Contemporary Portrait Photography
CONTEMPORARY STYLE
Used to refer to a time rather than an aesthetic, Contemporary art generally describes pieces created after 1970 or being made by living artists anywhere in the world. This immediacy means it encompasses art responding to the present moment through diverse subjects, media and themes. Contemporary painting, sculpture, photography, performance, digital art, video and more frequently includes work that is attempting to reshape current ideas about what art can be, from Felix Gonzalez-Torres’s use of candy to memorialize a lover he lost to AIDS-related complications to Jenny Holzer’s ongoing “Truisms,” a Conceptual series that sees provocative messages printed on billboards, T-shirts, benches and other public places that exist outside of formal exhibitions and the conventional “white cube” of galleries.
Contemporary art has been pushing the boundaries of creative expression for years. Its disruption of the traditional concepts of art are often aiming to engage viewers in complex questions about identity, society and culture. In the latter part of the 20th century, contemporary movements included Land art, in which artists like Robert Smithson and Michael Heizer create large-scale, site-specific sculptures, installations and other works in soil and bodies of water; Sound art, with artists such as Christian Marclay and Susan Philipsz centering art on sonic experiences; and New Media art, in which mass media and digital culture inform the work of artists such as Nam June Paik and Rafaël Rozendaal.
The first decades of the 21st century have seen the growth of Contemporary African art, the revival of figurative painting, the emergence of street art and the rise of NFTs, unique digital artworks that are powered by blockchain technology.
Major Contemporary artists practicing now include Ai Weiwei, Cecily Brown, David Hockney, Yayoi Kusama, Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami and Kara Walker.
Find a collection of Contemporary prints, photography, paintings, sculptures and other art on 1stDibs.
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Style: Contemporary
Item Ships From: England
El Babalao by James Sparshatt. Baryta Silver Gelatin Photograph
Located in Coltishall, GB
A Babalao or priest of the Santeria religion
The Spirit of the Revolution series documents the generation of Cubans that saw the dramatic changes of 1959 as young adults. They have ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
Silver Gelatin
El Campesino by James Sparshatt. 20" x 20" photograph on Brushed Aluminiu
Located in Coltishall, GB
The Viñales valley in western Cuba is a place of stunning beauty where perhaps the finest tobacco leaves in the world are grown. The tobacco farmers live hard but proud lives.
The S...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
Metal
El Campesino by James Sparshatt. 36" x 36" photograph on Brushed Aluminiu
Located in Coltishall, GB
The Viñales valley in western Cuba is a place of stunning beauty where perhaps the finest tobacco leaves in the world are grown. The tobacco farmers live hard but proud lives.
The S...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
Metal
El Sentinel by James Sparshatt. 36" x 36" Photograph on Brushed Aluminium
Located in Coltishall, GB
A man of gentlemany demeanour, content with his cigar. A sentinel watching the world pass amidst the endless sugar cane country of central Cuba.
The Spirit of the Revolution serie...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
Metal
El Sentinel by James Sparshatt. 20" x 20" Photograph on Brushed Aluminium
Located in Coltishall, GB
A man of gentlemany demeanour, content with his cigar. A sentinel watching the world pass amidst the endless sugar cane country of central Cuba.
The Spirit of the Revolution serie...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
Metal
Puro… Alegría by James Sparshatt. 36" x 36" Photograph on Brushed Aluminium
Located in Coltishall, GB
Puro is Cuban slang for a cigar… alegria is Spanish for happiness… for Graciela both always seemed essential to her being.
The Spirit of the Revolution series documents the generati...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
Metal
Puro… Alegría by James Sparshatt. 20" x 20" Photograph on Brushed Aluminium
Located in Coltishall, GB
Puro is Cuban slang for a cigar… alegria is Spanish for happiness… for Graciela both always seemed essential to her being.
