Skip to main content

Realist Black and White Photography

REALIST STYLE

Realist art attempts to portray its subject matter without artifice. Similar to naturalism, authentic realist paintings and prints see an integration of true-to-life colors, meticulous detail and linear perspectives for accurate portrayals of the world. 

Work that involves illusionistic techniques of realism dates back to the classical world, such as the deceptive trompe l’oeil used since ancient Greece. Art like this became especially popular in the 17th century when Dutch artists like Evert Collier painted objects that appeared real enough to touch. Realism as an artistic movement, however, usually refers to 19th-century French realist artists such as Honoré Daumier exploring social and political issues in biting lithographic prints, while the likes of Gustave Courbet and Jean-François Millet painting people — particularly the working class — with all their imperfections, navigating everyday urban life. This was a response to the dominant academic art tradition that favored grand paintings of myth and history. 

By the turn of the 20th century, European artists, such as the Pre-Raphaelites, were experimenting with nearly photographic realism in their work, as seen in the attention to every botanical attribute of the flowers surrounding the drowned Ophelia painted by English artist John Everett Millais.

Although abstraction was the guiding style of 20th-century art, the realism trend in American modern art endured in Edward Hopper, Andrew Wyeth and other artists’ depictions of the complexities of the human experience. In the late 1960s, Photorealism emerged with artists like Chuck Close and Richard Estes giving their paintings the precision of a frame of film.

Contemporary artists such as Jordan Casteel, LaToya Ruby Frazier and Aliza Nisenbaum are now using the unvarnished realist approach for honest representations of people and their worlds. Alongside traditional mediums, technology such as virtual reality, artificial intelligence and immersive installations are helping artists create new sensations of realism in art.

​​Find authentic realist paintings, sculptures, prints and more art on 1stDibs.

to
42
76
60
27
29
14
Overall Width
to
Overall Height
to
1
148
57
14
3
22
24
12
32
19
5
13,679
5,564
1,643
717
482
480
280
72
46
17
9
7
6
132
68
6
102
48
37
30
30
26
23
22
18
18
17
16
15
15
15
13
12
12
12
12
94
87
54
48
45
27
25
9
8
7
34
46
162
44
Style: Realist
Grace Jones for After Dark
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Victor Arimondi (1942-2001). Portrait of Grace Jones, 1975. Period print measures 8 x 11.75 inches; 10.25 x 13 inches framed. Artist studio stamp on ve...
Category

1970s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Portrait of John Tattos (male nude)
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Roy Blakey (b.1930). Portrait of John Tattos, 1974. Original photographic print on paper, image measures 8.75 x 13 inches, sheet measures 12 x 16 inches. Me...
Category

1970s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Untitled, Senegalese model
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Victor Arimondi (1942-2001). Portrait of Senegalese Model, ca. 1975. Period print measures 8.5 x 11.5 inches; 17 x 20 inches frames. Artist studio stam...
Category

1970s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

"El Popocatepetl" Early Sepia-Toned Landscape Photograph with Donkey & Mountain
Located in Houston, TX
Early sepia-toned landscape photograph of Popocatepetl, a large mountain peak in central Mexico. The work highlights a donkey staged in the foreground with the mountain standing in t...
Category

Early 20th Century Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Shadows & Lines, Nude Big Sur, California
Located in Carmel, CA
Hand printed by artist. Dry mounted on acid free board. Natural beauty! Can be printed larger to order. Edition 1/15
Category

2010s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Portrait
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Portrait, ca. 1975. Period print measuring 8.75 x 11.25 inches. Unframed. Studio stamp on verso. Mounting and framing services available. Victor Arimondi (November 8, 1942 – July 24, 2001) was an Italian American photographer and model who lived and worked in Europe before moving to the United States in the late 1970s. His early fashion photography, his portraits of Grace Jones and other artists, and his male nudes photographed in New York and San Francisco captured the pre-AIDS culture of the 1970s and early 1980s. Arimondi's nudes were collected in several books, including David Leddick's award-winning[1] The Male Nude, (New York: Taschen 1998, 2005 and 2015). The photographer's later work documented homeless individuals in San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood and the toll of the AIDS epidemic on the city. His photographs, featured in several posthumous exhibitions, also are in the collections of Sweden's museum of modern art, Moderna Museet, and San Francisco's GLBT Historical Society. Biography Arimondi was born Vittorio Maria Tevitti to his unwed mother, Alessandra Calligaris, in Bologna, Italy on November 8, 1942. His mother struggled financially, which left an impression on her only child. In 1948, she temporarily left him at a children's boarding school and orphanage in Italy to move to Sweden for a job. There she met and married Bruno Arimondi, who adopted her son. The family returned to Naples, Italy in 1952 where Victor graduated from high school.[1] In 1960, Arimondi returned to Sweden to study at the University College of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm, although he did not graduate. Meanwhile, he worked at several blue collar jobs, including as a mailman, before he gave up on traditional full-time work to pursue what he considered more essential— a life of creative expression. He created costume-like clothing for himself and friends and at age 19 became a fashion model. Even as a teenager, the Italian born photographer who spent his 20s and 30s primarily based in Sweden, noted that he preferred fantasy to the trials of real life.[1] That conflict, and his passion for beauty as well as his sexual energy, were major factors in his life and his work.[2] From 1965 through 1972 Arimondi worked as model in London, Milan, Germany, New York and Stockholm, appearing in catalogs and fashion magazines including Vogue , Harper's Bazaar and Esquire and on the runway in several Valentino fashion shows. In 1972 he decided to try working on the other side of the lens as a photographer to better express his creativity.[2] Arimondi moved to New York in 1979 and continued to build his photography portfolio. Portrait of Bearded Man, New York City, 1979 Two years later, in 1981, he moved to San Francisco where he lived and worked for twenty years until his death of AIDS at age 58 on July 24, 2001. The year he moved to San Francisco, Arimondi opened a photo gallery in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood for a short time. When he struggled financially, he gave up on trying to earn a living through commercial fashion photography and closed the gallery.[3] Arimondi returned to modeling for the financial benefits, though he did so on less of an international scale than in his early years. He continued to create photographic portraits of the denizens of the San Francisco gay and arts cultures, to shoot male nudes and publish his work in magazines, and he began to compose and photograph evocative still lifes using his own photographic images. Many of them touched on the death of dozens of his former photography models from AIDS. Arimondi was in the midst of a new photography project that brought together his background as a fashion photographer and his more recent social documentary work when he died several months after he learned he was HIV-positive.[4] The project featured his former colleague, haute couture cover model Ivy Nicholson,[5] who he found living homeless in San Francisco. Several of the haunting portraits he took of her were later included in a noted group exhibit at SF Camerawork. Art Arimondi's early photography in the 1970s in Stockholm included portraits of the stars of Sweden's fashion, theater and dance worlds. His first two photography exhibits were in Stockholm and met with mixed reviews. But as he matured as a photographer and tapped into his fashion world contacts, Arimondi landed a number of commercial fashion jobs, including shooting for the Italian designer Salvatore Ferragamo S.p.A.'s I.Magnin department store ad that ran in Vogue. Marlboro Man Nude, New York City,1980. He also shot other artists and models for his own portfolio, including Grace Jones, the Norwegian actress, Liv Ullmann, and the American writer, Norman Mailer. Arimondi's aesthetic vision was focused on fantasy and drama, and he prided himself on pushing limits.[6] Although less well-known than his San Francisco contemporary...
Category

