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Impressionist Portrait Photography

IMPRESSIONIST STYLE

Emerging in 19th-century France, Impressionist art embraced loose brushwork and plein-air painting to respond to the movement of daily life. Although the pioneers of the Impressionist movement — Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Paul Cézanne, Berthe Morisot, Camille Pissarro, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir — are now household names, their work was a radical break with an art scene led and shaped by academic traditions for around two centuries. These academies had oversight of a curriculum that emphasized formal drawing, painting and sculpting techniques and historical themes.

The French Impressionists were influenced by a group of artists known as the Barbizon School, who painted what they witnessed in nature. The rejection of pieces by these artists and the later Impressionists from the salons culminated in a watershed 1874 exhibition in Paris that was staged outside of the juried systems. After a work of Monet’s was derided by a critic as an unfinished “impression,” the term was taken as a celebration of their shared interest in capturing fleeting moments as subject matter, whether the shifting weather on rural landscapes or the frenzy of an urban crowd. Rather than the exacting realism of the academic tradition, Impressionist paintings, sculptures, prints and drawings represented how an artist saw a world in motion.

Many Impressionist painters were inspired by the perspectives in imported Japanese prints alongside these shifts in European painting — Édouard Manet drew on ukiyo-e woodblock prints and depicted Japanese design in his Portrait of Émile Zola, for example. American artists such as Mary Cassatt and William Merritt Chase, who studied abroad, were impacted by the work of the French artists, and by the late 19th century American Impressionism had its own distinct aesthetics with painters responding to the rapid modernization of cities through quickly created works that were vivid with color and light.

Find a collection of authentic Impressionist art on 1stDibs.

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Style: Impressionist
Laszczyn - Building a Stack 2 - Mid 20th Century Oil Painting by H Krajewska
Laszczyn - Building a Stack 2 - Mid 20th Century Oil Painting by H Krajewska

Laszczyn - Building a Stack 2 - Mid 20th Century Oil Painting by H Krajewska

By Helena Malarewicz-Krajewska

Located in Watford, Hertfordshire

Helena Malarewicz-Krajewska (born 14 July 1910 in Biecz , died May 7, 1998 in Warsaw) is a Polish painter, active advocate of socialist realism. Studied between 1928 and 1929 at the...

Category

1940s Impressionist Portrait Photography

Materials

Oil, Board

Polish Woman - Impressionist Mid 20th Century Oil Painting by Helena Krajewska
Polish Woman - Impressionist Mid 20th Century Oil Painting by Helena Krajewska

Polish Woman - Impressionist Mid 20th Century Oil Painting by Helena Krajewska

By Helena Malarewicz-Krajewska

Located in Watford, Hertfordshire

Helena Malarewicz-Krajewska (born 14 July 1910 in Biecz , died May 7, 1998 in Warsaw) is a Polish painter, active advocate of socialist realism. Studied between 1928 and 1929 at the...

Category

1950s Impressionist Portrait Photography

Materials

Oil, Board

Peacock Blue and Green. Colorful  Pheasant Bird
Peacock Blue and Green. Colorful  Pheasant Bird

Peacock Blue and Green. Colorful Pheasant Bird

By Robert Funk

Located in Miami, FL

This close-up of a peacock displaying is defined by late, dramatic light. The photographer is lying on his belly in the dirt - inches from the bird to get this intimate upward-look...

Category

2010s Impressionist Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Archival Pigment

Raining with Sunshine: Three Horses in Autumn Rain and Golden Light in New York
Raining with Sunshine: Three Horses in Autumn Rain and Golden Light in New York

Raining with Sunshine: Three Horses in Autumn Rain and Golden Light in New York

By Mitchell Funk

Located in Miami, FL

For 55 years, Mithcell Funk has been capturing the emotive power of color and light. In the present image, "Raining with Sunshine," Funk captures three horses lined up in a row and ...

Category

1970s Impressionist Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Archival Pigment

East Village Bums, Tramps Smoking and Drinking at Blue Green Wall
East Village Bums, Tramps Smoking and Drinking at Blue Green Wall

East Village Bums, Tramps Smoking and Drinking at Blue Green Wall

By Mitchell Funk

Located in Miami, FL

Four East Village down-and-out derelicts and apparent friends sit on a step and engage in a lively chat. They are smoking and drinking. Street Photographer Mitchell Funk captures the...

Category

1960s Impressionist Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Archival Pigment

Old New York Bar with Ballantine Beer Neon Sign
Old New York Bar with Ballantine Beer Neon Sign

Old New York Bar with Ballantine Beer Neon Sign

By Mitchell Funk

Located in Miami, FL

Moody image of a man looking out while the photographer looks in. The picture is organized in a composition of alternating floating faces and floating signs. This work also represen...

Category

1970s Impressionist Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Inkjet, Archival Pigment

Greenwich village Street Scene with Colorful Walls - Street Photography
Greenwich village Street Scene with Colorful Walls - Street Photography

Greenwich village Street Scene with Colorful Walls - Street Photography

By Mitchell Funk

Located in Miami, FL

In the 1970s, color photography was still not recognized as fine art. As a street photographer, Mitchell Funk breaks with traditional black and white photography and shoots on the ...

