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Abstract Photography

ABSTRACT STYLE

Beginning in the early 20th century, abstract art became a leading style of modernism. Rather than portray the world in a way that represented reality, as had been the dominating style of Western art in the previous centuries, abstract paintings, prints and sculptures are marked by a shift to geometric forms, gestural shapes and experimentation with color to express ideas, subject matter and scenes.

Although abstract art flourished in the early 1900s, propelled by movements like Fauvism and Cubism, it was rooted in the 19th century. In the 1840s, J.M.W. Turner emphasized light and motion for atmospheric paintings in which concrete details were blurred, and Paul Cézanne challenged traditional expectations of perspective in the 1890s.

Some of the earliest abstract artists — Wassily Kandinsky and Hilma af Klint — expanded on these breakthroughs while using vivid colors and forms to channel spiritual concepts. Painter Piet Mondrian, a Dutch pioneer of the art movement, explored geometric abstraction partly owing to his belief in Theosophy, which is grounded in a search for higher spiritual truths and embraces philosophers of the Renaissance period and medieval mystics. Black Square, a daringly simple 1913 work by Russian artist Kazimir Malevich, was a watershed statement on creating art that was free “from the dead weight of the real world,” as he later wrote.

Surrealism in the 1920s, led by artists such as Salvador Dalí, Meret Oppenheim and others, saw painters creating abstract pieces in order to connect to the subconscious. When Abstract Expressionism emerged in New York during the mid-20th century, it similarly centered on the process of creation, in which Helen Frankenthaler’s expressive “soak-stain” technique, Jackson Pollock’s drips of paint, and Mark Rothko’s planes of color were a radical new type of abstraction.

Conceptual art, Pop art, Hard-Edge painting and many other movements offered fresh approaches to abstraction that continued into the 21st century, with major contemporary artists now exploring it, including Anish Kapoor, Mark Bradford, El Anatsui and Julie Mehretu.

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Style: Abstract
Levels. From The Lavori in Corso series
Levels. From The Lavori in Corso series

Levels. From The Lavori in Corso series

Located in Miami Beach, FL

Eduardo Rezende’s 2024 series Lavori in Corso revisits one of the artist’s most enduring themes: the urban and architectural landscape — this time focused on construction sites, scaf...

Category

2010s Abstract Photography

Materials

Canvas

Eternity Abstract Cyanotype, 24x18 Inch, Signed Monotype

Eternity Abstract Cyanotype, 24x18 Inch, Signed Monotype

Located in Oakland, CA

Though it resembles a giant abstract watercolor painting owing to its soft gradations and luminous quality, this is a form of photography called a cyanotype, photogram or sun print. ...

Category

2010s Abstract Photography

Materials

Paper, Archival Paper, Rag Paper, Monotype, Photogram

Dahlia on Ink - floral film photography on cotton canvas, Limited edition of 5
Dahlia on Ink - floral film photography on cotton canvas, Limited edition of 5

Dahlia on Ink - floral film photography on cotton canvas, Limited edition of 5

By Ugne Pouwell

Located in London, GB

'Dahlia on Ink' 2024 Cotton canvas print from limited edition of 5. (Does not come with streatch bars, only canvas print) Black and white floral film photography combination with...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Photography

Materials

Photographic Film, Ink, Archival Ink, Photographic Paper, Cotton Canvas,...

Anesthesia - underwater photograph - series REFLECTIONS - archival print 35x52"
Anesthesia - underwater photograph - series REFLECTIONS - archival print 35x52"

Anesthesia - underwater photograph - series REFLECTIONS - archival print 35x52"

By Alex Sher

Located in Beverly Hills, CA

Lost in a sea of rich saturation of dark and light blue colors, a feminine form gracefully traverses the expanse of the water. Alex Sher’s “Anesthesia” invites us into an abstracted ...

