Thomas Struth: 1977-2002

by Douglas Eklund, Ann Goldstein, Charles Wylie

Thomas Struth (b. 1954) is one of the most compelling artists using photography today. Coming to prominence in his native Germany in the 1970s, Struth captured the atmospheric power of the contemporary urban landscape in his early black-and-white works. With an intent gaze and exacting lens, Struth expanded his range to include color portraits, bringing a unique psychological precision to the tradition of portraiture.Perhaps Struth's best-known works are his majestic, large-scaled museum photographs depicting visitors to some of the world's great museums and buildings, including The Art Institute of Chicago, the Musee du Louvre in Paris, the Accademia in Venice, and the Pantheon in Rome. These captivating photographs not only transport us to the place depicted, they also provide a chance to reexamine our own selves looking at art. Continuing his interest in series, Struth has recently created expansive works based on the natural world, often training his camera on a particular contemporary melding of nature with technology and architecture.

This handsomely designed and produced volume is the most comprehensive book to date on the photographs of Thomas Struth and accompanies a major retrospective exhibition organized by the Dallas Museum of Art. Engaging essays by well-known photography and art experts chronicle Struth's career and situate his work in the context of the history of photography and its rise in contemporary art.

Genres: Photography

164 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2002

About the author

Douglas Eklund is Curator, Department of Photographs, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. He began his career at The Met in 1994, cataloguing the archive of the legendary photographer Walker Evans, whose iconic images documented ordinary American life from the Great Depression to the 1970s. Since the late 1990s he has been the curator responsible for contemporary photography and related media (film/video/new media). Eklund was the curator behind the groundbreaking 2009 exhibition and publication, The Pictures Generation, 1974–84. He has also contributed to numerous exhibition catalogues, including essays on John Baldessari and Piotr Uklanski, among many others.