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Realist 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
Great Harbour Cay
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A bather on the beach on Great Harbour Cay, Bahamas, March 1973. 30 x 40 inches $3350 20 x 30 inches $3000 20 x 24 inches $2500 10 x 12 inches $1350 Complimentary dealer shippin...
Category

1970s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

La Concha Clientele
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 Photography

Materials

C Print

Maccioni By His Pool, Estate Edition
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Restaurateur Sirio Maccioni at his villa in Montecatini, Italy, July 1991. Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included Numbered and stamped by the Slim Aarons ...
Category

1990s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

La Barranca
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Bandleader Teddy Stauffer (1909 - 1991) at La Barranca, Warren Avis' villa in Acapulco, January 1971. Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide. Undercurrent Projects...
Category

1970s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Freeport Beach
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A beach in Freeport, in the Bahamas, April 1969. 40 x 60 inches $3950 30 x 40 inches $3350 20 x 30 inches $3000 10 x 12 inches $1350 Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer...
Category

1960s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

La Concha Beach Club
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A view of La Concha Beach Club, Acapulco, Mexico, February 1972. Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide. Undercurrent Projects is proud to...
Category

1970s Realist Photography

Materials

C Print

Poolside at Sotogrande, Estate Edition: Vintage 70s glamour in Andalusia, Spain
Located in Los Angeles, CA
In this iconic Slim Aarons estate photograph, bathers gather round a pool in Sotogrande, Spain, August 1975. Description: In the foreground, two sunbathers enjoy the sun in a vibran...
Category

1970s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Cortina d'Ampezzo, Estate Edition
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A chairlift up the mountain in Cortina d'Ampezzo, February 1962. Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included Numbered and stamped by the Slim Aarons Estate Col...
Category

1960s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

David Bailey, Estate Edition
Located in Los Angeles, CA
September 1968: English photographer David Bailey on the Italian island of Capri. Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included Numbered and stamped by the Slim ...
Category

1960s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Sunbathers at Eden Roc, Estate Edition
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 Photography

Materials

Lambda

Poolside Bar, Estate Edition
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Guests seen from a poolside bar at the Hotel Il Pellicano in Porto Ercole, Italy, August 1980. Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included Numbered and stamped ...
Category

1980s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Down To The Pool
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A group of women going down the the steps to the pool at Warren Avis' villa, 'La Barranca' at Las Brisas, Acapulco, Mexico, April 1979. Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer,...
Category

1970s Realist Photography

Materials

C Print

Holiday Motel, Afternoon: cinematic photograph, Los Angeles, mid-century modern
Located in Bryn Mawr, PA
Nadine Rovner orchestrates lush cinematic scenes, exploring a visual world of heightened tension, anticipation, anxiety, longing and desire. These carefu...
Category

2010s Realist Photography

Materials

Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Inkjet

New York Picnic, Estate Edition
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 Photography

Materials

Lambda

Armando's Beach Club
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 Photography

Materials

C Print

Crespi Family Members, Estate Edition
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Left to right: Brando Crespi and daughter Chloe, with his sister Pilar Crespi Echavarria and her son Sebastian, at Monte Argentario Polo Club, Porto Ercole, Tuscany, Italy, September...
Category

1980s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Dmitris Kritsas at the Temple to Poseidon, Sounion, Greece, Estate Edition
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Dimitris Kritsas, a fashionable young couturier, poses among the gleaming Doric columns of the temple to Poseidon at Sounion, 1967 48 x 48 inches $4500 40 x 40 inches $3950 30 x 3...
Category

1960s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Porto Ercole, Estate Edition
Located in Los Angeles, CA
The waterfront at Porto Ercole, Italy, August 1967. Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included Numbered and stamped by the Slim Aa...
Category

1960s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Nassau Beach Hotel
Located in Los Angeles, CA
The outdoor swimming pool at Nassau Beach Hotel, Nassau, Bahamas, 1959. The hotel was the first to built by Howard Johnson outside the United States. 30 x 30 inches $3350 24 x 24 i...
Category

1950s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Saint-Tropez
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 Photography

Materials

Lambda

Lech Ice Bar, Estate Edition
Located in Los Angeles, CA
The Ice Bar at the Hotel Krone in Lech, Austria, 1960. The mountain in the background is the Omershorn. Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included Numbered an...
Category

1960s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Ladies Of Lyford Cay
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Grace, Mrs Dauphinot, Marina Posson and Baroness Meriel de Posson in Lyford Cay, New Providence Island, April 1974. 40 x 40 inches $3950 30 x 30 inches $3350 24 x 24 inches $3000 ...
Category

1970s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Saks Fifth Avenue, Estate Edition
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A young woman modelling an outfit for a Saks Fifth Avenue catalog shoot, circa 1955. Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included Numbered and stamped by the Sl...
Category