Category

2010s Abstract Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment, Archival Paper

Dahlia on Ink No.3 - floral film photography in composition with ink abstraction

Dahlia on Ink No.3 - floral film photography in composition with ink abstraction

By Ugne Pouwell

Located in London, GB

'Dahlia on Ink #3' 2023 Black and white floral film photography combination with ink painting. Made using a large format 4x5 film camera, developed in the studio by the artist. P...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Photography

Materials

Photographic Film, Ink, Archival Ink, Photographic Paper, Giclée

Poppy on ink - floral film photography in composition with ink abstraction

Poppy on ink - floral film photography in composition with ink abstraction

By Ugne Pouwell

Located in London, GB

'Poppy on Ink' 2023 Black and white floral film photography combination with ink painting. Made using a large format 4x5 film camera, developed in the studio by the artist. Print...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Photography

Materials

Photographic Film, Ink, Archival Ink, Photographic Paper, Giclée

'Baltic freeze' - black and white analogue landscape photography 100 x 67 cm

'Baltic freeze' - black and white analogue landscape photography 100 x 67 cm

By Ugne Pouwell

Located in London, GB

'Baltic freeze' 2022 A photograph captured with a 35mm camera showcases the winter landscape of Lithuania in black and white. Printed on the finest archival paper, these limited ed...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Photography

Materials

Photographic Film, Ink, Archival Ink, Photographic Paper, Giclée

Wind stretched daydream - linen pigment canvas print, limited edition 5.
Wind stretched daydream - linen pigment canvas print, limited edition 5.

Wind stretched daydream - linen pigment canvas print, limited edition 5.

By Ugne Pouwell

Located in London, GB

'Wind stretched daydream' 2022 Photographed in Richmond, London using a 4x5 large format camera. 100×130 cm printed on organic linen canvas, limited edition of 5 + 1AP. Photograph...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Photography

Materials

Fabric, Canvas, Linen, Organic Material, Archival Pigment, Pigment

Wave I - large format abstract liquidscape in azur and lapis blue color palette
Wave I - large format abstract liquidscape in azur and lapis blue color palette

Wave I - large format abstract liquidscape in azur and lapis blue color palette

By Christian Stoll

Located in San Francisco, CA

mesmerizing large scale photographic capture of strikingly abstract water surface shimmering in soothing tones of cobalt, admiral, azur and lapis blue Wave I (Abstract) by Christian...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Photography

Materials

Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, Archival Pigment, Giclée

28° 14' 34.127’’N, 114° 6' 44.679’’W-12. Cyanotype photograph of the ocean waves
28° 14' 34.127’’N, 114° 6' 44.679’’W-12. Cyanotype photograph of the ocean waves

28° 14' 34.127’’N, 114° 6' 44.679’’W-12. Cyanotype photograph of the ocean waves

By Paola Davila

Located in Miami Beach, FL

Water is constant in the artist's visual investigation, for her water is no longer the stage in which the body's memory bursts, but rather the environment and protagonist, constant o...

Category

2010s Abstract Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment, Cotton

Downtown Miami. Black and White Architectural landscape Photograph
Downtown Miami. Black and White Architectural landscape Photograph

Downtown Miami. Black and White Architectural landscape Photograph

By Luca Artioli

Located in Miami Beach, FL

The 'Miami Skin Series' it’s not a traditional collection of photos about the architecture of Miami and Miami Beach. It’s rather a quick journey between its own skin from the Art Dec...

Category

Early 2000s Abstract Photography

Materials

Black and White, Archival Pigment

Stilbon (Seven)

Stilbon (Seven)

By Christopher Colville

Located in Sante Fe, NM

Stilbon Stilbon in the ancient Greek religion, is the sky god of Hermaon, the planet Mercury, and one of the Astra Planeta. The word, Stilbon, means shining. All works are contact p...

