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Photorealist Art

PHOTOREALISM

A direct challenge to Abstract Expressionism’s subjectivity and gestural vigor, Photorealism was informed by the Pop predilection for representational imagery, popular iconography and tools, like projectors and airbrushes, borrowed from the worlds of commercial art and design.

Whether gritty or gleaming, the subject matter favored by Photorealists is instantly, if vaguely, familiar. It’s the stuff of yellowing snapshots and fugitive memories. The bland and the garish alike flicker between crystal-clear reality and dreamy illusion, inviting the viewer to contemplate a single moment rather than igniting a story.

The virtues of the “photo” in Photorealist art — infused as they are with dazzling qualities that are easily blurred in reproduction — are as elusive as they are allusive. “Much Photorealist painting has the vacuity of proportion and intent of an idiot-savant, long on look and short on personal timbre,” John Arthur wrote (rather admiringly) in the catalogue essay for Realism/Photorealism, a 1980 exhibition at the Philbrook Museum of Art, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. At its best, Photorealism is a perpetually paused tug-of-war between the sacred and the profane, the general and the specific, the record and the object.

Robert Bechtle invented Photorealism, in 1963,” says veteran art dealer Louis Meisel. “He took a picture of himself in the mirror with the car outside and then painted it. That was the first one.”

The meaning of the term, which began for Meisel as “a superficial way of defining and promoting a group of painters,” evolved with time, and the core group of Photorealists slowly expanded to include younger artists who traded Rolleiflexes for 60-megapixel cameras, using advanced digital technology to create paintings that transcend the detail of conventional photographs.

On 1stDibs, the collection of Photorealist art includes work by Richard Estes, Ralph Goings, Chuck Close, Audrey Flack, Charles Bell and others.

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Period: 20th Century
Period: 1930s
Style: Photorealist
Fiona Apple 1996 vintage print by Chris Cuffaro
Located in Austin, TX
Singer Fiona Apple, 8”x10” Hand-printed darkroom print, made at the time of the shoot in 1996, and stored flat in a temperature-controlled environment. Th...
Category

Late 20th Century Photorealist Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin

The Foundry - Black and White Photograph
Located in Soquel, CA
High contrast photo by Peter Stackpole (American, 1913-1997). The photo shows a hot bar of metal on a large machine, about to be worked. The metal is g...
Category

1930s Photorealist Art

Materials

Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin

The Rolling Stones "End Of The Banquet" London 1968
Located in Austin, TX
Outtake from the famous photo shoot of The Rolling Stones for their Beggars Banquet album at Sarum Chase mansion, Hampstead, London, 1968, signed limited edition by Michael Joseph. F...
Category

1960s Photorealist Art

Materials

C Print

Birds of Paradise (Brown), Photorealist Lithograph by Lowell Blair Nesbitt
Located in Long Island City, NY
Lowell Blair Nesbitt was an American painter and printmaker who’s work consists of unique and vivid depictions of flowers. Birds of Paradise (Brown) Lowell Blair Nesbitt, American (...
Category

1970s Photorealist Art

Materials

Lithograph

The GTO's 1968 Groupies, signed limited edition silver gelatin print
Located in Austin, TX
The GTO's by Baron Wolman, taken in San Francisco in 1968 as part of Baron's Groupies series, taken for Rolling Stone magazine. Limited edition number 6/150, signed and noted by Baron Wolman 11x14” hand printed silver gelatin print. The GTOs (Girls Together Outrageously) were an all-girl group from the Los Angeles area, specifically the Sunset Strip scene. Featuring Miss Pamela...
Category

Late 20th Century Photorealist Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Elvis Presley 1957
Located in Austin, TX
Fine art print of Elvis Presley from the collection of acclaimed photographer. Lynn Goldsmith, taken in 1957 These prints are open edition and come with full certification. Availab...
Category