1950s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Self Portrait on Holiday in Athens, Greece (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Legendary photographer Slim Aarons relaxes in a self portrait shot in Athens, near the Acropolis. Slim Aarons said, "I love a solo holiday. It tends to refresh the part of oneself that is most depleted by modern life — patience. "Let me dispel a few myths. You will be lonely. No: you won’t. My solo travels in Paris have brought many perfect hours of being alone but not a moment of loneliness. People who depend on other people are often in hiding from themselves. Two and a quarter million people live in the City of Light: you will see many of them and you will pass them in the street, but when you see Notre Dame after dark and walk home and perhaps stop to have a drink in the Marais, you can feel that the only thing that is missing from your experience is the common dependency on someone to distract your attention. "I’ve had solo pints of Guinness in the pubs of County Kerry and County Cork. I’ve walked across the sage- and juniper-scented maquis of Corsica on a spring day, where you can still find the world of Napoleon’s childhood. More than once I went to the Isle of Iona in the Scottish Hebrides...
Category

1950s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Fontana di Trevi, Estate Edition
Located in Los Angeles, CA
The Trevi Fountain in Rome, September 1978. The Roman god Nepture stands in the central niche, framed by the facade of the Palazzo Poli. Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of ...
Category

1970s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Palace Hotel, Gstaad, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Palace Hotel, Gstaad, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph This early 1960s landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features ...
Category

1960s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Guests At Villa Nirvana
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Guests at the Villa Nirvana, owned by Oscar Obregon, in Las Brisas, Acapulco, Mexico, 1978. Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide. Undercurrent Projects is proud ...
Category

1970s Realist Photography

Materials

C Print

Party In Bermuda, Estate Edition (1970 on the Yacht Ondine in yellow and red)
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Slim Aarons's iconic photograph of 70's vintage socialite and party glamour, captured onboard the wood-trimmed deck of the yacht 'Ondine' in Bermuda, June 1970. Figures in the foreground are offset by cheery yellow and red. A United States yacht ensign flag flies the foreground, alongside the flag of Scania, the flag of the Swedish-speaking Finns (an unofficial red flag with a yellow cross used in the Swedish-speaking parts of Finland to represent the Finland-Swedes., which may be flown in addition to the Finnish blue and white flag). Guests wear coral, navy, pastels, and whites, including classic vintage Pucci. The ship's name and home marina of New York are stenciled in gold on the white hull. Slim Aarons Party in Bermuda...
Category

1970s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Freeport Beach
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A beach in Freeport, in the Bahamas, April 1969. 40 x 60 inches $3950 30 x 40 inches $3350 20 x 30 inches $3000 10 x 12 inches $1350 Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer...
Category

1960s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Harbour Island, Bahamas, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1960s landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a couple relaxing at the beach on Harbour Island, Bahamas. This is an estate stamped and...
Category

1960s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Mustique, Estate Edition
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 Photography

Materials

Lambda

Champagne by the Pool, Palm Springs, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
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 Photography

Materials

Lambda

Capote At Home, New York, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features the author Truman Capote (1924 - 1984) relaxing with a book and a cigarette in his clutter...
Category

1950s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Poolside Secrets, Estate Edition, Slim Aarons Palm Beach Collection
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Flo Smith (left) and Lily Pulitzer share a secret at a pool party, Palm Beach, Florida, April 1961. Description and alt text: In this classic image of midcentury poolside glamour, t...
Category

1960s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Monte Mano, Estate Edition
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A swimmer in the seaside-style pool at architect Jacques Couëlle's home 'Monte Mano', on the Costa Smeralda, Sardinia, Italy, August 1973. Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of...
Category

1970s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Gloria Schiff And Consuelo Crespi, Estate Edition
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Pilar Crespi and her sister, Italian countess Consuelo Crespi (1928-2010) in Costa Smeralda, Sardinia, Italy, in August 1968. Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticit...
Category

1960s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Nice Pool, Estate Edition, Villa Artemis, Palm Beach
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Step into the world of casual elegance and midcentury glamour with Slim Aarons' evocative photograph, "Nice Pool" This image offers a mesmerizing glimpse into the opulent life of Ame...
Category

1950s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Dmitris Kritsas at the Temple to Poseidon, Sounion, Greece, Estate Edition
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Dimitris Kritsas, a fashionable young couturier, poses among the gleaming Doric columns of the temple to Poseidon at Sounion, 1967 48 x 48 inches $4500 40 x 40 inches $3950 30 x 3...
Category

1960s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

The Bahamas
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A swimming pool, seen through the fronds of a palm tree, with two people swimming and a group of people sitting at tables at the poolside in the Bahamas, May 1967. Beyond the pool is...
Category

1960s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Harbour Isle Beach
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 Photography