Category

2010s Abstract Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Framed Impression Abstract Photography on Paper, 21st Century Art
Framed Impression Abstract Photography on Paper, 21st Century Art

Framed Impression Abstract Photography on Paper, 21st Century Art

By Sandra Salamonová

Located in Slovak Republic, SK

The photo was taken by me in an abandoned house. I like the colors and the impression from the picture. Will be signed, framed in a simple black frame, which can be hanged on the wal...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Blanco 8, 2010 - Limited Edition Digital Photographic Print on Cotton paper

Blanco 8, 2010 - Limited Edition Digital Photographic Print on Cotton paper

By Rosa Basurto

Located in Brighton, GB

Blanco 8 is a 30cm x 30cm digital print on 50cm x 50cm cotton paper in a limited edition of 9 + 2 Artist Proofs. Rosa Basurto is a self-taught photographer from Spain who, within ...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, Digital

Photographs 1960–2024. Book & signed Gelatin silver print ‘Untitled, Elba, 1980'
Photographs 1960–2024. Book & signed Gelatin silver print ‘Untitled, Elba, 1980'

Photographs 1960–2024. Book & signed Gelatin silver print ‘Untitled, Elba, 1980'

By Ralph Gibson

Located in Los Angeles, CA

Limited Art Edition (No. 1–100), with the gelatin silver print Untitled (Elba, 1980), numbered and signed by Ralph Gibson. Edition of 100. Gelatin silver print, 11 x 14 in., in portf...

Category

Late 20th Century Abstract Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Dealer - large format art photograph of contemporary Americana
Dealer - large format art photograph of contemporary Americana

Dealer - large format art photograph of contemporary Americana

By Frank Schott

Located in San Francisco, CA

Dealer by Frank Schott 27 x 40 inches / 67cm x 102cm edition of 25 signed 48 x 72 inches / 122cm x 183cm edition of 7 signed archival fine art pigment print signed & numbered by a...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Photography

Materials

Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, Archival Pigment, Giclée

Black Mountains, long exposure, black and white photography, limited edition
Black Mountains, long exposure, black and white photography, limited edition

Black Mountains, long exposure, black and white photography, limited edition

By Gerald Berghammer

Located in Vienna, Vienna

Black and white fine art long exposure waterscape - landscape photography. Wild Atlantic coast of Scotland with the big mountains in the background. Archival pigment ink print, editi...

Category

2010s Abstract Photography

Materials

Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Digital Pigment

Yellow Ball, East Hampton

Yellow Ball, East Hampton

By Gerard Giliberti

Located in East Hampton, NY

Yellow Ball, East Hampton, NY, Archival Pigment Print, $ Ed. 3/5, 2016 Printed to Order *Photography: U Wash Truck, Death Valley and Mulford Lane, Amagansett 2012 have been feature...

Category

2010s Abstract Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Italian Vintage Dye Transfer Photograph Franco Fontana Color Landscape Photo
Italian Vintage Dye Transfer Photograph Franco Fontana Color Landscape Photo

