Black Rock Galleries Photography

A Window into History: 1922 Portrait by Odile Bouligny This captivating black and white photograph, captured in 1922 by renowned French photographer Odile Bouligny, offers a glimpse into a bygone era. The image portrays a mother and daughter, both Navajo pottery...

Robert Frank Untitled from the Americans, 1958, Beats Culture, Black White. Photogravure print, mid-century, France,wax tissue mounted on conservation matboard. Influenced by the work of Jakob Tuggener and Bill Brandt, as well as Walker Evans, Frank, a native of Switzerland, Frank was fascinated by documentary photography and the notion and image of "America." Frank secured a Guggenheim fellowship in 1955 to do something new and unconstrained by commercial diktats. "The Americans" was first published in 1958 in France, before its first run in the US in 1959. The photographs were shocking and notable for their distanced view of both high and low strata of American society, creating a complicated portrait of a period that was, then and now, considered to be a skeptical portrait of post-WWII American values but also deeply empathetic and profoundly evocative of ubiquitous loneliness. Frank found a tension in the gloss of American culture and wealth over race and class differences, which gave his photographs a clear contrast to those of most contemporary American photojournalists, as did his use of unusual focus, low lighting and cropping that deviated from accepted photographic techniques. Shortly before the book was published in France, Frank returned to the US (1957) and met Jack Kerouac on the sidewalk outside a party. They started chatting. Frank showed him some of his photographs. Kerouac immediately told Frank "Sure, I can write something about these pictures." Kerouac would write the introduction to the American edition of the book, published two years later. Sociologist Howard S...

"The Divers", by famed photographer George Hoyningen-Huene, c. 1930, printed later. Unsigned. Seemingly shot on the French Riviera, the grand make-believe and glamour of this famous ...

MICHAEL ROBERTS (1947-2023) PLEASE NOTE: This photograph is a one of a kind original photograph. Every photograph in the show was available to purchase, and only one of each was printed. This large black and white hand printed silver gelatin photograph of "Michel Nude" by the legendary fashion icon, Michael Roberts, London. This image was part of a Michael Roberts show in 1989 at Hamilton's gallery, London. Signed on back. Black metal simple frame. Image: 15" x 19", framed: 22' x 26". This image is one of two that were in the gallery show in London. The images from the show were very rare and now highly sought after and collected after Mr. Robert's death but there are NONE available to purchase. These two images were purchased from that Exhibit from Hamiltons. The second one, "Nude of Michel" is available on separate listing. We hope they are purchased together as they were hung next to each other in the exhibit. MICHAEL ROBERTS: The preferred medium of the fashion journalist Michael Roberts was Canson art paper, which he scissored freehand into crisp-cut collages, or snipped into minute dots to reassemble into mosaics, for magazine covers or book illustrations. His art, bit by bit putting it together, reflected his life in fashion. He wrote about it, commissioned unexpected others to do so, photographed for media and ads, and charmed cranky legendary lensmen into snapping for him. He could source the clothes, choose the crazy locale, stage the shoot’s story, and write a witty critique of the enterprise. He was also always the most elegant person involved, effortlessly cool. Roberts, who has died aged 75, never bothered with a résumé, since every new role or venture seemed to just develop, but they totted up to a serious career. He was a writer on the Sunday Times in the 1970s, when new couture catwalk drama and heightened designer celebrity demanded a fashion voice that was both theatre critic and gossip columnist. Then from 1979 he was art and style director of Tatler magazine, when the editor, Tina Brown...

PLEASE NOTE: This original photo from the amazing Michael Roberts exhibition at Hamilton's Gallery in London, England of "Michel in a Toga" was used in promotional pieces for the exhibit. It is signed/ nuymbered 1/25, but this is the actual photograph from the exhibit, and no other image was made/printed. IT IS AN AMAZING IMAGE. * This image of Michel wearing a sheer greek key toga. He is nude underneath and although subtle, it is a nude. Michel was a high fashion male model thet Michael Roberts adored and used him for many fashion campains for Joeph's London. A rare large black and white hand printed silver gelatin photograph of Michel by the legendary fashion icon, Michael Roberts, London. This image was part of a Michael Roberts show in 1989 at Hamilton's gallery, London. Signed on back. Black metal simple frame. Image: 15" x 19", framed: 22' x 26". This image was in the gallery show in London.The images from the show are very rare and now highly sought after and collected after Mr. Robert's death. two images were purchased from that Exhibit. The second one, "Nude of Michel" is available on separate listing. We hope they are purchased together as they were hung next to each other in the exhibit. MICHAEL ROBERTS: The preferred medium of the fashion journalist Michael Roberts was Canson art paper, which he scissored freehand into crisp-cut collages, or snipped into minute dots to reassemble into mosaics, for magazine covers or book illustrations. His art, bit by bit putting it together, reflected his life in fashion. He wrote about it, commissioned unexpected others to do so, photographed for media and ads, and charmed cranky legendary lensmen into snapping for him. He could source the clothes, choose the crazy locale, stage the shoot’s story, and write a witty critique of the enterprise. He was also always the most elegant person involved, effortlessly cool. Roberts, who has died aged 75, never bothered with a résumé, since every new role or venture seemed to just develop, but they totted up to a serious career. He was a writer on the Sunday Times in the 1970s, when new couture catwalk drama and heightened designer celebrity demanded a fashion voice that was both theatre critic and gossip columnist. Then from 1979 he was art and style director of Tatler magazine, when the editor, Tina Brown...

