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Portrait Photography For Sale
The Decision (The Getaway) - The Last Picture Show - Polaroid, Contemporary
Located in Morongo Valley, CA
The Decision - The Getaway (The Last Picture Show) - 1999 50x50cm, Edition of 10, plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Artist Inventory #762. Signature label and Certificate. Not mounted. Stefanie Schneider's photographs evoke scintillating moments suspended between daydreams and waking reality. Each scene, captured in the southwestern United States, radiates a surreal enchantment. The artist's role appears minimal yet pivotal, providing the decisive impulse that sets the imagery into motion. The figures in her photographs remain as elusive as the motivations behind their actions, and the narratives woven through her sequences are tantalizingly open to interpretation. Atmospheric disturbances in Schneider's work emerge as the result of a deliberate narrative arrangement, compelling viewers to navigate between visual mementos and the gaps in memory they conjure. Yet, her artistry is no less purposeful in its engagement with medium. Despite the inherent unpredictability of expired Polaroid film, Schneider wields it with calculated intent. The photo-chemical self-developing process, altered by age and decay, transforms the initial exposure into something alien yet mesmerizing. This dysfunction is a cornerstone of MIND SCREEN, a multi-part work that explores the fragility of reality, authenticity, and comprehension. Schneider juxtaposes this brittleness with a magical realism steeped in chimeras, crafting dreamlike sequences that resist definitive narratives. She entrusts viewers with the responsibility of piecing together presumed storylines, refusing to offer a manual for interpretation. Instead, her work draws us into a realm where the unreal reigns—shimmering scenes that evoke the mirage of a road movie, a moment of violence, or a tragic self-sacrifice. Film genres are invoked and subverted in a single breath: Paris, Texas by Wim Wenders is reimagined through a rose-tinted lens, Thelma...
Category

1990s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

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

'Private Dancer' Brigitte Bardot 20th century black and white photography
Located in London, GB
'Private Dancer' Brigitte Bardot 1961 by Giancarlo Botti Wonderfully intimate shot of the French sex symbol and icon, Brigitte Bardot, on set of the film 'A Very Private Affair' w...
Category

1960s Modern Portrait Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Frida by the Lamp - Black and White Photograph, Woman Artist, Frida Kahlo
Located in Denton, TX
Frida by the Lamp by Lucienne Bloch is a black and white portrait of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo sitting in an armchair with a tall lamp behind her. Signed in pen by artist on prin...
Category

20th Century Modern Portrait Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Heart and Soul - Contemporary, Polaroid, Nude, Color, Women, 21st Century
Located in Morongo Valley, CA
'Heart and Soul' (Bombay Beach) - 2019 20x20cm, Edition of 7 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print based on a Polaroid. Signature label with certificate. Artist inventory PL201...
Category

2010s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

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

A Storm to Move Mountains_Brooke Shaden_Photo/FineArtPaper, ed 7/15_Figure
Located in 326 N Coast Hwy. | Laguna Beach, CA
BROOKE SHADEN A Storm to Move Mountains, 2011 Photo on Velvet Fine Art Paper 10 × 10 in. Image 18.25 x 18.25 in. Framed Edition 7 of 15 Channeling the...
Category

2010s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Dior Boutique in Paris (1953) - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print
Located in London, GB
Cary In Rain (1957) - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print (Photo by Kurt Hutton/Picture Post/Getty Images) 29th August 1953: A model wearing a muff and suit outside Christian Dior's boutiq...
Category

1950s Modern Portrait Photography

Materials

Black and White, Silver Gelatin

Michael Jackson
Located in München, BY
Edition 15, Lenticular In this image Michael Jackson is doing the moonwalk and is x-rayed. A man with x-ray vision, NICK VEASEY creates art that shows what it is really like inside...
Category

2010s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Lenticular

"Cornette Nude & Hand (Couleur)" by Cécile Plaisance, 27 x 22 in, 2023
Located in Paris, France
Drawing her inspiration from the grand masters of photography – Avedon, Lindbergh, Newton or Toscani, amongst others – Cécile Plaisance uses lenticular printing to allow the viewer t...
Category

