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.
$1,800
Porto Ercole, Italy, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late-1960s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features people boating in Porto Ercole, Italy, August 1969. This is an estate-stamped and hand-numbered ed...
Lambda
Palm Springs Party, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1970s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a poolside party at a desert house, designed by Richard Neutra for Edgar J. Kaufmann, in ...
Lambda
Hello There, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features film star Diana Dors (Diana Fluck) (1931 - 1984) in blonde bombshell pose on a satin-covered bed. T...
Lambda
Poolside tete a tete, California, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1970s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features former fashion model Helen Dzo Dzo Kaptur (in white lace) and other guests at the Kaufmann Desert House ...
Lambda
$2,400
Caracalla Therme, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1990s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a woman experiences the Caracalla Therme spa in Baden-Baden, September 1990. This is an estate-stamped ...
Lambda
$1,800
Roca Llisa, Ibiza, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1970s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Fosca, Vera, & Fiona Bertran holidaying in Roca Llisa, on the island of Ibiza, Spain. This is ...
Lambda
$3,000
Bouldereign, Arizona, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1970s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Carl Hovgard's home, Bouldereign in Carefree, Arizona, built around the boulders on a desert site,...
Lambda
Poolside Promenade, Florida, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1960s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a fashion show at the Colony Hotel in Palm Beach, Florida. This is an estate-stamped and hand-num...
Lambda
Palm Beach Villa, Florida, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1980s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Joe and Denise Hrudka relax with friends by the pool in Palm Beach, Florida. This is an estate-stam...
Lambda
$3,000
Porto Ercole, Italy, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late-1960s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features people boating in Porto Ercole, Italy, August 1969. This is an estate-stamped and hand-numbered ed...
Lambda
$2,400
Porto Ercole, Italy, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late-1960s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features people boating in Porto Ercole, Italy, August 1969. This is an estate-stamped and hand-numbered ed...
Lambda
George Hamilton in Capri
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
American actor George Hamilton relaxes on a deckchair in Capri, 1968. George Hamilton in Capri Slim Aarons Estate Edition 40 x 30 inches Estate stamp...
Lambda
$1,800
Al Fresco Luncheon, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1960s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features, from left to right; Lord and Lady Hardwicke, Joe Hughes, Barclay Warburton III, and Lady Ann Orr-L...
Lambda
Island Lookout, Hog Island, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1960s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Nattily dressed, W Clifford Klenk with his telescope and his wife, Hope, in their Hog Island house....
Lambda
Muffy Bancroft, Manhattan, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Mrs. Thomas Bancroft Jnr (Peggy Bancroft) in the foyer of her Manhattan duplex. This is an estate-s...
Lambda
Nagasaki Post Office – Original hand-colored Meiji era photograph, Japan
Located in Middletown, NY
Original Photograph / Photographer Unattributed Yokohama, Japan: c1890 Hand-tinted albumen print, 7 7/8 x 10 1/4 inches (192 x 260 mm). Unmounted; housed in an archival mat with cle...
Watercolor, Photographic Paper
$1,800
Poolside Social, Palm Springs, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1970 portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a poolside party at a desert house, designed by Richard Neutra for Edgar J. Kaufmann, in Palm Sp...
Lambda
$1,800
Saint-Tropez, France, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1970s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features cars and pedestrians on the busy seafront at Saint-Tropez, in South-Eastern France, September. This is an ...
Lambda
$2,400
Saint-Tropez, France, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1970s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features cars and pedestrians on the busy seafront at Saint-Tropez, in South-Eastern France, September. This is an ...
Lambda
$3,000
Saint-Tropez, France, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1970s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features cars and pedestrians on the busy seafront at Saint-Tropez, in South-Eastern France, September. This is an ...
Lambda
$3,900
Saint-Tropez, France, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1970s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features cars and pedestrians on the busy seafront at Saint-Tropez, in South-Eastern France, September. This is an ...
Lambda
$4,200
Saint-Tropez, France, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1970s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features cars and pedestrians on the busy seafront at Saint-Tropez, in South-Eastern France, September. This is an ...
Lambda
$5,400
Saint-Tropez, France, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1970s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features cars and pedestrians on the busy seafront at Saint-Tropez, in South-Eastern France, September. This is an ...
Lambda
Carlton Hotel, Cannes, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1960s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features the entrance to the Carlton Hotel in Cannes, France. This is an estate-stamped and hand-numbered editi...
Lambda
Carlton Hotel, Cannes, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1960s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features the entrance to the Carlton Hotel in Cannes, France. This is an estate-stamped and hand-numbered editi...
Lambda
Carlton Hotel, Cannes, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1960s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features the entrance to the Carlton Hotel in Cannes, France. This is an estate-stamped and hand-numbered editi...
Lambda
Carlton Hotel, Cannes, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1960s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features the entrance to the Carlton Hotel in Cannes, France. This is an estate-stamped and hand-numbered editi...
Lambda
Carlton Hotel, Cannes, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1960s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features the entrance to the Carlton Hotel in Cannes, France. This is an estate-stamped and hand-numbered editi...
Lambda
Main Street In Lech, Austria, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1970s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features the main street in the Austrian ski resort of Lech, February 1979. This is an estate stamped and h...
Lambda
Cortina D'Ampezzo, Italy, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1960s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features skiers walking up a mountain in Cortina D'Ampezzo, a ski resort in northern Italy. This is an est...
Lambda
$2,400
Skiing At Courchevel, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1960s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features skiers on the slopes at Courchevel, France. This is an estate-stamped and hand-numbered edition of ...
Lambda
$3,000
Skiing At Courchevel, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1960s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features skiers on the slopes at Courchevel, France. This is an estate-stamped and hand-numbered edition of ...
