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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
Japan – Two young geishas in flower garden, studio photograph, hand-colored
Located in Middletown, NY
Yokohama, Japan: c 1890. Hand-tinted albumen print, 10 1/2 x 8 inches (266 x 203 mm), numbered B334 in negative, right side of image printed somewhat lighter than left, tiny in-nega...
Category

Late 19th Century Realist Photography

Materials

Watercolor, Photographic Paper

Eagle Club, Estate Edition, Midcentury Gstaad Ski Photography
Located in Los Angeles, CA
In this midcentury snowscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, holidaymakers dining at the Eagle Club, Gstaad, Switzerland, March 1969. Slim Aarons Estate E...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

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

Kings Of Hollywood, Beverly Hill, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
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...
Category

1950s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Modern fine art photography nature floral meadow on premium paper "Wild grace"
Located in VÉNISSIEUX, FR
Title: "Wild grace" Medium: Archival pigment print on premium matte photo paper Dimensions: 20 x 27 cm / 7.8 x 10.6 inches (unframed) Limited Edition Each photograph is printed o...
Category

2010s Realist Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Contemporary Fine Art Sea Boat Image Photo on premium paper "Tranquil Voyage"
Located in VÉNISSIEUX, FR
This contemporary modern fine art seascape photo depicting a boat was captured by French artist and photographer Natalya Mougenot in August 2025 in the south of France, and makes par...
Category

2010s Realist Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Self Portrait on Holiday in Athens, Greece
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...
Category

1950s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Venice Walk 1983 Vintage David Hockney Exhibition Poster in turquoise teal
Located in New York, NY
This vintage exhibition poster features a David Hockney photographic collage. Hockney’s keen eye and uncanny ability to capture his subjects’ individuality is evident in this casual...
Category

1980s Realist Photography

Materials

Lithograph

Contemporary minimalist still life fruit photo (photography) "Just an orange"
Located in VÉNISSIEUX, FR
In this evocative still life minimalist photograph "Just an orange", French artist and photographer Natalya Mougenot captures a moment of serene simplicity: a single, radiant orange ...
Category

2010s Realist Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Signpost In St. Moritz, Switzerland, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photo
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1960s landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a signpost indicating various ski slopes and toboggan tracks in the resort of St Moritz,...
Category

1960s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons Gasthof Post Pool (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Guests lounging by the indoor swimming pool of the Gasthof Post in Lech, Austria, February 1979. Slim Aarons Gasthof Post Pool Chromogenic Lambda print Printed Later Slim Aarons Est...
Category

1970s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Rope + Paint
Located in Colorado Springs, CO
Original color film photography by artist Jack Ludlam. Editioned. Framed.
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Photography

Materials

Film

Wendy Vanderbilt, Palm Beach, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1960s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features American socialite Wendy Vanderbilt at home in Palm Beach, Florida, USA. This is an estate ...
Category

1960s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Male Nude Beach Study
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Roy Dean (1925-20020. Male Nude Study, ca. 1975-80. Origina; period print with artist studio stamp on verso. Print measures 2.25 x 4 3/8 inches; 9 x 12 inches...
Category

1970s Realist Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Woman collecting sea shells
Located in Middletown, NY
Circa 1890 Hand-tinted albumen print, 10 1/2 x 8 inches (266 x 203 mm), small handwritten number '285' in negative, lower left. Unmounted; housed in an archival mat with clear mounting corners. [Nagasaki University Library, Catalog Number : 1889] A woman wearing a towel over her head Anesama kaburi style picks up shells. The background is the sea. There are boats with sails on the beach. It is probably a dramatized photo. Ogawa Katsumasa (1860 – 1936) was a pivotal figure in early Japanese photography. He adapted cutting-edge Western technology in photo-printing processes to produce numerous half-tone and collotype publications which transformed the market which had previously concentrated on the more expensive souvenir albums. Ogawa's publications were also instrumental in introducing Japanese art and culture to a mass international audience. He built one of the most successful photographic businesses in late-Meiji Japan. He opened his first portrait studio in Tomioka, Gumma Prefecture, in 1877. [Bennett, Terry. Old Japanese Photographs...
Category

