Skip to main content

Robert Riggs Art

American, 1896-1970

Known for his scenes of prize-fighting and circus-genre, Robert Riggs had a highly successful career as an artist, especially in the ‘30s and ‘40s. His painting, The Brown Bomber, showed the boxing victory of Joe Louis over Max Schmeling. This is one of the paintings that earned Riggs election to the National Academy of Design in 1946. He was born in Decatur, Illinois, and as a young man ran away from home and joined the circus. He studied at the James Milliken University in Illinois and then trained at the Art Students League in New York, but his study was interrupted by Army service in the First World War. He attended the Académie Julian in Paris and then returned to the United States where he settled in Philadelphia and worked for N. W. Ayer & Sons, an advertising agency for whom he did numerous illustrations.

to
3
19
3
10
7
2
5
9
3
1
1
Overall Height
to
Overall Width
to
1
19
12
5
5
4
4
3
3
3
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
19
4
10
3
21
6,952
3,302
2,514
1,213
13
6
6
3
2
Artist: Robert Riggs
Young girl Redhead Holding her father's hand Illustration
By Robert Riggs
Located in Miami, FL
There is a reason why there are few contemporary painters who can paint a portrait this good. It's hard to do. It's easy to throw some paint or spray a mess of graffiti on canvas. ...
Category

1940s American Realist Robert Riggs Art

Materials

Oil

Indian Ritual Walking on Fire, Firewalking Ceremony, Mythology and Religion
By Robert Riggs
Located in Miami, FL
Narrative artist Robert Riggs captures a highly-charged scene of an Indian firewalking ceremony. Firewalking is part of a religious ritual and is associated with the mystical powers...
Category

1950s Academic Robert Riggs Art

Materials

Varnish, Pigment

MODEL
By Robert Riggs
Located in Portland, ME
Riggs, Robert (American, 1896-1970). MODEL (Bassham 8). Lithograph, c. 1932. Unsigned. 11 x 8 3/4 inches (image), 13 3/4 x 11 3/4 inches (sheet). In very good condition.
Category

1930s Robert Riggs Art

Materials

Lithograph

"The Knockout" Boxing Sports American Watercolor WPA Mid-Century Modern 30s/40s
By Robert Riggs
Located in New York, NY
"The Knockout" Boxing Sports American Watercolor WPA Mid-Century Modern 30s/40s. Known for his paintings of prize-fighting and circus-genre scenes and lithography of gigantic size c...
Category

1930s American Modern Robert Riggs Art

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Indian sacrificial ceremony - Aztec Human Sacrifice
By Robert Riggs
Located in Miami, FL
The sacrificial ceremony, Freemans The Collection of Philip Desind Signed Three times Riggs l.r. A powerful account of moments a tribe member is cut open and the heart is handed over to a young brave, There is a reason why there are few contemporary painters who can paint a portrait this good. It's hard to do. It's easy to throw some paint or spray a mess of graffiti on canvas. That's easy. To execute a portrait with a great depth of anatomy and structure takes years of academic training. In Riggs's time there were teachers who knew how to pass on this knowledge. He studied at the Art Students League and the Académie Julian . Today, they are very few and far between. - Robert Riggs was a Gay Artist...
Category

1950s American Realist Robert Riggs Art

Materials

Mixed Media

Young girl Redhead Holding her father's hand
By Robert Riggs
Located in Miami, FL
There is a reason why there are few contemporary painters who can paint a portrait this good. It's hard to do. It's easy to throw some paint or spray a mess of graffiti on canvas. That's easy art. Executing a portrait with a great depth of anatomy and structure takes years of academic training. In Riggs's time, there were teachers who knew how to pass on this knowledge. He studied at the Art Students League and the Académie Julian . Today, they are very few and far between. Tempera mixed with gum arabic and alcohol on Renaissance Panel - Robert Riggs was a Gay Artist...
Category

1940s American Realist Robert Riggs Art

Materials

Oil

'Psychopathic Ward' — American Socially-Conscious Realism, 1940s
By Robert Riggs
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
Robert Riggs, 'Psychopathic Ward', 2-color lithograph, c. 1940, edition c. 50, Beall 60, Bassham 78. Signed, titled, and numbered '14' in pencil. Signed in the stone, lower right. A ...
Category

