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.
The Journey's End II Cyanotype Photograph, Hand-printed, 18x10", ed 3 of 10
By Christine So
Located in Oakland, CA
Unframed. 2023. Signed on the back. Narrower than "The Journey's End." This photograph was taken a year after the artist's husband died, revisiting the same path but photographing ...
Photogram
Hotel Du Cap-Eden-Roc, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late-1970s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features guests around the swimming pool at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, in Antibes on the French Riviera. This ...
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Forest Sunrise (Hand-printed cyanotype, 18 x 24 inches)
By Christine So
Located in Oakland, CA
Unframed. New from 2023. This is an original, hand-printed original cyanotype photograph on heavy cotton watercolor paper. Just one of 10 prints were made. Four have sold. Only six...
Photogram
$1,800
Caracalla Therme, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1990s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a woman experiences the Caracalla Therme spa in Baden-Baden, September 1990. This is an estate-stamped ...
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Tropical Mustique, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
February 1989: Pierre Vincent Marais holidays with friends on the island of Mustique in the Grenadines. Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included Numbered an...
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$4,200
Saint-Tropez Beach, Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early-1970s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features sunbathers on the beach at Saint-Tropez, on the French Riviera. This is an estate-stamped and hand-n...
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Kings Of Hollywood, Beverly Hill, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features film stars (left to right) Clark Gable (1901 - 1960), Van Heflin (1910 - 1971), Gary Cooper...
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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...
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Skiing At St. Moritz, Switzerland, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1970s landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features skiers on a slope in St Moritz, Switzerland, March 1978. This is an estate stamped and h...
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Muffy Bancroft, Manhattan, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Mrs. Thomas Bancroft Jnr (Peggy Bancroft) in the foyer of her Manhattan duplex. This is an estate-s...
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Private Island, Philippines, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1970s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a guest relaxing on the beach of a private island owned by Philippine Airlines President, Benigno ...
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Alfresco Dining, Antibes, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late-1960s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features guests dining at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes on the French Riviera, August. This is an estat...
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Large Silver Gelatin Russian Photograph Potsdam Conference Winston Churchill
Located in Surfside, FL
Potsdam conference meeting depicting Josef Stalin, Winston Churchill and Harry Truman (not visible) at the conference table, gelatin silver print, date of printing unknown, 16-1/2" x 22-3/4" sheet, date of printing unknown. Provenance: acquired from the estate of photographer Samariy Gurariy...
Silver Gelatin
Poolside Pairs, Palm Springs, Estate Edition Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1970s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features former fashion model Helen Dzo Dzo Kaptur (in white lace) and Nelda Linsk (in yellow), wife of art deale...
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Poolside Loungers, California, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1970s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features former fashion model Helen Dzo Dzo Kaptur (in white lace), Nelda Linsk (in yellow), wife of art de...
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Private Island, Philippines, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1970s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a guest relaxing on the beach of a private island owned by Philippine Airlines President, Benigno ...
Lambda
$6,100
Leisure In Antibes, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late-1960s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a woman sunbathing in a motorboat as it tows a waterskiier, in the sea off the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Ro...
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Conca dei Marini, Italy, Estate Edition Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1980s landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a busy bay in Conca dei Marini, on the Amalfi coast in Italy, August 1984. This is an est...
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Conca dei Marini, Italy, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1980s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a quiet bay in Conca dei Marini, on the Amalfi coast in Italy. This is an estate-stamped and hand-n...
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Bermuda Style, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late-1950s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a swimming pool in the grounds of a house in Bermuda, This is an estate-stamped and hand-numbered ...
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Acapulco Lunch
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A long afternoon lunch at Acapulco. Among the guest are (from left to right) film star Douglas Fairbanks Junior (1909 - 2000), couturiers Oscar de la Renta, and standing behind him E...
C Print
Daniel Gainey, Arizona, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1970s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features winemaker Daniel Gainey and his wife out riding at their ranch in Scottsdale, Arizona. This is an...
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$240Sale Price|20% Off
Fog Ridge (Hand-printed cyanotype, 16 x 24", ed. 1 of 5)
By Christine So
Located in Oakland, CA
Brand-new addition to the Foggy Woods Collection of forests in northern California near San Francisco. This is a hand-printed contact photograph using the antique cyanotype process a...
Paper, Archival Paper, Rag Paper, Photogram
Bermuda Style, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late-1950s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a swimming pool in the grounds of a house in Bermuda, This is an estate-stamped and hand-numbered ...
