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Mark Klett Black and White Photography

American, b. 1952

The subject of Mark Klett’s photography is the vast Western landscape and its visual interpretations. He is particularly interested in exposing the effects of time, culture, history and human activity on the landscape and developed the technique of rephotographing to achieve this. 

From 1977–79, Klett was the chief photographer for the Rephotographic Survey Project that reshot, from the same physical location, iconic views of the West by early geological survey photographers who were working in the 1860s. The pairing of these historical and contemporary images of the same landscapes revealed the technical, political and aesthetic decisions made by the 19th century photographers and exposed the ideologies underpinning these supposed neutral images. 

Klett’s later photography has focused on quintessential destinations such as the Grand Canyon, Cedar Mesa, Yellowstone, and the US/Mexico Border. Referencing visual culture, social science and the language of photography, Klett demonstrates how our perception of the West is shaped by the history of its representation and the role of humans in it, even in its most remote areas.

Klett has an MFA in photography from the State University of New York, Buffalo, and a B.S. in geology from St. Lawrence University. He has published over 15 books and shown his work internationally for over 35 years. Klett has received four National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships as well as numerous awards from the likes of the Guggenheim Foundation, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, and the Japan/US Friendship Commission. He is Regents Professor of Art at Arizona State University, where he has taught since 1982.

Find original Mark Klett photography on 1stDibs.

(Biography provided by Lisa Sette Gallery)

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Artist: Mark Klett
Self Portrait with Saguaro About My Same Age
By Mark Klett
Located in New York, NY
Platinum print (Edition of 100) Titled and dated in pencil, recto Signed and dated in pencil, verso 10 x 12 inches, sheet size 8 x 10 inches, image size This artwork is offered by...
Category

1990s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Platinum

Storm Clouds Over Eastern Idaho Near Craters of the Moon
By Mark Klett
Located in Dallas, TX
Storm Clouds Over Eastern Idaho Near Craters of the Moon, 1980 Gelatin silver print 16 x 20 inches. Signed and dated in pencil on print verso by Mark Klett From American Road Portfolio
Category

1980s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Six Quarter Moons
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Photographer Mark Klett is best known for cool, impersonal images of desert landscapes in the American Southwest, taken from a similar vantage points and under similar lighting condi...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Seven Moons
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Photographer Mark Klett is best known for cool, impersonal images of desert landscapes in the American Southwest, taken from a similar vantage points and under similar lighting condi...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Ed Abbey in Turkey Pen Ruins, Grand Gulch, UT, 5/17/88
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Photographer Mark Klett is best known for cool, impersonal images of desert landscapes in the American Southwest, taken from a similar vantage points and under similar lighting conditions as 19th-century photographs by the likes of seminal surveyors William Henry Jackson and Timothy O’Sullivan. These photos consider changes in landscape, history, culture, aesthetics, technology, representation, and perception. Klett has collaborated with several artists, including Byron Wolfe...
Category

1980s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Inkjet

357 at dusk
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Photographer Mark Klett is best known for cool, impersonal images of desert landscapes in the American Southwest, taken from a similar vantage points and under similar lighting condi...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Cul de sacs: failed development, Estrella, 7/17/90
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Photographer Mark Klett is best known for cool, impersonal images of desert landscapes in the American Southwest, taken from a similar vantage points and under similar lighting condi...
Category

1990s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Inkjet

Kyle looking at a bird's nest, Little Death Hollow, 5/15/96
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Photographer Mark Klett is best known for cool, impersonal images of desert landscapes in the American Southwest, taken from a similar vantage points and under similar lighting conditions as 19th-century photographs by the likes of seminal surveyors William Henry Jackson...
Category

1990s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Inkjet

Boatmans sandal print, San Juan River, 9/27/90
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Photographer Mark Klett is best known for cool, impersonal images of desert landscapes in the American Southwest, taken from a similar vantage points and under similar lighting condi...
Category

