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Portrait Photography For Sale
MAN RAY (1890-1976), SIDE PORTRAIT, 1926 Photogravure, FIRST EDITION
Located in Pembroke Pines, FL
Artist: Man Ray (American born, 1890 - 1976) Title: SIDE PORTRAIT Date Of Negative: 1926 Type Of Print: Authentic Vintage Sheet Fed Photogravure/Heliogra...
Category

1920s Photorealist Portrait Photography

Materials

Photogravure

" Sa Marguerite ". Don de BRIGITTE BARDOT
By Ghislain Dussart
Located in CANNES, FR
Ghislain Dussart ( 1924 - 1996 ) BB " Sa Marguerite ". Don de BRIGITTE BARDOT photo originale : 31 x 21 cm encadrement : 49 x 39 cm . Ghislain Dussart a travaillé comme photog...
Category

1970s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Frida Kahlo, The Breton Portrait - Black and White Portrait, Celebrity, Woman
Located in Denton, TX
Frida Kahlo - The Breton Portrait by Nickolas Muray is a portrait of the Mexican painter commissioned by Andre Breton. 14.63 x 11.63 in. Carbon Pigment Print Edition of 30 Signed by...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Portrait Photography

Materials

Carbon Pigment

Reg Lancaster 'Birkin and Gainsbourg' Limited Edition Photographic Print, 30x40
Located in San Rafael, CA
By photographer Reg Lancaster, English actress Jane Birkin and French singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg, at home in Paris, 1969. As an authorized Getty Images Gallery partner, we ...
Category

1960s Modern Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin

New York Picnic (1959) Limited Estate Stamped
Located in London, GB
New York Picnic (1959) Limited Estate Stamped (Photo By Slim Aarons) A chauffeur unpacks a picnic hamper from a Rolls Royce, against the New York skyline. 1952 Additional Info...
Category

1950s Modern Portrait Photography

Materials

Color, C Print

Walking On Capri, Estate Edition
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Rodney Pleasants, Alessandro Spicaglia, Pauline Cappa, Don C. Napolitano and Luigi Boscaln walking on the island of Capri, Italy, in August 1980. Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certif...
Category

1980s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Helen Frankenthaler, Painter New York City, Photograph of Woman Artist in 1950s
Located in New york, NY
A documentary portrait of Helen Frankenthaler (1925-2011) in her studio in New York in the 1950s. Frankenthaler has remained a major American woman artist and female force of nature ...
Category

1950s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Film, Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin

Actor Girl II (29 Palms, CA)- including the book 'A Half Forgotten Dream'
Located in Morongo Valley, CA
Actor Girl II (Stage of Consciousness) - 2008 including Stefanie Schneider's new monograph "A Half Forgotten Dream" signed. 192 pages, hardcover, published by Snap Collective, 2024....
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, C Print, Color, Polaroid

[Bruce Sargeant (1898-1938)] Man in Suspenders Amidst the Cattails
Located in New York, NY
Oil on canvas Signed in red, u.l. $6500.00 + $300.00 framing This artwork is offered by ClampArt, located in New York City. “Bruce Sargeant is a mythic figure in the modern art mo...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Untitled (Group Shower)
Located in New York, NY
Digital C-print Stamped and numbered, verso 20 x 24 inches (Edition of 10) 30 x 40 inches (Edition of 5) 50 x 60 inches (Edition of 3) This photograph is offered by ClampArt, loc...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

C Print

Stefanie Schneider Polaroid sized unlimited Mini 'Haley and the Birds' - signed
Located in Morongo Valley, CA
Stefanie Schneider Polaroid sized unlimited Mini 'Haley and the Birds' - 2013 - signed in front, not mounted. 1 Digital Color Photographs based on a Polaroid. Polaroid sized ope...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Paper, C Print, Color, Lambda, Polaroid

Douglas Booth, Ewan Mcgregor and Aleksander Skarsgard. Triptych
Located in Miami Beach, FL
Hunter & Gatti wanted to pay tribute to the neo-expressionist Jane-Michel Basquiat's legacy by merging the celebrity portraits they had made in the past for fashion editorials and ca...
Category

2010s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Mixed Media, Oil, Acrylic, Archival Pigment

Penthouse Pool, Estate Edition, framed
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Young women by the Canellopoulos penthouse pool, Athens, July 1961. Framed in white. Slim Aarons Penthouse Pool Chromogenic Lambda print Printed Later Slim Aarons Estate Edition Com...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

The Writer
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Maggie Taylor's digital creations are emblematic, afterimages that invite, transport, and are unforgettable. Taylor's images are built, layer by layer and object by object, through a...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Maxi - Signed limited edition fine art print, Contemporary Oversized nude photo
Located in Sant Cugat del Vallès, Barcelona
Maxi - Signed limited edition archival pigment print on an textured art paper - Edition of 8 Photography : 1988 Bichromate print : 2012 Provenance : Ian Sanderson’s Estate Will b...
Category

1980s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Film, Archival Paper, Color, Giclée, Pigment, Archival Pigment

Marilyn Monroe: The Last Sitting (Biting Thumb), Photograph by Bert Stern
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Bert Stern, American (1929 - 2013) Title: Marilyn Monroe: The Last Sitting Year: 1962 Medium: Chromogenic C-Print Photograph, signed and numbered in marker Edition: 209/250 ...
Category

