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How Photography Became Contemporary Art: Inside an Artistic Revolution from Pop to the Digital Age
A leading critic’s inside story of “the photo boom” during the crucial decades of the 1970s and ’80s
“Grundberg . . . is a vibrant, opinionated, authoritative guide to the medium’s past and present.”—Jackie Wullschläger, Financial Times, "Best Books of 2021: Visual Arts"
When Andy Grundberg landed in New York in the early 1970s as a budding writer, photography was at the margins of the contemporary art world. By 1991, when he left his post as critic for the New York Times , photography was at the vital center of artistic debate. Grundberg writes eloquently and authoritatively about photography’s “boom years,” chronicling the medium’s increasing role within the most important art movements of the time, from Earth Art and Conceptual Art to performance and video. He also traces photography’s embrace by museums and galleries, as well as its politicization in the culture wars of the 1980s and ’90s.
Grundberg reflects on the landmark exhibitions that defined the moment and his encounters with the work of leading photographers—many of whom he knew personally—including Gordon Matta-Clark, Cindy Sherman, and Robert Mapplethorpe. He navigates crucial themes such as photography’s relationship to theory as well as feminism and artists of color. Part memoir and part history, this perspective by one of the period’s leading critics ultimately tells a larger story about the crucial decades of the 1970s and ’80s through the medium of photography.
“Grundberg . . . is a vibrant, opinionated, authoritative guide to the medium’s past and present.”—Jackie Wullschläger, Financial Times, "Best Books of 2021: Visual Arts"
When Andy Grundberg landed in New York in the early 1970s as a budding writer, photography was at the margins of the contemporary art world. By 1991, when he left his post as critic for the New York Times , photography was at the vital center of artistic debate. Grundberg writes eloquently and authoritatively about photography’s “boom years,” chronicling the medium’s increasing role within the most important art movements of the time, from Earth Art and Conceptual Art to performance and video. He also traces photography’s embrace by museums and galleries, as well as its politicization in the culture wars of the 1980s and ’90s.
Grundberg reflects on the landmark exhibitions that defined the moment and his encounters with the work of leading photographers—many of whom he knew personally—including Gordon Matta-Clark, Cindy Sherman, and Robert Mapplethorpe. He navigates crucial themes such as photography’s relationship to theory as well as feminism and artists of color. Part memoir and part history, this perspective by one of the period’s leading critics ultimately tells a larger story about the crucial decades of the 1970s and ’80s through the medium of photography.
- GenresArtPhotography
296 pages, Hardcover
Published April 6, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 6, 2022
Really interesting to learn how rapidly this medium has evolved in a short time. Photography is unique as it represents the artist having actually been present and in some cases had actually played a part in the construction of the scene, rather than just an impassive bystander. This book was interesting, but I thought it could have benefitted from more visual examples and analysis over narratives around the careers of the photographers.
June 9, 2022
An interesting book offering a detailed recent history of photography as art. I admit my eyes glazed over more than a few times when the author provided long lists of artists’ names.
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January 6, 202411126363
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January 6, 202411126363
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews