Pictures Generation, 1974-1984

by Douglas Eklund

This handsome book is the first comprehensive examination of the Pictures Generation, a loosely knit group of artists working in New York from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s. The overarching subject of the work of these artists was imagery itself--how pictures not only depict but also shape how we perceive the world and ourselves. The collective achievement of this group is an extremely important chapter in the history of contemporary art.
Born into an expanding media and consumer culture and educated in the strategies of Minimal and Conceptual art, the artists of the Pictures Generation, including Robert Longo, Richard Prince, David Salle, and Cindy Sherman, chose to return to representation, addressing the rhetorical, social, and psychological functions of the image across all media (photography, painting and sculpture, drawings and prints, film and video, and music and performance). While the careers of these artists are typically considered in isolation, this catalogue traces their complex interrelationships and mutual development--beginning with the emergence of a group sensibility characterized by techniques of distancing and theatricality and ending with a resurgence of painting by mostly male artists (which was contested by women artists working in media such as video, photography, and installation).
"Featured artists: "
Ericka Beckman
Dara Birnbaum
Barbara Bloom
Eric Bogosian
Glenn Branca
Troy Brauntuch
James Casebere
Sarah Charlesworth
Rhys Chatham
Charlie Clough
Nancy Dwyer
Jack Goldstein
Barbara Kruger
Louise Lawler
Thomas Lawson
Sherrie Levine
Robert Longo
Allan McCollum
Paul McMahon
Matt Mullican
Richard Prince
David Salle
Cindy Sherman
Laurie Simmons
Michael Smith
James Welling
Michael Zwack

Genres: Art, Photography

350 pages, Paperback

First published April 28, 2009

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.

Reviews

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

An informative (if artspeak-heavy) history of a fairly recent art movement that I had only cursorily been aware of. Yet after reading this catalog for the exhibition of the same name, the work feels incredibly influential when viewed today (for better or worse).

[Barry · Rating 2 out of 5]

You can read my review of the exhibition at http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090601....