Dan Beard Gives Some Good Advice
By Edward Vincent Brewer
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Signature: Signed Lower Right Original advertisement for Cream of Wheat, published 1925. The image features Dan Beard sitting at a campfire talking to Boy Scouts. The full captio...
Canvas, Oil
(Untitled)
By George Hughes
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Medium: Oil on Board Dimensions: 18.00" x 23.75 Signature: Signed Lower Right
Oil, Board
A Surmountable Problem Writ Large
By Adam Mysock
Located in New Orleans, LA
After: The Young Beggar by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (c. 1645-50) and Approaching Thunder Storm by Martin Johnson Heade (1859) The main character of this painting finds himself mire...
Acrylic, Panel
(Untitled)
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Medium: Oil on Canvas Signature: Signed Lower Right
Canvas, Oil
$2,400
H 31 in W 37.25 in D 1 in
William Fisher Classic American Illustration on Canvas
By William Fisher
Located in New York, NY
William Fisher (American, 1891-1985) Untitled, 20th Century Oil on canvas/illustration 23 3/4 x 29 3/4 in. Framed: 31 x 37 1/4 x 1 in. Signed lower right: William Fisher William Fis...
Canvas, Oil
Western Prospectors
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Medium: Oil on Canvas Signature: Signed Lower Left
Canvas, Oil
Ruckus, Story Illustration
By Edmund Ward
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Date: 1940s Medium: Oil on Canvas Dimensions: 20.00" x 34.00" Signature: Signed Lower Right Ruckus, Story Illustration
Canvas, Oil
Original Magazine Story Illustration
By Edmund Ward
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Date: 1935 Medium: Oil on Canvas Dimensions: 23.00" x 33.50" Signature: Signed Lower Right Illustration for magazine story, 1935. Original magazine story illustration Spins...
Canvas, Oil
"Tackett and the Indian" Book Cover
By Louis S. Glanzman
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Medium: Acrylic on Board Dimensions: 24.00" x 31.50" Signature: Signed Lower Right "Tackett and the Indian" Book Cover, by Lyn Nofziger
Acrylic, Board
"Words ensued..." Story illustration for McClure's Magazine
By Orson Lowell
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Story illustration for “The Land of Heart’s Desire” by Myra Kelly for McClure’s Magazine, published July 1904, illustrated page 244. The full caption reads: "Words ensued which were...
Paper, Ink, Pen
Story Illustration
By Orson Lowell
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Medium: Sepia Gouache on Board Dimensions: 25.50" x 16.50" Signature: Signed Lower Right Story Illustration, Two Victorian women, man reading letter Lowell moved from Chicago...
Gouache, Board
A Good Table is an American Tradition
By Harold Anderson
Located in Fort Washington, PA
A family sitting around a dinner table. Ladies Home Journal interior illustration Signed lower right. Harold Anderson studied at the Fenway Art School in his native Boston. Amo...
Canvas, Oil
"It's the Thieving Federats Again"
By Walter Beach Humphrey
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Medium: Oil on Canvas Dimensions: 27.00" x 20.00" Signature: Signed Lower Right Illustration: Group of people in the old South. "It's the Thieving Federats Again" Illustration;
Canvas, Oil
(Untitled)
By Russell Sambrook
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Medium: Oil on Board Dimensions: 28.00" x 20.00" Signature: Signed Lower Right
Oil, Board
Country Gentleman Magazine Cover
By Joseph Francis Kernan
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Date: June 10, 1922. Medium: Oil on Canvas Dimensions: 26.00" x 24.00" Signature: Signed Lower Right Cover of Country Gentleman magazine 6/10/1922.
Canvas, Oil
$13,500
H 19 in W 14.25 in
A Tense Moment, A.B Kimball General Merchandise Calendar Illustration
By Henry Hintermeister
Located in Fort Washington, PA
A.B Kimball General Merchandise Calendar Illustration, January 1931
Canvas, Oil
Pretending (The Great Performance)
By Harry Brooker
Located in Mc Lean, VA
Signed and dated '1890' lower right
Oil
Figurative art, as opposed to abstract art, retains features from the observable world in its representational depictions of subject matter. Most commonly, figurative paintings reference and explore the human body, but they can also include landscapes, architecture, plants and animals — all portrayed with realism.
While the oldest figurative art dates back tens of thousands of years to cave wall paintings, figurative works made from observation became especially prominent in the early Renaissance. Artists like Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and other Renaissance masters created naturalistic representations of their subjects.
Pablo Picasso is lauded for laying the foundation for modern figurative art in the 1920s. Although abstracted, this work held a strong connection to representing people and other subjects. Other famous figurative artists include Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud. Figurative art in the 20th century would span such diverse genres as Expressionism, Pop art and Surrealism.
Today, a number of figural artists — such as Sedrick Huckaby, Daisy Patton and Eileen Cooper — are making art that uses the human body as its subject.
Because figurative art represents subjects from the real world, natural colors are common in these paintings. A piece of figurative art can be an exciting starting point for setting a tone and creating a color palette in a room.
Browse an extensive collection of figurative paintings on 1stDibs.