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Modern Black and White Photography

MODERN STYLE

The first decades of the 20th century were a period of artistic upheaval, with modern art movements including Cubism, Surrealism, Futurism and Dadaism questioning centuries of traditional views of what art should be. Using abstraction, experimental forms and interdisciplinary techniques, painters, sculptors, photographers, printmakers and performance artists all pushed the boundaries of creative expression.

Major exhibitions, like the 1913 Armory Show in New York City — also known as the “International Exhibition of Modern Art,” in which works like the radically angular Nude Descending a Staircase by Marcel Duchamp caused a sensation — challenged the perspective of viewers and critics and heralded the arrival of modern art in the United States. But the movement’s revolutionary spirit took shape in the 19th century.

The Industrial Revolution, which ushered in new technology and cultural conditions across the world, transformed art from something mostly commissioned by the wealthy or the church to work that responded to personal experiences. The Impressionist style emerged in 1860s France with artists like Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne and Edgar Degas quickly painting works that captured moments of light and urban life. Around the same time in England, the Pre-Raphaelites, like Edward Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, borrowed from late medieval and early Renaissance art to imbue their art with symbolism and modern ideas of beauty.

Emerging from this disruption of the artistic status quo, modern art went further in rejecting conventions and embracing innovation. The bold legacy of leading modern artists Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso, Frida Kahlo, Salvador Dalí, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, Marc Chagall, Piet Mondrian and many others continues to inform visual culture today.

Find a collection of modern paintings, sculptures, prints and other fine art on 1stDibs.

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Style: Modern
Period: 1980s
Stacey Keach
Located in Cologne, DE
American Film Actor Stacy Keach at Home in Malibu American actor and star of TV series Mike Hammer, Stacy Keach, at home he shares with with third wife Jil...
Category

1980s Modern Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Stacey Keach
Located in Cologne, DE
American Film Actor Stacy Keach at Home in Malibu American actor and star of TV series Mike Hammer, Stacy Keach, at home he shares with with third wife Jil...
Category

1980s Modern Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Stacey Keach
Located in Cologne, DE
American Film Actor Stacy Keach at Home in Malibu American actor and star of TV series Mike Hammer, Stacy Keach, at home he shares with with third wife Jil...
Category

1980s Modern Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Stacey Keach
Located in Cologne, DE
American Film Actor Stacy Keach at Home in Malibu American actor and star of TV series Mike Hammer, Stacy Keach, at home he shares with with third wife Jil...
Category

1980s Modern Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Stacey Keach
Located in Cologne, DE
American Film Actor Stacy Keach at Home in Malibu American actor and star of TV series Mike Hammer, Stacy Keach, at home he shares with with third wife Jil...
Category

1980s Modern Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Stacey Keach
Located in Cologne, DE
American Film Actor Stacy Keach at Home in Malibu American actor and star of TV series Mike Hammer, Stacy Keach, at home he shares with with third wife Jil...
Category

1980s Modern Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Jeanloup Sieff - Intimode - Les Dessous de la mode
Located in Cologne, DE
From a Portfolio with 26 exclusive works of Jeanloup Sieff, limited to 200 copies. The photograph of Jeanloup Sieff has been produced as Collotype under the direct commandment of the...
Category

1980s Modern Black and White Photography

Materials

Photogravure, Archival Paper

Jeanloup Sieff - Intimode - Les Dessous de la mode
Located in Cologne, DE
From a Portfolio with 26 exclusive works of Jeanloup Sieff, limited to 200 copies. The photograph of Jeanloup Sieff has been produced as Collotype under the direct commandment of the...
Category

1980s Modern Black and White Photography

Materials

Photogravure, Archival Paper

Jeanloup Sieff - Intimode - Les Dessous de la mode
Located in Cologne, DE
From a Portfolio with 26 exclusive works of Jeanloup Sieff, limited to 200 copies. The photograph of Jeanloup Sieff has been produced as Collotype under the direct commandment of the...
Category

1980s Modern Black and White Photography

Materials

Photogravure, Archival Paper

Grace Jones at Bond’s, New York
Located in New York, NY
Ron Galella (1931) Grace Jones at Bond’s, New York 1980 11 x 14 inches Silver Gelatin Print Edition of 20 Signed, dated, titled by the artist. Described by a nickname of Paparazzo E...
Category

1980s Modern Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Jeanloup Sieff - Intimode - Les Dessous de la mode
Located in Cologne, DE
From a Portfolio with 26 exclusive works of Jeanloup Sieff, limited to 200 copies. The photograph of Jeanloup Sieff has been produced as Collotype under the direct commandment of the...
Category

