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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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Style: Photorealist
Period: 1910s
Large Antique Portrait Photograph Girl Bench Signed Ch Petit c1912 French
Located in FR
Antique Portrait Photograph Girl on a Bench c1912-13 Signed by the photographer Ch Petit French photographer in the early 1900s Black and...
Category

1910s Photorealist Art

Materials

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Louis Robbe, Landscape With Barn, Sheep & Goats, Oil Painting
Located in Cheltenham, GB
This exquisite mid to late-19th-century oil painting by Belgian artist Louis Robbe (1806-1887) depicts three finely rendered sheep, a lamb and two goats before a landscape with dista...
Category

1910s Photorealist Art

Materials

Oil, Wood Panel

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Previously Available Items
Louis Robbe, Landscape With Barn, Sheep & Goats, Oil Painting
Located in Cheltenham, GB
This exquisite mid to late-19th-century oil painting by Belgian artist Louis Robbe (1806-1887) depicts three finely rendered sheep, a lamb and two goats before a landscape with dista...
Category

1910s Photorealist Art

Materials

Oil, Wood Panel

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1910s Photorealist Art

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Photogravure

Endurance Enters The Pack Ice
By Frank Hurley
Located in Brecon, Powys
From a series of 35 hand-finished photographic prints, limited to 400 copies, printed using the original negatives. This is print 8 and numbered 26 of 400. Stamped and numbered by Royal Geographical Society of GB These photographs taken by Frank Hurley document the Historic Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914-1917, led by Sir Ernest Shackleton...
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1910s Photorealist Art

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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