1990s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Inkjet

Beneath the Great Arch, Near Monticello, Utah
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Photographer Mark Klett is best known for cool, impersonal images of desert landscapes in the American Southwest, taken from a similar vantage points and under similar lighting conditions as 19th-century photographs by the likes of seminal surveyors William Henry Jackson and Timothy O’Sullivan. These photos consider changes in landscape, history, culture, aesthetics, technology, representation, and perception. Klett has collaborated with several artists, including Byron Wolfe...
Category

1980s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Inkjet

Campsite reached by boat through watery canyons, Lake Powell, 8/20/83
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Photographer Mark Klett is best known for cool, impersonal images of desert landscapes in the American Southwest, taken from a similar vantage points and under similar lighting condi...
Category

1980s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Inkjet

Drinking water from a pothole downstream from Uranium mine, 5/23/92
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Photographer Mark Klett is best known for cool, impersonal images of desert landscapes in the American Southwest, taken from a similar vantage points and under similar lighting condi...
Category

1990s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Inkjet

Arrowhead and Bullet from Campsite Used by Hunters for Centuries, 11/25/89
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Photographer Mark Klett is best known for cool, impersonal images of desert landscapes in the American Southwest, taken from a similar vantage points and under similar lighting conditions as 19th-century photographs by the likes of seminal surveyors William Henry Jackson...
Category

1980s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Inkjet

Panorama of a Ghost River
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Influenced by late nineteenth-century expeditionary photographers such as Timothy O'Sullivan, who documented the "unexplored" territories of the West, Mark Klett visually explores these landscapes and the marks left on them by man. His images, like O'Sullivan's, have a human context - whether it be the lights of a city, a hat, foot or shadow jutting into the frame, or debris/artifacts left behind by ancient or modern passers-by. Working mostly in the desert Southwest...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Inkjet

Moon at Sunrise
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Photographer Mark Klett is best known for cool, impersonal images of desert landscapes in the American Southwest, taken from a similar vantage points and under similar lighting condi...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Dirt bike loop, west of Henryville, Utah, 4/18/91
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Photographer Mark Klett is best known for cool, impersonal images of desert landscapes in the American Southwest, taken from a similar vantage points and under similar lighting conditions as 19th-century photographs by the likes of seminal surveyors William Henry Jackson and Timothy O’Sullivan. These photos consider changes in landscape, history, culture, aesthetics, technology, representation, and perception. Klett has collaborated with several artists, including Byron Wolfe...
Category

1990s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Inkjet

David photographing "Baseball Man" pictograph along the San Juan 9/24/90
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Photographer Mark Klett is best known for cool, impersonal images of desert landscapes in the American Southwest, taken from a similar vantage points and under similar lighting conditions as 19th-century photographs by the likes of seminal surveyors William Henry Jackson and Timothy O’Sullivan. These photos consider changes in landscape, history, culture, aesthetics, technology, representation, and perception. Klett has collaborated with several artists, including Byron Wolfe...
Category

1990s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Inkjet

Crescent moon at twighlight, Marble Canyon, AZ, 5/31/87
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Photographer Mark Klett is best known for cool, impersonal images of desert landscapes in the American Southwest, taken from a similar vantage points and under similar lighting conditions as 19th-century photographs by the likes of seminal surveyors William Henry Jackson...
Category

1980s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Inkjet

Casino, Boulder City, NV 7/6/85
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Photographer Mark Klett is best known for cool, impersonal images of desert landscapes in the American Southwest, taken from a similar vantage points and under similar lighting conditions as 19th-century photographs by the likes of seminal surveyors William Henry Jackson and Timothy O’Sullivan. These photos consider changes in landscape, history, culture, aesthetics, technology, representation, and perception. Klett has collaborated with several artists, including Byron Wolfe...
Category

1980s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Inkjet

Casa Grande ruins with protective rain shelter, 12/16/84
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Photographer Mark Klett is best known for cool, impersonal images of desert landscapes in the American Southwest, taken from a similar vantage points and under similar lighting conditions as 19th-century photographs by the likes of seminal surveyors William Henry Jackson...
Category

1980s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Inkjet

Car passing snake, Eastern Mojave Desert
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Photographer Mark Klett is best known for cool, impersonal images of desert landscapes in the American Southwest, taken from a similar vantage points and under similar lighting conditions as 19th-century photographs by the likes of seminal surveyors William Henry Jackson and Timothy O’Sullivan. These photos consider changes in landscape, history, culture, aesthetics, technology, representation, and perception. Klett has collaborated with several artists, including Byron Wolfe...
Category

