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
Hamilton Hostess
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Mrs George Davenport Aldrich and dogs on the lawn of her estate in Hamilton, Massachusetts, circa 1960.
40 x 40 inches
$3950
30 x 30 inches
$3350
24 x 24 inches
$3000
Complimenta...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Earl Of Lichfield, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Photographer Patrick Anson, 5th Earl of Lichfield (1939-2005) holding a Hasselblad camera while posing with Ines Torlonia, Marina Lante della Rovere and Signor...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Dolores Del Rio by the Pool, Acapulco (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Mexican film star Dolores Del Rio (1905 - 1983, centre) lounges by the pool with Micki Salle, a friend and a poodle, Acapulco, 1952.
Slim Aarons
Dolor...
Category
1950s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Table Hopping
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
circa 1959: Senator Jack Kennedy (President John F Kennedy) greeting old friends at an 'April in Paris' ball held in the Waldorf's Grand Ballroom, New York.
30 x 40 inches
$3350
20...
Category
1950s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Harbour Island
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Harbour Island in the Bahamas, 1970.
30 x 40 inches
$3350
20 x 30 inches
$3000
20 x 24 inches
$2500
10 x 12 inches
$1350
Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide....
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Table Hopping
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
circa 1959: Senator Jack Kennedy (President John F Kennedy) greeting old friends at an 'April in Paris' ball held in the Waldorf's Grand Ballroom, New Yor...
Category
1950s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Commander Whitehead
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Commander Edward Whitehead (1908 - 1978), the public face of Schweppes, leans on a silver Rolls Royce at Lyford Cay, New Providence Island, April 1974. Commander Whitehead served in ...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Harbour Island
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Harbour Island in the Bahamas, 1970.
30 x 40 inches
$3350
20 x 30 inches
$3000
20 x 24 inches
$2500
10 x 12 inches
$1350
Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide....
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
French Bath
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Joyce Pallardy relaxes at the Villa Macopa, the home of Mrs Andre Hammel in St Tropez, August 1977.
Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide.
Undercurrent Projects i...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Fishing On Honeymoon Porch
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Sailing boats in the Out Islands of the Bahamas, April 1964.
16 x 20 inches
$2150
12 x 16 inches
$1800
10 x 12 inches
$1350
Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwid...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Saint-Tropez
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Holidaymakers on the deck of yacht in Saint-Tropez, France, August 1971.
40 x 60 inches
$3950
30 x 40 inches
$3350
20 x 30 inches
$3000
10 x 12 inches
$1350
Complimentary dealer...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Black Pearl Trippers
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Henry B. Cabot Jr. (standing, centre) with his son Henry Bromfield Cabot III and their host Barclay (Buzzy) H Warburton III (in striped shirt) aboard the brigantine 'Black Pearl', ci...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons Palm Beach Society (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Jim Kimberly and his wife (far left) and friends with his white sports car and white boats moored on Lake Worth. A Palm Beach socialite, Kimberly acts as Honorary Consul of Jordan. A...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Katherine Hepburn
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
1953: American film star Katharine Hepburn (1907 - 2003) driving along the waterfront with Irene Mayer Selznick at Montego Bay, Jamaica.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of ...
Category
1950s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Winter Suntans, Gstaad, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1960s group portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features young women enjoy a relaxing sunbathe in snowy Gstaad.
This is an estate stamped a...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Winter Suntans, Gstaad, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1960s group portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features young women enjoy a relaxing sunbathe in snowy Gstaad.
This is an estate stamped a...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Winter Suntans, Gstaad, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1960s group portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features young women enjoy a relaxing sunbathe in snowy Gstaad.
This is an estate stamped a...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Beach At Positano, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Aerial view looking down on sunbathers and parasols on the beach at Positano, Italy, 1979. The view looks north along the coastline.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Auth...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Gloria Schiff
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Gloria Schiff, the twin sister of Consuelo Crespi, with her pet dog and pet birds at Lyford Cay in the Bahamas.
