David LaChapelle's highly polished, saturated and intricately composed photographs possess the surreal wildness of fever dreams, concocted as they are out of the imagery of celebrity, eroticism and modern Americana, and spiked with religious allegory and forebodings of doom.
Such work has made him among the most influential art and celebrity photographers of his generation. You might say LaChapelle sprung straight from the head of Andy Warhol, whose campy silkscreen fusions of the glamorous, the transgressive and the everyday forever changed contemporary art.
Like so many young gay artists who came out of the 1980s downtown New York scene, LaChapelle’s escapist visions arose out of a lonely, bullied adolescence. Although born in Connecticut, the photographer spent his early childhood in North Carolina, the youngest of three children. Later, when LaChapelle was in his early teens, his family moved back to suburban Connecticut, but his cowboy costumes and gender-bending ways did not earn LaChapelle friends among his new preppy classmates.
By high school, LaChapelle felt terrorized and suicidal. He fled to New York, where his good looks got him a job bussing tables at Studio 54. It was there that he reputedly first met Warhol, who had been his favorite artist since he first gazed upon a Gold Marilyn, while on a fourth-grade field trip to a museum.
LaChapelle's parents eventually retrieved him from New York, and, sympathizing with his plight, sent him off to the North Carolina School of the Arts. Despite a more embracing atmosphere, he didn’t stay long. A sojourn in London followed. When he returned to New York, around 1983, the punk-inflected downtown culture was churning out gritty new art. Keith Haring’s gay-themed Pop-art graffiti was in everybody’s face, and Robert Mapplethorpe’s S&M photos were on gallery walls.
Having scored a show of his black-and-white photography — already vaguely campy and transfiguration-obsessed — at New York’s then-fledgling 303 Gallery in 1984, LaChapelle attracted the interest of Interview magazine. Warhol was then at the zenith of his influence in both the art world and the downtown scene. Recognizing LaChapelle’s potential as an eye-catching celebrity photographer, he put him on staff, providing him with the creative milieu where his distinctive talent might develop.
There were editorial assignments for i-D, The Face and later for Vanity Fair, Vogue Paris and Rolling Stone. He also made excursions into advertising. One of his most talked about campaigns was a provocative print ad for Diesel jeans inspired by the famous photograph of the V-J kiss in Times Square, but this time showing Tom of Finland–type sailors in passionate embrace.
After being without an editorial home for several years, LaChapelle finally found a base at Details, where he was again encouraged to let his freak flag fly. So arresting were his images that it wasn’t long before “the Fellini of photography,” as New York magazine dubbed him in 1996, was again working for Interview. One of his most emblematic pictures from this era was a Lil’ Kim cover for that magazine, featuring the rapper’s nude body emblazoned with Louis Vuitton insignia (one of the most famous logos in luxury fashion).
Such visually zany, socially astute portraits prompted Richard Avedon to liken LaChapelle to a photographic Magritte, while also winning him invitations to direct music videos for such talents as Christina Aguilera, Moby and Amy Winehouse.
Find a collection of original David LaChapelle photography today on 1stDibs.
Nude Man and Woman in the Grass (White Rabbits)
By David LaChapelle
Located in New York, NY
Vintage gelatin silver print Signed, inscribed, and dated in pencil, verso This photograph is offered by ClampArt, located in New York City. Hired by Andy Warhol as a photographer f...
Silver Gelatin
Price Upon Request
Diesel Jeans Victory Day 1945
By David LaChapelle
Located in New York, NY
Unsigned
Black and White
$2,569
H 23.63 in W 42.13 in
Ha Long Bay, Misty Limestone Karsts — Minimalist Black-and-White Panorama
By Gerald Berghammer
Located in Vienna, Vienna
Archival pigment ink print, produced in a limited edition of 7 // Gallery ID: 21381 Fine art prints are produced to order on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta. Each print is stamped on the...
Digital Pigment
High St. Nude Girl & Piano
By Alli Wood
Located in Carmel, CA
Taken in Melbourne Australia with a medium format camera. Hand printed signed in pencil. Edition 1/15
Silver Gelatin
$10,099
H 20.01 in W 23.63 in
69YK #41 – Nobuyoshi Araki, Japanese Photography, Nude, Black and White, Art
By Nobuyoshi Araki
Located in Zurich, CH
Nobuyoshi ARAKI (*1940, Japan) 69YK #41, 2009 Gelatin silver print 50.8 x 60 cm (20 x 23 5/8 in.) Print only Nobuyoshi Araki (Tokyo, 1940) is a Tokyo-based photographer. Araki completed his studies at Chiba University’s Department of Photography, Painting and Engineering with a focus on the study of film and photography. His photographic project Satchin earned him the prestigious Taiyo Award in 1964, shortly after he had joined the advertising agency Dentsu, where he worked until 1972. At Dentsu he met his wife Yoko, to whom he paid homage in Sentimental Journey, a photographic record of their honeymoon published in 1971. Eros and thanatos (sex and death) has been a central theme in Araki’s work; an abiding fascination with female genitalia and women’s bodies in Japanese bondage...
