Realist Figurative 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
Gstaad, Switzerland, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Gstaad, Switzerland, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph
This early 1960s landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a helicopter arriving at a mo...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
The Klosters, Switzerland, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
The Klosters, Switzerland, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph
This early 1960s landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features skiers pass by the Hote...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Catherine Wilke in Capri (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Catherine Wilke joins the topless sunbathers on the island of Capri, 1980.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
Sl...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons
Saint-Tropez Boucherie
(Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
A boucherie or butcher's shop on Rue des Commercants in Saint-Tropez, on the French Riviera, 1971.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity f...
Category
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons
Lido Life, Venice
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Lido Life, Venice
1957
C print
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
A waiter serves fruit to...
Category
1950s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Slim Aarons
Verbier Skier
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons
Verbier Skier
1964
C print
Estate edition of 150
A blonde skier on the slopes at Verbier, February 1964.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certific...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons
Skiing Waiters
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Three skiing waiters on a ski slope, with the man in the foreground carrying a bird on a tray, the second man carrying a wine in an ice bucket and the third carrying a menu, circa 19...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Lake Tahoe Ladies
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Caption:A group of young women in their bathing suits on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe, 1959.
Slim Aarons worked mainly for society publications, taking pictures of the rich and fa...
Category
1950s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Kings of Hollywood
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Film stars (left to right) Clark Gable (1901 - 1960), Van Heflin (1910 - 1971), Gary Cooper (1901 - 1961) and James Stewart (1908 - 1997) enjoy a joke at a New Year's party held at R...
Category
1950s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Lake Tahoe Ladies
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Caption:A group of young women in their bathing suits on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe, 1959.
Slim Aarons worked mainly for society publications, taking pictures of the rich and fa...
Category
1950s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons
Lido Life, Venice
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Lido Life, Venice
1957
C print
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
A waiter serves fruit to...
Category
1950s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Windsors In Portofino, Italy, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1950s figurative photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features the Duke and Duchess of Windsor walking their dog in Portofino in 1951.
This is an est...
Category
1950s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Top People
s Eatery, San Francisco, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1970s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Journalist Lucius Beebe beside a gold place setting in the glass roofed Garden Court of the...
Category
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons
Time For A Guinness
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Caption: April 1959: Gloria Guinness enjoying a swim in her pool at Manalapan, Palm Beach, Florida.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticit...
Category
1950s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons
Hang Gliding
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Hang gliding in Kitzbuhel, Austria,1980.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
Slim Aarons ...
Category
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons
Skiing Waiters
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Three skiing waiters on a ski slope, with the man in the foreground carrying a bird on a tray, the second man carrying a wine in an ice bucket and the third carrying a menu, circa 19...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons, Catherine Wilke in Capri (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Catherine Wilke joins the topless sunbathers on the island of Capri, 1980.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
Slim A...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons
Bahamas Signpost
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons
Bahamas Signpost
1964
C print
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
A signpost in Nassau points the way to Rum Cay...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons
The Fullers
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
May 1970: Alvin and Lilly Fuller outside their new home in Palm Beach, Florida, pose with their fashionable European sports car, the Mercedes 190SL
Estate stamped and hand numbered ...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Droulers And Daughters (Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Roberta Droulers sitting with her daughters, Nathalie and Virginie, in the lobby of the Villa D'Este on Lake Como, Tivoli, near Rome, Italy, circa 1984.
Estate stamped and hand numb...
Category
1980s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons
Saint-Tropez Boucherie
(Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
A boucherie or butcher's shop on Rue des Commercants in Saint-Tropez, on the French Riviera, 1971.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity f...
Category
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons
Westin Excelsior, Venice
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Portofino
1955
C print
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
Yachts moored in the Italian fishing village of Portofino...
Category
1950s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Slim Aarons
Patsy Pulitzer, Private Transport
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Private Transport
1955
Fiber print
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
Patsy Pulitzer rummaging in her bag on the se...
Category
1950s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Slim Aarons, Time For A Guinness
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Caption: April 1959: Gloria Guinness enjoying a swim in her pool at Manalapan, Palm Beach, Florida.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity ...
Category
1950s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Boating In Antigua
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
American actor Hugh O'Brian (left) hoists the sail on a dinghy, Antigua, West Indies, 1961.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Acrylic Polymer, Lambda
Slim Aarons Sugarbush Chalet
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
A group of people relaxing in a chalet in the Sugarbush Mountain ski resort, one of the largest ski resorts in New England, in Warren, Vermont, USA, circa 1960.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
Slim Aarons (1916-2006) worked mainly for society publications photographing "attractive people doing attractive things in attractive places." Taking pictures of the rich and famous both before and after serving as a photographer for the US military magazine Yank during World War II. His work has been included in the publications Town and Country, Holiday, Venture and LIFE.
Aarons was known for the positive portrayals he gave to the people he photographed and was invited to high-society gatherings for exactly this reason. His subject matter covered American and European society as well as nobility and both minor and major stars of the day.
Print is also available in 30 x 30", 40 x...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons
Vuccino and Rava in Capri
(Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Vuccino and Rava in Capri
1958
C print
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150
with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
Carla Vuccino, wearing a swimming cap, and...
Category
1950s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Saint-Tropez Boucherie (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
A boucherie or butcher's shop on Rue des Commercants in Saint-Tropez, on the French Riviera, 1971.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity f...
Category
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Hotel Taormina Pool Sicily, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph Sea Rocky Shore
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This landscape photograph features a seaside swimming pool at the Hotel Taormina, Sicily, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons in August 1975.
In this classic Sicilian seas...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Surfing in Biarritz
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Author and screenwriter Peter Viertel (1920 - 2007) with his surfboard on the beach at Biarritz, France, 1960.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of au...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Cafe in Monte Carlo (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Diners on a cafe terrace in Monte Carlo, Monaco, 1975.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
Slim Aarons (1916-2006) wo...
