Skip to main content

Realist Portrait 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.

to
5
319
288
244
202
143
Overall Width
to
Overall Height
to
20
1,146
30
1
15
262
369
315
166
11
8,898
3,645
563
478
94
41
22
14
14
13
10
6
5
3
487
406
303
657
370
250
151
129
125
100
99
85
81
76
71
65
60
59
58
55
53
49
47
1,040
1,039
1,039
89
46
1,125
6
4
3
2
13
1,076
1,186
9
Style: Realist
Lovers, San Francisco.
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Fisher Ross. Untitled, ca. 1975-80. Gelatin Silver print, sheet measures 8 x 10 inches; 17 x 21 inches framed. Artist studio stamp on verso. Excellent cond...
Category

1970s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Grace Jones for After Dark
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Victor Arimondi (1942-2001). Portrait of Grace Jones, 1975. Period print measures 8 x 11.75 inches; 10.25 x 13 inches framed. Artist studio stamp on ve...
Category

1970s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Olimpia Hruska, Italy, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1960s landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Swedish model Olimpia Hruska, wearing a bikini, poses against a rock on the Costa Smeralda...
Category

1960s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Untitled, Senegalese model
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Victor Arimondi (1942-2001). Portrait of Senegalese Model, ca. 1975. Period print measures 8.5 x 11.5 inches; 17 x 20 inches frames. Artist studio stam...
Category

1970s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Japan – Two young geishas in flower garden, studio photograph, hand-colored
Located in Middletown, NY
Yokohama, Japan: c 1890. Hand-tinted albumen print, 10 1/2 x 8 inches (266 x 203 mm), numbered B334 in negative, right side of image printed somewhat lighter than left, tiny in-nega...
Category

Late 19th Century Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Watercolor, Photographic Paper

Japan – Samurai - Hand-colored Meiji Period photograph
Located in Middletown, NY
Yokohama, Japan: c 1890. Hand-tinted albumen print, 10 1/8 x 7 3/4 inches (258 x 198 mm), numbered B 1161 and captioned in negative at lower right; very light cockling, brightly col...
Category

Late 19th Century Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Watercolor, Photographic Paper

Walking On Capri, Estate Edition
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Rodney Pleasants, Alessandro Spicaglia, Pauline Cappa, Don C. Napolitano and Luigi Boscaln walking on the island of Capri, Italy, in August 1980. Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certif...
Category

1980s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Penthouse Pool, Estate Edition, framed
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Young women by the Canellopoulos penthouse pool, Athens, July 1961. Framed in white. Slim Aarons Penthouse Pool Chromogenic Lambda print Printed Later Slim Aarons Estate Edition Com...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Sunbathing In Burgenstock, Switzerland, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Lilian Hanson sunbathing by a pool at the Bürgenstock Resort Lake Lucerne in Canton Nidwald...
Category

1950s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons 'Sports Car Couple' (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
Located in Los Angeles, CA
1955: John Bryant with his AC sports car in Kinnerton Place, London SW1, Printed Later. His passenger is Margaret McAulay. 40 x 40 inches $3950 30 x 30 inches $3350 20 x 20 inches $3000 Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide. Undercurrent Projects is pleased to offer this vibrant photograph, printed by the Slim Aarons estate. It is part of the estate's only official limited run, of 150. Estate stamp embossed on recto, hand numbered in ink on recto, with certificate of authenticity from the estate (not a secondary gallery licensing from the estate). Increasingly heralded for his influence, Slim Aarons (1916-2006) made a career out of photographing "attractive people doing attractive things in attractive places." Aarons is known for his iconic images of Hollywood glamour and luxurious people, places and lifestyles. Undercurrent Projects offers premium quality photographic prints from the Slim Aarons Archive, owned and housed by Getty Images. All photographs are printed and authorized by the Getty Images Gallery, London. Photographs are printed utilizing the original transparency held at the archive source. Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II. Though he earned a Purple Heart for his service, he declared that combat had taught him that the only beach worth landing on was decorated with beautiful people enjoying themselves in the sun. Slim Aarons is noted for his documentation of the Beautiful People over 50 years, encompassing high society, celebrity, aristocracy, and the jet set. He was born and raised in New York City and New Jersey and later New Hampshire. He took up photography as a teenager. At the age of eighteen, he enlisted in the U. S. Army and was later appointed official photographer at the United States Military Academy at West Point. During World War II he served as an army combat photographer for Yank magazine in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. After the war he became a freelance photojournalist, first based in Hollywood, then Rome, then New York. His photographs appeared in many magazines, including Life, Holiday, Town & Country, Look, Venture, and Travel & Leisure. His first book A Wonderful Time (1974) is considered a classic. * 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 * Slide show includes a close-up of the Slim Aarons estate's stamp. 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. Internal: Slim Aarons Vintage Sport, Vintage Car photography, Sports Car Photography
Category