Late 19th Century Realist Photography

Materials

Watercolor, Photographic Paper

Hotel Taormina, Sicily, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1970s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features the seaside swimming pool at the Hotel Taormina in Taormina, Sicily, August 1975. This is an estate...
Category

1970s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Japan – Samurai - Hand-colored Meiji Period photograph
Located in Middletown, NY
Yokohama, Japan: c 1890. Hand-tinted albumen print, 10 1/8 x 7 3/4 inches (258 x 198 mm), numbered B 1161 and captioned in negative at lower right; very light cockling, brightly col...
Category

Late 19th Century Realist Photography

Materials

Watercolor, Photographic Paper

Out Islands, Bahamas, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1960s landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features sailing boats in the Out Islands of the Bahamas, April 1964. This is an estate stamped an...
Category

1960s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Foamy Clouds Diptych in Blue, Stormy Sky Scene, Handmade Cyanotype Print, Paper
Located in Barcelona, ES
This is an exclusive handprinted limited edition cyanotype diptych of foamy gorgeous clouds. Details: + Title: Floating Clouds Diptych + Year: 2023 + Edition Size: 20 + Stamped and ...
Category

2010s Realist Photography

Materials

Photographic Film, Emulsion, Watercolor, C Print, Color, Dye Transfer, L...

All Aboard, Monaco, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1970s landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a group of Friends boarding a riva boat in Monte Carlo, Monaco. This is an estate stamped...
Category

1970s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Japan, Girl Winter Costume
Located in Middletown, NY
Stillfried, Raimund von Japan, Girl Winter Costume Yokohama, Japan: c 1880. Hand-tinted albumen print, 10 1/4 x 7 3/4 inches (260x 200 mm), numbered B 1080 and titled in the lower r...
Category

Late 19th Century Realist Photography

Materials

Watercolor, Photographic Paper

Curling At St. Moritz, Switzerland, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photo
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1960s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features curlers on a rink, or curling sheet, in St Moritz, Switzerland, March 1963. This is an estate sta...
Category

1960s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Grace Jones for After Dark
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Victor Arimondi (1942-2001). Portrait of Grace Jones, 1975. Period print measures 8.5 x 11.25 inches; 10 x 13 inches framed. Artist studio stamp on ver...
Category

1970s Realist Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Poolside Backgammon (Aarons Estate Edition)
Located in New York, NY
Guests at the Villa Nirvana, owned by Oscar Obregon, in Las Brisas, Acapulco, Mexico, 1972. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from th...
Category

1970s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Japan – Three dancing geisha apprentices – Hand-colored Meiji Period photograph
Located in Middletown, NY
Yokohama, Japan: c 1880. Hand-tinted albumen print, 8 1/8 x 10 1/2 inches (205 x 267 mm), numbered 1625 and captioned "Dancing" in negative at lower right; pencil inscription in Jap...
Category

Late 19th Century Realist Photography

Materials

Watercolor, Photographic Paper

Che (Che Guevara cutting canes)
Located in San Francisco, CA
This artwork titled "Che (Che Guevara cutting cane) 1962 (printed later) is a gelatin silver print by noted Cuban artist Ernesto Fernandez Nogueras, b.1939. It is signed, titled and dated at the lower margin. The photograph size is 10 x 6.5 inches, framed size is 17.85 x 15.85 inches. Custom framed in a black frame, with white matting. It is in excellent condition. About the artist: Ernesto Fernandez trained under the tutelage of several established photographers during the 1950s in Havana. He is one of the four great photographers of the Revolutionary period of Cuba. As a young man he witnessed both the excesses of Havana as a “playground” of the USA, and the poverty that produced the hotbed of revolutionary thought and action. He was in the Cuban capital as the revolution reached its climax, and his pictures document a time of great hope. They are celebrations of youth’s ability to bring about change and to reinvent a new world. Alongside Korda, Salas and Corrales, Fernandez documented the heady days of the Triumph of the Revolution and continued to photograph Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and other leading lights of the new system, including some wonderfully intimate studies of Alicia Alonso...
Category

