Manon Catherine Cleary was an American artist born in St. Louis, on November 14, 1942. Her father was a doctor and her identical twin sister, Shirley Cleary-Cooper, was an artist in Helena, Montana. She was a 1964 graduate of Washington University in her home town and for the rest of her life, was proud of having been a member of the Pi Phi sorority. After teaching at a junior high school near St. Louis, she studied in Italy and Spain and received a master of fine arts degree from Temple University in Philadelphia in 1968. Some of Cleary’s works are in the collections of museums, including the Corcoran Gallery of Art, National Museum of Women in the Arts, the Brooklyn Museum and Chicago Art Institute. Cleary had a remarkable ability to draw and paint with photographic fidelity, but she was also known as a charismatic teacher at the University of the District of Columbia and as a free spirit whose exuberant life may have been her most enduring work of art. After being given a rat as a pet in the 1970s, she made rats a recurring subject of her art, often in large-scale paintings, with each hair shown in luminous detail. Once, when an art gallery replaced one of her self-portraits with a painting of a rat, the label Self-Portrait was left on the wall. “All of my work has been about self, even the rats. I do have a rat nose and rat hands”, she told Washingtonian magazine in 2005. Since the 1970s, Cleary had been at the center of a group of artists in Adams Morgan. She exhibited her meticulous artwork throughout the city and around the world, but she also became known for her striking presence, her colorful love life and the rats she kept as pets. After studying in Rome in her youth, she developed what she called an obsession with Caravaggio, an iconoclastic painter who lived from 1573–1610. She often copied paintings at the National Gallery of Art and in her work, blended Renaissance styles with a distinctly modern sensibility. Cleary’s Rape series from the late 1990s grew out of a sexual assault she suffered in 1996 while lecturing in Kazakhstan. Several of the black-and-white works show Cleary screaming, others are spattered with red paint and one contains nails driven into her face. As an artist, Cleary borrowed classical techniques from her deep study of Renaissance masters to create paintings and drawings memorable for their frank realism and sometimes disturbing themes. In addition to her many nude self-portraits, Cleary made erotically charged paintings of flowers. She took inspiration from a painful personal history in a series of works depicting the terror of rape and in later years, of not being able to breathe without mechanical assistance. Critics considered her a leading figurative artist of the photo-realist school, in which painters render their subjects with camera-like precision. Cleary occasionally won awards for photography when adjudicators didn’t realize her works were free-hand creations. “She was widely acknowledged to be among the best, if not the best, of the city’s figurative painters. There is a tension between the cool, clinical detachment of photography and painting’s warm idealization of the form”, Washington Post critic Michael O’Sullivan wrote in 2006. Cleary exhibited her art in galleries and museums from Moscow to Paris to Hickory, but Washington was her home for 42 years. In 1974, she settled in the decrepit Beverly Court apartments on Columbia Road, where a coterie of artists soon grew up around her. She painted her walls purple and her fourth-floor apartment, even with the pet rats, became something of a bohemian salon. “She was a star”, painter Judy Jashinsky told the Washington City Paper in 2004, “She was stunning, beautiful, long, brownish-black hair, real thin, wore little sundresses and sandals. She was just very cool and there was always a crowd around her”. Cleary had a long list of male admirers, including several whose confrontational attempts at performance art led to their arrests. She had a brief marriage in 1981 to a Danish artist known as Tommy, whom she divorced in less than a year. As a kind of graphic homage to her various lovers, Cleary made a series of intimately revealing portraits that were featured years later on the HBO program Real Sex. She met her second husband after a gallery opening in Baltimore. By way of introduction, Kijek, a dancer, stripped naked at a crowded party, walked up to Ms. Cleary and they were married in 2001. Despite her unconventional life, Cleary was more than a mere provocateur. After a day of teaching, she would return to her studio, with its windows painted over to block out sunlight and work late into the night, with a bottle of Dr. Pepper at her side. She took nude photographs of herself from every angle, then painstakingly created lifelike images that seemed alive with the warmth of human flesh. “If she saw talent, she would support it and promote it,” Washington art collector and gallery owner Fernando Batista said in an interview, “She tied together so many groups, older and younger. There are very few people like that”. Even with the pet rats, Cleary’s candle-lit apartment became known as a gathering place for an ever-changing group of Washington artists. “I keep the light levels low all the time, curtains were drawn except in the dining room, where the plants need sun and windows painted over in my studio and I entertain at night when dust doesn’t show”, she told The Post in 1998. Manon Catherine Cleary died on November 26, 2011, in Washington D.C.