Late 20th Century Photorealist Art

Materials

C Print

Georgica Pond at Sunset (East Hampton, New York)
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Ian Hornak (1944-2002) Title: Georgica Pond at Sunset (East Hampton, NY) Year: February 1973 Medium: Acrylic on Canvas Size: 72 x 48 inches Condition: Excellent Inscription: Signed, dated, and titled by the artist, verso. Provenance: Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, NY; Bernice Fox Weinstein, Washington D.C.; Estate of Dr. Charles Cabaniss via his Lorena Smith Cabaniss, Washington D.C.; Private collection, MI. Notes: A seminal example of Hornak’s Photorealist multiple exposure landscape...
Category

1970s Photorealist Art

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Early 20th Century Hand Colored Portraits of a Young Couple C.1900
Located in San Francisco, CA
Early 20th Century Hand Colored Portraits of a Young Couple C.1900 Handsome young couple. Hand tinted photos. American portraits. Victorian period...
Category

Early 20th Century Photorealist Art

Materials

Watercolor, Photographic Paper

David Bowie and William Burroughs, framed signed print by Terry O'Neill
Located in Austin, TX
Framed, 20x24" signed lifetime edition print by Terry O'Neill of David Bowie with William Burroughs, taken for an interview published at Rolling Stone magazine in February 28, 1974. ...
Category

Late 20th Century Photorealist Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Fiona Apple vintage silver gelatin print by Chris Cuffaro
Located in Austin, TX
Fiona Apple, 8”x10” Hand-printed darkroom print, made at the time of the shoot in 1996, and stored flat in a temperature-controlled environment. The print...
Category

Late 20th Century Photorealist Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin

L'Addio, New York City (1956) - Large size Black & White Fine Art Print
Located in Brussels, BE
Artwork # 1 on 5 sold in limited edition in perfect condition This photo was made in 1956, the negative was digitized during the artist's lifetime and the technical parameters (fram...
Category

1950s Photorealist Art

Materials

Archival Pigment

Kate Bush "Sensual World" - First print of the edition
Located in Austin, TX
Kate Bush by Guido Harari, taken during the official photo shoot for her album The Sensual World in 1989. Guido Harari recalls, "I collaborated with Kate for over ten years, doing her official press photos for “Hounds of Love”, “The Sensual World”, “The Red Shoes” and on set photography for her film “The Line, The Cross & The Curve”. She wanted me to avoid the iconizing of previous shoots, and find a different way of capturing her more naturally. Shooting in the studio for hours allowed for much improvisation as there were to be no props or fancy sets. I used different techniques more to entertain ourselves rather than to experiment! And it worked!" First print...
Category

Late 20th Century Photorealist Art

Materials

Giclée

Paloma, Photorealist Screenprint by Harry McCormick
Located in Long Island City, NY
Harry McCormick, American (1942 - ) - Paloma. Year: circa 1990, Medium: Serigraph, signed and numbered in pencil, Edition: 250, Size: 26 in. x 40 in. (66.04 cm x 101.6 cm)
Category

Early 1900s Photorealist Art

Materials

Screen

Chrissie Hynde The Pretenders, Talk of the Town
Located in Austin, TX
Signed limited edition print of Chrissy Hynde and The Pretenders, taken by Simon Fowler in the UK in 1978
Category

Late 20th Century Photorealist Art

Materials

Archival Pigment

East River Drive
Located in Austin, TX
East River Drive by Norman Parkinson. Robin Miller and Pippa Diggle photographed on the South Street Viaduct beneath Manhattan Bridge for Go Magazine, 1960 ...
Category

Late 20th Century Photorealist Art

Materials

C Print

Transparent Barricades, Ian Hornak
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Ian Hornak (1944-2002) Title: Transparent Barricades Year: 1981 Medium: Silkscreen in colors vélin de Rives BFK paper Size: 26 x 40 inches Edition: 86/200, plus proofs Condit...
Category

1980s Photorealist Art

Materials

Screen

"Old Room, New Room" - Minimalist Interior Photograph
Located in Soquel, CA
"Old Room, New Room" - Minimalist Interior Photograph Minimalist photograph of a red wall with a tile floor by Shirley McWilliams (American, 20th ...
Category

