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Modern Figurative Prints

MODERN STYLE

The first decades of the 20th century were a period of artistic upheaval, with modern art movements including Cubism, Surrealism, Futurism and Dadaism questioning centuries of traditional views of what art should be. Using abstraction, experimental forms and interdisciplinary techniques, painters, sculptors, photographers, printmakers and performance artists all pushed the boundaries of creative expression.

Major exhibitions, like the 1913 Armory Show in New York City — also known as the “International Exhibition of Modern Art,” in which works like the radically angular Nude Descending a Staircase by Marcel Duchamp caused a sensation — challenged the perspective of viewers and critics and heralded the arrival of modern art in the United States. But the movement’s revolutionary spirit took shape in the 19th century.

The Industrial Revolution, which ushered in new technology and cultural conditions across the world, transformed art from something mostly commissioned by the wealthy or the church to work that responded to personal experiences. The Impressionist style emerged in 1860s France with artists like Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne and Edgar Degas quickly painting works that captured moments of light and urban life. Around the same time in England, the Pre-Raphaelites, like Edward Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, borrowed from late medieval and early Renaissance art to imbue their art with symbolism and modern ideas of beauty.

Emerging from this disruption of the artistic status quo, modern art went further in rejecting conventions and embracing innovation. The bold legacy of leading modern artists Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso, Frida Kahlo, Salvador Dalí, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, Marc Chagall, Piet Mondrian and many others continues to inform visual culture today.

Find a collection of modern paintings, sculptures, prints and other fine art on 1stDibs.

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Style: Modern
Matisse, Crayon, Dessins de Henri-Matisse (after)
Located in Auburn Hills, MI
Lithograph on vélin Lafuma Navarre paper. Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Good Condition; never framed or matted. Notes: From the album, Dessins de Henri-Matisse, 1925. Published...
Category

1920s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Composition, Parallèlement, Léonor Fini
Located in Auburn Hills, MI
Lithograph on grand vélin d'Arches paper. Inscription: unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Good condition. Notes: from the folio, Parallèlement, Illustré de lithographies originales ...
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1960s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Rape of the Sabine Women - Original etching, 1943
Located in Paris, IDF
Yves BRAYER Rape of the Sabine Women Original etching Printed signature in the plate On Arches vellum 30 x 25 cm (c. 12 x 10 inch) Printed in Haase...
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1940s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Etching

Homme à cheval, Regards sur Paris, Jean Carzou
Located in Auburn Hills, MI
Lithograph on vélin d’Arches paper. Inscription: unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Good condition. Notes: from the folio, Regards sur Paris, 1963. Published by André Sauret, Paris;...
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1960s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Matisse, Composition, Verve: Revue Artistique (after)
Located in Auburn Hills, MI
Lithograph on vélin du Marais paper. Inscription: Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Good condition. Notes: From the volume, Verve: Revue Artistique et Littéraire, Vol. IV, N° 13, November 1945...
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1940s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Lovers - Lithograph by Filippo De Pisis - 1960s
Located in Roma, IT
Lovers is an artwork realized by Filippo De Pisis (1896, Ferrara - 1956, Milano) in the 1960s. Black and white lithograph. Good condition.
Category

1960s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Waiting, Pop Art Framed Offset Print by Will Barnet
Located in Long Island City, NY
Waiting from the Kent Bicentennial Portfolio Will Barnet, American (1911–2012) Date: 1975 Offset Lithograph (unsigned as issued) Image Size: 11.25 x 11 inches Size: 17 x 14 in. (43.1...
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1970s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Offset

Pablo Picasso, The Rehearsal, original lithograph, hand signed
Located in Chatsworth, CA
Pablo Picasso The Rehearsal, (La Répétition) Original Lithograph, (litho crayon composition on transfer paper, transferred to stone) Hand signed in ink in lower left corner Numbered ...
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1950s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

"Carousel" Blue Abstract Horse Serigraph
By Barbara Maples
Located in Houston, TX
Blue toned serigraph of a carousel with horses. The work is signed and numbered by the artist. It is not framed but comes with a white matte. Artist Biography: Barbara Maples...
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1950s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Grand Tier and the Met
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Grand Tier at the Met Etching, 1939 From: Reginald Marsh, Thirty Etchings and Engravings Published by the Whitney Museum of American Art, 1969 Unsigned (as usual for the Whitney edit...
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1930s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Etching