$1,925Sale Price|30% Off
Photo Realistic Diptych Hand Paintings
By Manon Cleary
Located in Washington, DC
Exceptional pair of paintings by Manon Cleary (1942-1911). Paintings are oil on canvas. Dated 1980 and signed in the front lower right corner and on reverse. Manon Cleary's work is ...
Canvas, Oil
"The Last" Citrus Elegance Still Life Oil Canvas
Located in Denver, CO
"The Last," a 2013 oil on canvas by Victoria Novak, is a testament to the timeless beauty and elegance of still life painting. Measuring 19.70 x 39.40 i...
Canvas, Oil
$400
H 12 in W 9 in
Pineapple Pink - Original Figurative Still Life Fruit Food Painting
By Kathleen Keifer
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Kathleen Keifer's original artworks represent one of the most significant expressions of New California Realism. Keifer brings a fresh perspective to her colorful scenes of everyday ...
Canvas, Acrylic
Black Square / yoga - oil on cancas
By Willard Dixon
Located in Burlingame, CA
Woman doing yoga, stretching, leaf, torn paper color composition featured in this delightful still life oil on canvas painting. In this series of trompe-l'œil oil paintings, Willard...
Canvas, Oil
$19,000
H 43 in W 53 in D 1.5 in
Summer Solstice: Photo-Realist Figurative Oil Paining of Two Swimmers in Aqua
By Samantha French
Located in Hudson, NY
"Summer Solstice", this photo-realist painting of a man and a woman swimming in a pool is painted by Hudson Valley artist, Samantha French made in 2024...
Canvas, Oil
$1,225
H 32 in W 28 in
The Mystery of Growing Things - Colorful Still Life Flowers in Vase Painting
By Katharina Husslein
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Inspired by paintings created by old masters and the immersive nature she experienced in the Black Forest, German artist Katharina Husslein paints in a representational hyperrealisti...
Canvas, Oil
Window 2
By A.J. Fries
Located in Buffalo, NY
A contemporary realist oil painting by American artist A.J. Fries. Artist’s Statement: My paintings are less about the images or scenes that they depict and more about my state o...
Canvas, Wood, Oil
Cherry Blossom
By Jason de Graaf
Located in Montreal, Quebec
My paintings are about staging an alternate reality, the illusion of verisimilitude on the painted surface, filtered so that it expresses my unique vision. Though my paintings may ap...
Canvas, Acrylic
$950
H 17 in W 17 in D 1.5 in
Lotus No. 35 (Photorealist Still Life Painting of Green & Brown Lotus Plant)
By Frank DePietro
Located in Hudson, NY
Photorealist still life painting of green lotus flower petals and a brown lotus pod against a light blue background oil on canvas, 16 x 16 inches, 17 x 17 inches in dark wood moulding Signed lower left Painted with the exactness of a still life photograph, this hard edge realist painting by artist Frank DiPetiro features a brown lotus pod with lush green leaves on a pale grey-blue background. Inspired by close observations of the natural world and encounters with still moments that give us pause. Lines, shapes and colors encountered in nature, reveal the cycles of decay and regeneration that are life’s constant state of change. The work has a quiet, meditative quality. The subject is portrayed in a manner true to their existence in a specific time and place and selected based on considerations of visual relationships to formal elements of painting. Aspects of photo realism, hard edge and color field techniques are utilized to isolate the uniqueness of the subject’s detail, as well as emphasize flatness and illusion of depth within the two-dimensional space of the painting. About the artist: Frank DiPietro was born and raised in Scranton PA. He received a Bachelor of Art from Bloomsburg University in 1997, majoring in both Painting and Ceramics with a minor in Art History. In 2000 he earned a degree in Art Education from Moore College of Art and Design while continuing his studies in painting. Frank lived in Philadelphia for twelve years painting and teaching at several museums, art centers and schools in the region. In 2010 he and his family moved to Chester County PA, where he currently resides. Frank currently teaches painting classes and workshops at the Delaware Art Museum and Longwood Gardens...
