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Why is Nan Goldin famous?

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Why is Nan Goldin famous?
Nan Goldin is famous for her work as a photographer. She was particularly drawn to the avant-garde music scene in Manhattan in the late 1970s and early ’80s, and “The Ballad of Sexual Dependency” series would include many photos taken in her newly adopted city. Goldin first exhibited the series at the Whitney Biennial in 1985 before publishing it as a book a year later. In its startling honesty, Goldin’s gripping portraits captured sexual relationships, drug use, intimate scenes in the homes of families, partying at bars, domestic violence and the AIDS-related horrors faced by those in the era’s LGBTQ+ community. Over the years, Goldin has collaborated with Japanese photographer Nobuyoshi Araki and completed projects for Jimmy Choo and Bottega Veneta. While her work has broadened to include New York City skylines, portraiture and commercial fashion photography, her commitment to documentary-style honesty has never wavered. In 2006, as part of Goldin’s "Chasing a Ghost” exhibition in New York City, a presentation was projected on three screens involving videos, photography and a musical collage focused on her older sister, Barbara, who took her own life in 1965. Among Goldin’s many accolades are her admission to the French Legion of Honor in 2006, the Hasselblad Foundation International Award in 2007 and the Lucie Award in 2014. Shop a range of Nan Goldin art on 1stDibs.
1stDibs ExpertJanuary 10, 2025
Shop for Nan Goldin Art on 1stDibs
Lydia Lunch at the Russian Baths, 268 East 10th Street, 1985 offset litho poster
By Nan Goldin
Located in New York, NY
Nan Goldin Lydia Lunch at the Russian Baths, 268 East 10th Street, 1985 poster, 2018 Offset lithograph poster (unsigned, unnumbered and unframed) 17 × 22 inches Published by The Kitchen in 2018, on the occasion of their Gala honoring Nan Goldin and Lydia Lunch Provenance Acquired from The Kitchen on the occasion of their 2018 Gala Also accompanied by Certificate of Guarantee from Alpha 137 Gallery Excerpt from The Kitchen description of this event: “During the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, icons Goldin and Lunch were vanguards of post-punk New York. Both women have presented their work at The Kitchen throughout the years, consistently returning to premiere new works that went on to exemplify their careers. Goldin’s portraiture of her close-knit circle of friends in New York became emblematic of her generation’s grappling with the social issues of the time, from the epidemic of drug addiction to the AIDS crisis. Lunch is revered as a radical progenitor of No Wave music, fronting the influential Teenage Jesus and the Jerks and collaborating with acts like JG Thirlwell, Birthday Party, and Sonic Youth. Lunch has a broad artistic practice, also working in film, visual art, writing, and spoken-word. Goldin and Lunch have also collaborated on numerous occasions. For instance, the cover of Lunch’s 1995 album Drowning In Limbo featured a portrait of her taken by Goldin. Lunch also posed for Goldin’s project for The Village Voice’s short-lived fashion insert Vue in 1985. Shot as part of an editorial called “Masculine/Feminine,” the image of a reclining Lunch at Russian baths in the East Village was ultimately not included in the final layout, and we were pleased to be present the image for the first time as a limited-edition print in support of The Kitchen. At The Kitchen in November 1980, Goldin presented slides as part of Dubbed in Glamour, a three-day event of “spectacle and extravagance” organized by Edit deAk that featured primarily women artists. Introduced by Cookie Mueller, who served as the master of ceremonies, these slides were an early version of Goldin’s landmark work The Ballad of Sexual Dependency, which continued to take shape during the next few years. The Bush Tetras, who performed at this year’s gala, also participated in Dubbed in Glamour. In 1994, Goldin returned to The Kitchen to premiere three slideshows for the first time in the United States as part of the winter lecture series curated by Ira Silverberg. The first slideshow developed from her 1992 award-winning book The Other Side, which lauded the drag queens she lived with and among in New York. During the ‘70s, when Goldin first moved to the city, the people she lived with became not just her subjects, but also her chosen family. The second slideshow was a series of intimate self-portraits. The evening concluded with a collection of Goldin’s images that traced her relationships to her close friends Alf Bold, Gilles Dusein, and Cookie Mueller and celebrated the joy of their lives and the pain of their deaths from AIDS. In 1985, Lunch first appeared at The Kitchen as part of the two-night screening series of experimental short films, Super 8 Motel. She and Richard Kern...
Category

2010s Contemporary Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph, Offset

Swan Like Embrace, Paris
By Nan Goldin
Located in London, GB
Swan-Like Embrace, Paris 2001, printed later, 2021 C-Print on paper 8 x 5 1/8 inches Signed on the back published by Pain Nan Goldin's "Swan-like Embrace, Paris, 2001" is a poignant...
Category

2010s Contemporary Figurative Prints

Materials

C Print

Swan-Like Embrace (Paris) by Nan Goldin
By Nan Goldin
Located in London, GB
By Nan Goldin Swan-Like Embrace, Paris (2001), printed later, 2021 C-Print on paper 8 x 5 1/8 inches Signed verso (please see image 3) From the 2021 timed release, published by Pain.
Category

2010s Contemporary Figurative Photography

Materials

C Print

Supreme Nan Goldin skateboard deck (Nan as a Dominatrix)
By Nan Goldin
Located in NEW YORK, NY
Nan Goldin Supreme Skateboard Deck: 'Nan as a Dominatrix, Cambridge MA' (1978/2018): Published in 2018 by Supreme New York Features Nan Goldin printed signature on verso From a sold...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Feminist Nude Photography

Materials

Wood, Offset

My Bed, Hotel La Louisiane, Paris
By Nan Goldin
Located in Toronto, Ontario
Nan Goldin (b. 1953) is one of the most influential, yet arguably underrated, photographers of the 20th century. Beginning in the 1970's Goldin took candid shots of her friends and lovers, characters often living on the margins of society. Following William Eggleston, Nan Goldin made an significant contribution to the evolution of color photography. "My Bed...
Category

1990s Post-Modern Photography

Materials

Dye Transfer

Pink sky from airplane
By Nan Goldin
Located in New York, NY
Nan Goldin Pink sky from airplane 2000 Cibachrome 30 x 40 inches; 76 x 102 cm Edition of 15 Signed, titled, dated, and numbered in ink (verso) Available f...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Landscape Photography

Materials

Photographic Film, C Print

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