2010s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Lenticular

Penthouse Pool, 1961 - Swimming Pool Glamour at Penthouse Pool in Greece
Located in Brighton, GB
Penthouse Pool, 1961 - Swimming Pool Glamour at Penthouse Pool in Greece 16 x 20" print. Limited Edition Estate Stamped Print. Edition of 150. Printed Later. "Penthouse Pool" is a ...
Category

20th Century American Modern Portrait Photography

Materials

C Print, Photographic Paper, Color, Digital

Sunflower (Musica Poetica) - analog
Located in Morongo Valley, CA
Sunflower (Musica Poetica) - 1997 44x59cm, Edition 4/10. Analog C-Print, hand-printed by the artist, based on the original Polaroid. Certificate ...
Category

1990s Outsider Art Portrait Photography

Materials

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

Marilyn Monroe in As Young As You Feel Vintage Press Print
Located in Austin, TX
Black and white promo photo of Marilyn Monroe posed in a dress for her role in "As Young As You Feel", circa 1951. -- One-of-a-kind original vintage press print from the Celebrity V...
Category

1950s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Black and White

Saint Tropez Beach - Sunbathers on Beach in South of France French Riviera
Located in Brighton, GB
Saint Tropez Beach - Sunbathers on Beach in South of France French Riviera by Slim Aarons 16 x 20" print. Limited Edition Estate Stamped Print. Edi...
Category

20th Century American Modern Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, Color, C Print, Digital

Ecuador, Indigenous, Musicians, Black and White Photography, 1960s, 25 x 24, 3 cm
Located in Cologne, DE
Hanna Seidel (1925 to 2005) lived and worked in Argentina for many years. She was a world traveller, journeying to South America in the 1950s and to Central America, Japan, India, an...
Category

1960s Modern Portrait Photography

Materials

Black and White, Silver Gelatin

Untitled, Senegalese model
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Victor Arimondi (1942-2001). Portrait of Senegalese Model, ca. 1975. Period print measures 8.5 x 11.5 inches; 17 x 20 inches frames. Artist studio stam...
Category

1970s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Louis Armstrong, Berlin 1965
Located in Cologne, DE
This black-and-white photo captures jazz legend Louis Armstrong playing his trumpet during a performance in Berlin in 1965. Armstrong, with intense focus, holds the trumpet close to his lips, his cheeks slightly puffed as he blows into the instrument. The lighting creates a dramatic effect, highlighting the shine of the trumpet and his facial expression, which conveys his passion and dedication to the music...
Category

1960s Modern Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, Black and White

Elvis Presley: The Kiss
By Lloyd Dinkins
Located in Austin, TX
Candid closeup of "The King" Elvis Presley blowing a kiss at the camera in 1957. Elvis was an American singer, musician, and actor. He is regarded as one of the most significant cu...
Category

1950s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Digital, Archival Pigment

Katharine Hepburn with Dogs
Located in Austin, TX
"Black and white candid capture of actress Katharine Hepburn smiling outdoors with her dogs, circa 1938. Katharine Hepburn was an American actress whose career as a Hollywood leadin...
Category

1930s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Archival Pigment

All Mine, 1968 - Jim Kimberly in Palm Beach Posing with Wife by Harbour
Located in Brighton, GB
All Mine, 1968 - Jim Kimberly in Palm Beach Posing with Wife by Harbour 16 x 20" print. Limited Edition Estate Stamped Print. Edition of 150. Printed Later. "All Mine" is a beautif...
Category

20th Century American Modern Portrait Photography

Materials

C Print, Photographic Paper, Color, Digital

Rita Hayworth Sunbathing
Located in Austin, TX
Black and white candid image of Rita Hayworth in Burbank, walking along a beautiful street scene. This listing is for a limited edition archival print. What's included: - Limited ...
Category

1930s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Digital, Archival Pigment

Paul Newman - Portraits of Hollywood Actors from the Getty Images Archive
Located in Brighton, GB
Please bear in mind that all prints are produced to order. Lead times are expected between 15-20 days. A gorgeous black and white fibre print, available in other sizes. Taken from...
Category

20th Century Modern Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, Black and White

Zarina - Signed limited edition nude art print, Black white photo, Sensual Model
Located in Sant Cugat del Vallès, Barcelona
Zarina - Limited edition archival pigment print, 1987 - Edition of 5 This image was captured on film. The negative was scanned creating a digital file which is then printed...
Category

1980s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Film, Archival Paper, Black and White, Giclée, Pigment, Arc...

