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Conceptual Figurative Photography

CONCEPTUAL STYLE

In 1967, artist Sol LeWitt wrote that in “Conceptual art the idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work.” He was giving a name to an art movement that had emerged in the 1960s in which artists were less focused on their medium being something traditionally “artistic” and instead engaged in using any object, movement, form, action or place to express an idea.

LeWitt’s work was featured alongside an assemblage of notes, drawings and outlines by other artists in “Working Drawings and Other Visible Things on Paper Not Necessarily Meant to Be Viewed as Art,” a groundbreaking show at New York City’s School of Visual Arts curated by Mel Bochner, another leading exponent of Conceptualism. Building on radical 20th-century statements, like Fountain (1917) by French artist Marcel Duchamp, Conceptual artists around Europe and North and South America were not interested in the commercial art scene and rather directly challenged its systems and values.

Stretching into the 1970s, this movement has also been called Post-Object art and Dematerialized art. Conceptual art reflected a larger era of social and political upheaval. Pieces associated with the style range from Roelof Louw’s Soul City (Pyramid of Oranges) (1967) — a work of installation art that sees fresh oranges stacked into a pyramid from which visitors are allowed to take one orange away — to On Kawara’s “Today” series, which saw the Japanese artist carefully painting a date in white acrylic on canvases consisting of a single color from 1966 to his death in 2014. Artists such as Ed Ruscha, who created the Twentysix Gasoline Stations book — a collection of photos of gas stations that is widely said to be the first modern artists’ book — made photography a major platform for Conceptual art, as did Bruce Nauman, who burned one of Ruscha's books and then photographed it for his own.

Conceptual art’s legacy of questioning artistic authorship, ownership and how to work with complex ideas of space and time had a significant influence on the decades of culture that followed, and it continues to inform art today.

The collection of Conceptual photography, paintings and sculptures on 1stDibs includes artworks by John Baldessari, Jenny Holzer, Lawrence Weiner, Joseph Kosuth and others.

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Style: Conceptual
Vintage Ektacolor Color Photograph Memory Berlin Germany Photo Shimon Attie
Located in Surfside, FL
Shimon Attie (b. 1957) Joachimstrasse, Ecke, Auguststrasse, Berlin, 1994 Edition 3/3 Dye coupler print on Kodak Ektacolor paper 27 x 34 inches (68.6 x 86.4 cm) (image) 34 x 40 inches (sheet) Presents well. Framed Dimensions 36.25 X 42.5 From series The Writing on the Wall. Attie projected found pre-war images of Jewish street-life in Berlin onto the same or nearby addresses in 1992/1993. Through this intervention, fragments of the past were introduced into the visual field of the present; long destroyed Jewish community life were visually simulated, momentarily recreated. The Writing on the Wall project was realized in Berlin’s former Jewish quarter, the Scheunenviertel, located in the Eastern part of the city, close to the Alexanderplatz. At the heart of Berlin, the Scheunenviertel was a center for eastern European Jewish immigrants from the turn of the century. The few historical photographs which remained after the Holocaust reflect the world of the Jewish working class rather than that of the more affluent and assimilated German Jews who lived mostly in the western part of the city.The juxtaposition between the projected images and the empty rooms reminds viewers of the fragility of memory, and how sites are activated/changed by presence and absence. Shimon Attie (born Los Angeles in 1957) is an American visual artist. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2008, The Rome Prize in 2001 and a Visual Artist Fellowship from Harvard University's Radcliffe Institute for Advance Study in 2007. His work spans a variety of media, including photography, site-specific installation, multiple channel immersive video installation, performance, and new media. Much of Attie's practice explores how a wide range of contemporary media may be used to re-imagine new relationships between space, time, place, and identity. Much, though not all, of Attie's work in the 90s dealt with the history of the second world war. He first garnered significant international attention by slide projecting images of past Jewish life onto contemporary locations in Berlin. More recent projects have involved using a range of media to engage local communities to find new ways of representing their history, memory and potential futures. Attie's artworks and interventions are site-specific and immersive in nature, and tend to engage subject matter that is both social, political and psychological. In 2013, Five monographs have been published on Attie's work, which has also been the subject of a number of films, which have aired on PBS, BBC, and ARD. Since receiving his MFA Degree in 1991, Attie has realized approximately 25 major projects in ten countries around the world. Most recently, in 2013-14, Shimon Attie was awarded the Lee Krasner Lifetime Achievement Award in Art. Judaica subject matter. He was born in 1957 and received an MFA in 1991. In 1991 he moved to Germany from his previous home in Northern California, and began to make work initially about Jewish identity and the history of the second world war. His work later evolved to engage broader issues of memory, place and identity more generally. Shimon Attie moved to New York City in 1997. Shimon Attie's work has been extensively reviewed by a wide variety of publications, including features and/or reviews in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Art in America, Art News, Art Forum, The Village Voice, The Boston Globe, and many others. Yasaman Alipour, writing in "The Brooklyn Rail: Critical Perspectives on Arts, Politics, and Culture", on Shimon Attie's solo exhibition "Facts on the Ground" at Jack Shainman Gallery in New York City: Attie achieves something profound: he presents a unique opportunity to contemplate Israel/Palestine without the distraction that is simultaneously a manifestation of the limitations of visual of written language and the possibilities of their alliance." Norman Kleeblatt, writing in a cover story for "Art in America" "Like many other artists in the wake of Marcel Broodthaers...
Category

