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Realist Color 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.

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Style: Realist
Red Hat and Pink Hat with mandolin. East Village New York City
Located in Miami, FL
Colorful street life is capture with a color photograph, In 1970, very few photographers we actually shooting in color. This image celebrates color with its eye-popping red and magenta hats compliments by a pink door with graffiti. One of the give-a-ways to the date is the New York City street sign...
Category

1970s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Inkjet

Arranged Marriage
Located in New York, NY
With his works included in the permanent collection at the Norton and the New Britain Museum, Drew Tal’s successful career has been nothing but a soaring ascension into the global ar...
Category

2010s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Plexiglass, Photographic Film, Photographic Paper, Photogram

Massimo Listri 'Castello di Rivoli III - Torino'
Located in New York, NY
Castello di Rivoli III - Torino "What makes his work unique is how he has made interiors look so absolutely vivid, as if they had a secret life of their own that only he knows how t...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Color Photography

Materials

C Print

Massimo Listri 'Castello di Rivoli III - Torino'
Located in New York, NY
Castello di Rivoli III - Torino "What makes his work unique is how he has made interiors look so absolutely vivid, as if they had a secret life of their own that only he knows how...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Color Photography

Materials

C Print

Palazzo Pitti, Sala Bianca I, Firenze
Located in New York, NY
Palazzo Pitti, Sala Bianca I Firenze, 2008 The photographer is based in Florence, and is fascinated how his architectural subject matter allows him to c...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Color Photography

Materials

C Print

Teatro Colon I, Buenos Aires - White baroque Interior, Fine Art Photography, 201
Located in Vienna, AT
Beautiful portrait of famous Theater Colin I, Buenos Aires in white shades by the master of interior photography Massimo Listri. All prints are limited edition. Available in multip...
Category

2010s Realist Color Photography

Materials

C Print

National Library, Naples - portrait by the master of interior photography
Located in Vienna, AT
Beautiful portrait of the National Library, Naples in brown shades by the master of interior photography Massimo Listri. PREISS FINE ARTS is one of the world’s leading galleries fo...
Category

Early 2000s Realist Color Photography

Materials

C Print

Seitenstetten Library, Austria, Fine Art Photography
Located in Vienna, AT
Beautiful blue & yellow portrait of Seitenstetten Library, Austria by the master of interior photography Massimo Listri. All prints are limited edition. Available in multiple sizes...
Category

1990s Realist Color Photography

Materials

C Print

Afghan Girl (Peshawar, Pakistan)
Located in New York, NY
Steve McCurry Afghan Girl 1984 (printed later C-print on Fuji Crystal archival paper 24 x 20 inches Signed and dated Steve McCurry has been one of the mos...
Category

1980s Realist Color Photography

Materials

C Print

Palazzo Pitti, Sala Bianca I, Firenze
Located in New York, NY
Palazzo Pitti, Sala Bianca I Firenze, 2008 The photographer is based in Florence, and is fascinated how his architectural subject matter allows him to c...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Color Photography

Materials

C Print

Biblioteca Palatina - Parma
Located in New York, NY
Biblioteca Palatina - Parma, 2012 The Biblioteca Palatina (also known as Reale Biblioteca Parmense, Biblioteca Nazionale, Bibliothèque Imperiale, Bibliothèque de la Ville de Parme...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Color Photography

Materials

C Print

Realist color photography for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Realist color 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 color 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, purple, pink, orange and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Slim Aarons, Massimo Listri, Sean Scully, and John Conn. Frequently made by artists working with Digital Print, and Lambda 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 color photography, so small editions measuring 8.5 inches across are also available. Prices for color 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 $200 and tops out at $28,500, while the average work sells for $3,350.

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