Mid-20th Century Realist Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Japan – Daibutsu, Hiogo, Kobe – Hand-colored Meiji Period photograph
Located in Middletown, NY
circa 1890. Hand-tinted albumen print, 7 7/8 x 10 1/4 inches (200 x 260 mm), numbered B 289 and captioned in negative at lower right. Unmounted; housed in an archival mat with clear...
Category

Late 19th Century Realist Photography

Materials

Watercolor, Photographic Paper

Catherine Wilke, Capri, Italy, Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1980 portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Catherine Wilke joining the topless sunbathers - along with Elisabetta Catalano, Charlotte Ticke...
Category

1980s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

"Deux tomates", photography by Thierry Genay, 2016
Located in Paris, France
"Citron et verre" by Thierry Genay Thierry Genay's photography is heir to a style of painting which, in the absence of noble and sublime motifs, is nour...
Category

2010s Realist Photography

Materials

Pigment

Portrait
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Victor Arimondi (1942-2001). Portrait, ca. 1975. Period print measures 11 x 14 inches. Artist studio stamp on verso. Victor Arimondi (November 8, 1942 – July 24, 2001) was an Italian American photographer and model who lived and worked in Europe before moving to the United States in the late 1970s. His early fashion photography, his portraits of Grace Jones and other artists, and his male nudes photographed in New York and San Francisco captured the pre-AIDS culture of the 1970s and early 1980s. Arimondi's nudes were collected in several books, including David Leddick's award-winning[1] The Male Nude, (New York: Taschen 1998, 2005 and 2015). The photographer's later work documented homeless individuals in San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood and the toll of the AIDS epidemic on the city. His photographs, featured in several posthumous exhibitions, also are in the collections of Sweden's museum of modern art, Moderna Museet, and San Francisco's GLBT Historical Society. Biography Arimondi was born Vittorio Maria Tevitti to his unwed mother, Alessandra Calligaris, in Bologna, Italy on November 8, 1942. His mother struggled financially, which left an impression on her only child. In 1948, she temporarily left him at a children's boarding school and orphanage in Italy to move to Sweden for a job. There she met and married Bruno Arimondi, who adopted her son. The family returned to Naples, Italy in 1952 where Victor graduated from high school.[1] In 1960, Arimondi returned to Sweden to study at the University College of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm, although he did not graduate. Meanwhile, he worked at several blue collar jobs, including as a mailman, before he gave up on traditional full-time work to pursue what he considered more essential— a life of creative expression. He created costume-like clothing for himself and friends and at age 19 became a fashion model. Even as a teenager, the Italian born photographer who spent his 20s and 30s primarily based in Sweden, noted that he preferred fantasy to the trials of real life.[1] That conflict, and his passion for beauty as well as his sexual energy, were major factors in his life and his work.[2] From 1965 through 1972 Arimondi worked as model in London, Milan, Germany, New York and Stockholm, appearing in catalogs and fashion magazines including Vogue , Harper's Bazaar and Esquire and on the runway in several Valentino fashion shows. In 1972 he decided to try working on the other side of the lens as a photographer to better express his creativity.[2] Arimondi moved to New York in 1979 and continued to build his photography portfolio. Portrait of Bearded Man, New York City, 1979 Two years later, in 1981, he moved to San Francisco where he lived and worked for twenty years until his death of AIDS at age 58 on July 24, 2001. The year he moved to San Francisco, Arimondi opened a photo gallery in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood for a short time. When he struggled financially, he gave up on trying to earn a living through commercial fashion photography and closed the gallery.[3] Arimondi returned to modeling for the financial benefits, though he did so on less of an international scale than in his early years. He continued to create photographic portraits of the denizens of the San Francisco gay and arts cultures, to shoot male nudes and publish his work in magazines, and he began to compose and photograph evocative still lifes using his own photographic images. Many of them touched on the death of dozens of his former photography models from AIDS. Arimondi was in the midst of a new photography project that brought together his background as a fashion photographer and his more recent social documentary work when he died several months after he learned he was HIV-positive.[4] The project featured his former colleague, haute couture cover model Ivy Nicholson,[5] who he found living homeless in San Francisco. Several of the haunting portraits he took of her were later included in a noted group exhibit at SF Camerawork. Art Arimondi's early photography in the 1970s in Stockholm included portraits of the stars of Sweden's fashion, theater and dance worlds. His first two photography exhibits were in Stockholm and met with mixed reviews. But as he matured as a photographer and tapped into his fashion world contacts, Arimondi landed a number of commercial fashion jobs, including shooting for the Italian designer Salvatore Ferragamo S.p.A.'s I.Magnin department store ad that ran in Vogue. Marlboro Man Nude, New York City,1980. He also shot other artists and models for his own portfolio, including Grace Jones, the Norwegian actress, Liv Ullmann, and the American writer, Norman Mailer. Arimondi's aesthetic vision was focused on fantasy and drama, and he prided himself on pushing limits.[6] Although less well-known than his San Francisco contemporary...
Category