1990s Conceptual Figurative Photography

Materials

Color

Source 3
Located in Buffalo, NY
An original Inkjet prints, carbon and beeswax mounted to wood that was included in the artistic duo's exhibition at the world renowned Albright Knox Art Gallery. Virocode is compose...
Category

2010s Conceptual Figurative Photography

Materials

Wood, Wax, Carbon Pencil, Inkjet

Source 8
Located in Buffalo, NY
An original Inkjet prints, carbon and beeswax mounted to wood that was included in the artistic duo's exhibition at the world renowned Albright Knox Art Gallery. Virocode is compose...
Category

2010s Conceptual Figurative Photography

Materials

Wood, Wax, Carbon Pencil, Inkjet

Conceptual Contemporary Art Color Photograph, Social Commentary
Located in Surfside, FL
Referencing immigrants and the disabled. Social commentary conceptual artwork. Provenance: Deaccessioned from a New York University. Condé + Beveridg...
Category

Late 20th Century Conceptual Figurative Photography

Materials

C Print, Color

Riggs Library II, Washington DC, Interior Architecture Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Riggs Library II, Washington DC, by world-renowned architectural photographer Reinhard Görner, captures the timeless elegance of one of America's rare surviving cast-iron libraries. ...
Category

2010s Conceptual Figurative Photography

Materials

C Print, Lambda

Riggs Library I, Washington DC, Interior Architecture Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Riggs Library I, Washington DC, by world-renowned architectural photographer Reinhard Görner, captures the timeless elegance of one of America's rare surviving cast-iron libraries. T...
Category

2010s Conceptual Figurative Photography

Materials

C Print, Lambda

EXP_4873.RAW
Located in Greifswald, DE
„According to some theories, the human brain encodes images through a process that takes place in several stages. At the beginning, the images are organized into two-dimensional sket...
Category

2010s Conceptual Figurative Photography

Materials

Panel, Inkjet

multiple indentity 2
Located in Greifswald, DE
"Everyone has a different vision of us because they look at us with their own eyes and not with ours, therefore, what we believe to be our identity is different from what others attr...
Category

2010s Conceptual Figurative Photography

Materials

Panel, Inkjet

"Untitled 3.22" Photography 16 x 24 inch Edition of 15 by García De Marina
Located in Culver City, CA
"Untitled 3.22" Photography 16' x 24' inch Edition of 15 by García De Marina Signed and numbered by the artist Comes with COA issued by the artist García de Marina was born in Gij...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Conceptual Figurative Photography