Italian Vintage Dye Transfer Photograph Franco Fontana Color Landscape Photo

By Franco Fontana

Located in Surfside, FL

Franco Fontana (Italian, born 1933) Title: Landscape 1987 Edition 6/15 Medium: dye-transfer Dimensions: Frame 21.5 x 27.5. Sight 12 x 20. Provenance: Monique Goldstrom Gallery Franco Fontana (Italian, 1933) is an Italian photographer. He is best known for his Minimalist abstract colour landscapes. He was influenced by Minimalism and Abstract Expressionism. Franco Fontana was born in 1933 in Modena. He started taking photographs in the 1950s when he was working as a decorator in a furniture showroom. In 1961 he joined a local amateur club in Modena. The experience would be a turning point in his career, and Fontana went on to have his first solo exhibition in 1965 at the Società Fotografica Subalpina, Turin and at the Galleria della Sala di Cultura in Modena in 1968. Since then he has participated in more than 400 group and solo exhibitions including the exhibit Lines, Spheres and Glyphs at Robert Klein Gallery with works by photographers: Franco Fontana, Mario Giacomelli, Ernst Haas, Gyorgy Kepes and Aaron Siskind. Franco Fontana is considered one of the most relevant photographers of our time, In 1963 he exhibited his work at the Biennale of Color in Vienna, and in 1968 he held his first solo exhibition in Modena. Fontana often pares landscapes down to their essential elements, producing flat, geometric compositions reminiscent of the color field abstract expressionist paintings of Mark Rothko Ad Reinhardt and Barnett Newman, by underexposing his transparencies. Contrasting blue skies with green or yellow grass and the rigid lines of buildings with the softness of puffy clouds, he makes color and texture his primary subjects. He has also shot in Polaroid film, Cibachrome, C Print and chromogenic prints. His art has been acquired by some of the most important museums worldwide, including the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris, MoMA in New York, Museum Ludwig in Cologne, Museum of Modern Art in Norman, Oklahoma, National Gallery in Beijing, Australian National Gallery in Melbourne, University of Texas in Austin, Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum, Israel Museum in Jerusalem, and Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville in Paris. Fontana has photographed for advertising campaigns for brands such as Fiat, Volkswagen, Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane, Snam, Sony, Volvo, Versace, Canon, Kodak, Robe di Kappa, Swissair, and has been a magazine photographer for publications including Time, Life, Vogue (USA and France), Venerdì di Repubblica, Panorama, and with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and The New York Times. Fontana's first book, Skyline, was published in 1978 in France by Contrejour and in Italy by Punto e Virgola with a text by Helmut Gernsheim. Fontana is the art director of the Toscana Foto Festival. He has received numerous awards, such as the 1989 Tokyo Photographer Society of Japan - The 150 Years of Photography - Photographer Award. Fontana is especially interested in the interplay of colours. His early innovations in colour photography in the 1960s were stylistically disruptive. According to art critic Giuliana Scimé, Fontana "destroyed all the structures, practices, and technical choices within the Italian tradition." Fontana uses 35mm cameras, and as noted by Iwan Zahar, deploys distant viewpoints with telephoto lenses to flatten contours in a landscape of crops and fields into bands of intense, saturated colour. This is an effect that Franco Lefèvre has described as 'dialectical landscapism'. Of his use of colour in his 2019 retrospective exhibition Sintesi ('Synthesis') at Fondazione Modena Arti Visive, curator Diana Baldon has observed; “His bold geometric compositions are characterised by shimmering colours, level perspectives and a geometric-formalist and minimal language, By adopting this approach during the 1960s, Fontana injected a new vitality into the field of creative colour photography for then multicolour was not in fashion in art photography., The way Fontana shoots, dematerializes the objects photographed, which loose three-dimensionality and realism to become part of an abstract drawing”. Aside from the rural landscape Fontana has applied his graphic sensibility to other subjects: city architecture, portraiture, fashion, still-life and the nude. He was included in the exhibition of the Helmut Newton Collection along with Brassaï, Diane Arbus, Franco Fontana, Horst P. Horst, Irving Penn, June Newton, Just Loomis, Man Ray, Mark Arbeit...

Category

1980s Abstract Photography

Materials

Dye Transfer

Mountain Sunrise 3 (Cyanotype framed to 29 x 23 inches)
Mountain Sunrise 3 (Cyanotype framed to 29 x 23 inches)

Mountain Sunrise 3 (Cyanotype framed to 29 x 23 inches)

Located in Oakland, CA

Though it resembles a giant abstract watercolor painting owing to its soft gradations and luminous quality, this is a form of photography called a cyanotype, photogram or sun print. ...

Category

2010s Abstract Photography

Materials

Paper, Archival Paper, Rag Paper, Monotype, Photogram

Cypress Tree Avenue, Panorama, Tuscany, black and white photography, landscape
Cypress Tree Avenue, Panorama, Tuscany, black and white photography, landscape

Cypress Tree Avenue, Panorama, Tuscany, black and white photography, landscape

By Gerald Berghammer

Located in Vienna, Vienna

Black and white fine art landscape panorama photography. Cypress tree avenue along a path in stormy weather in Tuscany, Italy. Archival pigment ink print, edition of 9. Signed, title...

Category

2010s Abstract Photography

Materials

Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Digital Pigment

Strata # 202506 (Abstract Photography)
Strata # 202506 (Abstract Photography)

Strata # 202506 (Abstract Photography)

By Paul Snell

Located in London, GB

Unique. Paul Snell is an Australian artist who blurs the boundaries between photography and painting, creating contemplative works that replace constant image saturation with moment...

