Realist Art
REALIST STYLE
Realist art attempts to portray its subject matter without artifice. Similar to naturalism, authentic realist paintings and prints see an integration of true-to-life colors, meticulous detail and linear perspectives for accurate portrayals of the world.
Work that involves illusionistic techniques of realism dates back to the classical world, such as the deceptive trompe l’oeil used since ancient Greece. Art like this became especially popular in the 17th century when Dutch artists like Evert Collier painted objects that appeared real enough to touch. Realism as an artistic movement, however, usually refers to 19th-century French realist artists such as Honoré Daumier exploring social and political issues in biting lithographic prints, while the likes of Gustave Courbet and Jean-François Millet painting people — particularly the working class — with all their imperfections, navigating everyday urban life. This was a response to the dominant academic art tradition that favored grand paintings of myth and history.
By the turn of the 20th century, European artists, such as the Pre-Raphaelites, were experimenting with nearly photographic realism in their work, as seen in the attention to every botanical attribute of the flowers surrounding the drowned Ophelia painted by English artist John Everett Millais.
Although abstraction was the guiding style of 20th-century art, the realism trend in American modern art endured in Edward Hopper, Andrew Wyeth and other artists’ depictions of the complexities of the human experience. In the late 1960s, Photorealism emerged with artists like Chuck Close and Richard Estes giving their paintings the precision of a frame of film.
Contemporary artists such as Jordan Casteel, LaToya Ruby Frazier and Aliza Nisenbaum are now using the unvarnished realist approach for honest representations of people and their worlds. Alongside traditional mediums, technology such as virtual reality, artificial intelligence and immersive installations are helping artists create new sensations of realism in art.
Find authentic realist paintings, sculptures, prints and more art on 1stDibs.
Style: Realist
Color: Beige
Enjoyment, Chickadee and Dogwood Flowers Suren Nersisyan Watercolor painting on
Located in San Francisco, CA
Enjoyment, Chickadee and Dogwood Flowers Suren Nersisyan Watercolor painting on paper
One-of-a-kind
Signed on front and back
2017
12 in. h x 16 in. w
1 lbs. 0 oz. Artist Comments
T...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Materials
Watercolor
RMS Laconia, signed oil painting
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
RMS Laconia, 1921
by Louis Letouche (French 1924-2015)
oil painting on linen canvas, stretched over board
framed
Framed size: 14.25 x 22.75 inches
Superb oil painting by the well ...
Category
1990s Realist Art
Materials
Oil
"Hawthorn, Whitethorn - Mespilus Oxycantha"
Located in Lambertville, NJ
Ashley John is proud to offer this artwork by:
Emily Stackhouse (1811 - 1870)
Miss Emily Stackhouse was born in the West Country in 1811, the same year as botanist and writer Reve...
Category
1840s Realist Art
Materials
Watercolor, Paper
"A Dance in the Moonlight" - Landscape Lithobrome Photograph
Located in Soquel, CA
"A Dance in the Moonlight" a Lithobrome photograph by Sigismund Blumann (American, 1872-1956). Signed "Sigismund Blumann" lower right. The blue color is the artist's own invention using a copper sulphate toning process. Unframed. Titled "A Dance in the Moonlight" on verso. Image size, 13.25"H x 10.5"W.
Sigismund Blumann (1872–1956) was a prominent tastemaker in Californian photography during the 1920s and 1930s. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area for his entire career, he edited magazines, wrote books, and made creative photographs. From 1924 to 1933 Blumann edited Camera Craft, the leading West Coast photographic monthly. Subsequently he established his own periodical, Photo Art Monthly, which he published until 1940. In these two magazines — for over fifteen years — Blumann found a large audience of mainstream pictorial photographers. In addition, he wrote five instructional books on photography...
Category
1920s Realist Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin, Photographic Paper
New York, Battery Park - Etching by J.E. Laboureur - 1907
Located in Roma, IT
Etching, 1907.
Image Dimensions: 10 x 18.5 cm.
Hand signed. Edition of 30 prints.
Jean-Émile Laboureur was a French painter, illustrator and engraver who spent his life between Par...
Category
Early 1900s Realist Art
Materials
Etching
Dressing Up
Located in Delray Beach, FL
Norman Meredith was British painter and illustrator, born in Liverpool (1909 - 1985) England. He studied at the Liverpool College of Art. He subsequently won a scholarship to the Ro...
