Keith Richards blows cigarette smoke at the camera, with the casual indifference only a seasoned rock star can pull off.

A bare chested Marco Pierre White reclines on an ornate Victorian gravestone, actress Rachel Weisz gazes into the lens, smouldering, and a nightclubbing couple are locked in a passionate embrace, while a young man sitting next to them reflects on his not so romantic evening.

The striking black and white images are among more than 100 photographs by acclaimed British photographer Bob Carlos Clarke which have a new home in Bradford.

The 104 prints have been acquired by the National Media Museum, for the National Photography Collection, as a gift from the photographer’s wife, Lindsey Carlos Clarke and the Bob Carlos Clarke Estate.

The images include several of Carlos Clarke’s most recognised, photographs but also features lesser known examples, including a shot of Mick Jagger performing at the Roundhouse in 1971, images from the 1994 Agony and the Ecstasy series of sexually provocative poses, advertising campaigns for Smirnoff and Wallis, and prints of the photographer’s intriguing still life work.

Regarded as one of the most important figures in British photography, Carlos Clarke became best known for his sexually provocative and stylised images, as well as for his perfectionism and experimental approach in printing.

His career started after he left the Royal College of Art in 1975, but his rise to fame came in the 1980s and for the next two decades his work was synonymous with glamour, eroticism, fashion and fame.

Greg Hobson, curator of photographs at the National Media Museum, says that until his death in 2006, Carlos Clarke brought “enormous passion, technical knowledge and creativity” to his photography.

“Bob Carlos Clarke is undoubtedly a significant figure in British photography, representing many of the things that were both most interesting, but also most challenging in the rapidly evolving photographic landscape of the 1980s and 90s.

“He was a versatile and imaginative photographer and there is a consistent level of quality in all his work, in particular in the photographs that he meticulously printed himself,” he said.

“Best known for his sexually provocative image making, he was a far more versatile and imaginative photographer than these highly charged and often controversial images might suggest.”

A graduate of the London College of Printing and Royal College of Art, Carlos Clarke’s photographs pushed the boundaries of acceptability yet were hugely attractive to high-end clients wishing to inject their brands with an ‘edge’.

“His commercial work suited the brash, narcissistic attitudes that prevailed in the 1980s and 90s,” said Mr Hobson.

“Shrewdly aware of the capricious nature of the fashion and advertising photography business, Carlos Clarke made the most of his commercial opportunities.

“He was, however, very serious about his work.

“His commissioned work extended beyond women to include now classic photographs of men – notably Keith Richards and Marco Pierre White – and he was an excellent printer.

His interest in the appearance of his photographic prints verged on the obsessive and he would make several versions in his darkroom, experimenting with toners and papers to see how much detail and depth could be drawn from the negatives.”

Carlos Clarke was also a highly skilled still-life photographer; his photographs of beach-combed stones and objects, often printed in a large scale, are filled with detail and depth of tone.

His photographs of forks and spoons, twisted and bound together, suggest a darker side to his personality.

Mr Hobson said: “There is a consistent level of quality in all his work, in particular in the photographs he meticulously printed himself.

“His photographic work was polymorphous and adventurous and his printing exemplary.

“It is his layered career and output that makes Carlos Clarke so interesting and relevant in the context of the National Photography Collection at the National Media Museum.

“I have had the pleasure and honour to work with Lindsey Carlos Clarke, Ghislain Pascal and Philippe Garner over the last year to make a representative selection of more than 100 vintage prints for the collection.

“These have now been acquired for the nation in recognition of a unique talent and personality.”

Lindsey Carlos Clarke said: “I am delighted that these important images are now part of the National Photography Collection, so that the nation has access to them now and in the future.”

Michael Terwey, head of exhibitions and collections at the National Media Museum added: “Carlos Clarke’s exemplary craft in photography makes this a compelling and relevant contemporary acquisition for the National Photography Collection.”