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
How Come, Surrealist Oil on Canvas Painting, 20th Century, Framed
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
$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
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
Man and Time Surrealist Oil on Canvas Painting, Signed, 20th Century
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
$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
$2,950
H 16.34 in W 23.82 in
Scandinavian Lake View by Swedish Artist Per Julius (b.1951), Oil on Canvas
Located in Stockholm, SE
A beautiful original oil painting by Swedish artist Per Julius (b.1951). Julius is best known for his beautiful depictions of the Scandinavian nature and t...
Canvas, Oil
$800
H 15.75 in W 19.1 in D 0.79 in
Girls and Ponies: naive surrealist outsider Alice in Wonderland style painting
Located in Norwich, GB
Step into a dreamlike pastoral paradise with this enchanting mid-century oil on canvas by French artist Denise Collet. Titled "Girls and Ponies," this wo...
Canvas, 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
$2,069
H 20 in W 30 in D 1 in
Loch Keepers Cottage Scottish Oil Painting on Canvas, Victorian, 20x30 inches
By Joel Owen
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
The Loch Keepers Cottage by Joel B. Owen (British, signed and dated 1925) oil painting on canvas: 20 x 30 inches condition: overall very good and presentable, pronounced crinkling to...
Canvas, Oil
$6,623
H 22 in W 37 in D 2 in
20th Century Paris Street Scene 'Place du Châtelet' by Antoine Blanchard
By Antoine Blanchard
Located in St. Albans, GB
Antoine Blanchard 20th Century. Picture size: 15 x 30" (38 x 75cm) Outside Frame Size: 22 x 37 (56 x 94cm) Signed bottom right Oil on canvas BIOGRAPHY - Antoine Blanchard (1910 - 1...
Canvas, Oil
$10,620Sale Price|25% Off
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 Date: 1985 Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 50 × 61 cm / 19.7 × 24 in Framing: Unframed Signature: Signed and dated lower right Condition: Very good overall condition. Stable canvas and paint layer. Rich surface texture, visible impasto and original brushwork. Description Powerful surrealist oil painting by Antoni Pitxot Soler, one of the most important Catalan artists connected to Salvador Dalí’s inner circle and a key figure in the visual universe of Cadaqués and Figueres. Painted in 1985, this work belongs to Pitxot’s mature period and presents one of his most recognizable subjects: a dreamlike mineral landscape built from stones, fragments, shells, fossil-like forms and metamorphic shapes. The composition seems suspended between landscape, archaeology and hallucination, where inert matter becomes almost alive. The painting is especially strong visually. The lower section is constructed through a dense accumulation of sculptural forms, painted with thick, expressive brushwork and a refined chromatic range of blues, ochres, pinks, whites, greys and earthy tones. Above them, a floating organic form...
Oil
$2,495
H 16 in W 26 in D 1 in
‘Summer Evening’ British landscape and figures, cattle in moonlit scene
By George Augustus Williams
Located in Hillsborough, NC
Fine 19the century landscape by member of the renowned Williams family of artists, George Augustus (1814-1901). George Augustus was the son of Edward Williams (1781-1855), whose wife...
Canvas, Oil
$1,655
H 27 in W 37 in
Large 20th Century British Surrealist Abstract Figurative Oil Painting
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Surrealist Figures by Ronald Hull, British 20th century signed oil on canvas framed framed: 27 x 37 inches canvas : 24 x 34 inches Provenance: private collection, Cotswolds, England ...
Oil
$1,062
H 19.69 in W 15.75 in D 0.4 in
Egg in the Cage, Surrealist Oil Painting, Signed, 1983, 50x40 cm
Located in Roma, IT
Oil on canvas realized in 1983. Signed and dated. A striking and contemplative surrealist composition depicting an empty birdcage suspended before an arched opening overlooking a s...
Oil
$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
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