Materials

Digital Pigment

Prelude to 220, or 110 - A Shocking Performance Art
By Chris Burden
Located in Miami, FL
An artist who puts his life on the line for his art. Chris Burden was at the forefront of the conceptual art movement in the early 1970s. Prelude to 220, or 110 is one of his most important works where the artist puts his life on the line for his art. Burden voluntarily lays on his back. His neck and wists are have copper bands that bolt him to the floor. To his immediate left and right are two buckets of water with a 110-volt line inside. If the buckets were compromised in any way by a passerby or an unexpected event - Burden would have been electrocuted in a literal shocking performance. Art history is replete with artists who put themselves in harm's way to accomplish their art. Michelangelo risked a misstep to a certain death as he elevated himself over 60 feet to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Francisco Goya's "The Disasters of War" may have put him at odds with a governing orthodoxy. Picasso walked a very narrow line with during the Nazi occupation. Gutzon Borglum dangled himself off the face of Mount Rushmore and War Photographer Robert Capa, landed on Omaha Beach during D-Day. But it was Chris Burden whose art spotlighted...
Category

1970s Conceptual Figurative Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin

Church Steeple - Dog and Cat Large Format Polaroid
Located in Miami, FL
William Wegman's highly conceptual Dog - Cat interaction is depicted in this large-format Polaroid Polacolor print that features a double portrait - a Dog and a Cat - together but separate in their own defined space. Signed, titled, and dated to lower right ‘Church & Steeple William Wegman 93’. This work is unique. provenance: Wright Chicago, Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco Acquired from the previous in 1993 by the original owner Thence by descent Best viewed with a top gallery light...
Category

1990s Conceptual Figurative Photography

Materials

Polaroid

Reinhard Görner Menendez y Pelayo Madrid
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Reinhard Görner Menendez y Pelayo Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid 2017 40 x 60 inches ed. of 10 $6,000 50 x 75 inches ed. of 7 $9,000 signed and numbere...
Category

2010s Conceptual Figurative Photography

Materials

C Print, Lambda

Reinhard Görner Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid, Spain (Library, Madrid)
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Reinhard Görner Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid 2017 55 x 50 inches ed. of 10 $6,000 66 x 60 inches ed. of 7 $9,000 77 x 70 inches ed. of 5 $11,000 signed and numbered on label, verso Paper is trimmed to the image: actual image size listed Internal Search: Reinhard Görner, Library series, Madrid, Spain, Large-Scale Photography, Large-scale German photography, Spanish Libraries...
Category

2010s Conceptual Figurative Photography

Materials

C Print, Lambda

Reinhard Görner Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid, Spain (Library, Madrid)
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Reinhard Görner Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid 2017 55 x 50 inches ed. of 10 $6,000 66 x 60 inches ed. of 7 $9,000 77 x 70 inches ed. of 5 $11,000 signed and numbered on label, verso Paper is trimmed to the image: actual image size listed Internal Search: Reinhard Görner, Library series, Madrid, Spain, Large-Scale Photography, Large-scale German photography, Spanish Libraries...
Category

2010s Conceptual Figurative Photography

Materials

C Print, Lambda

Reinhard Görner: Rose Main Reading Room (New York Public Library)
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Reinhard Görner Rose Main Reading Room, 2014 New York Public Library New York, NY 50 x 63.5 inches Ed. of 10 $6,000 60 x 76.2 inches Ed. of 7 $9,000 70 x 88.9 inches Ed. of 5 $11,...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Conceptual Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Venus (detail), Sandro Botticelli Workshop, Painting Gallery, Berlin, Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Venus (detail), Sandro Botticelli Workshop, Painting Gallery, Berlin, Photograph 53.4 x 40 inches ed. of 7 $4400 66.7 x 50 ed. of 5 $6800 signed a...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Conceptual Figurative Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

