Skip to main content

Photorealist Paintings

PHOTOREALISM

A direct challenge to Abstract Expressionism’s subjectivity and gestural vigor, Photorealism was informed by the Pop predilection for representational imagery, popular iconography and tools, like projectors and airbrushes, borrowed from the worlds of commercial art and design.

Whether gritty or gleaming, the subject matter favored by Photorealists is instantly, if vaguely, familiar. It’s the stuff of yellowing snapshots and fugitive memories. The bland and the garish alike flicker between crystal-clear reality and dreamy illusion, inviting the viewer to contemplate a single moment rather than igniting a story.

The virtues of the “photo” in Photorealist art — infused as they are with dazzling qualities that are easily blurred in reproduction — are as elusive as they are allusive. “Much Photorealist painting has the vacuity of proportion and intent of an idiot-savant, long on look and short on personal timbre,” John Arthur wrote (rather admiringly) in the catalogue essay for Realism/Photorealism, a 1980 exhibition at the Philbrook Museum of Art, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. At its best, Photorealism is a perpetually paused tug-of-war between the sacred and the profane, the general and the specific, the record and the object.

Robert Bechtle invented Photorealism, in 1963,” says veteran art dealer Louis Meisel. “He took a picture of himself in the mirror with the car outside and then painted it. That was the first one.”

The meaning of the term, which began for Meisel as “a superficial way of defining and promoting a group of painters,” evolved with time, and the core group of Photorealists slowly expanded to include younger artists who traded Rolleiflexes for 60-megapixel cameras, using advanced digital technology to create paintings that transcend the detail of conventional photographs.

On 1stDibs, the collection of Photorealist art includes work by Richard Estes, Ralph Goings, Chuck Close, Audrey Flack, Charles Bell and others.

to
195
246
179
169
205
388
Overall Width
to
Overall Height
to
3
160
1,024
1
2
3
7
8
35
49
29
42,943
36,953
22,323
8,345
3,992
3,608
3,293
2,435
1,218
1,187
1,048
1,037
446
299
544
399
231
304
192
171
164
155
122
114
108
105
85
81
80
79
75
65
58
52
51
49
47
1,159
878
590
534
266
43
35
19
18
17
403
104
842
282
Style: Photorealist
This Week's Listings Only
'Loquats & Chinese Bowl' Contemporary photorealist still life painting, yellow
Located in Shrewsbury, Shropshire
Contemporary Still Life Painting 'Loquats & Chinese Bowl' by Barbara Vanhove. Inspired by the Dutch Masters. Barbara was born in Watermael-Boisfort in Belgium in 1974. She showed an...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Panel

Gardenia, Photorealist Flower Painting by Lowell Blair Nesbitt
Located in Long Island City, NY
This painting was created by American artist Lowell Blair Nesbitt. His most well known series, and perhaps his most beautiful and poetic, are the more than four hundred works he crea...
Category

1980s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Foggy Ocean
Located in Greenwich, CT
Chris Armstrong’s hypnotic, masterly and often photographic renderings and paintings of the sea, waves, light and the ocean in general are highly acclaimed by the art community. This...
Category

2010s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Oil

Equestrian rider
Located in CAMPO REAL, ES
In this oil painting with a landscape format, a young girl rides a horse, though her figure is partially cropped, giving full prominence to the animal. The horse moves slowly along a...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Gesso, Oil, Board

"White Lilies", Oleg Turchin, Oil on Canvas, 30" x 24", Photorealism Painting
Located in Dallas, TX
"White Lilies" by Oleg Turchin is a 30x24 inch oil painting on canvas. Turchin brings these flowers to life with each stroke of his brush. The technique w...
Category

2010s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Sorcerer Series: Beast Head, Spider Web
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Ian Hornak (1944-2002) Title: Sorcerer Series: Beast Head, Spiderweb Year: February 1969 Medium: Acrylic on Canvas Size: 72 x 48 inches Condition: Excellent Inscription: Sign...
Category

1960s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Vintage American School Signed Super Realist Kitchen Still Life Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist signed still life oil painting. Oil on board. Signed. Framed.
Category

1980s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Song of Zephyrus, Variation II
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Ian Hornak (1944-2002) Title: Song of Zephyrus, Variation II Year: 1979 Medium: Acrylic on Canvas Size: 71 x 45 inches Inscription: Signed, dated, and titled by the artist. P...
Category

1970s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

"Baker's Dozen", Oil Painting
Located in Denver, CO
Dianne L. Massey Dunbar's (US based) "Baker's Dozen" is an original, handmade oil painting that depicts twelve glazed donuts in a white pastry box. About the artist: When Dianne Massey...
Category

2010s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Wild Child - photorealist painting
Located in Burlingame, CA
'Wild Child' depicts a San Francisco home, painted brightly to reflect the free spirited city that is bathed in warm west coast sunlight with shadows cascad...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Coffee pink peonies, Painting, Oil on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
A composition of peonies made in delicate pink coffee shades.... The background is airy, light turquoise. The painting is ready to hang on the wall. The painting will be covered with...
Category

2010s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Oil

"1959 Red BMW Isetta 300" (2022) By Shan Fannin, Original Acrylic Painting
Located in Denver, CO
Shan Fannin's (US based) "1959 Red BMW Isetta 300" is an acrylic painting that depicts a red 1959 Red BMW Isetta 300. Born 1969 in California, artist Shannon “Shan” Fannin brings v...
Category

