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Nan Goldin Nude Prints

American, b. 1953

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.

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Artist: Nan Goldin
Lydia Lunch at the Russian Baths, 268 East 10th Street, 1985 offset litho poster
By Nan Goldin
Located in New York, NY
Nan Goldin Lydia Lunch at the Russian Baths, 268 East 10th Street, 1985 poster, 2018 Offset lithograph poster (unsigned, unnumbered and unframed) 17 × 22 inches Published by The Kitchen in 2018, on the occasion of their Gala honoring Nan Goldin and Lydia Lunch Provenance Acquired from The Kitchen on the occasion of their 2018 Gala Also accompanied by Certificate of Guarantee from Alpha 137 Gallery Excerpt from The Kitchen description of this event: “During the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, icons Goldin and Lunch were vanguards of post-punk New York. Both women have presented their work at The Kitchen throughout the years, consistently returning to premiere new works that went on to exemplify their careers. Goldin’s portraiture of her close-knit circle of friends in New York became emblematic of her generation’s grappling with the social issues of the time, from the epidemic of drug addiction to the AIDS crisis. Lunch is revered as a radical progenitor of No Wave music, fronting the influential Teenage Jesus and the Jerks and collaborating with acts like JG Thirlwell, Birthday Party, and Sonic Youth. Lunch has a broad artistic practice, also working in film, visual art, writing, and spoken-word. Goldin and Lunch have also collaborated on numerous occasions. For instance, the cover of Lunch’s 1995 album Drowning In Limbo featured a portrait of her taken by Goldin. Lunch also posed for Goldin’s project for The Village Voice’s short-lived fashion insert Vue in 1985. Shot as part of an editorial called “Masculine/Feminine,” the image of a reclining Lunch at Russian baths in the East Village was ultimately not included in the final layout, and we were pleased to be present the image for the first time as a limited-edition print in support of The Kitchen. At The Kitchen in November 1980, Goldin presented slides as part of Dubbed in Glamour, a three-day event of “spectacle and extravagance” organized by Edit deAk that featured primarily women artists. Introduced by Cookie Mueller, who served as the master of ceremonies, these slides were an early version of Goldin’s landmark work The Ballad of Sexual Dependency, which continued to take shape during the next few years. The Bush Tetras, who performed at this year’s gala, also participated in Dubbed in Glamour. In 1994, Goldin returned to The Kitchen to premiere three slideshows for the first time in the United States as part of the winter lecture series curated by Ira Silverberg. The first slideshow developed from her 1992 award-winning book The Other Side, which lauded the drag queens she lived with and among in New York. During the ‘70s, when Goldin first moved to the city, the people she lived with became not just her subjects, but also her chosen family. The second slideshow was a series of intimate self-portraits. The evening concluded with a collection of Goldin’s images that traced her relationships to her close friends Alf Bold, Gilles Dusein, and Cookie Mueller and celebrated the joy of their lives and the pain of their deaths from AIDS. In 1985, Lunch first appeared at The Kitchen as part of the two-night screening series of experimental short films, Super 8 Motel. She and Richard Kern...
Category

2010s Contemporary Nan Goldin Nude Prints

Materials

Lithograph, Offset

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Nan Goldin nude prints for sale on 1stDibs.

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Questions About Nan Goldin Nude Prints
  • 1stDibs ExpertJanuary 10, 2025
    Nan Goldin is famous for her work as a photographer. She was particularly drawn to the avant-garde music scene in Manhattan in the late 1970s and early ’80s, and “The Ballad of Sexual Dependency” series 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, 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. 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” exhibition 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. Shop a range of Nan Goldin art on 1stDibs.

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