Realist art attempts to portray its subject matter without artifice. Similar to naturalism, authentic realist paintings and prints see an integration of true-to-life colors, meticulous detail and linear perspectives for accurate portrayals of the world.
Work that involves illusionistic techniques of realism dates back to the classical world, such as the deceptive trompe l’oeil used since ancient Greece. Art like this became especially popular in the 17th century when Dutch artists like Evert Collier painted objects that appeared real enough to touch. Realism as an artistic movement, however, usually refers to 19th-century French realist artists such as Honoré Daumier exploring social and political issues in biting lithographic prints, while the likes of Gustave Courbet and Jean-François Millet painting people — particularly the working class — with all their imperfections, navigating everyday urban life. This was a response to the dominant academic art tradition that favored grand paintings of myth and history.
By the turn of the 20th century, European artists, such as the Pre-Raphaelites, were experimenting with nearly photographic realism in their work, as seen in the attention to every botanical attribute of the flowers surrounding the drowned Ophelia painted by English artist John Everett Millais.
Although abstraction was the guiding style of 20th-century art, the realism trend in American modern art endured in Edward Hopper, Andrew Wyeth and other artists’ depictions of the complexities of the human experience. In the late 1960s, Photorealism emerged with artists like Chuck Close and Richard Estes giving their paintings the precision of a frame of film.
Contemporary artists such as Jordan Casteel, LaToya Ruby Frazier and Aliza Nisenbaum are now using the unvarnished realist approach for honest representations of people and their worlds. Alongside traditional mediums, technology such as virtual reality, artificial intelligence and immersive installations are helping artists create new sensations of realism in art.
Find authentic realist paintings, sculptures, prints and more art on 1stDibs.
Helen Dzo Dzo Kaptur, California, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early-1970s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features former fashion model Helen Dzo Dzo Kaptur and other guests at the Kaufmann Desert House in Palm Sp...
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$1,800
Caracalla Therme, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1990s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a woman experiences the Caracalla Therme spa in Baden-Baden, September 1990. This is an estate-stamped ...
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Lyford Cay Fire Service, Bahamas, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1960s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features two people horseback riding at the Rawlins Plantation...
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$326Sale Price|20% Off
Black/white photo of Paris France on matte paper "Between Orsay and the Louvre"
Located in VÉNISSIEUX, FR
"Between Orsay and the Louvre" Medium: Archival pigment print on premium matte photo paper Dimensions: 20 x 27 cm / 7.8 x 10.6 inches (unframed) Edition: Limited Edition of 50 Signed...
Photographic Paper
Sugarbush Skiing, Vermont, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1960s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features tourists skiing at Sugarbush, a mountain resort in Vermont, April 1960. This is an estate stamped and h...
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Poolside Socialites, California, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1970s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features former fashion model Helen Dzo Dzo Kaptur (in white lace), Nelda Linsk (in yellow), wife of art de...
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1920's Gelatin Silver Print by Tina Modotti of a Mural Fresco by Diego Rivera
By Tina Modotti
Located in Chicago, IL
An original 1920s silver gelatin print by famed photographer Tina Modotti depicting a mural fresco by Diego Rivera in the Secretariat of Education Buiilding, Mexico City that illustr...
Silver Gelatin, Paper
Little Beach House, Acapulco, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1970s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features people horseback riding on the beach in Acapulco, Mexico, February 1975. In the background can be se...
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$3,900
Race Day Lunch, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1960s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features the Bahamas Speed Week in Nassau. This is an estate-stamped and hand-numbered edition of 150 with...
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Bettina Graziani, Sardinia, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1960s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features French fashion model Bettina Graziani (Simone Micheline Bodin) (1925 - 2015) adjusting the sail of a...
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$1,800
Porto Ercole, Italy, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1960s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features the waterfront at Porto Ercole, Italy. This is an estate-stamped and hand-numbered edition of 150 with...
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$4,200
Race Day Lunch, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1960s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features the Bahamas Speed Week in Nassau. This is an estate-stamped and hand-numbered edition of 150 with...
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Poolside Chat, California, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1970s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features former fashion model Helen Dzo Dzo Kaptur (in white lace), Nelda Linsk (in yellow), wife of art de...
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Cortina d'Ampezzo, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
The Piazza Roma, a square in Cortina d'Ampezzo in the Italian Alps, 1962. Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included Numbered and stamped by the Slim Aarons E...
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$420
Extra Large Cyanotype Seascape of Pacific Ocean Currents, Nautical Blue & White
By Kind of Cyan
Located in Barcelona, ES
This is an exclusive handprinted limited edition cyanotype. "Pacific Ocean Currents (Blue Border)" is a handmade cyanotype print of rough water texture resembling Pacific Ocean swell...