Category

1970s Impressionist Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Archival Pigment

Dog Park in Magenta  - Dogs and People having Fun
Dog Park in Magenta  - Dogs and People having Fun

Dog Park in Magenta - Dogs and People having Fun

By Mitchell Funk

Located in Miami, FL

New Yorkers walk their dogs in an upper east side park. The scene is shot at dawn. First light skims across the ground and gives the whole picture a mesmerizing quality in pinks and...

Category

2010s Impressionist Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Archival Pigment

Pecocks in Green and Blue
Pecocks in Green and Blue

Pecocks in Green and Blue

By Robert Funk

Located in Miami, FL

Double portrait of colorful peacocks with shimmering plumage set against a verdant background. Robert Funk is a photographer and New York advertising art director for Print and TV....

Category

2010s Impressionist Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Peacock Blue and Green. Colorful Pheasants
Peacock Blue and Green. Colorful Pheasants

Peacock Blue and Green. Colorful Pheasants

By Robert Funk

Located in Miami, FL

This close-up of a peacock displaying is defined by late dramatic light. Robert Funk is a photographer and New York advertising art director for Print and TV. He was widely publishe...

Category

2010s Impressionist Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Archival Pigment

Flower Hat in   Yellows, Blues and Pinks

Flower Hat in Yellows, Blues and Pinks

By Mitchell Funk

Located in Miami, FL

Woman as a flower. Signed and dated on lower right, numbered on verso ,3/15 unframed. Other sizes available, Mitchell Funk is an abstractionist while being a documentarian Mitchell ...

Category

2010s Impressionist Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, Inkjet, Archival Pigment

Trumpet Player: Soulful Rainbow of Color
Trumpet Player: Soulful Rainbow of Color

Trumpet Player: Soulful Rainbow of Color

By Mitchell Funk

Located in Miami, FL

Signed dated and numbered lower right recto Edition 2/15 Unframed. Printed later. Other sizes are available. Mitchell Funk is a pioneer of " Color Photography". In 1970 he participat...

Category

1980s Impressionist Portrait Photography

Materials

Inkjet

Golden Classical Bronze Head in thought
Golden Classical Bronze Head in thought

Golden Classical Bronze Head in thought

By Robert Funk

Located in Miami, FL

Roman bronze figure after the antique is capture in an introspective moment. Highlights on the eyelids accent the dreamy quality of the gaze. Signed, dated and numbered lower rig...

Category

2010s Impressionist Portrait Photography

Materials

Inkjet

Dream Girl
Dream Girl

Dream Girl

By Mitchell Funk

Located in Miami, FL

Done in 1970 during the psychedelic era, Mitchell Funk zooms a sleeping girl in Central Park. There a perfect balance between the zoom of colors emanating from her head and the as...

Category

1970s Impressionist Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Flower Hat in   Yellows, Blues and Pinks

Flower Hat in Yellows, Blues and Pinks

By Mitchell Funk

Located in Miami, FL

Woman as a flower. Signed and dated on lower right, numbered on verso ,3/15 unframed. Other sizes available, Mitchell Funk is an abstractionist while being a documentarian Mitchell ...

Category

2010s Impressionist Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, Inkjet, Archival Pigment

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$450Sale Price|25% Off

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"Glass Eyes" Photography 56" x 40" in Edition 1/3 by Larsen Sotelo
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Previously Available Items
Polish Boy - Impressionist Mid 20th Century Oil Painting by Helena Krajewska
Polish Boy - Impressionist Mid 20th Century Oil Painting by Helena Krajewska

Polish Boy - Impressionist Mid 20th Century Oil Painting by Helena Krajewska

By Helena Malarewicz-Krajewska

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Polish Girl - Impressionist Mid 20th Century Oil Painting by Helena Krajewska
Polish Girl - Impressionist Mid 20th Century Oil Painting by Helena Krajewska

Polish Girl - Impressionist Mid 20th Century Oil Painting by Helena Krajewska

By Helena Malarewicz-Krajewska

Located in Watford, Hertfordshire

Helena Malarewicz-Krajewska (born 14 July 1910 in Biecz , died May 7, 1998 in Warsaw) is a Polish painter, active advocate of socialist realism. Studied between 1928 and 1929 at the...

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1950s Impressionist Portrait Photography

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Oil, Board

Impressionist portrait photography for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Impressionist portrait 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 portrait photography created in this style to introduce contrast in an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include elements of purple, blue, green, red and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Mitchell Funk, Robert Funk, Helena Malarewicz-Krajewska, and Anne K Smith. Frequently made by artists working with Digital Print, and Inkjet 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 Impressionist portrait photography, so small editions measuring 3.5 inches across are also available. Prices for portrait 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 $323 and tops out at $6,000, while the average work sells for $4,600.