Late 20th Century Photorealist Art

Materials

Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin

XI Crocus Hyridus Hort
Located in Long Island City, NY
XI Crocus Hyridus Hort Lowell Blair Nesbitt, American (1933–1993) Date: 1976 Oil on Canvas, signed, titled, and dated verso Size: 50 x 36 in. (127 x 91.44 cm)
Category

1970s Photorealist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

L’Addio, New York, December 1955 - Contemporary Black & White Photography
Located in Brussels, BE
Artwork #1 / 5 sold in perfect condition printed on baryta heavyweight paper & framed (black metal border) From the collection called "Art 2014", format 30x42 cm. SERIES OF 5 PRINTS + 2 AP Artwork printed later on fine art papers later (2014) from black & white negatives processed in 1962 “L’Addio”, the farewell, New York, December 1955. At the stern of an Italian liner carrying him back to Genoa the photographer could not pass up the opportunity to capture this sweetly simple moment where an Italian couple say goodbye to the American metropolis by waving a white handkerchief...
Category

1950s Photorealist Art

Materials

Archival Pigment

George Barris, "Chilly Wind", photolithograph, hand signed
Located in Chatsworth, CA
This image is from the last photoshoot of Marilyn Monroe taken by George Harris, 2 1/2 weeks before her death in August, 1962 in Santa Monica, California. Photolithograph taken from ...
Category

Mid-20th Century Photorealist Art

Materials

Photographic Paper

Blue Panties, Photorealist Lithograph by John Kacere
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: John Kacere, American (1920 - 1999) Title: Blue Panties Year: Circa 1980 Medium: Lithograph, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 300, HC 10 Image Size: 19 x 26 inches Size...
Category

1980s Photorealist Art

Materials

Lithograph

FRANCE Chamonix Vallée Blanche French skiing poster Télépheriques de l'Aiguille
Located in London, GB
To see our other original vintage travel posters, many of which have skiing subjects, scroll down to "More from this Seller" and below it click on "See all from this Seller" - or send us a message if you cannot find the poster you want. Télépheriques de l'Aiguille du Midi et de la Vallée Blanche...
Category

1960s Photorealist Art

Materials

Lithograph

Bambini per la strada, New York, 1955 - Contemporary Black and White Photography
Located in Brussels, BE
Bambini per la strada, New York décembre 1955 - Black and White Photography Artwork #1 / 5 sold in perfect condition printed on baryta heavyweight paper & framed (black metal border...
Category

1950s Photorealist Art

Materials

Photographic Paper

Poesia Invernale, Fontana di Trevi 1956 - Contemporary Black & White Photography
Located in Brussels, BE
Artwork #1 / 5 sold in perfect condition printed on baryta heavyweight paper & framed (black metal border) From the collection called "Art 2014", format 30x42 cm. SERIES OF 5 PRINTS...
Category

1960s Photorealist Art

Materials

Archival Pigment

Tornando con le spese, New York (1955) - Large size Black & White Fine Art Print
Located in Brussels, BE
Artwork # 1 on 5 sold in limited edition in perfect condition This photo was made in 1955, the negative was digitized during the artist's lifetime and the technical parameters (fram...
Category

1950s Photorealist Art

Materials

Archival Pigment

The Beatles "Revolver sessions" 1966
Located in Austin, TX
The Beatles, left to right, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, George Harrison and Paul McCartney, posing with colored cells over their faces during the Abbey Road session to record the promotional video for Paperback Writer, 19th May 1966. This was the same session from which the back cover photo for the Revolver Album was chosen. The photo was part of a series taken by Robert Whitaker during the filming at Abbey Road on 19 May and demonstrated the Beatles’ adoption of fashions from boutiques that had recently opened in Chelsea, rather than the Carnaby Street designers they had favored previously. From these Chelsea boutiques, Lennon wore a long-collared paisley shirt from Granny Takes a Trip...
Category

