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Portrait Paintings For Sale
Period: 1940s
Period: 1920s
Oil Painting On Canvas Dated 1921, Military Portrait By Paul Leroy
By Paul Leroy
Located in Gavere, BE
"Oil Painting On Canvas Dated 1921, Military Portrait By Paul Leroy" Paul Alexandre A. LEROY (1860-1942), French school. Description: Very beautiful oil painting on canvas, represent...
Category

1920s French School Portrait Paintings

Materials

Gold Leaf

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 Portrait Paintings

Materials

Board, Oil

Portrait of Lady Sewing in an Interior - Scottish 40s Pointilliste oil painting
Located in London, GB
This superb Scottish 1940's portrait oil painting is by noted artist Murray Urquhart. He has been described by one of his sons as obsessed with painting, to the exclusion of most oth...
Category

1940s Post-Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

Woman in profile oil on canvas painting
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Joaquin Angulo Garcia (1905-1985) - Woman in profile - Oil on canvas Oil measurements 55x46 cm. Frameless.
Category

1940s Modern Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Vintage Signed Exhibited American Female Modernist Woman Sewing Framed Portrait
Located in Buffalo, NY
Nicely painted mid century modernist interior portrait oil painting by Sadie Skoletsky Rosenblum 1899-1987. Great color and composition. Framed.
Category

1940s Modern Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Portrait of Franklin Atwood Park, VP of Singer Mfg. Co.
Located in Soquel, CA
Portrait of Franklin Atwood Park, VP of Singer Mfg. Co. Stately portrait of Franklin Atwood Park by Arthur Trevethin Nowell (British, 1862-1940). Park is sitting for a classical por...
Category

1920s Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Stretcher Bars

Self Portrait
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Self Portrait, c. 1940s, oil on canvas, 14 ¼ x 12 1/4 inches, signed lower left, presented in a newer frame This work is part of our exhibition America Coast to Coast: Artists of th...
Category

1940s American Modern Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Art Deco ca. 1920. Portrait Of Lady With Bob Cut, Purple Dress And Fur Collar
Located in Firenze, IT
Portrait Of A Young Lady From The 1920s With Bob Cut And Fur Collar Oil on canvas. Early 20th frame in wood. This portrait reveals very stylish image of a young woman from the 1920s...
Category

1920s Art Deco Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Honoré Louis Umbricht, Portrait Of Marguerite Grosjean, Oil Painting
Located in Cheltenham, GB
This early 20th-century oil painting by French artist Honoré Louis Umbricht (1860-1943) depicts Marguerite Grosjean (b. 1895), the daughter of law of Alexandre Grosjean, the mayor of Besançon. Umbricht was a distinguished painter of genre scenes, landscapes, stills and portraits. Born in the attractive city of Obernai, in the Alsace region of North-East France, he had inspiration at his fingertips. Distant mountains, picturesque valleys, the sparkling Ehn River, and sprawling rural plains - a veritable smorgasbord of views. He honed his draughtsmanship under the tuition of his uncle, ‘Hess’, and was soon offered a scholarship by the German government to study in Munich. He refused, however, and headed for Paris to train under the highly-regarded Léon Bonnat (1833-1922). Bonnat’s studio was synonymous with success and he encouraged his students to paint freely and with expression. His own portraits were influenced by the Spanish masters, such as Diego Velázquez (1599-1660), and he extolled the virtues of this style. Umbricht was in fine company as Bonnat also trained John Singer Sargent, P. S. Krøyer, Erik Werenskiold, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Gustave Caillebotte among others. Following his training, the Paris Salon beckoned and the young Umbricht’s debut came in 1880. By 1884, he’d been awarded his first medal and several more would follow including at the Chicago and London Exhibition and the prestigious Exposition Universelle (1900). He was subsequently knighted with the Cross of the Order of Leopold. Midway through his career, the critics were alive with praise describing his portraits as “full of mastery” and with “very true and harmonious” colouring. In 1911, the newspaper ‘Le Rappel...
Category