Category
1980s Realist Art
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
La fortune fait oublier les amis
Located in New York, NY
Honore Daumier (1808-79),La fortune fait oublier les amis,lithograph, plate 31 from the series Caricaturana, published in Le Charivari in 1837; later in Alb...
Category
1830s Realist Art
Materials
Lithograph
Passing By
Located in Delray Beach, FL
Norman Meredith was British painter and illustrator, born in Liverpool (1909 - 1985) England. He studied at the Liverpool College of Art. He subsequently won a scholarship to the Ro...
Category
1980s Realist Art
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
Canard de Miclon (Old Squaw) /// Ornithology Martinet Bird Animal Art Duck
Located in Saint Augustine, FL
Artist: François-Nicolas Martinet (French, 1731-1800)
Title: "Canard de Miclon (Old Squaw)" (1008)
Portfolio: Histoire Naturelle Des Oiseaux
*Signed by Martinet in the plate (printed...
Category
1770s Realist Art
Materials
Engraving, Watercolor, Laid Paper, Intaglio
Joan Collins Relaxes (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Film star Joan Collins relaxes with her pink poodle on her pink bed.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenti...
Category
1950s Realist Art
Materials
Lambda
Old Wall in Aroniadika
Located in New York, NY
The focus of this artwork is a subject very dear to Tzannes: the timeless, spiritual quality of ancient ruins. The beautiful stone-wall of an Ancient Greek house, so up-close and alm...
Category
1980s Realist Art
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Nuova Raccolta di Cinquanta Costumi - Suite of Original Etchings by B. Pinelli
Located in Roma, IT
Complete Title: Nuova Raccolta di Cinquanta Costumi Pittoreschi Incisi all'Acquaforte".
Suite of original colored etching realized by the italian engraver Bartolomeo Pinelli in 1815-...
Category
1810s Realist Art
Materials
Etching
Marble on Marble
Located in Greenwich, CT
an arrangement of perfume bottles.
Category
Early 2000s Realist Art
Materials
Board, Oil
The Medieval Bridge at Aylesford in the County of Kent, English River Landscape
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
A delicate watercolor view of the Bridge at Aylesford over the River Medway in the English county of Kent.
Signed lower left "Frank Sherwin", (English,...
Category
1950s Realist Art
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
S. LOEB (SOLOMON LOEB)
By Anders Zorn
Located in Portland, ME
Zorn, Anders. S. LOEB (SOLOMON LOEB). H&H76, Asplund 115, Delteil 113. Etching, 1897. Unsigned (signed in the plate). Apparently the 2d or 4th State of 4. All of the states are descr...
Category
Late 19th Century Realist Art
Materials
Etching
Calvin's Jeans
Located in Fairfield, CT
Represented by George Billis Gallery, NYC & LA --The primary subjects of my paintings are 21st century man's working monuments, which represent our culture's dedication to produc...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Bar Harbor
Located in Dallas, TX
“Anne Weary, who grew up as a Texas cowgirl, is at home in the outdoors and knows its ways and its language. There is a sort of very quiet but very powerful mysticism in her work, a sense of presence that goes quite beyond words,” writes poet and University of Texas at Dallas professor Frederick Turner in the American Arts Quarterly.
Dallas born Weary studied under Olin Travis, Octavio Medellin and Chapman Kelley...
Category
Late 20th Century Realist Art
Materials
Paper, Graphite
Indian Baskets - Set of 3 photographs
By Nancy Maynard
Located in Soquel, CA
Indian Baskets - Set of 3 photographs
A set of three beautiful sepia tone photographs of Indian baskets by Nancy Maynard (American, 20th Century)...
Category
1960s Realist Art
Materials
Paper, Silver Gelatin
Coastal Oak Tree Landscape
By Deborah Eddy
Located in Soquel, CA
Wonderful color photograph of the gnarled trunk of a Coast Live Oak tree by California artist Deborah Eddy (American, b. 1943). Titled "Tree I" on the ma...
Category
1980s Realist Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin, Photographic Paper
Corner Stone at Chora Castle - Figurative Painting with Architectural Detail
Located in New York, NY
George Tzannes' Corner Stone at Chora Castle is a 24"x24" inches acrylic figurative painting. It depicts an architectural detail of the ancient castle in Chora, in the Greek island of Kythira. Ancient ruins have been often the subject of paintings through out art history, frequently depicted for their romantic and timeless spiritual quality. This painting by Tzannes is certainly not oblivious of such tradition, yet showing a very personal and unique approach. Instead of depicting the entire building, Tzannes chooses to concentrate on a architectural detail of an ancient castle in the Greek island of Kythira. The clarity and realistic precision with which the stones are painted, like a trompe-l'oeil, confer to this artwork a sculptural quality. The viewer can almost feel the roughness of the stone, the warmth of the Greek sun...