1970s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Male Nude Desert Landscape Study
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Roy Dean (1925-20020. Male Nude Study, ca. 1975-80. Original period print with artist studio stamp on verso. Print measures 5.25 x 9 inches; 13 x 17 inches fr...
Category

1970s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Male Nude Beach Study
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Roy Dean (1925-20020. Male Nude Study, ca. 1975-80. Origina; period print with artist studio stamp on verso. Print measures 2.25 x 4 3/8 inches; 9 x 12 inches...
Category

1970s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Portrait of Man in Denim
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Victor Arimondi (1942-2001). Portrait, ca. 1975. Period print measures 9 x 12 inches. Artist studio stamp on verso. Victor Arimondi (November 8, 1942 – July 24, 2001) was an Italian American photographer and model who lived and worked in Europe before moving to the United States in the late 1970s. His early fashion photography, his portraits of Grace Jones and other artists, and his male nudes photographed in New York and San Francisco captured the pre-AIDS culture of the 1970s and early 1980s. Arimondi's nudes were collected in several books, including David Leddick's award-winning[1] The Male Nude, (New York: Taschen 1998, 2005 and 2015). The photographer's later work documented homeless individuals in San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood and the toll of the AIDS epidemic on the city. His photographs, featured in several posthumous exhibitions, also are in the collections of Sweden's museum of modern art, Moderna Museet, and San Francisco's GLBT Historical Society. Biography Arimondi was born Vittorio Maria Tevitti to his unwed mother, Alessandra Calligaris, in Bologna, Italy on November 8, 1942. His mother struggled financially, which left an impression on her only child. In 1948, she temporarily left him at a children's boarding school and orphanage in Italy to move to Sweden for a job. There she met and married Bruno Arimondi, who adopted her son. The family returned to Naples, Italy in 1952 where Victor graduated from high school.[1] In 1960, Arimondi returned to Sweden to study at the University College of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm, although he did not graduate. Meanwhile, he worked at several blue collar jobs, including as a mailman, before he gave up on traditional full-time work to pursue what he considered more essential— a life of creative expression. He created costume-like clothing for himself and friends and at age 19 became a fashion model. Even as a teenager, the Italian born photographer who spent his 20s and 30s primarily based in Sweden, noted that he preferred fantasy to the trials of real life.[1] That conflict, and his passion for beauty as well as his sexual energy, were major factors in his life and his work.[2] From 1965 through 1972 Arimondi worked as model in London, Milan, Germany, New York and Stockholm, appearing in catalogs and fashion magazines including Vogue , Harper's Bazaar and Esquire and on the runway in several Valentino fashion shows. In 1972 he decided to try working on the other side of the lens as a photographer to better express his creativity.[2] Arimondi moved to New York in 1979 and continued to build his photography portfolio. Portrait of Bearded Man, New York City, 1979 Two years later, in 1981, he moved to San Francisco where he lived and worked for twenty years until his death of AIDS at age 58 on July 24, 2001. The year he moved to San Francisco, Arimondi opened a photo gallery in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood for a short time. When he struggled financially, he gave up on trying to earn a living through commercial fashion photography and closed the gallery.[3] Arimondi returned to modeling for the financial benefits, though he did so on less of an international scale than in his early years. He continued to create photographic portraits of the denizens of the San Francisco gay and arts cultures, to shoot male nudes and publish his work in magazines, and he began to compose and photograph evocative still lifes using his own photographic images. Many of them touched on the death of dozens of his former photography models from AIDS. Arimondi was in the midst of a new photography project that brought together his background as a fashion photographer and his more recent social documentary work when he died several months after he learned he was HIV-positive.[4] The project featured his former colleague, haute couture cover model Ivy Nicholson,[5] who he found living homeless in San Francisco. Several of the haunting portraits he took of her were later included in a noted group exhibit at SF Camerawork. Art Arimondi's early photography in the 1970s in Stockholm included portraits of the stars of Sweden's fashion, theater and dance worlds. His first two photography exhibits were in Stockholm and met with mixed reviews. But as he matured as a photographer and tapped into his fashion world contacts, Arimondi landed a number of commercial fashion jobs, including shooting for the Italian designer Salvatore Ferragamo S.p.A.'s I.Magnin department store ad that ran in Vogue. Marlboro Man Nude, New York City,1980. He also shot other artists and models for his own portfolio, including Grace Jones, the Norwegian actress, Liv Ullmann, and the American writer, Norman Mailer. Arimondi's aesthetic vision was focused on fantasy and drama, and he prided himself on pushing limits.[6] Although less well-known than his San Francisco contemporary...
Category

