The Lithuanian-American artist Irving Norman was a social Surrealist who painted large-scale and highly detailed critiques of contemporary life with hopes that viewers would consider the consequences of their actions and change their behavior.
Influenced by the dire conditions of the Great Depression, Norman’s massive canvases feature armies of clone-like figures behaving in the clockwork manner in which they have been programmed. He moved from New York to Los Angeles in 1934 before helping to defend the Spanish Republic from the fascist Franco dictatorship.
Norman survived the Spanish Civil War and in 1939 settled on Catalina Island off the Southern California coast, where he began drawing and painting from the atrocities he had witnessed. In 1940, he moved to San Francisco and had a solo exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Art two years later. Norman then traveled to Mexico City and saw the murals of Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros before moving to New York City to study at the Art Students League from 1946 to 1947. He returned to San Francisco in the late 1940s. In 1988, fire destroyed Norman’s home, studio, artwork and personal papers.
Find original Irving Norman paintings and prints on 1stDibs.
(Biography provided by Heather James Fine Art)
American Street Scene
By Irving Norman
Located in Palm Desert, CA
A painting by Irving Norman. "American Street Scene" is a macabre social surrealism city scape, oil on canvas in a bold palette of reds, blues, and yellows by artist Irving Norman. T...
Canvas, Oil
$200,000
How Come
By Irving Norman
Located in Palm Desert, CA
"How Come" is a Modern surrealist oil on canvas painting by Irving Norman in 1968. The artwork is 90 x 60 inches and 91 1/4 x 61 1/2 x 1 5/8 inches with the fram, weighing less than ...
Oil
$100,000
Man and Time
By Irving Norman
Located in Palm Desert, CA
"Man and Time" is an American surrealist oil on canvas painting by Irving Norman in 1986. The artwork is 58 x 30 inches and 59 1/8 x 31 1/8 x 1 1/2 inches with the frame, weighing le...
Oil
$150,000
Snapshots
By Irving Norman
Located in Palm Desert, CA
"Snapshots" is a modern surrealist oil on canvas painting by Irving Norman in 1986. The artwork is 40 x 90 inches and 41 3/8 x 91 1/4 x 1 5/8 inches with the frame, weighing less than 50 lbs. It is signed and dated lower right, "I.N. '68". Norman's surrealist paintings transport viewers into dystopian realms where human figures meld with machinery, creating haunting landscapes of industrialized chaos and existential reflection. This painting uses a series of vignettes or "snapshots" of human couples in various states of health and vigor. The grotesque nature of some of the bodies is juxtaposed in the bright swimsuits as children play under an ominous sky...
Oil
$125,000
Bacchanal
By Irving Norman
Located in Palm Desert, CA
A painting by Irving Norman. "Bacchanal" is a macabre social surrealism painting, oil on canvas in a dark palette of reds, blues, and blacks by artist Irving Norman. The artwork is u...
Canvas, Oil
Striptease
By Irving Norman
Located in Palm Desert, CA
A drawing by Irving Norman. "Striptease" is a macabre cultural commentary drawing, pencil and color pencil on paper executed in a dark palette of blacks, grays, and reds by social su...
Pencil, Color Pencil
$3,500
H 33 in W 28 in D 3 in
Stowe Vermont Village Sleigh Ride, Mid Century Winter Figurative Landscape
By Walter Thomas Sacks
Located in Soquel, CA
Stowe Vermont Village Sleigh Ride - Mid Century Winter Figurative Landscape A bright, crisp morning and a sleigh ride through new snow in Stowe, Vermont...
Canvas, Oil
$21,645
H 21.26 in W 28.75 in D 0.79 in
Lively Paris street. 1973. Oil on canvas. 54 x 73cm
By Hiro Yamagata
Located in Riga, LV
Lively Paris street. 1973. Oil on canvas. 54 x 73cm Hiro Yamagata was born near Kyoto, Japan, went to Paris to study art, and considers himself an American artist. In his Los Angeles studio, Yamagata paints minutely detailed scenes of Paris streets, cafes and parks. He captures the essence of the naif style by presenting life in simple terms, and the world in the happiest light. His creative synthesis of photorealist and neo-folk techniques has won countless admirers and collectors. Yamagata's vision is unequivocally cheerful and his imagery is endlessly inventive. He works from a palette of over 100 shades of acrylic paints, and renders in exacting detail with brushes with as small as two hairs. Serigraphs of some of Yamagata's most popular paintings...
Oil, Canvas
$1,200
H 15.75 in W 15.75 in D 0.79 in
Curious (black old dog, snout, lady, vintage, animal, surrealist oil painting)
By Rudolf Kosow
Located in Quebec, Quebec
"Curious," by Rudolf Kosow, is an engaging portrayal of inquisitiveness and wonder, bridging the natural world and humanity. Dominating the scene is a giant bulldog, its face a tapestry of textures from the soft fur to the glistening nose, each detail crafted to convey a lifelike presence. Facing the monumental canine is a small-scale girl, her posture embodying the essence of childhood wonder as she stands before the immense animal. Her tilted head and attentive stance suggest a moment of mutual discovery and fascination. This poignant interaction is a snapshot of the innocent and pure connections that can occur across the divides of size and species. Kosow's "Curious" captures the beautiful moments of discovery that occur when the young and the gentle giants of the animal kingdom meet, encapsulating a shared curiosity that transcends words. The artwork serves as a reminder of the universal language of wonder that connects us all. keywords; painting on canvas, surrealist painting, animal vs human, americana, nature, man, man vs nature, surrealism, giant animal...