1970s Realist Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Portrait
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Japan – Tokyo, The Yoshiwara Prostitute Houses
Located in Middletown, NY
Original Photograph / Photographer unattributed Yokohama, Japan: c 1890. Hand-tinted albumen print, 8 x 10 1/2 (204 x 266 mm), uncaptioned, some cockling at top corners; pencil ins...
Category

Late 19th Century Realist Photography

Materials

Watercolor, Photographic Paper

La Barranca, Acapulco, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1970s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Bandleader Teddy Stauffer (1909 - 1991) at La Barranca, Warren Avis' villa in Acapulco, January. ...
Category

1970s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Sunbathing In Burgenstock, Switzerland, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Lilian Hanson sunbathing by a pool at the Bürgenstock Resort Lake Lucerne in Canton Nidwald...
Category

1950s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Catherine Wilke, Capri, Italy, Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1980 portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Catherine Wilke joining the topless sunbathers - along with Elisabetta Catalano, Charlotte Ticke...
Category

1980s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Dolores Guinness, Sardinia, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1960s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features German-born socialite Dolores Guinness (1936 - 2012) in Porto Cervo on the Costa Smerelda, ...
Category

1960s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Poolside Interruption, Palm Springs Poolside Series, Estate Edition
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1970s lifestyle photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Lita Baron talking with a guest at a poolside party at Nelda Linsk's desert house in Pal...
Category

1970s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

A Colourful Crew, Bermuda, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1970 portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a group of colourfully dressed friends on board the Calypso clothing store owned boat, Bermuda. ...
Category

1970s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Dolores Guinness, Sardinia, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1960s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features German-born socialite Dolores Guinness (1936 - 2012) in Porto Cervo on the Costa Smerelda, ...
Category

1960s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Early 20th Century Photograph -- "Impressions of the High Sierras"
Located in Soquel, CA
"Impressions of the High Sierras", a Lithobrome Photograph by Sigismund Blumann (American, 1872-1956). Signed "Sigismund Blumann" lower right. Titled "Impressions of the High Sierras" and signed "Sigismund Blumann" on verso. Unframed. Image size, 10.25"H x 13.25"W. Sigismund Blumann (1872–1956) (figure 1) 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

Skiers In St. Moritz, Switzerland, Estate Edition Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1960s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features skiers in St Moritz, Switzerland, March 1963. This is an estate stamped and hand numbere...
Category

1960s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Giacomo Mantegazza, Villa La Casinella, Lake Como, Italy, Estate Edition
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Giacomo and Stefania Mantegazza welcome guests arriving by boat at their villa, La Casinella, on Lake Como. Slim Aarons Giacomo Mantegazza, Villa La Casinella, Lake Como Slim Aarons...
Category

1980s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

"Partition" original photograph in black and white, cat, music, signed framed
Located in Sag Harbor, NY
An Edouard Boubat photograph depicting a cat, poking his head up from behind a musical composition sheet. Signed "E.Boubat" lower right corner, recto. Matted and framed under gl...
Category

20th Century Realist Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin

Poolside Interruption, Palm Springs Poolside Series, Estate Edition
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1970s lifestyle photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Lita Baron talking with a guest at a poolside party at Nelda Linsk's desert house in Pal...
Category