DETAIL FROM: FOUR REGENTS OF THE GROOT-KRAMERGILD, 1622 painting
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Detail From: Four Regents of the Groot-Kramergild ​DETAIL FROM: FOUR REGENTS OF THE GROOT-KRAMERGILD, 2008 WERNER J. VAN DEN VALCKERT, 1622, PAINTING GALLERY BERLIN ​ Timeless autho...
Category

Early 2000s Conceptual Figurative Photography

Materials

Lambda

Isolamento by Gina Soden, Colour photography, Limited edition print
Located in Deddington, GB
Isolamento by Gina Soden [2020] limited_edition and hand signed by the artist Digital photograph on Baryta paper Edition number 3 Image size: H:70.02 cm x W:105 cm Complete Size of Unframed Work: H:74.2 cm x W:109 cm x D:0.1cm Sold Unframed Please note that insitu images are purely an indication of how a piece may look "On my 4th attempt I finally got inside here. Always overlooked by neighbours and a police station right next door, it always seemed tricky as it was hard not to get spotted. This was a grand villa...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Conceptual Figurative Photography

Materials

Paper, Digital Pigment

Source 6
Located in Buffalo, NY
An original Inkjet prints, carbon and beeswax mounted to wood that was included in the artistic duo's exhibition at the world renowned Albright Knox Art Gallery. Virocode is compose...
Category

2010s Conceptual Figurative Photography

Materials

Wood, Wax, Carbon Pencil, Inkjet

Untitled
Located in New York, NY
Humorous subject matter. Face mounted Plexi. Aluminum Braced. Archival Print. ABOUT THE ARTIST Marco studied fine art at Pratt Institute and the Art Students League in New York. New York Times photography critic Gene Thornton called Marco “a Minimalist, whose images are sensual, whimsical, often surreal, always strong, and deceptively simple.” “I’ve had the pleasure of working with Phil Marco on a number of my films. Phil is a man of extraordinary talents. It seems that his passion is to take an everyday object or event, and show it in an entirely new and exciting way.” Martin Scorsese. Phil’s work is represented in MOMA, The Museum of the Moving Image, and The George Eastman Museum of Photography. His first photographs were studies for his paintings, before he launched a career in print advertising. He eventually became a Director / DP for film and television for a vast base of national and international clients with his wife Patricia as Partner and Producer. In the 1980’s and 90’s Phil was the go to person for Special Effects in Television and Cinema, also best known for his graphic conceptual still lives, and his consummate mastery of lighting, and design. He’s won many awards for his work, including numerous Cannes Lions, Cleo’s, a Grammy for his print work on the legendary “Tommy the Who...
Category

2010s Conceptual Figurative Photography

Materials

Archival Ink

EXP_4873.RAW
Located in Greifswald, DE
„According to some theories, the human brain encodes images through a process that takes place in several stages. At the beginning, the images are organized into two-dimensional sket...
Category

2010s Conceptual Figurative Photography

Materials

Panel, Inkjet

Andy Rob
Located in New York, NY
Mixed Media on wood featuring the famed Andy Warhol. Photographed by Joester. Images on sides as well. Not framed. About the Artist: Steve Joester is a British-born Rock & ...
Category

2010s Conceptual Figurative Photography

Materials

Canvas, Photographic Film, Mixed Media

"Untitled 2.16" Photography 24 x 16 inch Edition of 15 by García De Marina
Located in Culver City, CA
"Untitled 2.16" Photography 24' x 16' inch Edition of 15 by García De Marina Signed and numbered by the artist Comes with COA issued by the artist García de Marina was born in Gij...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Conceptual Figurative Photography

Materials

Digital Pigment

EXP_5785.RAW
Located in Greifswald, DE
„According to some theories, the human brain encodes images through a process that takes place in several stages. At the beginning, the images are organized into two-dimensional sket...
Category

2010s Conceptual Figurative Photography

Materials

Panel, Inkjet

EXP_8623.RAW
Located in Greifswald, DE
„According to some theories, the human brain encodes images through a process that takes place in several stages. At the beginning, the images are organized into two-dimensional sket...
Category