Léger, Composition, mes voyages (after)
Located in Auburn Hills, MI
Lithograph on vélin bouffant des Papeteries de Hauteville paper. Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Good condition. Notes: From the folio, Fernand Léger mes voyages avec un poème d'...
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1970s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Kollwitz, Mother and Child (after)
Located in Auburn Hills, MI
Lithograph on vélin paper. Inscription: Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Good condition. Notes: From the folio, Kathe Kollwitz, Ten Lithographs. Published by Henry C. Kleemann and...
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1940s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Lily - Lithograph by Filippo De Pisis - 1968
Located in Roma, IT
Lily is an artwork realized by Filippo De Pisis (1896, Ferrara - 1956, Milano) in 1968. Black and white lithograph. Good condition. Not signed. Published in the volume "De Pisis ...
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1960s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Calder, Beastie, Braniff International Airways Flying Colors (after)
Located in Auburn Hills, MI
Lithograph on vélin d’Arches paper. Inscription: Signed in the plate, embossed with the official Braniff Flying Colors Collection seal, and unnumbered, as issued. Good condition. Not...
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1970s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Pablo Picasso - Jeu de la Cape - Lithograph
Located in Collonge Bellerive, Geneve, CH
Lithograph by Picasso Atelier Mourlot. Paper: Vélin. Dimensions : 9 5/8 x 12 7/16 inches Reference: Bloch 1015 Picasso is not just a man and his work. Picasso is always a legend, ...
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1960s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Sex Theme - Etching by Charkes Laborde - Early 20th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Etching hand colored by Chas Laborde, realized to illustrate "Les Chansons Erotiqies" by Pierre-Jean Beranger. Realized in the early 20th Century. Very good condition.
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Early 20th Century Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Etching

Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
Located in San Francisco, CA
This artwork titled "Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco" 1988 is a original colors lithograph on Arches paper by French artist (Fanch, Francois Ledan, born 1949) It is hand signed and inscribed A.P. (Artist Proof) in pencil by the artist. The image size is 26 x 19.5 inches, framed is 37.25 x 31.25 inches. Published and printed by Art Estampes, Paris. Custom framed in a wooden gold frame, with off white matting. It is in excellent condition, the frame has a minor restoration at the lower right side corner, practically invisible. About the artist: Francois "Fanch" Ledan (b. 1949) is noted for colorful scenes of his native Brittany. In 1968 he abandoned his studies in commercial design for full-time studies in painting and fine art. His talent was quickly recognized and soon he was involved in major European shows. He became involved in printmaking in 1973 when he learned lithography in Paris. Since then he has had numerous one-person shows in Europe, North America and South America. His paintings and lithographs from the 1970's and 1980's display characteristics often associated with "naïve" art. His views of Paris, a city which has embraced naïve art, display the attention to detail, In the 80's he turned to more brightly colored paintings and again a connection to Impressionism. He began to work on paintings that he refers to as "interiorscapes" or "interior visions...
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Late 20th Century Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

La Perruque d'argent (Juffermans 6), Van Dongen, Kees van Dongen
Located in Auburn Hills, MI
Lithograph on vélin paper. Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Good condition. Notes: From the album, Van Dongen, 1925. Published by Henri Floury, Paris; printed by Pierre Dumont, Pa...
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1920s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Melia Azedarach - Lithograph by Vincenzo Tenore - 1870s
Located in Roma, IT
Lithograph hand watercolored. Belongs to the Series "Atlante di Botanica popolare ossia Illustrazione di Piante Notevoli di ogni famiglia" (Atlas of popular botany or illustration o...
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1870s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Delaunay, Composition, XXe Siècle (after)
Located in Auburn Hills, MI
Lithograph on vélin paper. Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Good condition. Notes: From the volume, XXe Siècle, vol. n°32, 1969. Published and printed under the direction of Gualt...
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1960s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Zen Minimalist Flowers Etching American Modernist Ed Baynard Pop Art Print
Located in Surfside, FL
ED BAYNARD (American, 1940-2016) Flowers, Flowers in a Vase, Etching. 1979/1980, Hand signed, dated l.r., Hand numbered from small edition 12/24, Dimensions: 23 by 19 in. Framed 25 by 21 in Born in Washington, D.C. in 1940. Raised in Washington, D.C. and newly graduated from high school, he flew to Europe living off and on in Paris and London. During this time, he designed costumes for Jimi Hendrix, worked as a graphic designer for the Beatles as well as Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Returning to New York, he dedicated his life to art after a surprise success with his first show in 1971 at the Willard Gallery in NYC. Ed's images are Zen-like in their simplicity and grace rendered in a flat, graphic style that recalls Japanese Ukiyo-e prints. His watercolors are luminous, like the rest of his representations regardless of the medium. The Japanese inspired ukiyo-e style woodblock prints and lithograph works he created at Tyler Graphics in 1980 contain a 20th century "floating world" sensibility. Ed's wish was to bring harmony, color, and a meditative stillness to this chaotic planet. He did so in a gentle and powerful way, always as an expression of his deep gratitude for the love and beauty, friendship, and concerns he held dearest. His first solo exhibition was in 1971 at New York's legendary Willard Gallery on the recommendation of Agnes Martin. Baynard went on to have exhibitions at galleries including Betty Parsons Gallery, New York (1973); Marian Goodman Gallery, New York (1977); John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco (1980); and Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York (1980/81).. Baynard manages to retain a simplicity of form inspired by a love of Japanese Woodblock prints. His new works reflect the same poetry of his earlier paintings, retaining his stylized compositions with their Zen like minimalism and Oriental calm, along with a new sense of rhythm and movement. Baynard uses familiar themes such as flowers, plants, pots, and vases, incorporating them into his delicate watercolor still lifes, thus creating stunning visual feasts. He was included in the 1972 Landscape exhibition at MoMA NY alone with other luminaries James Boynton...
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1980s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Etching