1920s French School Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Virgin Mary tempera painting religious altarpiece
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Jordi Vila i Rufas (1924-2011) - Virgin Mary 1948 - Egg tempera Painted on gold metallic surface. Painting measurements 40x32 cm. Frame measurements 53x45 cm. Inactive xylophagous ga...
Category

1940s Contemporary Portrait Paintings

Materials

Egg Tempera

Post Office WPA Mural Study American Scene Social Realism Modern 20th Century
By Carlos Lopez
Located in New York, NY
Post Office WPA Mural Study American Scene Social Realism Modern 20th Century Carlos Lopez (1910-1953) "Bounty" WPA Mural Study for Michigan Post Office 19 ½ x 22 ½ inches Oil on B...
Category

1940s American Realist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Board, Oil

Man with a beard
Located in Genève, GE
Work on wood Black and gold wooden frame 77.5 x 56.5 x 3.5 cm Illegible signature "Valley landscape at the foot of the mountains" On the back of the work
Category

1940s Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

Antique American School WPA Modernist Black Figure Ashcan Dock View Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Oil on canvas. Framed. Signed.
Category

1920s Modern Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Spanish Beauty (Portrait of the Artist's Wife)
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Spanish Beauty (Portrait of the Artist's Wife) Oil on canvas, c. 1940's Signed upper right "A.G. Warshawsky" (see photo) According to the daughter-in-law of the artist, this painting...
Category

1940s Abstract Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

Antique American School Impressionist WPA Woman Ballerina Portrait Oil Painting
By Richard Hook
Located in Buffalo, NY
Nicely painted early 1900's oil painting. by Richard Hook. Great color and composition. Nicely framed.
Category

1940s Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Nude oil painting, large post-impressionist sitting nude by Pio Santini
Located in AIGNAN, FR
Large vintage nude portrait oil painting of a woman sitting. This is a gorgeous, colourful and exceptional nude oil painting by Pio Santini, signed in the lower right. A young woman...
Category

1940s Post-Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

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 Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

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 Portrait Paintings

Materials

Linen, Oil

Portrait of the sculptor Henri-Paul Rey (1904-1981)
Located in PARIS, FR
Suzanne Rey de Jaegher Paris, 1907 - Juvisy-sur-Orge, 1994 Portrait of the sculptor Henri-Paul Rey (1904-1981) Painting, oil on hardboard panel Signed Painting: 90.5 x 108 cm Modern ...
Category

1940s Art Deco Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

Early Modern American Portrait, Pennsylvania/Massachusetts, Frank Anderson Trapp
Located in Baltimore, MD
This is a very stylized and powerful portrait by the noted artist Frank Anderson Trapp. It is dated 1940, and is very much in the modern style of French painters Ferdinand Leger and...
Category

1940s American Modern Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

Ecole de Paris Mid 20th Century: Wartime Figures
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Paris: A Wartime Study of Figures Relaxing in Springtime by Henri Miloch (1898-1979) Unsigned watercolour, graphite and gouache painting on artist's paper, unframed Sheet: 12.25 x 9...
Category

1940s Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Gouache, Graphite, Watercolor

Grandpa by Hannes Fritz-München - Oil on canvas 77x91 cm
Located in Geneva, CH
Oil on canvas sold with frame Total size with frame 89x102 cm Hannes FRITZ-MÜNCHEN is an artist born in 1886 and died in 1981
Category

1920s Realist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

Young boy by Hannes Fritz-München - Oil on canvas 64x73 cm
Located in Geneva, CH
Oil on canvas sold with frame Total size with frame 78x87 cm Hannes FRITZ-MÜNCHEN is an artist born in 1886 and died in 1981
Category

1920s Realist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

French nudes painter - 20th century figure painting - Oil on canvas Paris
Located in Varmo, IT
French painter (early 20th century) - Female nude. 100 x 70 cm without frame, 109 x 79 cm with frame. Antique oil painting on canvas, in a gilded wooden frame (some cracks). Condi...
Category

