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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
Restaurant Hostess. Palm Beach, FL

Restaurant Hostess. Palm Beach, FL

By David Saxe

Located in Hudson, NY

David Saxe - “Photography has always been the simple act of looking and being inspired to strip the unnecessary elements from the scene and frame the image down in a way to discover...

Category

2010s Modern Art

Materials

Archival Pigment

Contemporary American Modernist Nocturnal New York Cityscape Framed Oil Painting
Contemporary American Modernist Nocturnal New York Cityscape Framed Oil Painting

Contemporary American Modernist Nocturnal New York Cityscape Framed Oil Painting

Located in Buffalo, NY

Oil on canvas, 27 x 31 inches overall, 20 x 24 inches image size. A modern urban nocturne depicting the Manhattan Bridge at night, painted with gestural brushwork and a restrained, b...

Category

2010s Modern Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

A Bold 1940s Cubist Mural Study of a Chicago City Scene by Rudolph Weisenborn
A Bold 1940s Cubist Mural Study of a Chicago City Scene by Rudolph Weisenborn

A Bold 1940s Cubist Mural Study of a Chicago City Scene by Rudolph Weisenborn

By Rudolph Weisenborn

Located in Chicago, IL

A bold 1940s graphite on paper WPA era mural study of a Chicago city scene by Rudolph Weisenborn. Artwork size: 12 1/2 x 9 1/4 inches. Archivally matted to 18 x 16 inches, Provenance: Estate of the artist. Rudolph Weisenborn was born in Strassburg, Germany in 1881, but was orphaned at the age of nine. He was taken-in by Mid-Western farmer Thomas Westaby and spent his early years in Wisconsin, Iowa and North Dakota. Weisenborn first attended the University of North Dakota in 1898, then the Students School of Art in Denver. Various accounts have him working out west as a gold miner and cowboy. Around 1912, he settled in Chicago and worked as a window designer for Marshall Field’s. Weisenborn is best known as the founder of the Chicago No-Jury Society of Artists. The group was founded because many artists could not get their work accepted into the mainstream Art Institute shows. Weisenborn is quoted as saying that he harbored feelings of disdain for any jury and that his own paintings were frequently rejected by conservative jurors. He was also involved and helped found other radical artist’s groups such as the Salon des Refuses, Cor Ardens and Neo-Arlimusic. In 1936, he helped found the New York-based American Abstract Artist’s Group. He created the only abstract mural for the 1933 Century of Progress Exhibition in Chicago and also worked for the Federal Arts Project in the Easel Division. His WPA murals can be found in Crane Technical High School and Nettlehorst Elementary School in Chicago, IL. In 1945, Chicago businessman Herman Spertus...

Category

1940s Modern Art

Materials

Paper, Graphite

"Don't Cry Long" Abstracted and Distorted Self-Portrait, One Crying Eye
"Don't Cry Long" Abstracted and Distorted Self-Portrait, One Crying Eye

"Don't Cry Long" Abstracted and Distorted Self-Portrait, One Crying Eye

Located in Detroit, MI

"Don't Cry Long" is a self-portrait of the artist and an unusual one at that in which the artist portrays herself shedding tears. Perhaps it is an expression of some grief experienced by Ms. Woodlock, but it also admonishes her to not "Cry Long" while at the same time poking fun because of her elongated face and the one lone "long" tear tracing a pattern down her face. In addition to self-portraits, Ethelyn painted commissioned portraits. In this painting her head is cocked and her famous bangs hang down her forehead. Compare two self-portraits, “Up From Under”, and “M’Eyes" to "Don't Cry Long." The major differences are the close facial view and the brilliant blood red paint that fills the entire canvas. This painting is included in the book, "Dreams Have Wings: An Artist's Journey into Magic and Mystery" printed in the United States, 1985. She describes "Don't Cry Long" as showing how funny looking we are, if we cry too long. Ethelyn Woodlock...

Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Art

Materials

Oil, Masonite

"Falaise Collection" by John Chillingworth

"Falaise Collection" by John Chillingworth

Located in London, GB

"Falaise Collection" by John Chillingworth An outfit designed for the English market by Maxime de la Falaise. The model wears a pale tangerine sweater and tie with apricot red taper...

