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Portrait Photography For Sale
Period: 1950s
Period: 1940s
Lucky Luciano, Sicily, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Sicilian-born American gangster Charles 'Lucky' Luciano (1897 - 1962) walking with friends...
Category
1950s American Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Emulsion, Photographic Paper, ABS, Black and White, Digital, Photogram
Frank Sinatra in his Ford Thunderbird
By Frank Worth
Located in Austin, TX
In this photograph, Frank Sinatra is captured glancing over his shoulder at his friend, photographer Frank Worth, while sitting in his classic Ford Thunderbird.
Frank Sinatra was a...
Category
1950s Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Digital, Archival Pigment
Joan Crawford in Above Suspicion
Located in Austin, TX
This black and white portrait features American film and television actress Joan Crawford. Known best for her roles in films such as Possessed, Sudden Fear, and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane...
Category
1940s Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
Archival Paper, Archival Ink, Archival Pigment
Reg Lancaster 'Francoise Hardy' Limited Edition Photographic Print, 20x30
Located in San Rafael, CA
1969: French singer, Francoise Hardy sitting on a motorbike. (Photo by Reg Lancaster/Express/Getty Images)
As an authorized Getty Images Gallery partner, we offer premium quality pr...
Category
1950s Modern Portrait Photography
Materials
Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin
Moulin Rouge; Dancing; Black and White; Paris, 1950s, 17, 6 x 12, 7 cm
By Erich Andres
Located in Cologne, DE
Silver Gelatine Print by Erich Andres, ca 1950.
Andres was born 1905 in Germany and passed away 1992. He started his career as a photographer in 1920. He was one of the first photogr...
Category
1950s Modern Portrait Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin, Black and White
Florence Pritchett Smith, Venice, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1950 portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features model turned fashion editor turned society hostess, Florence Pritchett Smith, covers her sleevel...
Category
1950s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Brigitte Bardot Lying in Grass
Located in Austin, TX
Vintage 1950's capture featuring a young Brigitte Bardot early in her career.
The French fashion model and actress was one of the best-known sex symbols of the 1950s and 1960s. Bardot was an aspiring ballerina in early life. She started her acting career in 1952 and after appearing in 16 routine comedy films, with a limited international release, became world-famous in 1957, with the controversial film And God Created Woman...
Category
1950s Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
Archival Paper, Archival Ink, Archival Pigment
Raoul Salan - Portrait - 1960s
Located in Roma, IT
Raoul Salan is a vintage black and white photograph realized in the 1960s.
Good conditions.
Category
1950s Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
Photographic Paper
Norman Parkinson 'Audrey Hepburn, Vogue''
Located in New York, NY
Norman Parkinson
'Audrey Hepburn, Vogue'
1952
Silver gelatin print
36 x 36 inches
Estate stamped and numbered on verso
“The camera can be the most deadly weapon since the assassi...
Category
1950s Modern Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Slim Aarons 'NIce Pool' (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
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
Salvador Dali's Party, Estate Edition Photograph [Surrealist Dinner, Green+Red]
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
1959: Surrealist painter Salvador Dali (1904 - 1989) with a red-haired woman in a green dress at a vintage ball in New York. The artist is captured with his characteristic walking st...
Category
1950s American Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
![Salvador Dali's Party, Estate Edition Photograph [Surrealist Dinner, Green+Red]](https://a.1stdibscdn.com/slim-aarons-1916-2006-american-photography-salvador-dalis-party-estate-edition-photograph-surrealist-dinner-greenred-for-sale/a_148/a_83043121623787402664/UndercurrentAARONSDalisParty_l.jpeg?width=240 "salvador dali party")
Marilyn Monroe in Don't Bother to Knock Vintage Press Print
Located in Austin, TX
Black and white capture of actress Marilyn Monroe posed in a screen test for her role as Nell in "Don't Bother to Knock", circa 1952.
--
One-of-a-kind original vintage press print ...
Category
1950s Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
Black and White
Milton Greene, "Portrait of Marilyn", original photograph
Located in Chatsworth, CA
This piece is an original vintage photograph from the original negative taken by Milton Greene in 1954. This image depicts Hollywood Icon, Marilyn Monroe, and bears the Milton H. Gre...
