Dianne Blell
Dianne Blell (born 1943) is a New York–based photographer specializing in mythology and subjective‑reality imagery. She received her BFA and MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and has been exhibiting her work since the 1970s, earning honors such as the Pollock‑Krasner Foundation Grant and a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship.
Blell’s work explores stories of love, relationships, and intimacy—particularly the compelling forces of yearning, desire, and the romantic pursuit of “ideal” love. Her most recent series, “Desire for the Intimate Deity,” investigates universal stages of courtship through socio‑ethnic and religious mythology drawn from Hindu folklore. In it, Rada and Krishna serve as archetypal figures whose pursuit of divine union mirrors the human condition.
Every element of Blell’s photographic narratives is meticulously produced in the studio: she paints her own sets, designs costumes, stages the action, and then photographs backgrounds and subjects separately on large‑format 4×5 film. These elements are later assembled on her desktop to create richly layered, visually complex compositions. The “Rada and Krishna” project alone has spanned ten years of creation and refinement.
Photography & Works
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Dianne Blell
Anticipation Add to cart -
Dianne Blell
Braving the Stormy Night to Meet Her Lover Add to cart -
Dianne Blell
Consuming the Flames Add to cart -
Dianne Blell
Courting the Beloved Add to cart -
Dianne Blell
Elopement Add to cart -
Dianne Blell
Floating to her Fate Add to cart -
Dianne Blell
Lovers at First Glance Add to cart -
Dianne Blell
Lovers in a Stormy Night Add to cart -
Dianne Blell
Lovers’ Quarrel Add to cart -
Dianne Blell
Preparing for the Beloved Add to cart -
Dianne Blell
Tattooing the Beloved Add to cart -
Dianne Blell
Teasing the Bathers Add to cart -
Dianne Blell
The Lovers Add to cart -
Dianne Blell
The Lovers (Detail) Add to cart -
Dianne Blell
Beauty Add to cart -
Dianne Blell
Cupid & Psyche from the Pursuit of Love Add to cart -
Dianne Blell
Selling of Cupid Add to cart -
Dianne Blell
Work Interrupted Add to cart -
Dianne Blell
Certainty in the Land of Enigmas, The Circus Animals Desertion Series Add to cart -
Dianne Blell
Foliage of Arrested Peace, The Circus Animals Desertion Series Add to cart -
Dianne Blell
Stratagems of the Spirit, The Circus Animals Desertion Series Add to cart -
Dianne Blell
The View Beyond, The Circus Animals Desertion Series Add to cart