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Surrealist Photography

SURREALIST STYLE

In the wake of World War I’s ravaging of Europe, artists delved into the unconscious mind to confront and grapple with this reality. Poet and critic André Breton, a leader of the Surrealist movement who authored the 1924 Surrealist Manifesto, called this approach “a violent reaction against the impoverishment and sterility of thought processes that resulted from centuries of rationalism.” Surrealist art emerged in the 1920s with dreamlike and uncanny imagery guided by a variety of techniques such as automatic drawing, which can be likened to a stream of consciousness, to channel psychological experiences.

Although Surrealism was a groundbreaking approach for European art, its practitioners were inspired by Indigenous art and ancient mysticism for reenvisioning how sculptures, paintings, prints, performance art and more could respond to the unsettled world around them.

Surrealist artists were also informed by the Dada movement, which originated in 1916 Zurich and embraced absurdity over the logic that had propelled modernity into violence. Some of the Surrealists had witnessed this firsthand, such as Max Ernst, who served in the trenches during World War I, and Salvador Dalí, whose otherworldly paintings and other work responded to the dawning civil war in Spain.

Other key artists associated with the revolutionary art and literary movement included Man Ray, Joan Miró, René Magritte, Yves Tanguy, Frida Kahlo and Meret Oppenheim, all of whom had a distinct perspective on reimagining reality and freeing the unconscious mind from the conventions and restrictions of rational thought. Pablo Picasso showed some of his works in “La Peinture Surréaliste” — the first collective exhibition of Surrealist painting — which opened at Paris’s Galerie Pierre in November of 1925. (Although Magritte is best known as one of the visual Surrealist movement’s most talented practitioners, his famous 1943 painting, The Fifth Season, can be interpreted as a formal break from Surrealism.)

The outbreak of World War II led many in the movement to flee Europe for the Americas, further spreading Surrealism abroad. Generations of modern and contemporary artists were subsequently influenced by the richly symbolic and unearthly imagery of Surrealism, from Joseph Cornell to Arshile Gorky.

Find a collection of original Surrealist paintings, sculptures, prints and multiples and more art on 1stDibs.

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Style: Surrealist
Period: 21st Century and Contemporary
Semi Nude Men, Muscle Beach Miami Beach
Located in Miami, FL
Signed and dated on lower right, numbered on verso, Edition 2 of 15 Unframed. Other size available
Category

2010s Surrealist Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Light Train
Located in Miami, FL
Signed, dated, numbered 3/15 recto unframed, other sizes availab
Category

2010s Surrealist Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Bog Dog by Keith Carter, 2014, Archival Pigment Print
Located in Dallas, TX
Bog Dog by Keith Carter presents a portrait of a dog looking off into the distance. This photograph is listed as a 20 x 16 inch archival pigment print, with the paper size measuring 22 x 17 inches. This print is available in an edition of 25. It is signed, titled, dated and numbered in pencil on print verso by Keith Carter. Bog Dog is from Carter's series, Ghostland. Keith Carter is an American photographer who is known for his dreamlike black and white photographs of the figure, animals, and meaningful objects. He began photographing new and unknown realities using East Texas...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

The Dance of Pink Lights on a New York City Snowy Day
Located in Miami, FL
Mitchell Funk's hand held pre-dawn New York street scene evokes a simultaneous state of beauty of unexpectedness. This is a straight shot. He used a Nikon D5 and 400mm while he was w...
Category

2010s Surrealist Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Great Egrets in the Bayou
Located in Dallas, TX
Edition of 10 Signed and numbered in pencil, and blind stamp on print margin. Signed, titled, dated and print type in pencil on print verso. Paper size: 25 x 20 in., Image size: 20 x...
Category

2010s Surrealist Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Grey Crowned Cranes
Located in Dallas, TX
Edition of 25 Signed and numbered in pencil, and blind stamp on print margin. Signed, titled, dated and print type in pencil on print verso. Paper size: 18 x 14.5 in., Image size: 13...
Category

2010s Surrealist Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Saddle-Billed Storks
Located in Dallas, TX
Edition of 10 Signed and numbered in pencil, and blind stamp on print margin Signed, titled, dated, and print type in pencil on print verso. Paper size: 21 x 24 in., Image size: 16 x...
Category

