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In the 17th century Dutch painters began to create informal paintings that focused on the features and/or expressions of anonymous people. These were called tronies. Although a tronie showed a person’s face, it wasn’t considered to be a portrait. A portrait, in that era, was … Keep readingHendrik Kerstens
The work of Joel-Peter Witkin is best described as photography of the grotesque. In fact, I’d go so far as to say it can only be described as photography of the grotesque. Everything about his work is grotesque: the subject matter, the models, his printing … Keep readingJoel-Peter Witkin
Esther Bubley isn’t a familiar name to most photographers. Nonetheless, she was a quietly revolutionary figure. She wasn’t a revolutionary so much by choice; rather Bubley was a product of her time, and her time was one of radical change for women. She was born … Keep readingEsther Bubley
If you’ve ever taken a nature photograph–budding trees in spring, fallen leaves in the autumn, bare-limbed trees covered in snow, a lichen-covered stone–you owe a debt to Eliot Porter. Virtually all modern nature photography mimics the style created and developed by Porter. The photographs you … Keep readingEliot Porter
Los Angeles-based photographer Richard Renaldi is leading the life so many amateur photographers would like to live. He travels widely, he photographs the things and people he finds interesting, and the resulting prints (which sell for thousands of dollars) are hung in museums and art … Keep readingRichard Renaldi
In 1979 Joseph Tseng was an under-employed 29 year old freelance magazine photographer living with his sister, Muna, in New York City. On a visit to the city, his parents invited Tseng and his sister to dinner at an upscale tourist-oriented restaurant. The restaurant had … Keep readingTseng Kwong Chi
In 1995 Nick Brandt was in Tanzania directing a music video for Michael Jackson. When the shooting for the video was complete, Brandt took some time off to visit a nearby wildlife preserve. It was apparently one of those pivotal life experiences. A few years … Keep readingNick Brandt
Luis González Palma is best known for his strange, quiet portraits of the Mayan and mestizo women in his native Guatemala. There is a contradictory quality to many of these portraits. The subjects are women who belong to cultures that have been marginalized, yet the … Keep readingLuis González Palma
The name of Jock Sturges will always be interlinked with accusations of child pornography. It’s impossible to discuss his photographic career without making mention of the 1990 FBI raid on his studio and the resulting criminal charge of child pornography, or without the 1998 child … Keep readingJock Sturges
Fazal Ilahi Sheikh came by his interest in displaced people naturally. You could say it was the family business. He was born in New York City in 1965. His father, though, was born in Nairobi, Kenya and his grandfather was born in a part of … Keep readingFazal Sheikh