Category
1950s Modern Portrait Photography
Materials
Photographic Paper
Jazz Scooter: Louis Armstrong and Lucille Brown in 1940s Rome, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Lucille Brown takes control of the Vespa scooter as her husband Louis Armstrong (1898 - 1971) displays his musical appreciation of the ancient Colosseum in Rome.
Slim Aarons
Jazz S...
Category
1940s American Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Emulsion, Black and White, Digital
Hollywood Christmas Swim, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Rita Aarons, wife of photographer Slim Aarons, swimming in a pool festooned with floating baubles and a decorated Christmas tree, Hollywood, California, 1954. Two children play in the background.
Slim Aarons
Christmas Swim...
Category
1950s American Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Ed Feingersh 'Marilyn Monroe Candid Moment' Limited Edition Photograph 20x16
By Ed Feingersh
Located in San Rafael, CA
Actress Marilyn Monroe reads the book "To the Actor: On the Technique of Acting" by Michael Chekhov in a quiet moment at the Ambassador Hotel in March 1955 in New York City, New York...
Category
1950s Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin
Douglas Fairbanks Jr with Dog
Located in Austin, TX
Black and white capture of Douglas Fairbanks Jr. posed sitting on a film set petting a dog.
Douglas Fairbanks Jr. was an American actor, producer, and decorated naval officer of Wor...
Category
1950s Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Archival Pigment
Rhonda Fleming Posing With Dog
Located in Austin, TX
This black and white capture features portrait of Rhonda Fleming sitting beside dog on bed at home.Rhonda Fleming was an American film and television actress and singer. She acted in...
Category
1950s Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Archival Pigment
Marlene Dietrich in Fur
Located in Austin, TX
Black and white studio capture of Marlene Dietrich posed in a fur coat.
In 1920s Berlin, Dietrich performed on the stage and in silent films. Her performance as Lola Lola in Josef v...
Category
1940s Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Archival Pigment
Brando On The Waterfornt (1954) Silver Gelatin Fibre Print - Oversized
Located in London, GB
Brando On The Waterfront (1954) Silver Gelatin Fibre Print - Oversized
(photo by Glasshouse Images / Alamy Archives)
1954,
Marlon Brando on-set of the Film,
On the Waterfront.
...
Category
1950s Modern Portrait Photography
Materials
Black and White, Silver Gelatin
Marilyn Monroe, "Ballerina"
Located in New York, NY
Ed. 18/20, estate-stamped. Unframed print.
Milton H. Greene, famous for his fashion photography and celebrity portraits from the golden age of Hollywood, met Marilyn Monroe on a pho...
Category
1950s Portrait Photography
Materials
Archival Pigment
Portrait of Giorgio Gaber - Vintage Photo - 1959
Located in Roma, IT
Portrait of Giorgio Gaber in 1959 is a vintage photographic print on single-coated paper.
Photograph probably made by Gianni Piccione for News Blitz.
Ink print of photographer (Pic...
Category
1950s Modern Portrait Photography
Materials
Photographic Paper
Inga Lindgren And Poodles, New York, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Swedish model Inga Lindgren, wife of Argentinian finance minister Ceferino Alonso Irigoyen, wears designs by Vera Stewart with her standard poodles...
Category
1950s American Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Emulsion, Photographic Paper, ABS, Black and White, Digital, Photogram
Backgammon By The Pool, Palm Beach, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Countess Peter Jean-Baptiste de Manio (left) and Mary-Beth Turner playing backgammon by a ...
Category
1950s American Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Emulsion, Photographic Paper, ABS, Black and White, Digital, Photogram
Marilyn Monroe Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Still Vintage Press Print
Located in Austin, TX
Black and white film still of actress Marilyn Monroe in her role for "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes", circa 1953.
--
One-of-a-kind original vintage press print from the Celebrity Vault a...
Category
1950s Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
Black and White
Inga Lindgren And Poodles, New York, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Swedish model Inga Lindgren, wife of Argentinian finance minister Ceferino Alonso Irigoyen, wears designs by Vera Stewart with her standard poodles Aja...