Late 20th Century Photorealist Art

Materials

C Print

Pop Art Color Photograph Dye Transfer Print Audrey Flack Tarot Card, Skull Photo
Located in Surfside, FL
Hand signed and titled in ink by the artist from edition of 50 (plus proofs). Color Photo printed at CVI Lab by master printer Guy Stricherz. Published by Prestige Art Ltd. From the ...
Category

1980s Photorealist Art

Materials

Photographic Paper, C Print, Dye Transfer

Jimi Hendrix Contact Sheet Print
Located in Austin, TX
Signed limited edition contact sheet print by Ed Caraeff of Jimi Hendrix, drummer John “Mitch” Mitchell and bassist Noel Redding before a performance at the Hollywood Bowl, Californi...
Category

1960s Photorealist Art

Materials

Archival Pigment

Reflection Around
Located in Slovak Republic, SK
The picture is a part of photographs which Kallay done in 1965 for a German book publisher about NYC.
Category

1960s Photorealist Art

Materials

Photographic Paper

Manon Cleary "Rat"
Located in Washington, DC
Photorealist oil painting by Manon Cleary (1942-2011). Painting is signed on reverse "Cleary". Painting is stretched on aluminum stretcher and dates to the 1990s. Manon Cleary had a remarkable ability to draw and paint with photographic fidelity, but she was also known as a charismatic teacher at the University of the District of Columbia and as a free spirit whose exuberant life may have been her most enduring work of art. Since the 1970s, Ms. Cleary had been at the center of a group of artists in Adams Morgan. She exhibited her meticulous artwork throughout the city and around the world, but she also became known for her striking presence, her colorful love life and the rats she kept as pets. As an artist, Ms. Cleary borrowed classical techniques from her deep study of Renaissance masters to create paintings and drawings memorable for their frank realism and sometimes disturbing themes. In addition to her many nude self-portraits, Ms. Cleary made erotically charged paintings of flowers. She took inspiration from a painful personal history in a series of works depicting the terror of rape and, in later years, of not being able to breathe without mechanical assistance. Critics considered her a leading figurative artist of the photo-realist school, in which painters render their subjects with camera-like precision. In fact, Ms. Cleary occasionally won awards for photography when adjudicators didn’t realize her works were free-hand creations. She was “widely acknowledged to be among the best, if not the best, of the city’s figurative painters,” Washington Post critic Michael O’Sullivan wrote in 2006. “There is a tension between the cool, clinical detachment of photography and painting’s warm idealization of form.” Ms. Cleary exhibited her art in galleries and museums from Moscow to Paris to Hickory, N.C., but Washington was her home for the past 42 years. In 1974, she settled in the decrepit Beverly Court apartments on Columbia Road NW, where a coterie of artists soon grew up around her. She painted her walls purple, and her fourth-floor apartment — even with the pet rats — became something of a bohemian salon. “She was a star,” painter Judy Jashinsky told the Washington City Paper in 2004. “She was stunning, beautiful; long, brownish–black hair; real thin; wore . . . little sundresses and sandals. She was just very cool, and there was always a crowd around her.” Ms. Cleary had a long list of male admirers, including several whose confrontational attempts at “performance art” led to their arrests. She had a brief marriage in 1981 to a Danish artist known as Tommy — “just Tommy,” Ms. Cleary said — whom she divorced in less than a year. As a kind of graphic homage to her various lovers, Ms. Cleary made a series of intimately revealing portraits that were featured years later on the HBO program “Real Sex.” She met her second husband after a gallery opening in Baltimore. By way of introduction, Kijek, a dancer, stripped naked at a crowded party, walked up to Ms. Cleary and said, “Wouldn’t you like me to pose for you?” They were married in 2001. In spite of her unconventional life, Ms. Cleary was more than a mere provocateur. After a day of teaching at UDC, she would return to her studio, with its windows painted over to block out sunlight, and work late into the night, with a bottle of Dr Pepper at her side. She took nude photographs of herself from every angle, then painstakingly created lifelike images that seemed alive with the warmth of human flesh. After studying in Rome in her youth, she developed what she called “an obsession” with Caravaggio, an iconoclastic painter who lived from 1573 to 1610. She often copied paintings at the National Gallery of Art and, in her own work, blended Renaissance styles with a distinctly modern sensibility. Manon Catherine Cleary was born Nov. 14, 1942, in St. Louis. Her father was a doctor, and her identical twin sister, Shirley Cleary-Cooper, is an artist in Helena, Mont. She was a 1964 graduate of Washington University in her home town and, for the rest of her life, was proud of having been a member of the Pi Phi...
Category

