David LaChapelle's highly polished, saturated and intricately composed photographs possess the surreal wildness of fever dreams, concocted as they are out of the imagery of celebrity, eroticism and modern Americana, and spiked with religious allegory and forebodings of doom.
Such work has made him among the most influential art and celebrity photographers of his generation. You might say LaChapelle sprung straight from the head of Andy Warhol, whose campy silkscreen fusions of the glamorous, the transgressive and the everyday forever changed contemporary art.
Like so many young gay artists who came out of the 1980s downtown New York scene, LaChapelle’s escapist visions arose out of a lonely, bullied adolescence. Although born in Connecticut, the photographer spent his early childhood in North Carolina, the youngest of three children. Later, when LaChapelle was in his early teens, his family moved back to suburban Connecticut, but his cowboy costumes and gender-bending ways did not earn LaChapelle friends among his new preppy classmates.
By high school, LaChapelle felt terrorized and suicidal. He fled to New York, where his good looks got him a job bussing tables at Studio 54. It was there that he reputedly first met Warhol, who had been his favorite artist since he first gazed upon a Gold Marilyn, while on a fourth-grade field trip to a museum.
LaChapelle's parents eventually retrieved him from New York, and, sympathizing with his plight, sent him off to the North Carolina School of the Arts. Despite a more embracing atmosphere, he didn’t stay long. A sojourn in London followed. When he returned to New York, around 1983, the punk-inflected downtown culture was churning out gritty new art. Keith Haring’s gay-themed Pop-art graffiti was in everybody’s face, and Robert Mapplethorpe’s S&M photos were on gallery walls.
Having scored a show of his black-and-white photography — already vaguely campy and transfiguration-obsessed — at New York’s then-fledgling 303 Gallery in 1984, LaChapelle attracted the interest of Interview magazine. Warhol was then at the zenith of his influence in both the art world and the downtown scene. Recognizing LaChapelle’s potential as an eye-catching celebrity photographer, he put him on staff, providing him with the creative milieu where his distinctive talent might develop.
There were editorial assignments for i-D, The Face and later for Vanity Fair, Vogue Paris and Rolling Stone. He also made excursions into advertising. One of his most talked about campaigns was a provocative print ad for Diesel jeans inspired by the famous photograph of the V-J kiss in Times Square, but this time showing Tom of Finland–type sailors in passionate embrace.
After being without an editorial home for several years, LaChapelle finally found a base at Details, where he was again encouraged to let his freak flag fly. So arresting were his images that it wasn’t long before “the Fellini of photography,” as New York magazine dubbed him in 1996, was again working for Interview. One of his most emblematic pictures from this era was a Lil’ Kim cover for that magazine, featuring the rapper’s nude body emblazoned with Louis Vuitton insignia (one of the most famous logos in luxury fashion).
Such visually zany, socially astute portraits prompted Richard Avedon to liken LaChapelle to a photographic Magritte, while also winning him invitations to direct music videos for such talents as Christina Aguilera, Moby and Amy Winehouse.
Find a collection of original David LaChapelle photography today on 1stDibs.
David La Chapelle, Lost and Found, Good News, Art Edition
By David LaChapelle
Located in Los Angeles, CA
David LaChapelle returns with his first new publication in a decade. This two-volume collection narrates the photographer’s career through his own lens; the first tome traces LaChape...
"Heaven to Hell" by David LaChapelle TASCHEN 1st Ed. 2006 Hardcover Book
By David LaChapelle
Located in Moreno Valley, CA
Heaven to Hell by David LaChapelle, Ed. TASCHEN 2006 Hardcover book. Collectible LaChapelle "Heaven to Hell" is a collection of photographs by the renowned artist David LaChapelle. T...
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The Price Guide to Victorian Silver by Ian Harris, 1st Ed
Located in valatie, NY
The Price Guide to Victorian Silver by Ian Harris. Clopton Woodbridge: The Antique Collectors' Club, 1971. 1st Ed hardcover with dust jacket. 275 pp. A guid...
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David Hockney Illustrated - Fairy Tales Brothers Grimm - 1970 Edition
Located in Stamford, CT
Six Fairy Tales by David Hockney David Hockney This exquisite, highly collectable volume was printed in 1970 by Petersburg Press. Inscribed "Xmas to you from the Grouse" perhaps by Hockney himself. The book features extraordinary etchings by David Hockney which re-imagine the stories of the Brothers Grimm...
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$49 / set
H 11.25 in W 8.25 in D 9 in
Summer Cottages and Castles, Scenes from the Good Life, First Edition
Located in valatie, NY
Summer Cottages and Castles, Scenes from the Good Life by Patricia Corbin. New York: E.P. Dutton, Inc., 1983. Hardcover with dust jacket. 139 pp. Photographic overview of beautifully...
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$59
H 12 in W 9.25 in D 0.75 in
A Connoisseur's Guide to Antique Pottery & Porcelain by Ronald Pearsall, 1st Ed
Located in valatie, NY
A Connoisseur's Guide to Antique Pottery & Porcelain by Ronald Pearsall. London: Tiger Books International, 1997. 1st Ed hardcover with dust jacket. 128 pp. Illustrated guide detailing the vast and varied types of pottery and porcelain with information on their history. More than 100 color photos and essential information for beginners and expert collectors of antique pottery and porcelain...