Category

1950s Modern Art

Materials

Black and White

"Owl" Bronze Sculpture, Caricature, Rich Dark Brown Surface
"Owl" Bronze Sculpture, Caricature, Rich Dark Brown Surface

"Owl" Bronze Sculpture, Caricature, Rich Dark Brown Surface

Located in Detroit, MI

The bronze sculpture "Owl" is an exaggerated rendition of an owl that emphasizes the bird's most prominant characteristics - a big fluffy round body and large unblinking eyes making it a charicature of the bird. It is very touchable and calls for one to pet its rounded back. Tom Brun, the sculptor and zookeeper, is well-known for his wood, stone, marble, ceramics and ivory sculptures. One of them, a large hippopotamus, carved from walnut wood travelled the world in the State Department collection. It is said that Tom would often go into a house and pick up one of his sculptures and say that it was unfriendly – meaning that it had not been handled enough. Morley Driver has said of Brun in a newspaper article from the 1950’s “In Any Animal He Sees Beauty”: No one who has ever seen a Tom Brun hippopotamus will ever again think of it as ugly or ungainly, meaning that the artist not only gives you beauty but teaches you to see it. Tom has said: “Small pieces are like a proverb – a gem of meaning that one can dissect.” They are meant to be picked up, caressed and held. This owl, too, seems destined to be caressed. Brun was born in England in 1913. A few years after the end of World War I his father moved the family in 1919 to Detroit, Michigan. In 1935 at age 23, he officially became a U.S. citizen. He served in the army during World War II for five years and upon discharge and at the age of 36 took advantage of the GI Bill and applied for admission to Society of Arts and Crafts (now known as the College for Creative Studies) where he was gladly accepted. While at Arts and Crafts his instructors and established artists such as Sarkis Sarkisian, John P. Foster, Morris Brose, Richard Koslow, Patricia Burnett, Lloyd and Renee Radell...

Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Art

Materials

Bronze

On the Yard, plate 3.
On the Yard, plate 3.

On the Yard, plate 3.

By Arthur John Trevor Briscoe

Located in Plano, TX

Laver 139, Hurst 246. 8 7/8 x 13 7/8 (sheet 11 1/2 x 16 1/4). Trial proof. No published edition. An extremely rich impression with plate tone printed on 'antique laid paper countermarked 'DS&Pine 17940 with a Strasbourg lily watermark. Signed and annotated 'trial' in pencil. An exceptional proof of the greatest rarity. Housed in a 16 x 20-inch archival mat, suitable for framing. In 1899 Briwcoe acquired a studio in Malden, Essex, and bought a 3-ton cutter which, with his young family, he would spend eight or nine months a year, sailing to Calais, along the Belgian coast, and through the Dutch waterways, constantly sketching and painting in both oil and watercolor. In 1922, after a meeting with the etcher James McBey, Briscoe returned to etching once more producing plates of some of his sea sketches. The two artists sailed together in Briscoe's, forty-ton yacht, the "Golden Vanity...

Category

Early 20th Century Modern Art

Materials

Etching

Ouvrir les Frontières pour Mr. Olingou
Ouvrir les Frontières pour Mr. Olingou

Ouvrir les Frontières pour Mr. Olingou

Located in Atlanta, GA

The universal theme of travel has always inspired Bruno Catalano. Since he started to knead clay, hundreds of “Travellers” went out of his feverish hand...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Modern Art

Materials

Bronze

'La Pique'
'La Pique'

'La Pique'

By Pablo Picasso

Located in New York, NY

Part of Picasso's exploration of the bullfight, a subject that occupied a central place throughout his life and art. The work provides insight into his sustained engagement with Span...

Category

1960s Modern Art

Materials

Lithograph

Theo van Doesburg 'The Card Players' 1985- Vintage

Theo van Doesburg 'The Card Players' 1985- Vintage

By Theo van Doesburg

Located in Brooklyn, NY

This reproduction of De Kaartspelers (The Card Players) by Theo van Doesburg was published in the Netherlands by Art Unlimited. The original painting, created between 1916 and 1917, ...

Category

1980s Modern Art

Materials

Offset

Mexican Modernist Kite Painting, Stencil, Woodcut Print Hand Signed
Mexican Modernist Kite Painting, Stencil, Woodcut Print Hand Signed

Mexican Modernist Kite Painting, Stencil, Woodcut Print Hand Signed

By Francisco Toledo

Located in Surfside, FL

Francisco Benjamín López Toledo (born July 17, 1940, Juchitán, Oaxaca) is a Mexican painter, sculptor, and graphic artist. He studied at the Escuela de Bellas Artes de Oaxaca and the Centro Superior de Artes Aplicadas del Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, Mexico, where he studied graphic arts with Guillermo Silva Santamaria...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Modern Art