The Observer, Jackson Nash Portrait by Graham Nash
Located in Soquel, CA
Gorgeous archival digital photograph, limited edition giclee by Graham Nash (American, b. 1942) of a Nash's first born son Jackson, age five, looking into an aquarium in his San Francisco house...
Category

1980s Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Ink, Laid Paper

'Priscilla, 1970' by Joseph Szabo from the SOLD OUT Edition
By Joseph Szabo
Located in Brighton, GB
'Priscilla, 1970' by Joseph Szabo Gelatin silver print, printed later Edition 68/75 from the 16" x 20" SOLD OUT edition Signed, titled, and numbered '68/75' in the margin, recto Sig...
Category

Late 20th Century American Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Black and White, Silver Gelatin

Not Bad For 36, from The Last Sitting
Located in Chatsworth, CA
Original color photograph hand developed from the original negative by Bert Stern. This photo is part of The Last Sitting portfolio, taken six weeks before Marilyn Monroe’s death in ...
Category

1960s Other Art Style Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, C Print

Blomme #08 [From the series Vintage Diva's] - Polaroid, Nude, Women, Color
Located in Morongo Valley, CA
Blomme #08, 2012 [From the series Vintage Diva's] 31x40cm Digital archival pigment print based on an original Polaroid on beautiful PHOTO RAG ® ULTRA SMOOTH paper 305gsm, 100% cott...
Category

2010s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Color, Polaroid, Archival Paper, Archival Pigment

Marilyn Monroe -The Last Sitting 7, Photograph by Bert Stern
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Bert Stern Title: Marilyn Monroe -The Last Sitting Year: 1962 (printed 2009) Medium: Color Photograph, signed and numbered in red crayon Edition: 12...
Category

1960s Pop Art Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

Kate Moss At 16 - signed limited edition print
Located in London, GB
An Unknown Kate Moss At 16 by Jake Chessum 1990 limited edition edition size 20 only this size printed 2024 Archival pigment print numbered and signed by the artist unframed ships securely from London England Framing options available Jake Chessum British-born, New York-based photographer Jake Chessum’s portfolio includes Amy Winehouse, Robbie Williams, David Bowie, Jay Z, Snoop Dogg, Coldplay, The Beastie Boys, Beck and beyond. Jake grew...
Category

1990s Modern Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

''Lukah 4'' Dutch Contemporary Portrait of Boy in Chinese Costume with Lizard
Located in Utrecht, NL
Passionate, sensitive and an eye for detail, light and color, this is the working method of Dutch photographer Ursula van de Bunte (1969). She is a perfectionist, enthusiastic and di...
Category

2010s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Plexiglass

Eartha Kitt Stunning Smile
Located in Austin, TX
This elegant and glamorous black and white studio portrait features Eartha Kitt smiling to the camera with her back turned. Eartha Kitt was an American singer, actress, dancer, act...
Category

1950s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Archival Pigment

Kate Moss Street Art Photograph New York
Located in NEW YORK, NY
Kate Moss Street Art Photo: A rare Mr. Brainwash Kate Moss mural photographed in New York's famed Soho area in 2014 by celebrated downtown photographer Fernando Natalici. Digital C...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Pop Art Portrait Photography

Materials

C Print

Kurt Cobain - Signed Limited Edition Print (1992)
Located in London, GB
Kurt Cobain - Signed Limited Edition Print Melody Maker Magazine August 30 1992 Reading (photos by Kevin Westenberg) NB All prints are signed and numbered by the artist. Unf...
Category

