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Abstract Art

ABSTRACT STYLE

Beginning in the early 20th century, abstract art became a leading style of modernism. Rather than portray the world in a way that represented reality, as had been the dominating style of Western art in the previous centuries, abstract paintings, prints and sculptures are marked by a shift to geometric forms, gestural shapes and experimentation with color to express ideas, subject matter and scenes.

Although abstract art flourished in the early 1900s, propelled by movements like Fauvism and Cubism, it was rooted in the 19th century. In the 1840s, J.M.W. Turner emphasized light and motion for atmospheric paintings in which concrete details were blurred, and Paul Cézanne challenged traditional expectations of perspective in the 1890s.

Some of the earliest abstract artists — Wassily Kandinsky and Hilma af Klint — expanded on these breakthroughs while using vivid colors and forms to channel spiritual concepts. Painter Piet Mondrian, a Dutch pioneer of the art movement, explored geometric abstraction partly owing to his belief in Theosophy, which is grounded in a search for higher spiritual truths and embraces philosophers of the Renaissance period and medieval mystics. Black Square, a daringly simple 1913 work by Russian artist Kazimir Malevich, was a watershed statement on creating art that was free “from the dead weight of the real world,” as he later wrote.

Surrealism in the 1920s, led by artists such as Salvador Dalí, Meret Oppenheim and others, saw painters creating abstract pieces in order to connect to the subconscious. When Abstract Expressionism emerged in New York during the mid-20th century, it similarly centered on the process of creation, in which Helen Frankenthaler’s expressive “soak-stain” technique, Jackson Pollock’s drips of paint, and Mark Rothko’s planes of color were a radical new type of abstraction.

Conceptual art, Pop art, Hard-Edge painting and many other movements offered fresh approaches to abstraction that continued into the 21st century, with major contemporary artists now exploring it, including Anish Kapoor, Mark Bradford, El Anatsui and Julie Mehretu.

Find original abstract paintings, sculptures, prints and other art on 1stDibs.

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Period: 20th Century
Style: Abstract
Exhibition Poster
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Original Ellsworth Kelly exhibition poster, 1964. Gallerie Maeght. 26 x 20 inches. Lithograph on paper. Gentle creasing lower left....
Category

Mid-20th Century Abstract Art

Materials

Lithograph

Antique American Architectural Rare Abstract Expressionist Mid Century Modern
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist abstract street scene oil painting. Oil on board. Framed. Image size, 12L x 7H.
Category

1940s Abstract Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

'Dreamscape', Bolivia, Brazil, California, Sao Paulo Biennale, UNESCO
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Signed lower right, 'Mario Cespedes' (Bolivian-American, born 1942) and created circa 1985. Matted dimensions: 24 H x 18 W x .25 D inches. Born in Bolivia, Mario Cespedes immigrated...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Gold Leaf

Cover for Derriere Le Miroir - Original Lithograph by Antoni Tapies - 1968
Located in Roma, IT
Cover for Derrière Le Miroir is an original lithograph realized by Antoni Tapies for the Art Magazine Derrière le Miroir no. 175, in 1968. Printed by Ateliers de Maeght, Paris, 19...
Category

1960s Abstract Art

Materials

Paper, Lithograph

Large Scale Antique American Abstract Expressionist Signed Original Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist abstract oil painting. Oil on canvas. Signed.
Category

1950s Abstract Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

'Large Abstract', San Francisco Bay Area, North Beach, Beat, Beatnik, Big Sur
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Signed lower right, 'K. Sanzenbach' for Keith Sanzenbach (American, 1931-1964) and dated 1956. Additionally signed, verso, and with the artist's Lagunitas, California address. The ...
Category

1950s Abstract Art

Materials

Masonite, Oil, Gouache

Elizabeth (Seated Figure with Cat)
Located in New York, NY
EX COLL.: the artist; to I. David Orr (1904–1997), Long Island, New York; to his estate, 1997 until the present Originally trained as a figurative painter, Kline was an exceptional ...
Category

Mid-20th Century Abstract Art

Materials

Paper, Pastel, Ink

Systema Solar, Large Abstract Painting by Leonardo Nierman
Located in Long Island City, NY
Large early oil painting by noted Mexican abstract artist Leonardo Nierman (1932 - ), signed lower right. Systema Solar Leonardo Nierman, Me...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Masonite, Oil

White Landscape, Abstract Expressionist Collage by Keith Morrow Martin 1959
Located in Long Island City, NY
An abstract collage on wood by Kenneth Morrow Martin, American (1911-1983). Exhibited: 1st Knoxville Art Center National Exhibtion, 1961 White Landscape by Keith Morrow Martin...
Category

1950s Abstract Art

Materials

Masonite, Varnish, Magazine Paper

The yellow clown circus
Located in Paris, FR
Lithograph, 1967 Handsigned by the artist in pencil and numbered 45/150 Publisher : Galerie Berggruen (Paris) Catalog : [Mourlot 443] 77.00 cm. x 59.00 cm. 30.31 in. x 23.23 in. (pa...
Category

1960s Abstract Art

Materials

Lithograph

Large Abstract Expressionist Lithograph by Louisa Chase
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Louisa Chase, American (1951 - 2016) Title: Untitled (Spooks) Year: 1987 Medium: Lithograph, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 30 Paper Size: 30 x 44.5 Inches (76.2 x 1...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Lithograph