1950s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Keep Your Cool (Backgammon in Acapulco) (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Carmen Alvarez enjoying a game of backgammon with Frank 'Brandy' Brandstetter in a swimming pool at Acapulco, 1978. Slim Aarons Keep Your Cool (Backgammon in Acapulco) Chromogenic Lambda print Printed Later Slim Aarons Estate Edition Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide. Stamped and hand numbered by the Slim Aarons Estate. Certificate of Authenticity included. Collector will get the next number in the edition 72 x 48 inches $4900 60 x 40 inches $3950 40 x 30 inches $3350 30 x 20 inches $3000 Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide. 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. 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). * Undercurrent Projects, New York, is proud to represent Aarons' full collection of negatives and transparencies. Housed at Getty Images Hulton Archive in London, 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. Internal: Slim Aarons Poolside Glamour Photography, Vintage Backgammon, Vintage Sport, Acapulco, Vintage Pools, Vintage Games...
Category

1970s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club, San Diego, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features guests at the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club, La Jolla, San Diego. This is an estate stamp...
Category

1950s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Japan – Three dancing geisha apprentices – Hand-colored Meiji Period photograph
Located in Middletown, NY
Yokohama, Japan: c 1880. Hand-tinted albumen print, 8 1/8 x 10 1/2 inches (205 x 267 mm), numbered 1625 and captioned "Dancing" in negative at lower right; pencil inscription in Jap...
Category

Late 19th Century Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Watercolor, Photographic Paper

Grace Jones for After Dark
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Victor Arimondi (1942-2001). Portrait of Grace Jones, 1975. Period print measures 8.5 x 11.25 inches; 10 x 13 inches framed. Artist studio stamp on ver...
Category

1970s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Japan – A costumed Geisha on stage - hand-colored photograph
Located in Middletown, NY
Yokohama, Japan: c 1885. Hand-tinted albumen print, 10 1/2 x 8 inches (268 x 204 mm), hand-numbered 498 in negative; pencil inscription in Japanese on verso. Light scratch in negati...
Category

Late 19th Century Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Watercolor, Photographic Paper

Japan – Tokyo, The Yoshiwara Prostitute Houses
Located in Middletown, NY
Original Photograph / Photographer unattributed Yokohama, Japan: c 1890. Hand-tinted albumen print, 8 x 10 1/2 (204 x 266 mm), uncaptioned, some cockling at top corners; pencil ins...
Category

Late 19th Century Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Watercolor, Photographic Paper

Steve McCurry 'Afghan Girl'
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 most iconic voices in contempo...
Category

1980s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

C Print

Portriat of Tom Petchlsig
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Victor Arimondi (1942-2001). Portrait of Tom Petchlsig, ca. 1975. Period print measures 8 x 10 inches; 16 x 20 inches frames. Artist studio stamp on ve...
Category

1970s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Santa and Serena Antonelli, Italy, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1980s landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Santa and Serena Antonelli and a guest dining al fresco on the terrace of their home abov...
Category

1980s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Woman collecting sea shells
Located in Middletown, NY
Circa 1890 Hand-tinted albumen print, 10 1/2 x 8 inches (266 x 203 mm), small handwritten number '285' in negative, lower left. Unmounted; housed in an archival mat with clear mounting corners. [Nagasaki University Library, Catalog Number : 1889] A woman wearing a towel over her head Anesama kaburi style picks up shells. The background is the sea. There are boats with sails on the beach. It is probably a dramatized photo. Ogawa Katsumasa (1860 – 1936) was a pivotal figure in early Japanese photography. He adapted cutting-edge Western technology in photo-printing processes to produce numerous half-tone and collotype publications which transformed the market which had previously concentrated on the more expensive souvenir albums. Ogawa's publications were also instrumental in introducing Japanese art and culture to a mass international audience. He built one of the most successful photographic businesses in late-Meiji Japan. He opened his first portrait studio in Tomioka, Gumma Prefecture, in 1877. [Bennett, Terry. Old Japanese Photographs...
Category