1970s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Dolores Guinness, Sardinia, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1960s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features German-born socialite Dolores Guinness (1936 - 2012) in Porto Cervo on the Costa Smerelda, ...
Category

1960s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Dolores Guinness, Sardinia, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1960s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features German-born socialite Dolores Guinness (1936 - 2012) in Porto Cervo on the Costa Smerelda, ...
Category

1960s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Portofino, Italy, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1980s landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features guests relaxing on the terrace at the villa of Umberto and Pucci Nordio, Portofino This i...
Category

1980s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Subway 30, NYC 1980s, New York City, Kids, Photograph, Subway, Limited Edition
Located in Riverdale, NY
John Conn New York City Subway photographs. These limited edition fine art photographs were originally taken between 1975 and 1982. Each black and white photograph is signed and numbered. Edition of 15. 20x30 image printed on 24x36 archival paper. This is framed in a black frame to 28x38. In this series, Conn captured the graffiti and one of the most crime ridden periods in New York. According to one source “In the 1980s, over 250 felonies were committed every week in the system, making the New York subway the most dangerous mass transit system in the world.” One image captures an Irish...
Category

1970s Realist Photography

Materials

Ink, Archival Paper

Mystery Artist Photograph of a Female Bodybuilder
Located in New York, NY
Mystery Artist Untitled (Female Bodybuilder), c. 1980 Black and white photograph mounted to foam board Image: 12 3/4 x 10 1/2 in. Board: 19 7/8 x 16 1/2 in.
Category

1980s Realist Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, Black and White

"Babe Bows Out" Nat Fein, Baseball, Babe Ruth, Sports Photography, American
Located in New York, NY
Nat Fein Babe Bows Out, 1948 Signed lower right Gelatin silver print on paper Image size: 16 x 20 inches Mat size: 22 1/2 x 24 3/4 inches Nat Fein (1914–2000) was a prominent Ameri...
Category

1940s Realist Photography

Materials

Paper, Silver Gelatin

Portrait
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Portrait, ca. 1975. Period print measuring 8.75 x 11.25 inches. Unframed. Studio stamp on verso. Mounting and framing services available. Victor Arimondi (November 8, 1942 – July 24, 2001) was an Italian American photographer and model who lived and worked in Europe before moving to the United States in the late 1970s. His early fashion photography, his portraits of Grace Jones and other artists, and his male nudes photographed in New York and San Francisco captured the pre-AIDS culture of the 1970s and early 1980s. Arimondi's nudes were collected in several books, including David Leddick's award-winning[1] The Male Nude, (New York: Taschen 1998, 2005 and 2015). The photographer's later work documented homeless individuals in San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood and the toll of the AIDS epidemic on the city. His photographs, featured in several posthumous exhibitions, also are in the collections of Sweden's museum of modern art, Moderna Museet, and San Francisco's GLBT Historical Society. Biography Arimondi was born Vittorio Maria Tevitti to his unwed mother, Alessandra Calligaris, in Bologna, Italy on November 8, 1942. His mother struggled financially, which left an impression on her only child. In 1948, she temporarily left him at a children's boarding school and orphanage in Italy to move to Sweden for a job. There she met and married Bruno Arimondi, who adopted her son. The family returned to Naples, Italy in 1952 where Victor graduated from high school.[1] In 1960, Arimondi returned to Sweden to study at the University College of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm, although he did not graduate. Meanwhile, he worked at several blue collar jobs, including as a mailman, before he gave up on traditional full-time work to pursue what he considered more essential— a life of creative expression. He created costume-like clothing for himself and friends and at age 19 became a fashion model. Even as a teenager, the Italian born photographer who spent his 20s and 30s primarily based in Sweden, noted that he preferred fantasy to the trials of real life.[1] That conflict, and his passion for beauty as well as his sexual energy, were major factors in his life and his work.[2] From 1965 through 1972 Arimondi worked as model in London, Milan, Germany, New York and Stockholm, appearing in catalogs and fashion magazines including Vogue , Harper's Bazaar and Esquire and on the runway in several Valentino fashion shows. In 1972 he decided to try working on the other side of the lens as a photographer to better express his creativity.[2] Arimondi moved to New York in 1979 and continued to build his photography portfolio. Portrait of Bearded Man, New York City, 1979 Two years later, in 1981, he moved to San Francisco where he lived and worked for twenty years until his death of AIDS at age 58 on July 24, 2001. The year he moved to San Francisco, Arimondi opened a photo gallery in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood for a short time. When he struggled financially, he gave up on trying to earn a living through commercial fashion photography and closed the gallery.[3] Arimondi returned to modeling for the financial benefits, though he did so on less of an international scale than in his early years. He continued to create photographic portraits of the denizens of the San Francisco gay and arts cultures, to shoot male nudes and publish his work in magazines, and he began to compose and photograph evocative still lifes using his own photographic images. Many of them touched on the death of dozens of his former photography models from AIDS. Arimondi was in the midst of a new photography project that brought together his background as a fashion photographer and his more recent social documentary work when he died several months after he learned he was HIV-positive.[4] The project featured his former colleague, haute couture cover model Ivy Nicholson,[5] who he found living homeless in San Francisco. Several of the haunting portraits he took of her were later included in a noted group exhibit at SF Camerawork. Art Arimondi's early photography in the 1970s in Stockholm included portraits of the stars of Sweden's fashion, theater and dance worlds. His first two photography exhibits were in Stockholm and met with mixed reviews. But as he matured as a photographer and tapped into his fashion world contacts, Arimondi landed a number of commercial fashion jobs, including shooting for the Italian designer Salvatore Ferragamo S.p.A.'s I.Magnin department store ad that ran in Vogue. Marlboro Man Nude, New York City,1980. He also shot other artists and models for his own portfolio, including Grace Jones, the Norwegian actress, Liv Ullmann, and the American writer, Norman Mailer. Arimondi's aesthetic vision was focused on fantasy and drama, and he prided himself on pushing limits.[6] Although less well-known than his San Francisco contemporary...
Category