1960s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

C Print

Witch at Window
Located in Sante Fe, NM
In SHE TELLS ALL, Kaur engages questions of identity performance by exploring an ever-present and wildly diverse American identity: the modern American witch. Witches are contemporar...
Category

2010s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Jack Nicholson + Jack Kerouac, Contemporary Art, Photography, 21st Century
Located in Mexico City, MX
Jack Nicholson + Jack Kerouac Photography digital collage Edition of 7 Framed in black wood
Category

2010s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Ryan O'Neal
Located in Palm Desert, CA
"Ryan O'Neal" is a Pop art Polaroid, Polacolor portrait photograph by Andy Warhol in 1971. The artwork is 4 1/4 x 3 3/8 inches each and, with the frame, is 9 x 9 x 1 1/2 inches each...
Category

20th Century Pop Art Portrait Photography

Materials

Polaroid

Sunbathing In Burgenstock, Switzerland, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Lilian Hanson sunbathing by a pool at the Bürgenstock Resort Lake Lucerne in Canton Nidwald...
Category

1950s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Untitled (Cathy and Shannon) - Contemporary, 21st Century, Polaroid
Located in Morongo Valley, CA
Untitled (Cathy and Shannon) - 2004 20x20 cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid Certificate and Signature Label Artist Inventory No. 481 N...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, C Print, Color, Polaroid

Untitled Sequence (Stranger than Paradise) - based on a Polaroid
Located in Morongo Valley, CA
Untitled (Cowboys and Angels)- 2005 Edition of 5, plus 2 Artist Proofs - 100x60cm. Archival C-Print, based on a Polaroid. Certificate and Signature label. Artist Inventory No. 1...
Category

2010s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, C Print, Color, Polaroid

Lounging gracefully on the wing, 1972
Located in Cologne, DE
This photograph from 1972 captures a stylish, vibrant scene featuring two people on a small airplane. A young woman, wearing a pink floral dress and sunglasses, lounges gracefully on...
Category

1950s Modern Portrait Photography

Materials

Color, C Print

Whisky Dance I (Sidewinder) 8 pieces, analog, 82x80cm each
Located in Morongo Valley, CA
Whisky Dance (Sidewinder) - 2005 - Edition 2/5, 8 pieces installed including gaps 172x338cm, 82x80cm. 8 analog C-Prints, hand-printed by the artist on Fuji Crystal Archive Paper, ...
Category

Early 2000s Outsider Art Portrait Photography

Materials

Metal

The Realist
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Maggie Taylor's digital creations are emblematic, afterimages that invite, transport, and are unforgettable. Taylor's images are built, layer by layer and object by object, through a...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Eve Arnold - Anthony Quinn and Anna Karina, Photography 1976, Printed After
Located in Greenwich, CT
A model in Harlem, New York City in 1968. All available sizes and editions: 20" x 24", Edition of 25 + 3 Artist Proofs 24" x 34", Edition of 25 + 3 Artist Proofs "Eve Arnold, born ...
Category

2010s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Hassid & Jewish Bodybuilder, Coney Island, NY
Located in New York, NY
Hassid & Jewish Bodybuilder, Coney Island, NY 1980 Vintage gelatin silver print 14 x 11 inches Arlene Gottfried was a New York City street photographer celebrated for her intimate...
Category

1980s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

NASA Apollo 12, Color Photograph of Astronaut Pete Conrad Jr with Flag on Moon
By Nasa
Located in New york, NY
Photographed by fellow astronaut Alan Bean, NASA Apollo 12 astronaut and commander Pete Conrad Jr poses with the American flag after he and Bean planted it o...
Category

1960s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Film, Photographic Paper

Terry O'Neill Bruce Springsteen on the Sunset Strip, Los Angeles, 1975
Located in Chicago, IL
This photo captures a 25-year-old Bruce Springsteen just after his visit to Tower Records. Springsteen was in LA promoting his new album, Born to Run, 1975. The album was Springsteen...
Category

1960s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

The Painted Spirit_Brooke Shaden_Photo_Velvet FineArtPaper, ed 1/15_Figure
Located in 326 N Coast Hwy. | Laguna Beach, CA
BROOKE SHADEN The Painted Spirit, 2020 Photo on Velvet Fine Art Paper 10 × 10 in. Unframed 18.25 x 18.25 in. Framed Edition 1 of 15 Channeling the light and darkness inherent in hu...
Category

2010s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Stalin Portrait, Party Founding Museum, North Korea
Located in Sante Fe, NM
Putting aside his usual black and white palette, Hiroshi Watanabe uses color in his attempt to tell an unbiased story of North Korean culture and everyday life in "Ideology in Paradi...
Category

Early 2000s Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

20 Piece Photography Installation_Samsara_Brooke Shaden_Figurative_Unframed
Located in 326 N Coast Hwy. | Laguna Beach, CA
BROOKE SHADEN 20 Pieces-Photos with on Velvet Fine Art Paper (Ed. of 2) 15 x 15 in. each *please allow for 2 weeks printing time* Works are unsigned, Certificates of Authenticity to be provided JoAnne Artman...
Category

2010s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Jackie K, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph, Classic Pearls Jacqueline Kennedy
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Iconic portrait photograph by midcentury society photographer Slim Aarons, capturing young Jackie Kennedy (Jacqueline Onassis) (1929 - 1994) wife of Senator Jack Kennedy, at a 'April...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary American Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Untitled (Kate #13)
Located in Calabasas, CA
Artist: Chuck Close Title: Untitled (Kates #13) Year: 2005 Medium: Digital pigment print on Hahnemuhle Satin paper Edition: 25; signed, dated and numbered in pencil Sheet: 17 x 22 in...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Digital Pigment