1990s Modern Portrait Photography

Materials

Black and White, Archival Pigment

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

Self Portrait on the Subway
Located in New York, NY
Open Edition Archival pigment print Signed in black ink, recto 14 x 11 inches, sheet size 13 x 8.75 inches, image size Born in Poland in 1942 as Armin Hagen Freiherr von Hoyningen-Huene, Peter Berlin is a relative of the celebrated fashion photographer George Hoyningen-Huene (1900-1968). Raised in Germany, Peter Berlin received post-secondary education as a photo-technician, and in his early 20s worked as a celebrity portraitist for German television. However, it was around this time that he curiously began designing and sewing his own skin-tight clothing which he would wear as he cruised the parks and train stations in Berlin, Rome, Paris, New York, and San Francisco. After several long-term stays on the east coast of the United States, Peter Berlin eventually moved to San Francisco in 1969, and became a fixture on the steep streets with his signature look and perpetual posing. He soon began producing films and starred in the now iconic “Nights in Black Leather” (1973), co-directed by Richard Abel. Berlin then produced, directed, and starred in “That Boy” the following year, and made four shorter films through the mid- to late-1970s, while publishing and selling his photographic self portraits. Peter Berlin was the subject of several Robert Mapplethorpe...
Category

1970s Other Art Style Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Sailors
Located in Hudson, NY
Listing is for UNFRAMED print. Inquire within for framing. Edition 1 of 20. If the exhibition piece is sold or the customer orders a different print size, the photograph is p...
Category

1990s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Mesurage
Located in Denton, TX
Mesurage, 1994 Toned gelatin silver print 18 x 12 in. Signed, titled, and dated in pencil on print verso. From the series "El cocinero, el ladron, su mujer, y su amante" (The cook, t...
Category

1990s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Marilyn Monroe: Pinup in High-Slit Dress
Located in Austin, TX
Stunning image of Marilyn Monroe posed pinup style in a high-slit dress. This listing is for a limited edition archival print. What's included: - Limited Edition Archival Print - N...
Category

1950s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Archival Pigment

Grace Jones Close-up
Located in München, BY
Edition 10 Also available in 40 x 50 cm / 16 x 20 inch, Edition 25 Portrait of actress and singer Grace Jones wearing a fur cap. From personality portraits and advertising campaig...
Category

1980s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Edward, My Son (with Deborah Kerr) (20% OFF LIST PRICE)
Located in Kansas City, MO
Spencer Tracy & Deborah Kerr Edward, My Son Black & White Photograph on Photographic Paper Year: 1949 Size: 6.5 x 8 inches (16.51 x 20.32 cm) Stamped verso Publisher: Metro-Goldwyn-...
Category

1940s Modern Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin

Monica Bellucci, N°2, South of France
Located in München, BY
Edition of 10 Portrait of the young Monica Bellucci. Fashion and fine art embrace each other in the photography of Jacques Olivar (b. 1941), where th...
Category

1990s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Antique Signed Original Rare Humphrey Bogart Portrait Photograph
Located in Buffalo, NY
Vintage signed and extremely rare photograph of Humphrey Bogart by Philippe Halsman (1906 - 1979). Signed. Framed. Measuring 17 by 21 inches overall and 10.25 by 13.25 photograph a...
Category

1960s Photorealist Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin

Helen Frankenthaler, Painter in the Studio, Photograph of Woman Artist 1950s
Located in New york, NY
A portrait of Helen Frankenthaler (1925-2011) in her studio in New York. Glinn captures the celebrated artist, Frankenthaler, in the process of making art - surrounded by paint, mate...
Category

1950s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Film, Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin

Grace Kelly Carrying Groceries
Located in Austin, TX
This black and white portrait features American movie actress Grace Kelly, best known for her roles in "To Catch a Theif", "Rear Window", and "High Society". The actress is pictured ...
Category

1950s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Archival Pigment

Jayne Mansfield: Modern Pinup
Located in Austin, TX
This beautiful modern pinup features the lovely Jayne Mansfield posed on barstools with modern art on the walls. Jayne Mansfield was an American film, theater, and television actre...
Category

1950s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Digital, Archival Pigment

Equestrian Portrait of a World Class Horse with a Braided Mane, Square
Located in US
"Nautilus II" A braided mane adds to the perfection of this horse in this classic, detailed equestrian portrait. The print series Equus: Light & Form focuses on the details of so...
Category

