ARTHUR TRESS (USA)

Arthur Tress (b.1940) is one of the most eminent and consistently imaginative photographers of his generation. His style originated in the 1960s surrealist staged photography movements, but he evolved a style all his own that was both dreamlike and formally composed. His male nude work powerfully combines tenderness with cruelty, echoing the St. Sebastian icons of gay art. The relationship between the photographer and his imagination is stated openly. The artist invites us into a dream world that can be playful yet threatening. Images abound filled with weapons and saws, machines, and ruins. Both the children and the male nudes in his photographs are rarely portrayed at rest or in formal portraits. They are rather engaged in modern tableaux acting out symbols of modern life, a pretend world with violence and mystery ever at hand. In the reviews of his major Corcoran retrospective one reviewer dubbed him "a national treasure," fitting for a photographer who captures symbolically so wide a range of modern life.

Gallery of Works for Sale

NOTES:

All photographs are gelatine silver prints, printed by the artist, and are signed, titled and numbered verso.
We can fill orders for any image from any of Tress's books, so long as the print is still in edition.
Price schedule follows images.
Click on any image to see an enlargement.

AT01. Arthur TRESS.
Child with Hockey Gloves, Hell's Kitchen, New York, 1968.
Gelatine silver print; signed, titled and numbered.
Price Schedule Below.

AT02. Arthur TRESS.
First Recognition, France, 1999.
Gelatine silver print; signed, titled and numbered.
Price Schedule Below.

AT03. Arthur TRESS.
Boy with Cigarette, Albany, 1970.
Gelatine silver print; signed, titled and numbered.
Price Schedule Below.

AT04. Arthur TRESS.
Adam in the Park, New York City, 1982.
Gelatine silver print; signed, titled and numbered.
Price Schedule Below.

AT05. (New) Arthur TRESS.
The Boys from New Hope, Pennsylvania, 1980.
Gelatine silver print; signed, titled & numbered.
Published in Male of the Species and Arthur Tress: Photographs 1956-2000.
Price Schedule Below.

AT06. Arthur TRESS.
Teenage Runners, New York City, 1975.
Gelatine silver print; signed, titled and numbered.
Price Schedule Below.

AT07. (New) Arthur TRESS.
Flood Dream, Ocean City, New Jersey, 1971.
Gelatine silver print; signed, titled and numbered.
Published in Dream Collector and Arthur Tress: Photographs 1956-2000.
Price Schedule Below.

AT08. Arthur TRESS.
Peter on Fence, Spain, 1985.
Gelatine silver print; signed, titled and numbered.
Unpublished.
Price Schedule Below.

AT09. Arthur TRESS.
Boy on Beach & Man from Sea.
Gelatine silver print; signed, titled and numbered.
Unpublished.
Price Schedule Below.

AT10. (New) Arthur TRESS.
Encrypted Message, Cambria, 1996.
Gelatine silver print; signed, titled and numbered.
Published in Arthur Tress: Photographs 1956-2000.
Price Schedule Below.

AT11. Arthur TRESS.
Off the Tracks, California, 1997.
Gelatine silver print; signed, titled and numbered.
Price Schedule Below.

AT12. Arthur TRESS.
Hose Catch, California, 1998.
Gelatine silver print; signed, titled and numbered.
Price Schedule Below.

AT13. Arthur TRESS.
Boot Fantasy, New York, 1979.
Gelatine silver print; signed, titled and numbered.
Price Schedule Below.

AT14. Arthur TRESS.
Roll Me Over, California, 1995.
Gelatine silver print; signed, titled and numbered.
Price Schedule Below.

AT15. Arthur TRESS.
Man with Twisting Cable, California, 1995.
Gelatine silver print; signed, titled and numbered.
Price Schedule Below.

AT16. Arthur TRESS.
Stormy Weather, California, 1995.
Gelatine silver print; signed, titled and numbered.
Price Schedule Below.

Price Schedule

Prints dated 1981 and after:
   11 x 14 inches: $2000.00 (edition of 50).
   16 x 20 inches: $3000.00 (edition of 50).
   20 x 24 inches: $4000.00 (edition of 50).

Prints dated 1980 and before but not vintage:
   11 x 14 inches: $2500.00 (edition of 50).
   16 x 20 inches: $3500.00 (edition of 50).
   20 x 24 inches: $4500.00 (edition of 50).

Vintage prints made by Tress:
   Depending on image: $6500.00 to $9500.00

Bibliography

NOTE: The following works by Arthur Tress are not for sale. We list them as useful reference should you wish to order an image. A good source to find out-of-print Tress titles is www.bookfinder.com

Monographs by Arthur Tress

Songs of the Blue Ridge Mountains. New York: Oak Ridge Press, 1968.
Open Space in the Inner City. Albany: New York State Council of the Arts, 1971. Portfolio of 50 photographs with text also by Tress.
The Dream Collector. Text by John Minahan. Richmond (Virginia): Westover, 1972.
Shadow. New York: Avon Books, 1973.
Arthur Tress: Theater of the Mind. Introduction by A.D. Coleman. Dobbs Ferry (N.Y.): Morgan and Morgan, 1976. With additional texts by Duane Michaels and Michel Tournier.
Rèves. Introduction by Michel Tournier. Brussels: Edition Complexe, 1979.
Tress: Facing Up. Introduction by Yves Navarre. Geneva: Bernard Letu, 1980.
Arthur Tress: Talisman. Edited and with an Introduction by Marco Livingstone. New York/London: Thames and Hudson, 1986. With additional texts by Arthur Tress.
Machinations. Introduction by Emmanuel Cooper. London: GMP Publishers, 1988.
The Teapot Opera: In Three Acts. New York: Abbeville Press, 1988. With texts by Arthur Tress.
Fantastic Voyage: The Photographs of Arthur Tress. Washington, D.C.: USIA, 1994. Text by Richard Lorenz.
Arthur Tress. Zurich: Edition Stemmle, 1995. Text by Peter Weiermair.
Male of the Species: Four Decades of Photographs by Arthur Tress. Edited by David Sprigle. Santa Monica, Calif.: Fotofactory Press, 1999. With additional texts by Edward Lucie-Smith, Michel Tournier, and Arthur Tress.
Arthur Tress: Fish Tank Sonata. Boston: Little Brown and Company, Bullfinch Press, 2000. Text by Arthur Tress.
Arthur Tress: Fantastic Voyage: Photographs 1956-2000. Boston: Little Brown and Company, Bullfinch Press, in association with the Corcoran Gallery of Art. 2001. Texts by Philip Brookman, Richard Lorentz, and John Wood.