The Spirit of the Revolution series documents the generati...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
Metal
El Barbudo by James Sparshatt. 36 x 36" Photographic Print on Brushed Aluminium
Located in Coltishall, GB
The bearded one… in Old Havana.
The Spirit of the Revolution series documents the generation of Cubans that saw the dramatic changes of 1959 as young adults. They have a strength of...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
Metal
James Sparshatt El Barbudo Photography, Small Print on Brushed Aluminium, 2002
Located in Coltishall, GB
The bearded one… in Old Havana.
The Spirit of the Revolution series documents the generation of Cubans that saw the dramatic changes of 1959 as young adults. They have a strength of...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
Metal
Some Eyes Have Seen by John Kenny. 54 x 36" portrait photo with Acrylic Mount
Located in Coltishall, GB
John met this Wodaabe girl who was carrying her young child in a remote market village called Sakabal in the far north of Niger’s Maradi province. Like many Wodaabe women, she had ma...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Pure Wodaabe by John Kenny. 54 x 36" portrait photo with Acrylic Face-Mount
Located in Coltishall, GB
A portrait of a young Wodaabe man from a town called Bororo in Niger. Bororo is often regarded as the ‘capital city’ of his people. The name Bororo is also commonly used to describe ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Naiio by John Kenny. 54 x 36" portrait photo with Acrylic Face-Mount 2011
Located in Coltishall, GB
This young Turkana girl in northern Kenya wears a goatskin known as an ‘egolas’. In traditional Turkana communities the inhabitants are excellent at making garments from animals, and...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Lesirte by John Kenny. 54 x 36" portrait photo with Acrylic Face-Mount 2011
Located in Coltishall, GB
A Samburu warrior from Kenya
A return to Kenya. On this trip John took a different approach to lighting. Building makeshift studios from locally acquired white sheets held up by f...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Kolode by John Kenny. 54 x 36" portrait photo with Acrylic Face-Mount 2011
Located in Coltishall, GB
A Rendille girl in Kenya
A return to Kenya. On this trip John took a different approach to lighting. Building makeshift studios from locally acquired white sheets held up by four ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Eture by John Kenny. 54 x 36" portrait photo with Acrylic Face-Mount 2011
Located in Coltishall, GB
A young Rendille girl
A return to Kenya. On this trip John took a different approach to lighting. Building makeshift studios from locally acquired white sheets held up by four war...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
John Kenny Pitali Large Portrait, C-type Print with Acrylic Face-Mount, 2011
Located in Coltishall, GB
Sometimes a more practical hair arrangement is needed for warriors and braids are rolled into a net that is tied to keep the hair firm. Once the hair is long, a warrior will only sha...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Loicherua by John Kenny. 54 x 36" portrait photo with Acrylic Face-Mount 2011
Located in Coltishall, GB
This warrior, like many of the Samburu, cares intensely about his appearance. There are two giveaway signs beyond the amount of jewellery he wears: a small pink pocket mirror, next t...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Ikulme by John Kenny. 54 x 36" portrait photo with Acrylic Face-Mount 2011
Located in Coltishall, GB
This elder from a Rendille community in northern Kenya wears a typical bright coloured fabric wrapped around his body. It is essentially the same as the blanket-like ‘shuka’ worn by ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Loile by John Kenny. 54 x 36" portrait photo with Acrylic Face-Mount 2011
Located in Coltishall, GB
The large circular earplugs worn by this stunning Rendille warrior are made of plastic and sometimes bone. In past times, and very occasionally today, you might see the same plugs ma...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Rendille mother and child by John Kenny. 54 x 36" portrait with Acrylic mount
Located in Coltishall, GB
