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Realist Figurative 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
Slim Aarons, Fairfield Croquet (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Players in the Fairfield County Hunt Club's croquet tournament, Fairfield, New England. Slim Aarons Fairfield Croquet Chromogenic Lambda print Slim Aarons Estate Edition 40 x 60 inches $3950 30 x 40 inches $3350 20 x 30 inches $3000 Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer. Over the course of a career lasting half a century, Slim Aarons (1916-2006) portrayed high society, aristocracy, authors, artists, business icons, the celebrated and their milieu. In doing so, he captured a golden age of wealth, privilege, beauty and leisure that occurred alongside—but quite separate from—the cultural and political backdrop of the second half of the Twentieth Century. The Slim Aarons Estate has released the limited Estate edition as a Lambda print, which is a modern c-type prints. They have chosen Lambda prints for their sharpness, clarity, colour saturation and quality, compared to archival inkjet prints. Lambda printing gives true continuous tone. Photograph is unframed Slide show includes a close-up of the Slim Aarons estate's stamp. Collector will get the next number in the edition * We are pleased to offer the entire archive of the Slim Aarons Estate, offering the official Slim Aarons Estate Edition (only offered in this edition of 150). Please contact us for additional photographs from Slim Aarons * Internal: Vintage croquet...
Category

1990s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Skiing In Vail, Colorado, Estate Edition, Winter Landscape Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1660s winter landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features skiers pass by a snow covered tree in Vail, Colorado, USA, 1964. This is an esta...
Category

1960s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Skiing In Vail, Colorado, Estate Edition, Winter Landscape Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1660s winter landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features skiers pass by a snow covered tree in Vail, Colorado, USA, 1964. This is an esta...
Category

1960s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Skiing In Vail, Colorado, Estate Edition, Winter Landscape Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1660s winter landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features skiers pass by a snow covered tree in Vail, Colorado, USA, 1964. This is an esta...
Category

1960s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Skiing In Vail, Colorado, Estate Edition, Winter Landscape Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1660s winter landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features skiers pass by a snow covered tree in Vail, Colorado, USA, 1964. This is an esta...
Category

1960s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Hotel Olden, Gstaad, Estate Edition, Urban Landscape Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1960s urban photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features people carrying their skis past the Hotel Olden in Gstaad, 1961. This is an estate stamped...
Category

1960s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Saint-Tropez Boucherie (Aarons Estate Edition)
Located in New York, NY
A boucherie or butcher's shop on Rue des Commercants in Saint-Tropez, on the French Riviera, 1971. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity f...
Category

1970s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Verbier Skiers, Switzerland, Estate Edition, Winter Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Verbier Skiers, Switzerland, Estate Edition, Winter Portrait Photograph This mid-1960s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features skiers at Verbier....
Category

1960s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons 'Leonard Dalsemer, Lyford Cay'
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Leonard Dalsemer and his family at their villa in Lyford Cay, New Providence Island, April 1974. 40 x 60 inches $3950 30 x 40 inches $3350 20 x 30 inche...
Category

1970s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Bermuda Beach, Estate Edition
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A woman on a beach in Bermuda, 1957. 48 x 48 inches $4500 40 x 40 inches $3950 30 x 30 inches $3350 20 x 20 inches $2500 Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide....
Category

1950s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons 'El Venero, Marbella, Spain'
Located in New York, NY
El Venero, the Moorish villa of Hector and Chico de Ayala in Marbella, Spain, 1971. Slim Aarons worked mainly for society publications, taking pictures of the rich and famous both b...
Category

1970s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons 'La Dolce Vita: Vuccino and Rava' (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Carla Vuccino, wearing a swimming cap, and a sunbathing Marina Rava, both wearing bikinis as they sit on the rear of a boat, on the waters off the coast of the island of Capri, Italy...
Category

1950s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Gstaad, Switzerland, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Gstaad, Switzerland, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph This early 1960s landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a helicopter arriving at a mo...
Category