1980s Modern Black and White Photography

Materials

Photogravure, Archival Paper

Jeanloup Sieff - Intimode - Les Dessous de la mode
Located in Cologne, DE
From a Portfolio with 26 exclusive works of Jeanloup Sieff, limited to 200 copies. The photograph of Jeanloup Sieff has been produced as Collotype under the direct commandment of the...
Category

1980s Modern Black and White Photography

Materials

Photogravure, Archival Paper

Jeanloup Sieff - Intimode - Les Dessous de la mode
Located in Cologne, DE
From a Portfolio with 26 exclusive works of Jeanloup Sieff, limited to 200 copies. The photograph of Jeanloup Sieff has been produced as Collotype under the direct commandment of the...
Category

1980s Modern Black and White Photography

Materials

Photogravure, Archival Paper

Def Leppard - Signed Limited Edition Oversized Print
Located in London, GB
Def Leppard - Signed Limited Edition Oversized Print Joe Elliot, lead singer of British rock band Def Leppard, performs on stage in London Commission for...
Category

1980s Modern Black and White Photography

Materials

Black and White, Archival Pigment

Photo Of Pedro Friedeberg Hand Chair Vintage Silver Gelatin Photograph
Located in Surfside, FL
This depicts a chair in the manner of Mexican surrealist modernist Pedro Friedeberg with a dried flowers. It is a hand signed, titled and dated vintage silver gelatin print photograph. and bears the artists studio stamp verso. Naomi Siegler Savage (1927 – 2005) was an American woman photographer. A native of Princeton, New Jersey, Naomi Savage was the niece of artist Man Ray. She first studied photography under Berenice Abbott at the New School for Social Research in 1943, following this with studies in art, photography, and music at Bennington College from 1944 until 1947. The next year she spent in California with her uncle, studying his techniques. When she returned to New York in 1948, she combined her love of music with her skill in photography by taking portraits of the best known composers of day: Aaron Copland, John Cage, Virgil Thomson, etc. (over 30 in all). In 1950 she married the architect and sculptor David Savage, with whom she moved to Paris, living there for some years. During her career Savage received an award from the Cassandra Foundation in 1970, and a photography fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1971. In 1976 she received the silver award from the Art Directors Club. Later in life, Savage returned to live in Princeton, where she died. Savage was heavily influenced by her uncle, the avant garde artist Man Ray, prompting her to experiment with the medium of photography, combining traditional techniques with more unusual processes, including some of her own design. She worked extensively with photogravure and photoengraving, transforming these mechanical printing techniques to be used for aesthetic effects rather than duplication. Unlike many photographers, Savage considered the metal plate that photographs are etched on to be a work of art in its own right. She pioneered the use of using the photographic metal plate to produce a three dimensional form with a metallic surface. Savage explored variations in color and texture in her work often by using inked and intaglio relief prints. Many of her works were created by combining media such as collage, negative images, texture screening, multiple exposure, photograms, solarization, toning, laser printing on metallic foils. Her works focus on a variety of subject matter and imagery, which has included portraits, landscapes, human figures, mannequins, masks, toys, kitchen utensils, dental and ophthalmological equipment. Her approach represents an involvement with "process as medium," and an interest in art as image manipulation, a pursuit shared by contemporaries like Robert Heinecken, Betty Hahn, and Bea Nettles. She has experimented extensively with photogravure and photoengraving, employing these mechanical printing techniques for aesthetic effects rather than duplication. Savage uses inked and intaglio relief prints to explore variations in color and texture, and considers the metal plate on which the photograph has been etched to be a work of art in its own right. She has also combined media--collage, negative images, texture screening, multiple exposure, photograms, solarization, toning, printing on metallic foils--and made laser color prints. Several of her pieces are owned by the Museum of Modern Art, and she is represented as well in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the International Center for Photography, the Fogg Art Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Madison Art Center. A photo engraved mural depicting the life of Lyndon Baines Johnson is a centerpiece of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum. A collection of her papers relating to the life of Man Ray is held by the Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian Institution. She was included in the show Making Space at MoMA in 2017. It shone a spotlight on the stunning achievements of women artists between the end of World War II (1945) and by Lee Krasner, Helen Frankenthaler, and Joan Mitchell; the radical geometries by Lygia Clark, Lygia Pape, and Gego; and the reductive abstractions of Agnes Martin, Anne Truitt, and Jo Baer; the fiber weavings of Magdalena Abakanowicz, Sheila Hicks, and Lenore Tawney; and the process-oriented sculptures of Lee Bontecou, Louise Bourgeois, and Eva Hesse. The exhibition also featured treasures such as collages by Anne Ryan, photographs by Gertrudes Altschul, Naomi Savage, Ruth Asawa, Carol Rama...
Category

1980s Modern Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Jeanloup Sieff - Intimode - Les Dessous de la mode
Located in Cologne, DE
From a Portfolio with 26 exclusive works of Jeanloup Sieff, limited to 200 copies. The photograph of Jeanloup Sieff has been produced as Collotype under the direct commandment of the...
Category

