Ian Hornak Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Painter and draftsman Ian Hornak created vivid hyperrealist and Photorealist works, and was celebrated for his visionary incorporation of multiple-exposure photography into his landscape paintings.
The subject matter at the heart of the world’s finest Photorealist works flickers between crystal-clear reality and dreamy illusion, and Hornak’s representational art is just as compelling, enveloping the viewer with rich imagery and vibrant colors.
The painter was born John Francis Hornak in Philadelphia to Slovakian immigrants who moved to New York when he was still an infant. He became enamored of visual art at an early age — for his ninth birthday, Hornak received a set of oil paints and a book about Renaissance paintings. He reproduced many of the book’s photos of the works of Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and others so well that they looked like the photographs themselves.
Hornak studied art at the University of Michigan and Wayne State University. After earning his bachelor's and master's degrees in fine arts, he moved to New York City in 1968 and befriended Lowell Nesbitt. The realist artist introduced him to Willem de Kooning, Robert Motherwell, Robert Indiana and others. Hornak resisted the Abstract Expressionist and Pop styles of the era, instead creating work that was noted for its Surrealist and even Romantic elements.
In 1970, Hornak debuted his first paintings in his multiple-exposure style. A year later, the Tibor de Nagy Gallery hosted his first New York City solo exhibition, and his prominence in the art world grew. From 1986 until his death in 2002, Hornak produced botanical and still-life paintings inspired by Flemish and Dutch masters.
Hornak’s work can be found in the permanent collections of many institutions, such as the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Smithsonian National Museum of American History and the Library of Congress.
On 1stDibs, find authentic Ian Hornak paintings, drawings, prints and more.
1960s Renaissance Ian Hornak Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Charcoal
1970s Surrealist Ian Hornak Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Ink
1960s Renaissance Ian Hornak Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Charcoal
1960s Renaissance Ian Hornak Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Graphite
1960s Renaissance Ian Hornak Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Charcoal, Archival Paper
1960s American Realist Ian Hornak Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Charcoal
1960s Renaissance Ian Hornak Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Charcoal
1960s Renaissance Ian Hornak Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Charcoal
1970s Surrealist Ian Hornak Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Ink
1980s Renaissance Ian Hornak Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Ink
1970s Photorealist Ian Hornak Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Pencil
1960s Renaissance Ian Hornak Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Charcoal
1980s Renaissance Ian Hornak Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Ink
1970s Photorealist Ian Hornak Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Pencil
1980s Surrealist Ian Hornak Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Ink
1930s Art Deco Ian Hornak Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Chalk, Charcoal
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Ian Hornak Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Archival Paper, Charcoal
2010s Contemporary Ian Hornak Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Charcoal, Archival Paper
Early 1900s American Realist Ian Hornak Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Ink
1910s American Realist Ian Hornak Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Acrylic Polymer, Gouache, Pencil, Watercolor
2010s Contemporary Ian Hornak Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Fabric, Charcoal, Archival Paper, Magazine Paper
Late 20th Century Surrealist Ian Hornak Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Pencil, Color Pencil
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Ian Hornak Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Chalk, Charcoal
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Ian Hornak Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Archival Paper, Charcoal
Early 1800s Old Masters Ian Hornak Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Charcoal
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Ian Hornak Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Archival Paper, Charcoal
Mid-20th Century American Realist Ian Hornak Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Watercolor
1980s Photorealist Ian Hornak Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Pencil