Materials

Lambda

Nirvana
Located in Los Angeles, CA
The pool at Villa Nirvana, Acapulco, Mexico. Old Acapulco can be seen across the bay. Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide. Undercurrent Projects is proud to off...
Category

1970s Realist Photography

Materials

C Print

Acapulco Lunch
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 Photography

Materials

C Print

Acapulco Pool
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 Photography

Materials

Lambda

Apres Ski, Lounging in Gstaad, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Mrs Alfredo Cernadas reclines on a balcony in Gstaad, 1977. Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included Numbered and stamped by the Slim Aarons Estate Collecto...
Category

1970s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Las Brisas
Located in Los Angeles, CA
The coastline near Warren Avis' villa in Las Brisas, Acapulco, January 1978. Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide. Undercurrent Projects is proud to offer this v...
Category

1970s Realist Photography

Materials

C Print

Colorful Crew, Estate Edition
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A group of colourfully dressed holidaymakers on a yacht, Bermuda, June 1970. Bathers in bright pink and red vintage swimwear enjoy the afternoon on t...
Category

Mid-20th Century Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Nassau Beach Hotel
Located in Los Angeles, CA
The outdoor swimming pool at Nassau Beach Hotel, Nassau, Bahamas, 1959. The hotel was the first to built by Howard Johnson outside the United States. 30 x 30 inches $3350 24 x 24 i...
Category

1950s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Palm Springs Life, Palm Springs, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
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 Photography

Materials

Lambda

Saint-Tropez
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 Photography

Materials

Lambda

Positano Beach, Italy, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph
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 Photography

Materials

Lambda

Party on the Steps, Estate Edition, Palm Springs Poolside series
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Step into the world of 1970s elegance with this extraordinary Slim Aarons photograph. Taken in January 1970, it encapsulates the essence of vintage 1970s glamour at a pool party at Nelda Linsk's iconic desert house in Palm Springs, California. This vibrant image captures the scene with guests adorned in quintessential desert glamour and sportswear, draped in hues of pastel greens, purples, crisp white crochet, and vivid yellow. They are gathered around a picturesque turquoise pool, a pastel parasol umbrella, and a vintage dining set, creating a perfect snapshot of the era's chic sophistication. This newly released sister image to the iconic Poolside Glamour features Lita Baron and Nelda Linsk, cultural patron and wife of prominent art dealer Joseph Linsk, mingling around a striking set of bronze sculptures. At the heart of the party is former fashion model Helen Dzo Dzo, spotlighted in a stunning white crochet outfit...
Category

1970s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Portofino Villa, Estate Edition
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Guests by the pool at Klaus Pudel's villa, the Casa Montefino, overlooking Portofino harbour, Portofino, Italy, August 1977. Portofino Villa Slim Aarons Estate Edition Chromogenic L...
Category

1970s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Algarve Hotel Pool, Estate Edition
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Guests in the pool at the Algarve Hotel, the Algarve, Portugal, 1970 Over the course of a career lasting half a century, Slim Aarons (1916-2006) portrayed high society, aristocracy,...
Category

1970s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Abercorns On Windermere
Located in Los Angeles, CA
James and Alexandra Hamilton, the 5th Duke and Duchess of Abercorn holiday on Windermere Island in the Bahamas, with their children Sophia and James, April 1980. 40 x 60 inches $395...
Category

1980s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Skaal House In Stowe, Estate Edition
Located in Los Angeles, CA
The glass-fronted triangular Skaal House, lit up at night, in the Stowe Mountain ski resort in Stowe, Vermont, 1962. A pair of skis leaning against the wal...
Category

1960s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Hotel Excelsior, Estate Edition
Located in Los Angeles, CA
The beach front of the luxurious Excelsior Hotel on the Venice Lido, 1957. Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included Numbered and stamped by the Slim Aarons ...
Category

1950s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Her gaze. Photograph, 33x33 cm
Located in Riga, LV
Her gaze Photograph, 33x33 cm
Category

1990s Realist Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Freeport Beach
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A beach in Freeport, in the Bahamas, April 1969. 40 x 60 inches $3950 30 x 40 inches $3350 20 x 30 inches $3000 10 x 12 inches $1350 Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer...
Category

1960s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Porto Ercole, Estate Edition
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A balcony overlooking the harbour of Porto Ercole (Port'Ercole), Tuscany, August 1969. Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included Numbered and stamped by the S...
Category

1960s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Chateau Saint-Martin, Estate Edition
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Breakfast on the verandah of the Chateau Saint-Martin, a luxury hotel in Vence on the Cote d'Azur, France, 1986. The building was once a Commanderie of the Knights Templar, dating ba...
Category

1980s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Realist photography for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Realist 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, pink and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Slim Aarons, Pico Garcez, Kind of Cyan, and Massimo Listri. 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 photography, so small editions measuring 3.94 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 $105 and tops out at $75,000, while the average work sells for $3,000.

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