1980s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Inkjet

Lena by reflecting pool, Muley Pt., 7/14/96
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Photographer Mark Klett is best known for cool, impersonal images of desert landscapes in the American Southwest, taken from a similar vantage points and under similar lighting conditions as 19th-century photographs by the likes of seminal surveyors William Henry Jackson and Timothy O’Sullivan. These photos consider changes in landscape, history, culture, aesthetics, technology, representation, and perception. Klett has collaborated with several artists, including Byron Wolfe...
Category

1990s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Inkjet

Bras adorning a juniper, Christmas Tree Pass
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Photographer Mark Klett is best known for cool, impersonal images of desert landscapes in the American Southwest, taken from a similar vantage points and under similar lighting condi...
Category

1980s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Inkjet

Auto petroglyph, Canyonlands, UT, 6/21/89
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Photographer Mark Klett is best known for cool, impersonal images of desert landscapes in the American Southwest, taken from a similar vantage points and under similar lighting condi...
Category

1980s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Inkjet

Byron Checking the Position of the Moon with his Laptop, Flaming Gorge, WY
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Photographer Mark Klett is best known for cool, impersonal images of desert landscapes in the American Southwest, taken from a similar vantage points and under similar lighting conditions as 19th-century photographs by the likes of seminal surveyors William Henry Jackson and Timothy O’Sullivan. These photos consider changes in landscape, history, culture, aesthetics, technology, representation, and perception. Klett has collaborated with several artists, including Byron Wolfe...
Category

1990s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Inkjet

Balancing rocks, road to Lee's Ferry Marble Canyon, AZ, 5/10/86
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Photographer Mark Klett is best known for cool, impersonal images of desert landscapes in the American Southwest, taken from a similar vantage points and under similar lighting conditions as 19th-century photographs by the likes of seminal surveyors William Henry Jackson...
Category

1980s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Gun found in drifting sand, Kelso, CA, 1/22/87
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Photographer Mark Klett is best known for cool, impersonal images of desert landscapes in the American Southwest, taken from a similar vantage points and under similar lighting conditions as 19th-century photographs by the likes of seminal surveyors William Henry Jackson and Timothy O’Sullivan. These photos consider changes in landscape, history, culture, aesthetics, technology, representation, and perception. Klett has collaborated with several artists, including Byron Wolfe...
Category

1980s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Inkjet

Eclipse over Muybridge
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Influenced by late nineteenth-century expeditionary photographers such as Timothy O'Sullivan, who documented the "unexplored" territories of the West, Mark Klett visually explores th...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Inkjet

Two Suns
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Photographer Mark Klett is best known for cool, impersonal images of desert landscapes in the American Southwest, taken from a similar vantage points and under similar lighting condi...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Overnight
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Photographer Mark Klett is best known for cool, impersonal images of desert landscapes in the American Southwest, taken from a similar vantage points and under similar lighting condi...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Imprint from Bird Hitting Window
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Photographer Mark Klett is best known for cool, impersonal images of desert landscapes in the American Southwest, taken from a similar vantage points and under similar lighting condi...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Black Hole
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Photographer Mark Klett is best known for cool, impersonal images of desert landscapes in the American Southwest, taken from a similar vantage points and under similar lighting condi...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Beach 15 min
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Photographer Mark Klett is best known for cool, impersonal images of desert landscapes in the American Southwest, taken from a similar vantage points and under similar lighting condi...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

People on the Edge
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Using landscape photography to reflect on broader notions of culture, the passage of time, and the construction of perception, photographers Mark Klett and Byron Wolfe spent five years exploring the Grand Canyon for their most recent project, Reconstructing the View. The team's landscape photographs are based on the practice of rephotography, in which they identify sites of historic photographs and make new photographs of those precise locations. Klett and Wolfe referenced a wealth of images of the canyon, ranging from historical photographs and drawings by William Bell and William Henry Holmes...
Category