Profile of an African Woman —1920s Modernism
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
Boris Lovet-Lorski, Untitled (Profile of an African Woman), lithograph, edition 250, 1929. Signed and numbered 15 in pencil. Number 15 of Volume 2, a series of 10 lithographs publish...
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1920s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Composition, Parallèlement, Léonor Fini
Located in Auburn Hills, MI
Lithograph on grand vélin d'Arches paper. Inscription: unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Good condition. Notes: from the folio, Parallèlement, Illustré de lithographies originales ...
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1960s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Guillaumin au pendu (Guillaumin with Hanged Man)
Located in Washington, DC
Artist: Paul Cezanne Title: Guillaumin au pendu (Guillaumin with Hanged Man) Portfolio: l'Histoire des Peintres Impressionistes Medium: Etching on cream laid paper Date: 1906 Edition...
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Early 1900s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Etching

Nude Female Figure after Salvator Rosa - Etching by Allan Ramsay - 18th Century
By Allan Ramsay
Located in Roma, IT
Nude female figure is a print realized by Scottish artist Allan Ramsay (1713-1784) after Salvator Rosa, in the late 18th century. Etching on paper. Good conditions, with foxing on ...
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Late 18th Century Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Etching

Picasso, Composition (Bloch 1276; Czwiklitzer 23), Toros y Toreros (after)
Located in Auburn Hills, MI
Lithograph on Arches wove paper. Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Good condition. Notes: From the volume, Pablo Picasso, Toros y Toreros, 1961. Published by aux Éditions Cercle d'...
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1960s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

The Malta Mushroom - Lithograph by Vincenzo Tenore - 1870s
Located in Roma, IT
Lithograph hand watercolored. Belongs to the Series "Atlante di Botanica popolare ossia Illustrazione di Piante Notevoli di ogni famiglia" (Atlas of popular botany or illustration o...
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1870s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Sweet Swede - Lithograph by Vincenzo Tenore - 1870s
Located in Roma, IT
Lithograph hand watercolored. Belongs to the Series "Atlante di Botanica popolare ossia Illustrazione di Piante Notevoli di ogni famiglia" (Atlas of popular botany or illustration o...
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1870s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

The Paraguayan Tea - Lithograph by Vincenzo Tenore - 1870s
Located in Roma, IT
Lithograph hand watercolored. Belongs to the Series "Atlante di Botanica popolare ossia Illustrazione di Piante Notevoli di ogni famiglia" (Atlas of popular botany or illustration o...
Category

1870s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Large-Stemmed Bellflower - Lithograph by Vincenzo Tenore - 1870s
Located in Roma, IT
Lithograph hand watercolored. Belongs to the Series "Atlante di Botanica popolare ossia Illustrazione di Piante Notevoli di ogni famiglia" (Atlas of popular botany or illustration o...
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1870s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Melancholic Muses II
Located in London, GB
'Melancholic Muses II', one of a poignant set of six signed artist proof lithographs by the celebrated Spanish artist from Barcelona, Vicenç Caraltó (circa 1960s). This collection of...
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1960s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Composition (Cramer 105), Femmes, Joan Miró
Located in Auburn Hills, MI
Héliogravure on vélin d’Arches paper. Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Good condition. Notes: From the folio, Joan Miró, Femmes, 1965. Published by Maeght Éditeur, Paris; printed ...
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1960s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

To Roads in Unknown Places from the Rilke Portfolio, lithograph by Ben Shahn
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Ben Shahn, American (1898 - 1969) Title: To Roads in Unknown Places from the Rilke Portfolio Year: 1968 Medium: Lithograph on Arches, signed in the plate Edition: 750 Size: 2...
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1960s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Siesta - Screen Print by Giuseppe Tampieri - 1988
Located in Roma, IT
Siesta  is a screen print realized by the Italian artist  Giuseppe Tampieri in 1988. Hand-signed  by the artist on the lower right. Numbered on the lower left. Edition 98/150. Very...
Category

1980s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Screen

Chagall, Composition, Couleur amour (after)
Located in Auburn Hills, MI
Lithograph and stencil on vélin papier a la cuve du Moulin Richard de Bas spécialement filigrané pour cette édition paper. Signed in the plate and unnumbered, as issued. Good conditi...
Category

1950s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph, Stencil

Walter DuBois Richards, The Lobster Float
Located in New York, NY
Ohio-born Walter DuBois Richards (1907-2006) was educated at the Cleveland School of Art. He re-located to New York around 1933 where he had a successful career as a commercial artis...
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1930s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Woodcut

