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Realist Photography

REALIST STYLE

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.

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Style: Realist
Large Silver Gelatin Russian Photograph Potsdam Conference Winston Churchill
Large Silver Gelatin Russian Photograph Potsdam Conference Winston Churchill

Large Silver Gelatin Russian Photograph Potsdam Conference Winston Churchill

By Samariy Gurariy

Located in Surfside, FL

Potsdam conference meeting depicting Josef Stalin, Winston Churchill and Harry Truman (not visible) at the conference table, gelatin silver print, date of printing unknown, 16-1/2" x 22-3/4" sheet, date of printing unknown. Provenance: acquired from the estate of photographer Samariy Gurariy...

Category

20th Century Realist Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Slender Pines (Hand-printed cyanotype, 18 x 12 inches), ed. 3/10
Slender Pines (Hand-printed cyanotype, 18 x 12 inches), ed. 3/10

Slender Pines (Hand-printed cyanotype, 18 x 12 inches), ed. 3/10

By Christine So

Located in Oakland, CA

Brand-new addition to the Foggy Woods Collection of forests in northern California near San Francisco. New as of May 14, 2024. This is a hand-printed contact photograph using the ant...

Category

2010s Realist Photography

Materials

Paper, Archival Paper, Rag Paper, Photogram

Fog Ridge (Hand-printed cyanotype, 16 x 24", ed. 1 of 5)
Fog Ridge (Hand-printed cyanotype, 16 x 24", ed. 1 of 5)

Fog Ridge (Hand-printed cyanotype, 16 x 24", ed. 1 of 5)

By Christine So

Located in Oakland, CA

Brand-new addition to the Foggy Woods Collection of forests in northern California near San Francisco. This is a hand-printed contact photograph using the antique cyanotype process a...

Category

2010s Realist Photography

Materials

Paper, Archival Paper, Rag Paper, Photogram

Avro Lancaster Bomber DS689 ABC-fitted original 1943 silver gelatin photograph
Avro Lancaster Bomber DS689 ABC-fitted original 1943 silver gelatin photograph

Avro Lancaster Bomber DS689 ABC-fitted original 1943 silver gelatin photograph

Located in London, GB

To see our other original vintage warbird aeroplane posters, photographs and paintings, scroll down to "More from this Seller" and below it click on "See all from this Seller". Lancaster Bomber DS689 with Crew Original silver gelatin photograph c. 1943 21 x 16 cm Stamped to reverse ‘This Photograph has been Passed by Censor’ and ‘Copyright Aeroplane [Magazine]’ A photograph of the ground- and air-crew of DS689. The engine fitter second from left is Samuel Greisman. That the aeroplane has five operations marked on its nose suggests a date of late August or early September for the photograph. This photograph was publisehd in ‘Jews in Uniform’ by Michael Greisman, published by Aster Publishing. DS689 OW-S (identifiable from another photograph we have listed on account of the nose art...

Category

1940s Realist Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Mary Pickford Douglas Fairbanks at Walpi First Mesa Hopi Village 1920 Photograph
Mary Pickford Douglas Fairbanks at Walpi First Mesa Hopi Village 1920 Photograph

Mary Pickford Douglas Fairbanks at Walpi First Mesa Hopi Village 1920 Photograph

Located in Soquel, CA

Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks at Walpi First Mesa Hopi Village 1920 Photograph Original Sepia toned Silver gelatin photographic print by Charles Roshe (British, 1885-1974). Provenance: Mary Pickford, Elizabeth (Bess) Huggins. Image 10.75"H x 13.75"W He was Mary Pickford's favorite cinematographer and a personal friend, shooting all of the films in which she starred from 1918 to 1927, before they had a falling out during production of Coquette (1929). He was the first cinematographer to receive an Academy Award, along with Karl Struss, for Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927), and won again for The Yearling (1946), with Leonard Smith and Arthur Arling. He was also nominated four times. Walpi, pueblo (village), Navajo county, northeastern Arizona, U.S., on the edge of a high mesa in the Hopi Indian Reservation. It comprises a group of angular stone houses of two to three stories crowded on a narrow tip of the steep-walled mesa at an elevation of 6,225 feet (1,897 metres). The original pueblo (founded c. 1700) was on a lower part of the mesa, but following the Pueblo Rebellion, the inhabitants moved to the top as a defensive measure against Spanish retaliation. Walpi is known for an antelope ceremony and for snake dances, held during odd years in August and generally closed to non-Hopi spectators. Shitchumovi (Sichomivi) pueblo is adjacent and Hano is nearby. Pickford was the first Canadian to win an Oscar. She was also the second to win best actress and the first for a role in a film with sound. She was one of the founding members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In 1919 Pickford took the lead in organizing the United Artists Corporation with Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, and Douglas Fairbanks. In 1920, after the dissolution of her first marriage (1911–19) to actor Owen Moore, she married Fairbanks (divorced 1936). Pickford’s popularity continued unabated in Pollyanna (1920), Little Lord...

Category

1920s Realist Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin

Monsieur - Madame Paulhan Fly a Farman Airship 1910 Los Angeles Int. Air Show
Monsieur - Madame Paulhan Fly a Farman Airship 1910 Los Angeles Int. Air Show

Monsieur - Madame Paulhan Fly a Farman Airship 1910 Los Angeles Int. Air Show

By Roy Christian

Located in Soquel, CA

Reprint of a vintage photograph titled "Monsieur (Louis) and Madame Paulhan of France ready to fly a Farman model lll in Los Angeles - 1910 from an original photograph by an unknown ...

