Father and Son by Dutch photographer Paul Blanca is an intimate and powerful self-portrait created in 1984. The black-and-white photograph depicts Blanca standing nude in profile while holding his newborn son Benno, creating a direct and emotionally charged image of fatherhood, vulnerability, masculinity, and physical presence.

This example measures 50 × 60 cm / 19.7 × 23.6 in and is executed as a gelatin silver print. The work was produced in a limited edition of 12 plus 2 Artist’s Proofs, with individual examples hand-signed and numbered or marked A.P.

Father and Son belongs to Blanca’s important group of self-portraits from the early 1980s, a period in which he developed the raw and psychologically intense photographic language that established his reputation.

Paul Blanca became known for uncompromising photographs exploring pain, sexuality, mortality, vulnerability, family, and the physical body. His self-portraits frequently place the artist himself at the center of emotionally and physically charged situations, combining classical black-and-white photography with a highly personal and confrontational approach.

Father and Son stands apart within this practice through its tenderness and intimacy. While unmistakably Blanca in its directness and physicality, the image transforms the self-portrait into a deeply personal study of the relationship between parent and child.

A significant limited-edition photograph for collectors of Paul Blanca, Dutch photography, gelatin silver prints, self-portraiture, 1980s photography, body-based art, and important works from the artist’s early career.

Artist: Paul Blanca
Title: Father and Son
Format: Limited-edition photographic print / self-portrait
Material: Gelatin silver print
Size: 50 × 60 cm / 19.7 × 23.6 in
Year: 1984
Edition: Edition of 12 + 2 Artist’s Proofs
Signature: Hand-signed
Numbering: Individually numbered from the edition of 12 or marked A.P.
Subject: Paul Blanca with his son Benno
Series: Self-Portraits
Photography: Paul Blanca