1980s Modern Black and White Photography

Materials

Photogravure, Archival Paper

Modern Black and White Landscape Sabittier Photograph
Located in Houston, TX
Black and white landscape photograph was done by photographer Pat Truax. This photograph showcases the Sabbttier process or the results of solarization. The photograph is not framed....
Category

1980s Modern Black and White Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

On the Steps
Located in New York, NY
On the Steps, 1984 Archival pigment print Signed and numbered edition Additional sizes available. Robert Farber is a contemporary American photographer best known for his iconic ...
Category

1980s Modern Black and White Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Man Walking Past Parking Lot - Classic car, Cadillac, Street photography
Located in Brighton, GB
Edition of 10. Black & White print on Hahnemuehle Paper. The body of work, States of America, is the photographic legacy of one of the UK’s leading photographic talents whose untimely death in 1991 ended prematurely the highly promising career of a distinctive and powerful photographic voice. Michael Ormerod was born in Cheshire in 1947. He lived in Newcastle, but spent many years travelling America. Fascinated by the American image, and following in the footsteps of Robert Frank, Ormerod took to the American West to find a washed out dream of capitalism. His images capture a strange juxtaposition of an American beauty tainted by a hidden sense of menace and corruption. The photographs are understated, but show an unseen America, where the industrial heartland is decaying, highways stand empty and towns are deserted. The subjects of Ormerod’s work are the disenfranchised. A teenager cycles through her neighbourhood wearing a Halloween-style hockey mask, a Native American man stands in a graveyard, their expressions are unreadable. The work subverts traditional American icons. A white picket fence is staved in, a huge billboard for Miss Teen Dakota USA stands next to an empty highway. Inverting the famous Hollywood sign, Ormerod photographs a Texaco sign...
Category

1980s Modern Black and White Photography

Materials

Black and White, Photographic Paper

In Memory of Santa Croce
By Daniel Poensgen
Located in Kansas City, MO
Daniel Poensgen Title: In Memory of Santa Croce Medium: 2-Part Photograph on Agfa Paper Year: 1986-1987 Digned, dated and inscribed Size: 7.6 × 5.1 on 8.2 ...
Category

1980s Modern Black and White Photography

Materials

Black and White, Photographic Paper

Table with Lamp - Black & White Bedroom Interior Photograph
Located in Soquel, CA
Silver Photographic print of a bedside table and lamp by D. Smalen. Signed lower Right on mat "D. Smalen." Circa 1980-90. Size 10"H x 8"W , Sight, 9"H x 7.25"W, Mat, 16"H x 20"W.
Category

1980s Modern Black and White Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin

Ansel Adams, Pebble Beach, CA
Located in Dallas, TX
No Edition Signed, titled and dated by Jesse Alexander on print margin. Gelatin silver print Paper size: 11 x 14 in., Image size: 7 x 10 1/2 in. Jesse Alexander was considered one o...
Category

1980s Modern Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Joe Strummer
Located in New York, NY
"Joe Strummer and Mick Jones were secretly working together again on what would become the soundtrack to Sid and Nancy, The film by Alex Cox. Joe and I we...
Category

1980s Modern Black and White Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Christopher Makos, "Four by Four: Statue of Liberty, " Photo Collage, 1986
Located in Long Island City, NY
This collage of gelatin silver prints was created by American photographer Christopher Makos. Makos is well known for his relationships with icons like Andy Warhol, Tennessee William...
Category

1980s Modern Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Caddy Tailfin
Located in New York, NY
Caddy Tailfin Archival pigment print on canvas 60 x 96 inches Edition of 10 AMERICANA "From rural Montana to the Manhattan skyline at dawn, from a New Mexico cowboy...
Category

1980s Modern Black and White Photography

Materials

Canvas, Archival Pigment

"Hog Bayou Ritual" Mixed Media Collage 1982
Located in Houston, TX
Mixed media collage of hand drawn maps and photographs titled "Hog Bayou Ritual" by Roy Fridge. Artist Biography: A native of Beeville, Fridge was an only child who made his own toys. After serving in the U.S. Navy, he graduated from Baylor University in Waco with a degree in filmmaking. In the 1960s, he and his best friends, sculptors Jim Love and Dave McManaway, became known as the "unholy trio" of Texas contemporary art. In 1963, Fridge left a career in television advertising and "ran away to the beach." He settled in the sleepy town of Port Aransas...
Category

1980s Modern Black and White Photography

Materials

Watercolor, Photographic Paper, Pencil

Keith Richards, NYC, 1988
Located in New York, NY
16x20", #1/20 (Edition of 20 including all sizes)
Category

