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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
Full Cry  - Etching by  Henry Alke - 1846

Full Cry - Etching by Henry Alke - 1846

By Henry Alken

Located in Roma, IT

Etching and aquatint realized by Henry Alken in 1846. Plate from "The Analysis of the Hunting Field". Very good condition. Henry Alken (1765-1851) was en english painter and engrav...

Category

Mid-19th Century Modern Art

Materials

Etching

School

School

By John Hartell

Located in Dallas, TX

Valley House Gallery is honored to present a selection of paintings from the estate of American artist, John Hartell (1902-1995). John Hartell taught two disciplines at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York: freshman architecture and graduate painting. He was a much-loved professor there from 1930 until his retirement in 1967; one of his most illustrious students is the architect Richard Meier. As an artist, Hartell's first solo exhibition was in 1937 at Kleeman Gallery in New York. He exhibited at Kraushaar Galleries in New York for four decades, beginning in 1943. The Hartell Gallery at Cornell University, under the Sibley Dome, is named for him. In describing John Hartell, the artist Michael Boyd...

Category

Late 20th Century Modern Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Arizona Wonders

Arizona Wonders

By Mark Maggiori

Located in Draper, UT

Giclee print on 300 gsm archival cotton rag with dimensions of 35 x 33 in. Released in 2020 from an edition of 751. Signed and numbered by Mark Maggiori. Large format stunning print.

Category

2010s Modern Art

Materials

Archival Paper

Un Vase de Fleurs II (Flowers in a Vase)
Un Vase de Fleurs II (Flowers in a Vase)

Un Vase de Fleurs II (Flowers in a Vase)

By Frederic Menguy

Located in San Francisco, CA

This artwork "Un Vase de Fleurs II (Flowers in a Vase)" c.1980, is an original colors lithograph on watermarked Arches paper by noted French artist Frederic Menguy, 1927-2007. It is ...

Category

Late 20th Century Modern Art

Materials

Lithograph

Wicker Chair - Pencil Drawing - Early 20th Century

Wicker Chair - Pencil Drawing - Early 20th Century

Located in Roma, IT

Wicker Chair is an original pencil drawing on ivory-colorated paper, realized by Anonymous French Artist of the early 20th Century. In very good conditions. Not signed.

Category

1950s Modern Art

Materials

Pencil

Vintage American Modernist Signed Abstract Expressionist Framed Oil Painting
Vintage American Modernist Signed Abstract Expressionist Framed Oil Painting

Vintage American Modernist Signed Abstract Expressionist Framed Oil Painting

Located in Buffalo, NY

Vintage American modernist abstract oil painting. Oil on board. Signed. Framed. Provenance from a Sag Harbor, NY collection. Measuring: 13 by 25 inches overall. Handsomely framed in...

Category

1940s Modern Art

Materials

Oil, Board

Figures Stood In Hay bail Corn Field British Modernist Pastel and Pencil Sketch
Figures Stood In Hay bail Corn Field British Modernist Pastel and Pencil Sketch

Figures Stood In Hay bail Corn Field British Modernist Pastel and Pencil Sketch

By Irina Hale

Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire

Pastel Landscape by Irina Hale (British 1932-2022) pastel and pencil sketch on brown artist tracing paper , unframed painting: 4.5 x 3.75 inches provenance: private collection, Cotsw...

Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Art

Materials

Pastel, Pencil

American flag collage with a 19th century engraving of an eagle
American flag collage with a 19th century engraving of an eagle

American flag collage with a 19th century engraving of an eagle

By Claude Howard Stuart

Located in Woodbury, CT

Claude Howard Stuart is an artist working in Europe and America. Watercolor, ink ,acrylic and and even cold wax and oil are the many different mediums that Claude uses on his varied and exciting works. His influences come from all the different places and experiences he has had throughout his life, as well as the varied different art styles he’s studied. Having lived in many different places around the world the styles of art, architecture, traditions and religions have all played into the art he makes.. He studies a period of art and then works with antique, vintage and original pieces to build his collage pictures making each one a unique study of a period, city or style. Claude works on his pieces to bring together a feeling of the period and art movement that is inspiring him. Sometimes Matisse and Picasso and other times old master drawings and abstracts. These set of collage...

Category

2010s Modern Art

Materials

Mixed Media

Original Cultivez des Oleagineux French mid-century vintage poster
Original Cultivez des Oleagineux French mid-century vintage poster

Original Cultivez des Oleagineux French mid-century vintage poster

Located in Spokane, WA

Original 'La France Manque d’Huile, cultivez des Oleagineux' vintage French poster. Linen backed in excellent condition, ready to frame. FREE Continential USA shipping. Transpor...