Category
1990s Realist Art
Materials
Acrylic
BREAKING THROUGH, Painting, Watercolor on Watercolor Paper
Located in Yardley, PA
Winter stream flowing through snow covered fields. All paintings are completed on 140 to 300lb acid free watercolour paper and using the best artist quality watercolour paints. :: P...
Category
2010s Realist Art
Materials
Watercolor
Fawsley, Northants
Located in Nutfield, Surrey
Daniel Van der Putten was born in a small farming village near Leyden in Holland and is completely self-taught, he was truly inspired by the finest Dutch landscape painters of the Du...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Materials
Oil
Spirit Tree, Painting, Watercolor on Watercolor Paper
Located in Yardley, PA
Ominous bare tree protruding above a dark tree line with an intense colorful sunrise behind it. All paintings are completed on 140 to 300lb acid free watercolour paper and using t...
Category
2010s Realist Art
Materials
Watercolor
Jack and GeeGee Entz on Rose-Canopied Steps, Tivoli (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Jack and GeeGee Entz beneath the rose-canopied steps which lead to the entrance of the tennis courts at the Villa d'Este at Tivoli, near Rome, Italy, ...
Category
1980s Realist Art
Materials
Lambda
"Mulford Onions" Large Highly Realistic Still Life, 2 Onions, Gray/Green Ground
Located in Wellesley, MA
"Mulford Onions," Oil on Canvas, 34 x 50 Inches, is a large-scale, elegant, very realistic still life of 2 onions side by side on a light green/gray ground. The monumental proport...
Category
Early 2000s Realist Art
Materials
Oil
Olive Grove
Located in New York, NY
Olive trees and olive groves are often the main subject of Tzannes paintings.
An American painter of Greek origins, Tzannes visited the Greek island of K...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Materials
Archival Paper, Monotype
Boy
By Kim McCarty
Located in White Plains, NY
'Boy' 2003 by American artist, Kim McCarty. Watercolor on paper, 29.75 x 22.25 in. (framed). This work on paper expresses the fragile vulnerability of adolescence. By using a “wet in...
Category
Early 2000s Realist Art
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
Late 19th Century Bessie Wessie Platinum Print
By Eizabeth Huggins
Located in Soquel, CA
Platinum Print of a "Bessie Wessie" Elizabeth (BESS) Huggins, Berkeley born 1895 to Charles Huggins, Brother of Eli Lundy Huggins, Indian Wars Captain and Medal of Honor recipient. ...
Category
1890s Realist Art
Materials
Photographic Paper, Platinum
19th Century watercolour painting of Empress Alexandra of Russia
By Pierre Tetar van Elven
Located in London, GB
The Dutch artist Pierre Tetar van Elven (1828-1908), the court painter of King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy (1828-1878) is responsible for this stunning watercolour painting. The image portrays the Russian Queen...
Category
19th Century Realist Art
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
Orage en Briere
Located in New York, NY
Jean-Emile Laboureur (1877-1943), Orage en Briere, etching and drypoint, 1932, signed in pencil lower left, numbered lower right and annotated “imp” (impressit, printed by the artist...
Category
1930s Realist Art
Materials
Drypoint, Etching
Portrait of a Man, Mid-Century Black & White Photograph by Edward Weston
Located in Soquel, CA
Rare black and white photograph, a portrait of a handsome man by Edward Henry Weston (March 24, 1886 – January 1, 1958). Signed "EW 1949" lo...
Category
1940s Realist Art
Materials
Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin
April Thaw
Located in Greenwich, CT
Painting of a bridge in Central Park
Category
2010s Realist Art
Materials
Oil, Panel
Olive Grove - Black and White Landscape of Greek Island
Located in New York, NY
George Tzannes's Landscape with Olive Tree is a 21.5 x 28.5 inches black and white monotype representing a Greek landscape. Olive trees populate the landscape. Tzannes is an American painter of Greek origins. In his twenties he visited Kythira, the Greek island of his father's birth. Since that time, the island has become the major reference of his creativity. The choice of using black and white to represent this landscape gives the mighty hundred-years old olive trees a monumental presence. The viewer is drawn into the timeless, spiritual quality of the Greek landscape. Despite the absence of color, Tzannes' mastery of drawing creates a tangible effect of the Greek light...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Materials
Archival Paper, Monotype
Les Canotiers Parisiens - Une Rencontre désagréable
Located in Roma, IT
Signed on plate.Original Prints.
