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, Lake Tahoe Ladies
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
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 famous bot...
Category
1950s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Crowded Kitzbühel, Austria, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1980 portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features skiers making their way between the slopes in Kitzbühel, Austria.
This is an estate stamped and...
Category
1980s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Crowded Kitzbühel, Austria, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1980 portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features skiers making their way between the slopes in Kitzbühel, Austria.
This is an estate stamped and...
Category
1980s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Mittersill Castle, Austria, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1950s landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a glider resting on the ground by Mittersill Castle, Austria.
This is an estate stamped ...
Category
1950s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Gaëtan de Rosnay, Switzerland, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1980s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features French painter Gaëtan de Rosnay showing his work in Klosters, Switzerland.
This is an es...
Category
1980s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club, San Diego, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features guests at the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club, La Jolla, San Diego.
This is an estate stamp...
Category
1950s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Jim Kimberly, California, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Jim Kimberly and Kim Wadsworth at the Beverly Hills Hotel, California.
This is an estate ...
Category
1950s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Jim Kimberly, California, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Jim Kimberly and Kim Wadsworth at the Beverly Hills Hotel, California.
This is an estate ...
Category
1950s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Beverly Hills Party, Los Angeles, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1954 portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features American actors Lauren Bacall and Judy Garland attending a house party in Beverly Hills.
This i...
Category
1950s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Marguerite Pindling, Bahama, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Dame Marguerite Pindling, Lady Pindling with her children Obafemi, Leslie, Monique and Michelle, Bahamas, 1971. Margurite's husband, Lynden Pindling, is the Prime Minister of the Bah...
Category
1970s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Marguerite Pindling, Bahama, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1970s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Dame Marguerite Pindling, Lady Pindling with her children Obafemi, Leslie, Monique and Mi...
Category
1970s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Marguerite Pindling, Bahama, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1970s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Dame Marguerite Pindling, Lady Pindling with her children Obafemi, Leslie, Monique and Mi...
Category
1970s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Marguerite Pindling, Bahama, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1970s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Dame Marguerite Pindling, Lady Pindling with her children Obafemi, Leslie, Monique and Mi...
Category
1970s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
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...
Category
1960s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons Sugarbush Chalet
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
A group of people relaxing in a chalet in the Sugarbush Mountain ski resort, one of the largest ski resorts in New England, in Warren, Vermont, USA, circa 1960.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
Slim Aarons (1916-2006) worked mainly for society publications photographing "attractive people doing attractive things in attractive places." Taking pictures of the rich and famous both before and after serving as a photographer for the US military magazine Yank during World War II. His work has been included in the publications Town and Country, Holiday, Venture and LIFE.
Aarons was known for the positive portrayals he gave to the people he photographed and was invited to high-society gatherings for exactly this reason. His subject matter covered American and European society as well as nobility and both minor and major stars of the day.
Print is also available in 30 x 30", 40 x...
Category
1960s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
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 cert...
Category
1960s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
The Marlboroughs, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
1957: John Albert Edward Spencer Churchill, the 10th Duke of Marlborough (1897 - 1972) and his wife Mary relax on a bench in the grounds of Blenheim Palace, the family seat in Oxford...
Category
1970s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
The Marlboroughs, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
1957: John Albert Edward Spencer Churchill, the 10th Duke of Marlborough (1897 - 1972) and his wife Mary relax on a bench in the grounds of Blenheim Palace, the family seat in Oxford...
Category
1970s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
The Marlboroughs, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
1957: John Albert Edward Spencer Churchill, the 10th Duke of Marlborough (1897 - 1972) and his wife Mary relax on a bench in the grounds of Blenheim Palace, the family seat in Oxford...
Category
1970s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Coffee With Dalí, Madrid, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950 portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Spanish artist Salvador Dali enjoys a cup of coffee on the terrace of the Ritz Hotel, Madrid...
Category
1950s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Coffee With Dalí, Madrid, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Spanish artist Salvador Dali enjoys a cup of coffee on the terrace of the Ritz Hotel, Madri...
Category
1950s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Coffee With Dalí, Madrid, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Spanish artist Salvador Dali enjoys a cup of coffee on the terrace of the Ritz Hotel, Madri...
Category
1950s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
The St. Regis, New York, Estate Edition, Event Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s event photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features an aerial view of diners at the St. Regis, New York.
This is an estate stamped and hand numbe...
Category
1950s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
The Hotel Excelsior, Rome, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a woman holding her skis in North Conway, New Hampshire.
This is an estate stamped and han...
Category
1950s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
The Hotel Excelsior, Rome, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a woman holding her skis in North Conway, New Hampshire.
This is an estate stamped and han...
Category
1950s Realist 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 authenti...
Category
1950s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club, San Diego, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features guests at the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club, La Jolla, San Diego.
This is an estate stamp...
Category
1970s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Hotel De Paris In Monaco (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
The entrance to the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo, Monaco, June 1977.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity ...
Category
1970s 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 fa...
Category
1950s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
'Mapping the Walk' Photograhic Flower Study Realistic and Abstract in Blue/White
Located in Wellesley, MA
"Mapping the Walk, 2011" by Judith Allen-Efstathiou is an exquisite photographic cyanotype print in deep blue and white of wildflowers abstracted printed on mulberry paper and mounte...
Category
2010s Realist Photography
Materials
Mulberry Paper, Photographic Paper
Slim Aarons, Tyrolean Churches (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons
Tyrolean Churches, 1990
C print
estate edition of 150
The Andreas Kirche and Liebfrauen Kirche in Kitzbuhel in the Austrian Tyrol, 1990
Estate stamped and hand numbered ...