Watercolor, Other Medium, Rag Paper, Lithograph
Saint-Tropez Beach, Estate Edition Photograph, French Riviera
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Slim Aarons' Saint-Tropez Beach, an Estate Edition photograph, is a vintage scene of sunbathers on the French Riviera, August 1971. Colorful coral red and mint green umbrellas shelte...
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Britt Ekland, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Film star Britt Ekland (Britt-Marie Eklund) in Porto Ercole, Italy. Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included Numbered and stampe...
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Conca dei Marini, Italy, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1980s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a quiet bay in Conca dei Marini, on the Amalfi coast in Italy. This is an estate-stamped and hand-n...
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Bahamas Speed Week, Nassau, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1960s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Gordon Butler's Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray at the Bahamas Speed Week at the Oakes Course, Nassau. ...
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Party At Romanoff's, Beverly Hills, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograp
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1950s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a party at Romanoff's in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles. This is an estate stamped and hand numbered ...
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Scottsdale Home, Arizona, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1970s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features guests by the pool at the home of Wayne Beal in Scottsdale, Arizona. This is an estate-stamped an...
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Sugarbush Skiing, Vermont, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late-1960s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features an outdoor bar at Sugarbush, a mountain resort in Vermont. This is an estate stamped and hand numb...
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$3,000
Bahamas Speed Week, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1960s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features the Bahamas Speed Week in Nassau. This is an estate-stamped and hand-numbered edition of 150 with...
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$3,600
Buzios, Brazil, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1980s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features holidaymakers in Armacao dos Buzios, Brazil. This is an estate-stamped and hand-numbered edition ...
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Poolside tete a tete, California, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1970s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features former fashion model Helen Dzo Dzo Kaptur (in white lace) and other guests at the Kaufmann Desert House ...
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Californian Party, San Francisco, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1990s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features the Belgian born actress Audrey Hepburn (1929 - 1993) socialising at a party in San Francisco. This is an estate stamp...
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Drinks At Gstaad, Switzerland, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1980s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features models from Parisian jeweller M. Gerard enjoying drinks on the terrace of The Palace Hotel in Gstaad...
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Roca Llisa, Ibiza, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1970s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Fosca, Vera, and Fiona Bertran holidaying in Roca Llisa, on the island of Ibiza, Spain. This is an...
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Cortina D'Ampezzo, Italy, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1960s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features skiers walking up a mountain in Cortina D'Ampezzo, a ski resort in northern Italy. This is an est...
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Bahamas Speed Week, Nassau, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1960s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Gordon Butler's Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray at the Bahamas Speed Week at the Oakes Course, Nassau. ...
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Teddy Stauffer In Acapulco, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early-1970s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Swiss bandleader and restaurateur Teddy Stauffer (1909 - 1991) in the swimming pool of Warren Avis...
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Conca dei Marini, Italy, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1980s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a quiet bay in Conca dei Marini, on the Amalfi coast in Italy. This is an estate-stamped and hand-n...
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Poolside Service, Bahamas, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early-1960s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a swimming pool at the Lyford Cay Club at Lyford Cay on New Providence Island in the Bahamas, 1962...
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Kings Of Hollywood, Beverly Hill, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features film stars (left to right) Clark Gable (1901 - 1960), Van Heflin (1910 - 1971), Gary Cooper...
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Home of Colonel William H. Terrill Roanoke Virginia Original Photograph
Located in Soquel, CA
Home of Colonel William H. Terrill Roanoke Virginia Original Photograph Home of the Colonel William Terrill (CSA) Roanoke Virginia, original period s...
Photographic Paper, Ink, Silver Gelatin
Vane's Villa, Majorca, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late-1980s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features guests at Vane Ivanovic's villa in Cap de Formentor, Majorca, Spain. This is an estate-stamped and...
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$1,800
California Fashion, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1960s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Mrs. Anne Ryan (nee Evenson) wearing a sleeveless, two-piece outfit by Maurice Rentner, outside the Bota...
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$1,800
Lord Of All I Survey, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features the youngest peer in England, seven-year-old Thomas Alexander Fermor-Hesketh, 3rd Baron and 10th Bar...
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$2,400
Beverly Hills Party, Los Angeles, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1954 portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features American actors Lauren Bacall and Judy Garland attending a house party in Beverly Hills. This i...
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Zephyria I, Estate Edition. Monte Carlo French Riviera Speedboat Seascape
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Monte Carlo, 1970: This classic landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a vintage wooden and red painted speedboat carrying holidaygoers in the ...
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Self Portrait on Holiday in Athens, Greece
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Legendary photographer Slim Aarons relaxes in a self portrait shot in Athens, near the Acropolis. Slim Aarons said, "I love a solo holiday. It tends to refresh the part of oneself that is most depleted by modern life — patience. "Let me dispel a few myths. You will be lonely. No: you won’t. My solo travels in Paris have brought many perfect hours of being alone but not a moment of loneliness. People who depend on other people are often in hiding from themselves. Two and a quarter million people live in the City of Light: you will see many of them and you will pass them in the street, but when you see Notre Dame after dark and walk home and perhaps stop to have a drink in the Marais, you can feel that the only thing that is missing from your experience is the common dependency on someone to distract your attention. "I’ve had solo pints of Guinness in the pubs of County Kerry and County Cork. I’ve walked across the sage- and juniper-scented maquis of Corsica on a spring day, where you can still find the world of Napoleon’s childhood. More than once I went to the Isle of Iona in the Scottish Hebrides...
