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 'George Hamilton with Horse on Capri' (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
April 1966: Actor George Hamilton with a horse on the island of Capri
Slim Aarons
George Hamilton with Horse on Capri
Chromogenic Lambda Print
Slim Aarons Estate Edition
Estate st...
Category
1960s 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
Capote At Home, New York, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features the author Truman Capote (1924 - 1984) relaxing with a book and a cigarette in his clutter...
Category
1950s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
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
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
Great Harbour Cay
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A horseshoe beach on Great Harbour Cay, Bahamas, March 1973.
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
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Dining Al Fresco On Capri, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Italian artist and actress Domiziana Giordano, Italian author Francesca Sanvitale (1928 - 2011), Dino Trappetti and Umberto Terrelli dining al fresco ...
Category
1980s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons 'Colorful Crew' (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A group of colourfully dressed holidaymakers on a yacht, Bermuda, June 1970. (Photo credit Slim Aarons / Getty Images)
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certific...
Category
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Hibiscus Flowers
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A woman surrounded by red hibiscus flowers in a swimming pool in Acapulco, Mexico, circa 1960.
40 x 40 inches
$3950
30 x 30 inches
$3350
24 x 24 inches...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Las Brisas
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
The coastline near Warren Avis' villa in Las Brisas, Acapulco, January 1978.
Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide.
Undercurrent Projects is proud to offer this v...
Category
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
C Print
Windsors In Portofino, Italy, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1950s figurative photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features the Duke and Duchess of Windsor walking their dog in Portofino in 1951.
This is an est...
Category
1950s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons 'El Venero, Marbella, Spain'
By Slim Aarons
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
Great Harbour Cay
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A horseshoe beach on Great Harbour Cay, Bahamas, March 1973.
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
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Fishing On Honeymoon Porch, Bahamas, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1960s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features acouple relaxin on a porch in Exuma, Bahamas.
This is an estate stamped and hand numbered ...
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.
...
Category
1960s 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
French Leave Hotel
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Guests at the French Leave Hotel, owned by actor Craig Kelly, at Eleuthera in The Bahamas, 1960.
40 x 40 inches
$3950
30 x 30 inches
$3350
24 x 24 inche...
Category
1960s 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
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
Great Harbour Cay
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A bather on the beach on Great Harbour Cay, Bahamas, March 1973.
30 x 40 inches
$3350
20 x 30 inches
$3000
20 x 24 inches
$2500
10 x 12 inches
$1350
Complimentary dealer shippin...
Category
1970s 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
Surfing in Biarritz
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Author and screenwriter Peter Viertel (1920 - 2007) with his surfboard on the beach at Biarritz, France, 1960.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of au...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons "Adriatic Sailors' (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Slim Aarons, 'Adriatic Sailors'
1956
Young holidaymakers from Milan enjoy a sail on the Adriatic, 1956.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenti...
Category
1950s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
La Concha Clientele
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Guests at the La Concha Beach Club, Acapulco, Mexico, February 1972.
Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide.
Undercurrent Projects is prou...
Category
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
C Print
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
Capote At Home, New York, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features the author Truman Capote (1924 - 1984) relaxing with a book and a cigarette in his clutter...
Category
1950s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
La Concha Beach Club
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A view of La Concha Beach Club, Acapulco, Mexico, February 1972.
Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide.
Undercurrent Projects is proud to...
Category
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
C Print
Party In Bermuda, Estate Edition (1970 on the Yacht Ondine in yellow and red)
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Slim Aarons's iconic photograph of 70's vintage socialite and party glamour, captured onboard the wood-trimmed deck of the yacht 'Ondine' in Bermuda, June 1970. Figures in the foreground are offset by cheery yellow and red. A United States yacht ensign flag flies the foreground, alongside the flag of Scania, the flag of the Swedish-speaking Finns (an unofficial red flag with a yellow cross used in the Swedish-speaking parts of Finland to represent the Finland-Swedes., which may be flown in addition to the Finnish blue and white flag). Guests wear coral, navy, pastels, and whites, including classic vintage Pucci. The ship's name and home marina of New York are stenciled in gold on the white hull.
Slim Aarons
Party in Bermuda...
Category
1970s 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
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
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
Harbour Island, Bahamas, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1960s landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a couple relaxing at the beach on Harbour Island, Bahamas.
This is an estate stamped and...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Pushkar 1: photograph of an Indian girl in a Ferrari shirt, in India, South Asia
Located in Bryn Mawr, PA
This photograph is from among Vincent Dixon's series created in Paris, Pushkar, Myanmar, Los Angeles, New York, London, Miami, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Milan, Barcelona, Madrid, São Pau...
Category
2010s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Photographic Paper, Archival Pigment
The Bahamas
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A swimming pool, seen through the fronds of a palm tree, with two people swimming and a group of people sitting at tables at the poolside in the Bahamas, May 1967. Beyond the pool is...
Category
1960s 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
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
Positano Beach, Italy, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1970s landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features an elevated view looking down on sunbathers and parasols on the beach at La Scogliera bea...
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
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
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
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
Abercorns On Windermere
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
James and Alexandra Hamilton, the 5th Duke and Duchess of Abercorn holiday on Windermere Island in the Bahamas, with their children Sophia and James, April 1980.
40 x 60 inches
$395...
Category
1980s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Las Brisas
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
The coastline near Warren Avis' villa in Las Brisas, Acapulco, January 1978.
Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide.
Undercurrent Projects is proud to offer this v...
Category
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
C Print
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
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
French Leave Hotel
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Guests at the French Leave Hotel, owned by actor Craig Kelly, at Eleuthera in The Bahamas, 1960.
40 x 40 inches
$3950
30 x 30 inches
$3350
24 x 24 inche...
Category
1960s 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
Cotton Bay
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
The Campbells' pool at Cotton Bay, on Eleuthera Island in the Bahamas, November 1982.
20 x 24 inches
$2500
16 x 20 inches
$2150
12 x 16 inches
$1800
10 x 12 inches
$1350
Complim...
Category
1980s 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
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
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
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
Slim Aarons 'Portofino' (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
1985, The most exclusive fishing village in Italy, Portofino, on Italy's Ligurian coast.
40 x 60 inches
$3950
30 x 40 inches
$3350
20 x 30 inches
$3000
Complimentary dealer shipp...
Category
1980s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Tres Vidas, Acapulco
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Guests relax in the shade at the Tres Vidas private members club, Acapulco, Mexico, February 1975.
Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide.
Undercurrent Projects is...
Category
1970s 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
Habitation Leclerc
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Bathers walking down steps to the swimming pool at Habitation Leclerc, Haiti, January 1975. They are followed by a waiter with cocktails.
Complimentary dealer shipping to your frame...
Category
1970s 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
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
Swimmers At Las Brisas
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Guests in the pool at the Las Brisas Hotel, Acapulco, Mexico, February 1972.
Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide.
Undercurrent Projects is proud to offer this v...
Category
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
C Print
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.