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Vertical Black and White Giclée of Zen Forest Waterfall, Landscape, Feng Shui
By Kind of Cyan
Located in Barcelona, ES
This is an exclusive limited edition black and white Giclée print, on 100% cotton Hahnemühle Photo Rag Fine Art matte paper. This beautiful black and white high contrast photograph is titled " Zen Forest Waterfall" and displays a stimulating waterfall in a beautiful japanese forest...
Emulsion, C Print, Giclée, Paper
$3,800
Linden: Large Signed Limited Edition Contemporary Botanical Photograph on black
Located in Bryn Mawr, PA
This is a signed, limited edition (of 10) framed botanical photograph of a Linden branch with buds on a black background. This piece pairs beautifully with "White Pine," listed separ...
Metal
$4,200
Saint-Tropez Beach, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early-1970s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features people sunbathing on the beach at Saint-Tropez, on the French Riviera. This is an estate-stamped and...
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Helen Dzo Dzo Kaptur, California, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early-1970s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features former fashion model Helen Dzo Dzo Kaptur and other guests at the Kaufmann Desert House in Palm Sp...
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Poolside Ladies, California, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1970s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features former fashion model Helen Dzo Dzo Kaptur (in white lace), Nelda Linsk (in yellow), wife of art dealer J...
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Poolside Chat, California, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1970s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features former fashion model Helen Dzo Dzo Kaptur (in white lace), Nelda Linsk (in yellow), wife of art de...
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Harbour Island, Bahamas, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1970s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features the Harbour Island in the Bahamas. This is an estate-stamped and hand-numbered edition of 150 wit...
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Guests At The Hotel Bel-Air, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1990s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features guests by the swimming pool on a terrace at the Hotel Bel-Air on Cap Ferrat on the Côte d'Azur, so...
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Early 20th Century Photograph Landscape --Looking Through The Sky
Located in Soquel, CA
Early 20th Century Photograph Landscape --Looking Through The Sky "Looking Through", a lithobrome photograph by Sigismund Blumann (American, 1872-1956). Signed "Sigismund Blumann" lower right. Unframed. Titled "Looking Through" on verso. Image size, 13.25"H x 11.5"W. Sigismund Blumann (1872–1956) was a prominent tastemaker in Californian photography during the 1920s and 1930s. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area for his entire career, he edited magazines, wrote books, and made creative photographs. From 1924 to 1933 Blumann edited Camera Craft, the leading West Coast photographic monthly. Subsequently he established his own periodical, Photo Art Monthly, which he published until 1940. In these two magazines — for over fifteen years — Blumann found a large audience of mainstream pictorial photographers. In addition, he wrote five instructional books on photography...
Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin
Poolside Socialites, California, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1970s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features former fashion model Helen Dzo Dzo Kaptur (in white lace), Nelda Linsk (in yellow), wife of art de...
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Still Creek in the Forest - Silver Gelatin Print
Located in Soquel, CA
Still Creek in the Forest - Silver Gelatin Print This photo depicts a shallow creek running through the woods by san Francisco photographer Florencio E. Monteverde (Italian/American...
Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin
Poolside Service, Bahamas, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early-1960s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a swimming pool at the Lyford Cay Club at Lyford Cay on New Providence Island in the Bahamas, 1962...
Lambda
$3,000
Tres Vidas, Acapulco, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1970s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features guests enjoying cocktails at the pool bar of the Tres Vidas private members club in Acapulco, Mexico...
C Print
$3,600
Bahamas Speed Week, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1960s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features the Bahamas Speed Week in Nassau. This is an estate-stamped and hand-numbered edition of 150 with...
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Poolside Pairs, Palm Springs, Estate Edition, Midcentury Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1970s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features former fashion model Helen Dzo Dzo Kaptur (in white lace) and Nelda Linsk (in yellow), wife of art deale...
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Anne Anka, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1970s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Anne Anka, wife of singer Paul Anka and daughter of Count Charles de Zogheb, with her daughters (lef...
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Slim Aarons 'Capri Tan' (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
1968, A kneeling sunbather shows off her rings and pendant on a beach in Capri, Italy. Slim Aarons Capri Tan Hotel Punta Tragara, Capri, Italy C...
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Lili Livi, Italy, Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early-1960s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Lili Livi posing by Lake Como, Italy, circa 1960. Lili is the daughter of Madame Camilo Livi. This i...
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Harbour Area, Portofino, Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photo
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
General view of the harbour area, crowded with small and large boats, in Portofino, Italy, 1977. Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included Numbered and stampe...
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Culinary Heights, France, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1980s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Courchevel restaurant chefs Jean Jacob (left) of 'Le Bateau Ivre', Michel Rochedy (centre) ...
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Little Beach House, Acapulco, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1970s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features people horseback riding on the beach in Acapulco, Mexico, February 1975. In the background can be se...
