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Modern Art

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
Antique American Modernist Framed Interior Scene Still Life Coffee Oil Painting
Antique American Modernist Framed Interior Scene Still Life Coffee Oil Painting

Antique American Modernist Framed Interior Scene Still Life Coffee Oil Painting

Located in Buffalo, NY

Antique American modernist still life oil painting. Oil on canvas. Framed. Measuring: 28 by 34 inches overall. In excellent original condition. Handsomely framed in a modern wood ...

Category

1920s Modern Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Modernist Still Life With Bowls Bottles And Fruit French Gouache Painting
Modernist Still Life With Bowls Bottles And Fruit French Gouache Painting

Modernist Still Life With Bowls Bottles And Fruit French Gouache Painting

By Guy Nicod

Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire

Title: Modernist Still Life With Bowls Bottles And Fruit French Gouache Painting Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 14 x 20.5 inches (height x wi...

Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Art

Materials

Gouache

'Scottsdale Home' Arizona (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
'Scottsdale Home' Arizona (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)

'Scottsdale Home' Arizona (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)

By Slim Aarons

Located in London, GB

'Scottsdale Home' Guests by the pool at the home of Wayne Beal in Scottsdale, Arizona, January 1973. Guests relax around the beautiful turquoise waters of the swimming pool of Wayn...

Category

1970s Modern Art

Materials

Archival Pigment

Chapel and houses along a lake, New England Landscape - American School, 19th C
Chapel and houses along a lake, New England Landscape - American School, 19th C

Chapel and houses along a lake, New England Landscape - American School, 19th C

Located in Middletown, NY

Watercolor and pencil on buff wove watercolor paper, 10 x 8 inches (255 x 203 mm). In good condition with overall minor toning. Some watercolor paint splatters on the verso, contem...

Category

Early 1900s Modern Art

Materials

Watercolor, Pencil

Monolithic
Monolithic

Monolithic

By Michael Di Cerbo

Located in New York, NY

The lithograph titled “Monolithic” was created in 1999 in an edition of 40 and published by Marvin Bolotsky. This impression is inscribed “39/40”. The paper size is 15.25 x 141.75 i...

Category

1990s Modern Art

Materials

Lithograph

Calder, Sans titre, Derrière le miroir (after)
Calder, Sans titre, Derrière le miroir (after)

Calder, Sans titre, Derrière le miroir (after)

By Alexander Calder

Located in Southampton, NY

Lithograph on vélin paper. Inscription: Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Good condition, with centerfold, as issued. Notes: From Derrière le miroir, N° 190, published by Aimé Maeg...

Category

1970s Modern Art

Materials

Lithograph

Carnaval

Carnaval

By Pablo Picasso

Located in OPOLE, PL

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) - Carnaval Linocut from 1967. The edition of 137/160 on Arches paper. Dimensions of work: 75 x 62 cm. Hand signed. Publisher: Le Patriote, Nice. Refer...

Category

1960s Modern Art

Materials

Linocut

Still Life on a Table - Oil Painting on Canvas - 20th Century
Still Life on a Table - Oil Painting on Canvas - 20th Century

Still Life on a Table - Oil Painting on Canvas - 20th Century

Located in Roma, IT

Still Life on a Table is an original oil painting on canvas realized in the 20th Century. Good conditions (the painting has been restored in some parts). Frame included (83x108 cm).

Category

20th Century Modern Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Cadaqués Harbor Oil Painting, Mediterranean Coastal Scene, Spanish Realism 1990
Cadaqués Harbor Oil Painting, Mediterranean Coastal Scene, Spanish Realism 1990

Cadaqués Harbor Oil Painting, Mediterranean Coastal Scene, Spanish Realism 1990

By Josep Maria Vayreda Canadell

Located in Sitges, Barcelona

Medium: Oil on canvas Date: c.1990 Canvas size: 41 × 33 cm 16.15 × 13 inches Frame size: 54 × 46 cm 21.25 × 18.11 inches Signed lower right Frame included Condition: Very good con...

Category

1990s Modern Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Alas Tres, Acto Uno, Series. Male Nude  Black and White Photograph
Alas Tres, Acto Uno, Series. Male Nude  Black and White Photograph

Alas Tres, Acto Uno, Series. Male Nude Black and White Photograph

By Ricky Cohete

Located in Miami Beach, FL

Cohete's ritual with movement and the male dancer formations, inhabits his black and white theater-like habitat. Like light; always in motion. The harsh lights and shadows in the wa...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Modern Art

Materials

Black and White, Pigment, Archival Pigment

Abstract Floral Still Life, 20th Century Cleveland School Artist
Abstract Floral Still Life, 20th Century Cleveland School Artist

Abstract Floral Still Life, 20th Century Cleveland School Artist

By August Biehle

Located in Beachwood, OH

August Frederick Biehle (American, 1885-1979) Abstract Floral Still Life Watercolor and pencil on paper Signed lower right 24 x 19 inches 29.5 x 24.5 inches, framed A versatile pain...

Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Art

Materials

Watercolor, Pencil

Le Cheval et l'Âne (The Horse and the Donkey)
Le Cheval et l'Âne (The Horse and the Donkey)

Le Cheval et l'Âne (The Horse and the Donkey)

By Marc Chagall

Located in OPOLE, PL

Marc Chagall (1887-1985) - Le Cheval et l'Âne (The Horse and the Donkey) Etching from 1952. Edition 81 of 85. Enhanced with watercolour by the artist. Dimensions of work: 39 x 30...

Category

1950s Modern Art

Materials

Etching

Still Life — Mid-century Modern
Still Life — Mid-century Modern

Still Life — Mid-century Modern

By Charles Quest

Located in Myrtle Beach, SC

Charles Quest, 'Still Life', 1947, wood engraving, edition 8. Signed, dated, and numbered '3/8' in pencil. Titled and annotated 'wood engraving' in the bottom left margin. A fine impression, on off-white wove paper, with full margins (1 to 2 inches), in excellent condition. Scarce. Matted to museum standards, unframed. ABOUT THE ARTIST Charles Quest, painter, printmaker, and fine art instructor, worked in various mediums, including mosaic, stained glass, mural painting, and sculpture. Quest grew up in St. Louis, his talent evident as a teenager when he began copying the works of masters such as Michelangelo on his bedroom walls. He studied at the Washington University School of Fine Arts, where he later taught from 1944 to 1971. He traveled to Europe after his graduation in 1929 and studied at La Grande Chaumière and Academie Colarossi, Paris, continuing to draw inspiration from the works of the Old Masters. After returning to St. Louis, Quest received several commissions to paint murals in public buildings, schools, and churches, including one from Joseph Cardinal Ritter, to paint a replica of Velasquez's Crucifixion over the main altar of the Old Cathedral in St. Louis. Quest soon became interested in the woodcut medium, which he learned through his study of J. J. Lankes' A Woodcut Manual (1932) and Paul Landacre's articles in American Artist magazine ‘since no artists in St. Louis were working in wood’ at that time. Quest also revealed that for him, wood cutting and engraving were ‘more enjoyable than any other means of expression.’ In the late 1940s, his graphic works began attracting critical attention—several of his woodcuts won prizes and were acquired by major American and European museums. His wood engraving entitled ‘Lovers’ was included in the American Federation of Art's traveling print exhibition in 1947. Two years later, Quest's two prize-winning prints, ‘Still Life with Grindstone’ and ‘Break Forth into Singing’, were exhibited in major American museums in a traveling show organized by the Philadelphia Print Club. His work was included in the Chicago Art Institute's exhibition, ‘Woodcut Through Six Centuries’, and the print ‘Still Life with Vise’ was purchased by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In 1951 he was invited by artist-Curator Jacob Kainen to exhibit thirty wood engravings and color woodcuts in a one-person show at the Smithsonian's National Museum (now known as the American History Museum). Kainen's press release praised the ‘technical refinement’ of Quest's work: ‘He obtains a great variety of textural effects through the use of the graver, and these dense or transparent grays are set off against whites or blacks to achieve sparkling results. His work has the handsome qualities characteristic of the craftsman and designer.’ At the time of the Smithsonian exhibition, Quest's work was represented by three New York galleries in addition to one in his home town. He had won 38 prizes, and his prints were in the collections of the Library of Congress, the Chicago Art Institute, the Metropolitan Museum, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In cooperation with the Art in Embassies program, his color woodcuts were displayed at the American Embassy in Paris in 1951. Recognition at home came in 1955 with his first solo exhibition in St. Louis. Press coverage of the show heralded the ‘growth of graphic arts toward rivaling painting and sculpture as a major independent medium’. An exhibition of his prints at the Bethesda Art Gallery in 1983 attracted Curator Emeritus Joseph A. Haller, S.J., who began purchasing his work for Georgetown University's collection. In 1990 Georgetown University Library's Special Collections Division was the recipient of a large body of Quest's work, including prints, drawings, paintings, sculpture, stained glass, and his archive of correspondence and professional memorabilia. These extensive holdings, including some 260 of his fine prints, provide a rich opportunity for further study and appreciation of this versatile and not-to-be-forgotten mid-Western American artist...