1970s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Tunnel View, Yosemite National Park California
Located in Carmel, CA
Platinum/Palladium (there was no pull down for this) Print Date 2025 Hand printed by artist Edition 1/15 Outer dimensions 16x20" Corner Mounted
Category

2010s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Platinum

Interweave, Big Sur California Nude Breast
Located in Carmel, CA
Hand printed silver gelatin photograph by the artist. From film photography. Available in other sizes.
Category

2010s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Large Silver Gelatin Russian Photograph Potsdam Conference Winston Churchill
Located in Surfside, FL
Potsdam conference meeting depicting Josef Stalin, Winston Churchill and Harry Truman (not visible) at the conference table, gelatin silver print, date of printing unknown, 16-1/2" x 22-3/4" sheet, date of printing unknown. Provenance: acquired from the estate of photographer Samariy Gurariy...
Category

20th Century Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Vertical Black and White Giclée of Zen Forest Waterfall, Landscape, Feng Shui
Located in Barcelona, ES
This is an exclusive limited edition black and white Giclée print, on 100% cotton Hahnemühle Photo Rag Fine Art matte paper. This beautiful black and white high contrast photograph is titled " Zen Forest Waterfall" and displays a stimulating waterfall in a beautiful japanese forest...
Category

2010s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Emulsion, C Print, Giclée, Rag Paper

Lovers, San Francisco.
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Fisher Ross. Untitled, ca. 1975-80. Gelatin Silver print, sheet measures 8 x 10 inches; 17 x 21 inches framed. Artist studio stamp on verso. Excellent cond...
Category

1970s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Grace Jones for After Dark
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Victor Arimondi (1942-2001). Portrait of Grace Jones, 1975. Period print measures 8.5 x 11.25 inches; 10 x 13 inches framed. Artist studio stamp on ver...
Category

1970s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Early Black and White Still Life Photograph of an Interior Fireplace Hearth
Located in Houston, TX
Early black and white still life photograph of a fireplace. The piece also documents the various items used to decorate the hearth including woven basketed and earthen pots...
Category

1930s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Large Silver Gelatin Photograph Russian USSR Soviet Parade Yuri Gagarin Photo
Located in Surfside, FL
Yuri Gagarin Meeting Workers at Foundry Stankolit, depicting the famous Russian cosmonaut (Moscow, 1961) Gelatin silver print, matte finish, date of printing unknown. Provenance: acquired from the estate of photographer Samariy Gurariy...
Category

20th Century Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Portrait
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Victor Arimondi (1942-2001). Portrait, ca. 1975. Period print measures 11 x 14 inches. Artist studio stamp on verso. Victor Arimondi (November 8, 1942 – July 24, 2001) was an Italian American photographer and model who lived and worked in Europe before moving to the United States in the late 1970s. His early fashion photography, his portraits of Grace Jones and other artists, and his male nudes photographed in New York and San Francisco captured the pre-AIDS culture of the 1970s and early 1980s. Arimondi's nudes were collected in several books, including David Leddick's award-winning[1] The Male Nude, (New York: Taschen 1998, 2005 and 2015). The photographer's later work documented homeless individuals in San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood and the toll of the AIDS epidemic on the city. His photographs, featured in several posthumous exhibitions, also are in the collections of Sweden's museum of modern art, Moderna Museet, and San Francisco's GLBT Historical Society. Biography Arimondi was born Vittorio Maria Tevitti to his unwed mother, Alessandra Calligaris, in Bologna, Italy on November 8, 1942. His mother struggled financially, which left an impression on her only child. In 1948, she temporarily left him at a children's boarding school and orphanage in Italy to move to Sweden for a job. There she met and married Bruno Arimondi, who adopted her son. The family returned to Naples, Italy in 1952 where Victor graduated from high school.[1] In 1960, Arimondi returned to Sweden to study at the University College of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm, although he did not graduate. Meanwhile, he worked at several blue collar jobs, including as a mailman, before he gave up on traditional full-time work to pursue what he considered more essential— a life of creative expression. He created costume-like clothing for himself and friends and at age 19 became a fashion model. Even as a teenager, the Italian born photographer who spent his 20s and 30s primarily based in Sweden, noted that he preferred fantasy to the trials of real life.[1] That conflict, and his passion for beauty as well as his sexual energy, were major factors in his life and his work.[2] From 1965 through 1972 Arimondi worked as model in London, Milan, Germany, New York and Stockholm, appearing in catalogs and fashion magazines including Vogue , Harper's Bazaar and Esquire and on the runway in several Valentino fashion shows. In 1972 he decided to try working on the other side of the lens as a photographer to better express his creativity.[2] Arimondi moved to New York in 1979 and continued to build his photography portfolio. Portrait of Bearded Man, New York City, 1979 Two years later, in 1981, he moved to San Francisco where he lived and worked for twenty years until his death of AIDS at age 58 on July 24, 2001. The year he moved to San Francisco, Arimondi opened a photo gallery in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood for a short time. When he struggled financially, he gave up on trying to earn a living through commercial fashion photography and closed the gallery.[3] Arimondi returned to modeling for the financial benefits, though he did so on less of an international scale than in his early years. He continued to create photographic portraits of the denizens of the San Francisco gay and arts cultures, to shoot male nudes and publish his work in magazines, and he began to compose and photograph evocative still lifes using his own photographic images. Many of them touched on the death of dozens of his former photography models from AIDS. Arimondi was in the midst of a new photography project that brought together his background as a fashion photographer and his more recent social documentary work when he died several months after he learned he was HIV-positive.[4] The project featured his former colleague, haute couture cover model Ivy Nicholson,[5] who he found living homeless in San Francisco. Several of the haunting portraits he took of her were later included in a noted group exhibit at SF Camerawork. Art Arimondi's early photography in the 1970s in Stockholm included portraits of the stars of Sweden's fashion, theater and dance worlds. His first two photography exhibits were in Stockholm and met with mixed reviews. But as he matured as a photographer and tapped into his fashion world contacts, Arimondi landed a number of commercial fashion jobs, including shooting for the Italian designer Salvatore Ferragamo S.p.A.'s I.Magnin department store ad that ran in Vogue. Marlboro Man Nude, New York City,1980. He also shot other artists and models for his own portfolio, including Grace Jones, the Norwegian actress, Liv Ullmann, and the American writer, Norman Mailer. Arimondi's aesthetic vision was focused on fantasy and drama, and he prided himself on pushing limits.[6] Although less well-known than his San Francisco contemporary...
Category