Category
1950s American Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Emulsion, Photographic Paper, ABS, Black and White, Digital, Photogram
Autographed Portrait of Lotte Koch - Original b/w Postcard - 1950s
Located in Roma, IT
Autographed Portrait of Lotte Koch is a beautiful b/w postcard reproducing a photographic portrait of the German actress.
With the additional value of a blue ink autograph on the lo...
Category
1950s Modern Portrait Photography
Materials
Paper, Photographic Paper
Slim Aarons, Hello There, 1955 (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
1955: Film star Diana Dors (Diana Fluck) (1931 - 1984) in blonde bombshell pose on a satin covered bed
Slim Aarons
Hello There, 1955
Lambda Print
4 sizes ...
Category
1950s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Cary Grant Dramatic Profile Portrait
Located in Austin, TX
Cary Grant was an English stage and Hollywood film actor who became an American citizen in 1942. Known for his transatlantic accent, debonair demeanor and "dashing good looks", Grant...
Category
1950s Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Archival Pigment
Big Jay McNeely, 1951 - Bob Willoughby (Portrait Photography)
Located in London, GB
Big Jay McNeely, 1951 - Bob Willoughby (Portrait Photography)
Archival pigment print
Printed on 20 x 24 inch paper
From an edition of 25
Also available in alternative sizes
Bob ...
Category
1950s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Archival Pigment
Marilyn Monroe and Ray Anthony in Helicopter Vintage Press Print
Located in Austin, TX
Stunning color capture of Marilyn Monroe and Ray Anthony smiling in a helicopter.
--
One-of-a-kind original vintage press print from the Celebrity Vault archives. Own a piece of his...
Category
1950s Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
Archival Pigment
Polish Woman - Impressionist Mid 20th Century Oil Painting by Helena Krajewska
Located in Watford, Hertfordshire
Helena Malarewicz-Krajewska (born 14 July 1910 in Biecz , died May 7, 1998 in Warsaw) is a Polish painter, active advocate of socialist realism.
Studied between 1928 and 1929 at the...
Category
1950s Impressionist Portrait Photography
Materials
Oil, Board
'Pulitzer On The Beach' Slim Aarons Limited Edition Estate Stamped Print
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
'Pulitzer On The Beach' Slim Aarons Limited Edition Estate Stamped Print
Premium Rates Apply. Patsy Pulitzer (nee Patsy Bartlett) at Palm Beach, Florida, circa 1955. (Photo by Slim Aarons/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Silver Gelatin Print
Produced from the original negative
Certificate of authenticity supplied
Archive stamped
Numbered in ink on front
Printed 2021
Various sizes and frame options available
FRAMING:
Please note that this piece is unframed – however, we offer a full framing service.
If you would like this piece framed, please contact us for a quote.
Keywords
1950s 50s woman model aesthetic luxury high society black and white beach...
Category
1950s Modern Portrait Photography
Materials
Paper, Color, Digital
The Essence of Dali
By Salvador Dali and Philippe Halsman
Located in Buffalo, NY
The work offered for sale here is an original vintage silver gelatin print hand created by Halsman hand signed and exhibited at the International Center for Photography.
Philippe Halsman was at one point considered the best photo-portraitist in France. He had an incessant interest in faces: “Every face I see seems to hide—and sometimes fleetingly reveal—the mystery of another human being.” Halsman’s photographs of politicians, celebrities, and intellectuals were featured widely in magazines like LIFE and Vogue. His more famous subjects included the likes of Marc Chagall, Le Corbusier, Audrey Hepburn, and Albert Einstein. He also had a 37-year collaboration with Salvador Dalí, which resulted in several famous surrealist series including the “Dalí’s Mustache” portraits...
Category
1950s Surrealist Portrait Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Frank Sinatra
Located in Chatsworth, CA
This piece is an original photograph shot by Milton Greene circa 1950s. It depicts one of the most well known and influential musical artists of the 20th century, Frank Sinatra...