1990s Photorealist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Girl
By Yigal Ozeri
Located in Jerusalem, IL
A breathtaking oil painting by Israeli Born-New York based artist Yigal Ozeri. This hyperrealist portrait of a young girl staring back at her viewer, is a classic example of the arti...
Category

1990s Photorealist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Just JAZZ
Located in Slovak Republic, SK
The photography on photo paper is stamped on the back by the author, certificate of origin will be added. Done in NY 1968 for a book about NY.
Category

Mid-20th Century Photorealist Art

Materials

Photographic Paper

Marc Bolan T-Rex 1971 portrait
Located in Austin, TX
Signed limited edition print of Marc Bolan and T-Rex by Alec Byrne, taken in London c. 1971 This Alec Byrne signed limited edition prints is available in. ...
Category

Late 20th Century Photorealist Art

Materials

Archival Pigment

Antique Signed Original Rare Humphrey Bogart Portrait Photograph
Located in Buffalo, NY
Vintage signed and extremely rare photograph of Humphrey Bogart by Philippe Halsman (1906 - 1979). Signed. Framed. Measuring 17 by 21 inches overall and 10.25 by 13.25 photograph a...
Category

1960s Photorealist Art

Materials

Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin

"Polk Street" Large Scale Textural Photograph San Francisco Abstract
Located in Soquel, CA
"Polk" Large Scale Textural Photograph Detailed macro photo by Bill Clark (American, 20th Century). Clark has taken a photograph of heavily painted concrete. The paint is bold yello...
Category

1990s Photorealist Art

Materials

Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin

Farm in the Woods at Winter in the English Countryside with Warm Brown Colours
Located in Preston, GB
Farm in the Woods at Winter in the English Countryside with Warm Brown Colours by 20th Century British Artist, Christopher Osborne. Art measures 12 x 8 inches Frame measures 16 x ...
Category

Late 20th Century Photorealist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Birds of Paradise (Yellow), Photorealist Lithograph by Lowell Blair Nesbitt
Located in Long Island City, NY
Lowell Blair Nesbitt was an American painter and printmaker who’s work consists of unique and vivid depictions of flowers. Birds of Paradise (Yellow) Lowell Blair Nesbitt, American ...
Category

1970s Photorealist Art

Materials

Lithograph

Jimi Hendrix playing pool by Ed Caraeff
Located in Austin, TX
Signed limited edition print of Jimi Hendrix, shooting pool at the Bel Air home of John and Michelle Phillips, in Laurel Canyon, LA on July 1st 1967 ...
Category

Late 20th Century Photorealist Art

Materials

Archival Pigment

Georgetown Movie Theatre, Photorealist Painting by Charles Ford
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Charles Ford, American (1941 - ) Title: Georgetown Movie Theatre Year: 1985 Medium: Acrylic on Canvas, signed and dated l.l. Size: 40 x 30 inches...
Category

1980s Photorealist Art

Materials

Acrylic Polymer

Vintage American School Signed Super Realist Kitchen Still Life Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist signed still life oil painting. Oil on board. Signed. Framed.
Category

1980s Photorealist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

David Bowie 1977 Heroes session – See No Evil
Located in Austin, TX
David Bowie, "See No Evil", 1977 by Masayoshi Sukita during the photoshoot that produced the album cover shot tor Bowie's Heroes album cover - Signed limit...
Category