Abstract expressionist blue, black & green mid-century geometric painting
Located in Beachwood, OH
Richard Andres (American, 1927-2013) Untitled, c. 1949 oil on canvas 18 x 32 inches Richard Andres was born in Buffalo, New York in 1927. A graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Art in 1950, he was immediately drafted and served for two years in the army as a mural painter. He received his Master of Arts from Kent State in 1961. A frequent exhibitor at galleries and museums and winner of multiple May Show prizes, Andres taught art in the Cleveland Public Schools for 28 years, as well as teaching the University of Buffalo, the Cleveland Institute of Art and the Western Reserve University. Very little in Richard Andres’ childhood would have predicted his love of classical music, mid-century-modern architecture and certainly not his lifelong passion for art and in particular abstract art. Richard’s father, Raymond, had no more than a third-grade education, and his mother, Clara, was one of thirteen children – only three of whom lived into adulthood and none of whom attended high school. They lived, when Richard was a boy, in a dingy area of Buffalo, NY in a walk-up apartment situated above a tavern. Raymond and Clara supplemented the income from their factory jobs in the bar downstairs with Raymond playing ragtime on the piano and Clara serving drinks. This often left Richard and his two older brothers at home alone to fend for themselves. The two older boys, Raymond and Russell, were - unlike Richard- rather rough and tumble and entertained themselves with stickball, boxing and the like. Richard, on the other hand, from a very young age liked to draw, or better yet even, to paint with the small set of watercolors he received for Christmas one year. Paper, however, at the height of the depression, was hard to come by. Luckily, Clara used paper doilies as decoration for the apartment and Richard would contentedly paint and then cut up doilies, gluing the pieces together to create collages. At eight-years-old, he discovered the Albright-Knox Museum (then known as the Albright Art Gallery) and spent several hours a week there studying the paintings. He was particularly fond of Charles Burchfield‘s landscapes, enamored with their ‘messiness’ and thinking that they somehow captured more ‘feeling’ than works he was previously familiar with. For his tenth Christmas, he asked for and received a ‘how-to’ paint book by Elliot O’Hare. Through this self-teaching, he assembled the portfolio needed for acceptance to Buffalo Technical High School where he studied Advertising Arts. In his Junior year, he was encouraged to enter a watercolor painting, “Two Barns,” in the national 1944-45 Ingersoll Art Award Contest and was one of twelve grand prize winners – each one winning one hundred dollars. More importantly the painting was exhibited at the Carnegie Institute Galleries, which resulted in his winning a national scholarship to the Cleveland School of Art (The Cleveland Art Institute). He flourished at the art school under the tutelage of faculty members such as Carl Gaertner, as well as that of visiting artists such as William Sommer and Henry George Keller. He would say in later years that Gaertner, in particular, influenced his attitude toward life as well as art. “Gaertner,” Andres said, “believed that there was no need to be a ‘tortured artist’, that an artist should rather enjoy beauty, family, and life in general.” Free to spend his days as he chose, he wandered the Cleveland Art Museum for most of the hours he was not attending classes or painting; the remaining time was spent drinking coffee at a local hangout with art school friends – which is where he met fellow Henry Keller scholarship winner, Avis Johnson. Richard was immediately smitten with Avis, but being rather shy, it took him the entire summer of 1948 to build up his courage to ask her out. Over that summer he ‘thought about Avis’ and worked in a diner to save money. He also used the hundred-dollar prize money won in High School to visit the first Max Beckmann retrospective in the United States at the City Art Museum in St. Louis. Over a half century later he spoke of that exhibit with a reverence usually reserved for spiritual matters, “I walked in and it was like nothing I had ever seen before... the color...It just glowed.” Returning to campus in the Fall, the first thing he did was go to the coffee shop in hopes of finding Avis. He did, and she, upon seeing him, realized that she was also smitten with him. They quickly became known as ‘the couple’ on campus, and a year later, with Richard being drafted for the Korean war, they were quickly married by a Justice of the Peace, celebrating after with family at Avis’s Cleveland home. As a gift, faculty member John Paul Miller designed and made the simple gold wedding ring Avis wore for their 65 years of marriage. During those 65 years neither wavered in their mutual love, nor in the respect they shared for one another’s art. The couple lived in a converted chicken coop in Missouri while Richard was in boot camp. At the camp, he would volunteer for any job offered and one of those jobs ended up being painting road signs. His commander noticed how quickly and neatly he worked and gave him more painting work to do - eventually recommending him for a position painting murals for Army offices in Panama. Until her dying day, Avis remained angry that “The army got to keep those fabulous murals and they probably didn’t even know how wonderful they were.” In Panama, their first son, Mark, was born. After Richard’s discharge in 1953, they moved back to the Cleveland area and used the GI bill to attend Kent State gaining his BA in education. The small family then moved briefly to Buffalo, where Richard taught at the Albright Art School and the University of Buffalo – and their second son, Peter, was born. Richard had exhibited work in the Cleveland May Show and the Butler Art Museum during his art school years, and during the years in Buffalo, his work was exhibited at the gallery he had so loved as a child, the Albright Art Gallery. In 1956, the family moved back to the Cleveland area and Richard began teaching art at Lincoln West High School during the day while working toward his MA in art at Kent State in the evenings. Avis and Richard, with the help of an architect, designed their first home - a saltbox style house in Hudson, Ohio, and in 1958, their third son, Max (after Max Beckmann) was born. Richard enjoyed the consistency of teaching high school as well as the time it gave him to paint on the weekends and during the summer months. In 1961, he received his MA and his daughter, Claire, was born. With a fourth child, the house was much too small, and Avis and Richard began designing their second home. An admirer of MCM architecture, Richard’s favorite example of the style was the Farnsworth house – he often spoke of how the concepts behind this architectural style, particularly that of Mies van der Rohe, influenced his painting. Andres described himself as a 1950’s...
Category

