"The Afghan Girl" Sharbat Gula
View Similar Items
Steve McCurry"The Afghan Girl" Sharbat Gula1984
1984
About the Item
- Creator:Steve McCurry (1950, American)
- Creation Year:1984
- Dimensions:Height: 24 in (60.96 cm)Width: 20 in (50.8 cm)
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Santa Monica, CA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: G130903141122
Steve McCurry
Steve McCurry is an American photographer who gained international acclaim for his arresting portrait of a young refugee known simply as Afghan Girl.
Originally published on the cover of National Geographic in 1985, the photograph shows a young Pashtun orphan, later identified as Sharbat Gula, who was living in a refugee camp near Peshawar, Pakistan, during the Soviet Union’s occupation of Afghanistan. The image is emblematic of McCurry’s work, which has brought him to war zones across the globe. Rather than focusing on the violence of the battlefield, McCurry seeks to capture the human face of conflict, distilling what is universal and recognizable in each portrait.
McCurry was born in Philadelphia and attended Penn State University, graduating cum laude with a degree in theater arts in 1974. After several years working at a newspaper in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, he left to work as a freelancer in India, where he honed his skill for capturing unguarded moments in daily life. Just prior to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, in 1979, he crossed the border from Pakistan into Afghan rebel–controlled territory, wearing native garb to disguise himself, with rolls of film sewn into his clothing. The photographs he took there were among the first in the world to document the conflict, and his work was awarded the Robert Capa Gold Medal for “photographic reporting from abroad.”
Over the course of his career, McCurry has documented daily life alongside conflicts in Cambodia, the Philippines, the former Yugoslavia, Beirut, Iraq, Afghanistan and Tibet. Though his photos depict serious and sometimes frightening situations, his ability to connect with subjects and capture something of their personalities allows his images to transcend the documentarian distance of wartime journalism. The results are real portraits that happen to be set in tough situations. Welder in a Ship Breaking Yard, Mumbai, India (1994), for instance, reveals only the subject’s eyes, but they’re so intently fixed on McCurry’s lens that they seem to express volumes. Monk Running on Wall (2004) shows a young monk defying gravity as he skitters along an exterior wall of the Shaolin Monastery in Henan, China, over the heads of his friends. Like a Baroque painting, McCurry’s picture captures a moment of dynamic action that reveals something instantly recognizable in a subject from another part of the world.
Find original Steve McCurry photography on 1stDibs.
- Greta GarboBy Clarence Sinclair BullLocated in Santa Monica, CAClarence Sinclair Bull was one of the great masters of the Hollywood portrait. As head of the stills department at MGM for over thirty years, he helped to pioneer the art and craft o...Category
1920s Black and White Photography
MaterialsSilver Gelatin
Price Upon Request - Frank Sinatra at a Capital Records Recording Session in Los AngelesBy Sid AveryLocated in Santa Monica, CAThough he captured many of golden-age Hollywood’s greatest stars as the public had never seen them before—Marlon Brando taking out the trash, Elizabeth Taylor sunbathing, Anthony Per...Category
1950s Color Photography
MaterialsSilver Gelatin
- Elbowing Out of Town, News Stand, New YorkBy Louis StettnerLocated in Santa Monica, CAElbowing Out of Town, News Stand, New York 1954 Gelatin Silver print Signed, titled and dated in pencil on verso. Embossed artist stamp on recto. 16 x 2...Category
1950s Black and White Photography
MaterialsSilver Gelatin
- Watch That Man IV, 1972By Masayoshi SukitaLocated in Santa Monica, CASigned and numbered in ink on recto Edition of 30 Image 15-3/4" x 14-1/4", Paper 20" x 16", Matted 24" x 20Category
1970s Portrait Photography
MaterialsArchival Pigment
Price Upon Request - Bob Dylan, New YorkBy John CohenLocated in Santa Monica, CASigned, titled & dated in pencil on verso.Category
Early 2000s Black and White Photography
MaterialsSilver Gelatin
Price Upon Request - LellaBy Edouard BoubatLocated in Santa Monica, CASigned in ink on recto; Signed, titled and dated in pencil on versoCategory
1940s Black and White Photography
MaterialsSilver Gelatin
Price Upon Request
- Serval IIBy Nine FrancoisLocated in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CASigned by the artist. This piece is available at least four different sizes so contact us as availability is subject to change. ARTIST'S STATEMENT: I use photography to express selec...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Black and White Photography
MaterialsArchival Pigment, Digital
Price Upon Request - Zebra IBy Nine FrancoisLocated in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CASigned by the artist. This piece is available in five different sizes so contact us as availability is subject to change. ARTIST'S STATEMENT: I use photography to express selective t...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Black and White Photography
MaterialsDigital Pigment, Archival Pigment
Price Upon Request - Wolf IIIBy Nine FrancoisLocated in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CASigned by the artist. This piece is available at least four different sizes so contact us as availability is subject to change. ARTIST'S STATEMENT: I use photography to express selec...Category
20th Century Portrait Photography
MaterialsDigital Pigment
Price Upon Request - The CircusBy Andre KerteszLocated in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CAPrinted later. Signed on the back of the print with date in pencil. Camera Obscura label on back of mat. Overmatted to 20 x 16 inches so frame-ready. Provenance: Camera Obscura Galle...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Black and White Photography
MaterialsSilver Gelatin
- Colette, ParisBy Andre KerteszLocated in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CAPrinted later. Signed on the back of the print with date in pencil. Camera Obscura label on back of mat. Overmatted to 18 x 22". Provenance Camera Obscura Gallery (Denver) 1980s to p...Category
1930s Portrait Photography
MaterialsSilver Gelatin
- Lion's StareBy Paul CoghlinLocated in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CASigned, dated and numbered on front of print. Titled on back of print. Edition 3/25. This pieces comes overmatted with archival, white, custom overmatt measuring 39 x 38 inches.Category
21st Century and Contemporary Portrait Photography
MaterialsDigital Pigment
Price Upon Request
Recently Viewed
View AllRead More
Photographer Jerry Schatzberg Remembers a Legendary Shoot with Bob Dylan
The acclaimed lensman and the folk-rock phenomenon clicked, and a captivating portrait followed.
Photographer to Know: Jeannette Montgomery Barron
Her stunning portraits of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol and other artists chronicle a crucial chapter of New York’s cultural history.