Thomas Hirschhorn is a Swiss-born artist who emerged in the 1990s, noted for his giant, labour-intensive, room-sized collages of low-grade materials. Tinfoil, cardboard, plywood, plastic and packing tape bring together an infinite variety of debris, including handwritten texts and images culled from popular magazines; miniature toy aeroplanes and trains; knick-knacks by the hundreds; armies of plastic 'gold' watches; household fans blowing red flags which flutter violently; monitors duct-taped into vitrines, ad infinitum. Noted professor and art thinker Benjamin H. D. Buchloh surveys the artist's work from its earliest, anonymous beginnings in the streets of Paris to his recent, virtuoso installations as part of a long tradition of politically-motivated anti-monuments. In her interview, Alison M. Gingeras, who has worked with Hirschhorn since 2000, discusses with the artist his beginnings as a graphic artist, and his more recent dealings with the contemporary art system. Carlos Basualdo offers a full analysis of, as well as little-known background on, Bataille Monument, at Documenta 11, which Basualdo co-curated.

Thomas Hirschhorn (Phaidon Contemporary Artist Series)

Arts & Photography

Gingeras, Alison M.

Basualdo, Carlos

Buchloh, Benjamin H.D.

History & Criticism

Phaidon Press

Guy Bourdin (1928-1991) created some of the most challenging and seductive fashion photographs of the last century. He worked for Vogue Paris for over thirty years, from 1955 to 1987, and his images filled the pages of international fashion magazines throughout the 1970s and 1980s in groundbreaking campaigns for Charles Jourdan, Bloomingdales and Issey Miyake. His glamorous, yet often surreal, work revolutionized the genre of fashion photography, presenting fashion as the luxurious embellishment rather than the subject of his images, which depict dark fantasies of lust, consumption and desire. Bourdin's legacy can still be seen in the work of photographers such as Stephen Meisel and Helmut Newton.

Guy Bourdin (55s)

Individual Artists

Guy Bourdin was born in Paris in 1928 and received his first photographic training whilst performing military service in Senegal in 1948?9. His photographs were first shown in Paris in 1952, the catalogue for which exhibition included an introduction by Man Ray, and he began working for French Vogue in 1954. Inspired by Man Ray's brand of Surrealism, Bourdin rejected the descriptive roles of photography in favour of an exploration of the medium's capacity for the divergent. Along with certain American photographers, notably Edward Weston, Bourdin recognized a concern with formal perfection and extremely high finish that became his own objective, one perfectly adapted to the deceptive sophistication of fashion imagery, the landscape in which he developed his ideas for over thirty years. At French Vogue, Bourdin demanded and was allowed unique editorial control and amazingly he extended this to his principal client in advertising, the shoe company Charles Jourdan, who first commissioned him in the 1960s. Bourdin's approach to campaigns reflected a distinct change for advertising in this period. Bourdin rejected the 'product shot' in favour of atmospheric, often surreal tableaux and suggestions of narrative. Bourdin was not alone in demystifying the object, but he was the most radical in his approach. The impact of the imagery of Guy Bourdin on both commercial and fine art photography continues to resonate today, Bourdin made radical changes both in the style and the meaning of commercial imagery. His fashion shoots are mysterious, hypnotic, surreal, exposing the true and unnerving nature of desire. He shows that, within the context of fashion, it is rarely the product that compels us. It is the image ? carefully staged narrative of sexual fantasy, the quest for the unattainable, the suggestion of danger ? that stimulates consumer desire.

Guy Bourdin

This definitive book on the renowned postwar avant-garde artistic movement offers a comprehensive insight into Cobra’s history and achievements, and explores its lasting influences on contemporary art. The European artistic collective known as Cobra was born in the wake of World War II’s devastating events, its name an acronym for the native cities of its founders: Copenhagen, Amsterdam, and Brussels. The influential group of painters and sculptors had a tremendous impact on the development of European Abstract Expressionism, and contemporary art in general. Cobra was arguably the last avant-garde movement of the 20th century. Moving chronologically, this book explores the years leading up to Cobra’s formation, charts its complex expansion over a decade, and illuminates how the movement helped shape the trajectory of contemporary art today. Thoughtfully integrated among the numerous images, many presented as full-page color illustrations, are essays that probe the ideological hallmarks that shaped the group as a whole: its rejection of rational constraints; a focus on play and youthfulness; and its embrace of immediacy, particularly in the form of “action” paintings. In addition, comprehensive biographies of the artists illuminate crucial aspects of each individual’s journey, helping to expand readers’ understanding of Europe’s socio-political and theoretical climate.

The Avant-garde Won't Give Up: Cobra and Its Legacy

Prestel

To inaugurate the newly renovated Palazzo Grassi in Venice (designed by Japanese architect Tadao Ando), its new president and owner, François Pinault, has created a show that presents art from his extensive collection. A billionaire French businessman who runs the retail company PPR, Francoise Pinault has amassed one of the most impressive art collections in the world, in addition to commissioning the work of new and upcoming artists. This book is published in three languages (English, French, and Italian) and is an unofficial follow-up to Where Are We Going? published by Skira in 2006. It features sixteen international artists whose work has been specially commissioned by François Pinault for Palazzo Grassi whose work engages with the traditional mediums of both painting and sculpture. The show consists of work by some of the most thought-provoking artists of our time, including Kristin Baker, Marlene Dumas, Robert Gober, David Hammons, Mike Kelley, Louise Lawler, Takashi Murakami, Laura Owens, and Richard Prince.

Sequence 1: Painting and Sculpture from the François Pinault Collection

Collections, Catalogs & Exhibitions

Skira

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Gingeras, Alison M.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Gingeras, Alison M.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Gingeras, Alison M.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Thomas Hirschhorn (Phaidon Contemporary Artist Series)

Guy Bourdin (55s)

Guy Bourdin

The Avant-garde Won't Give Up: Cobra and Its Legacy

Sequence 1: Painting and Sculpture from the François Pinault Collection

Sequence 1: Painting and Sculpture from the François Pinault Collection