2010s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Acrylic, Wood, Board

Tres Bolsas de Papel en Diagonal, Photorealist Oil Painting by Gustavo Schmidt
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Gustavo Schmidt Title: Tres Bolsas de Papel en Diagonal Year: 2014 Medium: Oil on Canvas with Varnish, signed l.r. Size: 36 x 48 inches
Category

2010s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Varnish, Oil

Lowell Nesbitt, "Tulipa Hybrida, " Photorealist Painting, 1976
Located in Long Island City, NY
This painting was created by American artist Lowell Blair Nesbitt. His most well-known series, and perhaps his most beautiful and poetic, are the more than four hundred works he crea...
Category

1970s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"Beacon" Figurative Narrative
Located in San Antonio, TX
Samuel Wilson (Born 1986) San Antonio, TX Image Size: 24 x 60 Medium: Oil "Beacon" When you see them in person you will say UNBELIEVEABLE. From his series "Being Human" vs. "Human B...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Oil

Peonies, Painting, Oil on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
Peonies, 2023 year :: Painting :: Photorealism :: This piece comes with an official certificate of authenticity signed by the artist :: Ready to Hang: Yes :: Signed: Yes :: Signatur...
Category

2010s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Oil

Pecan Pie (large signed giclee on canvas)
Located in Aventura, FL
Giclee on canvas. Hand signed lower right by Doug Bloodworth. Hand numbered 17/150 lower right. Canvas size 44 x 55 inches. Canvas is not stretched. Artwork is in excellent co...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Unrestrained
Located in Atlanta, GA
This painting is in excellent condition and has only been shown in a gallery. Josep Borell was born in Alcoy (Alicante) on January 25th, 1969. He was born into a family without a tra...
Category

2010s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

'Orange Pumpkin' Photorealist painting of pumpkins, on a blue, teal cloth
Located in Shrewsbury, Shropshire
'Orange Pumpkin' Still Life painting with pumpkins on a blue and teal table cloth. Amazing in any interior setting. Lijftogt was born in Amsterdam and at the age of 19 decided to p...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Panel

Leisure - Blue, Figurative painting, Water, Summer, Swimingpool
Located in Baden-Baden, DE
Leisure, 2023 Oil on canvas 110 H x 132 W cm 43 5/16 H x 51 31/32 W inches Step into a tranquil moment captured in Carmen Belean's evocative painting, Leisure. This stunning artwor...
Category

2010s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Silver of the ocean 2., Painting, Acrylic on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
Silver of the ocean 2. Power of nature. The ocean ... deep, mysterious. He beckons you to unravel his secrets. ... Silver water, ocean, sun glare on the water, clear sky create an...
Category

2010s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Bird of Paradise, Painting, Oil on Wood Panel
Located in Yardley, PA
This is a small work, made with oil paints on a panel, my intention was to analyze the texture of one of my favorite flowers, the Bird of Paradise, the background is a landscape insp...
Category