Late 19th Century Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Watercolor, Photographic Paper

Japan, Girl with Samisen or Gozenobo, titled Beggar (Gozenobo)
Located in Middletown, NY
Hand-tinted albumen print, 10 1/4 inches x 7 3/4 (260 x 198 mm), numbered B 1221 and captioned in negative at lower right. Unmounted; housed in an archival mat with clear mounting co...
Category

Late 19th Century Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Watercolor, Photographic Paper

[Bruce Sargeant (1898-1938)] Man in Suspenders Amidst the Cattails
Located in New York, NY
Oil on canvas Signed in red, u.l. $6500.00 + $300.00 framing This artwork is offered by ClampArt, located in New York City. “Bruce Sargeant is a mythic figure in the modern art mo...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Portrait of Nude Man
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Victor Arimondi (1942-2001). Portrait, ca. 1975. Period print measures 11 x 14 inches. Artist studio stamp on verso. Victor Arimondi (November 8, 1942 – July 24, 2001) was an Italian American photographer and model who lived and worked in Europe before moving to the United States in the late 1970s. His early fashion photography, his portraits of Grace Jones and other artists, and his male nudes photographed in New York and San Francisco captured the pre-AIDS culture of the 1970s and early 1980s. Arimondi's nudes were collected in several books, including David Leddick's award-winning[1] The Male Nude, (New York: Taschen 1998, 2005 and 2015). The photographer's later work documented homeless individuals in San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood and the toll of the AIDS epidemic on the city. His photographs, featured in several posthumous exhibitions, also are in the collections of Sweden's museum of modern art, Moderna Museet, and San Francisco's GLBT Historical Society. Biography Arimondi was born Vittorio Maria Tevitti to his unwed mother, Alessandra Calligaris, in Bologna, Italy on November 8, 1942. His mother struggled financially, which left an impression on her only child. In 1948, she temporarily left him at a children's boarding school and orphanage in Italy to move to Sweden for a job. There she met and married Bruno Arimondi, who adopted her son. The family returned to Naples, Italy in 1952 where Victor graduated from high school.[1] In 1960, Arimondi returned to Sweden to study at the University College of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm, although he did not graduate. Meanwhile, he worked at several blue collar jobs, including as a mailman, before he gave up on traditional full-time work to pursue what he considered more essential— a life of creative expression. He created costume-like clothing for himself and friends and at age 19 became a fashion model. Even as a teenager, the Italian born photographer who spent his 20s and 30s primarily based in Sweden, noted that he preferred fantasy to the trials of real life.[1] That conflict, and his passion for beauty as well as his sexual energy, were major factors in his life and his work.[2] From 1965 through 1972 Arimondi worked as model in London, Milan, Germany, New York and Stockholm, appearing in catalogs and fashion magazines including Vogue , Harper's Bazaar and Esquire and on the runway in several Valentino fashion shows. In 1972 he decided to try working on the other side of the lens as a photographer to better express his creativity.[2] Arimondi moved to New York in 1979 and continued to build his photography portfolio. Portrait of Bearded Man, New York City, 1979 Two years later, in 1981, he moved to San Francisco where he lived and worked for twenty years until his death of AIDS at age 58 on July 24, 2001. The year he moved to San Francisco, Arimondi opened a photo gallery in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood for a short time. When he struggled financially, he gave up on trying to earn a living through commercial fashion photography and closed the gallery.[3] Arimondi returned to modeling for the financial benefits, though he did so on less of an international scale than in his early years. He continued to create photographic portraits of the denizens of the San Francisco gay and arts cultures, to shoot male nudes and publish his work in magazines, and he began to compose and photograph evocative still lifes using his own photographic images. Many of them touched on the death of dozens of his former photography models from AIDS. Arimondi was in the midst of a new photography project that brought together his background as a fashion photographer and his more recent social documentary work when he died several months after he learned he was HIV-positive.[4] The project featured his former colleague, haute couture cover model Ivy Nicholson,[5] who he found living homeless in San Francisco. Several of the haunting portraits he took of her were later included in a noted group exhibit at SF Camerawork. Art Arimondi's early photography in the 1970s in Stockholm included portraits of the stars of Sweden's fashion, theater and dance worlds. His first two photography exhibits were in Stockholm and met with mixed reviews. But as he matured as a photographer and tapped into his fashion world contacts, Arimondi landed a number of commercial fashion jobs, including shooting for the Italian designer Salvatore Ferragamo S.p.A.'s I.Magnin department store ad that ran in Vogue. Marlboro Man Nude, New York City,1980. He also shot other artists and models for his own portfolio, including Grace Jones, the Norwegian actress, Liv Ullmann, and the American writer, Norman Mailer. Arimondi's aesthetic vision was focused on fantasy and drama, and he prided himself on pushing limits.[6] Although less well-known than his San Francisco contemporary...
Category