Braque, Pélias et Nélée, Œdipe roi de Sophocle (after)
Located in Auburn Hills, MI
Lithograph on grand vélin d'Arches pur chiffon spécialement fabriqués paper. Inscription: signed in the plate and unnumbered, as issued. Good condition. Notes: from the folio, Œdipe ...
Category

1980s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Silver Sprinters - Olympia 1974 (Screen Print, Abstract, Mid-Century, Modern)
Located in Kansas City, MO
Silver Sprinters - Olympia 1974 Serigraph Edition: 200 Signed by the Artist Size: 100 x 64 cm (25 x 40 inches) COA provided John Paul Jones (November 18, 1924 – 1999) was an America...
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1970s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Screen

'The Steps' — WPA Era Graphic Modernism
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
Fritz Eichenberg, 'The Steps', wood engraving, 1933, edition 200. Signed, titled, and annotated 'Ed. 200' in pencil. Initialed in the block, lower right. A superb, richly-inked impr...
Category

1930s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Woodcut

Picasso, Composition (Cramer 88), Dans l'Atelier de Picasso (after)
Located in Auburn Hills, MI
Lithograph on vélin d'Arches à la forme savoir paper. Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Good condition. Notes: From the volume, Dans l'Atelier de Picasso, 1957. Published by Fernan...
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1950s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Jonah
Located in Santa Monica, CA
SADAO WATANABE (Japanese 1913-1996) JONAH, 1959 Color stencil, signed, numbered and dated in white ink. Sheet, 25 5/8 x 22 5/8 inches. Edition: 44/50. Good color and generally good ...
Category

1950s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Stencil, Woodcut

Diurnes: Werewolf (on Fire) - Original Collotype and Stencil (Cramer #115)
Located in Paris, IDF
Pablo PICASSO (1881-1973) Diurnes: Werewolf, 1962 Original collotype and stencil (Jacomet workshop) Unsigned Limited to 1000 copy On paper 40 x 30 cm (c. 15,7 x 11,8 in) REFERENCE...
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Mid-20th Century Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Stencil

Tu que no puedes - Etching by Francisco Goya - 1799
Located in Roma, IT
Tu que no puedes from "Los Caprichos" is an original artwork realized by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya and published for the first time in 1799. The work is an etching and aquat...
Category

1790s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Etching, Aquatint

'Judges' from 'In Praise of Folly' — Mid-Century Graphic Modernism
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
Lynd Ward, 'Judges' from the series 'Moriae Encomium (In Praise of Folly),' mezzotint, 1943, no edition, proofs only. Signed, dated, and titled in pencil. A superb, richly-inked impression, on cream wove paper; the full sheet with margins (1 1/4 to 2 inches) in excellent condition. Scarce. Matted to museum standards, unframed. Image size 7 13/16 x 4 7/8 inches (198 x 124 mm); sheet size 10 3/4 x 8 1/8 inches (273 x 206 mm). Created by the artist for 'Erasmus's Moriae Encomium,' or 'In Praise of Folly,' published by the Limited Editions Club, 1943. A rare, signed, proof impression apart from the Limited Editions Club publication. ABOUT THE ARTIST Lynd Ward is acknowledged as one of America’s foremost wood engravers and book illustrators of the first half of the twentieth century. His innovative use of narrative printmaking as a stand-alone storytelling vehicle was uniquely successful in reaching a broad audience. The powerful psychological intensity of his work, celebrated for its dynamic design, technical precision, and compelling dramatic content, finds resonance in the literature of Poe, Melville, and Hawthorne. Like these classic American writers, Ward was concerned with the themes of man’s inner struggles and the role of the subconscious in determining his destiny. An artist of social conscience during the Great Depression and World War II, he infused his graphic images with his unique brand of social realism, deftly portraying