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
Slim Aarons 'El Venero, Marbella' Midcentury Modern Photography
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
El Venero, the Moorish villa of Hector and Chico de Ayala in Marbella, Spain, 1971.
El Venero
1971
C print
Estate signature stamped and hand numbered editio...
Category
1970s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Lake Tahoe Ladies
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Caption:A group of young women in their bathing suits on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe, 1959.
Slim Aarons worked mainly for society publications, taking pictures of the rich and fa...
Category
1950s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons, Time For A Guinness
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Caption: April 1959: Gloria Guinness enjoying a swim in her pool at Manalapan, Palm Beach, Florida.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity ...
Category
1950s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons '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 Photography
Materials
Lambda
Sarah Marson Williams, Barbados, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1970s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Sarah Marson Williams enjoying a cocktail on the beach at the Hilton Hotel, Needhams Point,...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons 'Westin Excelsior, Venice'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Portofino
1955
C print
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
Yachts moored in the Italian fishing village of Portofino...
Category
1950s Realist Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Zephyria I, Estate Edition. Monte Carlo French Riviera Speedboat Seascape
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Monte Carlo, 1970: This classic landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a vintage wooden and red painted speedboat carrying holidaygoers in the ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Joan Collins Relaxes - (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Film star Joan Collins relaxes with her pink poodle on her pink bed.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
Slim Aaron...
Category
1950s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons 'Lake Tahoe Ladies'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Caption: A group of young women in their bathing suits on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe, 1959.
Slim Aarons worked mainly for society publications, taking pictures of the rich and f...
Category
1950s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
"Red II" - Christiane Klisch - Nude - Acryl on Canvas
Located in Winterswijk, NL
Red II by Artist Christiane Klisch.
Part of a female torso.
The female body is only shown in part. Gestures and posture create their own visual language. The choice of color aliena...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Photography
Materials
Canvas, Acrylic
$1,367 Sale Price
20% Off
"Olivia II" - Christiane Klisch - Nude - Acryl on Canvas
Located in Winterswijk, NL
Olivia II by Artist Christiane Klisch.
Part of a female torso.
The female body is only shown in part. Gestures and posture create their own visual language. The choice of color ali...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Photography
Materials
Canvas, Acrylic
$1,367 Sale Price
20% Off
Lake Tahoe Ladies
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Caption:A group of young women in their bathing suits on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe, 1959.
Slim Aarons worked mainly for society publications, taking pictures of the rich and fa...
Category
1950s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons 'Beauty and the Beast'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Beauty and the Beast
1959
C print
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
Lady Daphne Cameron (Mrs George Cameron) on a ti...
Category
1950s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Subway 30, Kids, 1980s, NYC, Black & White Photograph, Subway, Limited Ed.
By John Conn
Located in Riverdale, NY
John Conn New York City Subway photographs. These limited edition fine art photographs were originally taken between 1975 and 1982. Each black and white photograph is signed and numbered. Edition of 15. 20x30 image printed on 24x36 archival paper. This is framed.
In this series, Conn captured the graffiti and one of the most crime ridden periods in New York. According to one source “In the 1980s, over 250 felonies were committed every week in the system, making the New York subway the most dangerous mass transit system in the world.” One image captures an Irish Catholic Nun on the Subway reading about the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II which took place on May 13 1981. Another captures a knife wielding arm through a subway window. This iconic Subway series shot is part of the permanent collection of The New York Historical Society and Hoboken Historical Museum.
About John Conn
John Conn got his start as a Marine Combat photographer, and later earned his BFA at the School of Visual Arts in New York.
As a freelance photographer and writer, he has captured a range of subjects photojournalism delving into political and social issues, nature and landscapes, architecture, and underwater images. His work has appeared in: New York Times Sunday Magazine; Time/Life Books; IMAX Films; Village Voice; Human Rights Magazine; Shutterbug Magazine; Hasseleblad Magazine; American Photographer; RangeFinder Magazine; LensWork Magazine; Ocean Realm; Dive Travel Magazine; Picture Magazine...
Category
1970s Realist Photography
Materials
Ink, Archival Paper
Peggy Guggenheim (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
September 1978: Peggy Guggenheim (1898 - 1979) in the Palazzo Venier Dei Leoni, Venice. The palace houses her private art collection, including Picass...
Category
1970s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons 'Skiing Waiters'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Three skiing waiters on a ski slope, with the man in the foreground carrying a bird on a tray, the second man carrying a wine in an ice bucket and the third carrying a menu, circa 19...