1970s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Japan, Girls Playing on Konkonchiki Game, original photograph
Located in Middletown, NY
Hand-tinted albumen print, 7 7/8 x 10 1/4 inches (200 x 260 mm), numbered B 1085 and captioned in negative at lower right. Tiny in-negative defects creating white spots. Unmounted;...
Category

Late 19th Century Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Watercolor, Photographic Paper

Poolside Waiting, Palm Springs, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1970s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a waiter by the pool at Nelda Linsk's desert house in Palm Springs, January 1970. The house was...
Category

1970s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Portrait of Man in Denim
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Victor Arimondi (1942-2001). Portrait, ca. 1975. Period print measures 9 x 12 inches. Artist studio stamp on verso. Victor Arimondi (November 8, 1942 – July 24, 2001) was an Italian American photographer and model who lived and worked in Europe before moving to the United States in the late 1970s. His early fashion photography, his portraits of Grace Jones and other artists, and his male nudes photographed in New York and San Francisco captured the pre-AIDS culture of the 1970s and early 1980s. Arimondi's nudes were collected in several books, including David Leddick's award-winning[1] The Male Nude, (New York: Taschen 1998, 2005 and 2015). The photographer's later work documented homeless individuals in San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood and the toll of the AIDS epidemic on the city. His photographs, featured in several posthumous exhibitions, also are in the collections of Sweden's museum of modern art, Moderna Museet, and San Francisco's GLBT Historical Society. Biography Arimondi was born Vittorio Maria Tevitti to his unwed mother, Alessandra Calligaris, in Bologna, Italy on November 8, 1942. His mother struggled financially, which left an impression on her only child. In 1948, she temporarily left him at a children's boarding school and orphanage in Italy to move to Sweden for a job. There she met and married Bruno Arimondi, who adopted her son. The family returned to Naples, Italy in 1952 where Victor graduated from high school.[1] In 1960, Arimondi returned to Sweden to study at the University College of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm, although he did not graduate. Meanwhile, he worked at several blue collar jobs, including as a mailman, before he gave up on traditional full-time work to pursue what he considered more essential— a life of creative expression. He created costume-like clothing for himself and friends and at age 19 became a fashion model. Even as a teenager, the Italian born photographer who spent his 20s and 30s primarily based in Sweden, noted that he preferred fantasy to the trials of real life.[1] That conflict, and his passion for beauty as well as his sexual energy, were major factors in his life and his work.[2] From 1965 through 1972 Arimondi worked as model in London, Milan, Germany, New York and Stockholm, appearing in catalogs and fashion magazines including Vogue , Harper's Bazaar and Esquire and on the runway in several Valentino fashion shows. In 1972 he decided to try working on the other side of the lens as a photographer to better express his creativity.[2] Arimondi moved to New York in 1979 and continued to build his photography portfolio. Portrait of Bearded Man, New York City, 1979 Two years later, in 1981, he moved to San Francisco where he lived and worked for twenty years until his death of AIDS at age 58 on July 24, 2001. The year he moved to San Francisco, Arimondi opened a photo gallery in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood for a short time. When he struggled financially, he gave up on trying to earn a living through commercial fashion photography and closed the gallery.[3] Arimondi returned to modeling for the financial benefits, though he did so on less of an international scale than in his early years. He continued to create photographic portraits of the denizens of the San Francisco gay and arts cultures, to shoot male nudes and publish his work in magazines, and he began to compose and photograph evocative still lifes using his own photographic images. Many of them touched on the death of dozens of his former photography models from AIDS. Arimondi was in the midst of a new photography project that brought together his background as a fashion photographer and his more recent social documentary work when he died several months after he learned he was HIV-positive.[4] The project featured his former colleague, haute couture cover model Ivy Nicholson,[5] who he found living homeless in San Francisco. Several of the haunting portraits he took of her were later included in a noted group exhibit at SF Camerawork. Art Arimondi's early photography in the 1970s in Stockholm included portraits of the stars of Sweden's fashion, theater and dance worlds. His first two photography exhibits were in Stockholm and met with mixed reviews. But as he matured as a photographer and tapped into his fashion world contacts, Arimondi landed a number of commercial fashion jobs, including shooting for the Italian designer Salvatore Ferragamo S.p.A.'s I.Magnin department store ad that ran in Vogue. Marlboro Man Nude, New York City,1980. He also shot other artists and models for his own portfolio, including Grace Jones, the Norwegian actress, Liv Ullmann, and the American writer, Norman Mailer. Arimondi's aesthetic vision was focused on fantasy and drama, and he prided himself on pushing limits.[6] Although less well-known than his San Francisco contemporary...
Category