Late 20th Century Photorealist Art

Materials

C Print

Sorcerer Series: Beast Head, Spider Web
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Ian Hornak (1944-2002) Title: Sorcerer Series: Beast Head, Spiderweb Year: February 1969 Medium: Acrylic on Canvas Size: 72 x 48 inches Condition: Excellent Inscription: Sign...
Category

1960s Photorealist Art

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Song of Zephyrus, Variation II
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Ian Hornak (1944-2002) Title: Song of Zephyrus, Variation II Year: 1979 Medium: Acrylic on Canvas Size: 71 x 45 inches Inscription: Signed, dated, and titled by the artist. P...
Category

1970s Photorealist Art

Materials

Acrylic

David Bowie at The Dorchester Hotel 1972
Located in Austin, TX
Signed limited edition print of David Bowie by Alec Byrne, taken at the Dorchester Hotel, July 1972 Alec Byrne signed limited edition prints are available ...
Category

Late 20th Century Photorealist Art

Materials

Archival Pigment, Silver Gelatin

Straight Shot, Ron Kleemann
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Ron Kleemann (1937-2014) Title: Straight Shot Year: 1980 Medium: Silkscreen on Somerset paper Edition: 225/250, plus proofs Size: 22 x 30 inches Condition: Good Inscription:...
Category

1980s Photorealist Art

Materials

Lithograph

MOSCOW - Black and white photograph on photographic paper, Sergio del Vecchio 1986
Located in Napoli, IT
Black and white analog photograph on photographic paper, signed Sergio del Vecchio. Sergio Del Vecchio: Neapolitan, born in 1961, enrolled in the Order of Journalists of Campania, in...
Category

1970s Photorealist Art

Materials

Photographic Paper

Tiled Lunch Counter, Photorealist Screenprint by Ralph Goings
Located in Long Island City, NY
Focusing on the three men seated at the countertop and the waitress with her back to them, Ralph Goings employs photorealism to share an idyllic image of a classic American diner. F...
Category

1980s Photorealist Art

Materials

Screen

Blimpie, America's Best Dressed Sandwich Pop Art Photo Realist Silkscreen Litho
Located in Surfside, FL
Charles Ford, American Photo Realist Pop Artist Texas Artist Photorealism is a movement which began in the late 1960's, in which scenes are painted in a style closely resembling phot...
Category

20th Century Photorealist Art

Materials

Screen

Mid Century Portrait of Raymond L. Hanson, Large-Scale Photo-Realist Figurative
By W.S. Bylityplis
Located in Soquel, CA
Mid Century Portrait of Raymond L. Hanson, Large-Scale Photo-Realist Figurative Refined and austere large-scale by W.S. Bylityplis (American/France, 19th-20th Century), dated 1963 with California crest. This photo-realistic portrait depicts the subject, Raymond L. Hanson, with impressive realistic detail. Signed and dated lower right corner. Unframed. Measures: 48"H x 36"W. About the artist: W.S. Bylityplis (American/France, 19th-20th Century), was an illustration and portrait artist during the 19th and early 20th century. About the subject: Portrait subject Raymond Hanson, was a lawyer whom establish the Hanson...
Category

1960s Photorealist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Stretcher Bars

Marc Sijan Hyperrealist Contemporary Plaster Sculpture Woman and Champagne Glass
Located in Surfside, FL
Marc Sijan (American, born 1946) Hyper realistic wall sculpture. titled and dated on verso "Champagne Glass" 1986 Limited edition number 14/95. Features a Art Deco style girl in ...
Category

