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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.

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Style: Realist
David Loggan, Prospectus Cantabrigiae Orientalis & Occidentalis
Located in London, GB
David Loggan (1634-1692) Prospectus Cantabrigiae Orientalis & Occidentalis Engraving 32 x 46 cm Loggan was born to English and Scottish parents, and was baptised in Danzig in 1634. ...
Category

1670s Realist Art

Materials

Engraving

University of Oxford Botanic Garden watercolour by Margaret Waller
Located in London, GB
To see our other views of Oxford and Cambridge, 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 view you want. Margaret Waller...
Category

20th Century Realist Art

Materials

Watercolor

"Far Away Thoughts", 19th Century Oil on Canvas by Daniel Hernández
Located in Madrid, ES
DANIEL HERNÁNDEZ Peruvian, 1856 - 1932 FAR AWAY THOUGHTS signed "Daniel Hernandez" (lower right) oil on canvas 27-1/2 x 19-1/4 inches (70 x 49 cm.) framed: 39-3/8 x 31-1/8 inches (100 x 79 cm.) Daniel Hernández Morillo...
Category

Early 1900s Realist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Large Surreal Latin American Oil Painting
Located in Rochester, NY
Surreal hyper realistic trompe l'oeil oil painting by Latin American artist Victor Del Castillo. Peaches, grapes and cherries in rich brilliant colors and incredible detail. Measures...
Category

Late 20th Century Realist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Gate of Christ Church, Oxford engraving by Reeves after Mackenzie for Ackermann
Located in London, GB
To see our other Oxford and Cambridge pictures, including an extensive collection of works by Ackermann, scroll down to "More from this Seller" and below it click on "See all from th...
Category

1810s Realist Art

Materials

Aquatint

"Prickly Pear! Prickly Wire!" Blooming Prickly CACTUS BARB WIRE TEXAS DATED 1969
Located in San Antonio, TX
Helen Hunter One of the two Texas Queens of Cactus (1920-2003) Pleasanton Texas Artist Image Size: 20 x 24 Frame Size: 27 x 33 Medium: Oil Dated 1969 S...
Category

1960s Realist Art

Materials

Oil

Library View, Cambridge engraving Pieter van der Aa after David Loggan
Located in London, GB
Pieter van der Aa (1659 - 1733), after David Loggan (1634 - 1692) The Auditoriums & Public Library, Cambridge Engraving 12 x 16 cm An eighteenth-century view of the auditoriums and ...
Category

Early 18th Century Realist Art

Materials

Engraving

Pink Flamingos, Illustrative Watercolor Painting by Oscar Hess
By Oscar Hess
Located in Long Island City, NY
This watercolor painting was created by Oscar Hess in circa 1980. It is hand signed in the lower right hand corner, and measures 19.5 x 14 inches. It is displayed in a 27 x 22 inch m...
Category

1980s Realist Art

Materials

Watercolor

Forest Road Paper, etching, 21.5x28.5 cm
Located in Riga, LV
Forest Road, paper, etching, 21.5x28.5 cm Piotr Petrovich Belousov (1912-1989) was a Soviet, Russian painter, graphic artist, art teacher, professor of the Leningrad Institute of Pa...
Category

Mid-20th Century Realist Art

Materials

Etching

OIL PAINTING FRENCH By ? Beautiful lady of Nobility in a Gold Neoclassical Frame
Located in Ferndown, GB
OIL PAINTING By ? Beautiful lady of Nobility in a Neoclassical Frame FINE Portrait OIL PAINTING Old Master Early 19th Century French artist ...
Category

18th Century Realist Art

Materials

Oil

Water Sports - Coney Island Nude Swimmers and Nude Bathers
Located in Miami, FL
Presented in a good broad craved and antiqued giltwood frame in the Spanish Baroque style. Each corner boldly carved with a stylized anthemion mantled by foliate scrolls. The beauti...
Category

1940s Realist Art

Materials

India Ink, Watercolor

"Whirlwind", Martin Eichinger, Figurative, Bronze, Romantic, 54x84x72 in.
Located in Dallas, TX
The dynamic nature of this ecstatic pirouette must be experienced from all sides. Whirlwind examines the forces of attraction and separation in a relationship. The couple’s solid bon...
Category

Early 2000s Realist Art

Materials

Bronze

The Old Club
Located in Chesterfield, MI
The Old Club is a well known private boat club located in the St.Clair Flats, Michigan. This print is excellent for decorating with a nautical theme.
Category