the problems that challenged the ideals of American society. The son of a Methodist preacher, Lynd Ward, moved from Chicago to Massachusetts at an early age. He graduated from the Teachers College of Columbia University, New York, in 1926, where he studied illustration and graphic arts. He married May Yonge McNeer in 1936 and left for Europe for their honeymoon in Eastern Europe. After four months, they settled in Leipzig, where Ward studied at the National Academy of Graphic Arts and Bookmaking. Inspired by Belgian expressionist artist Frans Masereel's graphic novel ‘The Sun,’ and another graphic novel by the German artist Otto Nückel, ‘Destiny,’ he determined to create his own "wordless" novel. Upon his return to America, Ward completed his first book, ‘God's Man: A Novel in Woodcuts,’ published in 1929. ‘Gods’ Man’ was a great success for its author and publisher and was reprinted four times in 1930, including a British edition. This book and several which followed it, ‘Madman’s Drum,’ 1930, ‘Wild Pilgrimage,’ 1932, ‘Prelude to a Million Years,’ 1933, ‘Song Without Words,' 1936, ‘Vertigo,’ 1937; and ‘Last Unfinished Wordless Novel’ (created in the 1960s and published in 2001) were comprised solely of Ward's wood engravings. Ward designed each graphic image to occupy an entire page, the sequence of which conveys the story's narrative. In 1937, Ward was named Director of the Graphic Arts Division of the Federal Art Project, a division of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). In the following years, Ward went on to illustrate more than one hundred books (some of which he wrote), including classics for the Limited Editions Club Goethe’s ‘Faust,’ Faulkner’s ‘A Green Bough,’ and Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein,’ and several children’s books. He also produced single-subject wood engravings, paintings, and drawings. His print ‘Sanctuary,’ 1939, was shown at the 1939 New York World’s Fair, and ‘Clouded Over,’ 1948, received the 1948 Library of Congress Award and was included in ‘American Prize Prints of the 20th Century’ by Albert Reese. He received the National Academy of Design Print Award (1949), the New York Times Best Illustrated Award (1973), and the Regina Award (Catholic Library Association, 1975). ‘The Biggest Bear,’ a children’s book with illustrations by Ward, was the recipient of the esteemed 1952 Caldecott Medal of the American Library Association. An Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers, Ward was a member and board member of the National Academy of Design and the Artists’ League of America. He served several terms as president of the Society of American Graphic Artists and was a member of the American Artists Congress and the Society of Illustrators. Ward exhibited at the American Artists Congress; the National Academy of Design; the John Herron Art Institute; and the Library of Congress. He had a one-person show at Associated American Artists, NY, on the publication of his monograph 'Storyteller Without Words,' 1974; AAA mounted a memorial exhibition in 1986. The May 1976 issue of 'Bibliognost,' a book collector’s publication, was dedicated to Ward. ‘Lynd Ward, His Bookplate Designs,’ an article by Dan Burne Jones, was published in the American Society of Bookplate Collectors and Designers Yearbook, 1981/82. In 2001, sixteen years after his death, Rutgers University Libraries published ’Lynd Ward’s Last Unfinished Wordless Novel.’ The blocks were intended to be part of a novel in woodcuts, the first since Vertigo, but Ward did not live to complete the project. Master printer and book designer Barbara Henry collated and printed the twenty-six finished blocks out of the forty-four initially planned for the still unnamed narrative. In 2010 the Library of America honored Ward’s achievements with the meticulous production of a collection of Ward’s woodcut novels—the first time the Library had gone wordless. The publication replicated his original editions with a single full-size image printed on the right page of each double-page spread. In his introduction to the books, renowned cartoonist/illustrator Art...
Category

