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
Peggy Guggenheim
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
September 1978: Peggy Guggenheim (1898 - 1979) in the Palazzo Venier Dei Leoni, Venice. The palace houses her private art collection, including Picasso's 'On the Beach', pictured to ...
Category
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Freeport Yachts
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Yachts in a marina in Freeport, in the Bahamas, April 1969.
40 x 60 inches
$3950
30 x 40 inches
$3350
20 x 30 inches
$3000
10 x 12 inches
$1350
Complimentary dealer shipping to ...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Katherine Hepburn, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
1953: American film star Katharine Hepburn (1907 - 2003) driving along the waterfront with Irene Mayer Selznick at Montego Bay, Jamaica.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of ...
Category
1950s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Island Lookout
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
May 1968: Nattily dressed, W Clifford Klenk with his telescope and his wife, Hope in their Hog island house.
30 x 30 inches
$3350
24 x 24 inches
$3000
20 x 20 inches
$2500
12 x 1...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Bermuda Beach, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A woman running towards the ocean on a beach in Bermuda, 1957. The bather wears a vintage coral red swimsuit, which provides a pop of color against the sun-dappled turquoise waves. F...
Category
1950s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Eleuthera Pool Party
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Circa 1970, Eleuthera Pool Party, Bahamas.
40 x 40 inches
$3950
30 x 30 inches
$3350
24 x 24 inches
$3000
Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, ...
Category
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Katherine Hepburn
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
1953: American film star Katharine Hepburn (1907 - 2003) driving along the waterfront with Irene Mayer Selznick at Montego Bay, Jamaica.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of ...
Category
1950s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Palm Springs Party, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A poolside party at a desert house, designed by Richard Neutra for Edgar J. Kaufmann, in Palm Springs, January 1970. Featured in the group are: industrial designer Raymond Loewy (1893 - 1986, centre, standing), Nelda Linsk (in yellow), wife of art dealer Joseph Linsk, and Helen Dzo Dzo (second from right)
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, a history of glamour that occurred alongside—but quite separate from—the cultural and political backdrop of the second half of the Twentieth Century.
Increasingly known for his influence, Aarons's casually glamorous jetset aesthetic can be seen today in fashion, art, and celebrity photography. Recent articles credit his work with inspiring the casually flawless style of top Instagram influencers, full of sunshine and escapism.
Reference: "Dive in: how Slim Aarons art directed the poolside summer. French brand Maje are the latest label to take inspiration from Slim Aarons’ pictures of the jetset on holiday."
Slim Aarons
Palm Springs Party...
Category
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Harbour Isle Beach
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Holidaymakers on the deck of yacht in Saint-Tropez, France, August 1971.
40 x 60 inches
$3950
30 x 40 inches
$3350
20 x 30 inches
$3000
10 x 12 inches
$1350
Complimentary dealer...
Category
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Villa Vera
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
The bar at the Villa Vera Hotel Spa and Racquet Club in Acapulco, January 1968.
Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide.
Undercurrent Projects is proud to offer thi...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
C Print
Slim Aarons Palm Beach Society (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Jim Kimberly and his wife (far left) and friends with his white sports car and white boats moored on Lake Worth. A Palm Beach socialite, Kimberly acts as Honorary Consul of Jordan. A...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Spot The Ball
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
circa 1960: A polo match at the Myopia Hunt Club, Hamilton, Massachusetts. The club was so named because of the near-sightedness of its original members.
30 x 40 inches
$3350
20 x ...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Hamilton Hostess
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Mrs George Davenport Aldrich and dogs on the lawn of her estate in Hamilton, Massachusetts, circa 1960.
40 x 40 inches
$3950
30 x 30 inches
$3350
24 x 24 inches
$3000
Complimenta...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Saint-Tropez Beach
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
The beach at Saint-Tropez, on the French Riviera, August 1971.
30 x 40 inches
$3350
20 x 30 inches
$3000
20 x 24 inches
$2500
10 x 12 inches
$1350
Complimentary dealer shipping ...
Category
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Table Hopping
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
circa 1959: Senator Jack Kennedy (President John F Kennedy) greeting old friends at an 'April in Paris' ball held in the Waldorf's Grand Ballroom, New York.
30 x 40 inches
$3350
20...
Category
1950s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Harbour Island
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Harbour Island in the Bahamas, 1970.
30 x 40 inches
$3350
20 x 30 inches
$3000
20 x 24 inches
$2500
10 x 12 inches
$1350
Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide....
Category
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Table Hopping
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
circa 1959: Senator Jack Kennedy (President John F Kennedy) greeting old friends at an 'April in Paris' ball held in the Waldorf's Grand Ballroom, New Yor...
