The Devils Playground
21st Century and Contemporary Prints
Paper
People Also Browsed
Early 2000s Contemporary Color Photography
C Print
1970s Other Art Style Portrait Photography
Archival Pigment
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Paintings
Paint
1990s Other Art Style Portrait Photography
Photogravure
Vintage 1930s American Art Deco Paintings
Paint
Mid-20th Century Modern Figurative Photography
Silver Gelatin
1970s Realist Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Graphite, Paper
Vintage 1930s British Art Deco Paintings
Paint
1980s Pop Art Nude Photography
Silver Gelatin
Vintage 1910s American Beaux Arts Paintings
Paint
1980s Pop Art Black and White Photography
Silver Gelatin
1970s American Modern Nude Photography
Silver Gelatin
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Paintings
Paint
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Early 2000s Contemporary Paintings
Canvas, Masonite, Oil
1930s Naturalistic Nude Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Recent Sales
Late 20th Century British Books
Early 2000s Post-Modern Figurative Photography
C Print
Nan Goldin for sale on 1stDibs
When Nan Goldin discovered a flourishing drag queen community as an 18-year-old navigating downtown Boston, it would mark the start of her widely influential photography career and lay the foundation of the seminal work that would follow years later — “The Ballad of Sexual Dependency,” an ongoing series of stark, flash-lit snapshots documenting her experiences with the LGBTQ+ scene, most notably during the AIDS epidemic.
Goldin was born in Washington, D.C., but raised in Massachusetts. She left home around age 13 or 14, moved into a commune and attended a free experimental high school called Satya Community School, where she began shooting Polaroids of herself as well as her classmates. She found inspiration in the work of Andy Warhol, Larry Clark, Diane Arbus, Weegee, August Sander and in the glossy pages of French and Italian Vogue. Goldin attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and moved to New York City soon after she graduated.
Goldin was particularly drawn to the avant-garde music scene in Manhattan in the late 1970s and early ’80s, and “The Ballad of Sexual Dependency” would include many photos taken in her newly adopted city. Goldin first exhibited the series at the Whitney Biennial in 1985 before publishing it as a book a year later. In its startling honesty, Goldin’s gripping portraits captured sexual relationships, frank drug use, intimate scenes in the homes of families, partying at bars, domestic violence and the AIDS-related horrors faced by those in the era’s LGBTQ+ community. More than 700 images were featured in exhibitions over the years compared to the book’s 127 portraits.
“‘The Ballad of Sexual Dependency’ is the diary I let people read,” wrote Goldin. “The diary is my form of control over my life. It allows me to obsessively record every detail. It enables me to remember.”
Goldin also felt that the project was autobiographical in a way, though only some of the images were self-portraits. “These were the people I lived with, these were my friends, these were my family, this was myself. I’d photograph people dancing while I was dancing. Or people having sex while I was having sex. Or people drinking while I was drinking. There was no separation between me and what I was photographing,” she told Bomb magazine.
Over the years, Goldin has collaborated with Japanese photographer Nobuyoshi Araki and completed projects for Jimmy Choo and Bottega Veneta. While her work has broadened to include New York City skylines, portraiture and commercial fashion photography, her commitment to documentary-style honesty has never wavered. In 2006, as part of Goldin’s "Chasing a Ghost” exhibit in New York City, a presentation was projected on three screens involving videos, photography and a musical collage focused on her older sister, Barbara, who took her own life in 1965.
Among Goldin’s many accolades are her admission to the French Legion of Honor in 2006, the Hasselblad Foundation International Award in 2007 and the Lucie Award in 2014.
Find a collection of original Nan Goldin photography on 1stDibs.