From the series “Les canotiers parisiens”, 1843.
Catalogue Delteil N°1034.
Image Dimensions : 20.5 x 27 cm
This artwork is shipped from Italy. Under...
Category
1840s Realist Art
Materials
Lithograph
Cottage in Winter, Great Tew
Located in Nutfield, Surrey
Daniel Van der Putten was born in a small farming village near Leyden in Holland and is completely self-taught, he was truly inspired by the finest Dutch landscape painters of the Du...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Materials
Oil
Turn of the Century Photograph -- The Poet's Son Billie, 1898
Located in Soquel, CA
Late 19th century portrait of a young boy by Arnold Genthe (German/American, 19th-20th C), 1898. Signed "Arnold Genthe" lower left. "Billie, 11 mo." on v...
Category
1890s Realist Art
Materials
Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin
Dup...
Located in New York, NY
Honore Daumier (1808-1879), “Dup…”, lithograph, 1832, from the series Celebrites de la Caricature, plate 171. Reference: Delteil 45, Daumier Register 45, only state. In generally goo...
Category
1830s Realist Art
Materials
Lithograph
Scarecrow of OZ
Located in Pasadena, CA
Provenance
Acquired by the gallery directly from the artist
Description
Inspired by works of the great early 20th-century children’s book illustrators, such as Arthur Rackham, Kay Nielsen and Edmund Dulac, contemporary artist William Stout created a series of paintings depicting characters from popular children's stories and folktales.
One of the characters from Stout's "Wizard of Oz" series is the Scarecrow...
Category
2010s Realist Art
Materials
Ink, Watercolor
The Poet's Son Billie 1898
Located in Soquel, CA
Late 19th century portrait of a young boy by Arnold Genthe (German, 1869-1942). Signed "Arnold Genthe" lower left. "Billie 11 mo." on verso in the artist...
Category
1890s Realist Art
Materials
Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin
Prophet by Larry Aarons, "Gods, Prophets & Warriors" Drawing
By Larry Aarons
Located in Naples, FL
Larry Aarons works in graphite to render realistic portrayals of stoic and dignified figures. Aarons saw this arresting figure on a stroll through the city of Budapest. The graphite ...
Category
2010s Realist Art
Materials
Graphite
Le Harle Femell (The Female Merganser) /// Ornithology Martinet Bird Animal Art
Located in Saint Augustine, FL
Artist: François-Nicolas Martinet (French, 1731-1800)
Title: "Le Harle Femell (The Female Merganser)" (Plate 953)
Portfolio: Histoire Naturelle Des Oiseaux
*Signed by Martinet in the...
Category
1770s Realist Art
Materials
Engraving, Watercolor, Laid Paper, Intaglio
La Fortune Fait Oblier Les Amis
Located in New York, NY
Honore Daumier (1808-1879), La Fortune Fait Oblier Les Amis, lithograph, from the series Caricaturana, plate 31, 1838. Daumier Register 385, third state (of...
Category
1830s Realist Art
Materials
Color, Lithograph
New York, Courtland Street
Located in Roma, IT
Etching, 1908.
Image Dimensions: 30 x 17 cm
Hand signed and signed on plate.
Provenance: Galleria Prandi 26/10/1976.
Jean-Émile Laboureur was a French painter, illustrator and engra...
Category
Early 1900s Realist Art
Materials
Etching
'Broad Street, Winchester', Medieval Cityscape, Heatherly School of Fine Art
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
A delicate watercolor view of the medieval rectory of Winchester, in the English county of Hampshire, showing figures and a horse-drawn cart in Broad Street.
Signed lower right, "Frank Sherwin...