2010s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Oil

New York - Photorealistic Sign Painting with Oil and Enamel on Canvas
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Ross Tamlin's unique photorealistic compositions merge traditional painting methods with modern industrial techniques to create captivating works of art. Using layers of oil and enamel paint, Tamlin creates an illusion of corrugation that adds depth and texture to his pieces. His use of industrial imagery and found objects is a nod to contemporary art, while his bold color palette and incorporation of text is a nod to the Pop Art movement. Tamlin is a full-time artist living in Kyogle, New South Wales, Australia. He began a Fine Arts Certificate course at Meadowbank TAFE, and then in Brisbane, he completed a graphic arts course before returning to Sydney. His signature corrugated iron paintings combine traditional art genres including still-life and landscape along with graphic art. Influenced by the De Stijl movement, these paintings represent a synthesis of art and function. Tamlin created a one-of-a-kind, vibrant, and colorful painting that measures 42 inches high by 40 inches wide. The sides of the canvas are painted in a continuation of the front, and the artwork is signed and dated by the artist on the front. It does not require framing, and a certificate of authenticity issued by the gallery is included. Free local delivery is available in the Los Angeles area, and affordable shipping is also available throughout the U.S. and worldwide Tamlin's innovative compositions are a stunning exploration of industrial materials, as he reimagines their purpose and function to create a new relationship between object and viewer. Through the use of bright colors and primary hues, overlaid with text and glazing, Tamlin creates a landscape that is uniquely his own. His work challenges the traditional notion of landscape painting, as he incorporates familiar places' names and text into his pieces, offering a contemporary take on this classic genre. “My idea was to transmute traditional Australian corrugated iron into works of modern art. The corrugation in the painting is a visual illusion created by layers of paint. Most people can connect with these panels because corrugated iron is a familiar sight both in suburbia and the bush. However, the sense of seeing the traditional is contradicted by the contemporary signage.” Tamlin's works are represented by Artspace Warehouse Los Angeles and are held in private collections worldwide, including Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Singapore, the USA, Switzerland, and France. Corporate collections include ING Bank, Babcock & Brown, Barclays Bank, Saville Hotel Group, Savills Property Group, Minter Ellison, Hai Win Shipping, Allkotes Pty Ltd, Blue Scope Steel Pty Ltd, Sieper & Co., A. P. Moller Maersk Group, Grant Thomas Management, Maridan Pty Ltd, Esprit Changeware Pty Ltd, Maritime Transport Ltd, London. REPRESENTATION Artspace Warehouse, Los Angeles, CA EDUCATION 1979 – 1981 NZ Certificate of Town Planning (3 Years) 1982 Emigrated to Australia, 1989 Australian citizenship 1985 Fine Arts Certificate (Meadowbank) (not completed) 1987 Graphic Arts Certificate, Brisbane 1988 – 1997 Paint/Colour Laboratory Technician SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2014 Soho Galleries, Sydney, Australia 2013 Soho Galleries, Sydney, Australia 2012 Paintbox Fineart, Canberra, ACT, “Melange” 2011 Jackman Gallery, St. Kilda, Melbourne, Australia 2010 Harrison Gallery, Paddington, Australia 2008 Rushcutters Bay Gallery, Sydney, Australia 2007 Paintbox Gallery, Braddon, Canberra, Australia 2007 Rushcutters Bay Gallery, Sydney, Australia 2006 Rushcutters Bay Gallery, Sydney, Australia 2005 Rushcutters Bay Gallery, Sydney, Australia 2005 Paintbox Gallery, Braddon, Canberra, Australia 2004 Rushcutters Bay Gallery, Sydney, Australia 2003 Rushcutters Bay Gallery, Sydney, Australia 2002 Rushcutters Bay Gallery, Sydney, Australia 2001 1+2 Artists Studio Gallery, Rozelle 2000 New Aesthetix Gallery, Camperdown, Sydney, Australia GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2024 Affordable Art Fair, New York, NY 2023 Artspace Warehouse, Los Angeles, CA 2021 “Urban Thoughts”, Artspace Warehouse, Los Angeles, CA 2021 Affordable Art Fair New York 2019 Affordable Art Fair Hong Kong 2019 Artspace Warehouse, Los Angeles, CA 2019 Affordable Art Fair New York 2019 Palm Springs Fine Art Fair, Palm Springs, CA 2018 AAF Hong Kong 2018 New York AAF, NY, USA 2018 Morris Art Prize; Gold Coast, Queensland 2018 Art Palm Springs Fine Art Fair, California 2017 SOHO Galleries, Sydney, group exhibitions 2017 Gallery Beneath, Moolloolaba, Queensland, group show 2017 Whistler Contemporary Gallery, Whistler, BC, Canada 2017 Artspace Warehouse Gallery, Los Angeles, USA 2017 AAF New York, NY, USA 2017 AAF Battersea, London, UK 2017 Palm Springs Art Fair, Palm Springs, California USA, represented by Artspace Warehouse 2016 Stockholm AAF 2016, Sweden, represented by Retrospect Planet 2016 Artspace Warehouse Gallery, Los Angeles, USA 2016 Kunstwarenhaus Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland 2016 SOHO Galleries, Sydney, NSW, Australia 2016 Art Hamptons, represented by Artspace Warehouse LA 2016 AAF Hong Kong 2016 New York AAF, USA, represented by Artspace Warehouse LA 2016 Asia Contemporary, Hong Kong 2016 Palm Springs Fine Art Fair, USA, represented by 2016 Artspace Warehouse 2016 Whistler Contemporary Gallery, Whistler, Canada 2016 Caldera Art Exhibition, Murwillumbah, Northern NSW 2015 AAF Singapore 2015 Artspace Warehouse, Los Angeles, USA 2015 Palm Springs Fine Art Fair, USA, represented by 2015 Artspace Warehouse 2015 London AAF, Battersea, March, represented by 2015 Retrospect Planet 2015 Asian Contemporary, Hong Kong, March, represented by Retrospect Planet 2015 New York AAF, USA, represented by Artspace Warehouse LA 2015 Hong Kong AAF, May, represented by Retrospect Planet 2015 Kunstwarenhaus Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland 2015 Lethbridge Gallery, Paddington, Brisbane 2015 Stockholm AAF 2015, Sweden represented by Retrospect Planet 2015 Group Show SOHO Galleries, “Realism” Sydney, NSW 2015 Singapore AAF 2015 Hamburg AAF, Germany 2015 Mosman Art Prize, Sydney, 2014 Brussels AAF, Belgium, represented by Retrospect Planet 2014 Milan AAF, Italy, represented by Retrospect Planet 2014 London AAF, UK, represented by Retrospect Planet 2014 Hong Kong AAF; represented by Retrospect Planet 2014 Asian Contemporary (Hong Kong) 2014 Singapore AAF (May) 2014 Stockholm AAF, Sweden (October) 2014 Amsterdam AAF, Netherlands 2014 Hamburg AAF, Germany 2014 Singapore AAF, Singapore 2014 Northern Rivers Kyogle Pop Up exhibition (November) 2014 Soho Galleries, Xmas group exhibition 2013 Brussels AAF, Belgium, represented by Retrospect Planet 2013 Milan AAF, Italy, represented by Retrospect Planet 2013 Hong Kong AAF, Hong Kong, represented by Retrospect Planet 2013 Asian Contemporary Art Show,JW Marriott Hotel, Hong Kong 2013 Melbourne Art Fair, represented by Manyung Gallery, 2013 A Book about Death (international travelling art show) Tweed Art Gallery, Murwillumbah, NSW 2013 Hong Kong Contemporary Art Show, Marriott Hotel, Hong Kong 2013 Stockholm AAF, Stockholm, Sweden 2013 Amsterdam AAF, Amsterdam, Holland 2013 Hamburg AAF , Hamburg, Germany 2013 Singapore AAF, Singapore 2013 Seattle AAF, Seattle, USA, represented by Manyung Gallery 2013 Whistler Village Art Gallery, Whistler, BC, Canada 2012 Redsea Gallery,Group Exhibition, Brisbane 2012 Toowoomba Grammar School Art Show, Toowoomba, QLD 2012 Brussels AAF, Belgium, represented by Retrospect Gallery 2012 New York AAF, New York, USA 2012 Envie D’Art, Paris, France & London UK 2012 Art Melbourne AAF, Melbourne 2012 Hamptons Art Fair, July, New York, USA 2012 Wilson Art Prize, Lismore, Northern NSW 2012 Shanghai Art Fair, China, October 2012 Toronto International Art Fair, Canada 2012 Singapore Affordable Art Fair, represented by Retrospect Gallery 2012 Hamburg Affordable Art Fair, Germany 2012 Border Art...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Enamel