1940s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Mezzotint

"The Capture, " Jacob Lawrence, Harlem Renaissance, Black Art, Haitian Series
Located in New York, NY
Jacob Lawrence (1917 - 2000) The Capture of Marmelade (from The Life of Toussaint L'Ouverture series), 1987 Color screenprint on Bainbridge Two Ply Rag paper Sheet 32 1/8 x 22 1/16 inches Sight 29 3/4 x 19 1/4 inches A/P 1/30, aside from the edition of 120 Signed, titled, dated, inscribed "A/P" and numbered 1/30 in pencil, lower margin. Literature: Nesbett L87-2. A social realist, Lawrence documented the African American experience in several series devoted to Toussaint L’Ouverture, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, life in Harlem, and the civil rights movement of the 1960s. He was one of the first nationally recognized African American artists. “If at times my productions do not express the conventionally beautiful, there is always an effort to express the universal beauty of man’s continuous struggle to lift his social position and to add dimension to his spiritual being.” — Jacob Lawrence quoted in Ellen Harkins Wheat, Jacob Lawrence: The Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman Series of 1938 – 40. The most widely acclaimed African American artist of this century, and one of only several whose works are included in standard survey books on American art, Jacob Lawrence has enjoyed a successful career for more than fifty years. Lawrence’s paintings portray the lives and struggles of African Americans, and have found wide audiences due to their abstract, colorful style and universality of subject matter. By the time he was thirty years old, Lawrence had been labeled as the ​“foremost Negro artist,” and since that time his career has been a series of extraordinary accomplishments. Moreover, Lawrence is one of the few painters of his generation who grew up in a black community, was taught primarily by black artists, and was influenced by black people. Lawrence was born on September 7, 1917,* in Atlantic City, New Jersey. He was the eldest child of Jacob and Rosa Lee Lawrence. The senior Lawrence worked as a railroad cook and in 1919 moved his family to Easton, Pennsylvania, where he sought work as a coal miner. Lawrence’s parents separated when he was seven, and in 1924 his mother moved her children first to Philadelphia and then to Harlem when Jacob was twelve years old. He enrolled in Public School 89 located at 135th Street and Lenox Avenue, and at the Utopia Children’s Center, a settlement house that provided an after school program in arts and crafts for Harlem children. The center was operated at that time by painter Charles Alston who immediately recognized young Lawrence’s talents. Shortly after he began attending classes at Utopia Children’s Center, Lawrence developed an interest in drawing simple geometric patterns and making diorama type paintings from corrugated cardboard boxes. Following his graduation from P.S. 89, Lawrence enrolled in Commerce High School on West 65th Street and painted intermittently on his own. As the Depression became more acute, Lawrence’s mother lost her job and the family had to go on welfare. Lawrence dropped out of high school before his junior year to find odd jobs to help support his family. He enrolled in the Civilian Conservation Corps, a New Deal jobs program, and was sent to upstate New York. There he planted trees, drained swamps, and built dams. When Lawrence returned to Harlem he became associated with the Harlem Community Art Center directed by sculptor Augusta Savage, and began painting his earliest Harlem scenes. Lawrence enjoyed playing pool at the Harlem Y.M.C.A., where he met ​“Professor” Seifert, a black, self styled lecturer and historian who had collected a large library of African and African American literature. Seifert encouraged Lawrence to visit the Schomburg Library in Harlem to read everything he could about African and African American culture. He also invited Lawrence to use his personal library, and to visit the Museum of Modern Art’s exhibition of African art in 1935. As the Depression continued, circumstances remained financially difficult for Lawrence and his family. Through the persistence of Augusta Savage, Lawrence was assigned to an easel project with the W.P.A., and still under the influence of Seifert, Lawrence became interested in the life of Toussaint L’Ouverture, the black revolutionary and founder of the Republic of Haiti. Lawrence felt that a single painting would not depict L’Ouverture’s numerous achievements, and decided to produce a series of paintings on the general’s life. Lawrence is known primarily for his series of panels on the lives of important African Americans in history and scenes of African American life. His series of paintings include: The Life of Toussaint L’Ouverture, 1937, (forty one panels), The Life of Frederick Douglass, 1938, (forty panels), The Life of Harriet Tubman, 1939, (thirty one panels), The Migration of the Negro,1940 – 41, (sixty panels), The Life of John Brown, 1941, (twenty two panels), Harlem, 1942, (thirty panels), War, 1946 47, (fourteen panels), The South, 1947, (ten panels), Hospital, 1949 – 50, (eleven panels), Struggle: History of the American People, 1953 – 55, (thirty panels completed, sixty projected). Lawrence’s best known series is The Migration of the Negro, executed in 1940 and 1941. The panels portray the migration of over a million African Americans from the South to industrial cities in the North between 1910 and 1940. These panels, as well as others by Lawrence, are linked together by descriptive phrases, color, and design. In November 1941 Lawrence’s Migration series was exhibited at the prestigious Downtown Gallery in New York. This show received wide acclaim, and at the age of twenty four Lawrence became the first African American artist to be represented by a downtown ​“mainstream” gallery. During the same month Fortune magazine published a lengthy article about Lawrence, and illustrated twenty six of the series’ sixty panels. In 1943 the Downtown Gallery exhibited Lawrence’s Harlem series, which was lauded by some critics as being even more successful than the Migration panels. In 1937 Lawrence obtained a scholarship to the American Artists School in New York. At about the same time, he was also the recipient of a Rosenwald Grant for three consecutive years. In 1943 Lawrence joined the U.S. Coast Guard and was assigned to troop ships that sailed to Italy and India. After his discharge in 1945, Lawrence returned to painting the history of African American people. In the summer of 1947 Lawrence taught at the innovative Black Mountain College in North Carolina at the invitation of painter Josef Albers. During the late 1940s Lawrence was the most celebrated African American painter in America. Young, gifted, and personable, Lawrence presented the image of the black artist who had truly ​“arrived”. Lawrence was, however, somewhat overwhelmed by his own success, and deeply concerned that some of his equally talented black artist friends had not achieved a similar success. As a consequence, Lawrence became deeply depressed, and in July 1949 voluntarily entered Hillside Hospital in Queens, New York, to receive treatment. He completed the Hospital series while at Hillside. Following his discharge from the hospital in 1950, Lawrence resumed painting with renewed enthusiasm. In 1960 he was honored with a retrospective exhibition and monograph prepared by The American Federation of Arts. He also traveled to Africa twice during the 1960s and lived primarily in Nigeria. Lawrence taught for a number of years at the Art Students League in New York, and over the years has also served on the faculties of Brandeis University, the New School for Social Research, California State College at Hayward, the Pratt Institute, and the University of Washington, Seattle, where he is currently Professor Emeritus of Art. In 1974 the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York held a major retrospective of Lawrence’s work that toured nationally, and in December 1983 Lawrence was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The most recent retrospective of Lawrence’s paintings was organized by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2020, and was accompanied by a major catalogue. Lawrence met his wife Gwendolyn Knight...
Category

1970s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Paper, Screen

Bali Princess (variant green)
Located in San Francisco, CA
This artwork titled "Bali Princess" variant green, 1996, is an original color serigraph on thin rice paper taped to a sheet of wove paper for stabilization by noted Chinese artist Ting Shao Kuang...
Category

