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
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
On Hold|$3,076
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 (...
Cotton, Oil, Canvas
$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
$1,903Sale 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
$1,070Sale 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
$36,000
H 20 in W 30.25 in D 2 in
Late Afternoon - Modernist Mid-Century Midwest Oil Painting
Located in Marco Island, FL
A quintessential American Scene landscape painted by the Chicago Modernist, William Schwartz. Workers in tilled fields surrounding a farmstead under dramatic skies. Painted in 1935...
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
$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
$22,000
H 35 in W 44 in D 2 in
Mid-Century Painting of Party by African-American from Detroit.
Located in Marco Island, FL
The scale of this dynamic party painting by Leroy Foster (1925-1993) makes you feel like you are in the room with a cocktail in hand. He was an accomplished muralist, so it is no s...
Canvas, Oil
"Feline Natura" (2023) by Sybiline, Oil Painting, Surreal Still Life
Located in Denver, CO
Sybiline's (CAN based) "Feline Natura" is an original, handmade oil painting that depicts a purple iris with a feline face and whiskers. About the Artist: Sybiline is a Canadian ar...
Oil, Panel
$1,800
H 28.75 in W 24.02 in
"The Hand", Surrealist John Devoluy (1903-1982) Oil on canvas
Located in New York, NY
John Devoluy (1903-1982) The Hand, 1950 c. Oil on canvas 28 3/4 x 24 inches l 73 x 61 cm John Devoluy was born in 1903 and became a central figure in the Parisian art world of the m...
Canvas, Oil
$1,058
H 11.03 in W 12.6 in
1968 Abstract Figurative Composition "Growth" By Ole Vincent Larsen
Located in Frederiksberg C, DK
This abstract painting presents a dynamic figurative composition in which organic forms and bold contours intertwine in a rhythmic and balanced arrangement. In this oil on canvas, t...
Canvas, Oil
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