1970s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Waipio Valley, Hawaii
Located in San Francisco, CA
Artist: Geir Jordahl – American (1957- ) Title: Waipio Valley, Hawaii Year: 1987 Medium: Silver Gelatin photograph using infrared film Sight size: 8.25 x ...
Category

1980s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Untitled (Stacked Cups)
Located in San Francisco, CA
Artist: Jed Devine American (1944- ) Title: Untitled (Stacked Cups) Date: 1987 Medium: Platinum-palladium print on Japanese rice paper Image size: 9.5 x 7.5 inches (9.25 x 7.25 inches within mat) Sheet size: 12 x 9 inches Framed size: 20.25 x 16.25 inches Signature: signed lower right in pencil Edition: unknown This sublime photograph is by Jed Devine. It is signed in the lower right in pencil. There is a gallery label from the Fraenkel Gallery in San Francisco on the reverse of the framed work. It is framed in a simple metal frame. The photograph, mat and frame are in very good condition. Jed Devine was born in Mount Kisco, New York, in 1944 and raised in Pleasantville, a Westchester County suburb. Devine cites Walter Hahn, his junior high school art teacher, as having an instrumental role in his art career decision: “I don’t know how it happened that a serious artist like Walter Hahn was teaching art at Pleasantville Junior High, but I was most fortunate to have him as a mentor and I’ve always been grateful to him.” In 1967, Jed Devine graduated cum laude from Yale University with a BA in fine arts and began his career as a painter. In 1972, he returned to Yale to study design and photography and was awarded an MFA degree. He joined the Purchase College faculty in 1977. During his tenure at Purchase, several of his students went on to receive recognition as photographers, among them Adam Baer, Gregory Crewdson, Regina DeLuise, Andrea Modica, Deborah Mesa-Pelly, and Roger Newton. Jed Devine’s photography is represented in many major museum, corporate, university, and private collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Victoria and Albert Museum; London; the International Center of Photography, New York; the San Francisco Museum of Art; the Art Institute of Chicago; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Originally trained as a painter, Devine began taking photographs in 1972 and became fascinated by the effects of light on objects and surfaces, and the sensuality that was possible with the platinum-palladium process. This sensuality is on full display in Devine’s only book, Friendship, a collaboration with the writer Jim Dinsmore, whose 64 images “form an extended sequence that moves from innocence to decay and return. The images emphasize the beauty and primacy of light while capturing the visual drama and irony of the Maine landscape.” Devine also has a long-standing relationship with New York City, which is most evident in his portfolio of panoramic photographs celebrating New York bridges...
Category

1980s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Paper, Platinum

Large Silver Gelatin Photograph Russian USSR Soviet Parade Yuri Gagarin Photo
Located in Surfside, FL
Yuri Gagarin Meeting Workers at Foundry Stankolit, depicting the famous Russian cosmonaut (Moscow, 1961) Gelatin silver print, gloss finish, date of printing unknown. Provenance: acquired from the estate of photographer Samariy Gurariy...
Category

20th Century Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Mt Lyell Clouds, Yosemite - Black & White California Landscape Photograph
Located in Soquel, CA
Elegant hand signed black & white photo highlighting the sharp contrast between the Yosemite mountain range of Mt. Lyell and the beautiful clouds above by Charles Cramer (American, b...
Category

1980s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin

Frank Sinatra, 1965 - Bob Willoughby (Portrait Photography)
Located in London, GB
Frank Sinatra, 1965 - Bob Willoughby (Portrait Photography) Archival pigment print Printed on 20 x 24 inch paper From an edition of 25 Also available in alternative sizes Bob Wi...
Category

1950s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Black and White Seascape of Los Angeles Crashing Wave, Contemporary Photograph
Located in Barcelona, ES
This is an exclusive limited edition black and white giclée print, on 100% cotton Hahnemühle Photo Rag Fine Art matte paper. This series of black and white photographs captures the ...
Category

2010s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Rag Paper, Archival Pigment