1970s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Cooly, drawing Jinrikisha (Rickshaw)
Located in Middletown, NY
Hand-tinted albumen print, 7 3/4 x 10 inches (195 x 252 mm), pasted onto a gold-edged board with caption hand-written in black ink.
Category

Late 19th Century Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Watercolor, Photographic Paper

Eagle Club, Estate Edition, Midcentury Gstaad Ski Photography
Located in Los Angeles, CA
In this midcentury snowscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, holidaymakers dining at the Eagle Club, Gstaad, Switzerland, March 1969. Slim Aarons Estate E...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Portrait
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Victor Arimondi (1942-2001). Portrait, ca. 1975. Period print measures 11 x 14 inches. Artist studio stamp on verso. Victor Arimondi (November 8, 1942 – July 24, 2001) was an Italian American photographer and model who lived and worked in Europe before moving to the United States in the late 1970s. His early fashion photography, his portraits of Grace Jones and other artists, and his male nudes photographed in New York and San Francisco captured the pre-AIDS culture of the 1970s and early 1980s. Arimondi's nudes were collected in several books, including David Leddick's award-winning[1] The Male Nude, (New York: Taschen 1998, 2005 and 2015). The photographer's later work documented homeless individuals in San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood and the toll of the AIDS epidemic on the city. His photographs, featured in several posthumous exhibitions, also are in the collections of Sweden's museum of modern art, Moderna Museet, and San Francisco's GLBT Historical Society. Biography Arimondi was born Vittorio Maria Tevitti to his unwed mother, Alessandra Calligaris, in Bologna, Italy on November 8, 1942. His mother struggled financially, which left an impression on her only child. In 1948, she temporarily left him at a children's boarding school and orphanage in Italy to move to Sweden for a job. There she met and married Bruno Arimondi, who adopted her son. The family returned to Naples, Italy in 1952 where Victor graduated from high school.[1] In 1960, Arimondi returned to Sweden to study at the University College of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm, although he did not graduate. Meanwhile, he worked at several blue collar jobs, including as a mailman, before he gave up on traditional full-time work to pursue what he considered more essential— a life of creative expression. He created costume-like clothing for himself and friends and at age 19 became a fashion model. Even as a teenager, the Italian born photographer who spent his 20s and 30s primarily based in Sweden, noted that he preferred fantasy to the trials of real life.[1] That conflict, and his passion for beauty as well as his sexual energy, were major factors in his life and his work.[2] From 1965 through 1972 Arimondi worked as model in London, Milan, Germany, New York and Stockholm, appearing in catalogs and fashion magazines including Vogue , Harper's Bazaar and Esquire and on the runway in several Valentino fashion shows. In 1972 he decided to try working on the other side of the lens as a photographer to better express his creativity.[2] Arimondi moved to New York in 1979 and continued to build his photography portfolio. Portrait of Bearded Man, New York City, 1979 Two years later, in 1981, he moved to San Francisco where he lived and worked for twenty years until his death of AIDS at age 58 on July 24, 2001. The year he moved to San Francisco, Arimondi opened a photo gallery in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood for a short time. When he struggled financially, he gave up on trying to earn a living through commercial fashion photography and closed the gallery.[3] Arimondi returned to modeling for the financial benefits, though he did so on less of an international scale than in his early years. He continued to create photographic portraits of the denizens of the San Francisco gay and arts cultures, to shoot male nudes and publish his work in magazines, and he began to compose and photograph evocative still lifes using his own photographic images. Many of them touched on the death of dozens of his former photography models from AIDS. Arimondi was in the midst of a new photography project that brought together his background as a fashion photographer and his more recent social documentary work when he died several months after he learned he was HIV-positive.[4] The project featured his former colleague, haute couture cover model Ivy Nicholson,[5] who he found living homeless in San Francisco. Several of the haunting portraits he took of her were later included in a noted group exhibit at SF Camerawork. Art Arimondi's early photography in the 1970s in Stockholm included portraits of the stars of Sweden's fashion, theater and dance worlds. His first two photography exhibits were in Stockholm and met with mixed reviews. But as he matured as a photographer and tapped into his fashion world contacts, Arimondi landed a number of commercial fashion jobs, including shooting for the Italian designer Salvatore Ferragamo S.p.A.'s I.Magnin department store ad that ran in Vogue. Marlboro Man Nude, New York City,1980. He also shot other artists and models for his own portfolio, including Grace Jones, the Norwegian actress, Liv Ullmann, and the American writer, Norman Mailer. Arimondi's aesthetic vision was focused on fantasy and drama, and he prided himself on pushing limits.[6] Although less well-known than his San Francisco contemporary...
Category