Late 20th Century Realist Art

Materials

Lithograph

Doctor in Physic, University of Oxford 1813 engraving by John Agar
Located in London, GB
To see our other Oxford and Cambridge pictures, including an extensive collection of works by Ackermann, scroll down to "More from this Seller" and below it click on "See all from th...
Category

1810s Realist Art

Materials

Aquatint

"Risveglio" interior, open window, springtime tree blossoming and butterfly
Located in Sag Harbor, NY
An oil on copper painting. Risveglio, meaning "Awakening" in Italian, is a fitting title for this representation of spring blossoming outside the artist's window in her Tuscan farmho...
Category

2010s Realist Art

Materials

Copper

Backlit Candies, colorful super realistic oil painting of wrapped candy
Located in Brooklyn, NY
The artist was inspired by backlighting some cellophane wrapped hard candy. He states, "The patterns made by the transmitted colored light seemed like something I'd never seen before...
Category

2010s Realist Art

Materials

Oil, Canvas

"Hear No Evil" oil painting, self-portrait of artist plugging ears with fingers
Located in Sag Harbor, NY
"Hear No Evil" is an oil painting. It depicts a woman, the artist, Maryann Lucas, plugging her ears with her fingers. The two tone composition represents the artist's zodiac, Gemini,...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Pushkar 1: photograph of an Indian girl in a Ferrari shirt, in India, South Asia
Located in Bryn Mawr, PA
This photograph is from among Vincent Dixon's series created in Paris, Pushkar, Myanmar, Los Angeles, New York, London, Miami, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Milan, Barcelona, Madrid, São Pau...
Category

2010s Realist Art

Materials

Photographic Paper, Archival Pigment

Lech Ice Bar, Austria, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1960s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features skiers enjoy a drink by the Ice Bar at the Hotel Krone in Lech, Austria. This is an estate stampe...
Category

1960s Realist Art

Materials

Lambda

OLD MASTER W . THORNLEY OIL PAINTING High Quality 19th CENTURY Gold Gilt Frame
Located in Ferndown, GB
OLD MASTER W . THORNLEY OIL PAINTING High Quality 19th CENTURY Gold Gilt Frame OLD MASTER LARGE OIL PAINTING 19th Century NEW COLLECTION Of RARE PIECES OF ENGLISH HISTORY “Very ...
Category

Late 19th Century Realist Art

Materials

Oil

Summer, Painting, Oil on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
Picture. Summer. The saturated palette of greenery, the reflection of the sky in the water, willows, clouds, a beautiful summer day evoke a feeling of love and gratitude to nature. T...
Category

2010s Realist Art

Materials

Oil

Prints
Located in East Quogue, NY
Hyperreal oil painting by Anthony Adcock of a dirt footprint - gold and silver on paper, presented in wood frame. Image is hand drawn on paper. Anthony Adcock's hyperreal oil pain...
Category

2010s Realist Art

Materials

Gold, Silver

ALAN MAGEE Stones with Red Brick 1982 acrylic on canvas Realism - Large painting
By Alan Magee
Located in Rancho Santa Fe, CA
This is a large and wonderful painting by Alan Magee. “Stones with Red Brick” from 1982 is acrylic on canvas and painted in a photo realism style.
Category

Early 2000s Realist Art

Materials

Cotton Canvas, Acrylic

Portrait of William Shakespeare, Nineteenth Century oil painting
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Unknown Artist (English or American, nineteenth century) William Shakespeare Oil on canvas, mounted on board; 9 x 7 1/4 inches FRAMED: 14 1/2 x 13 inches (approx.) This work depicts...
Category

Mid-19th Century Realist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Important American Social Documentary Photograph Milton Rogovin Rare Original 60
Located in Buffalo, NY
An original gelatin silver print by American social documentary photographer Milton Rogovin depicting a resident of Buffalo's East Side in the early 1960's. This work is hand signed...
Category

1960s Realist Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Cockermouth, Brewery & Castle: Clifford Charman oil painting Modern British Art
Located in London, GB
To see our other Modern British Art, 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 artist you want. Clifford...
Category

1940s Realist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"Passing Time, " Framed Limited Edition Giclee Print, 48" x 60"
Located in Westport, CT
This contemporary realist Limited Edition print by Daniel Pollera is rendered from the perspective of a view from a beach house porch, looking out toward a body of water. Two Adirond...
Category

