Provocative Art Photography

You are likely to find exactly the piece of provocative art photography you’re looking for on 1stDibs, as there is a broad range for sale. In our selection of items, you can find modern examples as well as a contemporary version. Making the right choice when shopping for an item from our selection of provocative art photography may mean carefully reviewing examples of this item dating from different eras — you can find an early iteration of this piece from the 19th Century and a newer version made as recently as the 21st Century. Adding a choice in our collection of provocative art photography to a room that is mostly decorated in warm neutral tones can yield a welcome change — find a piece on 1stDibs that incorporates elements of black, gray, brown, beige and more. An object in our assortment of provocative art photography from Kevin Westenberg, Fabio Coruzzi, Helmut Newton, Rankin and Kat O'Neill — each of whom created distinctive versions of this kind of work — is worth considering. Frequently made by artists working in pigment print, archival pigment print and paper, these artworks are unique and have attracted attention over the years. A large option in this array of provocative art photography can prove too dominant for some spaces — a smaller piece of provocative art photography, measuring 5.25 high and 6 wide, may better suit your needs.

The price for a piece of provocative art photography in our collection starts at $69 and tops out at $40,000 with the average selling for $2,152.

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.