Late 20th Century Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Screen

Braque, Composition, Verve: Revue Artistique et Littéraire (after)
Located in Auburn Hills, MI
Lithograph on vélin du Marais paper. Inscription: Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Good condition. Notes: From the volume, The Intimate Sketchbooks of G. Braque, Verve: Revue Arti...
Category

1950s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Saltimbanques : Drawings of Picasso & Max Jacob - Original etching (Baer #8c)
Located in Paris, IDF
Pablo PICASSO (1881-1973) Acrobats: Plate of Drawings by Picasso and Max Jacob, 1913 Original Etching (Paul Fort Workshop) Signed in the plate On Arches vellum, 48 x 38 cm (c. 19 x ...
Category

1910s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Etching

'Priests' from 'In Praise of Folly' — Mid-Century Graphic Modernism
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
Lynd Ward, 'Priests' from the series 'Moriae Encomium (The Praise of Folly)', mezzotint, 1943, no edition, proofs only. Signed in pencil. A superb, richly-inked impression, on cream wove paper; the full sheet with margins (1 1/4 to 2 inches) in excellent condition. Matted to museum standards, unframed. Scarce. Image size 7 3/4 x 4 3/4 inches (197 x 121 mm); sheet size 10 11/16 x 8 1/16 inches (271 x 204 mm). Created by the artist for 'Erasmus's Moriae Encomium,' or 'In Praise of Folly,' published by the Limited Editions Club, 1943. A rare, signed, proof impression apart from the Limited Editions Club publication. ABOUT THE ARTIST Lynd Ward is acknowledged as one of America’s foremost wood engravers and book illustrators of the first half of the twentieth century. His innovative use of narrative printmaking as a stand-alone storytelling vehicle was uniquely successful in reaching a broad audience. The powerful psychological intensity of his work, celebrated for its dynamic design, technical precision, and compelling dramatic content, finds resonance in the literature of Poe, Melville, and Hawthorne. Like these classic American writers, Ward was concerned with the themes of man’s inner struggles and the role of the subconscious in determining his destiny. An artist of social conscience during the Great Depression and World War II, he infused his graphic images with his unique brand of social realism, deftly portraying the problems that challenged the ideals of American society. The son of a Methodist preacher, Lynd Ward, moved from Chicago to Massachusetts at an early age. He graduated from the Teachers College of Columbia University, New York, in 1926, where he studied illustration and graphic arts. He married May Yonge McNeer in 1936 and left for Europe for their honeymoon in Eastern Europe. After four months, they settled in Leipzig, where Ward studied at the National Academy of Graphic Arts and Bookmaking. Inspired by Belgian expressionist artist Frans Masereel's graphic novel ‘The Sun,’ and another graphic novel by the German artist Otto Nückel, ‘Destiny,’ he determined to create his own "wordless" novel. Upon his return to America, Ward completed his first book, ‘God's Man: A Novel in Woodcuts,’ published in 1929. ‘Gods’ Man’ was a great success for its author and publisher and was reprinted four times in 1930, including a British edition. This book and several which followed it, ‘Madman’s Drum,’ 1930, ‘Wild Pilgrimage,’ 1932, ‘Prelude to a Million Years,’ 1933, ‘Song Without Words,' 1936, ‘Vertigo,’ 1937; and ‘Last Unfinished Wordless Novel’ (created in the 1960s and published in 2001) were comprised solely of Ward's wood engravings. Ward designed each graphic image to occupy an entire page, the sequence of which conveys the story's narrative. In 1937, Ward was named Director of the Graphic Arts Division of the Federal Art Project, a division of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). In the following years, Ward went on to illustrate more than one hundred books (some of which he wrote), including classics for the Limited Editions Club Goethe’s ‘Faust,’ Faulkner’s ‘A Green Bough,’ and Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein,’ and several children’s books. He also produced single-subject wood engravings, paintings, and drawings. His print ‘Sanctuary,’ 1939, was shown at the 1939 New York World’s Fair, and ‘Clouded Over,’ 1948, received the 1948 Library of Congress Award and was included in ‘American Prize Prints of the 20th Century’ by Albert Reese. He received the National Academy of Design Print Award (1949), the New York Times Best Illustrated Award (1973), and the Regina Award (Catholic Library Association, 1975). ‘The Biggest Bear,’ a children’s book with illustrations by Ward, was the recipient of the esteemed 1952 Caldecott Medal of the American Library Association. An Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers, Ward was a member and board member of the National Academy of Design and the Artists’ League of America. He served several terms as president of the Society of American Graphic Artists and was a member of the American Artists Congress and the Society of Illustrators. Ward exhibited at the American Artists Congress; the National Academy of Design; the John Herron Art Institute; and the Library of Congress. He had a one-person show at Associated American Artists, NY, on the publication of his monograph 'Storyteller Without Words,' 1974; AAA mounted a memorial exhibition in 1986. The May 1976 issue of 'Bibliognost,' a book collector’s publication, was dedicated to Ward. ‘Lynd Ward, His Bookplate Designs,’ an article by Dan Burne Jones, was published in the American Society of Bookplate Collectors and Designers Yearbook, 1981/82. In 2001, sixteen years after his death, Rutgers University Libraries published ’Lynd Ward’s Last Unfinished Wordless Novel.’ The blocks were intended to be part of a novel in woodcuts, the first since Vertigo, but Ward did not live to complete the project. Master printer and book designer Barbara Henry collated and printed the twenty-six finished blocks out of the forty-four initially planned for the still unnamed narrative. In 2010 the Library of America honored Ward’s achievements with the meticulous production of a collection of Ward’s woodcut novels—the first time the Library had gone wordless. The publication replicated his original editions with a single full-size image printed on the right page of each double-page spread. In his introduction to the books, renowned cartoonist/illustrator Art...
Category