2010s Realist Art

Materials

Digital, Giclée

Wild Bill 1873, 53x 40", oil on canvas Large Old West Yellowstone cowboy style
Located in Southampton, NY
Wild Bill Hickok 1873 by Ceravolo is an oil on canvas featuring Ceravolo's trademark illusion brush strokes painted over his oil on canvas painting. T...
Category

1990s Realist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

The Dance Large Antique Orientalist Oil Painting on Canvas, Signed, 19th Century
Located in Jacksonville, FL
The Painting is Signed Description: Fabbio Fabbi (1861-1946) was an Italian painter renowned for his Orientalist artworks and his ability to capture the beauty and allure of Eastern...
Category

Late 18th Century Realist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Pheasants in Snow with Winter Trees in the English Countryside by British Artist
Located in Preston, GB
Pheasants in Snow with Winter Trees in the English Countryside by 20th Century Modern British Artist, James Wright Art measures 22 x 16 inches Frame measures 27 x 21 inches Pres...
Category

Late 20th Century Realist Art

Materials

Canvas, Cotton Canvas, Oil

Gladiators - Original Pencil Drawing
Located in Paris, IDF
Gustave Poetzsch (1870-1950) Gladiators Original pencil drawing Stamp of the Estate auction sale on the back on thin vellum 14 x 22 cm (c. 6...
Category

1890s Realist Art

Materials

Pencil

Baghdad Military Mystery Espionage Illustration Colliers , Saturday Evening Post
By John Pike
Located in Miami, FL
21.25 x 28 in. (54 x 71.1 cm.) Magazine illustration most likely for Colliers or The Saturday Evening Post Title : The One Behind Him, by Charles B . Child Work is unframed
Category

1950s Realist Art

Materials

Watercolor

"Plastic Figure 4" Oil Painting
Located in Denver, CO
Jason Walker's (CAN based) "Plastic Figure 4" is an oil painting that depicts a lone pink plastic Cowboy figure toy drawing his weapon in the darkness. ...
Category

2010s Realist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Bananas, 1983, Framed Impressionist Watercolor by Ed Ahlstrom
By Ed Ahlstrom
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Ed Ahlstrom, American (1944 - ) Title: Bananas Year: 1983 Medium: Watercolor on Paper, signed Size: 20 in. x 24 in. (50.8 cm x 60.96 cm) Frame Size: 29.5 x 33 inches
Category

1980s Realist Art

Materials

Watercolor

This is a Real Place! 1: large painting of lake or river w/ blue water & bridge
Located in Bryn Mawr, PA
"In the series “This is a real place!” I was fascinated by how the underside of the pier at Saint Simons Island, GA was like a readymade collage. The way the pilings and rails divide and frame the spaces between them looks artificially imposed on the scene until you notice the way the waves bounce off the pilings and the railings cast shadows on the water. In some iterations, I chose to simplify the structures of the pier and lighten the values so that it would emphasize the detail in the water. Likewise, I omitted a family of starlings and their droppings in favor of highlighting the geometry of the architecture and the colors and patterns of the water. Making paintings in a series allows me to investigate the results of making different decisions about an image. How I crop or stylize it, the manner in which I apply the paint, what gets included or excluded all add shades of meaning to each piece. Additionally, depictions of the same subject in different weather, seasons, times of day, and tides allows me a deeper understanding. I notice more relationships, colors, and details every time I paint the subject. Every painting is a pile of decisions. Playing with removing more and more details to see what is truly important sometimes improves the painting. The fewer elements you include in an image, the more each one means, and the more important it is to get each thing perfect. At times I like to paint every single detail I can find in a scene, and other times I feel like the unadorned components are sufficient to hold each other in a satisfying composition. I often add simplified shapes to my paintings to highlight the presence of absence or to heighten the importance of each area by creating stark visual contrasts. ⁠The physicality of the paint also plays a role. I used highly textured, thickly applied paint to construct the solid structural elements, and luminous layers of thinly glazed paint for the delicate linework and subtle blending of the water." - Brooke Lanier...
Category

2010s Realist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

A Delicious Meal, Oswald Poreau, Schaarbeek 1877 – 1955 Waterloo
Located in Knokke, BE
A Delicious Meal Poreau Oswald Schaarbeek 1877 – 1955 Waterloo Belgian Painter Signature: Signed bottom left, verso inscribed and dated "Préparatifs d'un fin souper" Oswald Poreau...
Category

