Marion Huse On Sale

Marion Huse attended the New School of Design in Boston and the Carnegie Institute of Art in Pittsburgh. She spent summers painting in Europe; when her husband was stationed in France during World War II, Huse went with him and continued her painting on the other side of the Atlantic. Huse is credited with having the first one-person show of serigraphs in Paris, in 1947. Even though she would return to Pownal and Albany, she made frequent return trips to Europe and became increasingly interested and influenced by European Modernism and the School of Paris. The subjects of her prints and paintings are diverse, chronicling her many travels from New England to Canada, to Taos, to New York and Europe. During her lifetime, Huse was honored with numerous exhibitions and awards. Her works can be found in the permanent collections of the Fuller Art Museum, Brockton; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the US State Department; the Library of Congress; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London and many other fine public and private collections.

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.