Matthew Houston (1961) - Maria

Signed on the back of mount.
The accompanying provenance paper is also signed and carries the studio stamp.
Print size 35 x 27cm with mount 40 x 29.5cm
Extremely fine condition
Silver gelatine print with palladium toning
Made from large format (5x4") Polaroid negative
The paper has a fine texture and slight sheen
On aluminium mount faced with a 100% rag paper
In clear Mylar museum quality protective sleeve and black buckram covered archival box

Note - rather than produce an edition Matthew Houston makes silver prints individually by hand. Each is unique and given a 'version' number. The provenance slip shows this is 'version 3'.
This is a photograph from a series of Polaroids and silver gelatine prints begun in the late 1990s.

Shipped flat with rigid protection by registered mail.


Matthew Houston (1961) is a contemporary fine art photographer known for his evocative use of medium and large-format cameras and experimental analogue processes, particularly Polaroid photography. His work frequently explores the intersections of theatre, performance, and fine art, translating the fleeting nature of live performance into lasting physical artifacts.
Key aspects of his Work
Analogue & Polaroid Mastery: Houston leverages the immediate but unpredictable nature of Polaroid film. He often scales these intimate formats up as high-quality, large-scale silver gelatine and C-type exhibition prints.
Stages & Still Life: His portfolios include highly structured still life’s, like his Stages & Still Life series, which combine found objects, architectural forms, ceramic shapes, and textiles inside custom built miniature stages.
Theatrical Portraiture: He frequently collaborates with dancers, actors, and performance artists. He treats the camera frame as a small theatrical stage, capturing dramatic poses and textured, atmospheric lighting.
Aesthetics: By utilising instant film chemistry, his photographs feature distinct, organic borders, rich chemical tonal shifts, and a moody, painterly finish that highlights the tangible nature of traditional photography.
His limited edition prints and original Polaroid works are showcased by fine art institutions and collections globally.


Matthew Houston studied printmaking at the Central School of Art, London, and later earned a First Class degree in photography from the London College of Printing. He began photographing models, actors, and dancers on a small stage he built while running a cabaret on a sailing ship. This stage was the setting for many of his large-format photographs and Polaroids in the late 1990s. Houston notes that the stage itself suggested the inclusion of a person and acted as a pedestal for his subjects. His photographs are known for their intimate often nostalgic qualities and are the result of an "open experiment" with his subjects. He focuses on finding common ground with the model and capturing what happens naturally. His photographs sometimes include subtle references to mythological figures and paintings. This is not meant to be a fixed theme, but a "gentle reference" that emerged from the stage-like setting of his early portraits.*
*From exhibition catalogue, London 2014

"The little stage I built was part of the studio and I began to make photographs of performers, friends, actors and models. Using Polaroid film gave the material a chance to be part of the picture as well. Polaroid is known for all kinds of quirks and accidents that are a reminder of process. As with other photographs I've made I feel it important that material and process are still included, still evident.”**
**From interview - Saatch Art

An excerpt from an exhibition review I discovered - BIP off, Liege - by Philippe Herbert
"Parcours atypique : ancien propriétaire d’un cabaret, il photographie depuis l’âge de 7 ans mais il a commencé cette série à 38 ans. Sur une scène improvisée, il photographie au Polaroïd grand format des femmes dénudées avec beaucoup de tendresse. Il renouvelle le genre du nu."