"1965 Ford Mustang Grill - Dynasty Green" by Shan Fannin, Acrylic Painting
Located in Denver, CO
"1965 Ford Mustang Grill - Dynasty Green" by Shan Fannin is an original acrylic painting depicting a close up view of a Mustang ornament cast in blue light. Born 1969 in California,...
Category

2010s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Cotton Canvas, Acrylic

Tulips III, Painting, Oil on Wood Panel
Located in Yardley, PA
Original artwork by Carlos Bruscianelli, Venezuelan Realist painter based in USA. This painting is my fourth consecutive floral work, part of my new collection, something differen...
Category

2010s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Oil

Camellia Branch, colorful, still life, superealsim
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Painted directly from live observation, Doug Newton’s hyper-real paintings explore translucency, reflections and luminosity, and dazzle the viewer with ...
Category

2010s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Antique American Southern School Signed Moonshine Corn Whiskey Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American realist still life of corn and a bottle of corn whiskey. Oil on board. Signed. Framed. Image size, 5L x 7H.
Category

1890s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Magenta Iris, Photorealist Oil on Canvas Painting by Daniel Maffia
Located in Long Island City, NY
Daniel Maffia, French (1937 - ) - Magenta Iris, Year: 1985, Medium: Oil on Canvas, Size: 30.25 x 24 in. (76.84 x 60.96 cm)
Category

1980s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Oil

The Banyan Tree: Variation VI (Jamaica)
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Ian Hornak (1944-2002) Title: The Banyan Tree: Variation VI (Jamaica) Year: 1981 Medium: Acrylic on Canvas Size: 42 x 60 inches Condition: Excellen...
Category

1980s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

"Masked" (2023) by Pegah Samaie, Original Oil Painting, Female Portrait
Located in Denver, CO
Pegah Samaie's (CA based) "Masked" is an original, handmade oil painting that depicts a woman's face with floating fabric flowers that partially obstruct her features About the Arti...
Category

2010s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Panel

Martin Heade’s Window, Ian Hornak
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Ian Hornak (1944-2002) Title: Martin Heade’s Window Year: 1980 Medium: Acrylic on Canvas Size: 48 x 36 inches Condition: Excellent Inscription: Signed recto; signed, dated, and titled by the artist, verso. Provenance: Fischbach Gallery, New York, NY; Private Collection, MI Notes: A seminal example of Hornak’s Photorealist multiple exposure landscape...
Category

1980s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

American School Super Realist Still Life Surreal Original Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Vintage American modernist still life oil painting. Oil on canvas. Signed verso.
Category

1970s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Scarlet Blue Macaw, Ian Hornak
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Ian Hornak (1944-2002) Title: Scarlet Blue Macaw Year: 1992 Medium: Acrylic on Panel with artist painted frame Size: 58.5 x 42.2 inches Condition: E...
Category

1990s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Acrylic, Wood Panel

Mid Century Portrait of Raymond L. Hanson, Large-Scale Photo-Realist Figurative
By W.S. Bylityplis
Located in Soquel, CA
Mid Century Portrait of Raymond L. Hanson, Large-Scale Photo-Realist Figurative Refined and austere large-scale by W.S. Bylityplis (American/France, 19th-20th Century), dated 1963 with California crest. This photo-realistic portrait depicts the subject, Raymond L. Hanson, with impressive realistic detail. Signed and dated lower right corner. Unframed. Measures: 48"H x 36"W. About the artist: W.S. Bylityplis (American/France, 19th-20th Century), was an illustration and portrait artist during the 19th and early 20th century. About the subject: Portrait subject Raymond Hanson, was a lawyer whom establish the Hanson...
Category

