1989
American photographer Catherine Opie has not only documented the cultural shift of the last few decades, she has also lived it. Once an outsider shooting her own “fringe community,” Opie is celebrated today for her evocative black and white and color photography and her confrontational examination of gender conventions. Through her lens, she investigates themes of individual identity and community.
Opie was born in Ohio in 1961 and spent her childhood in the Midwest. When she was 13, her family moved to California, where she set up a darkroom in the spare bedroom of the new house and started taking photographs. She received her BFA from San Francisco Art Institute in 1985, followed by an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts in 1988.
Opie started gaining recognition in the 1990s for her intimate studio portraits featuring other lesbian, gay and transgender artists and personal friends. Harkening back to traditional Renaissance-style portrait paintings, the photographs helped increase the visibility of marginalized communities as the fight for LGBTQ rights took shape.
Opie has embraced a range of additional subject matter. She traveled across the United States to photograph widely varying but quintessentially American groups, from high school football players to members of a staunchly conservative political movement. She documented ice-fishing sheds in Minnesota, the 2008 US presidential inauguration, the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival and anything and everything that caught her interest. For 2015’s 700 Nimes Road (DelMonico Books/Prestel), Opie trained her eclectic lens on the house and personal belongings of Elizabeth Taylor.
Opie has been teaching at the University of California, Los Angeles, since 2001 and has garnered numerous prestigious awards for her work, including the Women's Caucus for Art Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2008, the Guggenheim’s “Catherine Opie: American Photographer” exhibition spanned four floors and attracted thousands of people every day until it closed.
Despite her recognition and accolades, Opie continues to prefer subversive imagery. "Photographs are different these days," she told Introspective magazine in 2020. "The ones I like best are from those people who are bearing witness, like images of the protestors."
On 1stDibs, find original Catherine Opie photography and prints.
Monique
By Jessica Tanzer
Located in New York, NY
Untitled (Member of the band 4 Non Blondes) 1990 Signed, l.r. Gelatin silver print 20 x 16 inches This work is offered by ClampArt in New York City.
Silver Gelatin
Untitled (Lady Hamlet), black and white portrait photograph by Mark Morrisroe
By Mark Morrisroe
Located in New York, NY
Untitled (Lady Hamlet), black and white portrait photograph by Mark Morrisroe 1984/1996 Editioned in pencil, verso Photogravure (Edition of 46) 16 x 11 inches, sheet 4.25 x 3.25 ...
Photogravure
After Gibson
By Chuck Samuels
Located in New York, NY
Gelatin silver print (Edition of 20) Signed and numbered on label, verso From the series, "Before the Camera" This artwork is offered by ClampArt, located in New York City. Chuck S...
Silver Gelatin
Playing
By Mona Kuhn
Located in New York, NY
This photograph by Mona Kuhn is offered by CLAMP in New York City. Playing 2000/2001 Signed, titled, dated twice, and numbered in pencil, verso Gelatin silver print (Edition of 25...
Silver Gelatin
Kacie Stetson
By Mark Morrisroe
Located in New York, NY
Kacie Stetson 1983/1984 Signed, titled, dated, and inscribed “PP,” recto Vintage chromogenic print (negative sandwich) retouched and inscribed with ink 20 x 16 inches (50.8 x 40.6...
C Print
Untitled #69
By Henry Horenstein
Located in New York, NY
Sepia-toned gelatin silver print Signed and numbered, verso 20 x 16 inches, sheet (Edition of 25) This photograph is offered by ClampArt, located in New York City. “These are not ...
Silver Gelatin
Untitled
By Balthasar Burkhard
Located in Zurich, CH
Balthasar BURKHARD (1944–2010, Switzerland) Untitled, 1989 Signed Silver gelatin print 40 x 50 cm (15 3/4 x 19 3/4 in.) Edition of 5 Balthasar Burkhard was born on December 24th 194...
Silver Gelatin
Lisa Lyon
By Robert Mapplethorpe
Located in Toronto, Ontario
Robert Mapplethorpe's (1946-1989) place in the canon was earned from his incredible output of images that ranged from beautiful to brutal. Mapplethorpe boldly showcased the beauty ...
Silver Gelatin
Not titled yet, from the series 'A Gaze of One's Own‘ – Brigitte Lustenberger
By Brigitte Lustenberger
Located in Zurich, CH
Brigitte LUSTENBERGER (*1969, Switzerland) Not titled yet, from the series 'A Gaze of One's Own‘, 2021 Silver gelatin print on Baryta paper Sheet 70 x 70 cm (27 1/2 x 27 1/2 in.) Edition of 5, plus 2 AP; Edn. no. 1/5 print only Born in Zurich, Switzerland, Brigitte studied at Zurich University and received her MA in Social and Photo History in 1996. In the following years she established herself as an fine art photographer. She moved to New York and received her MFA in Fine Art Photography and Related Media at Parsons The New School of Design in 2007. The main issues in her works lie in her interest in the study of the gaze, the interplay between absence and presence in a photographic image, and the fact that the reading of a photograph is most often triggered by a collective memory. She explores the media itself and its close connection to themes like decay, memory, death and transitoriness. Brigitte Lustenberger has shown nationally and internationally in both solo and group shows. She had Solo Shows at the Museée de l’Elysée in Lausanne/Switzerland, at Walter Keller’s Scalo Gallery in Zurich and New York, at Le Maillon...
Silver Gelatin
Untitled (Kate #13)
By Chuck Close
Located in Calabasas, CA
Artist: Chuck Close Title: Untitled (Kates #13) Year: 2005 Medium: Digital pigment print on Hahnemuhle Satin paper Edition: 25; signed, dated and numbered in pencil Sheet: 17 x 22 in...
Digital Pigment
"Susan #1", 1994
By Jose Picayo
Located in Hudson, NY
woman, women, female, portrait, fashion, portraiture, sepia tone, vintage, classic, beauty, toned, New York, NY, photography, film photography, photograph, film, black and white, b&w...
Silver Gelatin
Untitled #403
By Hellen van Meene
Located in New York, NY
Edition of 10
C Print
A new exhibition examines images by the master photographer alongside works by photographers who influenced him and contemporary creators.
The French photographer transformed everyday encounters into enduring images of shared experience.
