Lorna Simpson Collages

"Black women's heads of hair are galaxies unto themselves, solar systems, moonscapes, volcanic interiors." —Elizabeth Alexander, from the Introduction Using advertising photographs of black women (and men) drawn from vintage issues of Ebony and Jet magazines, the exquisite and thought-provoking collages of world-renowned artist Lorna Simpson explore the richly nuanced language of hair. Surreal coiffures made from colorful ink washes, striking geological formations from old textbooks, and other unexpected forms and objects adorn the models to mesmerizingly beautiful effect. Featuring 160 artworks, an artist's statement, and an introduction by poet, author, and scholar Elizabeth Alexander, this volume celebrates the irresistible power of Simpson's visual vernacular.

One of the leading artists of her generation, Lorna Simpson (born 1960) came to prominence in the mid-1980s through her photographic and textual works that challenged conventional attitudes toward race, gender and cultural memory with a potent mixture of formal elegance and conceptual rigor. Published on the occasion of her 2013 exhibition at Aspen Art Museum, Lorna Simpson: Works on Paper highlights four recent bodies of work on paper that explore the complex relationship between the photographic archive and processes of self-fashioning, including a new group of works being developed during her time as the AAM's 2013 Jane and Marc Nathanson Distinguished Artist in Residence. As in Simpson's earlier works, these new drawings and collages take the African-American woman as a point of departure, continuing her longstanding examination of the ways that gender and culture shape the experience of life in our contemporary multiracial society. This beautifully illustrated catalogue features new scholarship by New Yorker staff writer Hilton Als, MoMA Chief Curator of Drawings, Connie Butler, LACMA Chief Curator of Contemporary Art, Franklin Sirmans, and the AAM's Nancy and Bob Magoon CEO and Director, Heidi Zuckerman Jacobson.

The ultimate monograph on the work of celebrated artist Lorna Simpson, a trailblazer who continues to influence and inspire Lorna Simpson is a multimedia artist known for her pioneering approach to conceptual photography. In 1993 Simpson was the first African-American woman ever to show in the Venice Biennale and to have a solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. This landmark book documents Simpson's career in its entirety, up to her most recent work. In doing so, it sheds light on the remarkable path that Simpson paved to global critical acclaim and art-world stardom.

A consideration of the African-American artist's searching, philosophical work.

Return to the elemental - Search for the primitive - Abstraction and empathy - Picasso and Negro Art - Matisse or Vlaminck - Problems of form - Exchange of techniques - Exotic attraction of distant lands - Primitive art and German Expressionism - Surrealism and the art of the South Sea Islands.

From her appearance as a provocative young artist in Alfred Stieglitz's photographs to her depiction as a grande dame of the art world in silkscreens by Andy Warhol, Georgia O'Keeffe captivated the media with her image of a woman as bold as her art. This beautifully illustrated book tells the stories behind the portraits of one of the 20th century's foremost American painters. O'Keeffe's professional and personal relationships with the leading photographers of her time come to light, as does her ability to shape public perceptions of her career. Stieglitz first created photographs of his protegee posing in front of her abstract artworks as a manifestation of a sexually liberated woman. O'Keeffe later redefined her image, sometimes working with photographers at her homes in New Mexico, where she emerged as a rugged individualist among the animal bones and gnarled trees that she often painted. This publication brings together for the first time, photographs by Stieglitz, Newman, Loengard, Webb, and others--many of which probe fascinating tensions between abstractionism and realism in O'Keeffe's art. In addition, a selection of O'Keeffe's works chronicles the span of her long career.