1940s Abstract Art

Materials

Oil

Abstract Landscape India Rajasthan Light Natural Mustard Earth Blue Yellow
Located in Norfolk, GB
There is a natural and raw understanding in Mukesh Sharma’s prints that depict, and are influenced by, the Rajastani communities of his home town in rura...
Category

1990s Abstract Art

Materials

Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Linocut

Pink Abstract Lithograph by Sybil Kleinrock
Located in Long Island City, NY
Sybil Kleinrock’s work straddles the borders between expressionism and surrealism. Colorful and soft pastels play together to suggest a composition that can be interpreted as both a ...
Category

1970s Abstract Art

Materials

Lithograph

Ellsworth Kelly: Ferus Gallery (Gate) Poster /// Abstract Geometric Minimalism
Located in Saint Augustine, FL
Artist: (after) Ellsworth Kelly (American, 1923-2015) Title: "Ellsworth Kelly: Ferus Gallery (Gate)" Year: 1966 Medium: Original Lithograph, Exhibition Poster on cream wove paper Lim...
Category

1960s Abstract Art

Materials

Lithograph

Signe paysage II
Located in Columbia, MO
Lithograph Ed. EA Biography Olivier Debré is a French abstract painter born in Paris in 1920. He is one of the main representatives of lyrical abstraction, along with Hans Hartung, P...
Category

1990s Abstract Art

Materials

Lithograph

'Village in Provence', Large French Geometric Abstract Oil, Palo Alto Gallery
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Signed lower right 'S. Aron' (French, 20th century) and dated 1970; additionally signed, verso, on canvas with old label verso. Provenance: Los Robles Gallery, Palo Alto, California.
Category

1970s Abstract Art

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

"Crossed Arms" Mid Century Abstract Expressionist NYC Female Artist
Located in Arp, TX
Sylvia Rutkoff (1919-2011) Sr5-1 c.1960s “Crossed Arms” Acrylic on Masonite 36x42 period frame Unsigned Collection acquired from family estate
Category

Mid-20th Century Abstract Art

Materials

Masonite, Oil

The Martinets
Located in Paris, FR
Lithograph, 1959 Handsigned by the artist in pencil and numbered 234/275 Publisher : Maeght (Paris) Catalog : [Maeght 1036] 20.00 cm. x 30.50 cm. 7.87 in. x 12.01 in. (paper) 10.00 ...
Category

1950s Abstract Art

Materials

Lithograph

Blue n.18 - Acrylic by Gastone Biggi - 1974
Located in Roma, IT
Blue n.18 is an original contemporary artwork realized by Gastone Biggi in 1974. Mixed colored acrylic painting on canvas Hand signed, titled and dated...
Category

1970s Abstract Art

Materials

Acrylic

The Night - Etching by Jean Fautrier - Mid-20th Century
Located in Roma, IT
The Night is original etching realized by Jean Fautrier. Hand-signed on the lower right in pencil. Numbered on the lower left, edition of 22/50 prints. This formidable print repre...
Category

Mid-20th Century Abstract Art

Materials

Etching

Abstract Expressionist Painting American Late 1960's Mid Century New York Brown
Located in Buffalo, NY
Mid Century Modern, American Abstract Expressionist Painting on Masonite. This wonderful work in hues of blue comes house in a contemporary natural wood frame presentation.. The ar...
Category

1960s Abstract Art

Materials

Masonite, Acrylic

A young girl's dream
Located in Paris, FR
Lithograph, 1972 Handsigned by the artist in pencil and numbered 243/300 Publisher : Galerie Putman Printer : Clot, Bramsen & Georges (Paris) Catalog : [Chenivesse n°9] 48.00 cm. x 6...
Category

1970s Abstract Art

Materials

Lithograph

Vintage Mid Century Modern Geometric Abstract Oil Painting - Modernist Mosaic
Located in Bristol, GB
MODERNIST MOSAIC Size: 35.5 x 43.5 cm (including frame) Oil on board An excellent and striking mid-century modernist style geometric abstract composition thats celebrates form and c...
Category

Mid-20th Century Abstract Art

Materials

Oil, Board

Spanish Post Modern Abstract Aquatint Color Etching Antoni Tapies
Located in Surfside, FL
Antoni Tapies (Spanish, 1923-2012) Color Etching, aquatint and polychrome carborundum print Estisores-2, c. 1979 Hand signed and numbered 31/75 in pencil in the lower margin, publi...
Category

1970s Abstract Art

Materials

Etching, Aquatint

French Expressionist Abstract Original Painting Artists Studio Provenance
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Abstract Expressionist Composition by Jacques COULAIS (1955-2011) gouache painting on paper/ card unframed: 10.75 x 8.5 inches condition: excellent provenance: all the paintings we h...
Category