Category
1950s Modern Portrait Photography
Materials
Photographic Paper
Frank Sinatra Standing with T-Bird
By Frank Worth
Located in Austin, TX
Stunning black and white capture of jazz musician and singer Frank Sinatra leaning against a classic T-Bird.
Francis Albert Sinatra was an American singer, actor, and producer who ...
Category
1950s Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Digital, Archival Pigment
Portrait of Jared French
Located in New York, NY
Portrait of Jared French
Embossed “Carl Van Vechten,” l.r.; Also stamped “Collection of Jon Anderson,” verso; Also stamped “Photograph by Carl Van Vechten,” verso
Pair of gelatin si...
Category
1940s Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Sports Car Couple, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
1955: John Bryant with his AC sports car in Kinnerton Place, London SW1, Printed Later. His passenger is Margaret McAulay.
40 x 40 inches
$3950
30 x 30 ...
Category
1950s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Holiday Hair Check, Bermuda, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1950s urban portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Faith Gibbons checks her hair in the mirror of a motor scooter, Bermuda. She is wear...
Category
1950s American Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Emulsion, Photographic Paper, ABS, Black and White, Digital, Photogram
Slim Aarons - Ursula Andress 1955 - Estate Stamped
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Ursula Andress
Swiss actress Ursula Andress poses in a hammock, in Rome, Italy, circa 1955.
Paper size 50 x 50 / 127 x 127 cm
Estate Stamped Collection Edition to 150
Photo by ...
Category
1950s Modern Portrait Photography
Materials
Archival Pigment
Slim Aarons 'Venice Vacation', Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Holidaymakers on the pier at the Lido in Venice, 1957. (Photo by Slim Aarons/Getty Images)
Slim Aarons
Venice Vacation
Chromogenic Lambda print
1957, Printed Later
Slim Aarons Estate Edition
Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide.
Stamped and hand numbered by the Slim Aarons Estate.
Certificate of Authenticity included.
This artwork DOES include a certificate of authenticity from the authenticating body, the estate
Collector will get the next number in the edition
40 x 40 inches
$3950
30 x 30 inches
$3350
24 x 24 inches
$3000
12 x 12 inches
$1800
Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide.
Over the course of a career lasting half a century, Slim Aarons (1916-2006) portrayed high society, aristocracy, authors, artists, business icons, the celebrated and their milieu. In doing so, he captured a golden age of wealth, privilege, beauty and leisure that occurred alongside—but quite separate from—the cultural and political backdrop of the second half of the Twentieth Century.
Photograph is unframed
Modern estate edition with estate blindstamp signature and hand number in lower margin
Slide show includes a close-up of the Slim Aarons estate's stamp.
Collector will get the next number in the edition
* We are pleased to offer the entire archive of the Slim Aarons Estate, offering the official Slim Aarons Estate Edition (only offered in this edition of 150). *
Undercurrent Projects, New York, is proud to represent Aarons' full collection of negatives and transparencies. Housed at Getty Images Hulton Archive in London, The Slim Aarons Estate has released the limited Estate edition as a Lambda print, which is a modern c-type prints. They have chosen Lambda prints for their sharpness, clarity, colour saturation and quality, compared to archival inkjet prints. Lambda printing gives true continuous tone.
Internal: Slim Aarons Venice...
Category
1950s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons - Mara Lane 1954 - Estate Stamped
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Mara Lane
Austrian actress Mara Lane posing by the pool at the Sands Hotel, Las Vegas, in a red and white striped bathing costume, 1954.
Paper size 50 x 50 / 127 x 127 cm
Estate...
Category
1950s Modern Portrait Photography
Materials
Archival Pigment
North Conway, New Hampshire, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a woman holding her skis in North Conway, New Hampshire.
This is an estate stamped and han...
Category
1950s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Sundowners at the Carlton, Cannes
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Two bikini-clad holidaymakers enjoy a glass of wine outside the Carlton Hotel, Cannes, 1958.
Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from th...
Category
1950s Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
New England Skiing
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Skis leaning against the wall of a hut marked 'Ski Instructors Only' in New Hampshire, 1955.
New England Skiing
Black and White Photography
Slim Aarons Estate Edition
Numbered and s...