David Bowie, New York, 21st Century, Contemporary, Celebrity, Photography
Located in München, BY
Edition 10 Also available in 40 x 50 cm / 16 x 20 inch, Edition 25 Black and white portrait of Singer and Songwriter David Bowie with guitar. From personality portraits and advert...
Category

1980s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

President Jimmy Carter
Located in New York, NY
President Jimmy Carter Archival pigment print 14 x 14 inches Signed and numbered edition of 15 William Coupon is an American photographer, born in New York City, known principal...
Category

1980s Modern Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Elvis Presley 1960 portrait
Located in Austin, TX
Fine art print of Elvis Presley from the collection of acclaimed photographer. Lynn Goldsmith, taken in 1960 These prints are open edition and come with full certification. Availab...
Category

Late 20th Century Photorealist Portrait Photography

Materials

C Print

3 Stefanie Schneider Polaroid sized unlimited Minis 'Radha Mind Screen' - signed
Located in Morongo Valley, CA
3 Stefanie Schneider Polaroid-sized unlimited Minis 'Radha Mind Screen' - 1999 - triptych signed in front, not mounted. 3 Digital Color Photographs based on the 3 Polaroids. 10.7...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Paper, C Print, Color, Lambda, Polaroid

Otto Fenn 1956 Andy Warhol photograph
By Otto Fenn
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Otto Fenn (1913-1983). Andy Warhol, 1956. Gelatin silver print, 9 7/8 x 10 inches; 11 x 14 sheet. Studio stamp, verso. Biography: Otto Fenn photographed fashions, decorations and food for Harper’s Bazaar, Town & Country, Good Housekeeping, Ladies’ Home Journal, McCall’s, House Beautiful and House and Garden magazines. Among the celebrities he photographed were Tallulah Bankhead, Jackie Gleason, Sid Caesar, Bette Davis, Yves Montand and Rosalind Russell. He also did Lord & Taylor’s advertising photography. Mr. Fenn served as chairman of the Sag Harbor Historic Landmarks District. He lived in the Nathan P. Hand house, which dates to the 1600′s and is named for a whaling captain who once owned it. Since 1964 Mr. Fenn and Mr. Krug operated the 1964 Sag Harbor Antiques Shop. Born in Manhattan, Mr. Fenn grew up in Lincoln Park, N.J. He studied at the New York School of Design and taught painting there. Early in his career he made sets for summer theater and backgrounds for fashion sittings and painted murals for the 1939 World’s Fair and the passenger ship America...
Category

1950s Pop Art Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Playboy Bunny at reception b/w archival photograph 17 x25 inch
Located in Norwich, GB
The first Playboy Club in London opened in 1965, following legalisation of gambling in the United Kingdom. Herrmann was dispatched by the Sunday Times to take fly-on-the-wall documen...
Category

20th Century Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Paper, Archival Pigment

Thunderball, 1965 - Sean Connery as James Bond during filming of Thunderball
Located in Brighton, GB
Taken from the world’s largest photographic archive, (Hulton Archive and Getty Images), the Getty Images Gallery collection features an extraordinary time capsule of the last century...
Category

20th Century Modern Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, Black and White

Bedroom Plant (29 Palms, CA) - Polaroid, Contemporary
Located in Morongo Valley, CA
Bedroom Plant (29 Palms, CA) - 1999 58x56cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Analog C-Print, hand-printed by the artist, based on the Polaroid. Signature label and Certifica...
Category

1990s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, C Print, Color, Polaroid

Divine Nude No.22 by Ronald Martinez - Fine art photography, Renaissance, woman
Located in Paris, FR
Divine Nude No.22 is a limited-edition photograph by French contemporary artist Ronald Martinez. This photograph is sold unframed as a print only. It...
Category

2010s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, C Print

Terry O'Neill 'Faye Dunaway Oscar'
Located in New York, NY
Faye Dunaway Oscar Outtake (Stare) Los Angeles 1977, Printed Later Silver Gelatin Print 30 x 30 inches Edition of 50 Estate signature stamped and numbered edition of 50 with certific...
Category

1990s Modern Portrait Photography

Materials

C Print

Alaverdi, Georgia (Groom carrying Bride, spotted dog watching)
Located in Sante Fe, NM
This print is currently featured in our exhibition, Warm Regards, and will be available to ship after the show closes June 24th, 2017. Pentti Sammallahti is a benchmark figure in co...
Category

2010s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Reflection (Suburbia) - Contemporary, Polaroid, Photography
Located in Morongo Valley, CA
Reflection (Suburbia) - 2004 20x20cm, Edition of 10, Archival C-Print based on a Polaroid, Not mounted, Certificate and signature label. Artist Inventory No. 2765. This project...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, C Print, Color, Polaroid

Frida Kahlo - The Breton Portrait by Nickolas Muray, 1939, Carbon Pigment Print
Located in Denton, TX
Frida Kahlo - The Breton Portrait by Nickolas Muray is a portrait of the Mexican painter commissioned by Andre Breton. Edition of 30 Signed by Nickolas Muray's Estate Nickolas Muray Photo Archives Nickolas Muray (1892–1965) was a Hungarian born artist that worked in New York as a photographer, specializing in portraits of celebrities. His work was often seen in Vanity Fair magazine. Nick’s friendship with the Mexican artist, Miguel Covarrubias, lead to the introduction to Frida Kahlo when Nick visited Mexico. Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo were introduced by Covarubbias and it was in 1931 when Nickolas and Frida’s love affair started. Later, when Frida had a solo exhibition at the renowned Julian Levy gallery...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Portrait Photography