Lambda
Outdoor Dining, California, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1960s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features diners at La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club, San Diego, California. This is an estate-stamped and hand-num...
Lambda
Spear Fishing In San Diego, California, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photo
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1960s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a spear-fisher in a mask, snorkel and wetsuit, with two boys on a beach in La Jolla, San Diego, Californ...
Lambda
Surfing Brothers, Newport, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Freddie and Howard Cushing surfing with friends at Bailey's Beach (the Spouting Rock Beach Association) in Newport. Their father introduced the sport to the club in the 1930's. Slim...
Lambda
Outdoor Dining, California, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1960s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features diners at La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club, San Diego, California. This is an estate-stamped and hand-num...
Lambda
$3,000
Palm Beach, Florida, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late-1950s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features two bikini-clad holidaymakers enjoy a glass of wine outside the Carlton Hotel, Cannes. This is an est...
Lambda
$3,600
California Fashion, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1960s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Mrs. Anne Ryan (nee Evenson) wearing a sleeveless, two-piece outfit by Maurice Rentner, outside the Bota...
Lambda
Nelda And Friends, California, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early-1970s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features ladies by the pool at the Kaufmann Desert House in Palm Springs, California, January 1970. From ri...
Lambda
$4,200
SS Queen Of Bermuda, Bermuda, Estate Edition, Maritime Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1950s maritime photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features the British ocean liner 'SS Queen of Bermuda' in Hamilton Harbour, Bermuda. This is an es...
Lambda
Roca Llisa, Ibiza, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1970s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Fosca, Vera, and Fiona Bertran holidaying in Roca Llisa, on the island of Ibiza, Spain. This is an...
Lambda
Daniel Gainey, Arizona, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1970s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features winemaker Daniel Gainey and his wife out riding at their ranch in Scottsdale, Arizona. This is an...
Lambda
Linda Shaw, Singapore, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1970s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Linda Shaw emerging from a swimming pool in Singapore, May 1971. This is an estate stamped and ha...
Lambda
Santa Maria del Monte, the Monumental Staircase in Caltagirone
Located in Middletown, NY
Vintage gelatin silver print on baryta paper, 11 3/4 x 9 in. (300 x 228 mm), printed to edge. Photographer's credit sticker on verso, with penciled title "Caltagirone" and negative n...
Photographic Paper
Santa Maria del Monte, the Monumental Staircase in Caltagirone
Located in Middletown, NY
Vintage gelatin silver print on baryta paper, 11 3/4 x 8 1/4 in. (300 x 208 mm), printed to edge. Photographer's credit sticker on verso, with penciled title "Caltagirone" and negati...
Photographic Paper
Hotel Du Cap-Eden-Roc, France, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late-1960s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features people waterskiing from the Hotel Du Cap-Eden-Roc in Cap d'Antibes, France. This is an estate-stamped...
Lambda
![[Bruce Sargeant (1898-1938)] Man in Suspenders Amidst the Cattails](https://a.1stdibscdn.com/mark-beard-photography-bruce-sargeant-1898-1938-man-in-suspenders-amidst-the-cattails-for-sale/a_9323/a_50422621569347500883/Beard_Sargeant_Man_in_Suspenders_Amidst_the_Cattails_1stdibs_master.jpg?width=240)
[Bruce Sargeant (1898-1938)] Man in Suspenders Amidst the Cattails
By Mark Beard
Located in New York, NY
Oil on canvas Signed in red, u.l. $6500.00 + $300.00 framing This artwork is offered by ClampArt, located in New York City. “Bruce Sargeant is a mythic figure in the modern art mo...
Oil, Canvas
$4,200
A Colourful Crew, Bermuda, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
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. ...
Lambda
Daniel Gainey, Arizona, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1970s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features winemaker Daniel Gainey and his wife out riding at their ranch in Scottsdale, Arizona. This is an...
Lambda
Coming Ashore, Italy, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1970s landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a Magnum motorboat belonging to Count Filippo Theodoli arrives at the private jetty of t...
Lambda
Self Portrait on Holiday in Athens, Greece (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
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...
Lambda
Skiing In Vail, Colorado, Estate Edition, Winter Landscape Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1660s winter landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features skiers pass by a snow covered tree in Vail, Colorado, USA, 1964. This is an esta...
Lambda
Freeport Beach, Bahamas, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late-1960s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a beach in Freeport, in the Bahamas. This is an estate-stamped and hand-numbered edition of 150 with ...
Lambda
Portrait of Imogen Cunningham - Black & White Photograph
Located in Soquel, CA
A stunning black and white photographic portrait of Imogen Cunningham (1883-1976) by California photographer, Robert Werling (b. 1946). Signed and dated by the artist on the mat, low...
Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin
Skiers At Gstaad, Switzerland, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1960s landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features skiers at Gstaad, Switzerland, March 1969. This is an estate stamped and hand numbered ...
Lambda
Daniel Gainey, Arizona, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1970s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features winemaker Daniel Gainey and his wife out riding at their ranch in Scottsdale, Arizona. This is an...
Lambda
Italian Hotelier, Antibes, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late-1960s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Proprietor Andre Sella outside the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes on the French Riviera, August 1969...
Lambda
Italian Hotelier, Antibes, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late-1960s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Proprietor Andre Sella outside the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes on the French Riviera, August 1969...
Lambda
Italian Hotelier, Antibes, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late-1960s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Proprietor Andre Sella outside the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes on the French Riviera, August 1969...
Lambda
Palm Springs Pool, Florida, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1970s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features former fashion model Helen Dzo Dzo Kaptur (in white lace) and Nelda Linsk (in yellow), wife of art dealer J...
Lambda