c. 1945
The Lithuanian-American artist Irving Norman was a social Surrealist who painted large-scale and highly detailed critiques of contemporary life with hopes that viewers would consider the consequences of their actions and change their behavior.
Influenced by the dire conditions of the Great Depression, Norman’s massive canvases feature armies of clone-like figures behaving in the clockwork manner in which they have been programmed. He moved from New York to Los Angeles in 1934 before helping to defend the Spanish Republic from the fascist Franco dictatorship.
Norman survived the Spanish Civil War and in 1939 settled on Catalina Island off the Southern California coast, where he began drawing and painting from the atrocities he had witnessed. In 1940, he moved to San Francisco and had a solo exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Art two years later. Norman then traveled to Mexico City and saw the murals of Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros before moving to New York City to study at the Art Students League from 1946 to 1947. He returned to San Francisco in the late 1940s. In 1988, fire destroyed Norman’s home, studio, artwork and personal papers.
Find original Irving Norman paintings and prints on 1stDibs.
(Biography provided by Heather James Fine Art)
Bacchanal
By Irving Norman
Located in Palm Desert, CA
A painting by Irving Norman. "Bacchanal" is a macabre social surrealism painting, oil on canvas in a dark palette of reds, blues, and blacks by artist Irving Norman. The artwork is u...
Canvas, Oil
Patience Y - American Figurative Nude, Work on Paper, 1971
Located in Palm Desert, CA
Charles White’s "Patience Y"(1971) is a striking, large-scale work on paper that exemplifies the artist’s profound command of the human figure and his enduring commitment to dignity ...
Paint, Paper, Charcoal, Crayon
American Street Scene
By Irving Norman
Located in Palm Desert, CA
A painting by Irving Norman. "American Street Scene" is a macabre social surrealism city scape, oil on canvas in a bold palette of reds, blues, and yellows by artist Irving Norman. T...
Canvas, Oil
How Come
By Irving Norman
Located in Palm Desert, CA
"How Come" is a Modern surrealist oil on canvas painting by Irving Norman in 1968. The artwork is 90 x 60 inches and 91 1/4 x 61 1/2 x 1 5/8 inches with the fram, weighing less than ...
Oil
Snapshots
By Irving Norman
Located in Palm Desert, CA
"Snapshots" is a modern surrealist oil on canvas painting by Irving Norman in 1986. The artwork is 40 x 90 inches and 41 3/8 x 91 1/4 x 1 5/8 inches with the frame, weighing less than 50 lbs. It is signed and dated lower right, "I.N. '68". Norman's surrealist paintings transport viewers into dystopian realms where human figures meld with machinery, creating haunting landscapes of industrialized chaos and existential reflection. This painting uses a series of vignettes or "snapshots" of human couples in various states of health and vigor. The grotesque nature of some of the bodies is juxtaposed in the bright swimsuits as children play under an ominous sky...
Oil
Untitled, Figure Study
By Hans Burkhardt
Located in Palm Desert, CA
"Untitled, Figure Study" is an abstract figurative Post War pastel on paper paintings by Hans Burkhardt in 1967. The artwork is 21 1/4 x 16 1/4 inches and, with the frame, is 28 3/4...
Paper, Pastel
'Dynamic Figurative', California Post-Impressionist, Ruskin School of Art
By Robert Moesle
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Signed lower right "Moesle" and painted circa 1975. Gouache and watercolor figurative showing numerous figures in dynamic interaction. Born in 1932, Robert Moesle studied painting ...
Paper, India Ink, Watercolor, Gouache
Figure - Drawing by Leo Guida - 1970s
By Leo Guida
Located in Roma, IT
Figure is an original artwork realized in the 1970s by the Italian Contemporary artist Leo Guida (1992 - 2017). Original drawings in China Ink and Watercolor on paper. Good condi...
Ink, Watercolor
Signe Best
By Kim Frohsin
Located in Burlingame, CA
Kim Frohsin, Third generation Bay Area Figurative artist began exhibiting in the San Francisco Bay Area in the early 1990s, and in 1993 was included with Nathan Olivera, Manuel Neri...
Ink, Archival Paper, Pencil
Nu assis, penché à droite (Nude sitting, leaning to the right)
By Marcel Gromaire
Located in Chicago, IL
Signed and dated, lower right Provenance: Atelier of the artist
Ink, Paper
Nude - Drawing by Leo Guida - 1970
By Leo Guida
Located in Roma, IT
Nude is an original Contemporary artwork realized in the 1970s by the Italian Contemporary artist Leo Guida (1992 - 2017). Original drawing in watercolor and China ink on ivory-c...
Ink, Watercolor
Tossed
By Kim Frohsin
Located in Burlingame, CA
Kim Frohsin, Third generation Bay Area Figurative artist began exhibiting in the San Francisco Bay Area in the early 1990s, and in 1993 was included with ...
Ink, Archival Paper, Pencil
This piece may look like Pop art fun, but embedded within is a message of a planet on the brink.
More than three decades after his death, the prolific Pop artist and cultural icon's body of work continues to captivate. Here's a primer of some of his most notable motifs and mediums.
