Paulette Tavormina

Paulette Tavormina (b. 1949) lives and works in New York City. Amidst the bustle that defines the city, she can often be found at one of its many farmers markets searching for the perfectly imperfect flora that characterize her photographs. Her arrangements often recall the sumptuous detail of seventeenth-century Old Master still life painters and serve as intensely personal interpretations of timeless, universal stories. With a painterly perspective reminiscent of Francisco de Zurbarán, Adriaen Coorte, and Giovanna Garzoni, Tavormina creates worldly still lifes with a deep reverence for history and the fragility of life.

Tavormina is largely a self-taught photographer. Her initial interest in the medium developed in the 1980s while working on corporate advertising campaigns, where she researched, styled, and created props for commercial photography. This hands-on experience led her to pursue photography more seriously, enrolling in courses at the International Center for Photography in New York in 1986. After moving to Santa Fe, New Mexico, she further refined her skills in photography and printing, combining her passion for culinary arts with the photographic medium. Tavormina worked as a commercial photographer and food stylist for countless cookbooks and served as a prop specialist on films including The Astronaut’s Wife, Nixon, and The Perfect Storm.

Earlier in her career, Tavormina worked with Sotheby’s and later returned to the auction house as a staff photographer following a formative trip to Sicily to explore her ancestral roots. In 2008, she debuted her Natura Morta series at Sotheby’s, showcasing a mastery of lighting and composition. Her rise in the fine art photography world has been swift; her works are now included in numerous museum, corporate, and private collections and have been exhibited in cities such as Paris, London, Moscow, Lugano, New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Boston, and Chicago. In 2010, she received the Grand Prix at the Festival International de la Photographie Culinaire in Paris, honoring her outstanding contributions to culinary photography.