With a style at once impactful, reflective and irreverent, photographer Jonathan Becker belongs more to the artistic than the documentarian realm, masterfully capturing a theatrical sense of the unexpected as he offers glimpses into rarefied worlds.
Bea Feitler — the late, legendary artistic director responsible for vamping up Harper’s Bazaar and Rolling Stone in the 1960s and ’70s — gave Becker his first big break, in 1981, when she asked him to submit images for the relaunch of Vanity Fair.
Becker, who was 26 at the time, had already been the first Paris-based photographer for W magazine and had forged a close friendship with French-Hungarian Surrealist photographer Brassaï, who was then in his 70s. By this age, too, Becker had also developed an enviable reputation as a portrait photographer working on Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine and alongside Slim Aarons and Norman Parkinson at Town & Country, although he knew not to step on his famous colleagues’ toes. “I was a young little interloper,” he says. “I learned more by listening and watching those giants than by trying to engage in any direct interactions with them.”
The young photographer, who was moonlighting at the time as a New York City cab driver, hadn’t dreamed that the project would put his pictures on an equal footing with those of legends of the medium: Also contributing to this debut edition were some of photography’s most revered names, including Richard Avedon, Irving Penn and Helmut Newton, as well as rising star Annie Leibovitz, whose popularity had recently skyrocketed, thanks to her Rolling Stone cover picture of a naked John Lennon curled up alongside a fully clothed Yoko Ono.
That issue was a game changer in modern magazine publishing, with Vanity Fair setting the bar for engaging editorial and daring design for decades to come. It also signaled the making of a man: Becker’s talent for visual storytelling shone through in his avant-gardist tribute, and the magazine’s creative team kept him on, marking the start of his long career there.
As a regular Vanity Fair contributor, Becker operated in the highest echelons of society, traveling the world and immortalizing countless A-list movers, shakers and thinkers from the fields of fashion, culture and politics, not to mention royalty.
Becker's unconventional way of directing his eye is clearly instinctual, resulting in an unusual aesthetic that mixes perception, myth and reality in equal measure. This balance is most apparent in his famous black-and-white picture of Robert Mapplethorpe, taken in 1988 at the opening of Mapplethorpe’s retrospective exhibition at the Whitney, when the famed photographer was dying of AIDS. It is a group shot, showing various figures at different angles, in which Mapplethorpe, caught in profile and listening intently to a woman kneeling beside him, seems to stop time. The moment is heavy with emotion and also dreamlike. It is ineffably surreal.
Becker has given us Stephen King as a cross-eyed zombie (1980); Dustin Hoffman as a mischief maker, lounging on a stack of sun loungers at the Beverly Hills Hotel (2004); and Diana Vreeland as an aging Raphaelesque Madonna dressed in a voluminous black gown and sitting cross-legged in her famous red-clad living room at 550 Park Avenue (1979). The photographer, a lover of spontaneity who deftly plays with perspectives, keeps us intrigued with his open-ended narratives.
Find a collection of Jonathan Becker photography on 1stDibs.
La Chasse au Cerf, Normandie, France, September 1975
By Jonathan Becker
Located in New York, NY
La Chasse au Cerf, Normandie, France, September 1975 Photographed by Jonathan Becker Contemporary 44" x 44.5" Archival Pigment Print Edition Nº 1 of 9 Certificate of Origin Signed a...
Archival Pigment
at the Darulaman Palace, Kabul, August 2003
By Jonathan Becker
Located in New York, NY
at the Darulaman Palace, Kabul, August 2003 X Photographed by Jonathan Becker Contemporary 28" x 28.5" Archival Pigment Print Edition Nº 1 of 15 Certificate of Origin Signed and T...
Archival Pigment
$6,400Sale Price|20% Off
Bunny Lambert Mellon’s gardens, Upperville, Virginia, 1 June 2010
By Jonathan Becker
Located in New York, NY
At Oak Spring Farm, Bunny Lambert Mellon's Gardens, Upperville, Virginia, 1 June 2010 Photographed by Jonathan Becker Contemporary 28" x 28.5" Ar...
Archival Pigment
Villa Cetinale, Siena, Italy, May 2012
By Jonathan Becker
Located in New York, NY
Villa Cetinale, Siena, Italy, May 2012 A moment at a storied property where centuries of history pile on Photographed by Jonathan Becker Contemporary ...
Platinum
Last Cloud
By Ron Hamad
Located in Hudson, NY
Listing is for UNFRAMED print. Inquire within for framing. Price and size range (Custom mural sizes available). All the photographs are in a limited edition. Edition 1 of 15. If the...
Archival Pigment
"John, Adirondacks", Adirondacks, NY, 2010
By Lynda Churilla
Located in Hudson, NY
In her new exhibition Churilla draws from her years spent as a swimmer, lifeguard, and athlete to capture the forgotten freedom and exuberance of days of youth spent on the water. V...
Archival Pigment
$2,950
H 24 in W 36 in D 0.1 in
"Looking Glass" Nude Landscape Photography 24" x 36" in Ed. 1/7 by Aaron Mcpolin
By Aaron McPolin
Located in Culver City, CA
"Looking Glass" Nude Landscape Photography 24" x 36" in Ed. 1/7 by Aaron Mcpolin Archival Giclee Print & Museum Framed NOT framed. Ships in a tube. Signed and numbered by th...