Mid-20th Century Abstract Art

Materials

Oil

Lithographier Originale (Les Peintures Sur Carton) (Abstract, Fun, Gestural)
Located in Kansas City, MO
Joan Miro Lithographier Originale (Les Peintures Sur Carton De Miro) Original Color Lithograph Year: 1965 Size: 14.5x10.5in Edition: 1,500 Portfolio: DLM 151-152 Publisher: Maeght ...
Category

1960s Abstract Art

Materials

Lithograph

Mid Century Abstracted Figurative -- Downtown Couple Art Exhibit
Located in Soquel, CA
Vibrant mid century modern abstracted figurative in orange, red and black by Bay Area artist Paul Sheppard. Dated 1959 and signed "Sheppard." Presented i...
Category

1950s Abstract Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Tree and Mountain Landscape, Abstract Lithograph by Hoi Lebadang
Located in Long Island City, NY
Lebadang (aka Hoi), Vietnamese (1922 - 2015) - Tree and Mountain Landscape. Medium: Lithograph, signed and numbered in pencil, Edition: EA, Image Size: 23 x 16.5 inches, Size: 24 x ...
Category

1970s Abstract Art

Materials

Lithograph

Sin título
Located in BARCELONA, ES
Author: Keith Haring. Title: Untitled. Year:1970 Technique: lithography. Issue: 140/150 Sizes: 70 x 50 cm. Stamped by the Keith Haring Foundation.
Category

1970s Abstract Art

Materials

Lithograph

Round Dance - Etching by Marino Marini - 1963
Located in Roma, IT
Round Dance is an original etching contemporary artwork realized by Marino Marini in 1963. Good conditions. Edition of 100 copies. The artwork is depicted in a well-balanced compo...
Category

1960s Abstract Art

Materials

Etching

American School Modernist Large Abstract Expressionist Original Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist signed abstract oil painting. Oil on canvas. Signed. Framed. Image size, 36L x 36H.
Category

1970s Abstract Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Composition with Semi-Circles
Located in Greenwich, CT
Sonia Delaunay 1885–1979 Composition with Semicircles 1970 etching and aquatint in colors on Arches signed in pencil l.r. and numbered also in pencil 8/125 l.l. image: 19½ h × 15½...
Category

1970s Abstract Art

Materials

Etching, Aquatint

Vintage American Pop Art Abstract Modernist Mid Century Framed Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist abstract oil painting. Oil on canvas. Framed.
Category

1960s Abstract Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

No title
By Constant (Constant Anton Nieuwenhuijs)
Located in Paris, FR
Lithograph, 1953 Handsigned by the artist in pencil and numbered 27/100 Printer : Jean Pons (Paris) LCD5351
Category

1950s Abstract Art

Materials

Lithograph

1970 Signed Limited Edition Large Screen Print VI
Located in Rochester Hills, MI
Artist: Jimmy Ernst  Title: Plate VI Year: 1970 Print: Screen Print on Heavy Paper 28'' x 37'' inches Edition: Signed in pencil and numbered 58 /125 Jimmy Ernst’s artwork was inf...
Category

1970s Abstract Art

Materials

Screen

Untitled - Lithograph by Sam Francis - 1986
Located in Roma, IT
Untitled is an original contemporary artwork realized by Sam Francis in 1986 Lithograph on BFK Rives. Hand signed on the lower right margin. Numbered on the lower left margin. Edition of 23/55. Dryp stamp of the Editor The Litho Shops Inc Santa Monica. George Page...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Lithograph

Abstract Photograph Post USSR Russian Avant Garde Solarized Photo Non Conformist
By Valentin Samarine
Located in Surfside, FL
Valentin Samarine started doing abstract painting in the 60s, and abstract photography in the 70s. He moved fairly easily from one to the other. It is in a perfectly logical sense: ...
Category