Category

1940s Modern Art

Materials

Lithograph

Bella, Modern Print after Marc Chagall
Bella, Modern Print after Marc Chagall

Bella, Modern Print after Marc Chagall

By Marc Chagall

Located in Long Island City, NY

Marc Chagall, After, Russian (1887 - 1985) - Bella, Medium: Giclee on paper, facsimilie signed and numbered in pencil, Edition: P/P, Image Size: 17 x 13 inches, Size: 24 x 17 in....

Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Art

Materials

Giclée

Jackie Curtis in Times Square
Jackie Curtis in Times Square

Jackie Curtis in Times Square

Located in Senoia, GA

Signed by the photographer in ink on the lower right side, “The Late Jackie Curtis in the Late Times Square, 1969” and “Leee Black Childers” top right side border. Leee Black Childer...

Category

1960s Modern Art

Materials

Archival Pigment

Headland & Rocks, White Island, Maine, early 20th century watercolor
Headland & Rocks, White Island, Maine, early 20th century watercolor

Headland & Rocks, White Island, Maine, early 20th century watercolor

By Frank Wilcox

Located in Beachwood, OH

Frank Nelson Wilcox (American, 1887-1964) Headland & Rocks, White Island, Maine, c. 1923 Watercolor on paper Signed lower left 15 x 19.5 inches Frank Nelson Wilcox (October 3, 1887 – April 17, 1964) was a modernist American artist and a master of watercolor. Wilcox is described as the "Dean of Cleveland School painters," though some sources give this appellation to Henry Keller or Frederick Gottwald. Wilcox was born on October 3, 1887 to Frank Nelson Wilcox, Sr. and Jessie Fremont Snow Wilcox at 61 Linwood Street in Cleveland, Ohio. His father, a prominent lawyer, died at home in 1904 shortly before Wilcox' 17th birthday. His brother, lawyer and publisher Owen N. Wilcox, was president of the Gates Legal Publishing Company or The Gates Press. His sister Ruth Wilcox...

Category

1920s Modern Art

Materials

Watercolor

Vintage American Modernist Surreal Figural Nude Portrait Large Framed Painting
Vintage American Modernist Surreal Figural Nude Portrait Large Framed Painting

Vintage American Modernist Surreal Figural Nude Portrait Large Framed Painting

Located in Buffalo, NY

Antique American modernist nude portrait oil painting. Oil on board. Framed. In excellent original condition. Handsomely framed in a modern molding. Excellent condition, ready to ...

Category

1950s Modern Art

Materials

Oil, Board

Pink Bardot Triptych by BATIK
Pink Bardot Triptych by BATIK

Pink Bardot Triptych by BATIK

By BATIK

Located in London, GB

Pink Bardot Triptych by BATIK BATIK is an increasingly collectable pop artist currently living and working in London. The artist is purposely elusive with their true identity, sex...

Category

2010s Modern Art

Materials

Archival Pigment

1970 Haitian Mod Gold Painting Portrait of African American Woman Emilcar Simil
1970 Haitian Mod Gold Painting Portrait of African American Woman Emilcar Simil

1970 Haitian Mod Gold Painting Portrait of African American Woman Emilcar Simil

By Emilcar Similien (SIMIL)