2010s Conceptual Figurative Photography

Materials

Panel, Inkjet

EXP_8783.RAW
Located in Greifswald, DE
„According to some theories, the human brain encodes images through a process that takes place in several stages. At the beginning, the images are organized into two-dimensional sket...
Category

2010s Conceptual Figurative Photography

Materials

Panel, Inkjet

Vietnam War Protests Central Park - Nuclear War, Civil Rights, Agent Orange
Located in Miami, FL
In 1971, Central Park was a hub for Vietnam War Protests. In this work, Mitchell Funk captures a packed protest scene with emphasis on the graphic nature of the banners and flags. Th...
Category

1970s Conceptual Figurative Photography

Materials

Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Archival Pigment

Tacita Dean, Aerial View of Teignmouth Electron - Contemporary Photography
Located in Hamburg, DE
Tacita Dean (British, born 1965) Aerial View of Teignmouth Electron, Cayman Brac 16th of September 1998, 2000 Medium: Gelatin silver print on paper Dimensions: 21 x 26 cm (8 1/4 x 10...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Conceptual Figurative Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Queen #2
Located in New York, NY
Mixed Media on wood featuring the famed Queen Band. Freddie Mercury in the lead. Photographed by Joester. Images on sides as well. Not framed. Ab...
Category

2010s Conceptual Figurative Photography

Materials

Canvas, Photographic Film, Mixed Media

Muscle Man and Female Admirer at the Beach - Staged Photography
Located in Miami, FL
A ripped muscleman strikes the pose with an admiring female bystander who holds an oversized pair of prank sunglasses. In reality, the muscleman is a 5-inch cut-out, and the girl is ...
Category

1970s Conceptual Figurative Photography

Materials

Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Archival Pigment

End of the Affair #2 - Ltd Ed
Located in New York, NY
Vintage 50's Barbie with vintage accessories and set. Narrative depicts title - the end of the affair. Metallic print produced on metal. Black and white Photography. Ltd Ed.
Category

2010s Conceptual Figurative Photography

Materials

Metal

End of the Affair #4 Ltd Ed
Located in New York, NY
Vintage 50's Barbie with vintage accessories and set. Narrative depicts title - the end of the affair. Metallic print produced on metal. Black and white Photography. Ltd Ed.
Category

2010s Conceptual Figurative Photography

Materials

Metal

A Cut Above
Located in New York, NY
Mixed Media. Female centric. Featuring Madonna. About the Artist: Cabell Molina is a contemporary artist transplanted from California to the east. Where Cabell has proved hers...
Category

2010s Conceptual Figurative Photography

Materials

Mixed Media

The End of The Affair #1 - Ltd Ed
Located in New York, NY
Vintage 50's Barbie with vintage accessories and set. Narrative depicts title - the end of the affair. Metallic print produced on metal. Black and white Photography. Ltd Ed.
Category

2010s Conceptual Figurative Photography

Materials

Metal

By the Sea Ltd Ed 1/25
Located in New York, NY
Ltd Ed 1/25. Face mounted Plexi. Aluminum Braced. Archival Print. Female form at the seashore, made to appear part fish. ABOUT THE ARTIST Marco studied fine art at Pratt Institute and the Art Students League in New York. New York Times photography critic Gene Thornton called Marco “a Minimalist, whose images are sensual, whimsical, often surreal, always strong, and deceptively simple.” “I’ve had the pleasure of working with Phil Marco on a number of my films. Phil is a man of extraordinary talents. It seems that his passion is to take an everyday object or event, and show it in an entirely new and exciting way.” Martin Scorsese. Phil’s work is represented in MOMA, The Museum of the Moving Image, and The George Eastman Museum of Photography. His first photographs were studies for his paintings, before he launched a career in print advertising. He eventually became a Director / DP for film and television for a vast base of national and international clients with his wife Patricia as Partner and Producer. In the 1980’s and 90’s Phil was the go to person for Special Effects in Television and Cinema, also best known for his graphic conceptual still lives, and his consummate mastery of lighting, and design. He’s won many awards for his work, including numerous Cannes Lions, Cleo’s, a Grammy for his print work on the legendary “Tommy the Who...
Category