1920s Art Nouveau Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Woman at Basin, Picasso Style Portrait of a Female Nude, American Modernist
Located in Doylestown, PA
"Woman by Basin" by Philadelphia born modernist and surrealist painter Leon Kelly, is a framed and matted portrait of a female nude. The 22.5" x 17.75" mixed media on artist board i...
Category

1920s American Modern Portrait Paintings

Materials

Mixed Media

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

1920s Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

Neapolitan Sea Captain Portrait Seascape Oil Painting
Located in Douglas Manor, NY
3703 Oil on artist board Set in a vintage wood frame Image size 13x9.5"
Category

1940s Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

John JG Blundell, Study Of Man In Profile, Oil Painting
Located in Cheltenham, GB
This mid-20th-century oil painting by English artist John JG Blundell (1927-2016) depicts a middle-aged man in profile. Every now and then we discover a special piece by an unknown ...
Category

1940s Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Antique Oil on Canvas Portrait of a Handsome Gaucho or Cowboy, American ca 1920
Located in Baltimore, MD
This is a very striking portrait of a young man with a sombrero and southwest attire that could be either be of a cowboy or gaucho from Mexico or further south. Purchased as a damag...
Category

1920s Post-Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

Harlem Renaissance Signed Ellis Original Abstract Portrait Framed Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist abstract painting. Oil on board, circa 1940. Signed. Image size 22L x 30H. Housed in a period modern frame.
Category

1940s Modern Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Large Antique American Bahamian Young Woman Portrait Signed Rare Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Really rare and well painted portrait by Christine Walters Martin (1895-1982). Oil on canvas. Framed in a nice modernist molding. Signed. ...
Category

1920s Modern Portrait 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 Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, 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 Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Portrait of a Fisherman - European Post Impressionist Antique Oil Painting
Located in Sevenoaks, GB
A beautiful 1920's French or possibly German post-impressionist oil on canvas portrait of a fisherman. Excellent quality work painted with quick, sketchy brush strokes against a mott...
Category

1920s Post-Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Portrait of Ludmilla Barta
Located in Genève, GE
Work on canvas Golden wooden frame 59.5 x 51.5 x 5.5 cm
Category

1940s Modern Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

Self Portrait - Mid 20th Century French Impressionist Oil on Panel Painting
Located in Sevenoaks, GB
A beautiful signed and dated 1943 French impressionist oil on panel self portrait by Charles Picart le Doux, who was friends with Picasso, Pissarro and many other Paris based artists...
Category

1940s Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Wood Panel, Oil

Antique French Impressionist Young Handsome Muscular Butcher Framed Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique French town view with a young handsome butcher. Amazingly framed. Oil on canvas. Framed. Signed.
Category

1940s Realist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Self Portrait
Located in East Grinstead, GB
Robert Buhler R.A. 1916-1989, was a English born Swiss painter where he spent most of his working life. Buhler also lived and painted in London, scenes of various landscapes, he als...
Category

1940s Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

Antique Neapolitan Female Portrait Oil Painting 1920
Located in Douglas Manor, NY
3933 Antique oil on canvas in an ornate period frame Image size 16.5x11"
Category

1920s Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

The Red-haired Woman
Located in Saint Amans des cots, FR
Oil on canvas by Louis BERTHOMME SAINT-ANDRE, France, 1940s. Young Red-haired Woman. with frame: 74x63 cm - 29.1x24.8 inches ; without frame: 61x50 cm - 24x19.7 inches. Format 12F. ...
Category

1940s Neo-Expressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

The Italian, Oil on Canvas, 1924
Located in Saint Amans des cots, FR
Oil on canvas by Charles PICART LE DOUX (1881-1959), France, 1924. The Italian. Very beautiful work where post-impressionism embellished with a few cubist touches form a harmonious w...
Category

1920s Post-Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Man with tie
Located in Genève, GE
Work on canvas Golden wooden frame 75 x 64 x 4.5 cm
Category