Category
1960s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons 'Lido Life, Venice'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Lido Life, Venice
1957
C print
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
A waiter serves fruit to...
Category
1950s Realist Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Joan Collins Relaxes - (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Film star Joan Collins relaxes with her pink poodle on her pink bed.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
Slim Aaron...
Category
1950s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons '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 Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons 'Saint-Tropez Boucherie' (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
A boucherie or butcher's shop on Rue des Commercants in Saint-Tropez, on the French Riviera, 1971.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity f...
Category
1970s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
#InTheSky Series: New York #22
By James Bacchi
Located in East Hampton, NY
#1 in Series of 7
New York #22 Freedom Tower
Black & White Photography
#inthesky
22”x17” photographic prints on archival paper
#inthesky
A mobile photography essay that began in 2...
Category
2010s Realist Photography
Materials
C Print
Slim Aarons 'Verbier Skier'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons
Verbier Skier
1964
C print
Estate edition of 150
A blonde skier on the slopes at Verbier, February 1964.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certific...
Category
1960s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Minny Crushing Surfing
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
American society girl Minnie Cushing carries her surfboard under her arm, September 1965.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the e...
Category
1960s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons 'Skiers at Verbier' (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Skiers at Verbier, 1964
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
Slim Aarons (1916-2006) worked mainly for society publica...
Category
1960s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Minny Crushing Surfing
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
American society girl Minnie Cushing carries her surfboard under her arm, September 1965.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the e...
Category
1960s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons 'Minny Crushing Surfing'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
American society girl Minnie Cushing carries her surfboard under her arm, September 1965.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the e...
Category
1960s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons 'Skiing Waiters'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Three skiing waiters on a ski slope, with the man in the foreground carrying a bird on a tray, the second man carrying a wine in an ice bucket and the third carrying a menu, circa 19...
Category
1960s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons 'Vuccino and Rava in Capri' (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Vuccino and Rava in Capri
1958
C print
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150
with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
Carla Vuccino, wearing a swimming cap, and...
Category
1950s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Hotel Taormina Pool
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
The seaside swimming pool at the Hotel Taormina, Sicily, August 1975.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
Slim Aaro...
Category
1970s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons 'Patsy Pulitzer, Private Transport'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Private Transport
1955
Fiber print
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
Patsy Pulitzer rummaging in her bag on the se...
Category
1950s Realist Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Slim Aarons, Sunbathers at Il Canille
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Sunbathers lounge on the white-painted terrace of Il Canille, built into the rocks of Pizzolungo overlooking the waters off the coast of the island of Capri, Italy, in August, 1980. ...
Category
1970s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Tyrolean Churches, Tyrol, Estate Edition, Winter Landscape Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1990 winter landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Andreas Kirche and Liebfrauen Kirche in Kitzbuhel in the Austrian Tyrol, 1990.
This is ...
Category
1990s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Tyrolean Churches, Slim Aarons Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1990 winter landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Andreas Kirche and Liebfrauen Kirche in Kitzbuhel in the Austrian Tyrol, 1990.
This is ...
Category
1990s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
El Dorado Beach, Slim Aarons Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
El Dorado Beach on the south side of Lake Tahoe in El Dorado County, California, circa 1959.
Slim Aarons
Mittersill Castle, Slim Aarons Estate Edition
Chromogenic Lambda print
1959,...
Category
1950s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
El Dorado Beach, Slim Aarons Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
El Dorado Beach on the south side of Lake Tahoe in El Dorado County, California, circa 1959.
Slim Aarons
Mittersill Castle, Slim Aarons Estate Edition
Chromogenic Lambda print
1959,...
Category
1950s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Decked In Finery, Slim Aarons Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
An unknown guest at a New Year's Eve party held at the Romanoff Restaurant in Hollywood, Los Angeles.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included
Numbered and s...
Category
1960s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
'Mapping the Walk' Photograhic Flower Study Realistic and Abstract in Blue/White
Located in Wellesley, MA
"Mapping the Walk, July 2015" by Judith Allen-Efstathiou is an exquisite photographic cyanotype print in deep blue and white of wildflowers abstracted printed on mulberry paper and m...
Category
2010s Realist Photography
Materials
Mulberry Paper, Photographic Paper
Fabrizia Lanza di Mazzarino (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Donna Fabrizia Lanza di Mazzarino relaxing in a boat on a small lake in the grounds of the Villa Tasca d'Almerita in Sicily, Italy, in October 1984. Printed Later.