20th Century Abstract Art

Materials

Photographic Paper

5745, for the Jewish Museum original signed/n abstract expressionist screenprint
Located in New York, NY
Nancy Graves 5745, for the Jewish Museum, 1984 Silkscreen on paper Signed, numbered 5/90 and dated in graphite pencil on the front; bears publishers' blind stamp front left corner 30 1/4 × 40 1/2 inches Unframed Commissioned by the Mr. and Mrs. Albert A. List Graphic Fund for The Jewish Museum, New York Signed, numbered and dated in graphite pencil on the front; bears publishers' blind stamp front left corner. Commissioned by the Mr. and Mrs. Albert A. List New Year's Graphic Fund for The Jewish Museum, New York. During the 1980s, various artists were commissioned to create a print celebrating the Jewish New Year. This is the silkscreen renowned sculptor Nancy Graves created to celebrate the year 5745 of the Jewish Calendar, beginning in September 1984 (Rosh Hashanah). This work was published in a limited edition of 90. The number 90 has special significance in Jewish gamatria (numerology) for several reasons, including the fact that it equals five times life - or Chai. The number for Chai, meaning "Life " s 18, and 18 x 5 = 90. This is a magical number in Judaism. All of the works were published in editions that were multiples of 18, or the Life. In her lifetime, Nancy Graves did not receive the renown or acknowledgement that her ex-husband and former Yale School of Art classmate Richard Serra did, but she is finally getting the recognition she richly deserves. Biography: Nancy Graves (1939 – 1995) is an American artist of international renown. A prolific cross-disciplinary artist, Graves developed a sustained body of sculptures, paintings, drawings, watercolors, and prints. She also produced five avant-garde films and created innovative set designs. Born in Pittsfield Massachusetts, Graves graduated from Vassar College in 1961. She then earned an MFA in painting at Yale University in 1964, where her classmates included Robert Mangold, Rackstraw Downes, Brice Marden, Chuck Close, as well as Richard Serra with whom she was married from 1964 to 1970. Five years after graduating, her career was launched in 1969 when she was the youngest artist — and only the fifth woman — to be selected for a solo presentation at the Whitney Museum of Art. Graves’ work was subsequently featured in hundreds of museum and gallery exhibitions worldwide, including several solo museum exhibitions. She was awarded commissions for large-scale site-specific sculptures and her work is in the permanent collections of major art museums. A frequent lecturer and guest artist, her work was widely documented during her lifetime. In 1991 she married veterinarian Dr. Avery Smith. Graves travelled extensively and was fully engaged with the cultural and intellectual issues of her times. Her brilliant career and life were cut short by her untimely death from cancer at age 54. From a point of view that she described as “objective,” Graves transformed scientific sources, such as maps and diagrams, into artworks by re-producing their complex visual information in detailed paintings and drawings. Investigating the intersections between art and scientific disciplines, Graves created compelling, formally rigorous, yet ultimately expressive works of art that examine concepts of repetition, variation, verisimilitude, and the presentation and perception of visual information. Based in SoHo, New York, Graves gained prominence in the late 1960s as a post-Minimalist artist for innovative camel, fossil, totem, and bone sculptures that were hand formed and assembled from unusual materials such as fur, burlap, canvas, plaster, latex, wax, steel, fiberglass and wood. Made in reaction to Pop and Minimalism, these works reference archaeological sites, anthropology, and natural science displays. Suspended from the ceiling or clustered directly on the floor, these early sculptures also engage with Conceptualist ideas of display. For her Whitney Museum presentation Graves exhibited three seemingly realistic sculptures of camels in an installation that evoked taxidermy specimens and questioned issues of verisimilitude in art and science, particularly in light of their hand patched and painted fur surfaces. The exhibition elicited wide spread critical responses and established her artistic significance. After intensely engaging with sculpture in the early 1970s, Graves returned to painting. Her detailed pointillist canvasses re-produced — in paint — images culled from documentary nature photographs, NASA satellite recordings, and Lunar maps, commingling scientific exactitude with abstraction. Resuming sculpture in the late 1970s, Graves was among the first contemporary artists to experiment with bronze casting. She re-invigorated the traditional lost wax technique by assembling cast found objects into unique improbably balanced sculptures, with bright polychrome surfaces and distinctive patinas. Throughout the 1980s Graves became widely recognized for her increasingly large and graceful open-form sculpture commissions. At the same time, she also expanded her drawing, painting, and printmaking practice and made large gestural watercolors. Then, in the late 1980s she created wall-mounted works that combined her explorations of sculpture, painting, form and color. In these large-scale pieces, she mounted high relief polychrome sculptural elements to the surfaces and edges of painted shaped canvases so that patterned shadows were cast onto the paintings and surrounding wall. By the 1990s Graves was casting in glass, resin, paper, aluminum, and bronze, combining these varied materials and colors into daring sculptures with moving parts. As she proceeded in all the media she mastered, Graves increasingly re interpreted and transmuted forms sourced from her own earlier artwork — rather than from outside research — creating elaborate compositions that form a layered a-temporal archaeology of her own visual production. Nancy Graves’ pioneering art...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Graphite, Screen

Abstract 20th Century French still life with figs, lemons and a vase of flowers
Located in Petworth, West Sussex
Maurice Potier (French, 1926 – 2002) Oranges, figs, lemons and a vase of flowers Oil on canvas Signed ‘M Potier’ (lower right), Further signed and dated Maurice Potier / 1994. 27.3/8...
Category

Late 20th Century Abstract Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

1960s "House with Yellow Windows" Encaustic Oil Paint Abstract NYC Artist
Located in Arp, TX
Martin Rosenthal "House with Yellow Windows" c. 1960s Encaustic & Oil paint on paper 20"x13" unframed Signed and dated in ink lower left Martin Rosent...
Category

Mid-20th Century Abstract Art

Materials

Paper, Encaustic, Oil

Bianchi e Neri II (Acetates) - Plate A - By Alberto Burri - 1969
Located in Roma, IT
Bianchi e Neri II (Acetates) - Plate A  is a wonderful Contemporary artwork realized by Alberto Burri in 1969. Hand-signed in pencil on the lower right margin. Hand-numbered in pen...
Category