Category

2010s Abstract Photography

Materials

Concrete, Enamel

Once in a While, Large Abstract Minimalist Color Architecture Photography Print
Once in a While, Large Abstract Minimalist Color Architecture Photography Print

Once in a While, Large Abstract Minimalist Color Architecture Photography Print

By Gleici Rufatto

Located in Los Angeles, CA

Extra Large Art Limited Edition Modern Color Architecture Photography Print, Museum Quality This Modern minimalist photograph explores layered pastel architecture through clean vert...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Photography

Materials

Cotton, Archival Paper, Color, Inkjet, Giclée, Archival Pigment

Stilbon (Six)

Stilbon (Six)

By Christopher Colville

Located in Sante Fe, NM

Stilbon Stilbon in the ancient Greek religion, is the sky god of Hermaon, the planet Mercury, and one of the Astra Planeta. The word, Stilbon, means shining. All works are contact p...

Category

2010s Abstract Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Twilight, Kyoto, Japan: Asian Japanese tree landscape photo, Sumi-e tradition
Twilight, Kyoto, Japan: Asian Japanese tree landscape photo, Sumi-e tradition

Twilight, Kyoto, Japan: Asian Japanese tree landscape photo, Sumi-e tradition

By Yasuomi Hashimura

Located in Bryn Mawr, PA

"Twilight, Kyoto, Japan" is a unique (one-of-a kind) photo-based mixed media sepia toned print with hand manipulation on hand-edged Japanese artist's...

Category

Early 2000s Abstract Photography

Materials

Mixed Media, Archival Paper, Archival Pigment

Bleed # 202610 (Abstract Photography)
Bleed # 202610 (Abstract Photography)

Bleed # 202610 (Abstract Photography)

By Paul Snell

Located in London, GB

Edition: 1/3 Work can be hung with either the WallCleat system (support bar supplied) or the screw-eye system if it needs support from wire or above. Available in 4 weeks turnaroun...

Category

2010s Abstract Photography

Materials

Plexiglass, Paper, C Print

A Panda. Limited edition color photograph
A Panda. Limited edition color photograph

A Panda. Limited edition color photograph

Located in Miami Beach, FL

The exploration of the concept of play as an artistic impulse presents playful, almost "baroque-written"photographs that are the result of a repeated (recycled) notion of play. Start...

Category

2010s Abstract Photography

Materials

Archival Paper, Archival Pigment

Untitled (W.O.F 04-11-14)

Untitled (W.O.F 04-11-14)

By Christopher Colville

Located in Sante Fe, NM

Works of Fire When I look into the night sky I am awestruck by the darkness that is the universe. As the sparse light of the stars descends, I am entangled in a state of wonder, sea...

Category

2010s Abstract Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Floral Study 181: still life photograph w/ dried flowers on sky blue field, lg
Floral Study 181: still life photograph w/ dried flowers on sky blue field, lg

Floral Study 181: still life photograph w/ dried flowers on sky blue field, lg

Located in Bryn Mawr, PA

This is an archival pigment print depicting an abstracted still life printed on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag 308 gsm by artist Paul Cava. It is from the "Flora" series, which is one of three...

Category

2010s Abstract Photography

Materials

Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Inkjet, Archival Pigment

Framed 1948 Brassaï Photogravure Featuring a Picasso Wire Sculpture
Framed 1948 Brassaï Photogravure Featuring a Picasso Wire Sculpture

Framed 1948 Brassaï Photogravure Featuring a Picasso Wire Sculpture

By Brassaï

Located in Barcelona, ES

Published in France in 1948, this framed photogravure by Brassaï reproduces one of Picasso’s sculptural works with striking clarity and tonal depth. Issued by Editions du Chêne for T...

Category

1940s Abstract Photography

Materials

Paper

Abstract photography for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Abstract 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 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, red, orange and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Mitchell Funk, Paul Snell, Michael Banks, and Seb Janiak. Frequently made by artists working with Paper, and Pigment 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 Abstract photography, so small editions measuring 0.5 inches across are also available. Prices for 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 $50 and tops out at $36,000, while the average work sells for $3,359.