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)
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
$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
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
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
$575
H 14.75 in W 16.5 in D 1 in
Jean Pierre Serrier (1934 - 1989, French) Surrealist Circus Scene
By Jean Pierre Serrier
Located in San Francisco, CA
Jean Pierre Serrier (1934-1989, French) Surrealist Circus Scene Oil on canvas Signed lower right Frame: 16.5" W x 14.75" H Canvas: 10.5" W x 8.75" H Jean-Pierre Serrier was born i...
Canvas, Oil
1965 French Magic SURREAL Realist Man in Farm
Located in New York, NY
Claude Verlinde is a French painter who works in the vein of "fantastic realism", sometimes called "magic realism", and his work shows the lineage of f...
Oil
$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
$10,060Sale Price|29% 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
$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
$8,000
H 39 in W 27.5 in D 1 in
Transparent Melody, Nude Figurative Original oil Painting, Ready to Hang
By Tigran Hovumyan
Located in Granada Hills, CA
Work: Original Oil Painting, Handmade Artwork, One of a Kind Medium: Oil on Canvas Year: 2018 Style: Surrealism, Subject: Transparent Melody Size: 39" x 27.5" x 1'' inch, 100x70x2 cm...
Canvas, Oil
$1,800
H 28.75 in W 24.02 in
"Characters", Surrealist John Devoluy (1903-1982) Oil on canvas
Located in New York, NY
John Devoluy (1903-1982) Characters, 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 became a cen...
Canvas, Oil
$1,065
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
$6,500
H 30 in W 18 in
Mid-20th Century Magical Realism, Surrealist Painting, Cleveland School Artist
By Paul Riba
Located in Beachwood, OH
Paul Riba (American, 1912-1977) Untitled Oil on panel Signed lower right 30 x 18 inches 39.25 x 27.25 inches, framed Paul Riba was a painter of Magic Realism. He explored the unrea...
Oil
$5,207Sale Price|26% Off
H 16.15 in W 13 in
Surreal Abstract Mineral Landscape with Cadaqués Rock Forms Oil Canvas Painting
By Antoni Pitxot
Located in Sitges, Barcelona
Surreal Abstract Mineral Landscape with Cadaqués Rock Forms Artist: Antoni Pitxot i Soler Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 41 × 33 cm / 16.1 × 13 in Signature: Signed lower right D...
Oil
Figures in the Mist
Located in Soquel, CA
Abstract figurative work by Bruce Killiam (American, 20th Century). Figures are emerging from the mist, creating an ethereal, moody composition made up of subtle tones of tan, grey, ...
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