2010s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

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

"Kate Moss London" Signed Limited Edition Framed Archival Pigment Print
Located in London, GB
"Kate Moss London" by Jake Chessum Portrait of a young 16 year old Kate Moss – before she shot to supermodel stardom and became the icon she is today. Jake grew up in Croydon, South London. He studied Graphic Design at St. Martins School Of Art, and started working as photographer straight out of college. Assignments for The Face, Arena, and an early ad campaign for “Neutrogena” featuring a 16 year old Kate Moss followed. By 1995 Jake was regularly flying the Atlantic on assignment for JFK Jrs' “George” Magazine and in 1999 he upped sticks and moved permanently to NYC where he still lives with his wife and 2 kids...
Category

1990s Modern Portrait Photography

Materials

Black and White

The Beatles 1963
Located in Austin, TX
The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr at the President Hotel, Russell Square, London, 12 September 1963 by Norman Pa...
Category

Late 20th Century Photorealist Portrait Photography

Materials

C Print

Ginger Rogers in Fur Coat
Located in Austin, TX
Black and white studio portrait of Ginger Rogers in a fur coat, circa 1953. Ginger Rogers was an American actress, dancer and singer during the Golden Age of Hollywood. She won an A...
Category

1950s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Archival Pigment

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

View from 29 Clinton Street, 1989 by Tria Giovan - Color Photography
Located in Brighton, GB
View from 29 Clinton Street, 1989 From a 6cm x 4.5cm negative, scanned in 2020 Archival Pigment Print available in this size of 16" x 20" in an Edition of 12 with 3 Artist Proofs ...
Category

20th Century American Realist Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Beaton, Marlon Brando, 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

Bette Davis in front of the Queen Mary
Located in Austin, TX
Actress Bette Davis posed in front of the Queen Mary, circa 1967. Bette Davis was an American actress of film, television, and theater. Regarded as one of the greatest actresses in ...
Category

1960s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Archival Pigment

Naples, Italy, Black and White Photography 1950s, Bride by Leonard Freed
Located in New york, NY
Bride, Naples, Italy, 1958 by Leonard Freed is a black and white contemporary photograph, cinematic in nature. This is a gelatin silver, signed by the photographer, lifetime print, 24" x 20" from the Freed archive. LITERATURE: W. A. Ewing, N. Herschdorfer, and W. van Sinderen, Worldview, Leonard Freed, Steidl, 2007, p. 73 and back cover. Leonard Freed discovered Little Italy in New York...
Category

1950s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin, Photographic Film, Photographic Paper

Rita Hayworth Dancing in Gown
Located in Austin, TX
Stunning black and white capture of actress Rita Hayworth dancing in a gown outdoors. Rita Hayworth was an American actress, dancer, and pin-up girl. She achieved fame in the 1940s ...
Category

1960s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Archival Pigment

Portrait of Two Wild Horses, Minimal, Vertical
Located in US
"Kisses" Two wild horses share a affectionate moment in an ethereal scene from Sable Island. This is a best-selling image. The print series Discovering the Horses of Sable Isla...
Category

2010s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Van Johnson and Ava Gardner Sitting in Car
Located in Austin, TX
This black and white capture features Ava Gardner sitting besides Van Johnson driving car. Van Johnson was an American film, television, theatre and radio actor, singer, and dancer....
Category

1950s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Archival Pigment

Guitar girl - Polaroid, Black and White, Women, 21st Century, Nude
Located in Morongo Valley, CA
Guitar girl - 2020 20x20cm, Edition of 7 plus 2 Artist Proofs, digital C-Print based on a Polaroid. Signed on the back and with certificate. Artist inventory PL2020-919. Not moun...
Category

2010s Contemporary Portrait Photography

Materials

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

Michael Jackson - Photo- 1990s
Located in Roma, IT
Michael Jackson is a vintage black and white photograph realized in the 1990s. Good conditions.
Category

1990s Modern Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper

David Bowie and William Burroughs, framed signed print by Terry O'Neill
Located in Austin, TX
Ready to ship immediately. Free domestic US shipping. David Bowie and William Burroughs in Los Angeles, February 1974, signed Terry O'Neill, 8x10" print, custom framed with non-glar...
Category

Late 20th Century Photorealist Portrait Photography

Materials

Giclée

Untitled Portrait
Located in New York, NY
Listing includes framing with UV Plexi ($900 value), free shipping, and a 14-day return policy. Seydou Keïta Untitled Portrait, 1952 - 1955 (02158) 23...
Category

1950s Portrait Photography

Materials

Photographic Film, Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin

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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