NUDES NUDES NUDES Australian photographer Vee Speers has said, “I didn’t choose photography, it chose me.” Although that’s clearly artistic blather, it’s still revealing. At the age of ten her father let her borrow his Voigtlander camera, and she developed and printed her own photographs … Keep readingVee Speers
Anne Brigman was to photography what Isadora Duncan was to dance. She was a free spirit long before the phrase “free spirit” became a cliché. She was born in Hawaii, moved to California at age 16, married a sea captain at 25, and built a … Keep readingAnne Brigman
Miroslav Tichý was 22 years — a student of drawing and painting at the Academy of Art in Prague — when the Soviet Union ‘annexed’ Czechoslovakia in 1948. Like many other students, Tichý was very vocal in his opposition to the new regime. The new Soviet … Keep readingMiroslav Tichý
Ralph Meatyard was one of those WTF photographers. That’s not an actual genre of photography, but perhaps it should be. Images that force the viewer to experience a variety of contradictory emotions, that leave the viewer thrilled, a little bit uncomfortable, confused, and eager to … Keep readingRalph Meatyard
Every few years the world of art photography discovers a new golden child. From 2000 to 2005 the golden child was Ryan McGinley. He was young, he was gay, he was a skateboard thrasher, and he had moderately attractive friends who got high and were … Keep readingRyan McGinley
In the late 1950s when director Federico Fellini was writing the screenplay for his classic movie La Dolce Vita he needed a name for a character–a news photographer. He chose the name Paparazzo. Where did he get that name? One etymologist says Fellini claimed it … Keep readingRon Galella
Over the last year I’d come across the name Wolfgang Tillmans a number of times. In almost every instance, he was described differently. “One of the most important and distinctive artists to emerge in the 1990s.” “Fashion and magazine photographer.” “Installation artist.” “A documenter of … Keep readingWolfgang Tillmans
I have to admit, I was first attracted to Lili Almog by her name. It’s just immense fun to say out loud. People who are much more aware of the photographic art world, though, have been drawn in by her images of women in their … Keep readingLili Almog
For the last quarter of a century photographer Bill Henson has been taking strangely dystopian photographs of urban industrial landscapes and dark, melancholy semi-candid portraits of alienated, disaffected adolescents and teens. His work has a distinctly cinematic quality. While Henson is fairly well-known in his … Keep readingBill Henson
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