1980s Photorealist Art

Materials

Acrylic Polymer, Glass, Plaster

Original James Tormey Photo Realist Oil Painting Still Life Candy Bowl Pop Art
Located in Surfside, FL
James Tormey (American, 1938-2017) "Candyland (Mixed Bowl)" on table with white tablecloth cover. Oil Painting on Canvas. Hand signed lower right. Measures approx. - 32" high x 37" wide, total with frame - 37 1/2" high x 42 1/2" wide. James J Tormey, NYC artist, He was born in Brooklyn in 1938. As a young man he moved to Manhattan where he lived and worked for more than 60 years. James Tormey studied at the Pratt Institute, in Brooklyn, and at Columbia University and worked in advertising for several years while he painted part time. In the 1960s he supported himself as a photographer, covering openings and events for the Museum of Modern Art, in New York City. For many years he was represented by the Madison Avenue Gallery, in New York City, where he had numerous one-man shows. He has also exhibited in Japan and Germany. The artist makes his home in Manhattan and is represented by the Uptown Gallery, also in New York City. James Tormey paints still lifes of traditional subject matter: fruit, vegetables, or eggs appear in bowls or on surfaces illuminated by powerful directional light. Tormey builds stronger and more precise meaning into his work by exploring how the backgrounds and settings for his still lifes can convey particular ideas. In his recent work, for instance, he painted a series of images in which fruit—a traditional still-life subject—is placed in architectural settings or frames that we usually associate with religious imagery. In Icon, for instance, the artist painted a red cabbage and placed it inside a Renaissance-style frame that he built and decorated himself. Instead of being presented with a saint or a Madonna within such a context, we are given a fully realized, but quite ordinary, vegetable. Tormey’s painting technique involves great care from the beginning. He works in his apartment in Manhattan’s Upper West Side in a meticulously clean space equipped with a very solid easel and a large glass palette on a painting table. For reference he uses photographs he has taken of still-life setups in conjunction with pictures of architectural or other settings he has collected over the years. “I start with a careful graphite drawing right on the canvas,” he explains. These days he uses lightweight cotton duck, although much of his earlier work was done on smoother surfaces. Once the graphite line is established, the artist makes a thin monochrome version of the image with a dull green. “I don’t add anything to the paint other than turpentine,” he explains. “I don’t use oil or glazing mediums because I don’t like shine. The turpentine dulls the paint, which suits what I’m doing.” Once the green layer has dried, the artist applies a second thin layer in a warm brown using burnt sienna or burnt umber. “In all these stages I’m working from dark to light,” he says, “so that I’m always getting a rendered, three-dimensional image.” Tormey works on two or three paintings at a time to allow for sufficient drying time between layers. “I also like the way one painting seems to talk to another,” he says. “It makes for a richer process.” Once he starts working in full color on the image, he continues slowly, applying many thin layers and gradually achieving subtle tonal and color shifts until his forms burst with three-dimensional life. “I work with a very dry brush,” explains the artist. Many of Tormey’s paintings contain dark backgrounds, some of which are pure black—something that can present its own technical problems. “I don’t want those backgrounds to feel present,” he says. “I want them to simply drop out.” Because he doesn’t want any shine on his work he doesn’t use varnish. It’s not surprising that Tormey’s work, with its heavy contrasts and smooth tonal transitions, is strongly influenced by photography. Tormey worked as a photographer for some years, and when he began doing still lifes he often photographed them against black backgrounds. His work was also published as fine art cards, posters, and fine art Giclee prints. He pioneered the "larger-than-life" still-life with his work combining traditional subject matter with a contemporary interpretation that produces startling images of heroic proportions. Light reflected and transmitted lends the natural objects, which are the subjects, a quality which may evoke in the viewer clarity of vision and a delight in the forms of the natural world around them. His work conveys a powerful positive philosophy and he once said "I believe the only way we can come to terms with the world is if we look at it as it really is." He believed that artists should take responsibility for the meaning their works carry and stated that "there are definite ideas behind my paintings". He studied at Pratt Institute and Columbia University and worked in advertising and as a photographer before turning to full-time painting. His paintings were exhibited in dozens of galleries around the country, in Germany and Japan and are now seen in numerous public and private collections. While he was not officially part of the Photorealism art...
Category