Early 20th Century Realist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"Cloud Composition 9" Original Realist Skyscape with Clouds
Located in Denver, CO
"Cloud Composition 9" is a realistic capturing of a golden skyscape, created with oil paint on panel. This piece is framed at 9.5 x 9.5 inches and is ready to hang. Jesse Mangerson ...
Category

2010s Realist Art

Materials

Oil, Panel

"Pier Parking Sag Harbor" oil painting, streetscape in village w windmill & flag
Located in Sag Harbor, NY
A small oil painting by Carl Bretzke. A fleeting moment on Sag Harbor's Long Wharf in springtime, magnolia tree is in full bloom behind the historic windmill. The american flag is ra...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art

Materials

Linen, Oil

Water Sports - Nude Swimmers and Bathers at Coney Island
Located in Miami, FL
Historically, academic artists have always featured the central figures in their composition in a prominent light with the background figures being darker. In water sports...
Category

1940s Realist Art

Materials

India Ink, Watercolor

Baby on a Chair - Original Charcoals Drawing
Located in Paris, IDF
Gustave Poetzsch (1870-1950) Baby on a Chair Original red chalk drawing on linen watermarked paper 19 x 13 cm (c. 7,5 x 5 in) Stamp of the Estate auction sale on the back Very goo...
Category

Early 20th Century Realist Art

Materials

Charcoal

Two studies of Woman Profile - Original Charcoals Drawing - Circa 1920
Located in Paris, IDF
Gustave Poetzsch (1870-1950) Two studies of Woman Profile Original sanguine charcoal drawing Stamp of the Estate auction sale on the back on linen paper 25 x 40 cm (c. 10 x 16 in) ...
Category

Early 20th Century Realist Art

Materials

Charcoal

Dachshund. Dog portraits
Located in Oslo, NO
This small yet delicate and elegant work depicts a portrait of a dog lying on a gray blanket. Its confident and minimalist expression immediately draws attention. The unusual, minima...
Category

2010s Realist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

A comfy lurcher
Located in London, GB
Patrick Fergusson Millard (1902-1977) A comfy lurcher, 1929 signed and dated 'PF Millard 29' (lower right) oil on canvas 20 ⅛ x 24 ⅛ in. (51.1 x 61.3 cm.) 43.2 x 53.3 cm.) with frame...
Category

1920s Realist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Franklin Adams (New Orleans) "Camisole" - Modern Graphite Sketch Drawing
Located in New Orleans, LA
(Photographed behind the glass of the frame, so please pardon reflections.) As you can see from the receipt, this fine drawing was originally purchased for $3,500 on Julia Row in New Orleans. A New Orleans legend, Franklin Adams moved to the city in 1958 to teach painting and drawing at Newcomb College. Over the following years, he applied his wide-ranging talents to architecture, set design, logo design and other diverse projects. He was good friends with Mignon Faget...
Category

1990s Realist Art

Materials

Graphite

Antique Italian Oil Painting Young Woman with Fruit Basket Mediterranean Scene
Located in Palm Coast, FL
This authentic antique Italian oil painting depicts a young woman with a fruit basket standing along a sunlit Mediterranean waterfront, her figure rendered with warmth, dignity, and...
Category

Early 20th Century Realist Art

Materials

Oil

Mountain landscape with a village. 1980. Cardboard, oil. 49, 5x70cm
Located in Riga, LV
Mountain landscape with a village. 1980. Cardboard, oil. 49,5x70cm In this work artist paid attention to infinite landscape depiction of mountains in summertime. Mountains are thought to contain divine inspiration in many forms, and are the focus of pilgrimages of transcendence and spiritual elevation. Mountains surpass ordinary humanity and extend towards the heavens. They symbolize constancy and permanence and at their peak signify the state of absolute consciousness. The visual components of color, form, line, shape, space, texture, and value in this painting works together as one story of peaceful moment next to nature. The village at the foot of the mountains is depicted in light brush strokes. Information about artist: Janis Lauva...
Category

1980s Realist Art

Materials

Oil, Cardboard

Portrait Sketch by Philadelphia artist Julius Bloch
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Julius Thiengen Bloch (American, born Germany, 1888–1966) Portrait Crayon on paper, 4 1/4 x 3 1/2 inches FRAMED: 12 1/2 x 11 1/2 inches (approx.) This sketch comes directly from th...
Category

Mid-20th Century Realist Art

Materials

Paper, Crayon

La Campana
Located in Milford, NH
A beautifully detailed still life oil painting with a table adorned with a vase of sunflowers, assorted fruit, and other objects on a colorful tablecloth with an Italian countryside ...
Category