40 x 40 inches
$3950
30 x 30 inches
$3350
24 x 24 inches
$3000
Com...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Rockefeller Brothers, New York, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1980 portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features the Rockefeller brothers in their Radio City, New York office. Left to right, Laurance (1910 - 2...
Category
1980s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
On the Slopes in Stowe, Estate Edition (Snowscape, Vintage Skaal House, Vermont)
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Five people relaxing on the terrace of the glass-fronted triangular Skaal House in the Stowe Mountain ski resort in Stowe, Vermont, 1962. The property is owned by Doris Molliel, who ...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons 'Kings of Hollywood' (New Year's at Romanoff's)
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Film stars (left to right) Clark Gable (1901 - 1960), Van Heflin (1910 - 1971), Gary Cooper (1901 - 1961) and James Stewart (1908 - 1997) enjoy a joke at a New Year's party held at R...
Category
1950s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Acapulco Pool
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Architect Arturo Pani and his wife by their swimming pool at home in Acapulco, Mexico.
Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide.
Undercurrent Projects is proud to o...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Arturo Pani's Villa
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
The swimming pool at Arturo Pani's villa, Acapulco, Mexico, January 1968.
Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide.
Undercurrent Projects is proud to offer this vibr...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Lyford Cay, New Providence Island, Leonard Dalsemer Villa, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Leonard Dalsemer and his family at their villa in Lyford Cay, New Providence Island, April 1974.
Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide.
Undercurrent Projects is p...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Acapulco Lunch
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A long afternoon lunch at Acapulco. Among the guest are (from left to right) film star Douglas Fairbanks Junior (1909 - 2000), couturiers Oscar de la Renta, and standing behind him E...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Ladies Of Lyford Cay
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Grace, Mrs Dauphinot, Marina Posson and Baroness Meriel de Posson in Lyford Cay, New Providence Island, April 1974.
40 x 40 inches
$3950
30 x 30 inches
$3350
24 x 24 inches
$3000
...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Acapulco Lunch
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A long afternoon lunch at Acapulco. Among the guest are (from left to right) film star Douglas Fairbanks Junior (1909 - 2000), couturiers Oscar de la Renta, and standing behind him E...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Acapulco Pool
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Architect Arturo Pani and his wife by their swimming pool at home in Acapulco, Mexico.
Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide.
Undercurrent Projects is proud to o...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Ladies Of Lyford Cay
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Grace, Mrs Dauphinot, Marina Posson and Baroness Meriel de Posson in Lyford Cay, New Providence Island, April 1974.
40 x 40 inches
$3950
30 x 30 inches
$3350
24 x 24 inches
$3000
...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Arturo Pani's Villa
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
The swimming pool at Arturo Pani's villa, Acapulco, Mexico, January 1968.
Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide.
Undercurrent Projects is proud to offer this vibr...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Top People's Eatery, San Francisco, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1970s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Journalist Lucius Beebe beside a gold place setting in t...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Top People's Eatery, San Francisco, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1970s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Journalist Lucius Beebe beside a gold place setting in t...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
We Know Our Place
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A Dalmatian dog lies at the feet of Mr and Mrs John M Seabrook as they pose with a pony and trap in the garden of their home, the Seabrook estate, New Jersey.
40 x 40 inches
$3950
...
Category
1950s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Lunch At Merle's
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
English actress Merle Oberon (1911 - 1979, second from right) and lunch guests at her villa, La Consentida, Acapulco, 1966.
Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide.
...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
We Know Our Place
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A Dalmatian dog lies at the feet of Mr and Mrs John M Seabrook as they pose with a pony and trap in the garden of their home, the Seabrook estate, New Jersey.
40 x 40 inches
$3950
...
Category
1950s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Lunch At Merle's
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
English actress Merle Oberon (1911 - 1979, second from right) and lunch guests at her villa, La Consentida, Acapulco, 1966.
Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide.
...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Lunch At Merle's
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
English actress Merle Oberon (1911 - 1979, second from right) and lunch guests at her villa, La Consentida, Acapulco, 1966.
Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide.
...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Armando's Beach Club
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Sunbathers at Armando's Beach Club, Acapulco, Mexico, February 1975.
Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide.