Black and White, Silver Gelatin
$10,043
H 23.63 in W 20.01 in
Love-Dream, Love-Nothing #042 – Nobuyoshi Araki, Woman, Nude, Japan, Photography
By Nobuyoshi Araki
Located in Zurich, CH
Nobuyoshi ARAKI (*1940, Japan) Love-Dream, Love-Nothing #042, 2018 gelatin silver print 60 x 50.8 cm ( 23 5/8 x 20 in.) Print only – Nobuyoshi Araki Nobuyoshi Araki (Tokyo, 1940) is...
Silver Gelatin
$850
H 20 in W 15 in D 0.13 in
Portrait of a Woman with Teapot, 1970s Pittsburgh Black & White Photograph
Located in Soquel, CA
Compelling 1970s black and white photograph of a contemplative woman leaning on a table into her crossed arms, beside a small teapot that casts a long sha...
Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin
$7,633
H 40 in W 30 in
Liz Hurley Limited Edition Archival Pigment Print, Contemporary Art
By Antoine Verglas
Located in Vienna, AT
Photographed by Antoine Verglas in 1998. All prints are limited edition. Available in multiple sizes. High-end framing on request. All prints are done and signed by the artist. The c...
Archival Pigment
$10,099
H 20.01 in W 23.63 in
Love-Dream, Love-Nothing #010 – Nobuyoshi Araki, Woman, Nude, Japan, Photography
By Nobuyoshi Araki
Located in Zurich, CH
Nobuyoshi ARAKI (*1940, Japan) Love-Dream, Love-Nothing #010, 2018 gelatin silver print 50.8 x 60 cm (20 x 23 5/8 in.) Print only – Nobuyoshi Araki Nobuyoshi Araki (Tokyo, 1940) is a Tokyo-based photographer. Araki completed his studies at Chiba University’s Department of Photography, Painting and Engineering with a focus on the study of film and photography. His photographic project Satchin earned him the prestigious Taiyo Award in 1964, shortly after he had joined the advertising agency Dentsu, where he worked until 1972. At Dentsu he met his wife Yoko, to whom he paid homage in Sentimental Journey, a photographic record of their honeymoon published in 1971. Eros and thanatos (sex and death) has been a central theme in Araki’s work; an abiding fascination with female genitalia and women’s bodies in Japanese bondage, flowers, food, his cat, faces and Tokyo street...
Silver Gelatin
$10,043
H 20.01 in W 23.63 in
Love-Dream, Love-Nothing #087 – Nobuyoshi Araki, Woman, Nude, Japan, Photography
By Nobuyoshi Araki
Located in Zurich, CH
Nobuyoshi ARAKI (*1940, Japan) Love-Dream, Love-Nothing #087, 2018 gelatin silver print 50.8 x 60 cm (20 x 23 5/8 in.) Print only – Nobuyoshi Araki Nobuyoshi Araki (Tokyo, 1940) is ...
Silver Gelatin
Victor Hugo in stockings
By Andy Warhol
Located in Beverly Hills, CA
This work is unique. Stamped on the reverse by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Foundation number also on verso. The work comes with an Authentication Letter from th...
Silver Gelatin
$21,839
H 40.01 in W 30.01 in
Untitled (Erotos) – Nobuyoshi Araki, Water, Back, Nude, Japanese, Photography
By Nobuyoshi Araki
Located in Zurich, CH
Nobuyoshi ARAKI (*1940, Japan) Untitled (Erotos), 1993 Gelatin silver print Sheet 101.6 x 76.2 cm (40 x 30 in.) Print only – Nobuyoshi Araki Nobuyoshi Araki (Tokyo, 1940) is a Tokyo...
Silver Gelatin
$10,043
H 20.01 in W 23.63 in
Love-Dream, Love-Nothing #026 – Nobuyoshi Araki, Woman, Nude, Japan, Photography
By Nobuyoshi Araki
Located in Zurich, CH
Nobuyoshi ARAKI (*1940, Japan) Love-Dream, Love-Nothing #026, 2018 gelatin silver print 50.8 x 60 cm (20 x 23 5/8 in.) Print only – Nobuyoshi Araki Nobuyoshi Araki (Tokyo, 1940) is ...
Silver Gelatin
$21,960
H 40.01 in W 30.01 in
Untitled (Erotos) – Nobuyoshi Araki, Hair, Shoulder, Nude, Japanese, Photography
By Nobuyoshi Araki
Located in Zurich, CH
Nobuyoshi ARAKI (*1940, Japan) Untitled (Erotos), 1993 Gelatin silver print Sheet 101.6 x 76.2 cm (40 x 30 in.) Print only – Nobuyoshi Araki Nobuyoshi Araki (Tokyo, 1940) is a Tokyo...
Silver Gelatin