1970s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Kings Of Hollywood, Beverly Hill, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features film stars (left to right) Clark Gable (1901 - 1960), Van Heflin (1910 - 1971), Gary Cooper...
Category

1950s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons 'Joan Collins Relaxes'
Located in New York, NY
Film star Joan Collins relaxes with her pink poodle on her pink bed. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity fro...
Category

1950s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Large Silver Gelatin Russian Photograph Potsdam Conference Winston Churchill
Located in Surfside, FL
Potsdam conference meeting depicting Josef Stalin, Winston Churchill and Harry Truman (not visible) at the conference table, gelatin silver print, date of printing unknown, 16-1/2" x 22-3/4" sheet, date of printing unknown. Provenance: acquired from the estate of photographer Samariy Gurariy...
Category

20th Century Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Frank Sinatra, 1965 - Bob Willoughby (Portrait Photography)
Located in London, GB
Frank Sinatra, 1965 - Bob Willoughby (Portrait Photography) Archival pigment print Printed on 20 x 24 inch paper From an edition of 25 Also available in alternative sizes Bob Wi...
Category

1950s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

The St. Regis, New York, Estate Edition, Event Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s event photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features an aerial view of diners at the St. Regis, New York. This is an estate stamped and hand numbe...
Category

1950s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

" Sa Marguerite ". Don de BRIGITTE BARDOT
By Ghislain Dussart
Located in CANNES, FR
Ghislain Dussart ( 1924 - 1996 ) BB " Sa Marguerite ". Don de BRIGITTE BARDOT photo originale : 31 x 21 cm encadrement : 49 x 39 cm . Ghislain Dussart a travaillé comme photog...
Category

1970s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

"Marilyn Monroe, Roll 2, Frame 2"
Located in West Hollywood, CA
Lawrence Schiller "Marilyn Monroe - Roll 2 Frame 2" 1962; Photograph 20 x 24 inches Edition of 75 Black and White Framed
Category

1960s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Film

Penthouse Pool, Estate Edition, Poolside Landscape with Acropolis, Athens Greece
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Slim Aarons’s Penthouse Pool captures a sunlit moment of casual glamour at the Canellopoulos penthouse pool in Athens, Greece. Taken in July 1961, the photograph shows a group of you...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons 'Family Pool' (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
Located in Los Angeles, CA
circa 1960: Mrs A Watson Armour III (Jean Schweppe) with friends and family enjoying the pool on their estate at Lake Forest, Illinois. A Wonderful Time - Slim Aarons Slim Aarons Fa...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Parrot Jungle, Miami, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1955 portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a family day out at the Parrot Jungle amusement park near Miami. This is an estate stamped and...
Category

1950s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Large Silver Gelatin Photograph Russian USSR Soviet Parade Yuri Gagarin Photo
Located in Surfside, FL
Yuri Gagarin Meeting Workers at Foundry Stankolit, depicting the famous Russian cosmonaut (Moscow, 1961) Gelatin silver print, matte finish, date of printing unknown. Provenance: acquired from the estate of photographer Samariy Gurariy...
Category

