Jules Emile Zingg

Louis Latapie was a French painter, known mostly for his Cubist compositions and still life and nude paintings. Born Louis Robert Arthur Latapie, he showed interest in art as a boy and luckily for him, his family moved to Paris in 1900. Latapie’s earliest training was under Jean-Paul Laurens and enrolled in the Julien Academy in 1911. That same year, Latapie also took courses at the Ranson Academie, where he discovered Cubism under the supervision of Paul Serusier. World War I put a temporary damper on Latapie’s career, when he was stationed in Albi and later mobilized in 1914. The war took a great toll on Latapie because he was wounded three times and also lost one of his brothers in the war. By 1920, Latapie was able to again devote himself to art and also became a professor at the Ranson Academy. Latapie was finally able to expose his work in 1922, including several well-received one-man shows at the Galerie Druet. However, Latapie was set back again when his wife mysteriously disappeared that same year. As a result, Latapie moved to Toulon in 1925 and met fellow artist Juan Gris. In 1927, Latapie remarried and moved to Paris and spent the next few years teaching and living between Toulon and Paris. During this time, Latapie continued to paint in a Cubist style. Latapie served in the war again briefly during World War II in 1939 and in the mid-1940s he bought a workshop in Seine-Port. During this time, Latapie would exhibit along Desnoyer, Fautrier and others and became associated with the School of Paris. Latapie also began to create designs for tapestries in the early 1950s and shortly afterwards, his work began to sway towards Abstraction. Towards the end of his career, Latapie was commissioned to create murals and mosaics for public buildings. Throughout his career, his styles and techniques changed often, and he sometimes signed his work “Latapie” in cursive on the front of his canvas. Latapie continued to work himself until his mysterious disappearance in 1972, which is the assumed date of his death. Today his work is housed all over Europe and perhaps in your own home.

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.

The human body has long been a favorite subject for artists throughout history. Nude drawings and watercolor paintings reveal the human figure but also the social ideals, traditions and cultural beliefs around people and bodies at the time they were created.

Nude drawings and watercolors offer a unique way to illustrate the human body. Drawings in pencil or ink can quickly capture movement or poses while watercolor is more expressive of a moment. Different cultures utilize the same materials differently, and each piece provides a singular glimpse into the perspectives and expectations around people’s bodies.

Artists like Francisco Goya, Gustav Klimt and Lucian Freud — who painted his friends, his lovers and his children — found acclaim and success by creatively depicting the human body. More recently, as contemporary artists have followed the figurative muse, many painters are exploring the nude as a subject for their drawings and works in watercolors.

If you’re thinking about bringing this kind of work into your space, there are many ways to consider how to arrange wall art in your living room or elsewhere in your home. Creating a wall of art is a wonderful way to enhance your space, showcase beautiful pieces and tie an interior design vision together. It allows you to evoke emotions in a room while also showing off your tastes and interests.

On 1stDibs, find a collection of nude drawings and watercolor paintings for diverse views and attitudes toward the human form through a range of cultures and times.