Alberto Giacometti dans son Atelier, 1954 (Giacometti in his studio)
Located in New York, NY
Sabine Weiss Alberto Giacometti dans son Atelier, 1954 (Giacometti in his studio), ca. 1970 Gelatin silver print mounted on paper Signed in graphite by Sabine Weiss on the mount directly underneath the photograph Frame Included This now iconic photograph of Alberto Giacometti in his studio was taken in 1954 by the celebrated photographer Sabine Weiss, who at the time, had unparalleled access to the artist. It was printed ca. 1970 and signed on the mount directly underneath the photograph in a limited edition of an undisclosed size. Highly collectible. Elegantly matted and framed in a museum quality wood frame with UV plexiglass. Measurements: Framed 18 x 14.5 x 1.25 inches Photograph 12.5 x 8.75 inches Sabine Weiss biography: For over sixty years, Sabine Weiss’s name has been synonymous with the seminal era of French Humanist photography. A living legend, Weiss’s images from 1950s Paris speak of a postwar time when a feeling of hope and joie de vivre could be felt in the people populating the city’s cafes, squares, streets, and in all corners throughout Paris. Weiss would photograph individuals going about their daily lives capturing their emotions and creating a style that combined spontaneity and informality, backed by photographer’s intuition and knack for seeing and celebrating the simple joys of life. As she said, “I take photographs to hold on to the ephemeral, capture chance, keep an image of something that will disappear: gestures, attitudes, objects that are reminders of our brief lives. The camera picks them up and freezes them at the very moment that they disappear. I love this constant dialogue between myself, my camera and my subject, which is what differentiates me from certain other photographers, who don’t seek this dialogue and prefer to distance themselves from their subject.” Originally from Switzerland, Weiss moved to Paris in 1946 where she first assisted fashion photographer Willy...
Category

Mid-20th Century Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Vintage Silver Gelatin Print Rabbi, Jerusalem Alley Israeli Judaica Micha Bar-Am
Located in Surfside, FL
Rare vintage signed and dated silver gelatin black & white unframed photograph. (printed circa 19730-1981) signed and numbered in ink on recto. Hand developed by or under the personal direction of Micha Bar Am at the studio of acclaimed printer Thomas Consilvio in Beverly Hills, California. In 1981, the negatives were retired and donated by Bar-Am to the permanent archives of the Tel-Aviv Museum, Israel. This one has the feel of a Roman Vishniac photo. Micha Bar-Am (Hebrew: מיכה בר-עם) (born 1930 in Berlin, Germany) is an Israeli journalistic photographer. His images cover every aspect of life in Israel in the past sixty years. Since 1968 he has been a correspondent with Magnum, the photographic cooperative. From 1968 to 1992, he was the New York Times photographic correspondent from Israel. He has published several books of photography, beginning in 1957. His work is held in numerous international museums and institutes throughout the world. Born in Berlin to a Jewish family, Bar-Am moved with his parents in 1936 to then British Mandate of Palestine. He attended local schools. He was drafted in 1948 and served during Israel's War of Independence, when he was part of the Palmach Unit. Afterward, he worked several jobs, including as a locksmith and a mounted guard, before becoming a photographer. In 1949 he co-founded the kibbutz Malkia in Galilee. Later he became a member of Kibbutz Gesher HaZiv. Photography career In the early 1940s, Bar-Am started taking pictures of life on a kibbutz; he used borrowed cameras until he bought a Leica. After his military service, he began photographing more seriously. After publishing his first book, Across Sinai (1957), Bar-Am gained work as a photographic reporter and in the editorial staff of the Israeli Army magazine, Ba-Mahaneh, from 1957 to 1967. In 1961 he covered the Adolf Eichmann trial. In 1967 he covered the Six-Day War, during which time he met Cornell Capa. Many of his war images brought him renown. Since 1968, he has been a correspondent for Magnum Photos. In 1974 he helped Capa found the International Center of Photography in New York City. In 1968, Bar-Am also became the photographic correspondent from Israel for the New York Times, a position he held until 1992. From 1977-92, he was head of the department of photography at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. He says that he has adopted Robert Capa saying, "If your photographs aren't good enough, you weren't close enough," Awards 2000--Israel Prize for photography. 1993—Enrique Kavlin Prize, Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel 1985-86--Nieman Fellow, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA 1985—IBM Fellowship, Aspen, Colorado, USA 1985—Golden Flamingo Award for Photographic Poster, Arles, France 1985--Fulbright Grant Books Southward: Micha Bar-Am, Photographs, Israel: The Negev Museum of Art, 2013 Insight: Micha Bar-Am's Israel, London: Koenig Books / Israel: Open Museums, 2011 Israel: A Photobiography, USA: Simon & Schuster, 1998 The Last War, Israel: Keter Publishers, 1996 Painting With Light: The Photographic Aspect in the Work of E.M. Lilian, Israel: Tel Aviv Museum of Art/Dvir Publishing, 1991 Jewish Sites in Lebanon, USA: Moreshet Eretz-Yisrael/Ariel, 1984 The Jordan, Israel: Masada Ltd., 1981 Portrait of Israel, USA: New York Times/American Heritage Press, 1970 Across Sinai, Israel: Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 1957 Collections Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel Haifa Museum, Haifa, Israel The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot, Tel Aviv, Israel The Museum of Photography at Tel Hai, Tel Hai Kibbutz, Israel International Center of Photography, New York, USA The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House, Rochester, USA Skirball Museum, Los Angeles, USA Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, USA Henry Buhl Collection, New York, USA Ludwig Museum, Cologne, Germany Folkwang Museum, Essen, Germany Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, France Musée d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaïsme, Paris, France Collection FNAC, Paris, France Fundacion “La Caixa”, Barcelona, Spain National Maritime Museum, London, UK Magnum Photos: Photographic Collection, Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin, USA This photo is signed. It is from the height of the war. Leonard Freed, Micha Bar Am, Henri Cartier-Bresson, David Rubinger...
Category