Category
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Verbier Skier (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
A blonde skier on the slopes at Verbier, February 1964.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
Slim Aarons (1916-2006) w...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Skiers at Verbier (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Skiers at Verbier, 1964
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
Slim Aarons (1916-2006) worked mainly for society publica...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Cafe in Monte Carlo (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Cafe in Monte Carlo, 1975
Chromogenic Lambda print
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
Diners on a cafe terrace in...
Category
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Scotti
s Yacht
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Guests on board Italian Count Hannibal Scotti's yacht, 'Scotland Cay', Monte Carlo harbour, Monaco.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 wit...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons
Lake Tahoe Ladies
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Caption:A group of young women in their bathing suits on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe, 1959.
Slim Aarons worked mainly for society publications, taking pictures of the rich and fa...
Category
1950s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Madame Jean Serpieri
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
December 1961—Madame Jean Serpieri sits in the ballroom of the Tour La Reine near Athens, wearing a gown which belonged to the wife of Otto, the f...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
In Capri (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
1958: Robert Hornstein, the artist Novella Parigini and Prince Dado Ruspoli on Capri.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certific...
Category
1950s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons, Skiing Waiters (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons
Skiing Waiters, 1960
C print
Estate stamped and numbered edition of 150
Caption: Three skiing waiters on a ski slope, with the man in the foreground carrying a bird on a...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons
Skiing Waiters
(Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons
Skiing Waiters, 1960
C print
Edition of 150
Caption: Three skiing waiters on a ski slope, with the man in the foreground carrying a bird on a tray, the second man carri...
Category
1950s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Leisure and Fashion (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
A woman watching a poolside fashion show at the Colony Hotel, Palm Beach, Florida, 1961.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the ...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Acrylic Polymer, Lambda
Skiing At Courchevel, Slim Aarons Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Skiers on the slopes at Courchevel, France, 1963.
Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included
Numbered and stamped by the Slim Aarons Estate
Modern estate edit...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons, Vermont Winter (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
circa 1960: Students from Stowe Preparatory School track through deep snow near Mount Mansfield and Spruce Peak, Vermont.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certif...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Hotel De Paris In Monaco (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
The entrance to the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo, Monaco, June 1977.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity ...
Category
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Gaëtan de Rosnay, Switzerland, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1980s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features French painter Gaëtan de Rosnay showing his work in Klosters, Switzerland.
This is an es...
Category
1980s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Gaëtan de Rosnay, Switzerland, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1980s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features French painter Gaëtan de Rosnay showing his work in Klosters, Switzerland.
This is an es...
Category
1980s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Gaëtan de Rosnay, Switzerland, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1980s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features French painter Gaëtan de Rosnay showing his work in Klosters, Switzerland.
This is an es...
Category
1980s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Jim Kimberly, California, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Jim Kimberly and Kim Wadsworth at the Beverly Hills Hotel, California.
This is an estate ...
Category
1950s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
The Marlboroughs, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
1957: John Albert Edward Spencer Churchill, the 10th Duke of Marlborough (1897 - 1972) and his wife Mary relax on a bench in the grounds of Blenheim Palace, the family seat in Oxford...
Category
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
The Marlboroughs, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
1957: John Albert Edward Spencer Churchill, the 10th Duke of Marlborough (1897 - 1972) and his wife Mary relax on a bench in the grounds of Blenheim Palace, the family seat in Oxford...
Category
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
The Marlboroughs, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
1957: John Albert Edward Spencer Churchill, the 10th Duke of Marlborough (1897 - 1972) and his wife Mary relax on a bench in the grounds of Blenheim Palace, the family seat in Oxford...
Category
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Coffee With Dalí, Madrid, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950 portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Spanish artist Salvador Dali enjoys a cup of coffee on the terrace of the Ritz Hotel, Madrid...
Category
1950s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Coffee With Dalí, Madrid, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Spanish artist Salvador Dali enjoys a cup of coffee on the terrace of the Ritz Hotel, Madri...
Category
1950s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club, San Diego, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features guests at the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club, La Jolla, San Diego.
This is an estate stamp...
Category
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Caped Skiers (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Led by skimaster Stein Eriksen, skiers 'sail' down a slope at Snowmass-at-Aspen, Colorado, circa 1967. The skiers are wearing thin capes which attach to their wrists and billow out l...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Vermont Winter (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
circa 1960: Students from Stowe Preparatory School track through deep snow near Mount Mansfield and Spruce Peak, Vermont.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with cert...
Category
1960s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
September Affair, Rome, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1940s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a crowd gathering to watch the actors Joan Fontaine and Joseph Cotten on the set of Willia...
Category
1940s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Pool At Carvoeiro (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Holidaymakers round a pool, Carvoeiro, Portugal, July 1970.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate.
Slim Aarons (1916-200...
Category
1970s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Donna Anna Monroy di Giampilieri (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
1984, Donna Anna Monroy di Giampilieri in the early-Empire drawing room of the Villa Spedalotto, near Palermo, Sicily.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certific...
Category
1980s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Seaside Picnic (Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Rudulph Ellis Carter holds a picnic in Newport, August 1987.
The group includes David Lindh, Frank Gilligan, Kenneth Lindh, Diana Prince, Foxy Carter, Lisette Prince de Ramel, Yusha...
Category
1980s Realist Figurative Photography
Materials
Lambda
Realist figurative photography for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Realist 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 blue, purple, red, pink and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Slim Aarons, Ron Tarver, Graham Nash, and Milton Rogovin. 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 figurative photography, so small editions measuring 8 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 $105 and tops out at $75,000, while the average work sells for $3,000.
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