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
La Canzone Del Mare, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
La Canzone del Mare in Capri, Italy, July 1958.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included
Numbered and stamped by the Slim Aarons Estate
Collector will recei...
Category
1950s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Ursula Andress, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
1955: Swiss film star Ursula Andress (left) relaxes with artist Novella Parigini in a hammock in Rome.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Au...
Category
1950s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Faraglioni Rocks, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Faraglioni Rocks on the Italian island of Capri, August 1974.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included
Numbered and stamped by the Slim Aarons Estate
Collec...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Faraglioni Rocks, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Faraglioni Rocks on the Italian island of Capri, August 1974.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included
Numbered and stamped by the Slim Aarons Estate
Collec...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Positano Beach, Italy, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1970s landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features an elevated view looking down on sunbathers and parasols on the beach at La Scogliera bea...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Positano Beach, Italy, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1970s landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features an elevated view looking down on sunbathers and parasols on the beach at La Scogliera bea...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Positano Beach, Italy, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1970s landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features an elevated view looking down on sunbathers and parasols on the beach at La Scogliera bea...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Westin Excelsior, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
The Westin Excelsior Hotel on the Lido in Venice, 1957.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included
Numbered and stamped by the Slim Aarons Estate
Collector wi...
Category
1950s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Westin Excelsior, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
The Westin Excelsior Hotel on the Lido in Venice, 1957.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included
Numbered and stamped by the Slim Aarons Estate
Collector wi...
Category
1950s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Marina Piccola, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Tullio Abbate, of Abbate Boats, at the back of yacht as it is moored at a property on the shores of Lake Como, Italy, in June 1983.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authe...
Category
1980s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Marina Piccola, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Tullio Abbate, of Abbate Boats, at the back of yacht as it is moored at a property on the shores of Lake Como, Italy, in June 1983.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authe...
Category
1980s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Marina Piccola, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Tullio Abbate, of Abbate Boats, at the back of yacht as it is moored at a property on the shores of Lake Como, Italy, in June 1983.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authe...
Category
1980s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Marina Piccola, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Canzone del Mare at the Marina Piccola, Capri, Italy, 1954.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included
Numbered and stamped by the Slim Aarons Estate
Collector...
Category
1950s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Marina Piccola, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Canzone del Mare at the Marina Piccola, Capri, Italy, 1954.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included
Numbered and stamped by the Slim Aarons Estate
Collector...
Category
1950s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Waiting in the Shade, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A woman shelters under a parasol on a beach on the Costa Smeralda, Sardinia, 1967.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included
Numbered and stamped by the Slim...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Cortina d'Ampezzo, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
The Piazza Roma, a square in Cortina d'Ampezzo in the Italian Alps, 1962.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included
Numbered and stamped by the Slim Aarons E...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Cortina d'Ampezzo, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
The Piazza Roma, a square in Cortina d'Ampezzo in the Italian Alps, 1962.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included
Numbered and stamped by the Slim Aarons E...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Portofino, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Yachts moored in the Italian fishing village of Portofino, circa 1955.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included
Numbered and stamped by the Slim Aarons Esta...
Category
1950s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Portofino, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Yachts moored in the Italian fishing village of Portofino, circa 1955.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included
Numbered and stamped by the Slim Aarons Esta...
Category
1950s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Porto Ercole, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Private boats in Porto Ercole, Tuscany, August 1980.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included
Numbered and stamped by the Slim Aarons Estate
Collector will ...
Category
1980s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Porto Ercole, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Private boats in Porto Ercole, Tuscany, August 1980.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included
Numbered and stamped by the Slim Aarons Estate
Collector will ...