1970s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

"Morning, Ayers Rock", Black & White Australia Landscape Photograph
Located in Soquel, CA
Behold nature's stunning beauty in this black & white hand signed landscape photograph of beautiful Ayers Rock in Australia, showcasing the elegant curvatur...
Category

1980s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin

Sierra Mountain Reflections - Black & White Landscape Photograph
Located in Soquel, CA
Stunning black & white landscape photograph with trees reflecting in water in the Sierra Nevada mountains by California artist Robert Werling. Signed on mat lower right: "Bob Werling." Presented in a silver metal frame. Image, 15"H x 19"W. Robert Werling was born in San Francisco, California in 1946 and realized an interest in art at an early age. While briefly attending a commercial art school, he found photography to be his medium and went on to obtain both a BA and an honorary MS from the Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, CA. He also studied privately under Ansel Adams from 1966 to 1970 and Imogen Cunningham from 1969 to 1975. Through his affiliation with Adams, Werling came to know and work with other noted photographers. Brett Weston became his close friend and mentor and Marion Post Wolcott, relying on his darkroom expertise, entrusted her negatives to his printing genius. While creating an impressive number of his own fine art prints, Werling also lectured extensively and worked as an instructor for the Brooks Institute, the University of California, Santa Barbara, the Zone System Seminars and Workshops in the United States, and for the Werkschule fur Fotografie in Soltau, Germany. Werling has exhibited his photographs in over sixty one-man and group shows in both the United States and Europe. He was guest curator of photography for the Santa Barbara Museum of Art organizing VIVO, the Contemporary Japanese Photography and Brett Weston’s photographs...
Category

1990s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin

Double Dutch #3: Black girls playing jump rope games in Philadelphia urban city
Located in Bryn Mawr, PA
This black and white photograph depicts a Black girls' team in the urban city of Philadelphia practicing the art of Double-Dutch jump rope. This series of images provide a snapshot o...
Category

1980s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Bombay Hook Wildlife Reserve: large black & white landscape photograph w/ sepia
Located in Bryn Mawr, PA
This large-scale black and white landscape is part of artist Ron Tarver's long-term, ongoing project, " Land, Sea, Air," that explores the wide-ranging system of wetlands in the US National Wildlife Refuge. It depicts the wetlands of the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, one of the largest remaining expanses of tidal salt marsh in the mid-Atlantic region. The refuge, located along the coast of Delaware, is mostly marsh, but also includes freshwater impoundments and upland habitats that are managed for other wildlife. Through his elegantly rendered naturalistic photos that verge on abstraction, Tarver investigates the delicate nature of the ecosystem, the government's precarious conservation policies, and our relationship to these unique spaces. This print is also in the collection of the Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, PA. It ships rolled in a 36 "x 6" tube. Ron Tarver is a professor of Studio Art specializing in Photography at Swarthmore College. He served as staff photographer at the Philadelphia Inquirer for 32 years, and his work has appeared in National Geographic, Life, Time, Newsweek, The New Yorker, and Black and White Magazine. He is co-author of the book We Were There: Voices of African American Veterans, published by Harper Collins in 2004, which was accompanied by a traveling exhibition. Tarver shares a 2012 Pulitzer Prize at the Inquirer for his work on a series documenting school violence in the Philadelphia public school system, and was nominated for a second Pulitzer in 2013 for a series exploring dog...
Category

2010s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Martha Graham & Erick Hawkins at Bennington College
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Martha Graham and Erick Hawkins at Bennington College, 1940. Archival print on high gloss paper. Unsigned. Print is hinged, not glued down. Image measures 10.5 x 11.5 inches. ...
Category

1940s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Kings of Hollywood (Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, James Stewart, Van Heflin)
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This iconic photograph is finally available again, for the first time in over a year. In this classic black and white photograph, film stars (left to right) Clark Gable (1901 - 1960), Van Heflin (1910 - 1971), Gary Cooper...
Category

1950s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Lambda

Cuban Flag: black & white photo of Havana, Cuba urban city landscape at night
Located in Bryn Mawr, PA
This black & white photograph of the urban night streets of Havana, Cuba featuring the Cuban flag is part of artist Ron Tarver's series, "Havana: A Place Out...
Category

Early 2000s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Adobe Landscape - Black & White Landscape Photograph
Located in Soquel, CA
Adobe, a black and white silver photographic print by California landscape photographer Robert Tracy (American, 1926-2006). circa 1990. Signed lower right on white board. Image size,...
Category

1990s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin, Photographic Paper

Double Dutch #16: Black girls playing jump rope games in Philadelphia urban city
Located in Bryn Mawr, PA
This black and white photograph depicts a Black girls' team in the urban city of Philadelphia practicing the art of Double-Dutch jump rope. This series of images provide a snapshot o...
Category

2010s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Ice Abstraction
Located in Buffalo, NY
Signed and dated on the front of the mount. Limited edition of 35. Number 9 of 35. From the “Twenty Photographs, 1970-1977” Portfolio.
Category

1970s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Ecumenical Service, Grace Cathedral, San Francisco
Located in San Francisco, CA
Artist: Geir Jordahl – American (1957- ) Title: Ecumenical Service, Grace Cathedral, San Francisco Year: 1987 Medium: Silver Gelatin photograph Sight size...
Category

1980s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

The Observer, Jackson Nash Portrait by Graham Nash
Located in Soquel, CA
Gorgeous archival digital photograph, limited edition giclee by Graham Nash (American, b. 1942) of a Nash's first born son Jackson, age five, looking into an aquarium in his San Francisco house...
Category

1980s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Archival Ink, Laid Paper