Like the Maasai, Rendille women and their children keep their hair very short. This mother, however, leaves a tuft of hair remaining on the front of her child which has been bleached...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
John Kenny Ekerun Large Portrait, C-type Print with Acrylic Face-Mount
Located in Coltishall, GB
A Turkana elder in Northern Kenya
John uses simple natural light and builds primitive makeshift studios from locally acquired white sheets! The suffuse light allows him to capture a...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Karepo Nawa by John Kenny. 54 x 36" portrait photo with Acrylic Face-Mount 2010
Located in Coltishall, GB
I met this young Himba girl near to a place called Etengwa in the far north of Namibia. We trekked a few kilometres in the midday heat, over a rocky hill to a small village within wh...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Lakuru by John Kenny. 36 x 24" portrait photo with Acrylic Face-Mount 2009
Located in Coltishall, GB
Rendille warrior from Northern Kenya
John Kenny’s work is all shot on location in some of the remotest corners of Africa. His subjects are lit with natural light and wear their day ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Hombre de Media Luna by James Sparshatt. 20 x 20” photo printed on aluminium
Located in Coltishall, GB
It was almost 3am and we were still waiting for the band to start to play. I stood on the open air stage buffeted by the winds as the group and their roadies struggled to set up. Th...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
Metal
La Vieja Guajira by James Sparshatt. 36 x 36” photo printed direct on aluminium
Located in Coltishall, GB
The old country girl from the Escambray mountains. I was hiking in the mountains, close to Trinidad, when I met the family. They invited me in and we chatted about our different live...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
Metal
La Romera by James Sparshatt. 36 x 36” photograph printed direct on aluminium
Located in Coltishall, GB
On a musical and pleasure seeking pilgrimage… during Las Romerias de Mayo festival in Holguín.
The Spirit of the Revolution series documents the generation of Cubans that saw the dr...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
Metal
Hombre De Media Luna by James Sparshatt. 20 x 20” portrait printed on aluminium
Located in Coltishall, GB
It was almost 3am and we were still waiting for the band to start to play. I stood on the open air stage buffeted by the winds as the group and their roadies struggled to set up. Th...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
Metal
El Finquero by James Sparshatt. 20 x 20” photograph printed direct on aluminium
Located in Coltishall, GB
A tobacco farmer from the Viñales valley.
The Spirit of the Revolution series documents the generation of Cubans that saw the dramatic changes of 1959 as young adults. They have a s...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
Metal
El Finquero by James Sparshatt. 36 x 36” photograph printed direct on aluminium.
Located in Coltishall, GB
A tobacco farmer from the Viñales valley.
The Spirit of the Revolution series documents the generation of Cubans that saw the dramatic changes of 1959 as young adults. They have a s...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
Metal
El Revolucionario by James Sparshatt. 20 x 20” photo printed direct on aluminium
Located in Coltishall, GB
El revolucionario – a gentleman of Old Havana.
The Spirit of the Revolution series documents the generation of Cubans that saw the dramatic changes of 1959 as young adults. They hav...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
Metal
El Tabaquero by James Sparshatt. 36 x 36” photograph printed direct on aluminium
Located in Coltishall, GB
A tobacco farmer from the Viñales valley in Cuba.
In 1959 residents of Cuba were faced with a stark choice: stay on their island home and live as a “revolutionary” or leave. Some believed wholeheartedly in the new beginning, some were willing to be carried along and some abandoned everything they had and chose exile.
The Buena Vista social club...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
Metal
Himba Siblings by John Kenny. 54 x 36" portrait photo with Acrylic Face-Mount
Located in Coltishall, GB
John Kenny’s work is all shot on location in some of the remotest corners of Africa. His images are all taken with natural light and his subjects in their day to day attire.