1960s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Stretcher Bars

Original James Tormey Photo Realist Oil Painting Still Life Candy Bowl Pop Art
Located in Surfside, FL
James Tormey (American, 1938-2017) "Candyland (Mixed Bowl)" on table with white tablecloth cover. Oil Painting on Canvas. Hand signed lower right. Measures approx. - 32" high x 37" wide, total with frame - 37 1/2" high x 42 1/2" wide. James J Tormey, NYC artist, He was born in Brooklyn in 1938. As a young man he moved to Manhattan where he lived and worked for more than 60 years. James Tormey studied at the Pratt Institute, in Brooklyn, and at Columbia University and worked in advertising for several years while he painted part time. In the 1960s he supported himself as a photographer, covering openings and events for the Museum of Modern Art, in New York City. For many years he was represented by the Madison Avenue Gallery, in New York City, where he had numerous one-man shows. He has also exhibited in Japan and Germany. The artist makes his home in Manhattan and is represented by the Uptown Gallery, also in New York City. James Tormey paints still lifes of traditional subject matter: fruit, vegetables, or eggs appear in bowls or on surfaces illuminated by powerful directional light. Tormey builds stronger and more precise meaning into his work by exploring how the backgrounds and settings for his still lifes can convey particular ideas. In his recent work, for instance, he painted a series of images in which fruit—a traditional still-life subject—is placed in architectural settings or frames that we usually associate with religious imagery. In Icon, for instance, the artist painted a red cabbage and placed it inside a Renaissance-style frame that he built and decorated himself. Instead of being presented with a saint or a Madonna within such a context, we are given a fully realized, but quite ordinary, vegetable. Tormey’s painting technique involves great care from the beginning. He works in his apartment in Manhattan’s Upper West Side in a meticulously clean space equipped with a very solid easel and a large glass palette on a painting table. For reference he uses photographs he has taken of still-life setups in conjunction with pictures of architectural or other settings he has collected over the years. “I start with a careful graphite drawing right on the canvas,” he explains. These days he uses lightweight cotton duck, although much of his earlier work was done on smoother surfaces. Once the graphite line is established, the artist makes a thin monochrome version of the image with a dull green. “I don’t add anything to the paint other than turpentine,” he explains. “I don’t use oil or glazing mediums because I don’t like shine. The turpentine dulls the paint, which suits what I’m doing.” Once the green layer has dried, the artist applies a second thin layer in a warm brown using burnt sienna or burnt umber. “In all these stages I’m working from dark to light,” he says, “so that I’m always getting a rendered, three-dimensional image.” Tormey works on two or three paintings at a time to allow for sufficient drying time between layers. “I also like the way one painting seems to talk to another,” he says. “It makes for a richer process.” Once he starts working in full color on the image, he continues slowly, applying many thin layers and gradually achieving subtle tonal and color shifts until his forms burst with three-dimensional life. “I work with a very dry brush,” explains the artist. Many of Tormey’s paintings contain dark backgrounds, some of which are pure black—something that can present its own technical problems. “I don’t want those backgrounds to feel present,” he says. “I want them to simply drop out.” Because he doesn’t want any shine on his work he doesn’t use varnish. It’s not surprising that Tormey’s work, with its heavy contrasts and smooth tonal transitions, is strongly influenced by photography. Tormey worked as a photographer for some years, and when he began doing still lifes he often photographed them against black backgrounds. His work was also published as fine art cards, posters, and fine art Giclee prints. He pioneered the "larger-than-life" still-life with his work combining traditional subject matter with a contemporary interpretation that produces startling images of heroic proportions. Light reflected and transmitted lends the natural objects, which are the subjects, a quality which may evoke in the viewer clarity of vision and a delight in the forms of the natural world around them. His work conveys a powerful positive philosophy and he once said "I believe the only way we can come to terms with the world is if we look at it as it really is." He believed that artists should take responsibility for the meaning their works carry and stated that "there are definite ideas behind my paintings". He studied at Pratt Institute and Columbia University and worked in advertising and as a photographer before turning to full-time painting. His paintings were exhibited in dozens of galleries around the country, in Germany and Japan and are now seen in numerous public and private collections. While he was not officially part of the Photorealism art...
Category

20th Century Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Slains Castle with North Sea, stone castle, seascape, Scotland
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Oil on canvas, high detail, realistic, Scotland This original oil on canvas is a signature painting of Slains Castle, in Northeast Scotland by Agnes Murray, who is notable for captu...
Category

2010s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Childhood of Hephaestus, Variation V
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Ian Hornak (1944-2002) Title: Childhood of Hephaestus, Variation V Year: 1985 Medium: Acrylic on Canvas, with Artist Painted Frame Size: 47 x 59 in...
Category

1980s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

"Engine 101" Dalmatian NYFD Super realism Oil on Canvas, 2020 Fantasy painting
Located in Southampton, NY
When viewing a painting by Matthew Grabelsky you can immediately see the great technical skill required, the sense of humor and the concept of the pa...
Category

2010s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Girl
By Yigal Ozeri
Located in Jerusalem, IL
A breathtaking oil painting by Israeli Born-New York based artist Yigal Ozeri. This hyperrealist portrait of a young girl staring back at her viewer, is a classic example of the arti...
Category