1940s Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

Portrait of a Girl in Nature - Mid 20th Century Oil by Michael D'Aguilar
Located in Watford, Hertfordshire
Baron Michael D`Aguilar was born on May 15, 1922 in London to Spanish parents. He was brother of the artist Paul D`Aguilar. He spent much of his early life in Spain. He studied at...
Category

1940s Post-Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

'Study of a Man', Paris, Flâneur, Boulevardier, Danish Post-Impressionist Oil
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Initialed upper right 'A.B.' for Axel Bentzen (Danish, 1893-1952) painted circa 1925. Axel Bentzen studied art as a child and, by the age of 14, was copying Old Master paintings at ...
Category

1920s Post-Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

A Naked Beauty Lying with her Fan
Located in St. Albans, GB
Léon Laurent Galand 1872 – 1960 Signed and dated 1928 bottom left Artwork Size: 25.75 x 36" (66 x 92cm) Artwork Size with Frame: 32.75 x 43" (83 x 109cm) Oil on Canvas Discounted ...
Category

1920s Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

Vintage Mid-Century Swedish Unframed Figurative Oil Painting - Affection
Located in Bristol, GB
AFFECTION Size: 41 x 33 cm Oil on board A tender and captivating mid-century figurative painting, executed in oil onto board and dated 1944. A female figure in a flowing red dress ...
Category

1940s Modern Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

The Night Passeth, the Day Cometh - British Post Impressionist art oil painting
Located in London, GB
This superb British exhibited Post Impressionist oil painting is by much sought after noted artist Harry Morley. It was painted in 1921 and exhibited that year at the Royal Academy L...
Category

1920s Post-Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

Handsome Tropical Exotic Male Dancer Square Jaw - Gay Interest
Located in Miami, FL
A dark and exotic looking male dancer with chiseled features wears a blue hat made of flowers and feathers is depicted in vibrant colors that evokes festiv...
Category

1940s Portrait Paintings

Materials

Paper, Pastel

'Portrait of the Artist, Victor Isbrand', Paris, Copenhagen, Morocco
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Signed upper right, 'Oda Lauritsen' for Oda Lauritsen Isbrand (Danish, 1904-1987) and dated, upper left, '1928'. A powerful oil portrait of the artist's husband-to-be, the notable D...
Category

1920s Post-Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Ink, Canvas, Oil

Mother and Child in Tender Moment - Female Illustrator Golden Age
Located in Miami, FL
Female Illustrator of the Golden Age, Ruth Mary Hallock, paints a sensitive, heartwarming portrait of Mother and Child in a post-impressionist style. Richly saturated hues and gestur...
Category

1920s Post-Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Tender Family Portrait - Mother and Child, Student of Robert Henri
Located in Miami, FL
Rendered with an alla prima paint application and quick gestural brushstrokes, "Tender Family Portrait - Mother and Child" reflects Margery Ryerson's deep knowledge of academic training. Reyerson studied with Robert Henri at The Art Students League. This painting is aesthetically pleasing and communicates a sense of maternal tenderness from a female artist. Margery Ryerson did a book on her former teacher. Henri's philosophical and practical musings were collected by former pupil Margery Ryerson and published as The Art Spirit (1923), a book that remained in print for several decades. Signed. Lower Left Margery Austen Ryerson (September 15, 1886 - 1989) was an American artist, painter, etcher, lithographer and watercolorist.Her work is included in the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum Biography Ryerson earned her Bachelor's of Fine Arts in English from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, after attending private schools in Morristown. She went on to study under Charles Hawthorne at the Cape Cod School of Art in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and with Robert Henri at the Art Students League in New York. During the years 1920 through 1940 Ryerson taught in New York settlement houses. There she got the privilege to paint and draw the children in their care. The subjects of these paintings were often the children of the underclass and immigrants. Her artistic technique and subjects gained universal recognition and appealed to many people. Miss Ryerson is most known for her portraits...
Category

1920s American Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

American Modernist "Chow Line" Ashcan School Rare California Surreal Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist interior scene of figures eating lunch by the shovel full. Really well painted and unusual scene. A rare early work by Justin Murray (1912 - 1987). Sign...
Category