Undercurrent Projects is pro...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Commander Whitehead
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Commander Edward Whitehead (1908 - 1978), the public face of Schweppes, leans on a silver Rolls Royce at Lyford Cay, New Providence Island, April 1974. Commander Whitehead served in ...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Racquet Club Pool
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Swiss bandleader and restaurateur Teddy Stauffer (1909 - 1991) with Dorothy Webb and Mrs Charles Rogers in the pool at the Villa Vera Spa & Racquet Club p...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Pool at Las Brisas, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
An underwater view of the pool at the Las Brisas Hotel in Acapulco, Mexico, February 1972.
A woman drinking from a coconut underwater in the pool at Las Brisas Hotel in Acapulco, Mexico, February 1972.
Slim Aarons
Underwater Drink
Acapulco
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included
Numbered and stamped by the Slim Aarons Estate
Collector will receive the next number in the edition
Modern printing from original transparency
C-type print on Fuji Crystal Archive Paper,
Crisp detail, continuous tone and brilliant color
Paper weight 210gms
Matte Satin Surface
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.
#slimaarons #acapulco. Vintage scene...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Poolside Backgammon, Estate Edition, 1970s Acapulco, Villa Nirvana Las Brisas
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Guests playing a game of poolside backgammon at the Villa Nirvana, owned by Oscar Obregon, in Las Brisas, Acapulco, Mexico, 1972.
Poolside Backgammon
Villa Nirvana, Las Brisas, Acap...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Katherine Hepburn, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
1953: American film star Katharine Hepburn (1907 - 2003) driving along the waterfront with Irene Mayer Selznick at Montego Bay, Jamaica.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of ...
Category
1950s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Hotel Punta Tragara, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
The Hotel Punta Tragara on Capri, Italy, August 1974.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included
Numbered and stamped by the Slim...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Britt Ekland, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
1969, Swedish actress Britt Ekland in Porto Ercole, Italy.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included
Numbered and stamped by the ...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Conca dei Marini, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A busy bay in Conca dei Marini, on the Amalfi coast in Italy, August 1984.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included
Numbered...
Category
1980s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Conca dei Marini, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A bay in Conca dei Marini, on the Amalfi coast in Italy, August 1984.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included
Numbered and ...
Category
1980s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Funk In Tuscany, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Italian fashion designer, model and socialite, Marta Marzotto (1931 - 2016), playing a James Brown album on an Italian Brionvega Radiofonograph RR126 stereo system, Porto Ercole, Tus...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Private Stage, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
1960: Countess Anna Laetitia Pecci-Blunt (1885 - 1971) sits on the stage of her own private theatre in Rome.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included
Numbere...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons 'Palm Beach Society' Slim Aarons Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Jim Kimberly and his wife (far left) and friends with his white sports car and white boats moored on Lake Worth. A Palm Beach socialite, Kimberly acts as Honorary Consul of Jordan. April 1968. (Slim Aarons / Getty Images)
Slim Aarons
Palm Beach Society...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Venice Gondolier, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Premium Rates Apply. A gondolier on the Grand Canal in Venice, 1957.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included
Numbered and stamped by the Slim Aarons Estate...
Category
1950s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Marisa Berenson, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
American actress Marisa Berenson sunbathing in Capri, 1968.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included
Numbered and stamped by the Slim Aarons Estate
Collecto...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Nino Cerruti, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
September 1968: Nino Cerruti, fashion designer and perfumer with a model in Capri.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included
Numbered and stamped by the Slim...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Nino Cerruti, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
September 1968: Nino Cerruti, fashion designer and perfumer with a model in Capri.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included
Numbered and stamped by the Slim...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Beach At Positano, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Aerial view looking down on sunbathers and parasols on the beach at Positano, Italy, 1979. The view looks north along the coastline.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Auth...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Beach In Positano, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Aerial view looking down on sunbathers and parasols on the beach at Positano, Italy, 1979.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included
Numbered and stamped by ...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Hotel Punta Tragara, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
The Hotel Punta Tragara on Capri, Italy, August 1974.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included
Numbered and stamped by the Slim...
Category
1970s 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.