Materials

Carbon Pigment

Robert Taylor
Located in Denton, TX
Edition 46/250 Signed and numbered in black ink on print margin.
Category

1930s Modern Portrait Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Crear Mi Paraíso
Located in New York, NY
Gaby Herbstein Crear Mi Paraíso , 2013 Giclée print 43 x 69 in (109.22h x 175.26w cm) Edition 1/5
Category

2010s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Giclée

Untitled (Kate #15)
Located in Calabasas, CA
Artist: Chuck Close Title: Untitled (Kates #15) Year: 2005 Medium: Digital pigment print on Hahnemuhle Satin paper Edition: 25 + Proofs; signed, dated and numbered in pencil Sheet: 2...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Digital Pigment

David Bowie 1973 by Lynn Goldsmith
Located in Austin, TX
Fine art print of David Bowie by acclaimed photographer. Lynn Goldsmith. Taken in 1973 during the Spiders from Mars tour, and now available for the first time in black and white. Ly...
Category

Late 20th Century Photorealist Portrait Photography

Materials

C Print

My own private Travel Diary - Bishop, CA - Autumn
Located in Morongo Valley, CA
My own private Travel Diary - Bishop, CA - Autumn - 2001, 20x29cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on a Polaroid Slide. Signature label and Certificate. Not mounted. LIFE’S A DREAM (The Personal World of Stefanie Schneider) by Mark Gisbourne Projection is a form of apparition that is characteristic of our human nature, for what we imagine almost invariably transcends the reality of what we live. And, an apparition, as the word suggests, is quite literally ‘an appearing’, for what we appear to imagine is largely shaped by the imagination of its appearance. If this sounds tautological then so be it. But the work of Stefanie Schneider is almost invariably about chance and apparition. And, it is through the means of photography, the most apparitional of image-based media, that her pictorial narratives or photo-novels are generated. Indeed, traditional photography (as distinct from new digital technology) is literally an ‘awaiting’ for an appearance to take place, in line with the imagined image as executed in the camera and later developed in the dark room. The fact that Schneider uses out-of-date Polaroid film stock to take her pictures only intensifies the sense of their apparitional contents when they are realised. The stability comes only at such time when the images are re-shot and developed in the studio, and thereby fixed or arrested temporarily in space and time. The unpredictable and at times unstable film she adopts for her works also creates a sense of chance within the outcome that can be imagined or potentially envisaged by the artist Schneider. But this chance manifestation is a loosely controlled, or, better called existential sense of chance, which becomes pre-disposed by the immediate circumstances of her life and the project she is undertaking at the time. Hence the choices she makes are largely open-ended choices, driven by a personal nature and disposition allowing for a second appearing of things whose eventual outcome remains undefined. And, it is the alliance of the chance-directed material apparition of Polaroid film, in turn explicitly allied to the experiences of her personal life circumstances, that provokes the potential to create Stefanie Schneider’s open-ended narratives. Therefore they are stories based on a degenerate set of conditions that are both material and human, with an inherent pessimism and a feeling for the sense of sublime ridicule being seemingly exposed. This in turn echoes and doubles the meaning of the verb ‘to expose’. To expose being embedded in the technical photographic process, just as much as it is in the narrative contents of Schneider’s photo-novel exposés. The former being the unstable point of departure, and the latter being the uncertain ends or meanings that are generated through the photographs doubled exposure. The large number of speculative theories of apparition, literally read as that which appears, and/or creative visions in filmmaking and photography are self-evident, and need not detain us here. But from the earliest inception of photography artists have been concerned with manipulated and/or chance effects, be they directed towards deceiving the viewer, or the alchemical investigations pursued by someone like Sigmar Polke. None of these are the real concern of the artist-photographer Stefanie Schneider, however, but rather she is more interested with what the chance-directed appearances in her photographs portend. For Schneider’s works are concerned with the opaque and porous contents of human relations and events, the material means are largely the mechanism to achieving and exposing the ‘ridiculous sublime’ that has come increasingly to dominate the contemporary affect(s) of our world. The uncertain conditions of today’s struggles as people attempt to relate to each other - and to themselves - are made manifest throughout her work. And, that she does this against the backdrop of the so-called ‘American Dream’, of a purportedly advanced culture that is Modern America, makes them all the more incisive and critical as acts of photographic exposure. From her earliest works of the late nineties one might be inclined to see her photographs as if they were a concerted attempt at an investigative or analytic serialisation, or, better still, a psychoanalytic dissection of the different and particular genres of American subculture. But this is to miss the point for the series though they have dates and subsequent publications remain in a certain sense unfinished. Schneider’s work has little or nothing to do with reportage as such, but with recording human culture in a state of fragmentation and slippage. And, if a photographer like Diane Arbus dealt specifically with the anomalous and peculiar that made up American suburban life, the work of Schneider touches upon the alienation of the commonplace. That is to say how the banal stereotypes of Western Americana have been emptied out, and claims as to any inherent meaning they formerly possessed has become strangely displaced. Her photographs constantly fathom the familiar, often closely connected to traditional American film genre, and make it completely unfamiliar. Of course Freud would have called this simply the unheimlich or uncanny. But here again Schneider almost never plays the role of the psychologist, or, for that matter, seeks to impart any specific meanings to the photographic contents of her images. The works possess an edited behavioural narrative (she has made choices), but there is never a sense of there being a clearly defined story. Indeed, the uncertainty of my reading here presented, acts as a caveat to the very condition that Schneider’s photographs provoke. Invariably the settings of her pictorial narratives are the South West of the United States, most often the desert and its periphery in Southern California. The desert is a not easily identifiable space, with the suburban boundaries where habitation meets the desert even more so. There are certain sub-themes common to Schneider’s work, not least that of journeying, on the road, a feeling of wandering and itinerancy, or simply aimlessness. Alongside