Category

Early 2000s Realist Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin

Slim Aarons 'Leisure in Antibes' (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
Slim Aarons 'Leisure in Antibes' (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)

Slim Aarons 'Leisure in Antibes' (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)

By Slim Aarons

Located in Los Angeles, CA

A woman sunbathing in a motorboat as it tows a waterskiier, in the sea off the Hotel du Cap Eden-Roc in Antibes on the French Riviera, August 1969. Leisure in Antibes Hotel du Cap Eden-Roc, French Riviera 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. Collector will get the next number in the edition 72 x 48 inches $4900 60 x 40 inches $3950 40 x 30 inches $3350 30 x 20 inches $3000 Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide. 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. 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). * Undercurrent Projects, New York, is proud to represent Aarons' full collection of negatives and transparencies. Housed at Getty Images Hulton Archive in London, 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. Internal: Slim Aarons Seascape Photography, Vintage Hotel du Cap Eden Roc, Vintage Pools, Vintage French Riviera, ocean, France, 70's French Riviera, seascape, red, Vintage beach...

Category

1960s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Capote Cycling, Slim Aarons Estate Edition
Capote Cycling, Slim Aarons Estate Edition

Capote Cycling, Slim Aarons Estate Edition

By Slim Aarons

Located in Los Angeles, CA

Slim Aarons Capote Cycling Slim Aarons Estate Edition 1970: Truman Capote (1924 - 1984) on his bicycle in Palm Springs, California. Author of several novels including 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' which was made into a film. 40 x 60 inches $3950 30 x 40 inches $3350 20 x 30 inches $3000 10 x 12 inches $1350 Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate. Chromogenic Lambda print from the original transparency 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). Please contact us for additional photographs from Slim Aarons * Undercurrent Projects offers premium quality photographic prints from the Slim Aarons Archive, owned and housed by Getty Images. All photographs are printed and authorized by the Getty Images Gallery, London. Photographs are printed utilizing the original transparency held at the archive source. Internal: Vintage Literary photography, vintage writers, vintage glamour, vintage breakfast at...

Category

1970s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

'Capri Tan' Estate Edition, 1968, Italy: vintage 60s beach fashion
'Capri Tan' Estate Edition, 1968, Italy: vintage 60s beach fashion

'Capri Tan' Estate Edition, 1968, Italy: vintage 60s beach fashion

By Slim Aarons

Located in Los Angeles, CA

1968, A kneeling sunbather shows off her rings and pendant on a beach in Capri, Italy. From a recent Vogue article on the photography of Slim Aarons: "The iconic Capri is always teeming with a variety of hotels, each more beautiful than the last. A stone's throw from the Villa Malaparte from Jean-Luc Godard's movie Contempt, the Faraglioni cliffs plunging into the turquoise of the Tyrrhenian Sea, and the colorful houses that climb the bay. The Hotel Punta Tragara was one of Slim Aarons' favorite spots in Italy." Slim Aarons Capri Tan...

Category

1960s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Sepia-Toned Architectural Photograph of San Xavier Mission in Tucson, Arizona
Sepia-Toned Architectural Photograph of San Xavier Mission in Tucson, Arizona

Sepia-Toned Architectural Photograph of San Xavier Mission in Tucson, Arizona

Located in Houston, TX

Sepia-toned architectural photograph of San Zavier Mission, a historic Spanish Catholic mission located near Tucson, Arizona, on the Tohono O'odham Nation San Xavier Indian Reservati...

Category

Mid-20th Century Realist Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin

"A Dance in the Moonlight" - Landscape Lithobrome Photograph
"A Dance in the Moonlight" - Landscape Lithobrome Photograph

"A Dance in the Moonlight" - Landscape Lithobrome Photograph

By Sigismund Blumann

Located in Soquel, CA

"A Dance in the Moonlight" a Lithobrome photograph by Sigismund Blumann (American, 1872-1956). Signed "Sigismund Blumann" lower right. The blue color is the artist's own invention using a copper sulphate toning process. Unframed. Titled "A Dance in the Moonlight" on verso. Image size, 13.25"H x 10.5"W. Sigismund Blumann (1872–1956) was a prominent tastemaker in Californian photography during the 1920s and 1930s. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area for his entire career, he edited magazines, wrote books, and made creative photographs. From 1924 to 1933 Blumann edited Camera Craft, the leading West Coast photographic monthly. Subsequently he established his own periodical, Photo Art Monthly, which he published until 1940. In these two magazines — for over fifteen years — Blumann found a large audience of mainstream pictorial photographers. In addition, he wrote five instructional books on photography...

Category

1920s Realist Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin

Realist photography for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Realist photography available for sale on 1stDibs. Works in this style were very popular during the 21st Century and Contemporary, but contemporary artists have continued to produce works inspired by this movement. If you’re looking to add photography created in this style to introduce contrast in an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include elements of blue, purple, red, pink and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Slim Aarons, Pico Garcez, Kind of Cyan, and Massimo Listri. Frequently made by artists working with Digital Print, and Lambda Print and other materials, all of these pieces for sale are unique and have attracted attention over the years. Not every interior allows for large Realist photography, so small editions measuring 3.94 inches across are also available. Prices for photography made by famous or emerging artists can differ depending on medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $105 and tops out at $75,000, while the average work sells for $3,000.