1920s Modern Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Art Deco Portrait of a Lady - British 1920's art female portrait oil painting
By Leon Sprinck
Located in London, GB
This lovely Art Deco portrait oil painting is by noted British prolific society portrait artist Leon Sprinck. Painted in 1924 it is a half length portrait of a beautiful blonde woman, stood smiling at the artist/viewer, her head tilted to one side. We don't know the sitter's name or her relationship to the artist but her pose suggests a degree of familiarity and warmth between them. She is wearing a sleeveless black dress with beautiful Art Deco motifs, a long string of pearls...
Category

1920s Art Deco Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

"Mother and Daughter" Expressionist Portrait in Oil on Cardstock
Located in Soquel, CA
"Mother and Daughter" Expressionist Portrait in Oil on Cardstock Mid Century expressionist portrait by unknown artist Jane W. Grace (American, 20th C...
Category

1940s Expressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil, Cardboard

Portrait of a man with a mustache
Located in Genève, GE
Work on canvas Green wooden frame and gold borders 51 x 43 x 2.5 cm
Category

1920s Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

Clara - British Art Deco 20's female portrait landscape Newlyn oil painting
Located in London, GB
A superb portrait oil painting by noted British Newlyn school artist Harold Harvey. Painted in 1922 the sitter is Clara Matthews. A full length portrait, Clara is set in a landscape and holding a rose. In several of Harvey's portraits his female sitters...
Category

1920s Art Deco Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

Portrait Head and Shoulders of a Man - Jewish 20s art male portrait oil painting
Located in London, GB
Jacob Kramer is a Jewish artist who migrated with his family to Leeds to escape the Russian pogroms when Kramer was only eight. This portrait oil painting was painted when Kramer was...
Category

1920s Post-Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

Rare Early Antique American School Fauvist Woman Portrait Framed Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist portrait oil painting. Oil on canvas, lain to board. Framed. Very finely painted and a rare fauvist palette. No signature found.
Category

1920s Modern Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Shop Antique and Vintage Portrait Paintings

An elegant and sophisticated decorative touch in any living space, portrait paintings have remained popular throughout the years and are widely loved pieces of art for display in many homes today.

Portrait paintings are at least as old as ancient Egypt, where realistic, lifelike depictions of the recently deceased — commonly known as “mummy portraits” — were painted on wooden panels and affixed to mummies as part of the burial tradition.

For centuries, painters have used portraiture as a means of expressing a subject’s nobility, societal status and authority. Portraits were given as gifts in Renaissance Europe, and a portrait artist might have been commissioned to help mark a significant occasion such as a wedding or a promotion to high office. Prior to the advent of photography, which eventually replaced painted portraits as a quicker and more efficient way of capturing a person’s essence, the subject of a portrait had to sit for hours until the painter had finished. And during the 18th century in particular, if an artist commissioned for a portrait struggled with how to adequately memorialize and capture a subject’s likeness, sometimes a portrait painting wasn’t completed for up to a year.

Whether it’s part of the gallery-style approach to your living-room or dining-room walls or merely inspiration as you devise an eye-grabbing color scheme in your home, a portrait painting is a timeless decorative object for any interior. A landscape painting or sculpture might give you the kind of insight into a specific region of the world or a different culture that you can ascertain only through art. Similarly, when you take the time to learn about the subject of a portrait painting that you bring into your home — the sitter’s history, the relationship between the sitter and the artist should one exist, the story of how the portrait came to be — that work can become intensely personal in addition to its place as an object for an art-hungry corner of your apartment or house.

On 1stDibs, visit a vast collection of famous portrait paintings or works by emerging artists. Search by medium to find the right portrait paintings for your home in oil paint, synthetic resin paint and more. Find portrait paintings in a variety of styles, too, including contemporary, Impressionist and Pop art, or search by artist to find unique works created by painters such as Mark Beard, Steve Kaufman and Montse Valdés.

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