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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.

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Style: Realist
Mrs. A. Watson Armour III, Illinois, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1960s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Mrs. A. Watson Armour III walking with her poodles on her Lake Forest Estate, Illinois, USA. T...
Category

1960s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Esther Williams, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features American swimmer and actress Esther Williams (1921 - 2013) lounging on a trampoline. This ...
Category

1950s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

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

Fan Mail, Beverly Hills, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Marilyn Monroe (1926 - 1962), wearing a red negligee trimmed with black lace, sorts out h...
Category

1950s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Portrait of Male Model Ingolf, Copenhagen Denmark
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Victor Arimondi (1942-2001). Portrait of male model Ingolf wearing Torben Hardernberg, ca. 1975. Period print measures 9 x 11 inches. Artist studio stamp on verso. Victor Arimondi ...
Category

1970s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

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

Japan – Geisha Girl with Fan – Hand-colored albumen print
Located in Middletown, NY
Yokohama, Japan: c 1885. Hand-tinted albumen print, 10 1/2 x 8 inches (268 x 204 mm), hand-numbered 1103 in negative. Unmounted; housed in an archival mat with clear mounting corner...
Category

Late 19th Century Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Watercolor, Photographic Paper

Slim Aarons 'Beauty and the Beast'
Located in New York, NY
Lady Daphne Cameron (Mrs George Cameron) on a tiger skin rug in the trophy room at socialite Laddie Sanford's home in Palm Beach, Florida. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition o...
Category

1950s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

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

All Aboard, Monaco, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1970s landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a group of Friends boarding a riva boat in Monte Carlo, Monaco. This is an estate stamped...
Category

1970s 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

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

Hotel on Lake Como, Estate Edition
Located in Los Angeles, CA
The swimming pool and jetty at the Villa d'Este Hotel, Lake Como, Italy, June 1983 Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included Numbered and stamped by the Slim ...
Category

1980s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

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

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

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

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

Portrait
$600 Sale Price
25% Off
A Colourful Crew, Bermuda, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1970 portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a group of colourfully dressed friends on board the Calypso clothing store owned boat, Bermuda. ...
Category

1970s 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

Wendy Vanderbilt, Palm Beach, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1960s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features American socialite Wendy Vanderbilt at home in Palm Beach, Florida, USA. This is an estate ...
Category

1960s 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

Japan, Girl Winter Costume
Located in Middletown, NY
Stillfried, Raimund von Japan, Girl Winter Costume Yokohama, Japan: c 1880. Hand-tinted albumen print, 10 1/4 x 7 3/4 inches (260x 200 mm), numbered B 1080 and titled in the lower r...
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

Hibiscus Flowers, Mexico, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1960s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a woman surrounded by red hibiscus flowers in a swimming pool...
Category

1960s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Ice Bar, Austria, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1970s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features the Ice Bar at the Hotel Krone in the Austrian ski resort of Lech, February 1979. This is an estat...
Category

1970s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Japan – Daibutsu, Hiogo, Kobe – Hand-colored Meiji Period photograph
Located in Middletown, NY
circa 1890. Hand-tinted albumen print, 7 7/8 x 10 1/4 inches (200 x 260 mm), numbered B 289 and captioned in negative at lower right. Unmounted; housed in an archival mat with clear...
Category

Late 19th Century Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Watercolor, Photographic Paper

Party At Romanoff's, Beverly Hills, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograp
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1950s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a party at Romanoff's in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles. This is an estate stamped and hand numbered ...
Category

1950s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

[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

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

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

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

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

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

Portrait
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Portrait, ca. 1975. Period print measuring 8.75 x 11.25 inches. Unframed. Studio stamp on verso. Mounting and framing services available. 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

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

Rita Aarons, Hawaii, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1955s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Rita Aarons, wife of photographer Slim Aarons, during the filming of 'Mister Roberts' in Ha...
Category

1950s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

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

Photo-Mad Old Man A Turning 77 on 5.25.17, 4 Photographs By Nobuyoshi Araki
Located in Hong Kong, HK
Artist: Nobuyoshi Araki (b.1940) Artwork: Photographoary: Photo-Mad Old Man A Turning 77 on 5.25.17 (set of four pieces) Medium: Gelatin silver print Size: 11.1 × 16.7 cm. × 4 4 3/8 ...
Category

2010s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

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

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

In Tandem
Located in Colorado Springs, CO
Original black and white photography by artist Jack Ludlam. Framed. Edition 1/3.
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Film

Prado Visitors, Madrid, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features visitors at the The Prado Museum (Museo Nacional del Prado) viewing Diego Velázquez's maste...
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

Top People's Eatery, San Francisco, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
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 the glass roofed Garden Court of the...
Category

1970s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Fan Mail, Beverly Hills, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Marilyn Monroe (1926 - 1962), wearing a red negligee trimmed with black lace, sorts out h...
Category

1950s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Marbles Championship, New York City, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1940s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a group of boys competing in a marble championship in Central Park, New York City. This i...
Category

1940s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons Pop and Society (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Slim Aarons Pop and Society (Marianne Faithfull, the Honorable Desmond Guinness and Mick Jagger) Chromogenic lambda print 4 sizes available Slim Aarons Estate Edition 1968: From lef...
Category

1960s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

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

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

Slim Aarons 'Venice Gondolas', Estate Edition
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Gondolas moored in Venice, 1957. In the background is the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore, on San Giorgio Maggiore island. Captured with the exquisite clarity and charm that epitomiz...
Category

1950s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Ladies Of Lyford Cay
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Grace, Mrs Dauphinot, Marina Posson and Baroness Meriel de Posson in Lyford Cay, New Providence Island, April 1974. 20 x 30 inches $3000 20 x 24 inches $2500 16 x 20 inches $2150 ...
Category

1970s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons 'Monocled Miss' (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Renata Boeck enjoying breakfast in bed at the Regency Hotel in New York, 1964. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate. Slim Aarons Monocled...
Category

1960s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

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

Curling, Austria, Estate Edition, Winter Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Curling, Austria, Estate Edition, Winter Portrait Photograph This early 1960s winter landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Heinrich Dite and L...
Category

1960s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

George Hamilton in Capri
Located in Los Angeles, CA
American actor George Hamilton relaxes on a deckchair in Capri, 1968. George Hamilton in Capri Slim Aarons Estate Edition 40 x 30 inches Estate stamp...
Category

1960s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

The Poet's Son Billie 1898
Located in Soquel, CA
Late 19th century portrait of a young boy by Arnold Genthe (German, 1869-1942). Signed "Arnold Genthe" lower left. "Billie 11 mo." on verso in the artist...
Category

1890s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin

North Conway, New Hampshire, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a woman holding her skis in North Conway, New Hampshire. This is an estate stamped and han...
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

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

Audrey Hepburn, 1953 - Bob Willoughby (Portrait Photography)
Located in London, GB
Audrey Hepburn, 1953 - 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 W...
Category

1950s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

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.

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