Category
1950s American Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Emulsion, Photographic Paper, ABS, Black and White, Digital, Photogram
Palm Beach Idyll, Florida, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a couple sunbathing by the sea at Palm Beach, Florida.
This is an estate stamped and hand ...
Category
1950s American Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Marilyn Monroe with Classic Roadster for "How to Marry a Millionaire"
By Frank Worth
Located in Austin, TX
Marilyn Monroe posing for a portrait while standing with her car door open on the set of "How to Marry a Millionaire". Beautifully restored from the original 1953 black and white pho...
Category
1950s Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Digital, Archival Pigment
Eva Gabor, Estate Edition Photograph, Midcentury Classic Hollywood, Vintage Pink
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
TV and film actress Eva Gabor takes a coffee in an unfinished bedroom in Bay Roc Hotel, Montego, Jamaica, 1950. In this classic image of vintage mid-century ...
Category
1940s American Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Slim Aarons 'Christmas Swim: Rita Aarons' (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Rita Aarons, wife of photographer Slim Aarons, swimming in a pool festooned with floating baubles and a decorated Christmas tree, Hollywood, California, 1954. Two children play in th...
Category
1950s American Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Lambda
Norman Parkinson 'Wenda and Ostriches'
Located in New York, NY
Norman Parkinson
Wenda and Ostriches
1951 (printed later)
C print
40 x 30 inches
Estate stamped and numbered edition of 21 on verso
with certificate of authenticity from the Norman ...
Category
1950s Modern Portrait Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Eva Gabor (1950) Limited Estate Stamped - Grande XL
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Eva Gabor (1950) Limited Estate Stamped - Grande XL
(Photo By Slim Aarons)
Hungarian actress Eva Gabor (1920 – 1995) in Montego Bay,
Jamaica, circa 1954....
Category
1950s Modern Portrait Photography
Materials
Color, Archival Pigment
Reg Lancaster 'Francoise Hardy' Limited Edition Photographic Print, 30x40
Located in San Rafael, CA
1969: French singer, Francoise Hardy sitting on a motorbike. (Photo by Reg Lancaster/Express/Getty Images)
As an authorized Getty Images Gallery partn...
Category
1950s Modern Portrait Photography
Materials
Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin
Princess of Monaco Grace Kelly
Located in New York, NY
Milton H. Greene
Grace Kelly
1955 (printed later)
All archival pigment prints, signed on reverse by the Estate
American actress and then Princess of Monaco, Grace Kelly for an Ameri...
Category
1950s Modern Portrait Photography
Materials
Archival Pigment
Four Kings of Hollywood, Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A series of four shots of film stars (left to right) Clark Gable (1901 - 1960), Van Heflin (1910 - 1971), Gary Cooper (1901 - 1961) and James Stewart (1908 - 1997) enjoying a joke at...
Category
1940s American Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Emulsion, Black and White, Digital, Photogram
The King of Jazz: Louis Armstrong in Rome (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Lucille Brown takes control of the Vespa scooter as her husband Louis Armstrong (1898 - 1971) displays his musical appreciation of the ancient Colosseum in Rome.
Slim Aarons
The Ki...
Category
1940s American Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Emulsion, Black and White, Digital
Crying Child in Stroller, Vintage Print - Female Street Photographer
By Vivian Maier
Located in Miami, FL
Female Street Photographer Vivian Maier captures a riveting moment of a child consumed in grief. The physiological and psychological anguish dominates her...
Category
1950s American Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
"Picasso with Painting", Photograph by Richard Ham 1945
By Richard Ham
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Richard Ham, American (1920 - )
Title: Picasso in Paris Studio
Year: 1945, Printed in 2009
Medium: Gelatin Silver Print, signed and numbered in ink
Edition: 50
Size: 20 in. x...
Category
1940s Modern Portrait Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
New England Skiing
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Two women recline on improvised sunbeds at the Cranmore Mountain Resort, North Conway, New Hampshire, 1955.
Slim Aarons
New England Skiing
Black an...
Category
1950s American Realist Portrait Photography
Materials
Emulsion, Photographic Paper, ABS, Black and White, Digital, Photogram
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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