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
8
292
267
242
199
141
Overall Width
to
Overall Height
to
20
1,094
27
1
15
254
357
304
152
4
10,113
4,322
663
483
95
42
22
14
14
13
9
6
5
3
479
403
259
656
367
243
155
129
126
103
97
90
81
77
71
62
61
58
58
55
54
49
48
984
983
983
89
47
1,069
6
4
3
2
13
1,023
1,131
9
Style: Realist
Beauty and the Beast
By Slim Aarons
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
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
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
Joan Collins Relaxes, Slim Aarons Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Film star Joan Collins relaxes with her pink poodle on her pink bed.
Slim Aarons
Joan Collins Relaxes, Estate Edition
Chromogenic Lambda print
1955, Printed Later
Slim Aarons Estate...
Category
1950s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Crowded Kitzbühel, Austria, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1980 portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features skiers making their way between the slopes in Kitzbühel, Austria.
This is an estate stamped and...
Category
1980s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Skiing In Stowe, Vermont, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1960s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a young woman waiting to go on a ski run in Stowe, Vermont, USA.
This is an estate stamp...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Skiing In Stowe, Vermont, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1960s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a young woman waiting to go on a ski run in Stowe, Vermont, USA.
This is an estate stamp...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Skiing In Stowe, Vermont, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1960s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a young woman waiting to go on a ski run in Stowe, Vermont, USA.
This is an estate stamp...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Florence Pritchett Smith, Venice, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1950 portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features model turned fashion editor turned society hostess, Florence Pritchett Smith, covers her sleevel...
Category
1950s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Lido Life, Venice, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
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
Lido Life, Venice, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
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
Lido Life, Venice, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
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
Rhode Island Surfer, Slim Aarons Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
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
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 – Geisha, Kago Travelling Chair
Located in Middletown, NY
Original Photograph / Photographer unattributed
Yokohama, Japan: c 1885.
Hand-tinted albumen print, 7 3/4 x 10 1/4 inches (197 x 260 mm), numbered B 86 and captioned caption on lowe...
Category
Late 19th Century Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Watercolor, Photographic Paper
Skiing Princess (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Princess Luciana Pignatelli on a skiing holiday in Lech, Austria. February 1961
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
S...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
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
Slim Aarons, Skiing at Sugarbush
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons
Skiing at Sugarbush, 1960.
C print
estate edition of 150
Skiing at Sugarbush, a mountain resort in Vermont, April 1960.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
New York Picnic, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
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
Ski Slope In St. Moritz, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Skiers (bottom) on a slope in St Moritz, Switzerland, March 1963.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included
Numbered and stamped by the Slim Aarons Estate
Co...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Skiing at St. Moritz, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
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
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
La Concha Clientele
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Guests at the La Concha Beach Club, Acapulco, Mexico, February 1972.
Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide.
Undercurrent Projects is prou...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
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
Amalfi Coast, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Windsurfing on the waters off the Amalfi Coast, Italy, in September 1978.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included
Numbered and stamped by the Slim Aarons E...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Mustique Tranquility, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Meg O'Neill, a writer for Town and Country magazine, relaxing by the infinity pool at Colin Tennant's home on the West Indies island of Mustique, February 1989.
Slim Aarons Estate E...
Category
1980s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Mustique Tranquility, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Meg O'Neill, a writer for Town and Country magazine, relaxing by the infinity pool at Colin Tennant's home on the West Indies island of Musti...
Category
1980s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Mustique Tranquility, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Meg O'Neill, a writer for Town and Country magazine, relaxing by the infinity pool at Colin Tennant's home on the West Indies island of Mustique, February 1989.
Slim Aarons Estate E...
Category
1980s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Mustique, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
March 1973: Linda Ashland relaxes in a beach hammock on the island of Mustique in the Grenadines.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included
Numbered and stam...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Mustique, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
March 1973: Linda Ashland relaxes in a beach hammock on the island of Mustique in the Grenadines.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included
Numbered and stam...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Holiday in Mustique, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Pierre Vincent Marais and his wife Isabelle holiday with friends at Gelliceaux House, their home on the island of Mustique in the Grenadines, February 1...
Category
1980s 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
Large Silver Gelatin Russian Photograph Potsdam Conference Truman Photo WWII
Located in Surfside, FL
Potsdam conference meeting depicting Josef Stalin, Winston Churchill and Harry Truman on the balcony gelatin silver print, matte finish on photograph, artist's stamp verso, approximately 11" x 15-1/2" sheet, date of printing unknown.