2010s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Above Lake Tenaya
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Influenced by late nineteenth-century expeditionary photographers such as Timothy O'Sullivan, who documented the "unexplored" territories of the West, Mark Klett visually explores these landscapes and the marks left on them by man. His images, like O'Sullivan's, have a human context - whether it be the lights of a city, a hat, foot or shadow jutting into the frame, or debris/artifacts left behind by ancient or modern passers-by. Working mostly in the desert Southwest...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Inkjet

Moment of Intersection
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Photographer Mark Klett is best known for cool, impersonal images of desert landscapes in the American Southwest, taken from a similar vantage points and under similar lighting condi...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Two Moons
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Photographer Mark Klett is best known for cool, impersonal images of desert landscapes in the American Southwest, taken from a similar vantage points and under similar lighting condi...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Moon and Sun Rising
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Photographer Mark Klett is best known for cool, impersonal images of desert landscapes in the American Southwest, taken from a similar vantage points and under similar lighting condi...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Mid Day Suns
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Photographer Mark Klett is best known for cool, impersonal images of desert landscapes in the American Southwest, taken from a similar vantage points and under similar lighting condi...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Looking at terraces above the Duoro, Above Piñao, 1995
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Influenced by late nineteenth-century expeditionary photographers such as Timothy O'Sullivan, who documented the "unexplored" territories of the West, Mark Klett visually explores th...
Category

1990s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Luke listening to his stereo, Cathedral Valley, Utah, 4/23/94
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Influenced by late nineteenth-century expeditionary photographers such as Timothy O'Sullivan, who documented the "unexplored" territories of the West, Mark Klett visually explores th...
Category

1990s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

5 Minutes at Glacier Point, 10/9/04
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Influenced by late nineteenth-century expeditionary photographers such as Timothy O'Sullivan, who documented the "unexplored" territories of the West, Mark Klett visually explores th...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Full Moon with Ring, Sand Tank Mountains, AZ
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Influenced by late nineteenth-century expeditionary photographers such as Timothy O'Sullivan, who documented the "unexplored" territories of the West, Mark Klett visually explores th...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Entering a Narrow Cave, Salt Creek, Utah, 5/9/90
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Influenced by late nineteenth-century expeditionary photographers such as Timothy O'Sullivan, who documented the "unexplored" territories of the West, Mark Klett visually explores th...
Category

1990s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Facing South, Sunrise at Black Rock, NV, 9/18/00
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Influenced by late nineteenth-century expeditionary photographers such as Timothy O'Sullivan, who documented the "unexplored" territories of the West, Mark Klett visually explores these landscapes and the marks left on them by man. His images, like O'Sullivan's, have a human context - whether it be the lights of a city, a hat, foot or shadow jutting into the frame, or debris/artifacts left behind by ancient or modern passers-by. Working mostly in the desert Southwest...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Bullet Riddled Saguaro
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
The photographs date from 1987 to 2006, and were made in the deserts of central and southern Arizona. The originals are 16”x20” gelatin silver photographs printed from 4”x5” Polaroid...
Category

20th Century Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Under the Dark Cloth
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
The photographs date from 1987 to 2006, and were made in the deserts of central and southern Arizona. The originals are 16”x20” gelatin silver photographs printed from 4”x5” Polaroid...
Category

20th Century Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Desert Citizen
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Influenced by late nineteenth-century expeditionary photographers such as Timothy O'Sullivan, who documented the "unexplored" territories of the West, Mark Klett visually explores th...
Category

20th Century Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Beneath the Great Arch, Near Monticello, Utah
By Mark Klett
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Influenced by late nineteenth-century expeditionary photographers such as Timothy O'Sullivan, who documented the "unexplored" territories of the West, Mark Klett visually explores th...
Category

20th Century Contemporary Mark Klett Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Mark Klett black and white photography for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Mark Klett black and white photography available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Mark Klett in silver gelatin print, digital print, inkjet print and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the contemporary style. Not every interior allows for large Mark Klett black and white photography, so small editions measuring 9 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Art Shay, Guilherme Licurgo, and Ken Rosenthal. Mark Klett black and white photography prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $650 and tops out at $10,000, while the average work can sell for $4,000.

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