1990s Realist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Trompe l'oeil [Punch and Judy].
Located in New York, NY
Trompe l'oeil. [Punch and Judy]. Watercolor and drawing, undated, circa 1830. Paper size 10.25 x 14" (26.1 x 35.6 cm). On "J. Whatman" watermarked paper. Unidentified artist. A 19th-century visual montage of Cruikshank's "Punch & Judy." The images are taken from the book "The Tragical Comedy, or Comical Tragedy of Punch and Judy." As told to John Payne Collier by Giovanni in 1827, illustrated by George Cruikshank and published by S. Prowlett, London 1828. The central circle illustrates a drawing showing two allegorical female figures with two putti. The text under this image: “E Musao Hugonis Howard Armig, from Guercino.” On top of that illustration is a handsome painting of a flintlock pistol. Trompe l’oeil is an art of illustration – the name translates to ‘Trick of the Eye.” The puppet show of Pulcinella or Punch and Judy has a long and fascinating history. “A puppet play that would have featured a version of Punch was first recorded in England in May 1662 by the diarist Samuel Pepys. He noted seeing it in Covent Garden, London, performed by the Italian puppet showman Pietro Gimonde from Bologna, otherwise known as Signor Bologna. The earliest script of a Punch and Judy show...
Category

1830s Realist Art

Materials

India Ink, Watercolor, Pencil

Contemporary Realistic Painting, "Good Day Sunshine"
Located in San Diego, CA
This is a one of a kind original painting by local San Diego artist, Bronle Crosby. Its dimensions are 48 x 48 x 2.75. It is unframed. This large scale oil on canvas painting depic...
Category

2010s Realist Art

Materials

Oil

David Loggan Wadham College Oxford Collegium Wadhamense 1675 engraving
Located in London, GB
To see our other views of Oxford and Cambridge, 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 view you want. David Loggan (1634-1692) Wadham College Oxford Engraving 1675 34x42cm Loggan was born to English and Scottish parents, and was baptised in Danzig in 1634. After studying engraving in Danzig with Willem Hondius (1598-1652 or 1658), he moved to London in the late 1650s, going on to produce the engraved title-page for the folio 1662 Book of Common Prayer. He married in 1663 and moved to Nuffield in Oxfordshire in 1665. Loggan was appointed Public Sculptor to the nearby University of Oxford in the late 1660s, having been commissioned to produce bird’s-eye views of all the Oxford colleges. He lived in Holywell Street as he did this. The 'Oxonia Illustrata' was published in 1675, with the help of Robert White (1645-1704). Following its completion, Loggan began work on his equivalent work for Cambridge; the 'Cantabrigia Illustrata' was finally published in 1690, when he was made engraver to Cambridge University. The 'Oxonia Illustrata' also includes an engraving of Winchester College (Winchester and New College share William of Wykeham as their founder) whilst the 'Cantabrigia Illustrata' includes one of Eton College (which shares its founder, Henry VIII, with King’s College). Bird’s-eye views from this era required a particular talent as an architectural perspectivist; it was not until 1783 that it became possible for artists to ascend via hot air balloons and view the scenes they were depicting from above. Loggan thus had to rely on his imagination in conceiving the views. Loggan’s views constitute the first accurate depictions of the two Universities, in many ways unchanged today. Whilst the Oxford engravings were produced in reasonable numbers and ran to a second edition by Henry Overton (on thicker paper and with a plate number in Roman numerals in the bottom right-hand corner), those of Cambridge were printed in much smaller numbers. The Dutchman Pieter van der Aa published some miniature versions of the engravings for James Beverell’s guidebook to the UK, 'Les Delices de la Grande Bretagne' (c. 1708). The contemporary artist Andrew Ingamells...
Category

1670s Realist Art

Materials

Engraving

St John's College, Oxford 1675 engraving by David Loggan
Located in London, GB
To see our other views of Oxford and Cambridge, 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 ...
Category

1670s Realist Art

Materials

Engraving

Columbia vs Defender Racing off Oyster Bay
Located in Greenwich, CT
Unframed dimensions: 30 x 40 inches Framed dimensioins: 35 1/2 x 45 1/3 inches Sept 13th 1899 After a very competitive season Nat Herreshoff’s new 90 footer Columbia with Charlie Ba...
Category