Canvas, Oil
$1,200
H 5.75 in W 10.5 in
"Florence Rooftops" (2015) Italian Cityscape Photorealist Oil Painting
Located in Denver, CO
"Florence Rooftops" by Greg Gandy is an original, handmade oil painting on canvas that measures 5.75 x 10.5, and rests at 6.25 x 11.25 inches framed, ready to hang. Greg Gandy is a ...
Canvas, Oil
$1,375
H 25 in W 20 in
Tennis Shoes - Framed Contemporary Pink Figurative Fashion Shoes Diptych Artwork
By Darwin Estacio Martinez
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Born in 1982 in Manzanillo, Cuba, artist Darwin Estacio Martinez honed his artistic skills at the Professional Academy of Fine Arts "El Alba" in Holguin, and furthered his education ...
Canvas, Oil
$14,500
H 72 in W 36 in D 1.5 in
Pink Ball & Hook (Photorealist Oil Painting of Industrial Equipment on Blue)
Located in Hudson, NY
Vertical photo-realist painting on canvas of pale pink ball with steel colored hook on a bright sky blue background 72 x 36 x 1.5 inches oil on canvas, thin wood stripping signed "Richards" on bottom right corner in yellow paint wire is installed on the back for easy hanging This precisely detailed photo-realist painting was made by Joseph E. Richards in 1981. The artist painted this piece when he was 60 years old during a successful career painting trains, cargo ships, and industrial machinery. Richards served in the US Navy during WWII and went on to study at the American Academy of Art in Chicago and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia before showing with Ivan Karp of O.K. Harris Gallery in NYC. The artist moved upstate to Hillsdale, NY for the later years of his life. This painting captures one of Richards' most beloved subjects, close up views of industrial equipment against a vivid blue sky. With a photo-realist approach to the subject, Richard was able to capture detailed changes in light and shadow, shape and form. The pale pink colored ball and steel colored hook, down to each screw and bolt, is completed with extreme focus and precision. One could easily confuse this painting with a photograph since it was completed with a very smooth application of paint, with no texture built upon the surface. It is not until you examine the painting up close, do you realize the artist's calculated brushwork. The painting is framed with natural wood stripping. The work is lightweight and easy to hang with wire installed on the back.The artist's signature is located on the front and back of the canvas. About the artist: Joseph Richards’ precisely painted canvases of giant cranes, cargo booms, propellers and train engines are fueled with a fascination like that of a six-year old boy. Working directly from photographs, Richards unites light and color together as one element, evident in the reflective surfaces of steel. The otherwise mundane signs of corrosive wear are magnified; rust stains glow on the canvas and yellow painted pulleys radiate like beacons against a bright, blue sky. Richards finds beauty in their dramatic color, resilient texture, definitive form and functionality. Richards paints sections of these objects in grand scale, with canvases up to 6 feet long and eye-popping color, calling attention to their massive proportions and exceptional strength. Richards had solo exhibits in New York City, Scottsdale AZ, and Washington DC, and his work is found in private and corporate collections here and abroad, e.g., the Tucson Museum of Fine Arts, Mobil Oil, Lankenau Hospital in Philadelphia, and E. Jean Belloni in Geneva, Switzerland. Resume: Born in 1921 in Des Moines, Iowa, Joseph Richards left for Chicago after high school to pursue a career in art. After serving in the U.S. Navy from 1942 – 1945, he went on to study at the American Academy of Art in Chicago and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. He eventually settled with his wife, Betty, in New York City. In 1969, longtime dealer Ivan Karp opened The OK Harris Gallery on West Broadway in Manhattan’s SoHo. Karp was at the forefront of the Photorealism movement, showing artists such as Duane Hanson and Manny Farber...
Canvas, Oil
$3,600
H 25 in W 25 in
Gardenia, Photorealist Flower Painting by Lowell Blair Nesbitt
By Lowell Nesbitt
Located in Long Island City, NY
This painting was created by American artist Lowell Blair Nesbitt. His most well known series, and perhaps his most beautiful and poetic, are the more than four hundred works he crea...
Canvas, Oil