2010s Surrealist Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

New York Skyline from New Jersey
Located in Miami, FL
Dreamy and surreal midtown Manhattan with dramatic clouds bathed in grey blue light, signed and dated on lower right, numbered on verso 3/15, unframed, other size available
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Photography

Materials

Photographic Film

Storm #6
Located in New Orleans, LA
Kenny Morrison is a photographer, director, and cinematographer. He is passionate about making images and storytelling. His work pushes boundaries as he searches for limits to situat...
Category

2010s Surrealist Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Storm #7
Located in New Orleans, LA
Kenny Morrison is a photographer, director, and cinematographer. He is passionate about making images and storytelling. His work pushes boundaries as he searches for limits to situat...
Category

2010s Surrealist Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Burn to Shine, limited edition photograph, archival pigment, signed and numbered
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Burn to Shine, limited edition photograph, archival pigment, signed and numbered From Tom Chambers' series Animal Visions All my life I have held a fas...
Category

2010s Surrealist Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Untitled (Moon in Gong)
Located in Dallas, TX
Edition 2/7 Signed on print margin. Printed 2011 Frame included. Chema Madoz is one of the most important contemporary Spanish photographers, who is greatly known for his monochroma...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Miss Friday
Located in Wiscasset, ME
Much of Keith Hamilton's work is a comment on human perception: how our mind tries to recognize patterns and make sense of a complex world. Because context greatly influences how we ...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

A Watercolor and Toned Cyanotype Photographic Print, "Harmony"
Located in San Diego, CA
A one of a kind 24" x 30" Watercolor and Toned Cyanotype on Cotton Sateen mounted on Wooden Panel. A certificate of authenticity will be provided upon its purchase or delivery. Neil...
Category

2010s Surrealist Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Seraphim
Located in New York, NY
With his works included in the permanent collection at the Norton and the New Britain Museum, Drew Tal’s successful career has been nothing but a soaring ascension into the global ar...
Category

Early 2000s Surrealist Photography

Materials

Plexiglass, Photographic Film, Photographic Paper, Photogram, Archival P...

Bliss
Located in New York, NY
With his works included in the permanent collection at the Norton and the New Britain Museum, Drew Tal’s successful career has been nothing but a soaring ascension into the global ar...
Category

2010s Surrealist Photography

Materials

Plexiglass, Photographic Film, Photographic Paper, Photogram

Migration
Located in New York, NY
With his works included in the permanent collection at the Norton and the New Britain Museum, Drew Tal’s successful career has been nothing but a soaring ascension into the global ar...
Category

Early 2000s Surrealist Photography

Materials

Plexiglass, Photographic Film, Photographic Paper, Photogram

Field of Sorrow
Located in New York, NY
With his works included in the permanent collection at the Norton and the New Britain Museum, Drew Tal’s successful career has been nothing but a soaring ascension into the global ar...
Category

Early 2000s Surrealist Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, Photogram, Plexiglass, Photographic Film

Fading Beauty
Located in New York, NY
With his works included in the permanent collection at the Norton and the New Britain Museum, Drew Tal’s successful career has been nothing but a soaring ascension into the global ar...
Category

Early 2000s Surrealist Photography

Materials

Plexiglass, Photographic Film, Photographic Paper, Photogram

Portraits of Dignity
Located in New York, NY
With his works included in the permanent collection at the Norton and the New Britain Museum, Drew Tal’s successful career has been nothing but a soaring ascension into the global ar...
Category

2010s Surrealist Photography

Materials

Plexiglass, Photographic Film, Photographic Paper, Photogram

Awakening
Located in New York, NY
With his works included in the permanent collection at the Norton and the New Britain Museum, Drew Tal’s successful career has been nothing but a soaring ascension into the global ar...
Category

2010s Surrealist Photography

Materials

Plexiglass, Photographic Film, Photographic Paper, Photogram

Within
Located in New York, NY
With his works included in the permanent collection at the Norton and the New Britain Museum, Drew Tal’s successful career has been nothing but a soaring ascension into the global ar...
Category

Early 2000s Surrealist Photography

Materials

Plexiglass, Photographic Film, Photographic Paper, Photogram

Porcelain Dynasty
Located in New York, NY
With his works included in the permanent collection at the Norton and the New Britain Museum, Drew Tal’s successful career has been nothing but a soaring ascension into the global ar...
Category