Lambda
$3,900
Race Day Lunch, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1960s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features the Bahamas Speed Week in Nassau. This is an estate-stamped and hand-numbered edition of 150 with...
Lambda
$1,800
Cortina d'Ampezzo, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early-1980s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features tourists resting from skiing at Cortina d'Ampezzo. This is an estate-stamped and hand-numbered ed...
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Vermont Winter, Vermont, Estate Edition, Midcentury Modern Photograph Snowscape
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Vermont Winter, Vermont, Estate Edition, Winter Landscape Photograph This 1960s winter landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features students from Sto...
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$4,200
Race Day Lunch, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1960s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features the Bahamas Speed Week in Nassau. This is an estate-stamped and hand-numbered edition of 150 with...
Lambda
$2,400
Bahamas Speed Week, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1960s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features the Bahamas Speed Week in Nassau. This is an estate-stamped and hand-numbered edition of 150 with...
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Torso Portrait of a Man (San Francisco 1970's Gay Castro photo)
By Fisher Ross
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Fisher Ross Torso, ca. 1977. Print measures 8 x 10 inches. 2026 digital print from the original in the Fisher Ross Archive. From an edition of 15 on archival paper produced by th...
Photographic Paper
Skier In Vermont, USA, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1960s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a skier at the Stowe Mountain Resort, Vermont, USA, March 1962. This is an estate stamped and han...
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$5,000
Nigella: Large Signed Limited Edition Contemporary Botanical Photograph, Flowers
Located in Bryn Mawr, PA
This is a signed, limited edition (of 10) framed botanical photograph of several Nigella stems with blossoms on a black background. It is printed on a thin, durable aluminum panel. T...
Metal
$1,800
Snowmass Picnic, Colorado, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Snowmass Picnic, Colorado, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph This late 1960s winter landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a stand-up fondue...
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Poolside tete a tete, California, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1970s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features former fashion model Helen Dzo Dzo Kaptur (in white lace) and other guests at the Kaufmann Desert House ...
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$2,100Sale Price|40% Off
Mary Pickford Douglas Fairbanks at Walpi First Mesa Hopi Village 1920 Photograph
Located in Soquel, CA
Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks at Walpi First Mesa Hopi Village 1920 Photograph Original Sepia toned Silver gelatin photographic print by Charles Roshe (British, 1885-1974). Provenance: Mary Pickford, Elizabeth (Bess) Huggins. Image 10.75"H x 13.75"W He was Mary Pickford's favorite cinematographer and a personal friend, shooting all of the films in which she starred from 1918 to 1927, before they had a falling out during production of Coquette (1929). He was the first cinematographer to receive an Academy Award, along with Karl Struss, for Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927), and won again for The Yearling (1946), with Leonard Smith and Arthur Arling. He was also nominated four times. Walpi, pueblo (village), Navajo county, northeastern Arizona, U.S., on the edge of a high mesa in the Hopi Indian Reservation. It comprises a group of angular stone houses of two to three stories crowded on a narrow tip of the steep-walled mesa at an elevation of 6,225 feet (1,897 metres). The original pueblo (founded c. 1700) was on a lower part of the mesa, but following the Pueblo Rebellion, the inhabitants moved to the top as a defensive measure against Spanish retaliation. Walpi is known for an antelope ceremony and for snake dances, held during odd years in August and generally closed to non-Hopi spectators. Shitchumovi (Sichomivi) pueblo is adjacent and Hano is nearby. Pickford was the first Canadian to win an Oscar. She was also the second to win best actress and the first for a role in a film with sound. She was one of the founding members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In 1919 Pickford took the lead in organizing the United Artists Corporation with Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, and Douglas Fairbanks. In 1920, after the dissolution of her first marriage (1911–19) to actor Owen Moore, she married Fairbanks (divorced 1936). Pickford’s popularity continued unabated in Pollyanna (1920), Little Lord...
Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin
$3,900
The Meridian Club, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early-1980s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a pool at the Meridian Club, owned by Ginny and Bill Cowles, on the Turks and Caicos Islands This...
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Bahamas Speed Week, Nassau, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1960s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Gordon Butler's Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray at the Bahamas Speed Week at the Oakes Course, Nassau. ...
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Pebble Beach, Slim Aarons Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Riders from the Pebble Beach Equestrian Center wend their way through the Californian sand dunes and pampas grass, November 1976. Slim Aarons Pebble Beach, Slim Aarons Estate Editio...
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$3,600
Buzios, Brazil, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1980s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features holidaymakers in Armacao dos Buzios, Brazil. This is an estate-stamped and hand-numbered edition ...
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