The C-t...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Fula Nomad at Golondi by John Kenny. 54 x 36" portrait photo with Acrylic Mount
Located in Coltishall, GB
The man was sat in the shade during a huge village market in a place called Golondi in Niger. We drank the salty, sweet tea that the nomads of the Sahel and...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
The San Man by John Kenny. 54 x 36" portrait photo with Acrylic Face-Mount
Located in Coltishall, GB
A picture of joy. KhoiSan bushman from Namibia
John Kenny’s work is all shot on location in some of the remotest corners of Africa. His images are all taken with natural light and...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Fire of the Himbaby John Kenny. 54 x 36" portrait photo with Acrylic Face-Mount
Located in Coltishall, GB
Himba women have a devotion to red ochre powder and butter fat that exceeds even the Hamer of the Omo valley in Ethiopia. They apply huge amounts to almost their entire bodies inclu...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Assaita by John Kenny. 54 x 36" portrait photo with Acrylic Face-Mount 2008
Located in Coltishall, GB
A young man of the Afar culture in the town of Assaita. Many men spend the afternoons in loud debate in mud buildings and courtyards. Often with fistfuls of miraa leaves (ghat) and...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Lion of the Kalahari by John Kenny. 54 x 36" portrait photo with Acrylic Mount
Located in Coltishall, GB
This Himba elder was at a huge funeral gathering in the western Kaokoland between the largest town of the area, Opuwo, and Otjitando. The area was flat, and very dry, with a strong w...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Malasso by John Kenny. 54 x 36" portrait photo with Acrylic Face-Mount 2009
Located in Coltishall, GB
I came across the intense stare of this Pokot lady at a Friday market on a mountain summit in northern Kenya; it was the same market where I photographed a Samburu goat herder wrappe...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Lakuru by John Kenny. 54 x 36" portrait photo with Acrylic Face-Mount 2009
Located in Coltishall, GB
Rendille warrior from Northern Kenya
John Kenny’s work is all shot on location in some of the remotest corners of Africa. His subjects are lit with natural light and wear their day ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Himba Child l by John Kenny. 54 x 36" portrait photo with Acrylic Face-Mount
Located in Coltishall, GB
In the far north of Namibia as you head towards the border with Angola at Epupa Falls, barely visible tracks radiate off the main dirt road into bush and disappear across sandy, dry ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Ltiriyan by John Kenny. 54 x 36" portrait photo with Acrylic Face-Mount 2009
Located in Coltishall, GB
I met Ltiriyan at the water wells in Laisamis, part of the Rendille lands of Northern Kenya. He was with nine or ten Rendille warriors relaxing in the heat of the day, and they happily sat around and talked with me through my guide for an hour or so before preparing their camels to head off into the desert again.
Ltiriyan was the most outspoken of the young warriors...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
At the Edge of the Jade Sea by John Kenny. 54 x 36" portrait with Acrylic Mount
Located in Coltishall, GB
Lake Turkana, or the ‘Jade Sea’ is a vast body of water in Kenya’s far north. It is surrounded by a barren landscape of red and black volcanic rocks, where rain falls for little more...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Himba Child ll by John Kenny. 54 x 36" portrait photo with Acrylic Face-Mount
Located in Coltishall, GB
A young Himba child from Namibia
John Kenny’s work is all shot on location in some of the remotest corners of Africa. His images are all taken with natural...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Mukuru by John Kenny. 54 x 36" portrait photo with Acrylic Face-Mount 2010
Located in Coltishall, GB
The small settlement of Otjitando in Namibia’s Kaokoland doesn’t seem far off the main gravel road on the map. In reality it is a hellish journey that requires regular running in fro...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Himba Woman by John Kenny. 54 x 36" portrait photo with Acrylic Face-Mount
Located in Coltishall, GB
John Kenny’s work is all shot on location in some of the remotest corners of Africa. His images are all taken with natural light and his subjects in their day to day attire.
The C-t...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Myngaby John Kenny. 54 x 36" portrait photo with Acrylic Face-Mount 2012
Located in Coltishall, GB
For the Mumuhuila hair indicates social status. Hairstyles, like necklaces, change throughout a lady’s adolescent and adult life. For an adult like Mynga, the number of dreadlock str...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Nambuele by John Kenny. 54 x 36" portrait photo with Acrylic Face-Mount 2012
Located in Coltishall, GB
Nambuele illustrates the hair craft of the Mumuhuila of southern Angola, whose women take an obsessive pride in their hairstyle. Although it may change as a girl enters different st...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
At the Heart of Huile by John Kenny - C-type Print with Acrylic Face-Mount
Located in Coltishall, GB
Young Mumuhuile woman from the Huile region of southern Angola.
