Pictures
New York: Committee for the Visual Arts, Inc., 1977. 1st Edition. Octavo, publisher's stapled stiff paper wraps printed in black.
Exhibition catalog for the seminal group show Pictures, held at the New York gallery Artists Space, September 24-October 29, 1977, and curated by art historian and AIDS activist Douglas Crimp, featuring early works by Sherrie Levine, Jack Goldstein, Philip Smith, Troy Brauntuch, and Robert Longo. With this show and in his introductory essay, Crimp defined a genre of artists later to be called the "Pictures Generation" who, in general, were interested in representational imagery, references to mass media, "and processes of quotation, excerptation, framing, and staging." "To an ever greater extent our experience is governed by pictures, pictures in newspapers and magazines, on television and in cinema…While it once seemed that pictures had the function of interpreting reality, it now seems that they have usurped it." Two years after the exhibition, Crimp elaborated on his discussion of postmodern representation in an essay of the same title published in October, this time including Cindy Sherman. Since 1977, the massively influential "Pictures Generation" has grown to include Richard Prince, Sarah Charlesworth, Barbara Kruger, Louise Lawler, David Salle, and others. Illustrated with black-and-white plates. Some soiling to wraps. Very good. Item #12911
$225.00