1990s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Manon Cleary "Rat"
Located in Washington, DC
Photorealist oil painting by Manon Cleary (1942-2011). Painting is signed on reverse "Cleary". Painting is stretched on aluminum stretcher and dates to the 1990s. Manon Cleary had a remarkable ability to draw and paint with photographic fidelity, but she was also known as a charismatic teacher at the University of the District of Columbia and as a free spirit whose exuberant life may have been her most enduring work of art. Since the 1970s, Ms. Cleary had been at the center of a group of artists in Adams Morgan. She exhibited her meticulous artwork throughout the city and around the world, but she also became known for her striking presence, her colorful love life and the rats she kept as pets. As an artist, Ms. Cleary borrowed classical techniques from her deep study of Renaissance masters to create paintings and drawings memorable for their frank realism and sometimes disturbing themes. In addition to her many nude self-portraits, Ms. Cleary made erotically charged paintings of flowers. She took inspiration from a painful personal history in a series of works depicting the terror of rape and, in later years, of not being able to breathe without mechanical assistance. Critics considered her a leading figurative artist of the photo-realist school, in which painters render their subjects with camera-like precision. In fact, Ms. Cleary occasionally won awards for photography when adjudicators didn’t realize her works were free-hand creations. She was “widely acknowledged to be among the best, if not the best, of the city’s figurative painters,” Washington Post critic Michael O’Sullivan wrote in 2006. “There is a tension between the cool, clinical detachment of photography and painting’s warm idealization of form.” Ms. Cleary exhibited her art in galleries and museums from Moscow to Paris to Hickory, N.C., but Washington was her home for the past 42 years. In 1974, she settled in the decrepit Beverly Court apartments on Columbia Road NW, where a coterie of artists soon grew up around her. She painted her walls purple, and her fourth-floor apartment — even with the pet rats — became something of a bohemian salon. “She was a star,” painter Judy Jashinsky told the Washington City Paper in 2004. “She was stunning, beautiful; long, brownish–black hair; real thin; wore . . . little sundresses and sandals. She was just very cool, and there was always a crowd around her.” Ms. Cleary had a long list of male admirers, including several whose confrontational attempts at “performance art” led to their arrests. She had a brief marriage in 1981 to a Danish artist known as Tommy — “just Tommy,” Ms. Cleary said — whom she divorced in less than a year. As a kind of graphic homage to her various lovers, Ms. Cleary made a series of intimately revealing portraits that were featured years later on the HBO program “Real Sex.” She met her second husband after a gallery opening in Baltimore. By way of introduction, Kijek, a dancer, stripped naked at a crowded party, walked up to Ms. Cleary and said, “Wouldn’t you like me to pose for you?” They were married in 2001. In spite of her unconventional life, Ms. Cleary was more than a mere provocateur. After a day of teaching at UDC, she would return to her studio, with its windows painted over to block out sunlight, and work late into the night, with a bottle of Dr Pepper at her side. She took nude photographs of herself from every angle, then painstakingly created lifelike images that seemed alive with the warmth of human flesh. After studying in Rome in her youth, she developed what she called “an obsession” with Caravaggio, an iconoclastic painter who lived from 1573 to 1610. She often copied paintings at the National Gallery of Art and, in her own work, blended Renaissance styles with a distinctly modern sensibility. Manon Catherine Cleary was born Nov. 14, 1942, in St. Louis. Her father was a doctor, and her identical twin sister, Shirley Cleary-Cooper, is an artist in Helena, Mont. She was a 1964 graduate of Washington University in her home town and, for the rest of her life, was proud of having been a member of the Pi Phi...
Category

1990s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"Blue Sprinkle" Oil Painting
Located in Denver, CO
Gregory Block's (US based) "Blue Sprinkle" is an original, handmade oil painting that depicts a donut covered with blue glaze and rainbow sprinkles. Gregory was born in Kansas City...
Category

2010s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

Curious Cloud
Located in Atlanta, GA
Drawn to art since childhood, Jose Antonio Fuentes began his artistic career at a young age in the 1960s. At nine years old the Spanish born artist sold drawings to his neighbors and exchanged paintings for gifts with his classmates. An academically gifted student, he ranked higher than his peers and joined older classmates to enter the baccalaureate program at the age of ten. There he completed additional advanced arts courses. In 1970 Fuentes featured in his first group exhibitions in local and provincial cultural centers. Unfortunately, his academic and artistic career was truncated when his father abruptly left his family, leaving the family in financial difficulty. At the age of fourteen, Fuentes was forced to leave school to begin working and support his family. After years of both working and saving money, in 1978 Fuentes garnered enough savings to enroll in school at La Marina in Spain, where he was first in his class. Whenever circumstances allowed he continued to draw and paint, participate in art contests, and visit all nearby museums and artists' workshops. Fuentes strongly believes that observing other cultures, landscapes, and people is vital to a painter’s understanding of how to portray the world. In the early 1980s Fuentes married and began a family. The domestic and financial obligations to his young family prevented the free time necessary to continue painting. Fuentes notes that the postponement of his artistic career to raise his family is never a source of regret as there is nothing more fulfilling than to see his children grow. As his children grew older in age and required less of Fuentes’s time in the 1990s, he was able to travel more extensively and resumed his cultural tours. He visited cities in Spain such as Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, and Bilbao, and spend countless hours in acclaimed museums and cultural centers including El Prado, Thyssen, Conde Duque, the Sorolla Museum, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, the Picasso museum, the Joan Miro Foundation, and the Tapies Foundation in Barcelona. He also extensively attended exhibition openings, artist talks, conferences and workshops where he learns from masters of realism including Toral, Naranjo, Antonio Lopez, Munoz Vera, Macarron, Leon Olmo, Claudio Bravo, Lapayese, Perez Villalta...
Category

