CURATED LIBRARIES

The Pictures Generation

In 1977, curator and critic Douglas Crimp organized a groundbreaking exhibition of rising American artists whose work in photography, film, video and performance cracked wise and appropriated from existing media imagery. The show, mounted at the influential downtown alternative gallery, Artist’s Space, featured Robert Longo, Jack Goldstein, Sherrie Levine, Troy Brauntuch and Philip Smith. It was called, simply, Pictures. Subsequently, many of the most important and challenging artists of the era—including John Baldessari, Dara Birnbaum, Barbara Kruger, Louise Lawler, Thomas Lawson, Matt Mullican, Richard Prince, David Salle, Laurie Simmons, Cindy Sherman, Michael Smith and James Welling—were added to the loose-knit group now known as the "Pictures Generation."

Louise Lawler's "Why Pictures Now" from The Last Picture Show, Walker Art Center.

"For every photographer who clamors to make it as an artist, there is an artist running a grave risk of turning into a photographer."

Artforum, 1976