Kirsten Thys Bath

Kirsten Thys van den Audenaerde is a self-taught freelance photographer, based in Brussels. Early on in her career, she discovered a fascination with art nude photography, and since then, the human body in its purest form has played a major role throughout her work.

In 2016, after becoming increasingly frustrated with digital perfection, an impulse buy of The Impossible Project’s I-1 camera changed her life. Never having heard of TIP before, she describes making that first Polaroid image as an instant love affair. Within weeks, she had acquired several old Polaroid cameras, and before she knew it, she switched to analog photography, quickly realizing that it offered her everything she had been missing in her digital work.

Capturing a unique moment exactly as it is has brought back the feeling of authenticity she had lost in her previous work. She especially likes to work with expired film, captivated by its perfect imperfections. In September 2016, a trip to visit relatives in Utah documented only with her Polaroid cameras proved to be a pivotal point. Inspired by the breathtaking landscapes, she returned in May 2017 and road tripped through Utah and California for a few weeks, accompanied by an art nude model friend. She paired the purity of the human body with rugged landscapes and rock formations, and it was along those desert roads that her project “Polaroad: A Polaroid Road Trip” was born.

Her hunger for new adventures made her return for a second time in September 2017, traveling solo with a tent in the back of her rented Jeep, completing her project with some stunning images on pack film, shot with a local model. Her “Polaroad” exhibition was on show in Brussels until January 10th, 2018. Her work has also been shown in Ogden (Salt Lake City) and Barcelona. Kirsten only dreams of two things: traveling around the world at least twice before she dies, with her Polaroid cameras of course, and a new fridge big enough to store her rapidly growing stash of Polaroid film.

Used to refer to a time rather than an aesthetic, Contemporary art generally describes pieces created after 1970 or being made by living artists anywhere in the world. This immediacy means it encompasses art responding to the present moment through diverse subjects, media and themes. Contemporary painting, sculpture, photography, performance, digital art, video and more frequently includes work that is attempting to reshape current ideas about what art can be, from Felix Gonzalez-Torres’s use of candy to memorialize a lover he lost to AIDS-related complications to Jenny Holzer’s ongoing “Truisms,” a Conceptual series that sees provocative messages printed on billboards, T-shirts, benches and other public places that exist outside of formal exhibitions and the conventional “white cube” of galleries.

Contemporary art has been pushing the boundaries of creative expression for years. Its disruption of the traditional concepts of art are often aiming to engage viewers in complex questions about identity, society and culture. In the latter part of the 20th century, contemporary movements included Land art, in which artists like Robert Smithson and Michael Heizer create large-scale, site-specific sculptures, installations and other works in soil and bodies of water; Sound art, with artists such as Christian Marclay and Susan Philipsz centering art on sonic experiences; and New Media art, in which mass media and digital culture inform the work of artists such as Nam June Paik and Rafaël Rozendaal.

The first decades of the 21st century have seen the growth of Contemporary African art, the revival of figurative painting, the emergence of street art and the rise of NFTs, unique digital artworks that are powered by blockchain technology.

Major Contemporary artists practicing now include Ai Weiwei, Cecily Brown, David Hockney, Yayoi Kusama, Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami and Kara Walker.

Find a collection of Contemporary prints, photography, paintings, sculptures and other art on 1stDibs.

For centuries, the human figure has held an allure for artists, and those working in photography — a medium celebrated for its documentary properties and its accuracy — have long sought to express humanity in its purest state. Fine nude photography presents an empowering challenge for artists, whether they’re endeavoring to counter traditional ideals of beauty, deeply examine power, sexuality and gender or simply create direct and expressive images of the human form, unguarded and unadorned, simultaneously vulnerable and strong.

While the collection of fine nude photography on 1stDibs includes pioneers of the 20th century — such as Edward Weston, Jack Mitchell and Slim Aarons — many contemporary nude photographers have taken their choice of visual medium in directions that have proven provocative and refreshing.

Self-taught Belgian freelancer Kirsten Thys van den Audenaerde, for example, has ventured into the deserts of Utah with her nude models, working largely with expired Polaroid film to produce wild juxtapositions of pure human forms amid dry and dusty landscapes. Award-winning fashion photographer Ellen von Unwerth redefines the female gaze — her bold and erotic images of celebrities and magazine models have left an indelible mark on the visual landscape of the fashion world.

The study of who and what we are is central to art — find a range of fine nude photography on 1stDibs, including work by Helmut Newton, Robert Mapplethorpe, Stefanie Schneider and others.