1960s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Five Fireman 1940s Mid Century WPA Era Modern Baltimore Black & White Photograph
Located in New York, NY
Fine Fireman 1940s Mid Century WPA Era Modernism Baltimore Black & White Photograph. A. Aubrey Bodine (American, 1906-1970). Gelatin silver print, signed...
Category

1940s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Contemporary Abstract Photograph of Dancer in Green and Yellow
By Hector Hernandez 1
Located in Houston, TX
High quality photograph by artist Hector Hernandez. The work is of a cloaked figure dressed in green posing in a warehouse. The photograph is framed i...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Seaside Picnic (Aarons Estate Edition)
Located in New York, NY
Rudulph Ellis Carter holds a picnic in Newport, August 1987. The group includes David Lindh, Frank Gilligan, Kenneth Lindh, Diana Prince, Foxy Carter, Lisette Prince de Ramel, Yusha...
Category

1980s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons 'Kings of Hollywood'
Located in New York, NY
Film stars (left to right) Clark Gable (1901 - 1960), Van Heflin (1910 - 1971), Gary Cooper (1901 - 1961) and James Stewart (1908 - 1997) enjoy a joke at a New Year's party held at R...
Category

1950s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons 'Westin Excelsior, Venice' Mid-century Modern Photography
Located in New York, NY
Portofino 1957 C print Signature stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the Slim Aarons estate. The Westin Excelsior Hotel on the Lido in ...
Category

1950s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Slim Aarons 'Westin Excelsior, Venice'
Located in New York, NY
Portofino 1957 C print Signature stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the Slim Aarons estate. The Westin Excelsior Hotel on the Lido in ...
Category

1950s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Slim Aarons 'Saint-Tropez Boucherie' (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
Located in New York, NY
A boucherie or butcher's shop on Rue des Commercants in Saint-Tropez, on the French Riviera, 1971. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity f...
Category

1970s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons 'Skiers at Verbier' (Aarons Estate Edition)
Located in New York, NY
Skiers at Verbier, 1964 Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate. Slim Aarons (1916-2006) worked mainly for society publica...
Category

1960s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Bohemia's Barracks (Aarons Estate Edition)
Located in New York, NY
Artistic denizens gather in the lobby of the Chelsea Hotel on W. 23rd Street, Manhattan, New York City, 1968. Clockwise from left, Photographer Sandra Daley, architect Nicholas Quenn...
Category

1960s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons 'Westin Excelsior, Venice'
Located in New York, NY
Portofino 1955 C print Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate. Yachts moored in the Italian fishing village of Portofino...
Category

1950s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Slim Aarons 'Saint-Tropez Boucherie' (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
Located in New York, NY
A boucherie or butcher's shop on Rue des Commercants in Saint-Tropez, on the French Riviera, 1971. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity f...
Category

1970s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Faithful Couple (Aarons Estate Edition)
Located in New York, NY
Caption:August 1968: Singer Marianne Faithfull and Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones stand in front of a gilt framed portrait in Castletown Mansion, Eire. Estate stamped and hand nu...
Category

1960s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons 'Skiing Waiters'
Located in New York, NY
Three skiing waiters on a ski slope, with the man in the foreground carrying a bird on a tray, the second man carrying a wine in an ice bucket and the third carrying a menu, circa 19...
Category

1960s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Hotel De Paris In Monaco (Aarons Estate Edition)
Located in New York, NY
The entrance to the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo, Monaco, June 1977. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity ...
Category

1970s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Droulers And Daughters (Estate Edition)
Located in New York, NY
Roberta Droulers sitting with her daughters, Nathalie and Virginie, in the lobby of the Villa D'Este on Lake Como, Tivoli, near Rome, Italy, circa 1984. Estate stamped and hand numb...
Category

1980s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons, Vermont Winter (Aarons Estate Edition)
Located in New York, NY
circa 1960: Students from Stowe Preparatory School track through deep snow near Mount Mansfield and Spruce Peak, Vermont. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certif...
Category