Archival Pigment
$1,350
H 36 in W 44 in D 0.1 in
Untitled (Nr. 5433) Nude Photography 36" x 44" in Ed. of 12 by Rowan Daly
By Rowan Daly
Located in Culver City, CA
Untitled (Nr. 5433) Nude Photography 36" x 44" in Ed. of 12 by Rowan Daly Unframed - ships rolled in a tube Signed and numbered by the artist Comes with COA issued by the artist Be...
Archival Pigment
$1,350
H 36 in W 44 in D 0.1 in
Untitled (Nr. 6426) Nude Photography 36" x 44" in Edition of 12 by Rowan Daly
By Rowan Daly
Located in Culver City, CA
Untitled (Nr. 6426) Nude Photography 36" x 44" in Edition of 12 by Rowan Daly Signed and numbered by the artist Comes with COA issued by the artist Unframed - ships rolled in a tube...
Archival Pigment
$1,950
H 18 in W 24 in D 0.1 in
"Echo" Landscape Nude Photography 18" x 24" in Ed. 1/15 by Aaron Mcpolin
By Aaron McPolin
Located in Culver City, CA
"Echo" Landscape Nude Photography 18" x 24" in Ed. 1/15 by Aaron Mcpolin Archival Giclee Print Signed and numbered by the artist. Comes with COA issued by the artist. NOT framed. Sh...
Archival Pigment
$2,144
H 23.63 in W 29.53 in
Gondola, Canal Grande, Black and White Venice Landscape, Limited Edition Print
By Gerald Berghammer
Located in Vienna, Vienna
Archival pigment ink print, edition of 7. Signed, titled, dated and numbered by artist. Certificate of authenticity included. Printed with 4cm white border. Timeless Venice – Bla...
Archival Pigment
$1,750
H 35 in W 25 in D 0.1 in
"Syrens No3" Nude Landscape Photography 35" x 25" in Ed. of 15 by Larsen Sotelo
By Larsen Sotelo
Located in Culver City, CA
"Syrens No3" Nude Landscape Photography 35" x 25" in Ed. of 15 by Larsen Sotelo Not framed. Ships in a tube Giclee (Archival Ink) print on 310G Platine Fibre Cotton Rag w/satin fini...
Archival Ink, Rag Paper, Giclée
$700
H 18 in W 24 in D 0.1 in
"Untitled (Nr. 7071)" Nude Photography 18" x 24" Edition 2/20 by Rowan Daly
By Rowan Daly
Located in Culver City, CA
"Untitled (Nr. 7071)" Nude Photography 18" x 24" Edition 2/20 by Rowan Daly Signed and numbered by the artist Comes with COA issued by the artist Unframed - ships rolled in a tube Ben Cope + Rowan Daly Off the Grid Off the Grid is the culmination of a six-year photographic journey through Baja, Mexico. Ben Cope and Rowan Daly began their travels in 2014, working their way through the towns of la Salinas, Baja Mar, and Cantamar, down through Ensanada and la Bufadora. This series of photographs depicts the pair’s adventures and explorations. Off the Grid documents the textures, people, and places visited during this incredible journey. Ben Cope is a Los Angeles based portrait artist with a BFA in ceramic sculpture and photography from Columbus State University. He maintains a successful career with a diverse portfolio including fashion, editorial, celebrity portraiture and advertising. He is widely known for his celebrity and fashion portraiture, which has been published internationally in publications such as Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, GQ, The Work Magazine, Fucking Young, and l’Officiel, and has shot international campaigns for such clients as Adidas, L’Oréal, Paul Mitchell, and Vidal Sassoon. He has photographed Selena Gomez...
Archival Pigment
$2,950
H 24 in W 36 in D 0.1 in
"Praise The Sun" Nude Photography 24" x 36" in Ed. 1/7 by Aaron Mcpolin
By Aaron McPolin
Located in Culver City, CA
"Praise The Sun" Nude Photography 24" x 36" in Ed. 1/7 by Aaron Mcpolin Archival Giclee Print Signed and numbered by the artist. Comes with COA issued by the artist NOT framed. Shi...
Archival Pigment
Fairytale
By Kirsten Thys van den Audenaerde
Located in Morongo Valley, CA
Fairytale - 2016, 50x50cm, Edition of 7 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival Print, based on the Polaroid. Signature label and certificate. Artist inventory PL2017-112. Not mounted....
C Print, Color, Polaroid, Archival Paper, Photographic Paper
$1,900
H 30 in W 20 in D 0.1 in
"Drift 27" Landscape Photography 30" x 20" Edition of 10 by Rowan Daly
By Rowan Daly
Located in Culver City, CA
"Drift 27" Landscape Photography 30" x 20" Edition of 10 by Rowan Daly Digital print on Ultra Smooth Fine Art Paper Signed and numbered by the artist Comes with COA issued by the a...
Digital, Archival Pigment
At Ernest Hemingway's House, Ketchum, Idaho, 1 July 2011
By Jonathan Becker
Located in New York, NY
At Ernest Hemingway's House, Ketchum, Idaho, 1 July 2011 Hence maintained and left impeccably intact, in stillness, since the shotgun blast twenty paces away, fifty years before Ph...
Archival Pigment
Villa Cetinale, Siena, Italy, May 2012
By Jonathan Becker
Located in New York, NY
Villa Cetinale, Siena, Italy, May 2012 A moment at a storied property where centuries of history pile on Photographed by Jonathan Becker Contemporary ...
Platinum