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$1,553Sale Price|25% Off
H 5.71 in W 5.71 in D 0.6 in
Le Corbusier's Modulor Book, 1970 Edition, Good Condition, Germany
By Le Corbusier, Charlotte Perriand
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Le Corbusier Der Modulor book. Le Corbusier published Le Modulor in 1948, followed by Modulor 2 in 1955. These works were first published in English as The Modulor in 1954 and Modulo...
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LaChapelle Land Photographs by David LaChapelle (Book)
Located in North Yorkshire, GB
The marriage of LaChapelle's vivid, high-octane images with graphic artist Tadanori Yokoo's supersaturated designs make for an astonishing physical object. 'There's a tradition of celebrity portraiture that attempts to uncover the 'real person' behind the trappings of their celebrity. I am more interested in those trappings,' says LaChapelle. Indeed, he exaggerates the artificiality of fame and Hollywood culture in a head on collision of color, plastic, and whimsy. His photographs confront our visual taste and challenge our ideas of celebrity, all the while taking us on a roller coaster ride through his hyper-sensationalized galaxy. Lil' Kim becomes the ultimate status symbol, tattooed in the Louis Vuitton pattern. Madonna rises from pink waters as a mystical dragon princess. Pamela Anderson hatches out of an egg; and Alexander McQueen burns down the castle dressed as the Queen of Hearts. David LaChapelle's uncompromising originality is legendary in the worlds of fashion, film, and advertising. His images, both bizarre and gorgeous, have appeared on and in between the covers of Vogue, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, Vibe and more. LaChapelle Land is fun park America gone surrealistically wrong - but in such an attractive way. David LaChapelle's photos have appeared in Vanity Fair, Details, French Vogue, The Face, Detour, The New York Times Magazine, Arena, and on MTV. The images LaChapelle creates are part sex, part satire, part fantasy--in a word, outrageous. This 'mind-blowingly lavish compilation' features portraits of Drew Barrymore, Leonardo DiCaprio, Faye Dunaway, Andy Warhol, Tupac Shakur, Smashing Pumpkins, and many more. Packaged in a beautiful box designed by the legendary Japanese graphic...
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David Hicks on Bathrooms, First Edition Book
By David Hicks
Located in valatie, NY
David Hicks on bathrooms. Britwell Salome: Britwell Books Limited, 1970. First American edition hardcover with dust jacket. 151 pp. The third in a series of books on decorating by the famous English decorator David Hicks. He was known for his use of bold color, mixing antique and modern furnishings, and contemporary art for his famous clientele. He did projects for Vidal Sassoon...
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Jonathan Becker Lost Time
Located in New York, NY
‘Epic, stunning, and completely delicious. Jonathan Becker: Lost Time is a fitting legacy for one of the true photographic masters of our age.’ – Graydon Carter, founder and co-edito...
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David Hicks on Bathrooms 1stUS edition 1970
Located in CA, CA
First US hardcover edition of the third volume in David Hicks' classic and collectable series of design books. Published in 1970 with the iconic Hicks cross design dust jacket. Blur...
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Look Good, Feel Good, Play Good Nike Apparel
Located in New York, NY
The first book to chart a visual history of women’s sportswear, and the key role that Nike has played in it over the last 50 years This is a book about Nike sportswear and what it m...
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$49
H 11.25 in W 8.25 in D 9 in
"Summer Cottages and Castles, Scenes from the Good Life, " First Edition Book
Located in valatie, NY
Summer Cottages and Castles, Scenes from the Good Life by Patricia Corbin. New York: E.P. Dutton, Inc., 1983. First edition hardcover with dust jacket. 139 pp. Photographic overview ...
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Things That Go Bump in the Night Hardcover by Louis C. Jones, 1st Ed
Located in valatie, NY
Things That Go Bump in the Night Hardcover by Louis C. Jones. Hill and Wang, NY, 1959. 1st Ed hardcover with Mylar covered dust jacket. Contains more than 200 stories of the restless dead, most from around New York state; each of the six chapters is made up of a continuous flow of narrative. Ghosts, in various forms, are seen and talked about all over the world. People who have recently come to America, as well as those whose families have lived here for generations, tell ghost stories, and it is this basic American folklore that Dr. Jones has collected and retold. Included are stories about haunted houses, murder, murderers, revenge, suicide, and the hungers that bring the departed back to their earthly haunts. The chapter on haunted history, containing more than forty stories, is a kind of spooky chronology of American history. The stories begin with the Indians, tell of the French and Indian wars, the Revolution, the early days on New York State's Erie Canal, Martin Van Buren...
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David Lachapelle Pamela Anderson ""Heaven to Hell"
By David LaChapelle
Located in Vienna, AT
DAVID LACHAPELLE "Miracle Tan", photographie, Pamela Anderson, Heaven to Hell, 2006 signed on the back Dimension picture only 20x29cm (7,87" x 11,41") Addition pictures on request.
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David LaChapelle, LaChapelle Land - 1996
By David LaChapelle
Located in CA, CA
Numbered first edition, published by Simon and Schuster, 1996. David LaChapelle has become one of the most revolutionary photographers of all time, elevating the 'celebrity' to a ...