Category
1950s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Commander Whitehead
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Commander Edward Whitehead (1908 - 1978), the public face of Schweppes, leans on a silver Rolls Royce at Lyford Cay, New Providence Island, April 1974. Commander Whitehead served in ...
Category
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Swimming In The Bahamas
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Brightly coloured swimmers in a pool in Nassau on the island of New Providence in the Bahamas, 1959.
40 x 60 inches
$3950
30 x 40 inches
$3350
20 x 30 inches
$3000
10 x 12 inches...
Category
1950s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Saint-Tropez Beach
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
The beach at Saint-Tropez, on the French Riviera, August 1971.
30 x 40 inches
$3350
20 x 30 inches
$3000
20 x 24 inches
$2500
10 x 12 inches
$1350
Complimentary dealer shipping ...
Category
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Nassau Beach Hotel
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
The outdoor swimming pool at Nassau Beach Hotel, Nassau, Bahamas, 1959. The hotel was the first to built by Howard Johnson outside the United States.
30 x 30 inches
$3350
24 x 24 i...
Category
1950s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Harbour Island
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Harbour Island in the Bahamas, 1970.
30 x 40 inches
$3350
20 x 30 inches
$3000
20 x 24 inches
$2500
10 x 12 inches
$1350
Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide....
Category
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Out Islands
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Sailing boats in the Out Islands of the Bahamas, April 1964.
20 x 30 inches
$3000
20 x 24 inches
$2500
16 x 20 inches
$2150
12 x 16 inches
$1800
Complimentary dealer shipping to...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Island Lookout
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
May 1968: Nattily dressed, W Clifford Klenk with his telescope and his wife, Hope in their Hog island house.
30 x 30 inches
$3350
24 x 24 inches
$3000
20 x 20 inches
$2500
12 x 1...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Freeport Beach
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A beach in Freeport, in the Bahamas, April 1969.
40 x 60 inches
$3950
30 x 40 inches
$3350
20 x 30 inches
$3000
10 x 12 inches
$1350
Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Spot The Ball
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
circa 1960: A polo match at the Myopia Hunt Club, Hamilton, Massachusetts. The club was so named because of the near-sightedness of its original members.
30 x 40 inches
$3350
20 x ...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Bahamanian Hotel
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A hotel on the coast at Great Harbour Cay, Bahamas, March 1973.
40 x 40 inches
$3950
30 x 30 inches
$3350
24 x 24 inches
$3000
Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, world...
Category
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Spot The Ball
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
circa 1960: A polo match at the Myopia Hunt Club, Hamilton, Massachusetts. The club was so named because of the near-sightedness of its original members.
...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Eleuthera Pool Party
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Circa 1970, Eleuthera Pool Party, Bahamas.
40 x 40 inches
$3950
30 x 30 inches
$3350
24 x 24 inches
$3000
Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, ...
Category
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Fishing On Honeymoon Porch
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Sailing boats in the Out Islands of the Bahamas, April 1964.
16 x 20 inches
$2150
12 x 16 inches
$1800
10 x 12 inches
$1350
Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwid...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Mazatlan Mansion
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Eldorado, the Redo family villa in Mazatlan, Mexico, January 1984.
40 x 60 inches
$3950
30 x 40 inches
$3350
10 x 12 inches
$1350
Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide.
Undercurrent Projects...
Category
1980s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Saint-Tropez
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Holidaymakers on the deck of yacht in Saint-Tropez, France, August 1971.
40 x 60 inches
$3950
30 x 40 inches
$3350
20 x 30 inches
$3000
10 x 12 inches
$1350
Complimentary dealer...
Category
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Peace And Plenty
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
People by the pool at Club Peace And Plenty, Georgetown on the island of Great Exuma, Bahamas, April 1967.
40 x 60 inches
$3950
30 x 40 inches
$3350
20 x 30 inches
$3000
10 x 12 ...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Nassau Beach Hotel
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
The outdoor swimming pool at Nassau Beach Hotel, Nassau, Bahamas, 1959. The hotel was the first to built by Howard Johnson outside the United States.
30 x 30 inches
$3350
24 x 24 i...
Category
1950s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Black Pearl Trippers
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Henry B. Cabot Jr. (standing, centre) with his son Henry Bromfield Cabot III and their host Barclay (Buzzy) H Warburton III (in striped shirt) aboard the brigantine 'Black Pearl', ci...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Monte Carlo, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Friends dressed in white board a riva boat in Monte Carlo, Monaco, 1975.
In this classic Slim Aarons scene of 1970's glamour, a chic white vintage fashion and turquoise upholstery a...