this subsidiary structural characters continually appear, the gas station, the automobile, the motel, the highway, the revolver, logos and signage, the wasteland, the isolated train track and the trailer. If these form a loosely defined structure into which human characters and events are cast, then Schneider always remains the fulcrum and mechanism of their exposure. Sometimes using actresses, friends, her sister, colleagues or lovers, Schneider stands by to watch the chance events as they unfold. And, this is even the case when she is a participant in front of camera of her photo-novels. It is the ability to wait and throw things open to chance and to unpredictable circumstances, that marks the development of her work over the last eight years. It is the means by which random occurrences take on such a telling sense of pregnancy in her work. However, in terms of analogy the closest proximity to Schneider’s photographic work is that of film. For many of her titles derive directly from film, in photographic series like OK Corral (1999), Vegas (1999), Westworld (1999), Memorial Day (2001), Primary Colours (2001), Suburbia (2004), The Last Picture Show (2005), and in other examples. Her works also include particular images that are titled Zabriskie Point, a photograph of her sister in an orange wig. Indeed the tentative title for the present publication Stranger Than Paradise is taken from Jim Jarmusch’s film of the same title in 1984. Yet it would be dangerous to take this comparison too far, since her series 29 Palms (1999) presages the later title of a film that appeared only in 2002. What I am trying to say here is that film forms the nexus of American culture, and it is not so much that Schneider’s photographs make specific references to these films (though in some instances they do), but that in referencing them she accesses the same American culture that is being emptied out and scrutinised by her photo-novels. In short her pictorial narratives might be said to strip films of the stereotypical Hollywood tropes that many of them possess. Indeed, the films that have most inspired her are those that similarly deconstruct the same sentimental and increasingly tawdry ‘American Dream’ peddled by Hollywood. These include films like David Lynch’s Blue Velvet (1986), Wild at Heart (1990) The Lost Highway (1997), John Dahl’s The Last Seduction (1994) or films like Ridley Scott’s Thelma and Louise with all its girl-power Bonny and Clyde-type clichés. But they serve no more than as a backdrop, a type of generic tableau from which Schneider might take human and abstracted elements, for as commercial films they are not the product of mere chance and random occurrence. Notwithstanding this observation, it is also clear that the gender deconstructions that the characters in these films so often portray, namely the active role of women possessed of a free and autonomous sexuality (even victim turned vamp), frequently find resonances within the behavioural events taking place in Schneider’s photographs and DVD sequences; the same sense of sexual autonomy that Stefanie Schneider possesses and is personally committed to. In the series 29 Palms (first begun in 1999) the two women characters Radha and Max act out a scenario that is both infantile and adolescent. Wearing brightly coloured fake wigs of yellow and orange, a parody of the blonde and the redhead, they are seemingly trailer park white trash possessing a sentimental and kitsch taste in clothes totally inappropriate to the locality. The fact that Schneider makes no judgment about this is an interesting adjunct. Indeed, the photographic projection of the images is such that the girls incline themselves to believe that they are both beautiful and desirous. However, unlike the predatory role of women in say Richard Prince’s photographs, which are simply a projection of a male fantasy onto women, Radha and Max are self-contained in their vacuous if empty trailer and motel world of the swimming pool, nail polish, and childish water pistols. Within the photographic sequence Schneider includes herself, and acts as a punctum of disruption. Why is she standing in front of an Officers’ Wives Club? Why is Schneider not similarly attired? Is there a proximity to an army camp, are these would-be Lolita(s) Rahda and Max wives or American marine groupies, and where is the centre and focus of their identity? It is the ambiguity of personal involvement that is set up by Schneider which deliberately makes problematic any clear sense of narrative construction. The strangely virulent colours of the bleached-out girls stand in marked contrast to Schneider’s own anodyne sense of self-image. Is she identifying with the contents or directing the scenario? With this series, perhaps, more than any other, Schneider creates a feeling of a world that has some degree of symbolic order. For example the girls stand or squat by a dirt road, posing the question as to their sexual and personal status. Following the 29 Palms series, Schneider will trust herself increasingly by diminishing the sense of a staged environment. The events to come will tell you both everything and nothing, reveal and obfuscate, point towards and simultaneously away from any clearly definable meaning. If for example we compare 29 Palms to say Hitchhiker (2005), and where the sexual contents are made overtly explicit, we do not find the same sense of simulated identity. It is the itinerant coming together of two characters Daisy and Austen, who meet on the road and subsequently share a trailer together. Presented in a sequential DVD and still format, we become party to a would-be relationship of sorts. No information is given as to the background or social origins, or even any reasons as to why these two women should be attracted to each other. Is it acted out? Are they real life experiences? They are women who are sexually free in expressing themselves. But while the initial engagement with the subject is orchestrated by Schneider, and the edited outcome determined by the artist, beyond that we have little information with which to construct a story. The events are commonplace, edgy and uncertain, but the viewer is left to decide as to what they might mean as a narrative. The disaggregated emotions of the work are made evident, the game or role playing, the transitory fantasies palpable, and yet at the same time everything is insubstantial and might fall apart at any moment. The characters relate but they do not present a relationship in any meaningful sense. Or, if they do, it is one driven the coincidental juxtaposition of random emotions. Should there be an intended syntax it is one that has been stripped of the power to grammatically structure what is being experienced. And, this seems to be the central point of the work, the emptying out not only of a particular American way of life, but the suggestion that the grounds upon which it was once predicated are no longer possible. The photo-novel Hitchhiker is porous and the culture of the seventies which it might be said to homage is no longer sustainable. Not without coincidence, perhaps, the decade that was the last ubiquitous age of Polaroid film. In the numerous photographic series, some twenty or so, that occur