20th Century Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Mick Jagger on Holiday, Mustique Island, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1980s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features British rock star Mick Jagger holidays on the island of Mustique in the Grenadines. This ...
Category

1980s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Faithful Couple: Mick Jagger & Marianne Faithfull at Leixlip Castle, Estate Ed.
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Slim Aarons's iconic and unusual photograph of 60's rock and roll legends, captured in a moment of casual glamour. 1968: Singer Marianne Faithfull, the Honorable Desmond Guinness and Mick Jagger (of the Rolling Stones) sit on a sofa under a large gilt framed portrait of a woman in 18th century silk dress at Leixlip Castle, Ireland, the home of Desmond Guinness. The sofa is a deep burgundy red, and the background features a richly patterned and gilded wallpaper...
Category

1960s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Dimitris Kritsas at the Temple to Poseidon, Sounion, Greece, Estate Edition
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Dimitris Kritsas, a fashionable young couturier, poses among the gleaming white Doric columns of the temple to Poseidon at Sounion, Greece, 1967. Posing with him, four models show off colorful dresses of red, salmon, turquoise, and pastel yellow. This iconic photo depicts a scene of vintage glamour set against a classic Greek blue sky. Slim Aarons Dmitris Kritsas at the Temple to Poseidon, Sounion, Greece Estate Edition of 150 1967, Printed Later 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. 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. Site Details: The Temple of Poseidon is an ancient Greek temple on Cape Sounion, Greece, dedicated to the god Poseidon. There is evidence of the establishment of sanctuaries on the cape from as early as the 11th century B.C. Sounion’s most prominent temples, the Temple of Athena and the Temple of Poseidon, are however not believed to have been built until about 700 B.C., and their kouroi (freestanding Greek statues of young men) date from about one hundred years later. The material and size of the offerings at the Temple of Poseidon indicate that it was likely frequented by members of the elite and the aristocratic class Approximately 13 kilometers south of Thorikos in the southern most region of Attica, the deme of Sounion is most well known for its sanctuaries of Poseidon and Athena. Its placement at the foot of Attica allowed it to function as a border deme as it could easily been seen by ships nearing Attica. The temple of Poseidon at Sounion was constructed from 444 to 440 BC. This was during the ascendancy of the Athenian statesman Pericles, who also rebuilt the Parthenon in Athens. The temple of Poseidon was built on the ruins of a temple dating from the Archaic period, about which the Greek geographer Strabo noted: "Geraistos [in Euboia] . . . is conveniently situated for those who are sailing across from Asia to Attica since it is near Sounion. It has a sanctuary (hieron) of Poseidon, the most notable of those in that part of the world, and also a noteworthy settlement. The main temple we see today is mainly made out of marble with an intricate taenia (the fancy borders on the ceiling). The marble is an Agrileza marble. The marble used on the Temple of Poseidon at Sounion came from the marble quarries, a place where marble is removed from the earth, in the Agrileza mines. This type of marble was 'coarsed grained' meaning that it had a rougher texture than smooth, shiny marble. As indicated by literary and archaeological evidence, the "leveled summit" on the coast of Cape Sounion was likely a cult site from as early as the end of the eighth century BC. Two cult centers dedicated to Athena and Poseidon respectively are believed to have been established by 700 BC. Subject: The name of Greek fashion designer...
Category

1960s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Pop and Society, Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull, Estate Edition
Located in Los Angeles, CA
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 Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons 'Palm Beach Society' Slim Aarons Estate Edition
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. April 1968. (Slim Aarons / Getty Images) Slim Aarons Palm Beach Society...
Category

1960s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Important American Social Documentary Photograph Milton Rogovin Rare Original 60
Located in Buffalo, NY
An original gelatin silver print by American social documentary photographer Milton Rogovin depicting a resident of Buffalo's East Side in the early 1960's. This work is hand signed...
Category

1960s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

The Observer, Jackson Nash Portrait by Graham Nash
Located in Soquel, CA
Gorgeous archival digital photograph, limited edition giclee by Graham Nash (American, b. 1942) of a Nash's first born son Jackson, age five, looking into an aquarium in his San Francisco house...
Category