Category
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
On the Slopes in Stowe, Estate Edition (Snowscape, Vintage Skaal House, Vermont)
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Five people relaxing on the terrace of the glass-fronted triangular Skaal House in the Stowe Mountain ski resort in Stowe, Vermont, 1962. The property is owned by Doris Molliel, who ...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Gloria Schiff
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Gloria Schiff, the twin sister of Consuelo Crespi, with her pet dog and pet birds at Lyford Cay in the Bahamas.
40 x 40 inches
$3950
30 x 30 inches
$3350
24 x 24 inches
$3000
Com...
Category
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Acapulco Pool
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Architect Arturo Pani and his wife by their swimming pool at home in Acapulco, Mexico.
Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide.
Undercurrent Projects is proud to o...
Category
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Caleta Beach, Acapulco
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A high angle view of Caleta Beach (aka Morning Beach) in Acapulco, Mexico, January 1961. The Hotel Boca Chica can be seen to the right.
40 x 40 inches
$3950
30 x 30 inches
$3350
2...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Arturo Pani's Villa
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
The swimming pool at Arturo Pani's villa, Acapulco, Mexico, January 1968.
Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide.
Undercurrent Projects is proud to offer this vibr...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
C Print
Lyford Cay, New Providence Island, Leonard Dalsemer Villa, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Leonard Dalsemer and his family at their villa in Lyford Cay, New Providence Island, April 1974.
Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide.
Undercurrent Projects is p...
Category
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
C Print
Caleta Beach, Acapulco
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A high angle view of Caleta Beach (aka Morning Beach) in Acapulco, Mexico, January 1961. The Hotel Boca Chica can be seen to the right.
40 x 40 inches
$3950
30 x 30 inches
$3350
2...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Acapulco Lunch
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A long afternoon lunch at Acapulco. Among the guest are (from left to right) film star Douglas Fairbanks Junior (1909 - 2000), couturiers Oscar de la Renta, and standing behind him E...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
C Print
Ladies Of Lyford Cay
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Grace, Mrs Dauphinot, Marina Posson and Baroness Meriel de Posson in Lyford Cay, New Providence Island, April 1974.
40 x 40 inches
$3950
30 x 30 inches
$3350
24 x 24 inches
$3000
...
Category
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Acapulco Pool
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Architect Arturo Pani and his wife by their swimming pool at home in Acapulco, Mexico.
Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide.
Undercurrent Projects is proud to o...
Category
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Acapulco Lunch
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A long afternoon lunch at Acapulco. Among the guest are (from left to right) film star Douglas Fairbanks Junior (1909 - 2000), couturiers Oscar de la Renta, and standing behind him E...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
C Print
Ladies Of Lyford Cay
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Grace, Mrs Dauphinot, Marina Posson and Baroness Meriel de Posson in Lyford Cay, New Providence Island, April 1974.
40 x 40 inches
$3950
30 x 30 inches
$3350
24 x 24 inches
$3000
...
Category
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Arturo Pani's Villa
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
The swimming pool at Arturo Pani's villa, Acapulco, Mexico, January 1968.
Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide.
Undercurrent Projects is proud to offer this vibr...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
C Print
Top People's Eatery, San Francisco, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1970s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Journalist Lucius Beebe beside a gold place setting in t...
Category
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Top People's Eatery, San Francisco, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1970s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Journalist Lucius Beebe beside a gold place setting in t...
Category
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
We Know Our Place
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A Dalmatian dog lies at the feet of Mr and Mrs John M Seabrook as they pose with a pony and trap in the garden of their home, the Seabrook estate, New Jersey.
40 x 40 inches
$3950
...
Category
1950s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Lunch At Merle's
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
English actress Merle Oberon (1911 - 1979, second from right) and lunch guests at her villa, La Consentida, Acapulco, 1966.
Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide.
...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
C Print
We Know Our Place
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A Dalmatian dog lies at the feet of Mr and Mrs John M Seabrook as they pose with a pony and trap in the garden of their home, the Seabrook estate, New Jersey.
40 x 40 inches
$3950
...
Category
1950s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Lunch At Merle's
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
English actress Merle Oberon (1911 - 1979, second from right) and lunch guests at her villa, La Consentida, Acapulco, 1966.
Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide.
...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
C Print
Lunch At Merle's
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
English actress Merle Oberon (1911 - 1979, second from right) and lunch guests at her villa, La Consentida, Acapulco, 1966.
Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide.
...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
C Print
Armando's Beach Club
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Sunbathers at Armando's Beach Club, Acapulco, Mexico, February 1975.
Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide.
Undercurrent Projects is pro...
Category
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
C Print
Commander Whitehead
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Commander Edward Whitehead (1908 - 1978), the public face of Schweppes, leans on a silver Rolls Royce at Lyford Cay, New Providence Island, April 1974. Commander Whitehead served in ...
Category
1970s 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.