Black & White Shoreline of British Pebble Beach, Horizontal Seascape, Zen Waves
Located in Barcelona, ES
This is an exclusive limited edition black and white giclée print, on 100% cotton Hahnemühle Photo Rag Fine Art matte paper. This series of black and white photographs captures the ...
Category

2010s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Emulsion, Rag Paper, Lithograph, Monoprint

No Surrender, Belfast, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1960s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features children playing 'Ring a Ring o' Roses' on a street marked with graffiti reading 'No Surr...
Category

1960s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Lambda

Avro Lancaster Bombers in Factory original 1942 silver gelatin press photograph
Located in London, GB
To see our other original vintage warbird aeroplane posters, photographs and paintings, scroll down to "More from this Seller" and below it click on "...
Category

1940s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Big Jay McNeely, 1951 - Bob Willoughby (Portrait Photography)
Located in London, GB
Big Jay McNeely, 1951 - Bob Willoughby (Portrait Photography) Archival pigment print Printed on 20 x 24 inch paper From an edition of 25 Also available in alternative sizes Bob ...
Category

1950s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Untitled (East Side Series)
Located in Buffalo, NY
An original silver gelatin print from the 1960's by American social documentary photographer Milton Rogovin.
Category

1960s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Subway 30, NYC 1980s, New York City, Kids, Photograph, Subway, Limited Edition
Located in Riverdale, NY
John Conn New York City Subway photographs. These limited edition fine art photographs were originally taken between 1975 and 1982. Each black and white photograph is signed and numbered. Edition of 15. 20x30 image printed on 24x36 archival paper. This is framed in a black frame to 28x38. In this series, Conn captured the graffiti and one of the most crime ridden periods in New York. According to one source “In the 1980s, over 250 felonies were committed every week in the system, making the New York subway the most dangerous mass transit system in the world.” One image captures an Irish...
Category

1970s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Ink, Archival Paper

I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND - John & Cynthia Lennon
Located in London, GB
John Lennon takes a fall whilst skiing with his wife Cynthia whom he met in 1958 at the Liverpool College of Art. Note: Image unearthed January 2013. Arthur recalls: “I started wor...
Category

1960s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Digital

Eggs and Slicer
Located in Buffalo, NY
Edward Weston (American, 1886-1958) Eggs and Slicer, 1930 Gelatin silver print, printed later by Cole Weston; signed, titled, dated and numbered '3E' by Cole Weston in pencil and 'Ed...
Category

1950s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Ship at the Dock - 1960's San Francisco Maritime Black & White Photograph
By Gene Wright
Located in Soquel, CA
A beautiful black and white photograph of the ship "Balclutha" in dock, with Coit Tower in the background by famed San Francisco photographer Gene Wright (American, 20th Century). Im...
Category

1960s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Untitled, (Leatherman Cowboy), Castro, San Francisco.
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Fisher Ross. Untitled, ca. 1975-80. Gelatin Silver print, sheet measures 8 x 10 inches. Artist studio stamp on verso. Good condition with some rippling in ...
Category

1970s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Une cour de la rue Saint-Médard, 5ème Arrondissement. Atget negative no. 1486
Located in Middletown, NY
Albumen print on thin photographic paper (printed out from glass plate); 7 x 8 1/2 inches (178 x 218 mm). Marked by the photographer in pencil on verso "Une cour del la rue St. Méda...
Category

Early 20th Century Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin

Early 20th Century Photograph -- Sidewalk Club of the Motherlode
Located in Soquel, CA
"Sidewalk Club of the Motherlode" a Lithobrome photograh by Sigismund Blumann (American, 1872-1956). Signed "Sigismund Blumann" lower right. Titled "Sidewalk Club of the Motherlode" on verso. Image size, 11.25"H x 13.25"W. Between 1923 and 1932, his pictures were accepted at photographic salons in Amsterdam, Toronto, Rochester, Seattle, and Los Angeles. In 1927, a one-person exhibition of his bromoil prints traveled to camera clubs in Chicago, Akron, Cincinnati, and New York. In addition to bromoil, a process that yields pointillistic images, Blumann utilized such unusual processes as kallitype (Vandyke brown), lithobrome, and pastelograph (the latter two probably his own inventions) to create original photographs using chemical processes he invented. Sigismund Blumann (1872–1956) (figure 1) was a prominent tastemaker in Californian photography during the 1920s and 1930s. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area for his entire career, he edited magazines, wrote books, and made creative photographs. From 1924 to 1933 Blumann edited Camera Craft, the leading West Coast photographic monthly. Subsequently he established his own periodical, Photo Art Monthly, which he published until 1940. In these two magazines — for over fifteen years — Blumann found a large audience of mainstream pictorial photographers. In addition, he wrote five instructional books on photography...
Category

1920s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin

Untitled, Motorcycle Bondage, San Francisco.
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Fisher Ross. Untitled, Image #5, ca. 1975-80. Offset print postcard format. 4.5 x 6.5 inches; 12 x 15 inches framed. Excellent condition. Photographs fr...
Category

