1920s Silver Gelatin Photographs

There is a broad range of 1920s silver gelatin photographs for sale on 1stDibs. Browse a selection of Art Deco, Modern or Photorealist versions of these works for sale today — there are 27 Art Deco, 2 Modern, 1 Expressionist and 1 Photorealist examples available. These items have been made for many years, with versions that date back to the 20th Century alongside those produced as recently as the 20th Century. Adding a colorful piece of art to a room that is mostly decorated in warm neutral tones can yield a welcome change — see the 1920s silver gelatin photographs on 1stDibs that include elements of gray, silver, beige, brown and more. These artworks have been a part of the life’s work for many artists, but the versions made by Sigismund Blumann, Wide World Photos, Dr. F.W. Buraky, Adolph Studly and Eugene Robert Richee are consistently popular. Each of these unique pieces was handmade with extraordinary care, with artists most often working in silver gelatin print, paper and photographic paper.

Prices for pieces in our collection of 1920s silver gelatin photographs start at $200 and top out at $3,250 with the average selling for $290.

Find a broad range of photography on 1stDibs today.

The first permanent image created by a camera — which materialized during the 1820s — is attributed to Joseph Nicéphore Niépce. The French inventor was on to something for sure. Kodak introduced roll film in the 1880s, allowing photography to become more democratic, although cameras wouldn’t be universally accessible until several decades later. 

Digital photographic techniques, software, smartphone cameras and social-networking platforms such as Instagram have made it even easier in the modern era for budding photographers to capture the world around them as well as disseminate their images far and wide. 

What might leading figures of visual art such as Andy Warhol have done with these tools at their disposal?

Today, when we aren’t looking at the digital photos that inundate us on our phones, we look to the past to celebrate the photographers who have broken rules as well as records — provocative and prolific artists like Horst P. Horst, Lillian Bassman and Helmut Newton, who altered the face of fashion and portrait photography; visionary documentary photographers such as Gordon Parks, whose best-known work was guided by social justice; and pioneers of street photography such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, who shot for revolutionary travel magazines like Holiday with the likes of globetrotting society lensman Slim Aarons.

Find photographers you may not know in Introspective and The Study — where you’ll read about Berenice Abbott, who positioned herself atop skyscrapers for the perfect shot, or “conceptual artist-adventurer” Charles Lindsay, whose work combines scientific rigor with artistic expression, or Massimo Listri, known for his epic interiors of opulent Old World libraries. Photographer Jeannette Montgomery Barron was given a Kodak camera as a child. Later, she shot on Polaroid film before buying her first 35mm camera in her teens. Barron's stunning portraits of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Warhol and other artists chronicle a crucial chapter of New York’s cultural history.

Throughout the past two centuries, photographers have used their medium to create expressive work that has resonated for generations. Shop a voluminous collection of this powerful fine photography on 1stDibs. Search by photographer to find the perfect piece for your living room wall, or spend some time with the work organized under various categories, such as landscape photography, nude photography and more.