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)
$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
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
$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
$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
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
The Human Condition - Monumental Scale Oil on Canvas Painting
By Irving Norman
Located in Palm Desert, CA
Irving Norman conceived and created "The Human Condition” at a time when he must have reflected deeply on the totality of his life. Given its grand scale and cinematic treatment, it ...
Canvas, Oil
$2,800Sale Price|20% Off
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
$165
H 16 in W 12 in D 0.13 in
A Stylish, Vintage 1940s Woman's Fashion Design Study, Marshall Field & Co.
Located in Chicago, IL
A stylish, vintage, 1940s fashion study featuring elegant designs for women's winter hat and coat, Likely an illustration study for a print advertisement for the famed Chicago depa...
Watercolor, Color Pencil, Pencil, Paper
$14,104
H 19.69 in W 24.02 in
Surrealist Mineral Landscape Spanish Catalan Oil Canvas Painting Dalí Circle art
By Antoni Pitxot
Located in Sitges, Barcelona
Dalí Circle Surrealist Mineral Landscape, Spanish Catalan Oil Painting Artist: Antoni Pitxot Soler / Antoni Pichot Soler (Figueres, 1934 – 2015) Title: Surrealist Mineral Landscape ...
Oil
$95
H 16 in W 12 in D 0.13 in
A Stylish, Vintage 1940s Woman's Fashion Study, Cover Design for Hattie Carnegie
Located in Chicago, IL
A stylish, vintage, 1940s woman's fashion study featuring an elegant graphic design for a portfolio cover featuring ladies resort clothes by Hattie Carnegie. Artwork size: 11 x 8...
Paper, Pencil, Color Pencil, Watercolor
$165
H 16 in W 12 in D 0.13 in
A Stylish, Vintage 1940s Woman's Fashion Study, Design for a Formal Evening Gown
Located in Chicago, IL
A stylish, vintage, 1940s fashion study featuring an elegant design for a woman's evening gown. Artwork size: 11 x 8 1/2 inches. Colored pencil and pencil on paper. Archivally ma...
Paper, Pencil, Color Pencil
$2,800
H 24.5 in W 28.5 in
Untitled, Nude Surreal Figures Together Slovenian French Oil Painting
By Heinrich Maryan Frama
Located in Surfside, FL
Genre: Surrealism Subject: Abstract Medium: Oil Surface: Canvas Country: France In this surreal composition by Heinrich M. Frama the artist clumps a group of figures towards the mid...
Canvas, Oil
$165
H 16 in W 12 in D 0.13 in
A Stylish, Vintage 1940s Fashion Design, Woman's Suit, Marshall Field & Co.
Located in Chicago, IL
A stylish, vintage, 1940s fashion study featuring an elegant design for women's suit. Most likely a design study for a print advertisement for the famed Chicago department store, Ma...
Pencil, Paper, Color Pencil
$165
H 16 in W 12 in D 0.13 in
A Stylish Vintage 1940s Fashion Study, Design for a Women's Dress, Lucien Lelong
Located in Chicago, IL
A stylish, vintage, 1940s fashion study featuring an elegant design for a woman's jacket dress; Lucien Lelong ”Indiscrete”. Artwork size: 11 x 8 1/2 inches. Archivally matted t...
Paper, Pencil, Color Pencil, Watercolor
$2,000
H 28.75 in W 24.02 in
"Man with a yellow rose", Surrealist John Devoluy (1903-1982) Oil on canvas
Located in New York, NY
John Devoluy (1903-1982) Man with a yellow rose, 1950 c. Oil on canvas 28 3/4 x 24 inches l 73 x 61 cm With frame: 30 3/4 x 26 inches l 78 x 66 cm John Devoluy was born in 1903 and ...
Canvas, Oil
$1,880Sale Price|27% Off
H 9.06 in W 6.7 in
Signed Oil Painting Cadaqués 2001 – Organic Surreal Composition on Cardboard
By Antoni Pitxot
Located in Sitges, Barcelona
Artist: Antoni Pitxot Title: Untitled (Cadaqués, 2001) Medium: Oil on cardboard Dimensions: 23 × 17 cm (9.05 × 6.69 in) Framing: Unframed Signature: Signed “Pitxot 01” upper right In...
Oil
$1,057Sale Price|37% Off
H 18.12 in W 14.97 in
Spanish Fishing Harbor Oil Painting c.1990, Post-Impressionist Marine Scene
By Josep Serrasanta
Located in Sitges, Barcelona
Artist: Josep Serrasanta (Buenos Aires, 1916 – Valldoreix, 1998) Title: Spanish Fishing Harbor Date: c.1990 Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 46 × 38 ...
Canvas, Oil
$3,150
H 30 in W 20 in D 1 in
Road Less Traveled Hawaii Surrealist Mid Century Figurative Abstract Landscape
By Marguerite Blasingame
Located in Soquel, CA
Road Less Traveled Hawaii Surrealist Mid Century Figurative Abstract Landscape Symbolistic and romantic Surrealist 1940s figurative abstract landscape with a figure journeying down a path in an idyllic landscape by Marguerite Louis Blasingame circa 1940-45. Signed Blasingame lower right corner; from a collection of her work. Unframed. Condition: Excellent; professionally cleaned and UV varnished. Image, 30"H x 20"W. Marguerite and her husband Frank Blasingame...
Oil, Linen
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