2010s Conceptual Figurative Photography

Materials

Giclée

The Messenger
Located in New York, NY
Face Mounted Plexi. Aluminum braced archival print. Mysterious subject matter. ABOUT THE ARTIST Marco studied fine art at Pratt Institute and the Art Students League in New York. New York Times photography critic Gene Thornton called Marco “a Minimalist, whose images are sensual, whimsical, often surreal, always strong, and deceptively simple.” “I’ve had the pleasure of working with Phil Marco on a number of my films. Phil is a man of extraordinary talents. It seems that his passion is to take an everyday object or event, and show it in an entirely new and exciting way.” Martin Scorsese. Phil’s work is represented in MOMA, The Museum of the Moving Image, and The George Eastman Museum of Photography. His first photographs were studies for his paintings, before he launched a career in print advertising. He eventually became a Director / DP for film and television for a vast base of national and international clients with his wife Patricia as Partner and Producer. In the 1980’s and 90’s Phil was the go to person for Special Effects in Television and Cinema, also best known for his graphic conceptual still lives, and his consummate mastery of lighting, and design. He’s won many awards for his work, including numerous Cannes Lions, Cleo’s, a Grammy for his print work on the legendary “Tommy the Who...
Category

2010s Conceptual Figurative Photography

Materials

Giclée

"Nicaragua, " from the series "We are the Kings and Queens of Narnia"
Located in New York, NY
From the series "We are the Kings and Queens of Narnia." This is a series of photographs about Bezzubov's family's somewhat unconventional way of traveling around the world - by wal...
Category

2010s Conceptual Figurative Photography

Materials

C Print

End of the Affair #3 Ltd Ed.
Located in New York, NY
Vintage 50's Barbie with vintage accessories and set. Narrative depicts title - the end of the affair. Metallic print produced on metal. Black and white Photography. Ltd Ed.
Category

2010s Conceptual Figurative Photography

Materials

Metal

Totem of Unmeasurable Memory Assemblage 7 Silver Gelatin Photograph Photo Prints
By Lewis Koch
Located in Surfside, FL
Totem of Unmeasurable Memory, 1995 Assemblage of 7 vintage silver gelatin prints Lewis Koch lives in Madison, Wisconsin, USA. After completing undergraduate studies in social histor...
Category

1990s Conceptual Figurative Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Suffocating
Located in Kansas City, MO
Artist: Rachel Lauren Title: Suffocating Date: 2019 Medium: Inkjet print Dimensions: 14 x 11 in. Photographer Rachel Lauren invites viewers to become more aware of the way natural beauty has been contorted, packed and sold as a cold, manufactured, cloned and empty product. Are women inherently beautiful, or do they require modifications? Are you seeing your uniquely created reflection through a distorted lens? By imposing a juxtaposition between real and fake through abstract portraiture, Lauren calls attention to these complex ideals in "Distorted Beauty". Lauren is currently an MFA candidate at UMKC and based in Colorado. Since the age of two, she has fostered a love for photography and traveling which have both shaped her understanding of the issues she addresses in her work. Contemporary photography, portrait photography, experimental portraiture, conceptual photography, Steve McCurry, Lisa Kristine...
Category

2010s Conceptual Figurative Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, Color, Inkjet

Conceptual figurative photography for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Conceptual figurative 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 figurative photography created in this style to introduce contrast in an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include elements of purple, green, orange and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Reinhard Görner, xulong zhang, Andrea McCafferty, and Ryan Arthurs. Frequently made by artists working with C Print, and Digital 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 Conceptual figurative photography, so small editions measuring 3.15 inches across are also available. Prices for figurative 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 $270 and tops out at $14,000, while the average work sells for $4,450.

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