John Kenny’s work is all shot on location in some of the remotest corners of Africa. His images are all taken with na...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Lady of the Arbore by John Kenny. 36 x 24" portrait with Acrylic Face-Mount
By John Kenny 1
Located in Coltishall, GB
The jewellery of the Arbore is among the most colourful in the whole of the Omo Valley: they are experts in recycling materials for beauty, particularly metal watch...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Ancho by John Kenny. 26.5 x 26.5" portrait photo with Acrylic Face-Mount 2009
Located in Coltishall, GB
Ancho is a Hamer woman from the Omo Valley in Southern Ethiopia. John met her on his first journey to the region in 2006. Her portrait was featured on the front cover of a number o...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
The Fairground by John Kenny. 36 x 24" portrait photo with Acrylic Face-Mount
Located in Coltishall, GB
A Turkana elder photographed by John Kenny in Kenya.
John uses simple natural light and builds primitive makeshift studios from locally acquired white sheets! The suffuse light allo...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Amuria by John Kenny. 36 x 24" portrait photo with Acrylic Face-Mount 2019
Located in Coltishall, GB
A portrait of a beautiful young Turkana woman photographed on the banks of Lake Turkana.
John uses simple natural light and builds primitive makeshift studios from locally acquired ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Mursi traditions by John Kenny. 26.5 x 18" portrait with Acrylic Face-Mount
By John Kenny 1
Located in Coltishall, GB
Mago National Park in southern Ethiopia is home to the Mursi, one of the most well known tribes of the Omo valley. The area is inhospitable to outsiders, because of the heat, humidi...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Gumatoo by John Kenny. 36 x 24" portrait photo with Acrylic Face-Mount 2019
Located in Coltishall, GB
John Kenny met this Gabbra woman on the road to Kolal in Northern Kenya in 2019.
John uses simple natural light and builds primitive makeshift studios from locally acquired white sh...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Ayoni and child by John Kenny. 36 x 24" portrait photo with Acrylic Face-Mount
Located in Coltishall, GB
Ayoni and her child – a smiling Turkana mother.
John uses simple natural light and builds primitive makeshift studios from locally acquired white sheets! The suffuse light allows h...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Kedenye by John Kenny. 36 x 24" portrait photo with Acrylic Face-Mount 2019
Located in Coltishall, GB
Elder with a tale to tell
John uses simple natural light and builds primitive makeshift studios from locally acquired white sheets! The suffuse light allows him to capture a remarka...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Lopayok by John Kenny. 36 x 24" portrait photo with Acrylic Face-Mount 2019
Located in Coltishall, GB
A young Turkana warrior
John uses simple natural light and builds primitive makeshift studios from locally acquired white sheets! The suffuse light allows him to capture a remarkabl...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Eture by John Kenny. 36 x 24" portrait photo with Acrylic Face-Mount 2011
Located in Coltishall, GB
A young Rendille girl
A return to Kenya. On this trip John took a different approach to lighting. Building makeshift studios from locally acquired white sheets held up by four war...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
Materials
C Print
Contemporary portrait photography for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Contemporary portrait photography available for sale on 1stDibs. Works in this style were very popular during the 21st Century and Contemporary, but contemporary artists have continued to produce works inspired by this movement. If you’re looking to add portrait photography created in this style to introduce contrast in an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include elements of blue, orange, purple, red and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Stefanie Schneider, Tyler Shields, Urizen Freaza, and Clare Marie Bailey. Frequently made by artists working with Paper, and Photographic Paper and other materials, all of these pieces for sale are unique and have attracted attention over the years. Not every interior allows for large Contemporary portrait photography, so small editions measuring 1.58 inches across are also available.