Materials

Paint, Woodcut, Stencil

Head Series, Pen & Ink on Paper (Set of 2) by Modern Indian Artist "In Stock"
Head Series, Pen & Ink on Paper (Set of 2) by Modern Indian Artist "In Stock"

Head Series, Pen & Ink on Paper (Set of 2) by Modern Indian Artist "In Stock"

By Sunil Das

Located in Kolkata, West Bengal

Sunil Das - Untitled - 6 x 7 inches & 7 x 7 inches (unframed size) Pen and Ink on Paper, 2012 (Set of 2) Inclusive of shipment in ready to hang form. for auction : Please Note: The reserve price set is for one work only The exceptions are the faces such as the profiles of bearded men in which the content is a mere excuse for the lines to create a pattern of untrammeled playfulness. Of course the Japanese face...

Category

2010s Modern Art

Materials

Paper, Ink, Pen

Unhurried
Unhurried

Unhurried

By Svitlana Van Rossum

Located in Zofingen, AG

Unhurried from the series «Becoming» “Unhurried” is part of the series «Becoming», which explores the inner states of women, their journey toward themselves, and the moment when the ...

Category

2010s Modern Art

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Marie Laurencin, Untitled, from Les Biches, 1924
Marie Laurencin, Untitled, from Les Biches, 1924

Marie Laurencin, Untitled, from Les Biches, 1924

By Marie Laurencin

Located in Southampton, NY

This exquisite lithograph and pochoir by Marie Laurencin (1883–1956), titled Sans titre (Untitled), from the album Les Biches (The Does), originates from the 1924 edition published b...

Category

1920s Modern Art

Materials

Lithograph, Stencil

Tropical Moonlight
Tropical Moonlight

Tropical Moonlight

By Joseph Stella

Located in London, GB

Born in the hillside town of Muro Lucano, southeast of Naples, Italy, Joseph Stella immigrated to the United States in 1896. Having demonstrated remarkable talent as a young boy, he ...

Category

20th Century Modern Art

Materials

Watercolor, Gouache

Bert Stern, "Feeling Good, " original photograph, hand signed
Bert Stern, "Feeling Good, " original photograph, hand signed

Bert Stern, "Feeling Good, " original photograph, hand signed

By Bert Stern

Located in Chatsworth, CA

This piece is an original chromogenic photograph that was developed from the original negative by Bert Stern. This photo is part of The Last Sitting portfolio, taken six weeks before...

Category

1960s Modern Art

Materials

Photographic Paper

Francisco Toledo, Leon (Lion)
Francisco Toledo, Leon (Lion)

Francisco Toledo, Leon (Lion)

By Francisco Toledo

Located in New York, NY

Windisch & Cole 2145 The edition of 250 was published by Associated American Artists, and this impression is signed, titled, and numbered, in pencil. Francisco Toledo (1940-2019), a ...

Category

1970s Modern Art

Materials

Etching, Intaglio

Colourful Modern French Landscape, The Roofs of St Tropez
Colourful Modern French Landscape, The Roofs of St Tropez

Colourful Modern French Landscape, The Roofs of St Tropez

By Isabelle Pardoe

Located in Cotignac, FR

Late 20th Century oil on canvas view of the colourful buildings and roofs in St Tropez, South of France, by Franco British artist Isabell Pardoe. The painting is not signed but came ...

Category

Late 20th Century Modern Art

Materials

Oil, Acrylic, Canvas

Leonor Fini, Untitled, from The Story of O, 1962
Leonor Fini, Untitled, from The Story of O, 1962

Leonor Fini, Untitled, from The Story of O, 1962

By Leonor Fini

Located in Southampton, NY

This exquisite lithograph, titled Sans titre, after Leonor Fini, from the folio L'Histoire d'O (The Story of O), 1962, was published and printed by La Compagnie des Vibliophiles, au ...

Category

1960s Modern Art

Materials

Lithograph

'Portrait d'Olga Picasso'
'Portrait d'Olga Picasso'

'Portrait d'Olga Picasso'

By Pablo Picasso

Located in New York, NY

Pablo Picasso was one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, known for co-founding Cubism and constantly reinventing his artistic style. His *Portrait of Olga* depicts ...

Category

1920s Modern Art

Materials

Drypoint

Rocks on the Shore
Rocks on the Shore

Rocks on the Shore

By Harry Neyland

Located in Sheffield, MA

Harry A. Neyland American, 1877-1958 Rocks on the Shore Oil on canvas 26 by 32 in, w/ frame 34 ½ by 40 ½ in Signed lower left Harry A. Neyland — painter, sculptor, illustrator, and...

Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Art

Materials

Oil

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.