2010s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Primeval Landscape, Ian Hornak
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Ian Hornak (1944-2002) Title: Primeval Landscape Year: 1985 Medium: Acrylic on double layered Masonite Size: 16 x 19 inches Condition: Good Provenance: Estate of Ian Hornak, ...
Category

1980s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Acrylic, Masonite

Calls in the Manitou Passage - Photorealistic Painting of Bald Eagle Screeching
Located in Chicago, IL
A male bald eagle screeches to be heard above the stormy backdrop of Lake Michigan's Manitou Passage in Northern Michigan. Extraordinarily painted with such realistic detail, this majestic bird's feathers beg for the viewer to come in for a closer look at its plumage. The piece is framed in a simple black wooden frame measuring 31 x 51 inches. Rick Pas Calls in the Manitou Passage acrylic on panel 28h x 48w in 71.12h x 121.92w cm RPA022 ARTIST'S STATEMENT Creating is an addiction. With all the highs and lows you would expect. I am interested in the surface textures and creating paintings that portray them in realistic detail. Hopefully a viewer will feel they can run a hand over the feathers and moss, or grasp an object in the painting. This detail is usually composed in an abstract design. The design can occur naturally or be arranged by me. RESUME Rick Pas b. 1958, Flint, MI Education Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI - Bachelor of Fine Arts - Pearson Art Scholarship SELECTED EXHIBITIONS 2022 Gallery Victor Armendariz, Chicago, IL, Take Flight William Baczek Fine Arts, Animal Kingdom & Winter National Museum of Wildlife Art, Jackson, WY, Western Visions Lovetts Gallery, Tulsa, OK, Braveheart 2021 William Baczek Fine Arts, 25th Anniversary Exhibition 2020 William Baczek Fine Arts, Landscape Exhibition & Summer Gallery Victor Armendariz, The Palette of Pride 2019 The James Museum, St. Petersburg, FL, Environmental Impact II Lovetts Gallery, Realism, Reveries, & Rhapsody Gallery Victor Armendariz, New Work 2018 Gallery Victor Armendariz, Front and Center Corporate Art Advisory, Chicago, IL, Portraits and Places: Redefining Realism William Baczek Fine Arts, Animal Kingdom Lovetts Gallery, Rear Window 2017 William Baczek Fine Arts, Winter, Animal Kingdom, Summer Lovetts Gallery, The Good, the Bad, and the WTF? & Red 2016 William Baczek Fine Arts, 20th Anniversary Exhibition, Summer, & Landscape Exhibition Monroe Community Church, Grand Rapids, MI, ArtPrize Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, IL, Group Exhibition Lovetts Gallery, Cauldron 2015 William Baczek Fine Arts, Landscape Exhibition & Summer JW Marriott, Grand Rapids, MI, ArtPrize Handwright Gallery, New Canaan, CT, Small Works Ann Brierly Gallery, Winnetka, IL, Ann Nathan Gallery Satellite Exhibition RJD Gallery, Sag Harbor, NY, A Magical Menagerie 2014 William Baczek Fine Arts, Spring & Landscape Exhibition 2013 Canton Museum of Art, Canton, OH, Environmental Impact Gallery Project, Ann Arbor, MI, Interspecies 2012 Alden B. Dow Museum of Science & Art, Midland, MI, The Nature of Art: An Invitational Exhibition William Baczek Fine Arts, Landscape Exhibition & Summer Exhibition Ann Nathan Gallery, Group Exhibition Twisted Fish Gallery, Elk Rapids, MI, A Natural Selection Dennos Museum Center, Traverse City, MI, Art and the Animal Gallery Project, Extremes & Umvelt 2010 William Baczek Fine Arts, Landscape Exhibition & Summer Group Exhibition Crooked Tree Arts Center, Petoskey, MI, Juried Fine Arts Exhibition San Diego Natural History Museum, San Diego, CA, Art and the Animal 2009 West Michigan Center for Arts & Technology, Grand Rapids, MI, ArtPrize William Baczek Fine Arts, Landscape Exhibition Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center, Birmingham, MI, Michigan Fine Arts Competition Gallery Project, Shrines and Altars Ann Nathan Gallery, Fall Group Exhibition 2008 William Baczek Fine Arts, Landscape Exhibition & Summer Group Exhibition Gallery Project, Animal Intelligence Holland Area Arts Council, Holland, MI, The Natural Eye Neville Public Museum, Green Bay, WI, Art and the Animal 2007 William Baczek Fine Arts, Landscape Exhibition & Summer Group Exhibition 2006 WARD Gallery, Harbor Springs, MI, New Dimensions in the Natural World Bennington Center for the Arts, Bennington, VT, Art and the Animal Gallery Project, Nature Reperceived 2005 Light Street Gallery, Baltimore, MD, Animal House Bennington Center for the Arts, Bennington, VT, Art of the Animal Kingdom The Wildlife Experience, Parker, CO, AMERICAN BIRDS: A Flight Through Time WARD Gallery, Summer Celebration 2004 Fraser Gallery, Washington, DC, Contemporary Realism Hiram Blauvelt Art Museum, Oradell, NJ, Art and the Animal Washington Street Gallery, Ann Arbor, MI, Fifth Year Celebration 2003 Fraser Gallery, Georgetown International 2001 Sioux City...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Acrylic, Panel