between 29 Palms and Hitchhiker, Schneider has immersed herself and scrutinised many aspects of suburban, peripheral, and scrubland America. Her characters, including herself, are never at the centre of cultural affairs. Such eccentricities as they might possess are all derived from what could be called their adjacent status to the dominant culture of America. In fact her works are often sated with references to the sentimental sub-strata that underpin so much of American daily life. It is the same whether it is flower gardens and household accoutrements of her photo-series Suburbia (2004), or the transitional and environmental conditions depicted in The Last Picture Show (2005). The artist’s use of sentimental song titles, often adapted to accompany individual images within a series by Schneider, show her awareness of America’s close relationship between popular film and music. For example the song ‘Leaving on a Jet Plane’, becomes Leaving in a Jet Plane as part of The Last Picture Show series, while the literalism of the plane in the sky is shown in one element of this diptych, but juxtaposed to a blonde-wigged figure first seen in 29 Palms. This indicates that every potential narrative element is open to continual reallocation in what amounts to a story without end. And, the interchangeable nature of the images, like a dream, is the state of both a pictorial and affective flux that is the underlying theme pervading Schneider’s photo-narratives. For dream is a site of yearning or longing, either to be with or without, a human pursuit of a restless but uncertain alternative to our daily reality. The scenarios that Schneider sets up nonetheless have to be initiated by the artist. And, this might be best understood by looking at her three recent DVD sequenced photo-novels, Reneé’s Dream and Sidewinder (2005). We have already considered the other called Hitchhiker. In the case of Sidewinder the scenario was created by internet where she met J.D. Rudometkin, an ex-theologian, who agreed to her idea to live with her for five weeks in the scrubland dessert environment of Southern California. The dynamics and unfolding of their relationship, both sexually and emotionally, became the primary subject matter of this series of photographs. The relative isolation and their close proximity, the interactive tensions, conflicts and submissions, are thus recorded to reveal the day-to-day evolution of their relationship. That a time limit was set on this relation-based experiment was not the least important aspect of the project. The text and music accompanying the DVD were written by the American Rudometkin, who speaks poetically of “Torn Stevie. Scars from the weapon to her toes an accidental act of God her father said. On Vaness at California.” The mix of hip reverie and fantasy-based language of his text, echoes the chaotic unfolding of their daily life in this period, and is evident in the almost sun-bleached Polaroid images like Whisky Dance, where the two abandon themselves to the frenetic circumstances of the moment. Thus Sidewinder, a euphemism for both a missile and a rattlesnake, hints at the libidinal and emotional dangers that were risked by Schneider and Rudometkin. Perhaps, more than any other of her photo-novels it was the most spontaneous and immediate, since Schneider’s direct participation mitigated against and narrowed down the space between her life and the art work. The explicit and open character of their relationship at this time (though they have remained friends), opens up the question as the biographical role Schneider plays in all her work. She both makes and directs the work while simultaneously dwelling within the artistic processes as they unfold. Hence she is both author and character, conceiving the frame within which things will take place, and yet subject to the same unpredictable outcomes that emerge in the process. In Reneé’s Dream, issues of role reversal take place as the cowgirl on her horse undermines the male stereotype of Richard Prince’s ‘Marlboro Country’. This photo-work along with several others by Schneider, continue to undermine the focus of the male gaze, for her women are increasingly autonomous and subversive. They challenge the male role of sexual predator, often taking the lead and undermining masculine role play, trading on male fears that their desires can be so easily attained. That she does this by working through archetypal male conventions of American culture, is not the least of the accomplishments in her work. What we are confronted with frequently is of an idyll turned sour, the filmic clichés that Hollywood and American television dramas have promoted for fifty years. The citing of this in the Romantic West, where so many of the male clichés were generated, only adds to the diminishing sense of substance once attributed to these iconic American fabrications. And, that she is able to do this through photographic images rather than film, undercuts the dominance espoused by time-based film. Film feigns to be seamless though we know it is not. Film operates with a story board and setting in which scenes are elaborately arranged and pre-planned. Schneider has thus been able to generate a genre of fragmentary events, the assemblage of a story without a storyboard. But these post-narratological stories require another component, and that component is the viewer who must bring their own interpretation as to what is taking place. If this can be considered the upside of her work, the downside is that she never positions herself by giving a personal opinion as to the events that are taking place in her photographs. But, perhaps, this is nothing more than her use of the operation of chance dictates. I began this essay by speaking about the apparitional contents of Stefanie Schneider’s pictorial narratives, and meant at that time the literal and chance-directed ‘appearing’ qualities of her photographs. Perhaps, at this moment we should also think of the metaphoric contents of the word apparition. There is certainly a spectre-like quality also, a ghostly uncertainty about many of the human experiences found in her subject matter. Is it that the subculture of the American Dream, or the way of life Schneider has chosen to record, has in turn become also the phantom of it former self? Are these empty and fragmented scenarios a mirror of what has become of contemporary America? There is certainly some affection for their contents on the part of the artist, but it is somehow tainted with pessimism and the impossibility of sustainable human relations, with the dissolute and commercial distractions of America today. Whether this is the way it is, or, at least, the way it is perceived by Schneider is hard to assess. There is a bleak lassitude about so many of her characters. But then again the artist has so inured herself into this context over a long protracted period that the boundaries between the events and happenings photographed, and the personal life of Stefanie Schneider, have become similarly opaque. Is it the diagnosis of a condition, or just a recording of a phenomenon? Only the viewer can decide this question. For the status of Schneider’s certain sense of uncertainty is, perhaps, the only truth we may ever know.