1940s Realist Robert Riggs Art

Materials

Lithograph

Tribesmen with Headdresses - Gay Artist
By Robert Riggs
Located in Miami, FL
"Riggs openly identified as gay to his friends in the Philadelphia art community, but did not disclose his orientation to his employers." - Woodmere Art Museum Tempera mixed with gum arabic and alcohol on Renaissance Panel "Robert Riggs was awarded the Gold Medal for Excellence by the New York Art Directors Club for ten consecutive years and received many additional awards." He was elected to the Society of Illustrators' Hall of Fame. His work is in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Philadelphia Museum of Fine Arts and the U.S. Library of Congress. Riggs's compositons are "monumental" Walt Reed Riggs was a Gay Artist...
Category

1940s American Realist Robert Riggs Art

Materials

Tempera

Tribesmen with Headdresses
By Robert Riggs
Located in Miami, FL
"Robert Riggs was awarded the Gold Medal for Excellence by the New York Art Directors Club for ten consecutive years and received many additional awards." He was elected to the Society of Illustrators' Hall of Fame. His work is in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Philadelphia Museum of Fine Arts and the U.S. Library of Congress. Riggs's compositons are "monumental" Walt Reed - work is unframed. - Riggs was a Gay Artist.
Category

1940s American Realist Robert Riggs Art

Materials

Tempera

Tribesmen with Headdresses
By Robert Riggs
Located in Miami, FL
Tempera mixed with gum arabic and alcohol on Renaissance Panel "Robert Riggs was awarded the Gold Medal for Excellence by the New York Art Directors Club for ten consecutive years and received many additional awards." He was elected to the Society of Illustrators' Hall of Fame. His work is in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Philadelphia Museum of Fine Arts and the U.S. Library of Congress. Riggs's compositons are "monumental" Walt Reed Riggs was a Gay Artist...
Category

1940s American Realist Robert Riggs Art

Materials

Tempera

Tribesmen with Headdresses - Photo Realism
By Robert Riggs
Located in Miami, FL
Tempera mixed with gum arabic and alcohol on Renaissance Panel "Robert Riggs was awarded the Gold Medal for Excellence by the New York Art Directors Club for ten consecutive years and received many additional awards." He was elected to the Society of Illustrators' Hall of Fame. His work is in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Philadelphia Museum of Fine Arts and the U.S. Library of Congress. Riggs's compositons are "monumental" Walt Reed Riggs was a Gay Artist...
Category

1940s American Realist Robert Riggs Art

Materials

Tempera

The Burr - Hamilton Duel
By Robert Riggs
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Medium: Oil Painting Signature: Signed Lower Right
Category

20th Century Robert Riggs Art

Materials

Oil

Grizzly Adams, Grizzly bear attacks Frontiersman
By Robert Riggs
Located in Miami, FL
There is a reason why there are few contemporary painters who can paint a portrait of a man and bear this good. It's hard to do. It's easy to throw some paint or spray a mess of graf...
Category

1950s American Realist Robert Riggs Art

Materials

Graphite, Mixed Media

New York City Police Fortune Magazine Illustration
By Robert Riggs
Located in Miami, FL
This original illustration, titled "Cops at Ease in the Muster Room of a Station," accompanied the article Nineteen Thousand Cops published in the July 1939 issue of Fortune Magazine. This issue was dedicated to the city of New York and included a total of ten paintings by Riggs for this article on New York City's police department. Robert Riggs was a gay artist.
Category

1930s Realist Robert Riggs Art

Materials

Archival Paper, Charcoal

George Washington Marine Procession New York Presidential Inauguration, Life Mag
By Robert Riggs
Located in Miami, FL
"The Great Man Comes to Take His Oath" Life Magazine Spread, July 4th, 1960, This epic narrative depicts the celebration of George Washington's inauguration, en route to Federal Hall...
Category