Vintage Native American photograph, circa 1960 Silver Gelatin Print 16 x 20 inches. Unsigned from unknown photographer Very good cond...

Vintage chromogenic photographic print by Franco Fontana with original dedication on the back. Signed and dated by the author at the base Franco Fontana: (Modena, Italy - December 9, 1933) is an Italian photographer, photojournalist and writer. He began photographing in 1961. A frequent photographer at the "Fotoclub", his activity is mainly amateur, even though he carries out aesthetic research on various themes. Very important will be those dedicated to the abstract expression of color, carried out in a period in which abstract art in photography was to be found exclusively in black and white. In 1963 he exhibited at the Third International Biennial of Color in Vienna; the year after Popular Photography publishes, for the first time, a portfolio with text by Piero Racanicchi. He held his first solo exhibitions in 1965 in Turin (Subalpina photographic society) and in 1968 in Modena (Galleria della Sala di Cultura). The exhibition in his hometown marks a turning point in his research. Its complex activity and the international importance of its production can be summarized in some figures. Over 70 books have been dedicated to him, published by Italian, French, German, Swiss, Spanish, American and Japanese publishers; he has exhibited in public museums and private galleries around the world - over 400 personal and group exhibitions he has held so far. His works are preserved in over fifty museums around the world, including: International Museum of Photography, Rochester; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, San Francisco; Museum Ludwig, Cologne; Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Kunsthaus Zurich; Civic Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, Turin; The Photographic Museum, Helsinki; Puskin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow; The University of Texas, Austin; Museum of Modern Art, Norman, Oklahoma; San Paolo Art Museum; Israel Museum, Jerusalem; Metropolitan Museum, Tokyo; Beijing National Gallery; The Australian National Gallery, Melbourne; The Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney - and private. He has received important awards and prizes, in Italy and abroad. He has collaborated and collaborated with magazines and newspapers: Time-Life, Vogue USA, Vogue France, Il Venerdì di Repubblica, Sette, Panorama, Epoca, Class, Frankfurter Allgemeine, New York Times. Among the many advertising campaigns signed...

A rare and important early work by the iconic American artist/photographer Ann Stautberg (United States, b.1949) Van, Dallas, 1979 Signed, titled, and dated in pencil, lower margin ...

Modernist nude photogravure. Circa 1910. Nicely framed and matted. Silver leaf frame.

A framed photograph by Chinese American photographer Don Hong-Oai (1929-2004) "The Intimate Shadow", a composed landscape photograph taken in Quilin, the world-famous scenic area in China. Signed with title, inscription of location and dated on the top -left, red sealed on the lower right corner and signed and dated 1982 lower left on the mat. The photograph depicts an idyllic scenery on Li-river with the karst peak in the misty background, where a fishing boat floats. The work was created with dark room manipulation to echo the traditional chines ink painting that showcase a surreal ambience. The photograph is housed in the original artist's archive metal frame with an old print of the artist's bio and copyright mark on the back. It was purchased directly from the artist's studio. Sight Approximately 13.625" w x 10.125" h. Don Hong-Oai was born in Canton, China but raised and educated in Saigon, Vietnam. At age 13 he began an apprenticeship at a Chinese photo and portrait shop. In 1979 he immigrated to the United States and settled in the Chinatown of San Francisco. Don began making a living by selling his landscape photographs in front of Macy’s and began to receive recognition for his craftsmanship. His style was heavily influenced by the legendary photographer Long Chin-San and his technique of layering negatives for ideal composition, by taking three negatives, foreground, middle ground, and far ground, and selecting a subject from each negative. The photographs of Don Hong-Oai are made in a unique style, which can be considered Asian pictorialism. This method of adapting a Western art for Eastern purposes probably originated in the 1940s in Hong Kong. One of its best-known practitioners was the great master Long Chin-San (who died in the 1990s at the age of 104) with whom Don Hong-Oai studied. With the delicate beauty and traditional motifs of Chinese painting (birds, boats, mountains, etc.) in mind, photographers of this school used more than one negative to create a beautiful picture, often using visual allegories. Realism was not a goal. Don Hong-Oai was one of the last photographers to work in this manner. He is also arguably the best. He has won hundreds...

Contemporary black and white abstract photograph in a black rectangular frame.  

A wonderful and very coveted original large-format photogravure by iconic American photographer Edward Curtis (1868-1952) titled "Mosa Mohave" Of this image Curtis noted “It would b...