Category
1990s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Darker, Two
Located in West Palm Beach, FL
30 x 45 inches ($5200) and 40 x 60 inches ($7200) limited editions of 10, printed on Archival Watercolor Fine Art Paper, 335 gram weight, signed by the artist.
Cheryl Maeder was b...
Category
2010s Realist Photography
Materials
C Print
September Affair, Rome, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1940s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a crowd gathering to watch the actors Joan Fontaine and Joseph Cotten on the set of Willia...
Category
1940s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
September Affair, Rome, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1940s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a crowd gathering to watch the actors Joan Fontaine and Joseph Cotten on the set of Willia...
Category
1940s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Portrait Sitting, Palm Beach, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1970 portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Diana 'Dysie' Davie, wife of T Bedford Davie, poses for the painter John Orr in her home in Wort...
Category
1970s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Portrait Sitting, Palm Beach, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Portrait Sitting, Palm Beach, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
This 1970 portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Diana 'Dysie' Davie, wife of ...
Category
1970s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons 'Pebble Beach'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Riders from the Pebble Beach Equestrian Center wend their way through the Californian sand dunes and pampas grass, November 1976.
Estate stamped and han...
Category
1970s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Sir Run Run Shaw, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1970s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features philanthropist and entertainment mogul Sir Run Run Shaw surrounded by the stars of Hong Ko...
Category
1970s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Sir Run Run Shaw, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1970s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features philanthropist and entertainment mogul Sir Run Run Shaw surrounded by the stars of Hong Ko...
Category
1970s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
SS Queen Of Bermuda, Bermuda, Estate Edition, Maritime Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1950s maritime photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features the British ocean liner 'SS Queen of Bermuda' in Hamilton Harbour, Bermuda.
This is an es...
Category
1950s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Parrot Jungle, Miami, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1955 portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a family day out at the Parrot Jungle amusement park near Miami.
This is an estate stamped and...
Category
1950s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Parrot Jungle, Miami, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1955 portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a family day out at the Parrot Jungle amusement park near Miami.
This is an estate stamped and...
Category
1950s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Parrot Jungle, Miami, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1955 portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a family day out at the Parrot Jungle amusement park near Miami.
This is an estate stamped and...
Category
1950s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Gordon C. MacKenzie, New Hampshire, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features the race driver Gordon C. MacKenzie in Franconia, New Hampshire.
This is an estate stampe...
Category
1950s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Gordon C. MacKenzie, New Hampshire, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features the race driver Gordon C. MacKenzie in Franconia, New Hampshire.
This is an estate stamped...
Category
1950s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Palace Hotel, Switzerland, Estate Edition, Winter Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Ice skating at the Palace Hotel, St. Moritz, Switzerland, 1989.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included
Numbered and stamped by the Slim Aarons Estate
Mode...
Category
1980s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Palace Hotel, Switzerland, Estate Edition, Winter Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1980s winter landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features people ice skating at the Palace Hotel, St. Moritz, Switzerland, 1989.
This is an...
Category
1980s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons, Vuccino and Rava in Capri (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Carla Vuccino, wearing a swimming cap, and a sunbathing Marina Rava, both wearing bikini as they sit on the rear of a boat, on the waters off the coast of the island of Capri, Italy,...
Category
1950s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Princess Ruspoli
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Princess Lucy Ruspoli stands in front of a colourful wall of old skis in Lech am Arlberg, Austria, February 1979.
Slim Aarons worked mainly for society publ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons 'Boating In Antigua'
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
American actor Hugh O'Brian (left) hoists the sail on a dinghy, Antigua, West Indies, 1961.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the...
Category
1960s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda, Acrylic Polymer
North Conway, New Hampshire, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a woman holding her skis in North Conway, New Hampshire.
This is an estate stamped and han...
Category
1950s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
North Conway, New Hampshire, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a woman holding her skis in North Conway, New Hampshire.
This is an estate stamped and han...
Category
1950s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Dubonnet Dinner, French Riviera, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a formal dinner organised by Dubonnet on the French Riviera.
This is an estate stamped a...
Category
1950s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Marian Anderson, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features American contralto Marian Anderson during the filming for 'The Ford 50th Anniversary Show...
Category
1950s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Marian Anderson, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features American contralto Marian Anderson during the filming for 'The Ford 50th Anniversary Show...
Category
1950s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Biblioteca dell'Abbazia, St.Gallen, 2002
Located in New York, NY
Massimo Listri is a Florence-based photographer whose work often presents interiors of great architectural and cultural importance, some open to the public, others not easily accessi...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Photography
Materials
C Print
Slim Aarons, Skiing Waiters (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Caption: Three skiing waiters on a ski slope, with the man in the foreground carrying a bird on a tray, the second man carring a wine in an ice bucket and the third carrying a menu, ...
Category
1950s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
'Botanical Rhapsody II' Realistic/Abstract Floral Pattern Photograph Blue/White
Located in Wellesley, MA
"Botanical Rhapsody II" by Judith Allen-Efstathiou is an exquisite photographic cyanotype print in deep blue and white of wildflowers abstracted. Highly intricate and lavishly depic...
Category
2010s Realist Photography
Materials
Mulberry Paper, Photographic Paper
Laguna Beach Surfers, California, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1970s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a surfer in the sea at Laguna Beach, California.
This is an estate stamped and hand numb...
Category
1970s Realist Photography
Materials
Lambda
Rhode Island Surfer, Slim Aarons Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A surfer carrying his board at a Rhode Island beach, September 1965. (Photo by Slim Aarons/Getty Images)
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included
Numbered an...
Category
1960s Realist 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.