclin...
Category

1930s Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

New York Times, Modern Portrait Oil Painting by Philippe Henri Noyer
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Philippe Henri Noyer (French, 1917-1985) Title: New York times Year: circa 1966 Medium: Oil on Canvas, signed l.l. Image Size: 25.5 x 21.5 in. (64.77 x 54.61 cm) Frame Size...
Category

1960s Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Night in Paris - Oil Painting - Mid-20th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Paris is an orginal modern artwork realized in the mid-20th century by an unknown artist. Mixed colored painting on canvas. Unreadable signature on lower right. Titled on the lowe...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Inevitable Day – Birth of the Atom oil and tempera painting by Julio De Diego
Located in Hudson, NY
Julio De Diego’s Atomic Series paintings made an extraordinary statement regarding the shock and fear that accompanied the dawn of the nuclear age. In the artist’s own words, “Scientists were working secretly to develop formidable powers taken from the mysterious depths of the earth - with the power to make the earth useless! Then, the EXPLOSION! . . . we entered the Atomic Age, and from there the neo-Atomic war begins. Explosions fell everywhere and man kept on fighting, discovering he could fight without flesh.” To execute these works, De Diego developed a technique of using tempera underpainting before applying layer upon layer of pigmented oil glazes. The result is paintings with surfaces which were described as “bonelike” in quality. The forms seem to float freely, creating a three-dimensional visual effect. In the 1954 book The Modern Renaissance in American Art, author Ralph Pearson summarizes the series as “a fantastic interpretation of a weighty theme. Perhaps it is well to let fantasy and irony appear to lighten the devastating impact. By inverse action, they may in fact increase its weight.” Bibliography Art in America, April 1951, p.78 About this artists: Julio De Diego crafted a formidable persona within the artistic developments and political struggles of his time. The artist characterized his own work as “lyrical,” explaining, “through the years, the surrealists, the social-conscious painters and the others tried to adopt me, but I went my own way, good, bad or indifferent.” [1] His independence manifested early in life when de Diego left his parent’s home in Madrid, Spain, in adolescence following his father’s attempts to curtail his artistic aspirations. At the age of fifteen he held his first exhibition, set up within a gambling casino. He managed to acquire an apprenticeship in a studio producing scenery for Madrid’s operas, but moved from behind the curtains to the stage, trying his hand at acting and performing as an extra in the Ballet Russes’ Petrouchka with Nijinsky. He spent several years in the Spanish army, including a six-month stretch in the Rif War of 1920 in Northern Africa. His artistic career pushed ahead as he set off for Paris and became familiar with modernism’s forays into abstraction, surrealism, and cubism. The artist arrived in the U.S. in 1924 and settled in Chicago two years later. He established himself with a commission for the decoration of two chapels in St. Gregory’s Church. He also worked in fashion illustration, designed magazine covers and developed a popular laundry bag for the Hotel Sherman. De Diego began exhibiting through the Art Institute of Chicago in 1929, and participated in the annual Chicago Artists Exhibitions, Annual American Exhibitions, and International Water Color Exhibitions. He held a solo exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago in the summer of 1935. Though the artist’s career was advancing, his family life had deteriorated. In 1932 his first marriage dissolved, and the couple’s young daughter Kiriki was sent to live with friend Paul Hoffman. De Diego continued to develop his artistic vocabulary with a growing interest in Mexican art. He traveled throughout the country acquainting himself with the works of muralists such as Carlos Merida, and also began a collection of small native artifacts...
Category

1940s Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Masonite, Oil, Tempera

Modern figurative paintings for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Modern figurative 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 figurative 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, orange, yellow, purple and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Antonio Feltrinelli, Sunil Das, Suhas Roy, and Clarence Holbrook Carter. Frequently made by artists working with Paint, and Oil 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 Modern figurative paintings, so small editions measuring 1 inches across are also available. Prices for figurative paintings made by famous or emerging artists can differ depending on medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $1 and tops out at $743,750, while the average work sells for $2,376.

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