1970s Realist Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

On The Slopes Of Sugarbush, New England, Estate Edition Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1960s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features two skiers inspecting their skis on the slopes of the Sugarbush Mountain ski resort in Wa...
Category

1960s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Campbell Falls Picnic, Massachusetts, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1960s landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a family enjoying a picnic on the bank of the Whiting River near Campbell Falls, Massachu...
Category

1950s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

The St. Regis, New York, Estate Edition, Event Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s event photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features an aerial view of diners at the St. Regis, New York. This is an estate stamped and hand numbe...
Category

1950s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Palermo (formerly Taormina Pool), Estate Edition
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This rich, vibrant Slim Aarons Estate Edition photograph depicts a swimming pool at the glamorous Villa Igiea, in the Sicilian cultural, economic and tourism capital of Palermo, on t...
Category

1970s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Sunbathing In Venice, Italy, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a woman sunbatheing, wearing a novelty straw sun hat with built-in sunglasses, Venice. Th...
Category

1950s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Portrait of Nude Man
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Victor Arimondi (1942-2001). Portrait, ca. 1975. Period print measures 11 x 14 inches. Artist studio stamp on verso. Victor Arimondi (November 8, 1942 – July 24, 2001) was an Italian American photographer and model who lived and worked in Europe before moving to the United States in the late 1970s. His early fashion photography, his portraits of Grace Jones and other artists, and his male nudes photographed in New York and San Francisco captured the pre-AIDS culture of the 1970s and early 1980s. Arimondi's nudes were collected in several books, including David Leddick's award-winning[1] The Male Nude, (New York: Taschen 1998, 2005 and 2015). The photographer's later work documented homeless individuals in San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood and the toll of the AIDS epidemic on the city. His photographs, featured in several posthumous exhibitions, also are in the collections of Sweden's museum of modern art, Moderna Museet, and San Francisco's GLBT Historical Society. Biography Arimondi was born Vittorio Maria Tevitti to his unwed mother, Alessandra Calligaris, in Bologna, Italy on November 8, 1942. His mother struggled financially, which left an impression on her only child. In 1948, she temporarily left him at a children's boarding school and orphanage in Italy to move to Sweden for a job. There she met and married Bruno Arimondi, who adopted her son. The family returned to Naples, Italy in 1952 where Victor graduated from high school.[1] In 1960, Arimondi returned to Sweden to study at the University College of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm, although he did not graduate. Meanwhile, he worked at several blue collar jobs, including as a mailman, before he gave up on traditional full-time work to pursue what he considered more essential— a life of creative expression. He created costume-like clothing for himself and friends and at age 19 became a fashion model. Even as a teenager, the Italian born photographer who spent his 20s and 30s primarily based in Sweden, noted that he preferred fantasy to the trials of real life.[1] That conflict, and his passion for beauty as well as his sexual energy, were major factors in his life and his work.