1930s American Realist Robert Riggs Art

Materials

Oil

Prospector firing Rifle ( Happiness is a Warm Gun ) Gay Art
By Robert Riggs
Located in Miami, FL
Tempera mixed with gum arabic and alcohol on Renaissance Panel Robert Riggs was a gay man. Being gay in American during the 1940's time was something not to flaunt in public. Rigg's had to communicate his underlying feelings in more symbolic ways. Throughout Riggs oeuvre, one sees continuous references to strong hunked out manly men and vulnerable boys. It is a core element of is iconography and is described in a powerful graphic style. In “Prospector firing Rifle” is a Dick Pic. Riggs is clearly making a sexual statement about the moment of climax. The long, straight rifle explodes and is captured at the peak moment of climax. Meanwhile, the bag two bags of gold clearly resemble the other part of the male anatomy. Riggs was a thoughtful and meticulous visual thinker and nothing in any of Riggs’s compositions were haphazardly placed. In tribute to the artist’s suppressed feelings, I have given this work a second title “Happiness is a Warm Gun...
Category

1940s Academic Robert Riggs Art

Materials

Tempera

Filling the Biggest Lumber Order on Record
By Robert Riggs
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Date: 1946 Medium: Oil on Paper Dimensions: 20.25" x 18.25" Signature: Signed Lower Right Exhibitions: September 2007: Society of Illustrators
Category

1940s Robert Riggs Art

Materials

Oil, Paper

Ringing of the Bell
By Robert Riggs
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Ringing of the Bell Robert Riggs was a painter and a lithographer of monumental compositions, yet achieved his effects through meticulous means. In lithography, he worked from black...
Category

20th Century Other Art Style Robert Riggs Art

Materials

Oil, Panel

Mongols
By Robert Riggs
Located in Miami, FL
Tempera mixed with gum arabic and alcohol on Renaissance Panel There is from frame burn and scattered surface abrasions but they are minor. Additionally, there are a 3 or 4 very fine hair line scratches not visible unless you look very closely. The work is varnished and has a reflective quality to it that makes it hard to photograph. In person the viewing experience is much better. You can see more detail in the shadow areas. The colors are rich, deep and saturated. Riggs was very particular in researching the tribal costumes...
Category

1940s American Realist Robert Riggs Art

Materials

Tempera

Related Items
"Masha's fairy tales" watercolor cm. 17 x 22 1970
By Marina Yevgenyevna Uspenskaya
Located in Torino, IT
Children, illustrations, tales Marina Evgenevna USPENSKAYA (Moscow, 1925 – 2007) Marina Evgenevna Uspenskaya was born in Moscow. She graduated from the 1905 Art College, where she ...
Category

1970s Realist Robert Riggs Art

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Pablo Picasso, "Three Colour Profile", original lithograph, hand signed
By Pablo Picasso
Located in Chatsworth, CA
Pablo Picasso "Three Colour Profile" 1956 Image Size: 16.5 x 20 inches Three colour litho on transfer From the edition of 50 numbered and signed proofs Picasso Lithographs- Fernand M...
Category

1950s Modern Robert Riggs Art

Materials

Lithograph

The Gateway
By Eleanor Parke Custis
Located in New York, NY
Signed (lower right): ELEANOR PARKE CUSTIS
Category

20th Century American Realist Robert Riggs Art

Materials

Paper, Gouache

"Shoes" - Late 20th Century City Figure Painting
Located in New Orleans, LA
In addition to having his work in museums and fine corporate collections, Alabama artist Donny Finley showed for years at prestigious Bryant Galleries on ...
Category

Late 20th Century American Realist Robert Riggs Art

Materials

Oil

The grape picker
Located in Zofingen, AG
Classical portrait of a woman harvesting grapes. In this oil painting, I captured the serene essence of nature and the simple elegance of human connection with the earth. The centr...
Category

2010s American Realist Robert Riggs Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Linen

The grape picker
The grape picker
H 31.5 in W 19.69 in D 0.79 in
Circle of David Roberts, 19th Century English watercolor, Cathedral interior
Located in Harkstead, GB
A very atmospheric scene of a religious ceremony in a Cathedral or church interior Harry Willson (1813-1852) A candlelit cermony in a cathedral Signed Watercolour with gouache and g...
Category