1980s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Ink, Laid Paper

Subway 30, NYC 1980s, New York City, Kids, Photograph, Subway, Limited Edition
Located in Riverdale, NY
John Conn New York City Subway photographs. These limited edition fine art photographs were originally taken between 1975 and 1982. Each black and white photograph is signed and numbered. Edition of 15. 20x30 image printed on 24x36 archival paper. This is framed in a black frame to 28x38. In this series, Conn captured the graffiti and one of the most crime ridden periods in New York. According to one source “In the 1980s, over 250 felonies were committed every week in the system, making the New York subway the most dangerous mass transit system in the world.” One image captures an Irish...
Category

1970s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Ink, Archival Paper

Large Silver Gelatin Photograph Russian USSR Soviet Parade Yuri Gagarin Photo
Located in Surfside, FL
Yuri Gagarin Meeting Workers at Foundry Stankolit, depicting the famous Russian cosmonaut (Moscow, 1961) Gelatin silver print, gloss finish, date of printing unknown. Provenance: acquired from the estate of photographer Samariy Gurariy...
Category

20th Century Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

New York Picnic, Estate Edition
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Premium Rates Apply. A chauffeur unpacks a picnic hamper from a Rolls Royce, against the New York skyline. Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included Numbered...
Category

1950s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Skiing Princess, Austria, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Skiing Princess Slim Aarons Estate Edition Numbered and stamped by the Slim Aarons Estate. Certificate of Authenticity included. C-type print on Fuji Crystal Archive Paper, Crisp de...
Category

1960s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

The Observer, Portrait of Jackson Nash by Graham Nash
Located in Soquel, CA
Gorgeous archival digital photograph, limited edition giclee by Graham Nash (American, b. 1942) of a Nash's first born son Jackson, age five, looking into an aquarium in his San Francisco house...
Category

1980s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Ink, Laid Paper

Rhode Island Surfer, Slim Aarons Estate Edition
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A surfer carrying his board at a Rhode Island beach, September 1965. (Photo by Slim Aarons/Getty Images) Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included Numbered an...
Category

1960s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Principe Dom Pedro, Brazil, Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1980s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, Principe Dom Pedro De Orleans E Braganca, grandson of Brazilian emperor Pedro II. He is pictured at...
Category

1980s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Skiing at St. Moritz, Estate Edition
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Skiers on a slope in St Moritz, Switzerland, March 1978. Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included Numbered and stamped by the Slim Aarons Estate Collector w...
Category

1970s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Catherine Wilke, Capri, Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1980s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Catherine Wilke joining the topless sunbathers at the Hotel Punta Tragara on the island of Capr...
Category

1980s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Beverly Hills Party, Los Angeles, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1954 portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features American actors Lauren Bacall and Judy Garland attending a house party in Beverly Hills. This i...
Category

1950s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Kings Of Hollywood, Beverly Hill, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features film stars (left to right) Clark Gable (1901 - 1960), Van Heflin (1910 - 1971), Gary Cooper...
Category

1950s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons 'Venice Vacation', Estate Edition
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Holidaymakers on the pier at the Lido in Venice, 1957. (Photo by Slim Aarons/Getty Images) Slim Aarons Venice Vacation Chromogenic Lambda print 1957, Printed Later Slim Aarons Estate Edition Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide. Stamped and hand numbered by the Slim Aarons Estate. Certificate of Authenticity included. This artwork DOES include a certificate of authenticity from the authenticating body, the estate Collector will get the next number in the edition 40 x 40 inches $3950 30 x 30 inches $3350 24 x 24 inches $3000 12 x 12 inches $1800 Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide. 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. Photograph is unframed Modern estate edition with estate blindstamp signature and hand number in lower margin 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). * Undercurrent Projects, New York, is proud to represent Aarons' full collection of negatives and transparencies. Housed at Getty Images Hulton Archive in London, 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. Internal: Slim Aarons Venice...
Category

1950s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Lido Life, Venice, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a group of friends squeeze onto an inflatable raft at the Venice Lido, Venice, Italy. This...
Category

1950s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Realist portrait photography for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Realist 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 blue, purple, pink, red and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Slim Aarons, Bob Willoughby, Mitchell Funk, 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 portrait photography, so small editions measuring 8 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 $380 and tops out at $75,000, while the average work sells for $3,000.

Recently Viewed

View All