Laurent Chehere

While editorial and commercial photographer Laurent Chéhère is known for reportage as well as his award-winning work on campaigns for fashion labels and car companies, his “Flying Houses” series has earned acclaim all over the world.

The Paris-born Chéhère began to create the extensive “Flying Houses” series in 2007 as a result of his interest in architecture, travel, the work of Bruce Davidson and films such as Albert Lamorisse’s The Red Balloon and Hayao Miyazaki’s Howl's Moving Castle (several pieces are named for movies).

The collection of Surrealist images, in which buildings are removed from their backgrounds and then suspended in the sky as if permanently airborne, began with drawings before Chéhère photographed each of the works’ individual components and created montages in Adobe Photoshop.

Chéhère worked in advertising, winning awards for his work with iconic brands such as Audi and Nike. Always fascinated by photography and travel, a shift in interest led him to leave advertising behind to travel around the world. In addition to the fantastical films and other visual works that have captivated him over the years, the inspiration for his popular series is firmly rooted in walks through neighborhoods in Paris — it’s an endeavor to strip buildings of their surroundings and give each structure the chance to have its own individual narrative.  

“I tried to highlight buildings to show their hidden beauty,” he told Musée. “I wanted to eliminate their anonymity in the street to help them tell their stories, real or not, funny or sad.”

Each of the poetic and whimsical “Flying Houses” images is a composite that comprises a dozen actual buildings, homes, tents and trailers that Chéhère photographed in similar lighting conditions and completed with computer software. 

Chéhère’s “Flying Houses” series debuted at the Exposition Biennale des Créateurs d'Images in Paris in 2012, where he won the event’s Special Award. His work has been featured in many galleries, including the Galerie Paris-Beijing in Paris, the Lumiere Gallery in Moscow and the Muriel Guépin Gallery in New York City.

Find original Laurent Chéhère photography, prints and other art on 1stDibs.

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.

Color photography evokes emotion that can bring a viewer into the scene. It can transport one to faraway places or back into the past.

The first color photograph, taken in 1861, was more of an exercise in science than art. Photographer Thomas Sutton and physicist James Clerk Maxwell used three separate exposures of a tartan ribbon — filtered through red, green and blue — and composited them into a single image, resulting in the first multicolor representation of an object.

Before this innovation, photographs were often tinted by hand. By the 1890s, color photography processes were introduced based on that 1860s experiment. In the early 20th century, autochromes brought color photography to a commercial audience.

Now color photography is widely available, with these historic photographs documenting moments and scenes that are still vivid generations later. Photographers in the 20th and 21st centuries have offered new perspectives in the evolving field of modern color photography with gripping portraiture, snow-capped landscapes, stunning architecture and lots more.

In the voluminous collection of photography on 1stDibs, find vibrant full-color images by Slim Aarons, Helen Levitt, Gordon Parks, Stefanie Schneider, Steve McCurry and other artists. Bring visual interest to any corner of your home with color photography — introduce a salon-style gallery hang or another arrangement that best fits your space.