Mid-19th Century English School Robert Riggs Art

Materials

Gouache, Paper, Watercolor

Mid Century Portrait of Wine Enologist Claude Wolf
By Abel Warshawsky
Located in Soquel, CA
Wine Enologist Claude Wolf - Mid Century Portrait A stately mid-century portrait of Claude Wolf (1904-1973), a vintner Enologist by Abel George Warshawsky...
Category

1950s American Realist Robert Riggs Art

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Ap-Pa-Noo-Se, A Saukie Chief: Original Hand-colored McKenney & Hall Lithograph
By McKenney & Hall
Located in Alamo, CA
This is an original 19th century hand-colored McKenney and Hall lithograph of a Native American entitled "Ap-Pa-Noo-Se, A Saukie Chief", lithographed by J. T. Bowen after a painting by Charles Bird King and published by Rice and Hart & Co. in Philadelphia in 1848. For his portrait Ap-Pa-Noo-Se (A Chief When a Child) is wearing a feathered headdress, long ornamental earrings, multiple chain necklaces...
Category

Mid-19th Century Naturalistic Robert Riggs Art

Materials

Lithograph

Kish-Ke-Kosh, Fox Brave: Original Hand-colored McKenney & Hall Lithograph
By McKenney & Hall
Located in Alamo, CA
This is an original 19th century hand-colored McKenney and Hall lithograph of a Native American entitled "Kish-Ke-Kosh, Fox Brave", lithographed by J. T. Bowen after a painting by Charles Bird King and published by Rice and Hart & Co. in Philadelphia in 1848. Kish-Ke-Kosh, means 'The Man with One Leg' or 'He with a Cut Hoof'. He had a reputation for being a fierce warrior. He was a representative of the delegation of Sioux and Fox and Sauk chiefs who attended the gathering with the War Department in 1837. The Fox tribe lived in the Great Lakes region of the United States and merged with the Sauk tribe. This original McKenney and Hall hand-colored lithograph is printed on a sheet measuring 10.38" high and 7" wide. There are tiny spots in the lower left margin, another in the right lower margin and mild smudging in the left margin, but the print is otherwise in very good condition. The original descriptive text pages, 119-120, from McKenney and Hall's 19th century publication are included. Col. Thomas J. McKenney was Superintendant of The Bureau of Indian Affairs from 1816 until 1830. He was one of a very few government officials to defend American Indian interests and attempt to preserve their culture. He travelled to Indian lands meeting the Native American leaders. He brought with him an accomplished artist, James Otto Lewis...
Category

Mid-19th Century Naturalistic Robert Riggs Art

Materials

Lithograph

Fishermen, Bahamas (North Carolina artist)
By Frank Stanley Herring
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Beautiful ca. 1935 painting by American artist, Frank Stanley Herring (1894-1966). Watercolor on heavy rag handmade paper measures 14.5 x 19 inches, 23 x 28 inches in original vintag...
Category

1930s American Realist Robert Riggs Art

Materials

Handmade Paper, Watercolor

Tah-Col-O-Quoit: Original 19th Century Hand-colored McKenney & Hall Lithograph
By McKenney & Hall
Located in Alamo, CA
This is an original 19th century hand-colored McKenney and Hall lithograph of a Native American entitled "Tah-Col-O-Quoit", lithographed b...
Category

Mid-19th Century Naturalistic Robert Riggs Art

Materials

Lithograph

Knight’s Lodging
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This painting is part of our exhibition American Coast to Coast: Artists of the 1930s Knight’s Lodging, 1941, oil on canvas panel, signed and dated lower left, 16 x 20 inches, exhi...
Category

1940s American Realist Robert Riggs Art

Materials

Oil

Robert Riggs art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Robert Riggs art available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Robert Riggs in paint, tempera, oil paint and more. Not every interior allows for large Robert Riggs art, so small editions measuring 11 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Spencer Douglass Crockwell, Fletcher Martin, and Ernest Hamlin Baker. Robert Riggs art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $875 and tops out at $92,000, while the average work can sell for $75,000.

Artists Similar to Robert Riggs

Recently Viewed

View All