French photographer and filmmaker Sarah Moon is known for dreamlike images that resemble moments of reverie frozen in time.
Born in France in 1941 to a Franco-American father and French mother, Moon was raised in England, where she moved at age 10. Before taking up photography, Moon began her professional life as a model, posing for such eminent fashion photographers as Guy Bourdin, and first picked up a camera in 1968. She began shooting pictures of her friends, models like herself, as a hobby but soon began a career on the other side of the lens.
Completely self-taught, she displayed a distinctly personal perspective, and her first fashion campaigns, starting in the late 1960s for Biba and then Cacharel, soon acquired cult status. Her images were soft-focus and enigmatic, inspired by the aesthetics of 1920s filmmakers like the Soviet Sergei Eisenstein and Germans G.W. Pabst, Carl Theodor Dreyer and F.W. Murnau.
In these compositions, she wanted the women to convey both strength and fragility. She was aiming to create “something that could distance me from the coded language of glamour,” she once told her friend, the painter Ilona Suschitzky. “I was looking for something more intimate. It was the backstage that interested me — the in-between second before the gesture was complete.”
Timeless, sensual and elusive, Moon’s depictions of femininity strongly contrasted with the sharp, glossy, erotic fashion photography of the time, produced in an industry dominated by men. Her first campaigns were quickly followed by ads for Dior, Chanel, Comme des Garçons, Christian Lacroix, Issey Miyake and Yohji Yamamoto, as well as by editorials in Vogue, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, Marie-Claire and Life. She also defied stereotypes in 1972 as the first woman to shoot the Pirelli calendar, which was conceived in the 1960s as sexy, high-gloss promotional material for the Italian tire company but soon became an art object, shot by some of the world’s most prominent fashion photographers.
In 1985, she decided to focus on personal projects, producing images with the same grace, poetry and sense of transience as her fashion ones. Depicting still lifes, plants or animals (from peacocks to pachyderms), the mysterious photos were shot in both black and white and color. Blurring, unusual cropping, scratches and distortions give them an almost painterly aspect, especially those taken using Polaroid positive/negative film.
A 2018 project, “Time at Work,” is a series of small-format images and a short film that embody the concept of transience. Like all her work, the "Time at Work" series reflects Moon’s fascination with the passing of time.
The soft-spoken photographer often quotes this line by T.S. Eliot: “Time past and time future, what might have been and what has been, point to one end, which is always present.” Eliot never saw her work, but he captures it exactly. As Moon herself has said, “I don’t believe I can say it any better.”
Find original Sarah Moon photography on 1stDibs.
L'été (The Summer), 1989
By Sarah Moon
Located in Santa Monica, CA
L'été (The Summer), 1989 Signed, title, dated, numbered on verso Gelatin Silver Print Paper Dimensions: 11 x 14 inches Edition 5 of 20
Silver Gelatin
Price Upon Request
La Ralentie
By Sarah Moon
Located in Santa Monica, CA
Signed and editioned Edition of 15
Silver Gelatin
Price Upon Request
Falling
By Sarah Moon
Located in Santa Monica, CA
Signed and editioned Edition of 20
Silver Gelatin
Price Upon Request
Chanel
By Sarah Moon
Located in Santa Monica, CA
Signed and editioned Edition of 15
Silver Gelatin
Ted Higby at Skyline Rodeo, 1928
By Lora Webb Nichols
Located in New York, NY
Listing includes framing with UV plexiglas, free shipping and a 14 day return policy. Ted Higby at Skyline Rodeo, 1928 15 x 12 inch gelatin silver print Image Size: 14 x 8.5 inches Frame size: 22.5 x 17.5 x 2 inches Edition of 15 Lora Webb Nichols was born in 1883 and grew up in the small mining town of Encampment, Wyoming. At the age of 16 Lora received her first camera and from that moment and for the next few decades she produced work that is both stunning in its singular voice and revealing in the world it opens up for us. At first Nichols photographed her family, friends, and the landscape around Encampment, but when the town experienced a copper mining boom Nichols expanded her scope to become a photographer for hire shooting portraits and industrial photographs. When the boom collapsed, Nichols took the risk of opening her own business in Encampment - The Rocky Mountain Studio - which opened in 1925. The studio ran for ten years, accumulating 24,000 negatives that illustrate the lives and environment of the people living in and around the town while creating a distinctive and surprising body of work. If one was to attempt an analogy – Nichols’ pictures fit somewhere between Lartigue and Lange - joyful and generous while objectively intimate. In particular what seems to distinguish Nichols’ work is the way she sees the world from a female perspective. As Vince Aletti...
Silver Gelatin
Untitled Portrait
By Seydou Keïta
Located in New York, NY
Listing includes framing with UV Plexi ($900 value), free shipping, and a 14-day return policy. Seydou Keïta Untitled Portrait, 1952 - 1955 (02158) 23...