Located in Surfside, FL

Feu de Joie 1970 hand signed and dated. Measurements: 25.75 X 25.75 Framed. Image is 23.75 X 23.75 Emilcar Similien, known as Simil was born in 1944 in St. Marc. He finished elementary school in St. Marc and high school in Port-au-Prince. From 1965 until 1971 he studied at the Academy of Beaux-Arts in Port-au-Prince, where he took courses in painting, sculpture, and art history. Simil uses his images of women only as means for displaying patterns, color, and the sparkle of gold jewelry on black skin. He paints with acrylics on Masonite of any size. His surfaces are smooth and polished. Simil delights in beauty, elegance, and grace. This is done in a silhouette style reminiscent of Kara Walker. Emilcar Simil (Similcar) is known for Acrylic painting in high colors of black skinned female figures. He is of the generation of Haitian artists that include Bernard Sejourne, Prospere Pierre-Louis, Levoy Exil, Louisiane Saint Fleurant, Henri Calixte, Paul Dieuseul, Laurent Casimir, Frantz Zephirin, Denis Smith, Philton Latortue, Philome Obin, Préfète Duffaut, Fernand Pierre, Dieudonne L Cedor. Since 1971 he has taught art history and aesthetics at the Academy of Beaux-Arts. He is also an honorary teacher at the private school Juan Vasquez. In 1974, he traveled to the United States to meet American artists and visit major museums. Simil was influenced by Art nouveau and his favorite artist, Gustav Klimt. These influences are most obvious in his paintings of women. Like Bernard Sejourne, Simil delights in beauty, elegance, and grace. But instead of concentrating on pose, he uses his images of women only as vehicles for displaying pattern, color, and the sparkle of gold jewelry on black skin. Only recognizable as females by their contours, their features are not distinguished. There is a playfulness of line that is very different from Sejourne's emphasis on monumentality. Emilcar Similien uses his images of women only as means for displaying patterns, color, and the sparkle of gold jewelry on black skin. He paints with acrylics on Masonite of any size. His surfaces are smooth and polished. Simil delights in beauty, elegance, and grace. He has been exhibiting since 1969 namely in Haiti, USA, Denmark. As Art Critic, Gerald Alexis states in his book Peintres Haitiens "well trained by masters who taught him to excel in his forms, Similien’s works also contain discrete messages” . EXHIBITIONS 1969- Academie des Beaux Arts 1970- Haitian-American Institute 1971- Salon Dante Alighieri, Amb. d'Italie, Port-au-Prince 1972- Christ, Saut-d'Eau 1973- Anderson and Hopkins Gallery, Washington, D.C. 1974- Galerie Mehu, Petion-Ville 1974- Musee d'Art Haitien, Port-au-Prince 1976- Galerie Monnin, One Man Show, Port-au-Prince 1977- Martello Museum, Key West, Florida 1978- Galleriet, Copenhagen, Denmark 1978-1979 - Haitian Art - Brooklyn Museum, New York, Milwaukee Art Center, Wisconsin, Kunst aus Haiti, Berlin, Germany, New Orleans Museum of Art, Louisiana 1978- Brooklyn College, New York 1978- Musee d'Art Haitien, Port-au-Prince 1979 - Haiti, Musee d'Art (Third Generation Artists) 1979- Kunst aus Haiti, West Berlin, Germany 1980- Curacao Museum, Willemstad, Curacao 1981- Sotheby Parke Bernet Auction, New York, NY 1982- Galerie Monnin Third Generation Artists 1982- Exhibit Vorpal Gallery, San Francisco 1982- Centre de Arte Cultural, Italy 1982- International Art Expo, New York, NY 1983- Musee International d'Art Naif, Nice, France 1983- Galerie Bukowskis, Zurich, Switzerland 1984- Exhibit Metropolitan Museum of Art 1985- Galerie Bukowskis, Zurich, Switzerland 1985- Cafe de la Paix Exposition, Paris, France 1986- Three Man Show, Port-au-Prince 1988- Galerie 93, Paris, France 1989- IFA Galerie und Kontaktstelle, Bonn, Germany 1990- Exposition du Palais du Rhin, Strasbourg, France 1992- La Rencontre Des Deux Mondes Vue Par Les Peintres D'Haiti - Martinique, Seville, Rome, Paris, Nantes, Angouleme, Laval, Toulouse, Japan, Montreal, United States, Mexico Haitian art is a complex tradition, reflecting African roots with strong Indigenous, American and European aesthetic and religious influences. Many artists cluster in "schools" of painting, such as the Cap-Haïtien school, which features depictions of daily life in the city, the Jacmel School, which reflects the steep mountains and bays of that coastal town, or the Saint-Soleil School. Centre d’Art, located in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, was founded in 1944 by American watercolorist DeWitt Peters and several prominent Haitians from the intellectual and cultural circles including: Maurice Borno, Andrée Malebranche, Albert Mangonès, Lucien Price, and Georges Remponeau. Popular artists of this movement include: André Pierre, Hector Hippolyte, Castera Bazile...

Category

1970s Modern Art

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic Polymer, Acrylic

Untitled, Nude
Untitled, Nude

Untitled, Nude

By June Felter

Located in San Francisco, CA

Artist: June Felter (1919-2019) Title: Untitled Year: 1964 Medium: Watercolor Sight size: 20 x 14.25 inches. Framed size: 29.25 x 23 inches Signature: Si...

Category

1960s Modern Art

Materials

Watercolor

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.