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Sarah Moon Art

French, b. 1940

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.

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Artist: Sarah Moon
L'été (The Summer), 1989

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

Category

1980s Sarah Moon Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin

La Ralentie

Sarah MoonLa Ralentie, 2011

Price Upon Request

La Ralentie

By Sarah Moon

Located in Santa Monica, CA

Signed and editioned Edition of 15

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Sarah Moon Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Falling

Sarah MoonFalling, 2000

Price Upon Request

Falling

By Sarah Moon

Located in Santa Monica, CA

Signed and editioned Edition of 20

Category

Early 2000s Sarah Moon Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Etude

Sarah MoonEtude, 1985

Price Upon Request

Etude

By Sarah Moon

Located in Santa Monica, CA

Signed

Category

1980s Sarah Moon Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Chanel

Sarah MoonChanel, 1993

Price Upon Request

Chanel

By Sarah Moon

Located in Santa Monica, CA

Signed and editioned Edition of 15

Category

1990s Sarah Moon Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin

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Sarah Moon Portfolio, printed and bound, 10 Gelatin Silver Prints

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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...

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Collines, 1994
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Sarah MoonCollines, 1994, 1994

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Collines, 1994

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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...

Category

20th Century Modern Sarah Moon Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin, Black and White

Roses, Framed Gelatin Silver Print, 1997
Roses, Framed Gelatin Silver Print, 1997

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...

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20th Century Modern Sarah Moon Art

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Silver Gelatin, Black and White, Archival Pigment

Nevermind, Gelatin Silver Print, 1989
Nevermind, Gelatin Silver Print, 1989

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...

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20th Century Modern Sarah Moon Art

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Silver Gelatin, Black and White, Archival Pigment

Tullamore, 1988
Tullamore, 1988

Sarah MoonTullamore, 1988, 1988

Sold

H 19.5 in W 15.5 in D 0.1 in

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...

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20th Century Modern Sarah Moon Art

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Silver Gelatin, Black and White, Archival Pigment

Sarah Moon art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Sarah Moon art available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Sarah Moon in silver gelatin print, paper, photographic paper and more. Not every interior allows for large Sarah Moon art, so small editions measuring 8 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Jean-Michel Voge, Jean-Luc Fievet, and Antoine Verglas.