Category
1980s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Sunbathers at Eden Roc, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Sunbathers at the Hotel du Cap Eden-Roc, Antibes, France, August 1969.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included
Numbered and stamped by the Slim Aarons Estat...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Sunbathers at Eden Roc, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Sunbathers at the Hotel du Cap Eden-Roc, Antibes, France, August 1969.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included
Numbered and stamped by the Slim Aarons Estat...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Hôtel Du Cap Eden Roc, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Guests standing by a white Rolls-Royce convertible courtesy car at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, Antibes, France, August 1976.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity ...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Hôtel Du Cap Eden Roc, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Guests standing by a white Rolls-Royce convertible courtesy car at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, Antibes, France, August 1976.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity ...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Hôtel Du Cap Eden Roc, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Guests standing by a white Rolls-Royce convertible courtesy car at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, Antibes, France, August 1976.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity ...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Hotel Du Cap Eden Roc, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Guests standing by a white Rolls-Royce convertible courtesy car at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, Antibes, France, August 1976.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity ...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Hôtel Du Cap, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Holidaymakers at the Hotel du Cap Eden-Roc, Antibes on the French Riviera, 1969.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included
Number...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Hôtel Du Cap, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Holidaymakers at the Hotel du Cap Eden-Roc, Antibes on the French Riviera, 1969.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included
Number...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Hôtel Du Cap, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Holidaymakers at the Hotel du Cap Eden-Roc, Antibes on the French Riviera, 1969.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included
Number...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Palm Springs Life, Palm Springs, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1970 portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Nelda Linsk (left, in yellow), wife of art dealer Joseph Linsk with guests by the pool at the Li...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Champagne by the Pool, Palm Springs, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1970 portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Former fashion model Helen Dzo Dzo (in white crochet, left) talking to a guest by the pool at Ne...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Champagne by the Pool, Palm Springs, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1970 portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Former fashion model Helen Dzo Dzo (in white crochet, left) talking to a guest by the pool at Ne...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Poolside Scenery, Palm Springs, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1970 portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Nelda Linsk (left, in yellow), wife of art dealer Joseph Linsk with guests by the pool at the Li...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Poolside Waiting, Palm Springs, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
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
Poolside Scenery, Palm Springs, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Nelda Linsk (left, in yellow), wife of art dealer Joseph Linsk with guests by the pool at the Linsk's desert house in Palm Springs, January 1970. At centre, left is actress Lita Baro...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Poolside Waiting, Palm Springs, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
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
Poolside Friendship, Palm Springs, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1970 portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Nelda Linsk (left, in yellow), wife of art dealer Joseph Linsk with guests by the pool at the Li...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Poolside Waiting, Palm Springs, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
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
Sarah Marson Williams, Barbados, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1970s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Sarah Marson Williams enjoying a cocktail on the beach...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Hotel on Lake Como, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
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
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
New England Skiing, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Two women recline on improvised sunbeds in Cranmore Mountain, New Hampshire, circa 1955.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included
Numbered and stamped by th...
Category
1950s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
New England Skiing, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Two women recline on improvised sunbeds in Cranmore Mountain, New Hampshire, circa 1955.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included
Numbered and stamped by th...
Category
1950s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
New England Skiing, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Two women recline on improvised sunbeds in Cranmore Mountain, New Hampshire, circa 1955.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included
Numbered and stamped by th...
Category
1950s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Nelda and Friends, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Ladies by the pool at the Kaufmann Desert House in Palm Springs, California, January 1970. From right to left, former fashion model Helen Dzo Dzo Kaptur (in white lace), unknown, Nel...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Nelda and Friends, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Ladies by the pool at the Kaufmann Desert House in Palm Springs, California, January 1970. From right to left, former fashion model Helen Dzo Dzo Kaptur (in white lace), unknown, Nel...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Helen & Nelda by the Pool, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Former fashion model Helen Dzo Dzo (left) talking to Nelda Linsk, wife of art dealer Joseph Linsk, at the Kaufmann Desert House in Palm Springs, California, January 1970.
Slim Aaro...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Helen Dzo Dzo Kaptur, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Former fashion model Helen Dzo Dzo Kaptur and other guests at the Kaufmann Desert House in Palm Springs, California, January 1970.
Slim Aarons Estate E...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Helen & Nelda by the Pool, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Former fashion model Helen Dzo Dzo (left) talking to Nelda Linsk, wife of art dealer Joseph Linsk, at the Kaufmann Desert House in Palm Springs, California, January 1970.
Slim Aaro...
Category
1970s 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
Andros Island, Bahamas, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1970s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features (from left to right) Christine Camerana, Caroline Stoop, and Christine Semenenko Warrender...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Andros Island, Bahamas, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1970s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features (from left to right) Christine Camerana, Caroline Stoop, and Christine Semenenko Warrender...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Sunbathing In Burgenstock, Switzerland, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
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
Sunbathing in Bermuda, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Sunbathing and swimming at a beach in Bermuda, June 1967. Bathers in colorful vintage swimsuits lounge on a white sandy beach and swim in turquoise wa...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Sunbathing in Bermuda, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Sunbathing and swimming at a beach in Bermuda, June 1967. Bathers in colorful vintage swimsuits lounge on a white sandy beach and swim in turquoise wa...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Sunbathing in Bermuda, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Sunbathing and swimming at a beach in Bermuda, June 1967. Bathers in colorful vintage swimsuits lounge on a white sandy beach and swim in turquoise wa...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Iconic Slim Aarons Estate Edition 'Tania Mallet in the Bahamas'
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
1961: Actress Tania Mallet relaxes on a red-curtained four poster in Eleuthera, in the Bahamas. She is best known for her role as the unfortunate Tilly Masterson in the Bond film 'Go...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Chalet Costi, Zermatt, Estate Edition, Winter Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Chalet Costi, Zermatt, Estate Edition, Winter Landscape Photograph
This late 1960s landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features skiers outside the Ch...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Skiing Princess, Austria, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
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
Verbier Skiers, Switzerland, Estate Edition, Winter Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Verbier Skiers, Switzerland, Estate Edition, Winter Portrait Photograph
This mid-1960s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features skiers at Verbier....
Category
1960s 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.
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