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Artists›Deborah Turbeville

Deborah Turbeville

American, 1932

Stoneham, MA, USA

PhotographyPhotography

Representation

None documented

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80%

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• Photography

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About

Why this artist matters now

Deborah Turbeville was an American photographer known for her cinematic black-and-white imagery of fashion and the human form in architectural settings. Her work combined fashion photography with fine art sensibility, often staging models in abandoned or austere interiors that created dreamlike, psychologically charged narratives. Working primarily from the 1970s onward, she developed a distinctive visual language that prioritized mood and composition over conventional beauty, influencing editorial and gallery photography practices. Her approach emphasized narrative suggestion rather than straightforward representation.

Source: Moma Bulk 2026 05 04 · Trust score: 92% · Updated 26d ago

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Photography

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Photography

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12 in graph

Institutional

Museum Collections

Museum of Modern ArtNew York Art Institute of Chicago Whitney Museum of American Art

Canonical record

Artworks (8)

For Parco

1986 · Toned gelatin silver print

Image: 30.9 × 47.8 cm (12 3/16 × 18 7/8 in.); Paper: 40.6 × 50.6 cm (16 × 19 15/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

WattsOS

Comme des Garçons

1980 · Collage of thirteen gelatin silver prints affixed to paper mount

Sheet (irregular): 12 1/4 × 21 3/8 in. (31.1 × 54.3 cm) Image (irregular): 12 1/4 × 21 3/8 in. (31.1 × 54.3 cm) Mount (paper, irregular): 17 7/8 × 22 3/4 in. (45.4 × 57.8 cm)

Whitney Museum of American Art

Comme des Garcons, Paris

1980 · Gelatin silver prints

22 × 22" (55.9 × 55.9 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Mary and Katrine

1976 · Gelatin silver print

Image/paper: 21.6 × 32.9 cm (8 9/16 × 13 in.); Mount: 27.4 × 37.4 cm (10 13/16 × 14 3/4 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Bath House, New York City, May 1975

1975 · Gelatin silver print

12 7/8 × 19 7/16" (32.7 × 49.4 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Bath House, New York City

1975 · Gelatin silver print, with tape

11 × 14" (27.9 × 35.6 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Dummy Factory

1974 · Gelatin silver print

Image: 21.5 × 19.5 cm (8 1/2 × 7 11/16 in.); Paper: 22.6 × 23.3 cm (8 15/16 × 9 3/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Dummy Factory

1974 · Gelatin silver print

Image: 15.7 × 23.3 cm (6 3/16 × 9 3/16 in.); Paper: 23.4 × 24.6 cm (9 1/4 × 9 11/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

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Art Institute of Chicago

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In collection

Museum of Modern Art

New York, US

In collection

Art Institute of Chicago

In collection

Whitney Museum of American Art

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