Isaac Sel

Hugues Claude Pissarro, also known professionally as H. Claude Pissarro, is the grandson of the Impressionist painter Camille Pissarro and son of Paulémile Pissarro. Born in Neuilly-sur-Seine and enveloped in an artistic environment, he inevitably spent his childhood and youth with brushes in hand. Carrying on the family tradition established by Camille Pissarro, H. Claude’s father frequently took his son on painting excursions, often accompanied by his numerous artistic friends which proved formative for him.

Initially taught by his father, H. Claude first exhibited his work at the age of fourteen. He subsequently studied art in Paris at prestigious establishments, in particular the École Normale Supérieure, a unique French institution dedicated to the pursuit of achievement and excellence to which only the academic elite have access. He also studied art restoration under Henri Linard, head of the laboratory at the Musée du Louvre. It was inevitable that this educational background would lead him to become a professor of art for much of his professional life and in 1963 he accepted an official invitation to teach art in Monaco.

Throughout his teaching career he remained a prolific artist, exhibiting on several occasions in Paris and London. As with many of his family predecessors, the scope of his work and talent is wide-ranging: from engraver, lithographer, publisher and landscape painter to portraitist. He was even commissioned in 1959 to paint a portrait of President Eisenhower.

H. Claude’s work has evolved through a variety of different styles and techniques, including abstract, avant-garde, minimalist and conceptual art. However, he is now perhaps best known for his Post-Impressionist–style works, which have been exhibited throughout the world since 1985.

Find a collection of authentic Hugues Claude Pissarro paintings and other art on 1stDibs.

(Biography provided by Stern Pissarro Gallery)

Used to refer to a time rather than an aesthetic, Contemporary art generally describes pieces created after 1970 or being made by living artists anywhere in the world. This immediacy means it encompasses art responding to the present moment through diverse subjects, media and themes. Contemporary painting, sculpture, photography, performance, digital art, video and more frequently includes work that is attempting to reshape current ideas about what art can be, from Felix Gonzalez-Torres’s use of candy to memorialize a lover he lost to AIDS-related complications to Jenny Holzer’s ongoing “Truisms,” a Conceptual series that sees provocative messages printed on billboards, T-shirts, benches and other public places that exist outside of formal exhibitions and the conventional “white cube” of galleries.

Contemporary art has been pushing the boundaries of creative expression for years. Its disruption of the traditional concepts of art are often aiming to engage viewers in complex questions about identity, society and culture. In the latter part of the 20th century, contemporary movements included Land art, in which artists like Robert Smithson and Michael Heizer create large-scale, site-specific sculptures, installations and other works in soil and bodies of water; Sound art, with artists such as Christian Marclay and Susan Philipsz centering art on sonic experiences; and New Media art, in which mass media and digital culture inform the work of artists such as Nam June Paik and Rafaël Rozendaal.

The first decades of the 21st century have seen the growth of Contemporary African art, the revival of figurative painting, the emergence of street art and the rise of NFTs, unique digital artworks that are powered by blockchain technology.

Major Contemporary artists practicing now include Ai Weiwei, Cecily Brown, David Hockney, Yayoi Kusama, Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami and Kara Walker.

Find a collection of Contemporary prints, photography, paintings, sculptures and other art on 1stDibs.

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.