Tom Baril Black and White Photography
American, b. 1952
Tom Baril (American, b.1952) is one of the nation’s leading photographic artists, and is known for his unique approach to portraying common objects, such as flowers. Baril was born in Connecticut in 1952, and studied photography at New York’s School of Visual Arts, graduating with a BA in 1980. Early in his career, Baril was the printmaker for famed artist Robert Mapplethorpe, but he eventually broke out on his own, and purposely distanced himself from Mapplethorpe’s work and style to make a name for himself.
Baril is known for his expert work with 4x5 Polaroid pinhole and 8x10 collodion wet-plate photography. His talent lies in photographing commonplace items and scenes and portraying them in a way that goes beyond the surface. Baril’s photographs of sea shells, tulips, bridges, and other architecture capture the beauty, savagery, and sadness of nature. His photos have been featured in two monographs as well as two books, Tom Baril in 1997, and Botanica in 1999. His work has been featured in many publications and collections at institutions including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, and the Fogg Museum at Harvard University. Baril is known for collections such as 10 Flowers, Gum, and DC Portfolio. Baril’s early work was rarely exhibited publicly, and is primarily known through The American Diner and A Sense of Place. His diner photographs are stark representations of how America once depended on its highways. Many of the diners were shining examples of modern architecture that later fell into disrepair. Both sets of his early work were created between 1977 and 1986, when he was still learning the craft and traveling the United States
While distancing himself from Mapplethorpe’s work, Baril has continued to print for the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. His technique goes far beyond simple photography and extends into the darkroom. Baril is considered a master of film development, using techniques such as applying selenium to prints and placing them in black tea to create a gold patina.
Baril lives and works in New York, NY.(Biography provided by Imagen Projects)
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Artist: Tom Baril
Top of the Chrysler in New York
By Tom Baril
Located in Greenwich, CT
Tom Baril, iconic Chrysler shot is fabulous for an urban setting. Shot in his classic style that makes the image look like a still from a film. He was born in Connecticut in 1952 an...
Category
1990s Contemporary Tom Baril Black and White Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Chrysler Building Through Window
By Tom Baril
Located in New York, NY
Photogravure from the Tom Baril 'Manhattan' Portfolio.
Edition of 75, signed by the artist on bottom right.
Framing: acid free, archival framed, cotton rag mat.
Glazing: Optium museum plexi.
A graduate of New York’s School of Visual Arts, Tom Baril spent over fifteen years as Robert Mapplethorpe’s master printer. His subjects include urban architecture, seascapes and meticulously detailed botanical and nature photographs. Baril’s work demonstrates a command of technique that results from his extensive experience as a master printer. Baril developed a unique toning process that enriches the color and opulence of his photographs.
Tom Baril is inspired by the nature studies of modernist photographers such as Edward Weston, Imogen Cunningham and Karl Blossfeldt. A similar attentiveness to the clarity of line, form, pattern and texture characterizes Baril’s still lifes. In composing the seascapes, Baril employs the traditional box camera obscura, better known as the pinhole camera...
Category
Early 2000s Tom Baril Black and White Photography
Materials
Photogravure
Chrysler Building from Madison Avenue
By Tom Baril
Located in New York, NY
Photogravure from the Tom Baril 'Manhattan' Portfolio.
Edition of 75, signed by the artist on bottom right.
Framing: acid free, archival framed, cotton rag mat.
Glazing: Optium muse...
Category
Early 2000s Tom Baril Black and White Photography
Materials
Photogravure
Smoke Stacks Variation
By Tom Baril
Located in New York, NY
Photogravure from the Tom Baril 'Manhattan' Portfolio.
Edition of 75, signed by the artist on bottom right.
Framing: acid free, archival framed, cotton rag mat.
Glazing: Optium museum plexi.
A graduate of New York’s School of Visual Arts, Tom Baril spent over fifteen years as Robert Mapplethorpe’s master printer. His subjects include urban architecture, seascapes and meticulously detailed botanical and nature photographs. Baril’s work demonstrates a command of technique that results from his extensive experience as a master printer. Baril developed a unique toning process that enriches the color and opulence of his photographs.
Tom Baril is inspired by the nature studies of modernist photographers such as Edward Weston, Imogen Cunningham and Karl Blossfeldt. A similar attentiveness to the clarity of line, form, pattern and texture characterizes Baril’s still lifes. In composing the seascapes, Baril employs the traditional box camera obscura, better known as the pinhole camera...