Category
1950s Realist Art
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
Whidbey
Located in Fairfield, CT
Represented by George Billis Gallery, NYC & LA --This work is about what I do while I write letters and think about all these urgent, global concerns and feel frustrated and pow...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Materials
Oil, Panel
Baronet
Located in Fairfield, CT
Represented by George Billis Gallery, NYC & LA --This work is about what I do while I write letters and think about all these urgent, global concerns and feel frustrated and powe...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Materials
Panel, Oil
"The Newcomes, Chapter XI" - Early 20th Century Figurative Watercolor with Piano
Located in Soquel, CA
An fine period watercolor, dated 1910, an illustration by Charles Edmund Brock (English, 1870-1938). This, from a novel by William Makepeace Thackeray, "The Newcomes, Memoirs of the Most Respectable Family." The novel was published in 1855. Below this image are two characters from "The Newcomes, Chapter XI". Presented in a rustic giltwood frame. Signed "C.E. Brock" and dated "1910" lower left. Image size, 10"H x 7.5"W.
Charles Edmund Brock was a widely published English painter, line artist and book illustrator, who signed most of his work C. E. Brock. He received his first book commission at the age of 20. He became very successful, and illustrated books for authors such as Jonathan Swift, William Thackeray, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, and George Eliot. Brock also contributed pieces to several magazines such as The Quiver, The Strand, and Pearsons...
Category
1910s Realist Art
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
Borders
Located in Fairfield, CT
Represented by George Billis Gallery, NYC & LA -- This work is about what I do while I write letters and think about all these urgent, global concerns and feel frustrated and pow...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Materials
Oil, Panel
Rao
Located in Fairfield, CT
Represented by George Billis Gallery, NYC & LA --This work is about what I do while I write letters and think about all these urgent, global concerns and feel frustrated and powe...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Materials
Oil, Panel
Premium Roast
Located in Fairfield, CT
Represented by George Billis Gallery, NYC & LA --This work is about what I do while I write letters and think about all these urgent, global concerns and feel frustrated and powe...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Materials
Oil, Panel
Pura Vida
Located in Fairfield, CT
Represented by George Billis Gallery, NYC & LA --This work is about what I do while I write letters and think about all these urgent, global concerns and feel frustrated and powe...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Materials
Oil, Panel
Jug - Fresco Painting of Ancient Greek Vase
Located in New York, NY
This painting measures 15.8" x 14" inches. The technique imitates fresco painting. It depicts an ancient Greek vase. It is part of a series depicti...
Category
1990s Realist Art
Materials
Concrete
Vase
Located in New York, NY
This still-life fresco painting is part of a series depicting ancient Greek amphoras and pottery vases from the archaeological site of Paliopol...
Category
1990s Realist Art
Materials
Concrete
Amphora
Located in New York, NY
This still-life fresco painting is part of a series depicting ancient Greek amphoras and pottery vases from the archaeological site of Paliopol...
Category
1990s Realist Art
Materials
Concrete
'A Three-Masted Frigate off Capri', 19th Century Seascape, Royal Naval Museum
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
A serene marine painting from the artist’s late period showing both his unerring compositional sense and his mastery of light and perspective.
Inscribed lower right, "Carl Sorensen" for Carl Frederick Sorensen (Danish, 1818-1879) and dated 1863.
In 1848, Sorensen was commissioned by the Danish Government as the official naval artist to accompany the Royal Danish Navy on an official tour of the Mediterranean and to make a series of studies of the trip. The inspiration that Sorensen derived from this expedition led him to return to Capri every summer for the remainder of his life and also inaugurated his career as Denmark’s preeminent marine painter. Sorensen received many honors and awards during his lifetime and his work may be found in the permanent collections of museums worldwide, including a substantial collection at the Royal Naval...
Category
1860s Realist Art
Materials
Oil, Canvas
Amphora
Located in New York, NY
This still-life fresco painting is part of a series depicting ancient Greek amphoras and pottery vases from the archaeological site of Paliopoli, in the Greek island of Kythera, kn...
Category
1990s Realist Art
Materials
Concrete
Madame Jean Serpieri
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
December 1961—Madame Jean Serpieri sits in the ballroom of the Tour La Reine near Athens, wearing a gown which belonged to the wife of Otto, the f...
Category
1960s Realist Art
Materials
Lambda
Tullio Abbate (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Tullio Abbate, of Abbate Boats, at the back of yacht as it is moored at a property on the shores of Lake Como, Italy, in June 1983.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 w...
Category
20th Century Realist Art
Materials
Lambda
Realist art for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Realist 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, purple, orange, red and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Slim Aarons, Michael Budden, Daniel Pollera, and Su Yu. 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 Realist art, so small editions measuring 0.1 inches across are also available.
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