American School Modernist Trompe L'Oeil Still Life Realist Large Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist realist still life oil painting. Oil on canvas. Signed verso.
Category

1970s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"Luminalia" Oil Painting
Located in Denver, CO
Mia Bergeron's (US based) "Luminalia" is an original, handmade oil painting that depicts a candle with a dusky evening sky. Mia Bergeron's interest in art was cultivated early on, b...
Category

2010s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Panel, Wax

Settling Into Dusk - Calm Seascape of Crashing Waves Painting
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Steven Nederveen's art is a testament to the complex and ever-evolving relationship between humans and nature. His vivid nature scenes, often seemingly uplifting and idyllic, also re...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Mixed Media, Acrylic, Wood Panel

"Nostalgic (Hakosuka)" – Realism Painting of a Classic Nissan Skyline GT-R
Located in Denver, CO
Shan Fannin’s “Nostalgic (Hakosuka)” is a 2025 acrylic painting on panel measuring 42 x 30 inches (depth 1 inch), offered unframed but ready to hang. This hyper-realistic work celebr...
Category

2010s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Cotton Canvas, Acrylic

China - 21st Century, Flag, Red, Pink, White, Great Wall of China, Pagoda
Located in Baden-Baden, DE
China, 2010 Oil on canvas (Signed, front right middle) 14.96 H x 18.11 W in. 38 H x 46 W cm. The contemporary society is seen as an "extra-wrapped" society by the artist Mihai Flore...
Category

2010s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Rigging the Line
Located in Burlingame, CA
The subtle and brilliant work of art is meticulously hand painted by Lynette Cook, who realistically depicts scenes that she sees during her morning walks through the city, yet her paintings tend to reveal more than what initially meets the eye. Exterior facades of urban dwellings that are both architecturally complex — and mundane — are the focus of Cook’s Shadows and Silhouettes series of contemporary photorealistic acrylic paintings that capture San Francisco and other Northern California towns and convey the stories of their inhabitants. The paintings often feature the rhythmic dark-light dance of light traveling through wrought-iron balconies and inner-city fire escapes, and captures that which is universal and connects all people in their elemental desire to create a sense of home. 'Rigging the Line...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Hampshire Summer Garden, Dylan Lloyd, Original Floral Garden Landscape Painting
Located in Deddington, GB
Hampshire Summer Garden by Dylan Lloyd [2021] original Oil paint on canvas Image size: H:50 cm x W:40 cm Complete Size of Unframed Work: H:50 cm x W:40 ...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"Mollie's Spoons", Oil Painting
Located in Denver, CO
Scott Fraser's "Mollie's Spoons" is an oil painting created in 2020 that depicts varying fine silver spoons scattered across a warm grey surface. About ...
Category

2010s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

The Winter Iris, Large Flower Painting by Lowell Nesbitt
Located in Long Island City, NY
Lowell Blair Nesbitt's depiction of a snowy-white iris framed by a slate-colored background and border is reflective of the artist's realistic style. Artist: Lowell Blair Nesbitt, ...
Category

1980s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

The Angel Concert, Variation II
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Ian Hornak (1944-2002) Title: The Angel Concert, Variation II Year: 1979 Medium: Acrylic on Canvas Size: 36 x 48 inches Condition: Excellent Inscription: Signed, dated, and t...
Category

1970s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Cherry Bubble. Medium-Sized Contemporary Pop Oil Painting in Glossy Pink Tones
Located in FISTERRA, ES
At Casa das Peritas Gallery, we operate globally with the same attention and proximity we extend to our local neighbors. From our corner of the Galician coast, we present a carefully...
Category

2010s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Contemporary 'Still Life with Limes' Painting of glass, fruit and candle
By Paco Yuste
Located in Shrewsbury, Shropshire
Contemporary 'Still Life with Limes' Painting of glass, fruit and candle with drapery. Photorealism at its very best! From his childhood he felt great predilection for drawing. In fact drawing was his favourite pastime. When he was 12 years old his parents moved to Brussels, and he joined an international college where his artistic interests for drawing and music woke up. In this period he passed most of his free time drawing...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Panel

"Bowl of Pears, " Large Acrylic Painting on Canvas by Charles Wildbank
Located in Long Island City, NY
This acrylic painting was created in a photorealistic style by American artist Charles Wildbank. It measures 48 x 60 inches and is signed in the lower left hand corner. It is in exce...
Category

1990s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Maybe, Painting, Acrylic on Wood Panel
Located in Yardley, PA
The woman on my painting is enjoying a painting by Roy Lichtenstein. :: Painting :: Photorealism :: This piece comes with an official certificate of authenticity signed by the artist...
Category

2010s Photorealist Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Photorealist paintings for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Photorealist 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 paintings created in this style to introduce contrast in an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include elements of blue, purple, green, pink and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Gregory Block, James Zamora, Ian Hornak, and Kathleen Keifer. 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 Photorealist paintings, so small editions measuring 3.5 inches across are also available. Prices for 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 $125 and tops out at $585,000, while the average work sells for $3,772.

Recently Viewed

View All