Category
Early 2000s Tom Baril Black and White Photography
Materials
Photogravure
59th Street Bridge
By Tom Baril
Located in New York, NY
Photogravure from the Tom Baril 'Manhattan' Portfolio.
Edition of 75, signed by the artist on bottom right.
Framing: acid free, archival framed, cotton rag mat.
Glazing: Optium muse...
Category
Early 2000s Tom Baril Black and White Photography
Materials
Photogravure
Chrysler Building at Night
By Tom Baril
Located in New York, NY
Photogravure from the Tom Baril 'Manhattan' Portfolio.
Edition of 75, signed by the artist on bottom right.
Framing: acid free, archival framed, cotton rag mat.
Glazing: Optium muse...
Category
Early 2000s Tom Baril Black and White Photography
Materials
Photogravure
Woolworth Building, New York City
By Tom Baril
Located in Santa Fe, NM
Tom Baril. Woolworth Building, 1997, New York City. Photogravure published in 21st Journal of Contemporary Photography Vol. II, 1999
Category
Late 20th Century Tom Baril Black and White Photography
Materials
Photogravure
World Trade Center
By Tom Baril
Located in New York, NY
Photogravure from the Tom Baril 'Manhattan' Portfolio.
Edition of 75, signed by the artist on bottom right.
Framing: acid free, archival framed, cotton rag mat.
Glazing: Optium museum plexi.
A graduate of New York’s School of Visual Arts, Tom Baril spent over fifteen years as Robert Mapplethorpe’s master printer. His subjects include urban architecture, seascapes and meticulously detailed botanical and nature photographs. Baril’s work demonstrates a command of technique that results from his extensive experience as a master printer. Baril developed a unique toning process that enriches the color and opulence of his photographs.
Tom Baril is inspired by the nature studies of modernist photographers such as Edward Weston, Imogen Cunningham and Karl Blossfeldt. A similar attentiveness to the clarity of line, form, pattern and texture characterizes Baril’s still lifes. In composing the seascapes, Baril employs the traditional box camera obscura, better known as the pinhole camera...
Category
Early 2000s American Realist Tom Baril Black and White Photography
Materials
Photogravure
Large Format Vintage Floral Black & White Silver Gelatin Photograph Tom Baril
By Tom Baril
Located in Surfside, FL
Baril, Tom (American, b. 1952)
Large format silver gelatin print still life of flowers photo. hand signed and dated 1997 by Baril in pencil below image. black and white photograph. image measures 24.5" x 19.5"w, framed measurements are 37"h x 32"w.
Tom Baril is a contemporary American photographer best known for his Polaroid and wet-collodion prints of flowers, landscapes, and architectural studies of buildings and bridges. Born in Putnam, CT in 1952, he received his BFA in photography from the School of Visual Arts in 1980. In his last year at school, Baril began printing for the famed photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, where he learned a number of important techniques. Baril's botanical images more closely resemble those of Karl Blossfeldt, a photographer in Weimar Germany. Baril shoots most of his extreme floral closeups with a pinhole camera. But unlike Virginia-based pinhole photographer Beth Beck, Baril uses his camera for resolute directness. Baril's photographs, like his former employer's, often carry a sexual charge, though their eroticism is typically sublimated. Notably, the sexiest flower around, the orchid, is nowhere to be seen. Rather, the translucence of Brugmansia (1998) immediately—and vividly—brings to mind those famous '30s glamour shots of Greta Garbo. And the vibe in Baril's creamy Calla Lily (1998) owes less to Georgia O'Keeffe's sexually explicit floral paintings of the species than to Irving Penn's sinuous fashion photography. The works in the New York series look timeless, betraying not even the stray clue that they were made after 1950. Baril's images of bridge spans, old skyscrapers, and marble columns could easily have been shot by Lewis Hine or Alvin Langdon Coburn...
Category
1990s Contemporary Tom Baril Black and White Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
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Tom Baril black and white photography for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Tom Baril black and white photography available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Tom Baril in intaglio, photogravure, silver gelatin print and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 21st century and contemporary and is mostly associated with the contemporary style. Not every interior allows for large Tom Baril black and white photography, so small editions measuring 7 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of John Conn, Larry Clark, and Peter Emanuel Goldman. Tom Baril black and white photography prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $900 and tops out at $4,800, while the average work can sell for $2,250.