1960s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons 'Westin Excelsior, Venice'
Located in New York, NY
Portofino 1957 C print Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate. The Westin Excelsior Hotel on the Lido in Venice, 1957. (...
Category

1950s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Slim Aarons 'Lake Tahoe Ladies'
Located in New York, NY
Caption: A group of young women in their bathing suits on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe, 1959. Slim Aarons worked mainly for society publications, taking pictures of the rich and f...
Category

1950s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons, El Venero
Located in New York, NY
El Venero, the Moorish villa of Hector and Chico de Ayala in Marbella, Spain, 1971. Slim Aarons worked mainly for society publications, taking pictures of t...
Category

1970s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Kings of Hollywood
Located in New York, NY
Film stars (left to right) Clark Gable (1901 - 1960), Van Heflin (1910 - 1971), Gary Cooper (1901 - 1961) and James Stewart (1908 - 1997) enjoy a joke at a New Year's party held at R...
Category

1950s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons 'Vuccino and Rava in Capri' (Aarons Estate Edition)
Located in New York, NY
Vuccino and Rava in Capri 1958 C print Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate. Carla Vuccino, wearing a swimming cap, and...
Category

1950s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons 'Verbier Skier'
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons Verbier Skier 1964 C print Estate edition of 150 A blonde skier on the slopes at Verbier, February 1964. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certific...
Category

1960s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons 'Portofino Harbor'
Located in New York, NY
Portofino 1955 C print Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate. Yachts moored in the Italian fishing village of Portofino...
Category

1950s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Intoxicated Skid Row Bowery Homeless, Gritty Street Photography
Located in Miami, FL
Enter the Wood Chipper. Before the Bowery was a trendy destination, it was America's most famous Skid Row. Vagrant flophouses, 10-dollar prostitutes, dive bars, and what used to be ...
Category

1960s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Archival Pigment

Myanmar 1: child Buddhist monk playing by Southeast Asia temple landscape
Located in Bryn Mawr, PA
This photograph is from among Vincent Dixon's series created in Borneo, Myanmar, Paris, Pushkar, Los Angeles, New York, London, Miami, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Milan, Barcelona, Madrid,...
Category

2010s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, Archival Pigment

Slim Aarons 'Skiing Waiters'
Located in New York, NY
Three skiing waiters on a ski slope, with the man in the foreground carrying a bird on a tray, the second man carrying a wine in an ice bucket and the third carrying a menu, circa 19...
Category

1960s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Vermont Winter (Aarons Estate Edition)
Located in New York, NY
circa 1960: Students from Stowe Preparatory School track through deep snow near Mount Mansfield and Spruce Peak, Vermont. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with cert...
Category

1960s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Verbier Skier (Aarons Estate Edition)
Located in New York, NY
A blonde skier on the slopes at Verbier, February 1964. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate. Slim Aarons (1916-2006) w...
Category

1960s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons 'Portofino Harbor'
Located in New York, NY
Portofino 1955 C print Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate. Yachts moored in the Italian fishing village of Portofino...
Category

1950s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Slim Aarons 'Westin Excelsior, Venice'
Located in New York, NY
Portofino 1955 C print Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate. Yachts moored in the Italian fishing village of Portofino...
Category

1950s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Slim Aarons 'Patsy Pulitzer, Private Transport'
Located in New York, NY
Private Transport 1955 Fiber print Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate. Patsy Pulitzer rummaging in her bag on the se...
Category

1950s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Donna Anna Monroy di Giampilieri (Aarons Estate Edition)
Located in New York, NY
1984, Donna Anna Monroy di Giampilieri in the early-Empire drawing room of the Villa Spedalotto, near Palermo, Sicily. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certific...
Category

1980s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Pop and Society: Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithfull, and Desmond Guinness
Located in New York, NY
1968: From left to right; singer Marianne Faithfull, the Honorable Desmond Guinness and Mick Jagger (of the Rolling Stones) sit on a sofa under a large gilt framed painting of a woma...
Category