1970s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Offset

Portrait of Nude Man
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Victor Arimondi (1942-2001). Portrait, ca. 1975. Period print measures 11 x 14 inches. Artist studio stamp on verso. Victor Arimondi (November 8, 1942 – July 24, 2001) was an Italian American photographer and model who lived and worked in Europe before moving to the United States in the late 1970s. His early fashion photography, his portraits of Grace Jones and other artists, and his male nudes photographed in New York and San Francisco captured the pre-AIDS culture of the 1970s and early 1980s. Arimondi's nudes were collected in several books, including David Leddick's award-winning[1] The Male Nude, (New York: Taschen 1998, 2005 and 2015). The photographer's later work documented homeless individuals in San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood and the toll of the AIDS epidemic on the city. His photographs, featured in several posthumous exhibitions, also are in the collections of Sweden's museum of modern art, Moderna Museet, and San Francisco's GLBT Historical Society. Biography Arimondi was born Vittorio Maria Tevitti to his unwed mother, Alessandra Calligaris, in Bologna, Italy on November 8, 1942. His mother struggled financially, which left an impression on her only child. In 1948, she temporarily left him at a children's boarding school and orphanage in Italy to move to Sweden for a job. There she met and married Bruno Arimondi, who adopted her son. The family returned to Naples, Italy in 1952 where Victor graduated from high school.[1] In 1960, Arimondi returned to Sweden to study at the University College of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm, although he did not graduate. Meanwhile, he worked at several blue collar jobs, including as a mailman, before he gave up on traditional full-time work to pursue what he considered more essential— a life of creative expression. He created costume-like clothing for himself and friends and at age 19 became a fashion model. Even as a teenager, the Italian born photographer who spent his 20s and 30s primarily based in Sweden, noted that he preferred fantasy to the trials of real life.[1] That conflict, and his passion for beauty as well as his sexual energy, were major factors in his life and his work.[2] From 1965 through 1972 Arimondi worked as model in London, Milan, Germany, New York and Stockholm, appearing in catalogs and fashion magazines including Vogue , Harper's Bazaar and Esquire and on the runway in several Valentino fashion shows. In 1972 he decided to try working on the other side of the lens as a photographer to better express his creativity.[2] Arimondi moved to New York in 1979 and continued to build his photography portfolio. Portrait of Bearded Man, New York City, 1979 Two years later, in 1981, he moved to San Francisco where he lived and worked for twenty years until his death of AIDS at age 58 on July 24, 2001. The year he moved to San Francisco, Arimondi opened a photo gallery in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood for a short time. When he struggled financially, he gave up on trying to earn a living through commercial fashion photography and closed the gallery.[3] Arimondi returned to modeling for the financial benefits, though he did so on less of an international scale than in his early years. He continued to create photographic portraits of the denizens of the San Francisco gay and arts cultures, to shoot male nudes and publish his work in magazines, and he began to compose and photograph evocative still lifes using his own photographic images. Many of them touched on the death of dozens of his former photography models from AIDS. Arimondi was in the midst of a new photography project that brought together his background as a fashion photographer and his more recent social documentary work when he died several months after he learned he was HIV-positive.[4] The project featured his former colleague, haute couture cover model Ivy Nicholson,[5] who he found living homeless in San Francisco. Several of the haunting portraits he took of her were later included in a noted group exhibit at SF Camerawork. Art Arimondi's early photography in the 1970s in Stockholm included portraits of the stars of Sweden's fashion, theater and dance worlds. His first two photography exhibits were in Stockholm and met with mixed reviews. But as he matured as a photographer and tapped into his fashion world contacts, Arimondi landed a number of commercial fashion jobs, including shooting for the Italian designer Salvatore Ferragamo S.p.A.'s I.Magnin department store ad that ran in Vogue. Marlboro Man Nude, New York City,1980. He also shot other artists and models for his own portfolio, including Grace Jones, the Norwegian actress, Liv Ullmann, and the American writer, Norman Mailer. Arimondi's aesthetic vision was focused on fantasy and drama, and he prided himself on pushing limits.[6] Although less well-known than his San Francisco contemporary...
Category

1970s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Original Photography by Cyrille Druart
Located in Collonge Bellerive, Geneve, CH
Black and white original photography by Cyrille Druart. Edition: I/V Dimensions: 90 x 120 cm Cyrille Druart is a French photograph and architect, a book about his new series w...
Category

2010s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Prado Visitors, Madrid, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features visitors at the The Prado Museum (Museo Nacional del Prado) viewing Diego Velázquez's maste...
Category

1950s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Lambda

"A l'exactitude" boutique de cordonnerie, 93 rue Broca, 5ème arr. Neg. no. 1398
Located in Middletown, NY
Albumen print on thin photographic paper (printed out from glass plate); 8 5/8 x 7 inches (219 x 178 mm). Marked by the photographer in pencil on verso "Vieille maison, 93 Rue Broca ...
Category

Early 20th Century Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin

Mystery Artist Photograph of a Female Bodybuilder
Located in New York, NY
Mystery Artist Untitled (Female Bodybuilder), c. 1980 Black and white photograph mounted to foam board Image: 12 3/4 x 10 1/2 in. Board: 19 7/8 x 16 1/2 in.
Category

1980s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, Black and White

Portriat of Tom Petchlsig
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Victor Arimondi (1942-2001). Portrait of Tom Petchlsig, ca. 1975. Period print measures 8 x 10 inches; 16 x 20 inches frames. Artist studio stamp on ve...
Category

1970s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Water Reflection, Seascape Black and White Giclée Print, Pacific Sunset Waves
Located in Barcelona, ES
This is an exclusive limited edition black and white Giclée print, on 100% cotton Hahnemühle Photo Rag Fine Art matte paper. This beautiful black and white high contrast photograph...
Category

2010s Realist Black and White Photography

Materials

Emulsion, Photographic Paper, C Print, Giclée

Realist black and white photography for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Realist black and white photography 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 black and white photography created in this style to introduce contrast in an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include elements of blue, red and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Pico Garcez, Slim Aarons, Ron Tarver, and Kind of Cyan. Frequently made by artists working with Paper, and Silver Gelatin Print and other materials, all of these pieces for sale are unique and have attracted attention over the years. Not every interior allows for large Realist black and white photography, so small editions measuring 3.94 inches across are also available. Prices for black and white photography 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 $159 and tops out at $65,000, while the average work sells for $1,700.

Recently Viewed

View All