20th Century Photorealist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

The Chinese Screen, Photorealist Screenprint by Harry McCormick
Located in Long Island City, NY
Harry McCormick, American (1942 - ) - The Chinese Screen. Year: circa 1990, Medium: Serigraph, signed and numbered in pencil, Edition: 250, Size: 26 in. x 30 in. (66.04 cm x 76.2 cm)
Category

Early 1900s Photorealist Art

Materials

Screen

Olive Grove in Moonlight, Ian Hornak
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Ian Hornak (1944-2002) Title: Olive Grove in Moonlight Year: 1968 Edition: 200, plus proofs Medium: Etching on vélin de Rives paper Size: 22 x 30 inches Condition: Good Inscription: Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued Notes: Published and printed by Ian Hornak, New York IAN HORNAK (January 9, 1944 – December 9, 2002) was an American draughtsman, painter and printmaker. Described by The New York Times as being, “right at the top of romantically descriptive painters today,” Hornak was one of the founding artists of the Hyperrealist and Photorealist fine art movements. Hornak's personal papers and effects entered into the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution's Archives of American Art in 2007. His artwork is owned by the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American Art; the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History; the Library of Congress; the Corcoran Gallery of Art; the Detroit Institute of Arts; the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art; the Allen Memorial Art Museum; the Austin Museum of Art; the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute; the Canton Museum of Art; the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia; the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College; the Detroit Historical Museum; the Flint Institute of Arts; the Forest Lawn Museum; Galleria Internazionale; The George Washington University Art Galleries; Guild Hall; the Children's Hospital Boston (Harvard Medical School affiliate); the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction; the Long Island Museum of American Art, History, and Carriages; the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library; the National Hellenic Museum; the Ringling College of Art and Design; the Rockford Art Museum; the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University; the Florida State Capital; St. Mary's University, Texas; The Art Gallery at the University of Maryland; the University of Texas at San Antonio; the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College; the Washington County...
Category

1960s Photorealist Art

Materials

Etching

Martin Heade’s Window, Ian Hornak
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Ian Hornak (1944-2002) Title: Martin Heade’s Window Year: 1980 Medium: Acrylic on Canvas Size: 48 x 36 inches Condition: Excellent Inscription: Signed recto; signed, dated, and titled by the artist, verso. Provenance: Fischbach Gallery, New York, NY; Private Collection, MI Notes: A seminal example of Hornak’s Photorealist multiple exposure landscape...
Category

1980s Photorealist Art

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

American School Super Realist Still Life Surreal Original Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Vintage American modernist still life oil painting. Oil on canvas. Signed verso.
Category

1970s Photorealist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Tulips 2, Photorealist Lithograph by Lowell Blair Nesbitt
Located in Long Island City, NY
Lowell Blair Nesbitt was an American painter and printmaker who’s work consists of unique and vivid depictions of flowers. Tulips 2 Lowell Blair Nesbitt, American (1933–1993) Date: ...
Category

1970s Photorealist Art

Materials

Lithograph

"Of Ships and Men" - Nautical Trompe l'Oeil Composition in Oil on Board
Located in Soquel, CA
"Of Ships and Men" - Nautical Trompe l'Oeil Composition in Oil on Board Maritime still life by Russell Tripp (American, 1942-2025). This hyper-realistic painting captures a collecti...
Category

1990s Photorealist Art

Materials

Oil, Board

Trafic jam in Bangkok -Thailand 1957 - Full Framed Black & White Fine Art Print
Located in Brussels, BE
Artwork # 1 on 5 sold in limited edition in perfect condition Trafic Jam in Bangkok This is a Minimalist framing & presentation of the artwork : The Fine Art print on Baryta paper i...
Category

1950s Photorealist Art

Materials

Archival Pigment

Photorealist art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Photorealist 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, purple, orange and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Alex Sher, Gregory Block, Lowell Nesbitt, and Ian Hornak. Frequently made by artists working with Paint, and Oil 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 Photorealist art, so small editions measuring 0.79 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 $11 and tops out at $585,000, while the average work sells for $2,404.

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