1960s Abstract Art

Materials

Mixed Media

Vintage Abstract Expressionist Ibram Lassaw Modernist Bronze Sculpture Pendant
Located in Surfside, FL
IBRAM LASSAW (Russian-American, 1913-2003), Sculptural pendant Gold plated bronze Signed verso Measurements: 2-7/8''h, 2-1/4''w. Ibram Lassaw was born in Alexandria, Egypt, of Russian Jewish émigré parents. After briefly living in Marseille, France, Naples, Italy Tunis, Malta, and Constantinople, Turkey his family settled in Brooklyn, New York, in 1921.His family settled in Brooklyn, New York. He became a US citizen in 1928. Ibram Lassaw, one of America's first abstract sculptors, was best known for his open-space welded sculptures of bronze, silver, copper and steel. Drawing from Surrealism, Constructivism, and Cubism, Lassaw pioneered an innovative welding technique that allowed him to create dynamic, intricate, and expressive works in three dimensions. As a result, he was a key force in shaping New York School sculpture.He first studied sculpture in 1926 at the Clay Club and later at the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design in New York. He made abstract paintings and drawings influenced by Kandinsky, Sophie Taeuber Arp, and other artists. He also attended the City College of New York. Lassaw’s encounter with avant-garde art in the International Exhibition of Modern Art (1926), organized by the Société Anonyme at the Brooklyn Museum, made a powerful impression on him. In the early 1930s he explored new materials and notions of open-space sculpture. The ideas of László Moholy-Nagy and Buckminster Fuller were important to him, and he knew the work of Julio González, Pablo Picasso, and the Russian Constructivists. After experimenting with plaster, rubber and wire, Lassaw began working with steel, which became a frequent medium for the artist, along with other metals. His work reflects the influence of Surrealist artists such as Alberto Giacometti and Joan Miro as well as American Modernist Alexander Calder.A pioneer of abstract sculpture in the United States, in 1936 Lassaw was a founding member of the organization American Abstract Artists. Between 1933 and 1942 he worked for various federal arts projects: the Public Works of Art Project, Civil Works Authority, and WPA, the Works Progress Administration Federal Art Project. In 1938 he produced his first welded work. He served with the U.S. Army, where he learned direct welding techniques. During the 1940s he experimented with cage constructions and with acrylic plastics, adding color to his sculptures by applying dye directly to their surfaces. In 1949 Lassaw was a founder of the Club, an informal discussion group of avant-garde artists that had developed from gatherings at his studio, on Eighth Street. During the mid-1930s, Lassaw worked briefly for the Public Works of Art Project cleaning sculptural monuments around New York City. He subsequently joined the WPA as a teacher and sculptor until he was drafted into the army in 1942. Lassaw's contribution to the advancement of sculptural abstraction went beyond mere formal innovation; his promotion of modernist styles during the 1930s did much to insure the growth of abstract art in the United States. He was one of the founding members of the American Abstract Artists group, and served as president of the American Abstract Artists organization from 1946 to 1949. In 1951, Samuel Kootz invited Lassaw to join his gallery in New York. He also had a summer gallery in Provincetown, MA. Lassaw had been summering in Provincetown since 1944, and in 1951 rented an apartment next door to the Kootz Gallery. Among the artists in the Kootz Gallery were Jean Arp, William Baziotes, Georges Braque, Jean Dubuffet, Herbert Ferber, Arshile Gorky, Adolph Gottlieb, David Hare, Hans Hofmann, Fernand Leger, Georges Mathieu, Joan Miró, Robert Motherwell, Pablo Picasso, Pierre Soulages, and Maurice de Vlaminck. Lassaw is a sculptor who was a part of the New York School of Abstract expressionism during the 1940s and 1950s. Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, James Brooks, Willem de Kooning, and several other artists like Lassaw spent summers on the Southern Shore of Long Island. Lassaw spent summers on Long Island from 1955 until he moved there permanently in 1963. SELECT EXHIBITIONS 1961 International Exhibition of Modern Jewelry 1890–1961, organized by the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths in association with the Victoria and Albert Museum, London 1967 Exhibition of Jewelry by Painters and Sculptors, organized for circulation by MoMA 1973 Jewelry...
Category

Mid-20th Century Abstract Art

Materials

Gold, Bronze

Joan Miro
Located in Washington, DC
Artist: Joan Miro Title: Joan Miro Medium: Lithograph in colors Date: 1974 Edition: Unnumbered Frame Size: 15 1/8" x 22 3/4" Sheet Size: 7 7/8" x 15 1/2" Signature: Signed in the pla...
Category

1970s Abstract Art

Materials

Lithograph

Composition Orphique - Lithograph by Sonia Delaunay - 1970
Located in Roma, IT
Color Lithograph on Arches paper realized by Sonia Delaunay in 1972. Hand signed in pencil, dated 72 and numbered 43/90. Prov. Private Collection, Milan. Very good condition.
Category

1970s Abstract Art

Materials

Lithograph

Dynamic Strokes and Vibrant Blue Colors Abstract French 20th Century Painting
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Abstract Expressionist Composition signed by Gilbert Pelissier (French born 1924) dated 68 oil painting on canvas, unframed canvas size: 26 x 36 inches condition: overall very good, ...
Category

Late 20th Century Abstract Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Squeezed Blue Fiddle Signed Limited Edition Screen Print
Located in Rochester Hills, MI
Pierre Fernandez Arman Year: 1978 Squeezed Blue Fiddle Medium Type: Screen print on Arches Paper Size-Width Size-Height: 22'' x 30'' Edition Size: Signed in pencil and marked 121/...
Category

1970s Abstract Art

Materials

Screen

Composition - Original Oil on Cardboard - 1989
Located in Roma, IT
Composition is an original drawing in oil on cardboard realized by an unknown artist in 1989. This Artwork is depicted through strong and confident s...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Oil, Cardboard