2010s Realist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Rococo portrait Nude lady in Royal mantle Early 20th century Pastel drawing
Located in Stockholm, SE
The drawing perfectly conveys the individual originality of the character of the king's favorite with a lively mind and a kind heart, as evidenced by the royal mantle thrown over the naked body from above. The grace of the pose and the cold courtesy of the lady's smile indirectly reflected her playful temperament and refined coquetry. The drawing is built on the harmony of colors used by the artist. By an unidentified professional painter, vintage pastel drawing...
Category

Early 20th Century Realist Art

Materials

Wood, Paper, Pastel

Small Nude / - Abstract Figurativity -
Located in Berlin, DE
Gustl Stark (1917 Mainz - 2009 ibid.), Small Nude, 1946. Oil on canvas, marouflaged, 54 x 25 cm (picture), 30 x 60 cm (frame), signed "Stark" top left, verso twice signed "Gustav Stark", inscribed by hand as "Small Nude" and dated by hand "1946". With label of the exhibition of the Bundeshaus Bonn from 1956. - Rubbed area in the lower third of the body, at the same level a retouch in the ochre background. I provisional frame. - Abstract Figurativity - About the artwork During the war, Gustl Stark suffered a particularly severe blow for an artist: he lost his right arm. Nevertheless, he continued to devote himself to art, and the painting, created in 1946, immediately after the end of the Nazi reign of terror, testifies to the dawn of a new era. At the same time, the work is a rare example of the artist's early figurative work, as Stark turned entirely to abstract painting as early as 1950. And even this painting is by no means purely figurative; rather, it already illustrates Stark's turn toward abstraction. We see a female nude, but one that remains faceless. This can be read symbolically and in relation to the immediate past epoch, which, in the face of horrors, silences and blinds - literally renders faceless. In this sense, the figure is positioned to 'look back'. But she does not look. While this meaning may resonate and make the painting an important work of the immediate postwar period, Gustl Stark is primarily concerned with something else here, namely art itself. The absence of the face leads to the body becoming something flat. Due to the de-individualization, we do not see a concrete person with his individual features, but a body surface. And indeed, the body is constructed through an extremely planar design. Even the contour lines that form the corporeality have a planar rather than a linear character, especially where they merge into shadow zones of almost the same color. And the surfaces themselves are not modeled. The incarnate parts do not show any plastic gradations; the corporeality is completely withdrawn into the plane, which is also true for the hair. In addition, there is no uniform background against which the figure could appear; rather, the area next to the hair is kept bluish, creating a succession of earth-toned colored areas, which again binds the figure to the surface. Last but not least, the flatness is also forced by the painting technique. Gustl Stark paints directly, a la prima, onto the coarse canvas, whereby the structure of the painting support remains visible in the picture, and in places - around the hair, for example - the canvas itself can be seen. This structural all-over lends the picture a certain flatness. Gustl Stark thus uses the very motif that stands for the corporeality of art par excellence - the female nude - to transform the spatiality of the traditional picture into a flatness characteristic of modern art. And yet, a strong impression of corporeality is created, without being produced by a painterly modeling of the body. The oscillation between flatness and corporeality creates the intense tension of this groundbreaking painting. In Gustl Stark's oeuvre, as a consequence of the abstraction we see here, the figurative is completely stripped away in a further step, which is also a loss when looking at this early key work. About the artist Gustl Stark was the son of a woodcarver and, after an apprenticeship as a decorative painter, attended the State School of Arts and Crafts in Mainz from 1936 to 1937. Although he was severely wounded in the war and lost his right arm, he studied at the Würzburg School of Painting and Drawing from 1943-1944 and then at the Academy of Fine Arts in Nuremberg from 1944-1948. He won a state scholarship at the state art competition in Bad Ischl. Numerous study trips to Sylt, Paris, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Holland and Belgium followed. Gustl Stark worked in Mainz and was the first artist there to focus on abstract painting. His work quickly gained international recognition, including the Salon Réaliés Nouvelles in Paris. From 1963-1970 he taught at the State University Institute for Art and Work Education in Mainz and from 1970-1975 at the Johannes Gutenberg University. Gustl Stark became particularly famous for his color embossed prints, for which he invented his own technique. Gustl Stark received numerous awards for his work. He received the Art Prize for Painting of the City of Mainz in 1962, the State Prize of Rhineland-Palatinate in 1984, and the Gutenberg Bust of the City of Mainz in 1987. Selected Bibliography Hans Vollmer (Hrsg.): Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler des XX. Jahrhunderts, Vierter Band, Leipzig 1958, S. 344. Hans H...
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