Photographic Film, Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin
$4,728
H 30 in W 20 in
Catherine Zeta-Jones (Limited Edition of 25) - Celebrity Photography
By John Stoddart 1
Located in New York, NY
This 1991 fine art print features Catherine Zeta-Jones when she was a TV actress in Britain and aspiring to be a Hollywood Star. Her success in The Darling Buds of May (English comed...
Silver Gelatin
$1,621
H 24 in W 20 in
Jane March (Limited Edition of 25) - 20x24 In. - Celebrity Photography
By John Stoddart 1
Located in New York, NY
This fine art print features actress and model Jane March, posed topless on the rooftop of the Hotel Le Bristol in Paris in 1992. This risqué iconic black and white photograph was sh...
Silver Gelatin
$2,026
H 9 in W 30 in
The Rolling Stones (Limited Edition of 25) - Celebrity Photography
By John Stoddart 1
Located in New York, NY
The Rolling Stones, a 1989 black and white stitched photograph shot for their "Steel Wheels " world tour, starring Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Bill Wyman and Ronnie Wood. This Photo...
Silver Gelatin
$8,106
H 30 in W 40 in
The Swan, With Leda (Limited Edition of 25) - 30x40 In Fine Art Print
By John Stoddart 1
Located in New York, NY
This 2009 photograph by legend photographer, John Stoddart depicts “The Swan with Leda.” It was inspired from the mythology of the Greek story of Leda and the Swan, when the God Zeus...
Silver Gelatin
$5,404
H 30 in W 40 in
Daniel Craig Contact Sheet (Limited Edition of 25) - 30x40 In Celebrity Print
By John Stoddart 1
Located in New York, NY
This is a 2002 contact sheet (a positive print of all the negative images from a roll of 35mm film or medium format film) of youthful-looking Daniel Craig...
Silver Gelatin
Untitled from "On The Acropolis"
By Tod Papageorge
Located in New York, NY
Listing includes free shipping in the US and a 14-day return policy. All prints are made to order and will arrive in mint condition directly from Tod Papageorge...
Silver Gelatin, Photographic Paper
Untitled from "On The Acropolis"
By Tod Papageorge
Located in New York, NY
Listing includes free shipping in the US and a 14-day return policy. All prints are made to order and will arrive in mint condition directly from Tod Papageorge...
Silver Gelatin
Untitled from "On The Acropolis"
By Tod Papageorge
Located in New York, NY
Listing includes free shipping for an unframed print in the US and a 14-day return policy. All prints are made to order and will arrive in mint condition directly from Tod Papageorge...
Silver Gelatin
Untitled from "On The Acropolis"
By Tod Papageorge
Located in New York, NY
Listing includes free shipping in the US and a 14-day return policy. All prints are made to order and will arrive in mint condition directly from Tod Papageorge...
Silver Gelatin, Photographic Paper
Untitled from "On The Acropolis"
By Tod Papageorge
Located in New York, NY
Listing includes free shipping in the US and a 14-day return policy. All prints are made to order and will arrive in mint condition directly from Tod Papageorge...
Silver Gelatin, Photographic Paper
Codie
By Sarah Moon
Located in Santa Monica, CA
Signed and editioned Edition of 20
Silver Gelatin
Fashion 10 (N.Y. Times)
By Sarah Moon
Located in Santa Monica, CA
Signed and editioned Edition of 15
Photographic Paper
Les Roses
By Sarah Moon
Located in Santa Monica, CA
Signed and editioned Edition of 15
Photographic Paper
Fashion 5, Jean Paul Gaultier
By Sarah Moon
Located in Santa Monica, CA
Sarah Moon (France, born 1941) Fashion 5, Jean Paul Gaultier, 1998 Fresson Print Image Dimensions: 17 x 22 inches Paper Dimensions: 22 x 29 inches Edition 1...
La robe rouge
By Sarah Moon
Located in Santa Monica, CA
Sarah Moon (France, born 1941) La robe rouge, 2010 Fresson Print Paper 29 x 22 inches; Image 22 1/4 x 17 inches Edition 8 of 15 Signed, titled, & numbered i...
Sold
H 45 in W 60 in
Sarah Moon Portfolio, printed and bound, 10 Gelatin Silver Prints
By Sarah Moon
Located in Miami Beach, FL
Sarah Moon Portfolio printed and bound by CameraWork, 1999 10 gelatin silver print works, printed and bound into a book. Comes in a protective traveling case. The overall wall size composition of the entire portfolio is 45 in H x 60 in W Each individual Image size: 14.75 in. H x 11.75 in. W Individual sheet size: 19.38 in. H x 14.63 in. W Box size: 21.25 in. H x 16.25 in. W x 2 in. D Protective traveling case size: 23.5 in. H x 18.5 in. W x 3.5 in. D All works are signed, titled and dated on verso in pencil 1. Yael Raich 2. Sans Titre 3. S.R 4. Nevermind 5. Collines 6. Tullamore 7. Sasha Robertson 8. Vué de dos 9. Le collier 10. Roses _____________________________________________ Sarah Moon is a French fashion photographer who rose to prominence in London during the 1970s. Characterized by her painterly, ethereal aesthetic, Moon’s photographs...