Estate stamped an...
Category
1980s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Skiing At Courchevel, Slim Aarons Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Skiers on the slopes at Courchevel, France, 1963.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included
Numbered and stamped by the Slim Aarons Estate
Modern estate edit...
Category
1960s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Paradise Island, Slim Aarons Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Versailles Gardens and the French Cloister at the Ocean Club on Paradise Island, opposite Nassau on the Bahamas, May 1968.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity in...
Category
1960s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons 'Hang Gliding'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Hang gliding in Kitzbuhel, Austria,1980.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
Slim Aarons ...
Category
1970s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons, Vermont Winter (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
circa 1960: Students from Stowe Preparatory School track through deep snow near Mount Mansfield and Spruce Peak, Vermont.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certif...
Category
1960s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
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 Photography
Materials
Lambda
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 Photography
Materials
Lambda
Pebble Beach Hunt, Slim Aarons Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Riders gather in the courtyard of Richard Collins' House for the stirrup cup libation, before the start of the Pebble Beach Hunt of English and American foxhounds, November 1976. The...
Category
1970s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Pebble Beach Hunt, Slim Aarons Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Riders gather in the courtyard of Richard Collins' House for the stirrup cup libation, before the start of the Pebble Beach Hunt of English and American foxhounds, November 1976. The...
Category
1970s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Pink Accessory, Slim Aarons Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
circa 1955: Film star Joan Collins in a pink and white bedroom with an accessory pink poodle.
Slim Aarons
Pink Accessory, Estate Edition
Chromogenic Lambda print
1955, Printed Later...
Category
1950s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons, El Venero
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
El Venero, the Moorish villa of Hector and Chico de Ayala in Marbella, Spain, 1971.
Slim Aarons worked mainly for society publications, taking pictures of t...
Category
1970s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons, Skiing In Seefeld
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons
Skiing In Seefeld, 1985
C print
estate edition of 150
A group of men and women go cross-country skiing in Seefeld, Austria, 1985.
Estate stamped and hand numbered editi...
Category
1980s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Male Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) Back Yard
Located in Columbia, MO
Composing non-living objects is completely different- especially when it comes to birds. I know it can maybe seem macabre at first, but I love photographing both living and non-livin...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Photography
Materials
Archival Pigment
Juvenile American Cow Found in Backyard (Corvus Brachyrhrnchos)
Located in Columbia, MO
Composing non-living objects is completely different- especially when it comes to birds. I know it can maybe seem macabre at first, but I love photographing both living and non-livin...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Photography
Materials
Archival Pigment
Barn Owl (Tyto alba) Bating
Located in Columbia, MO
Composing non-living objects is completely different- especially when it comes to birds. I know it can maybe seem macabre at first, but I love photographing both living and non-livin...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Photography
Materials
Archival Pigment
Surfing in Biarritz
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Author and screenwriter Peter Viertel (1920 - 2007) with his surfboard on the beach at Biarritz, France, 1960.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of au...
Category
1960s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Skiing Waiters (Slim Aarons)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Three skiing waiters on a ski slope, with the man in the foreground carrying a bird on a tray, the second man carrying a wine in an ice bucket and the third carrying a menu, circa 19...
Category
1960s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Pop and Society: Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithfull, and Desmond Guinness
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
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 Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons 'Tania Mallet'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
1961: Actress Tania Mallet relaxes on a red-curtained four poster in Eleuthera, in the Bahamas. She is best known for her role as the unfortunate Tilly Ma...
Category
1960s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons 'Portofino Harbor'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Portofino
1955
C print
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
Yachts moored in the Italian fishing village of Portofino...
Category
1950s Realist Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Slim Aarons 'Westin Excelsior, Venice'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Portofino
1955
C print
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
Yachts moored in the Italian fishing village of Portofino...
Category
1950s Realist Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Slim Aarons 'Skiing Waiters' (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons
Skiing Waiters, 1960
C print
Edition of 150
Caption: Three skiing waiters on a ski slope, with the man in the foreground carrying a bird on a tray, the second man carri...
Category
1950s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons, Roca Llisa
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons
Roca Llisa, 1978 (printed later)
C print
estate edition of 150
Fosca, Vera, and Fiona Bertran holidaying in Roca Llisa, on the island of Ibiza, Spain, 1978.
Estate stamp...
Category
1960s 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.