1 Kerry Brougher (ed.), Art and Film Since 1945: Hall of Mirrors, ex. cat., The Museum of Contemporary Art (New York, 1996) 2 Im Reich der Phantome: Fotographie des Unsichtbaren, ex. cat., Städtisches Museum Abteiberg Mönchengladbach/Kunsthalle Krems/FotomuseumWinterthur, (Ostfildern-Ruit, 1997) 3 Photoworks: When Pictures Vanish – Sigmar Polke, Museum of Contemporary Art (Zürich-Berlin-New York, 1995) 4 Slavoj Žižek, The Art of the Ridiculous Sublime: On David Lynch’s Lost Highway, Walter Chapin Simpson Center for the Humanities, University of Washington, Seattle, Occasional Papers, no. 1, 2000. 5 Diane Arbus, eds. Doon Arbus, and Marvin Israel...
Category

1990s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, C Print, Color, Polaroid

Beaton, Marilyn Monroe, Cecil Beaton, Electa Editrice Portfolios (after)
Located in Auburn Hills, MI
Héliogravure on vélin paper. Inscription: unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. Good condition. Notes: From the folio, Cecil Beaton, Electa Editrice Portfolios, 1981. Published and pri...
Category

1980s Modern Portrait Photography

Materials

Lithograph

New Orleans, LA, 1995
Located in Hudson, NY
Through light and shadow, a gaze, a mindset, Bill Phelps fourth solo show at the Robin Rice Gallery VISITOR inspires the imagination. About life, about being, eye and heart his great...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Modern Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Elizabeth Taylor with Sunglasses for Giant - Oversize Limited Print
Located in London, GB
Elizabeth Taylor with Sunglasses for "Giant" 1955 by Frank Worth This iconic and elegant portrait captured by celebrity photographer Frank Worth features actress Elizabeth Taylor o...
Category

1950s Modern Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Dogs USA, Black and White Photograph of Pets in a Sports Car
Located in New york, NY
Dogs, USA, Greenwich, CT is a 5" x 7" black and white photograph, stamped “vintage” by the Freed estate on verso (back) of gelatin silver press. Provenance: Freed archive. The photo...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin, Photographic Film, Photographic Paper

Slim Aarons 'NIce Pool' (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
Located in Los Angeles, CA
American writer C.Z. Guest (Mrs F.C. Winston Guest, 1920 - 2003) and her son Alexander Michael Douglas Dudley Guest in front of their Grecian temple pool on the ocean-front estate, V...
Category

1950s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Lambda

Michael Ochs 'Brigitte Bardot' Limited Edition Photograph, 16 x 12
Located in San Rafael, CA
Brigitte Bardot with cigarette in hand by photographer Michael Ochs, originally taken in 1962. (Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images) As an authorized Getty Images Gallery...
Category

1960s Modern Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin

Kate Moss 1993, Paradise Island Bahamas, Original Print Custom Framed
Located in London, GB
For the 1994 Pirelli Calendar shot on the Paradise Island in the Bahamas, photographer Herb Ritts set out to capture in a series of nudes what he called “the gentle innocence” of Kat...
Category

1990s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Glass, Wood, Photographic Film, Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, C Print

Renée's Dream - The Boys (Days of Heaven) - Landscape, Horse, Boys
Located in Morongo Valley, CA
Renée's Dream - The Boys (Days of Heaven). Part of the 29 Palms, CA project. - 2006 40x50cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs, archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Signatur...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, C Print, Color, Polaroid

Kate Moss Photo (Kate Moss Supreme New York)
Located in NEW YORK, NY
Kate Moss Supreme New York: In 2012, Moss was chosen as the face for Supreme’s spring campaign. Kate’s cold stare down British photographer Alasda...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Pop Art Portrait Photography

Materials

C Print

John Kennedy + John Lennon, Contemporary Art, Photography, 21st Century
Located in Mexico City, MX
John Kennedy + John Lennon Photography digital collage Edition of 7 Framed in black wood
Category

2010s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Paradise, TX
Located in Denton, TX
Edition of 50 Signed, titled, dated and numbered. Series: From Uncertain to Blue Keith Carter is an American photographer who is known for his dreamlike black and white photographs ...
Category