[2] From 1965 through 1972 Arimondi worked as model in London, Milan, Germany, New York and Stockholm, appearing in catalogs and fashion magazines including Vogue , Harper's Bazaar and Esquire and on the runway in several Valentino fashion shows. In 1972 he decided to try working on the other side of the lens as a photographer to better express his creativity.[2] Arimondi moved to New York in 1979 and continued to build his photography portfolio. Portrait of Bearded Man, New York City, 1979 Two years later, in 1981, he moved to San Francisco where he lived and worked for twenty years until his death of AIDS at age 58 on July 24, 2001. The year he moved to San Francisco, Arimondi opened a photo gallery in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood for a short time. When he struggled financially, he gave up on trying to earn a living through commercial fashion photography and closed the gallery.[3] Arimondi returned to modeling for the financial benefits, though he did so on less of an international scale than in his early years. He continued to create photographic portraits of the denizens of the San Francisco gay and arts cultures, to shoot male nudes and publish his work in magazines, and he began to compose and photograph evocative still lifes using his own photographic images. Many of them touched on the death of dozens of his former photography models from AIDS. Arimondi was in the midst of a new photography project that brought together his background as a fashion photographer and his more recent social documentary work when he died several months after he learned he was HIV-positive.[4] The project featured his former colleague, haute couture cover model Ivy Nicholson,[5] who he found living homeless in San Francisco. Several of the haunting portraits he took of her were later included in a noted group exhibit at SF Camerawork. Art Arimondi's early photography in the 1970s in Stockholm included portraits of the stars of Sweden's fashion, theater and dance worlds. His first two photography exhibits were in Stockholm and met with mixed reviews. But as he matured as a photographer and tapped into his fashion world contacts, Arimondi landed a number of commercial fashion jobs, including shooting for the Italian designer Salvatore Ferragamo S.p.A.'s I.Magnin department store ad that ran in Vogue. Marlboro Man Nude, New York City,1980. He also shot other artists and models for his own portfolio, including Grace Jones, the Norwegian actress, Liv Ullmann, and the American writer, Norman Mailer. Arimondi's aesthetic vision was focused on fantasy and drama, and he prided himself on pushing limits.[6] Although less well-known than his San Francisco contemporary...
Category

1970s Realist Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Ferris Wheel from the Tuileries
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Lynn Saville. Ferris Wheel from the Tuileries, 1999. Photographic print. Edition 5/25. Image measures 12.5 x 18 inches. Sheet is larger. Measures 21.5 x 27 framed. Signed, titled and...
Category

1990s Realist Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Arrival or Departure Photographic Series (After Hitchcock) by Betty Hahn
Located in Soquel, CA
Rare Photographic series of five photographs by Betty Hahn titled, "Arrival or Departure (After Hitchcock), 1987, a series of five gelatin silver photographs" 17" by 24 each". A copy...
Category

1980s Realist Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin, Archival Paper

Hibiscus Flowers, Mexico, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1960s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a woman surrounded by red hibiscus flowers in a swimming pool...
Category

1960s Realist Photography

Materials

Lambda

Water Reflection, Seascape Black and White Giclée Print, Pacific Sunset Waves
Located in Barcelona, ES
This is an exclusive limited edition black and white Giclée print, on 100% cotton Hahnemühle Photo Rag Fine Art matte paper. This beautiful black and white high contrast photograph...
Category

2010s Realist Photography

Materials

Emulsion, Photographic Paper, C Print, Giclée

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.

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