Dead Give Away, Screenprint by William Schwedler
Located in Long Island City, NY
This abstract composition by William Schwedler includes several geometric forms and shapes that are placed alongside straight, angled lines. Dead Give Away Artist: William Schwedle...
Category

1970s Abstract Art

Materials

Screen

Huge Antique American Modernist Abstract "Cursive Landscape" Framed Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Impressive early American modernist abstract oil painting by Alton S. Tobey (1914 - 2005). Framed. Oil on board. Signed. Impressive modernist painting by an important and historical artist. The following is written and submitted by Joseph Dolice, Exhibition Director of the New Rochelle Council on the Arts. This information accompanied the exhibition, "Alton Tobey," of the New Rochelle Council on the Arts October 22 to November 14, 2003. Millions of Americans have seen reproductions of the art of Alton Tobey, one of the most famous of today's living illustrators -- in national magazines such as Life, Reader's Digest and American Artist; and in public murals such as at The Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC, the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City; and in Westchester where his Roots of Westchester mural is installed at the White Plains County Courthouse. Few people, however, had had the opportunity to see almost three dozen of his original paintings, including many of his portraits of famous people, at any single time or place before in history. From October 22nd through November 14th, 2003 The New Rochelle Council on The Arts, a major cultural resource for the citizens of New Rochelle and the residents of the surrounding Westchester community will present a special one-man exhibition of thirty-three of Alton Tobey's original paintings, many of which have never been publicly shown before. The show will be held in the 3000 square foot Lumen Winter Gallery in the lobby of The New Rochelle Library, the site of many major exhibitions in the past by the NRCA, such as its show of original artwork of Norman Rockwell and of Frederic Remington. Both of these artists also achieved fame mainly as illustrative painters, and had ties to the community. Alton Tobey was born in Middletown, Connecticut and received his BFA and MFA at the Yale School of Fine Arts and later taught there for four years. He has also taught at the City College of New York and has been juror for many prestigious art competitions. His work is in over 30 museums and in important government, corporate and private art collections. He has had over 50 one-man exhibitions. His work has been published in over a dozen national magazines and books, and he has over three dozen historic murals to his credit. Education: Yale School of Fine Arts, B.F.A. and M.F.A. Taught at: Yale School of Fine Arts; City College, New York City; 92nd St. YM-YWHA, New York City Affiliations: Hudson River Contemporary Artists - President Emeritus; National Society of Mural Painters - President Emeritus; Artists Equity of New York - President Emeritus; Mamaroneck Artists Guild - President Emeritus; International Arts Association - Past Vice-President Memberships: Abraxis; League of Present Day Artists; Fine Arts Federation; American Society of Contemporary Artists; Metropolitan Arts Association Awards: PWA Mural Award, 1939; Westchester Society Merit Award; Edwin Abby Mural Award, 1965; Grumbacher Awards, 1982, 1985; Westchester Council for the Arts, 1987; Lindner Memorial Award, 1992 Murals: Tazewell Museum; Tazewell, VA; 16 Chief Justices; St. Paul, MN; Signing of the Constitution; St. Paul, MN; Roots of Thomasville; Thomasville, GA; Intrepid Sea, Air, Space; New York, NY; Smithsonian Museum (2); Washington, DC; California Bank, Rockefeller Center; NYC; American Bureau of Shipping; NYC; Council on Fitness; Washington, DC; U.S. Post Office; East Hartford, CT; MacArthur Memorial, (6); Norfolk, VA; Falstaff Mural; St. Louis, MO; Three Murals for Saudi Arabia; Jidda, SA; History of Transportation; Hartford, CT; Project 400 (14 Murals); Chadds Ford, PA; Evyan Perfumes/Cheseborough; NYC; Campbell Avenue Library; E. Hartford, CT; Eastchester Town Hall; Eastchester, NY; Liebowitz Family (2); New York, NY; Roots of Westchester County; WhitePlains, NY Publications where featured: Life Magazine; Iconagraphy of Stradivari; American Artist; Readers' Digest; Spotlight; Epic of Man - Life; The Plate Collection Magazine; Birds of Tikai - Museum of Natural History; Men and Power - Western Publishing; The Golden Book of American History (in 12 volumes - 300 paintings by Tobey) August 1, 1961 in Plate Collector magazine (with Tobey featured on the cover): "Tobey Brings Murals to Plates" by Susan Elliott: Winter, 2007 (Vol. 5 Number 20) in Illustration magazine: "The Curvilinear Career of Alton S. Tobey" by John Matuszak. Also in numerous newspaper articles in The New York Times, USA Today, Gannett newspapers, and others. Corporate collections: ABC TV; New York, NY; Charles Pfizer Co.; New York, NY; Readers' Digest; Pleasantville, NY; Ciba-Geigy; Ardsley NY; American Cyanamid; Bound Brook, NJ; General Foods Corp.; White Plains, NY; Evyan Perfumes; New York, NY Portraits: Albert Einstein; Pope John Paul II; Ronald Reagan; Charles Pfizer; Golda Meir; Alexander Calder; Cardinal Cooke; Armstrong, Aldrin, Collins; Robert Merrill; E. Ronald Harriman; Robert Frost; Douglas MacArthur; Alfred DelBello; Robert Merrill; John L. Lewis; Charles Picker; John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy Government & other projects: Newberger Museum; Purchase, NY; Dept. of Commerce; Washington, DC; Amer. Machine/Foundry; White Plains, NY; President's Council on Fitness; Wash., DC; Yonkers Professional Hospital; Yonkers, NY; Iona College; New Rochelle, NY; NYU Law Library; New York, NY; Jewish Community Center; White Plains, NY; Instituto Norteamericano del Arte; Mexico; American Center; Stockholm, Sweden; Amer. Bureau of Shipping; New York, NY; The National Academy; New York, NY; St. Patrick's Cathedral; New York, NY; St. Francis Hospital; Hartford, CT; Elmira College; Elmira, NY; Hofstra University; Long Island, NY; Murray Av. School; Larchmont, NY; Mercy College; Dobbs Ferry, NY Limited editions: Royal Doulton Plates; London, England; Lucien Picard; New York, NY; Scafa Tournabene; West Nyack, NY; Numa, Ltd.; Akron, OH International collections: Copenhagen, Denmark; Minori, Italy; Jerusalem, Israel; Lima, Peru; LaRochelle, France; Stockholm, Sweden; Athens, Greece; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Guatemala City, Guatemala; Mexico City, Mexico; Tepotzian, Mexico Solo Shows: American Center; Stockholm, Sweden Alliance Galleria; Copenhagen, Denmark Mamaroneck Artists' Guild; Larchmont, NY Silvermine Artists Guild; New Canaan, CT Instituto Mexicano Norteamericano; Mexico Galleria Satellite; Mexico City, Mexico Casa de Aquarella, Mexico City, Mexico Jewish Center; New Haven, CT Alice Tully Hall; Lincoln Center, NYC Riverside Museum; New York, NY Westchester Art Society...
Category