1990s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

"Caroline (LED)" (FRAMED) Photography 40" x 30" in Edition of 3 by Larsen Sotelo
Located in Culver City, CA
"Caroline (LED)" (FRAMED) Photography 40" x 30" in Edition of 3 by Larsen Sotelo FRAMED Giclee (Archival Ink) print on 310G Platine Fibre Cotton Rag w/satin finish 40” X 30” inch L...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Modern Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Ink, Rag Paper, Giclée

Julian Assange
Located in Morongo Valley, CA
Julian Assange 20x20cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Signature Label and Certificate. Not mounted.
Category

1990s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Film, Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, C Print, Color

Warhol Superstar Twins Jay and Jed Johnson photographed for After Dark Magazine
Located in Senoia, GA
11 x 14" vintage silver gelatin photograph of twin brothers Jay and Jed Johnson photographed for 'After Dark' magazine on June 8, 1970. Comes dire...
Category

1970s Pop Art Portrait Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Emilio Lussu - Photo - 1960s
Located in Roma, IT
Emilio Lussu is a vintage black and white photograph realized in the 1960s. Good conditions.
Category

20th Century Modern Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Radha Shooting II (Long Way Home) - 21st Century, Polaroid, Pop-art, Color
Located in Morongo Valley, CA
Radha Shooting II (Stranger than Paradise) - 1999 38x36cm, Edition of 30, digital C-Print based on a Polaroid, Signature label and Certificate. Artist Inventory No 259.34. Not mo...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, C Print, Color, Polaroid

James Deann At A Car Rally - Oversize Limited Print
Located in London, GB
James Dean At A Car Rally 1955 (colorised) by Frank Worth paper size 40 x 60 inches / 101 x 152 cm edition of 6 only in this size Archival pigment print unframed Note other si...
Category

1950s Modern Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Sammy Davis Jr. Smoking
Located in Austin, TX
Incredible 1960 close up of The Rat Pack's Sammy Davis Jr. side portrait smoking a cigarette. One of the best images we have released in years. One of Sammy Davis, Jr.s enduring leg...
Category

1960s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Archival Pigment

Mrs George Cameron - Limited Edition Estate Stamped Digital C-Type Print
Located in Brighton, GB
Please note that as of 1st March 2025, the Slim Aarons Estate Stamped Collection aligned its pricing across the entire collection. Please bear in mind that all prints are produced to order. Lead times are expected between 15-20 days. Currency fluctuations may cause the price to change. This is a contemporary print from the Getty Archive using Slim Aarons negatives. All prints feature a Slim Aarons blindstamp, and are accompanied by a Slim Aarons Certificate of Authentication issued by Getty. 16 x 20" print. Limited Edition Estate Stamped Print. Edition of 150. Printed Later. "Mrs George Cameron...
Category

20th Century American Modern Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, C Print, Color, Digital

Rapture (29 Palms, CA) - Polaroid, Contemporary, Color
Located in Morongo Valley, CA
Rapture (29 Palms, CA) - 2022 48x46cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival Print, based on the Polaroid. Artist inventory Number 218829. Signature label and Certificate...
Category

1990s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, C Print, Color, Polaroid, Archival Paper

Portrait of a Young Women in Kenya, Black and White, Meditative
Located in US
"Fabric of Youth" A young Rendille woman named Adato watches over the deserted salt flats of the Chalbi Desert. She is a beacon of hope for the future of her tribe. This image is ...
Category

2010s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Portrait Photography for Sale on 1stDibs

Portrait photography can be a powerful part of your wall decor. Find a provocative and compelling portrait that speaks to you and you might find that the photograph will speak to your guests too.

Prior to the development of photography, which eventually replaced portrait paintings as a quicker and more efficient way of capturing a person’s essence, the subject of a portrait had to sit for hours until the painter had finished. In 1839, chemist and Philadelphia-based photographer Robert Cornelius didn’t have to wait very long for his portrait. In a matter of minutes, he captured what many believe to be the first portrait photograph. This shot was also the first self-portrait (or what we now call a “selfie”), and fine photography quickly became an art form.

Landscape photography, nude photography and portrait photography are very popular in today's modern interiors. A portrait can reveal a lot about the person in it. It can also add a narrative touch to your decor. You’ll often find that photographs of loved ones work well as decorative touches. A portrait of a family member or dear friend can help turn a house into a home, warming any space by evoking fond memories.

While family portraits can stir emotion, portraits of celebrities and important historical figures can also add a rich dynamic to your space. Portraits of famous musicians or intriguing actors hung in your dining room or home bar shot by Gered Mankowitz or Annie Leibovitz might inspire deep conversation over meals or drinks. Douglas Kirkland is also famous for his celebrity portraits. His photojournalism made him much sought after by Hollywood studios to document the filming of movies. In Kirkland’s powerful depiction of Hollywood stars, he excellently captures the glamour of their lives.

Other artists like Elliott Erwitt stand out by turning portraiture into a playful art form. Before graduating from high school in Hollywood, Erwitt had already begun to teach himself to take pictures, inspired by the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson. In image after image, Erwitt captured what photographers call “the moment” with rapier wit and penetrating humanity.

Portrait photography can be incredibly expressive, setting the tone and mood for a room. And there are different ways of incorporating portrait photography into your interior decor. If you’re thinking about adding color photography to a bedroom or living room, the colors of the portraits can become part of the room’s palette, while portraits shot in black and white won’t disrupt an existing color scheme.

On 1stDibs, find a vast selection of portrait photography from different eras, including 1950s portraits, 1960s portrait photography and more.

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