1940s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Mezzotint

Persian, Man of the People - Lithograph by Auguste Wahlen - 1844
Located in Roma, IT
Persian, Man of the People is a lithograph made by Auguste Wahlen in 1844. Hand colored. Good condition. At the center of the artwork is the original title "Perse. Homme du Peuple...
Category

1840s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Under the Bridge
Located in Storrs, CT
Under the Bridge. 1985. Etching and drypoint. 9 1/2 x 12 1/8 (sheet 20 1/16 x 22). Edition 27, #13. Printed on cream wove paper, on the full sheet with deckle edges. A rich impression in excellent condition, housed in an archival folder. The etching has never been matted. Titled and numbered in pencil. by the artist; signed and initialed in pencil by the artist's estate. Provenance: the artist's estate A dramatic view of the lower East Side in New York. Housed in an archival folder awaiting your choice of mat and frame. Painter and printmaker Lawrence Nelson Wilbur...
Category

20th Century Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Drypoint, Etching

The Auranziaceae - Lithograph by Vincenzo Tenore - 1870s
Located in Roma, IT
Lithograph hand watercolored. Plate from "Atlante di Botanica popolare ossia Illustrazione di Piante Notevoli di ogni famiglia" (Atlas of popular botany or illustration of notable p...
Category

1870s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Circassian - Lithograph by Auguste Wahlen - 1844
Located in Roma, IT
Circassian is a lithograph made by Auguste Wahlen in 1844. Hand colored. Good condition. At the center of the artwork is the original title "Circassien". The work is part of Suit...
Category

1840s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Western Cashew - Lithograph by Vincenzo Tenore - 1870s
Located in Roma, IT
Lithograph hand watercolored. Belongs to the Series "Atlante di Botanica popolare ossia Illustrazione di Piante Notevoli di ogni famiglia" (Atlas of popular botany or illustration o...
Category

1870s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Composition (Cramer 105), Femmes, Joan Miró
Located in Auburn Hills, MI
Héliogravure on vélin d’Arches paper. Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Good condition. Notes: From the folio, Joan Miró, Femmes, 1965. Published by Maeght Éditeur, Paris; printed ...
Category

1960s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Carte de Voeux pour Aime Maeght
Located in Bournemouth, Dorset
Marc Chagall (1887-1985) Carte de Voeux pour Aime Maeght 1960 Lithograph in Arches paper Signed in stone Image: 22.2 x 29.5 cm Frame: 46.5 x 54.5cm Marc Chagall (1887 – 1985) Russi...
Category

1960s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph

Catherina Dorothea Viehmann David Hockney Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm
Located in New York, NY
The frontispiece for Hockney’s Six Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm portfolio and book features Catherina Dorothea Viehmann, the elderly German woman who recounted fairy tales to ...
Category

1960s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Etching, Aquatint

Study for a Monument in the Heroic/Erotic/Academic/Comic Style Claes Oldenburg
Located in New York, NY
This sensuous and playful scene is characteristic of Oldenburg’s printmaking ouevre: a veritable heap of women displaying various expressions of ecstasy and repose. The loose sketches were drawn directly onto the plate by the artist, a master draftsman whose erotic etchings are largely unknown. The composition is based on the drawing: Clinical Study, Towards a Heroic-Erotic Monument in the Academic/Comic Style, 1965, ball-point pen on paper, 20 x 40 in. / 60 x 101.6 cm. *This print was etched in six gorgeous inks, each in an edition of ten: take your pick of color!* Oldenburg had an interest in imaginary monuments: he famously conceptualized works such as “Ball”, an unbuilt monument conceived of in 1967 which imagined two ballcocks – the round mechanism in a toilet tank...
Category

1970s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Etching

Modern figurative prints for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Modern figurative prints 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 figurative prints created in this style to introduce contrast in an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include elements of orange, yellow, blue, purple and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Thomas Holloway, Mino Maccari, Franco Gentilini, and Paul Gavarni. Frequently made by artists working with Lithograph, and Etching and other materials, all of these pieces for sale are unique and have attracted attention over the years. Not every interior allows for large Modern figurative prints, so small editions measuring 0.04 inches across are also available. Prices for figurative prints 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 $11 and tops out at $220,000, while the average work sells for $250.

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