Canvas, Oil
$5,050
H 39.38 in W 39.38 in D 1.58 in
Manhattan Bridge- 21st Century Contemporary Street view Painting of New York
By Gineke Zikken
Located in Nuenen, Noord Brabant
Manhattan Bridge 100 x 100 cm, framed 103 x 103 cm (frame is included in price) Oil paint on canvas Gineke Zikken likes to paint outside ' in the subject she shows in her works' . B...
Canvas, Oil
$250
H 10 in W 8 in
Chapel and houses along a lake, New England Landscape - American School, 19th C
Located in Middletown, NY
Watercolor and pencil on buff wove watercolor paper, 10 x 8 inches (255 x 203 mm). In good condition with overall minor toning. Some watercolor paint splatters on the verso, contem...
Watercolor, Pencil
$1,358Sale Price|20% Off
H 24 in W 20 in
Orientalist North African Figures Market Stall City Scene large Oil Painting
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Market Stall Conversation French School, 20th century oil on canvas, unframed canvas : 24 x 20 inches provenance: private collection, France condition: sound condition but with consi...
Oil, Canvas
$3,500
H 29.5 in W 35.5 in D 2.5 in
“Autumn Landscape, c. 1910” American Impressionist New England Fall Oil Signed
Located in Yardley, PA
Warm air seems to move through this scene as the eye wanders along a gentle swale dotted with granite boulders, low stone walls and scrubby autumn color. A ribbon of meadow pulls us ...
Canvas, Oil
$185
H 16 in W 12 in D 0.13 in
A Stylish, Vintage 1940s Fashion Design, Women's Dresses, Marshall Field & Co.
Located in Chicago, IL
A stylish, vintage, 1940s fashion study featuring an elegant design for women's dresses (day & evening wear). Most likely a design study for a print advertisement for the famed Chicago Department store, Marshall Field & Co. Inscribed: "Above- Irene Castle inspired this dinner gown...
Paper, Pencil, Color Pencil
$3,083Sale Price|35% Off
H 26 in W 36 in D 3 in
Original Post-War Painting of Mournes from Duldrum Ireland by Modern Artist
By Denis Thornton
Located in Preston, GB
Original Post-War Oil Painting of Mournes from Dundrum Ireland by 20th Century Modern Artist, Denis Thornton (1937-1999) Art measures 30 x 20 inches Frame measures 36 x 26 inches (...
Canvas, Cotton, Oil
$9,902
H 23 in W 25.5 in
Winter - Fontainbleau Forest - Impressionist Oil, Landscape by Victor Vignon
By Victor Alfred Paul Vignon
Located in Marlow, Buckinghamshire
Signed figures in a landscape oil on canvas circa 1870 by French impressionist painter Victor Alfred Paul Vignon. The work depicts a woman carrying a basket with a young child beside her walking along a snowy path in a Fontainebleau Forest. This early work by Vignon was painted whilst he was under the tutelage of Camille Corot in the period between 1869 and 1870 . The work shows a mother and child in the forest at Fontainebleau in winter. Many painters in Vignon's circle such as Monet, Renoir, Sisley and Bazille visited this area to paint in the late 1860's and the early 1870's. Signature: Signed lower left Dimensions: Framed: 23"x25.5" Unframed: 13.5"x16" Provenance: Galerie Commeter - Hamburg c. 1920 French exhibition customs stamps verso His mother has been incorrectly identified as the writer Claude Vignon...
Canvas, Oil
$6,950
H 34 in W 29 in
19th century English fisherman out fishing at sunset or sunrise, with boat
Located in Woodbury, CT
Ernest Peel Law (British, Late 19th Century) Circa 1890 Fisherman at Sunset Oil on canvas, signed lower right Ernest Peel Law’s Fisherman at Sunset is a masterful evocation of eveni...
Canvas, Oil
$601Sale Price|58% Off
H 27.37 in W 26.78 in
Duska Markotić (Croatian artist) - 20th century winter landscape painting
Located in Varmo, IT
Duska Markotić (Croatia, 20th century) - Winter landscape. 50 x 50 cm without frame, 69.5 x 69.5 cm with frame. Oil on canvas, within passe-partout in wooden frame. - Work signed ...
Canvas, Oil
My World and Yours
By Irving Norman
Located in Palm Desert, CA
A drawing by Irving Norman. "My World and Yours" is a macabre social surrealism city scape, graphite on paper in a black and white palette by artist Irving No...
Graphite
NEW SYNTHESIS
By Irving Norman
Located in Los Angeles, CA
"NEW SYNTHESIS" GRAPHITE AND COLORED PENICL ON PAPER SIGNED, DATED 1947 ILLUSTRATED IN THE BOOK ON THE ARTIST "DARK METROPOLIS" 39.5 X 29.5 INCHES Irving Norman 1906-1889 Born Irving Noachowitz in 1906 in Vilna, which at the time was under Russia's control, Irving Norman emigrated to the United States in 1923, settling first in New York's Lower East, where he trained as a barber, and then in Los Angeles, where he opened his own barber shop in 1934. In 1938, Norman joined the Abraham Lincoln battalion of the International Brigade...
Color Pencil, Graphite