Category

1940s Modern Art

Materials

Woodcut

Palazzo dell'Angelo
Palazzo dell'Angelo

Palazzo dell'Angelo

By John Taylor Arms

Located in Middletown, NY

Palazzo dell'Angelo 1931 Etching and drypoint on cream-colored, handmade laid paper with deckle edges, 7 1/4 x 6 3/4 inches (185 x 171 mm), edition of 100, full margins. Signed, dated and numbered "Ed. 100" in pencil, lower margin, second state (of three). Printed by Henry Carling, New York. Extremely minor mat tone and some inky residue in the top right corner, all unobtrusive and well outside of image area. An exquisite impression of this intricate image, with astonishing detail, and all the fine lines printing clearly. The image represents the first print which Arms printed on his own handmade paper. Framed handsomely with archival materials and museum grade glass in a wood gilt frame with a flower and garland motif. Illustrated: Dorothy Noyes Arms, Hill Towns and Cities of Northern Italy, p. 180; Anderson, American Etchers Abroad 1880-1930; Eric Denker, Reflections & Undercurrents: Ernest Roth and Printmaking in Venice, 1900-1940, p. 116. [Fletcher 233] Born in 1887 in Washington DC, John Taylor Arms studied at Princeton University, and ultimately earned a degree in architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1912. With the outbreak of W.W.I, Arms served as an officer in the United States Navy, and it was during this time that he turned his focus to printmaking, having published his first etching in 1919. His first subjects were the Brooklyn Bridge, near the Navy Yard, and it was during his wartime travel that Arms created a series of extraordinarily detailed etchings based on Gothic cathedrals and churches he visited in France and Italy. He used what was available to him, namely sewing needles and a magnifying glass, to create the incredibly rich and fine detail that his etchings are known for. Upon his return to New York after the war, Arms enjoyed a successful career as a graphic artist, created a series of etchings of American cities, and published Handbook of Print Making and Print Makers (Macmillan, 1934). He served as President of the Society of American Graphic Artists, and in 1933, was made a full member of the National Academy of Design. In its most modern incarnation, Palazzo dell'Angelo was constructed in or around 1570. The building, which has a rich and storied history, was erected upon the ruins of an earlier structure which predates the Gothic period. Some remnants of the earliest features of the residence were most certainly still visible when Arms visited, as they are today. Having a background in architecture, there's no question that Arms was moved by the beauty, history and ingenuity represented in the physical structure. One thing specifically gives away Arms's passion for the architecture, and that is the fact that he focused on the building's Moorish entranceway, balustrade, and two mullioned windows, and not on the curious Gothic era bas-relief of an angel nestled into the facade of the building, after which the structure is named. The sculpture itself doesn't appear in Arms's composition at all, despite the fact that it is the feature of the building that is most famous in its folklore. Arms instead focuses on the oldest portion of the architecture, even documenting some of the remnants of a fresco, and a funerary stele for the freedman Tito Mestrio Logismo, and his wife Mestria Sperata (visible above the water level, to the left of the door, behind the gondola), which was first described in 1436. Among the many notable bits of history regarding the Palazzo, it has been documented that Tintoretto painted frescos of battle scenes on the facade of the building. The paintings have been lost to time and the elements, but not entirely to history. The empty frame...

Category

1930s Modern Art

Materials

Drypoint, Etching

The Umbrellas, Joint Project for Japan and the U.S.A.
The Umbrellas, Joint Project for Japan and the U.S.A.

The Umbrellas, Joint Project for Japan and the U.S.A.

By Christo

Located in Washington, DC

Artist: Christo Title: The Umbrellas, Joint Project for Japan and the U.S.A. Medium: Offset lithograph in colors on wove paper Date: 1987 Edition: Unnumbered Sheet Size: 36 3/4" x 27...

Category

1990s Modern Art

Materials

Lithograph

Smart Girl
Smart Girl

Smart Girl

Located in Zofingen, AG

Pink flower power acrylic painting with heart and childlike face Acrylic Painting on canvas One of a kind artwork Size: 90 × 100 × 3 cm (unframe...

Category

2010s Modern Art

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Studio Flowers, Dahlia, Clematis and Salvia, original painting, flowers
Studio Flowers, Dahlia, Clematis and Salvia, original painting, flowers

Studio Flowers, Dahlia, Clematis and Salvia, original painting, flowers

Located in Deddington, GB

An original still life from my Studio Flower series. A mixture of seasonal flowers in a decorated bowl, created in Oxfordshire. Each flower is hand crafted from Japanese paper and th...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Modern Art

Materials

Oil, Board

Modern art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Modern 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, red, orange, purple and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Kevin Westenberg, Stuart Möller, Destro, and Christel Haag. Frequently made by artists working with Paint, and 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 Modern art, so small editions measuring 0.4 inches across are also available. Prices for art 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 $33 and tops out at $390,000, while the average work sells for $1,912.