1960s Abstract Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Patrouille - Woodcut by Michel Seuphor - 1969
Located in Roma, IT
Hand signed. Artist's proof. Good conditions. Image Dimensions: 16 x 31 cm
Category

1960s Abstract Art

Materials

Woodcut

"CM", Silkscreen with Collage by John Urbain
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: John Urbain, Belgian/American (1920 - 2009) Title: CM Year: circa 1975 Medium: Silkscreen with Collage, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 20 Image Size: 28 x 34 inches S...
Category

1970s Abstract Art

Materials

Screen

Composition - Woodcut by Luigi Spacal - 1970s
Located in Roma, IT
Composition is a contemporary artwork realized by Luigi Spacal (Trieste, 1907 - Trieste, 2000) in the 1970s. Original Colored woodcut print on cardboard. Image Dimensions: 18 x 14 cm Good conditions. Lojze Spacal...
Category

1970s Abstract Art

Materials

Woodcut

Robert Natkin, Intimate Lighting (Pink) Signed Abstract Expressionist silkscreen
Located in New York, NY
Robert Natkin Intimate Lighting, 1974 Silkscreen on Arches paper 27 × 38 inches Pencil signed, dated and numbered from the limited edition of 150 on the front Published by Chromacomp...
Category

1970s Abstract Art

Materials

Screen

Vintage American Modernist Abstract Expressionist Framed Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Nicely painted American school abstract expressionist painting. Oil on canvas. Framed. Signed verso. Measuring 30 by 30 overall and 24 by 24 painting alone.
Category

1960s Abstract Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Tapies, Galerie Maeght original vintage exhibition poster in 1979, Paris, France
Located in Spokane, WA
Original exhibition poster; TAPIES GALERIE MAEGHT Unbacked, fine condition. Antoni Tapies was a Spanish painter, sculptor, and art theorist who became one of his generation's most famous European artists. Tàpies was perhaps the best-known Spanish (Catalan) artist to emerge in the period since the Second World War. An original lithograph exhibition poster by Spanish artist Antonie Tapies (1923-2012) titled "Galerie Maeght Expo 79", 1979. This original exhibition poster was produced for Tapies's exhibition at Galerie Maeght in 1979. Printed and published by Art Adrien Maeght in Paris, France in 1979. Reference: Catalogue Raisonne: Galfetti Ref. 719 - Los carteles de Tapies No.83. Experience art history with this original vintage exhibition poster from the celebrated Antoni Tàpies 1979...
Category

1970s Abstract Art

Materials

Lithograph

Sky Flowers, Signed Lithograph by Ronald Julius Christensen
Located in Long Island City, NY
Sky Flowers by Ronald Julius Christensen, American (1923–1999) Date: 1980 Lithograph, signed and numbered in pencil Edition of 295 Size: 27 in. x 40 in. (68.58 cm x 101.6 cm) Ronald...
Category

1980s Abstract Art

Materials

Lithograph

Joan Miró - MARAVILLAS CON VARIACIONES... Lithograph Contemporary Art Abstract
Located in Madrid, Madrid
Maravillas con variaciones acrósticas en el jardín de Miró IV Date of creation: 1975 Medium: Lithograph on Gvarro paper Edition: 1500 Size: 49,5 x 35,5 cm Condition: In very good con...
Category

1970s Abstract Art

Materials

Lithograph

Abstract art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Abstract art 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 art 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, orange, red and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Sumit Mehndiratta, Giorgio Lo Fermo, Francisco Nicolás, and Dadodu . Frequently made by artists working with Paint, and Synthetic Resin Paint and other materials, all of these pieces for sale are unique and have attracted attention over the years. Not every interior allows for large Abstract art, so small editions measuring 0.02 inches across are also available.

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