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$5,400
Nicholsons, New York, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1950s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Cafe Nicholson in New York. This is an estate-stamped and hand-numbered edition of 150 with a cert...
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$1,800
Lunch At Bali-li, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1960s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Mr. and Mrs. Amos Morrill together with Mrs. Ogden P. Starr having lunch at 'Bali-li' at the Mill Reef C...
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Alfresco Dining, Antibes, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late-1960s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features guests dining at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes on the French Riviera, August. This is an estat...
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Alfresco Dining, Antibes, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late-1960s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features guests dining at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes on the French Riviera, August. This is an estat...
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Catch Up by the Pool, California, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1970s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features former fashion model Helen Dzo Dzo Kaptur (in white lace), Nelda Linsk (in yellow), wife of art deale...
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Ricardo Bolliger, Italy, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late-1980s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Ricardo Bolliger sitting beside a swimming pool on the island of Capri, Italy, in September 1989. A ma...
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$2,400
Zermatt Skiing, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1960s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features the apres-ski in Zermatt, Switzerland. This is an estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 ...
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Conca dei Marini, Italy, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1980s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a quiet bay in Conca dei Marini, on the Amalfi coast in Italy. This is an estate-stamped and hand-n...
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Sunbathing In Capri, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1970s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features sunbathers by a swimming pool at the Hotel Punta Tragara on the island of Capri, Italy, Au...
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Bettina Graziani, Italy, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1960s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features French fashion model Bettina Graziani wading in the shallow waters of Costa Smeralda, pulling a small y...
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$1,800
Conca dei Marini, Italy, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1980s landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a busy bay in Conca dei Marini, on the Amalfi coast in Italy, August 1984. This is an est...
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Sunbathing In Capri, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1970s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features sunbathers by a swimming pool at the Hotel Punta Tragara on the island of Capri, Italy, Au...
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Domitilla Ruspoli, Rome, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1960s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Donna Domitilla Ruspoli in the gallery of the Palazzo Ruspoli in Rome, 1960. The giant frescoes...
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Hello There, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features film star Diana Dors (Diana Fluck) (1931 - 1984) in blonde bombshell pose on a satin-covered bed. T...
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Slim Aarons 'Marbella Pool' (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Laura Hawk, assistant to the Slim Aarons, relaxes by the pool at El Rincon, the von Pantz's Marbella home, September 1st, 1985. Slim Aarons Marbella Pool Chromogenic Lambda print Printed Later Slim Aarons Estate Edition Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide. Stamped and hand numbered by the Slim Aarons Estate. Certificate of Authenticity included. Additional sizes offered: 40 x 60 inches $3950 30 x 40 inches $3350 20 x 30 inches $3000 24 x 20 inches $2500 Over the course of a career lasting half a century, Slim Aarons (1916-2006) portrayed high society, aristocracy, authors, artists, business icons, the celebrated and their milieu. In doing so, he captured a golden age of wealth, privilege, beauty and leisure that occurred alongside—but quite separate from—the cultural and political backdrop of the second half of the Twentieth Century. The Slim Aarons Estate has released the limited Estate edition as a Lambda print, which is a modern c-type prints. They have chosen Lambda prints for their sharpness, clarity, colour saturation and quality, compared to archival inkjet prints. Lambda printing gives true continuous tone. Photograph is unframed Slide show includes a close-up of the Slim Aarons estate's stamp. Collector will get the next number in the edition * We are pleased to offer the entire archive of the Slim Aarons Estate, offering the official Slim Aarons Estate Edition (only offered in this edition of 150). * Internal: Vintage Marbella, Vintage Bathing...
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Lounging in Verbier, Swiss Alps, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph Mountains
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Swiss Alps, 1964: This landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features holiday-makers taking in the sunset on a white snowy mountain top in Verbier, Swit...
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Anne Anka, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1970s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Anne Anka, wife of singer Paul Anka and daughter of Count Charles de Zogheb, with her daughters (lef...
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Forest Sunrise Hand-printed Cyanotype Photograph, 8.5 x 11", 1/5 ed
By Christine So
Located in Oakland, CA
This is the mini studio proof of the larger hand-printed photograph of the same name. These iconic Monterey pines can be found all up and down the coast of northern California from S...
Photogram
Lounging In Gstaad, Switzerland, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1960s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features holidaymakers in sun loungers on the slopes at at Gstaad, Switzerland, March 1961. This is an est...
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