Motel Signs

There is a broad range of motel signs for sale on 1stDibs. A selection of these works in the Pop Art, Abstract and Modern styles can be found today in our inventory. These items have been produced for many years, with earlier versions available from the 20th Century and newer variations made as recently as the 21st Century. If you’re looking to add motel signs that pop against an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include that feature elements of gray, black, blue and more. There have been many well-done artworks of this subject over the years, but those made by Steve Fitch, Richard Heeps, Mitchell Funk, Hideoki Hagiwara and Christian Patterson are often thought to be among the most beautiful. Frequently made by artists working in paper, silver gelatin print and archival pigment print, all of these available pieces are unique and have attracted attention over the years. Large motel signs can be an attractive addition to some spaces, while the smaller iterations available — each spanning 19 inches in width — may make for a better choice for a more modest living area.

Prices for art of this kind can differ depending upon size, time period and other attributes — motel signs in our inventory begin at $695 and can go as high as $5,625, while the average can fetch as much as $2,000.

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.