Melvin Sokolsky

Lip Streaks (Donna Mitchell), New York

1967

Through his lens, Melvin Sokolsky built a world of surreal mystery. His most iconic series, depicting a woman in a plexiglass bubble, remains one of the most recognizable works of fine art photography today.

Born in New York City in 1933, he had no formal photography training. Instead, he learned by experimenting with his father’s box camera and analyzing photographs his father had developed. 

At 21, he joined the staff at Harper's Bazaar. Soon after, Sokolsky landed projects for many other notable magazines, including Esquire and McCall’s. He went on to teach at the School of Visual Arts.

In 1969, Sokolsky became a television commercial director. He won several Clio Awards, as well as numerous other major commercial awards. Many of his commercials are in the Museum of Modern Art’s permanent collections. Sokolsky developed a computerized zoom lens, which he presented at the Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1972; he went on to receive an Academy Award nomination for the technology. 

Across his career, Sokolsky photographed or directed a number of celebrities, including American actors Ben Affleck and Dustin Hoffman, as well as American singing and acting legend Barbara Streisand.

Sokolsky received an abundance of recognition for his work, including being named an Explorer of Light by the Canon camera company in 1995. He received the first annual Lucie Award for outstanding achievement in fashion photography in 2003, and the Louvre in Paris held a celebration for his work that same year.

Sokolsky exhibited at many world-class galleries, including at Staley-Wise in New York in 1997, Fahey/Klein Gallery in Los Angeles 2008 and Galerie Acte 2 in Paris in 2010 and 2011.

Towards the end of his life, Sokolsky worked for Canon, lecturing internationally and serving as one of its global company ambassadors. He died in 2022. His body of work spanning several decades is in numerous prestigious collections, including the Getty in Los Angeles and Victoria & Albert Museum in London.

On 1stDibs, enter the wondrous world of Melvin Sokolsky’s photography.