1980s Modern Black and White Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Hollywood Woman Smoking
Located in New York, NY
Hollywood, 1982 Archival pigment print 30” x 40” (76.2x101.6 cm) Edition of 10 40” x 60” (101.6x152.4 cm) Edition of 10 Robert Farber’s style has influenced generations of photographers. His painterly, impressionistic style captures the essence of composition in every genre, including nudes, still life, landscapes and architecture. His ten photo art books have sold over half a million copies. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis brought Farber into Doubleday for the publication of his book “By The Sea,” which won the Art Director’s Award for color photography. Aside from numerous creative awards, Robert Farber also received the Photographer of the Year from PMA (Photographic Manufacturers Association), ASP International Award from the PPA (Professional Photographers of America) and The American Society of Photographers. This award was given to those who’ve made a significant contribution to the science and art of photography. Some previous recipients of this award include Dr. Edwin Land (inventor of the Polaroid), George Hurrell, and National Geographic. Farber’s work with nudes in fine art as well as in the commercial realm is known and respected. He has lectured for Ogilvy & Mather on the “Nude in Advertising.” ASMP requested to use Farber’s nudes as an examples of the artistic application in support of the National Endowment of Arts, after its backing of the controversial Mapplethorpe/Serrano exhibit. His book, “Farber Nudes,” was also included the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis estate...
Category

1980s Modern Black and White Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Susie B&W, 1989 New York, NY
Located in Hudson, NY
Each year, Robin Rice celebrates a Salon style exhibition to showcase her gallery artists and invite new ones. With Robin’s extensive experience as a gallery curator, all Robin Rice...
Category

1980s Modern Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

'Eurythmics' Signed Limited Edition
Located in London, GB
'Eurythmics' SIGNED, LIMITED EDITION 1981 by Gered Mankowitz Portrait of The Eurythmics. Photograph by Gered Mankowitz, Eurythmics, London 1981. All Prints are Signed and Limit...
Category

1980s Modern Black and White Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Lady Warhol
Located in New York, NY
Lady Warhol, 1981/2011 Gelatin silver print Size: 60 x 45 inches Edition of 3
Category

1980s Modern Black and White Photography

Materials

ABS, Silver Gelatin

Panties
Located in New York, NY
Panties, 1984 Archival pigment print Signed and numbered edition Additional sizes available. Robert Farber is a contemporary American photographer best known for his iconic image...
Category

1980s Modern Black and White Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Nude Torso
Located in New York, NY
Nude Torso, 1984 Archival pigment print Signed and numbered edition Additional sizes available. Robert Farber is a contemporary American photographer best known for his iconic im...
Category

1980s Modern Black and White Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Alex Back
Located in New York, NY
Alex Back, 1984 Archival pigment print Signed and numbered edition Additional sizes available. Robert Farber is a contemporary American photographer best known for his iconic ima...
Category

1980s Modern Black and White Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Nude Back
Located in New York, NY
Nude Back, 1984 pigment print 40 x 60 paper size edition of 10 Robert Farber’s style has influenced generations of photographers. His painterly, impressionistic style captures the essence of composition in every genre, including nudes, still life, landscapes and architecture. His ten photo art books have sold over half a million copies. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis brought Farber into Doubleday for the publication of his book “By The Sea,” which won the Art Director’s Award for color photography. Aside from numerous creative awards, Robert Farber also received the Photographer of the Year from PMA (Photographic Manufacturers Association), ASP International Award from the PPA (Professional Photographers of America) and The American Society of Photographers. This award was given to those who’ve made a significant contribution to the science and art of photography. Some previous recipients of this award include Dr. Edwin Land (inventor of the Polaroid), George Hurrell, and National Geographic. Farber’s work with nudes in fine art as well as in the commercial realm is known and respected. He has lectured for Ogilvy & Mather on the “Nude in Advertising.” ASMP requested to use Farber’s nudes as an examples of the artistic application in support of the National Endowment of Arts, after its backing of the controversial Mapplethorpe/Serrano exhibit. His book, “Farber Nudes,” was also included the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis estate...
Category

1980s Modern Black and White Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Modern black and white photography for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Modern black and white photography available for sale on 1stDibs. Works in this style were very popular during the 21st Century and Contemporary, but contemporary artists have continued to produce works inspired by this movement. If you’re looking to add black and white photography created in this style to introduce contrast in an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include elements of purple, blue, orange, red and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Mark Shaw, Slim Aarons, Kevin Westenberg, and Terry O'Neill. Frequently made by artists working with Silver Gelatin Print, and Digital Print and other materials, all of these pieces for sale are unique and have attracted attention over the years. Not every interior allows for large Modern black and white photography, so small editions measuring 0.63 inches across are also available. Prices for black and white photography made by famous or emerging artists can differ depending on medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $22 and tops out at $152,896, while the average work sells for $1,500.

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