2010s Surrealist Photography

Materials

Plexiglass, Photographic Film, Photographic Paper, Photogram

Bud of the Bud
Located in New York, NY
“Ink Stories”, which was introduced at Nyari’s very first solo gallery exhibit, consists of large-scale nude photographs that explore the concept of self-identity and female empowerment. The series joins six women together, each who have faced adversity, to demonstrate the creation of a strengthened self-image through tattoos. By highlighting the intricate woven threads of ink on each woman’s skin, Nyari proposes the idea that self-empowerment and reconciliation with one’s traumas can be linked to the act of greeting one’s “own skin” or inventing their own story. Nyari has now elevated these intimate photographs in her new Punctured Ink series through the process of puncturing botanical-like references into the surface of each image (thus making each one of a kind). Her inspiration to physically puncture the previously pristine photographic prints stemmed from a childhood memory that occurred while she was living in Finland: “I remembered my parents had this big pad of paper next to the home phone...
Category

2010s Surrealist Photography

Materials

Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, Photogram, Archival Pigment, Archiva...

Untitled [Science]
Located in New York, NY
Varnished photo montage on paper
Category

Early 2000s Surrealist Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Cat Woman
Located in Santa Monica, CA
Digital photographic collage.
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Photography

Materials

Wood, Birch, Digital

Untitled #8 (from Unfocused Series)
Located in Kansas City, MO
Anne K Smith Title: Untitled #8 (from Unfocused Series) Medium: Archival Inkjet Print on Museo Silver Rag Size: 10.5 x 16 inches Available in sets of 3 (mix and match) Entire "Unfoc...
Category

2010s Surrealist Photography

Materials

Archival Paper, Archival Ink, Inkjet

Boy who loves water.
Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA
Signed, dated, titled and numbered on print recto. Signed, titled with artist's copyright stamp on mount verso. Available in 15 x 15 inches or 22 x 22 inches. Other sizes may be avai...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Photography

Materials

Digital Pigment

Wagon Wheel
Located in Hudson, NY
Print is available in sizes from small to mural. Edition of 25. If the exhibition piece is sold or the customer orders a different print size, the photograph is produced upon purchase. Please allow two weeks for production. Shipping time depends on method of shipping. Price is subject to availability. The Robin Rice Gallery reserves the right to adjust this price depending on the current edition of the photograph. ABOUT: Inside the gallery, the viewer is surrounded by an arresting display of glamour in the wild. Drawing inspiration from classical paintings and geometric forms, Greg Lotus' work has been compared to Herb Ritts, Man Ray and Richard Avedon, and his exhibition fuses his high fashion background with the rural environment of his youth. Yet Lotus admits to no formal training throughout his career, "I'm completely self-taught, lots of trial and error over the years." His foray into fashion photography was a twist of fate. In the 90s he was sharing living quarters with young models, and began photographing them to help them build their portfolios—work that eventually brought his work to the attention of agencies. When it comes to his own models, Lotus prefers the "unspoiled" types, holding castings to find those with quirk as well as beauty. "Over time, most artists develop their own palette and look using color and light in a very personal way. I express my own aesthetic sense which is what makes my work recognizable, regardless of subject or setting." "Swimmer Cap," is an example of Lotus' signature pop of color. Here, a cast of sinewy models convene in a locker room; their candy-colored swim caps give the piece its surreal, dreamlike quality. In the invitation piece, "Nurses" beauties in black bathing suits pop against a light background while being hosed down by a nurse. "You can almost feel the spray and hear the whoosh under the miniskirt," says Lotus. Besides the visual play on light and dark, he says water is the linking element that turns the piece theatrical and makes it breathe. Greg Lotus was born in 1967 in rural West Virginia. He shot in Paris and New York City before settling in Miami to pursue his craft. After landing his first major job in Europe, Lotus interviewed with the editor of Italian Vogue, Franca Sozzani...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Surrealist photography for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Surrealist 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, red, orange, purple and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Mitchell Funk, Rosemary Ellis, Brian Ziff, and FPA Francis Pavy Artist. Frequently made by artists working with Paper, and Photographic Paper and other materials, all of these pieces for sale are unique and have attracted attention over the years. Not every interior allows for large Surrealist photography, so small editions measuring 4.5 inches across are also available. Prices for photography made by famous or emerging artists can differ depending on medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $110 and tops out at $28,800, while the average work sells for $1,750.

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