David Williams was born in Edinburgh in 1952. He studied English and Sociology before becoming a professional musician and composer. Since he took up photography in 1980 his work has been widely exhibited and published. He became Head of Photography at Edinburgh College of Art in 1990 and continues to produce work on a regular basis.

Family Self-Portrait is a triptych, a form of composition rooted in Christian art. A young child is centred, flanked on each side by a parent dissolving through overexposure.

• © David Williams

1931

GMA 2068

In this drawing of her husband, Hilda makes detailed observations of both head and body. She depicts Stanley day-dreaming but makes no suggestion as to the content of those dreams. Hilda Spencer was a talented artist, although frequently overshadowed by her famous husband. This tender drawing shows her highly skilful draughtsmanship. It was drawn when the Spencers were living at Burghclere in Hampshire, while Stanley was working on the murals for Sandham Memorial Chapel. Around the same time as this drawing was made, Stanley completed a drawing of his wife which complements this work.

• Material: Pencil on paper
• Size: 50.80 x 35.30 cm
• National Galleries of Scotland
• © Estate of Hilda Carline (Spencer), 2004. All rights reserved. DACS

Many of Elinor Carucci’s photographs are realistic portrayals of intimate scenes, often between family members. Through her camera, intensely private scenes are captured and then presented to the public.

My Mother and I is typical of Carucci’s photographic realism; the skin blemishes are clearly visible and the unconventional framing of the two women prevents the work from appearing staged. The physical interaction between mother and daughter is the real subject here: a seemingly close bond contradicted by an awkward gesture, a wedding ring and the white space between them.

• © Elinor Carucci/ Courtesy Edwin Houk Gallery, New York

The infamous photographer David Bailey had a strong presence in ‘swinging’ 1960s London, socialising with and photographing such iconic figures as the Beatles and the Kray Twins. Such was Bailey’s notoriety that he inspired David Hemmings performance in the 1966 film Blowup.

Jane Birkin originally came to the public’s attention by starring in Blowup. This photograph was taken in 1969, three years following the film’s release, and the same year in which her popular duet with Serge Gainsbourg, Je T’aime…Moi Non Plus, was released. The portrait is typical of Bailey’s close-up style that became common practice in portrait and fashion photography.

• © David Bailey

In her works over the past few years, Jemima Stehli appears in the work itself, as subject or object, most often as both. She often appropriates iconic imagery from existing, often clichéd, stylistic genres such as fashion photography.

In Red Turning, the artist/model is dressed only in glossy red stilettos with her back to us. She looks slightly ridiculous, her head twisted, her hair like an advert for shampoo. However, it is Stehli who chooses her moment, who takes the picture, who objectifies herself.

• © Courtesy of the artist and the Lisson Gallery, London

‘There is such a big prejudice against…nakedness and two men,’ so said Gilbert, one half of Gilbert & George, in a 1997 interview.

In The Piss confronts these prejudice directly. It is a larger-than-life self-portrait which questions what is socially acceptable through their nakedness and the title of the work. It is typical of the infamous couple’s later work, with bright colours sectioned by black gridlines.

• © Gilbert & George

This is taken from a series of etchings inspired by the poems of Constantine P Cavafy (1863-1933), one of modern Greece’s most eminent poets. A homosexual, Cavafy had to keep his sexuality hidden; his poetry often recounts fleeting encounters and the reliving of such experiences through memory.

The Beginning depicts two of Hockney’s friends in London. Its sparse execution echoes the economy of Cavafy’s poetic style. The men are drawn with simplicity, tenderness and undercharged eroticism.

• © David Hockney

1987 - 1988

GMA 3410

Freud began this painting while working on a full-length double portrait of the same two men in which the naked figure is standing. He became so absorbed in this work that he temporarily put aside the larger painting. As in many of Freud's paintings, the scene at first seems peaceful but is fraught with underlying tension. The pose of the clothed man who gently rests his hand on the other's calf looks casual, yet is slightly provocative.

• Material: Oil on canvas
• Size: 106.70 x 75.00 cm (framed: 121.90 x 90.50 x 8.30 cm)
• National Galleries of Scotland
• © Lucian Freud

Sarah Lucas was initially associated during the 1990s with the Young British Artists (YBAs). Her series titled Self-Portraits, 1990-1998, from which this work is taken, often uses humour and colloquial vocabulary to parody commonly understood metaphors for private activities and sexual behaviour.

The title of this work, Human Toilet II, brings to mind unsavoury connotations and jars comically with the image of Lucas sat holding a cistern tank.

• © Sarah Lucas courtesy Sadie Coles HQ, London

Rudolf Nureyev is regarded by many to be the greatest male dancer of the 20th Century. This photograph captures the rare blend of grace and power that so captivated European ballet audiences in the 1960s, 70s and 80s.

But Nureyev’s life away from the stage was of equal interest. Born in the Soviet Union, he eventually defected to the West under threat of imprisonment by the KGB. He remained resident in Europe until his death from AIDS in 1993.

• © Richard Avedon

Lewis Morley established his reputation as one of the key British photographers of the 1960s with a series of photographs of various celebrities. His photograph of Christine Keeler sitting the wrong way round on a chair has become one of the defining images of the 1960s.

In 1962, the photographer met fellow Australian Barry Humphries, when the latter was giving his first UK solo performances in Peter Cook’s Establishment Club, downstairs from Morley’s studio. The pair remained friends and, in 1982, Morley photographed Humphreys (as ‘Edna Everage’) mimicking Christine Keeler.

• © Lewis Morley Archive/National Portrait Gallery, London

This work of Richter’s is a ‘photo-painting’ of his second wife, Isa Genzken. Richter has produced many such ‘photo-paintings’, made using a multi-step process of representations. He starts with a photograph and projects it onto his canvas, where he traces its form. Taking his colour palette from the photograph, he paints to replicate the look of the original picture. Richter’s hallmark ‘blur’ is a result of this process; it is the blurring of the boundary between photographic representation and the painterly art.

• © Gehard Richter