Clare Veronica Hope Leighton

Born in London, England, Clare Leighton executed her first wood engraving in 1922 while enrolled at the Central School of Art and Design in London. A year later, her engravings were shown in the Society of Wood Engraver's annual exhibition, and she began to receive critical attention. At the onset of the Second World War, she moved to America. In 1943, Leighton taught at Duke University and eventually settled in Woodbury, Connecticut, where she worked until the late 80s. Leighton's prints show people engaged in various types of work. During her extensive career, Leighton carved more than 900 woodblocks and designed numerous book illustrations, bookplates, engravings, illustrations, and mosaics and stained glass windows. Although known primarily for her work as a printmaker, she was the author of seven books.

Bring energy and an array of welcome colors and textures into your space by decorating with figurative fine-art prints and works on paper.

Figurative art stands in contrast to abstract art, which is more expressive than representational. The oldest-known work of figurative art is a figurative painting — specifically, a rock painting of an animal made over 40,000 years ago in Borneo. This remnant of a remote past has long faded, but its depiction of a cattle-like creature in elegant ocher markings endures.

Since then, figurative art has evolved significantly as it continues to represent the world, including a breadth of works on paper, including printmaking. This includes woodcuts, which are a type of relief print with perennial popularity among collectors. The artist carves into a block and applies ink to the raised surface, which is then pressed onto paper. There are also planographic prints, which use metal plates, stones or other flat surfaces as their base. The artist will often draw on the surface with grease crayon and then apply ink to those markings. Lithographs are a common version of planographic prints.

Figurative art printmaking was especially popular during the height of the Pop art movement, and this kind of work can be seen in artist Andy Warhol’s extensive use of photographic silkscreen printing. Everyday objects, logos and scenes were given a unique twist, whether in the style of a comic strip or in the use of neon colors.

Explore an impressive collection of figurative art prints for sale on 1stDibs and read about how to arrange your wall art.