Provenance: acquired from the estate of photographer Samariy Gurariy...
Category
20th Century Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
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
September Affair, Rome, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1940s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a crowd gathering to watch the actors Joan Fontaine and Joseph Cotten on the set of Willia...
Category
1940s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Original Photography by Cyrille Druart
Located in Collonge Bellerive, Geneve, CH
Black and white original photography by Cyrille Druart.
Edition: I/V
Dimensions: 90 x 120 cm
Cyrille Druart is a French photograph and architect, a book about his new series w...
Category
2010s 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 – Kimya-Bashi (Bridge), Nagasaki w/ 2 rickshaws – Hand-colored photograph
Located in Middletown, NY
Yokohama, Japan: circa 1890.
Hand-tinted albumen print, 7 7/8 x 10 1/4 inches (200 x 260 mm); hand numbered 64 in negative and captioned at lower left; light cockling at top left co...
Category
Late 19th Century Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Watercolor, Photographic Paper
Beverly Hills Party, Los Angeles, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
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
Prado Visitors, Madrid, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
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
4 unique portraits of Vietnamese concert pianist Chau-Giang Thi Nguyen, Signed
By Peter Beard
Located in New York, NY
Peter Beard
Portraits of classical concert pianist Concert Pianist Chau-Giang Thi Nguyen in artists frame, 2006
Four (4) separate Chromogenic prints (c-print) in artist's frame. Hand...
Category
Early 2000s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Photographic Paper, C Print
Photographic print, hand signed and inscribed by Helen Frankenthaler, framed
Located in New York, NY
Helen Frankenthaler
Hand signed and inscribed photograph, ca. 1987
Photograph printed on offset lithograph
Hand signed and inscribed by Helen Frankenthaler on the front
Frame Include...
Category
1980s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lithograph, Offset
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
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
Untitled, Motorcycle Bondage, San Francisco.
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Fisher Ross. Untitled, Image #5, ca. 1975-80. Offset print postcard format. 4.5 x 6.5 inches; 12 x 15 inches framed. Excellent condition.
Photographs fr...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Offset
Sir Run Run Shaw, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1970s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features philanthropist and entertainment mogul Sir Run Run Shaw surrounded by the stars of Hong Ko...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Crowded Kitzbühel, Austria, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1980 portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features skiers making their way between the slopes in Kitzbühel, Austria.
This is an estate stamped and...
Category
1980s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Japan – Woman in winter outfit with umbrella (background of Mt. Fuji)
Located in Middletown, NY
Yokohama, Japan.
Hand-tinted albumen print, 10 1/4 x 8 inches (259 x 201 mm), unmounted; light cockling at corners.
[Nagasaki University Library, Catalog Number : 468].
A young wom...
Category
Late 19th Century Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Watercolor, Photographic Paper
Japan – Deshima, Nagasaki – Hand-colored Meiji Period photograph
Located in Middletown, NY
Yokohama, Japan: 1890s.
Hand-tinted albumen print, 7 7/8 x 10 1/4 inches (200 x 260 mm), captioned in negative at lower right. Unmounted; housed in an archival mat with clear mounti...
Category
Late 19th Century Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Watercolor, Photographic Paper
Californian Party, San Francisco, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1990s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features the Belgian born actress Audrey Hepburn (1929 - 1993) socialising at a party in San Francisco.
This is an estate stamp...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Pop and Society, Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
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
North Conway, New Hampshire, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
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
Jim Kimberly, California, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Jim Kimberly and Kim Wadsworth at the Beverly Hills Hotel, California.
This is an estate ...
Category
1950s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Monograph: The Complete Paintings (Hand signed, inscribed by Philip Pearlstein)
Located in New York, NY
Philip Pearlstein The Complete Paintings, 1984
Hardback monograph with dust jacket
Hand signed, dated and inscribed to Nadine by Philip Pearlstein
12 × 10 1/2 × 1 3/4 inches
This i...
Category
1980s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Paper, Ink, Mixed Media, Lithograph, Offset
Californian Party, San Francisco, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1990s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features the Belgian born actress Audrey Hepburn (1929 - 1993) socialising at a party in San Francisco.
This is an estate stamp...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
The Hotel Excelsior, Rome, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
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
Jim Kimberly, California, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Jim Kimberly and Kim Wadsworth at the Beverly Hills Hotel, California.
This is an estate ...
Category
1950s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Marbles Championship, New York City, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
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
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.