1960s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Skiing Waiters (Slim Aarons)
Located in New York, NY
Three skiing waiters on a ski slope, with the man in the foreground carrying a bird on a tray, the second man carrying a wine in an ice bucket and the third carrying a menu, circa 19...
Category

1960s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons 'Pool At Porto Rotondo'
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons Pool At Porto Rotondo 1982 C print Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate. A sw...
Category

1980s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons 'Skiing Waiters' (Aarons Estate Edition)
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons Skiing Waiters, 1960 C print Edition of 150 Caption: Three skiing waiters on a ski slope, with the man in the foreground carrying a bird on a tray, the second man carri...
Category

1950s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Cotton Bay
Located in New York, NY
The Campbells' pool at Cotton Bay, on Eleuthera Island in the Bahamas, November 1982. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of a...
Category

1980s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons 'Boating In Antigua'
Located in New York, NY
American actor Hugh O'Brian (left) hoists the sail on a dinghy, Antigua, West Indies, 1961. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the...
Category

1960s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda, Acrylic Polymer

Slim Aarons, Skiing Waiters (Aarons Estate Edition)
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons Skiing Waiters, 1960 C print Estate stamped and numbered edition of 150 Caption: Three skiing waiters on a ski slope, with the man in the foreground carrying a bird on a...
Category

1960s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Skiing At Courchevel, Slim Aarons Estate Edition
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Skiers on the slopes at Courchevel, France, 1963. Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included Numbered and stamped by the Slim Aarons Estate Modern estate edit...
Category

1960s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons Sugarbush Chalet
Located in New York, NY
A group of people relaxing in a chalet in the Sugarbush Mountain ski resort, one of the largest ski resorts in New England, in Warren, Vermont, USA, circa 1960. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate. Slim Aarons (1916-2006) worked mainly for society publications photographing "attractive people doing attractive things in attractive places." Taking pictures of the rich and famous both before and after serving as a photographer for the US military magazine Yank during World War II. His work has been included in the publications Town and Country, Holiday, Venture and LIFE. Aarons was known for the positive portrayals he gave to the people he photographed and was invited to high-society gatherings for exactly this reason. His subject matter covered American and European society as well as nobility and both minor and major stars of the day. Print is also available in 30 x 30", 40 x...
Category

1960s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons 'Verbier Skier'
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons Verbier Skier 1964 C print Estate edition of 150 A blonde skier on the slopes at Verbier, February 1964. Estate stamped and hand numbered...
Category

1960s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Cafe in Monte Carlo (Aarons Estate Edition)
Located in New York, NY
Diners on a cafe terrace in Monte Carlo, Monaco, 1975. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate. Slim Aarons (1916-2006) wo...
Category

1970s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Cafe in Monte Carlo (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
Located in New York, NY
Cafe in Monte Carlo, 1975 Chromogenic Lambda print Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate. Diners on a cafe terrace in...
Category

1970s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Boating In Antigua
Located in New York, NY
American actor Hugh O'Brian (left) hoists the sail on a dinghy, Antigua, West Indies, 1961. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the...
Category

1960s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Acrylic Polymer, Lambda

Slim Aarons 'The Fullers'
Located in New York, NY
May 1970: Alvin and Lilly Fuller outside their new home in Palm Beach, Florida, pose with their fashionable European sports car, the Mercedes 190SL Estate stamped and hand numbered ...
Category

1960s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Jim Kimberly, California, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Jim Kimberly and Kim Wadsworth at the Beverly Hills Hotel, California. This is an estate ...
Category

1950s Realist Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Realist figurative photography for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Realist figurative 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 figurative 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, red, pink and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Slim Aarons, Ron Tarver, Graham Nash, and Milton Rogovin. 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 figurative photography, so small editions measuring 8 inches across are also available. Prices for figurative 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 $105 and tops out at $75,000, while the average work sells for $3,000.

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