Archival Pigment, Silver Gelatin, Black and White
Collines, 1994
By Sarah Moon
Located in Miami Beach, FL
Collines, 1994 by Sarah Moon Gelatin Silver Print Unframed Image size: 9.75 in. H x 12 in. W Sheet size: 19.5 in. H x 15.5 in. W Signed, titled and dated on verso in pencil _______________________________________ Sarah Moon is a French fashion photographer who rose to prominence in London during the 1970s. Characterized by her painterly, ethereal aesthetic, Moon’s photographs are often saturated with jewel tones and feature romantic, magical imagery. “For me, photography is pure fiction,” she has said. “I don't believe that I am making any defined statement. Instead, I am expressing something, an echo of the world maybe.” She was born Marielle Warin on November 17, 1939 in Vichy, France and she and her Jewish family fled occupied France for England when she was still a teenager. Moon began modelling in Paris and London under the name Marielle Hadengue, and in 1970, she took up photography in earnest, adopting the moniker Sarah Moon. She worked extensively with Barbara Hulanicki of the London clothing brand Biba, and later the French label Cacharel. She has also produced photographs for Vogue magazine, Comme des Garçons...
Silver Gelatin, Black and White
Roses, Framed Gelatin Silver Print, 1997
By Sarah Moon
Located in Miami Beach, FL
Roses, 1997 by Sarah Moon Gelatin Silver Print Image size: 14.75 in. H x 11.75 in. W Sheet size: 19.5 in. H x 15.5 in. W Signed, titled, and dated on verso in pencil __________________________________________ Sarah Moon is a French fashion photographer who rose to prominence in London during the 1970s. Characterized by her painterly, ethereal aesthetic, Moon’s photographs are often saturated with jewel tones and feature romantic, magical imagery. “For me, photography is pure fiction,” she has said. “I don't believe that I am making any defined statement. Instead, I am expressing something, an echo of the world maybe.” She was born Marielle Warin on November 17, 1939, in Vichy, France, and she and her Jewish family fled occupied France for England when she was still a teenager. Moon began modeling in Paris and London under the name Marielle Hadengue, and in 1970, she took up photography in earnest, adopting the moniker Sarah Moon. She worked extensively with Barbara Hulanicki of the London clothing brand Biba, and later the French label Cacharel. She has also produced photographs for Vogue magazine, Comme des Garçons...
Silver Gelatin, Black and White, Archival Pigment
Nevermind, Gelatin Silver Print, 1989
By Sarah Moon
Located in Miami Beach, FL
Nevermind, 1989 by Sarah Moon Gelatin Silver Print Image size: 14.75 in. H x 11.75 in. W Sheet size: 19.5 in. H x 15.5 in. W Signed, titled, and dated on verso in pencil Whitewood framed- plexiglass 31 in. H x 23 in. W x 2 in D. ________________________________________ Sarah Moon is a French fashion photographer who rose to prominence in London during the 1970s. Characterized by her painterly, ethereal aesthetic, Moon’s photographs...
Silver Gelatin, Black and White, Archival Pigment
Tullamore, 1988
By Sarah Moon
Located in Miami Beach, FL
Tullamore, 1988 by Sarah Moon Gelatin Silver Print Unframed Image size: 11.75 in. H x 14.75 in. W Sheet size: 19.5 in. H x 15.5 in. W Signed, titled, and dated on verso in pencil ____________________________________________ Sarah Moon is a French fashion photographer who rose to prominence in London during the 1970s. Characterized by her painterly, ethereal aesthetic, Moon’s photographs are often saturated with jewel tones and feature romantic, magical imagery. “For me, photography is pure fiction,” she has said. “I don't believe that I am making any defined statement. Instead, I am expressing something, an echo of the world maybe.” She was born Marielle Warin on November 17, 1939 in Vichy, France and she and her Jewish family fled occupied France for England when she was still a teenager. Moon began modelling in Paris and London under the name Marielle Hadengue, and in 1970, she took up photography in earnest, adopting the moniker Sarah Moon. She worked extensively with Barbara Hulanicki of the London clothing brand Biba, and later the French label Cacharel. She has also produced photographs for Vogue magazine, Comme des Garçons...
Silver Gelatin, Black and White, Archival Pigment