The Pictures Generation Art Movement emerged in the mid-1970s, profoundly reshaping contemporary art with its critical analysis of media culture. This unofficial group of American artists, initially brought together by the groundbreaking 1977 exhibition “Pictures” curated by art historian and critic Douglas Crimp, challenged traditional notions of originality, authorship, and identity. Their work, encompassing photography, painting, video, and performance, drew heavily from the omnipresent images of mass media, reflecting a generation raised on television and saturated with popular culture.
The Pictures Generation: Origins and Core Ideas
The Pictures Generation Art Movement takes its name from Douglas Crimp's influential 1977 group show at New York City's Artists Space gallery. This exhibition featured artists Troy Brauntuch, Jack Goldstein, Sherrie Levine, Robert Longo, and Philip Smith. Crimp’s framework described shared themes among these artists, particularly an interest in representational imagery and references to mass media, explored through "processes of quotation, excerptation, framing, and staging." The core idea was about "pictures of pictures," and what art could be in a world flooded with images.
The 2009 Metropolitan Museum of Art Exhibition
A pivotal moment for the movement's recognition was The Pictures Generation, 1974–1984, an exhibition held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) in New York City from April 29 to August 2, 2009. Curated by Douglas Eklund, this show argued that Crimp's observations described a widely shared sensibility among artists of the 1970s and 80s. The exhibition and its catalogue traced how these artists developed their unique approach, focusing on key communities like the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), Hallwalls in Buffalo, and Artists Space.
The Met exhibition significantly expanded the roster of artists, including well-known figures of the 1980s and their predecessors:
- Key Artists Exhibited: Cindy Sherman, Barbara Kruger, Louise Lawler, Robert Longo, David Salle, Richard Prince, Laurie Simmons, Jack Goldstein, Sherrie Levine, Troy Brauntuch, Michael Zwack.
- Artistic Predecessors: John Baldessari and Allan McCollum.
Some writers, such as Norman Rosenthal and Gary Indiana, have suggested other artists like Eric Fischl, Julian Schnabel, and Walter Robinson should also be considered part of this influential group, despite their exclusion from The Met's exhibition.
Key Themes and Characteristics of the Pictures Generation
Artists of the Pictures Generation were deeply concerned with issues of representation and media culture. They aimed to dissect and challenge the endless stream of images that defined their world. Their work often featured:
- Appropriation Art: This was their principal mode of operation, using citation and referencing worn-out symbols to subvert notions of authorship, originality, and the uniqueness of an artwork. They believed that in a world saturated with images, there was always something left to reproduce. As Sherrie Levine stated, she tried to "make art which celebrates doubt and uncertainty... which suspends meaning while perpetually dispatching you towards interpretation."
- Critique of Stereotypes and Consumerism: The artists relentlessly tracked stereotypes, whether it was Richard Prince's cowboys drawn from popular culture advertisements or Cindy Sherman's Untitled Film Stills, which parodied 1950s-60s cinematic representations of women.
- Mass Media and Popular Imagery: They explored how television, movies, magazines, and advertising shaped perceptions and desires. Their art used the same mechanisms of seduction and desire found in media to comment on it.
- Postmodernism and Artifice: Inspired by philosophers like Roland Barthes and his "The Death of the Author" manifesto, the Pictures Generation embraced a self-ironical, fragmented, and incomplete approach to art. Their work was seen as a "postmodern" art, aware of its own artifice and inability for closure, making it radically contemporary.
Influential Artists and Their Works
Cindy Sherman: Self-Portraiture and Satire
Cindy Sherman (born 1953) is an American photographer renowned for her self-portraiture. She uses herself as the subject in various costumes and settings to explore identity, gender, and the construction of images. Her work often focuses on lighting, facial expression, and costume.
Her breakthrough series, Untitled Film Stills (1977–1980), features Sherman posing as B-movie heroines in fictional cinematic scenes, satirizing the portrayal of women in film noir and other media. These images challenge the idea of an original identity, showing how it is constantly performed. Sherman's more recent work includes heavily edited "selfies" shared on Instagram, continuing her commentary on current culture, self-obsession, and caricature. In Untitled #354 (2000), she creates a caricature of a tourist in an African country, highlighting cultural appropriation.
Richard Prince: Re-photography and Consumerism
Richard Prince is an American painter and photographer considered a pioneer of appropriation art. He began by re-photographing existing images, particularly from magazines and advertisements, to create new works that questioned originality and ownership.
His iconic Cowboy series involved cropping advertisements for Marlboro cigarettes, removing text, and presenting the re-photographed images as his own. This work dissects mass consumerism and the construction of masculine identity. One of these images sold for $1.2 million in 2005, sparking controversy over artistic ownership. Prince's Nurse Paintings (2009) appropriate pulp romance novel covers, transforming them into large-scale works with unsettling elements, exploring themes of desire and the professional woman as a sexualized object. His De Kooning series involved sketching over William de Kooning's original works, further challenging the concept of artistic creation.
Sherrie Levine: Challenging Originality with Copies
Sherrie Levine is an American photographer, painter, and sculptor known for creating works that are almost indistinguishable from those of other artists. Her practice directly challenges the concept of original works in art through ready-made images. She aims to make the audience question authenticity and originality.
In her President Collage 1 (1979), Levine cuts photos of women from magazines and places them next to portraits of American presidents (George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, John Kennedy). This work aims to draw attention to the relationship between power, gender, and consumption, and how cultural myths are constructed through imagery. Levine steals these images from their usual cultural contexts to subvert their mythologies.
Flashcards
Tap to flip · Swipe to navigate
Legacy and Impact
The Pictures Generation artists, through their innovative use of photography, film, video, and performance, foreshadowed the digital age and the complexities of image sharing, authenticity, and ownership. Their work remains strong and powerful, often carrying a political edge, and continues to influence contemporary artists dealing with media saturation and cultural critique. The Met even produced a follow-up exhibition, Pictures Revisited, in 2020–2021, focusing on appropriation and featuring artists from and beyond the original cohort.
Frequently Asked Questions about The Pictures Generation Art Movement
What is the significance of the 1977 “Pictures” exhibition?
The 1977 "Pictures" exhibition, curated by Douglas Crimp at Artists Space, was crucial as it identified a nascent artistic sensibility focused on appropriating and critiquing mass media imagery. It coined the term "Pictures" which later gave the movement its name, even though the definitive "Pictures Generation" group was more broadly defined by The Met's 2009 exhibition.
How did The Pictures Generation challenge traditional art concepts?
Artists of The Pictures Generation challenged traditional concepts by questioning originality, authorship, and the uniqueness of an artwork. They did this through appropriation, re-photography, and direct citation of existing images from popular culture and mass media, arguing that in a world full of reproductions, the act of re-presenting an image could be a powerful artistic statement itself.
Who are some of the most famous artists associated with The Pictures Generation?
Some of the most famous artists associated with The Pictures Generation include Cindy Sherman, known for her Untitled Film Stills; Richard Prince, famous for his re-photographed Cowboy series; Sherrie Levine, who created copies of other artists' works; and Barbara Kruger, recognized for her text-and-image collages.
What role did mass media play in The Pictures Generation's art?
Mass media played a central role, serving as both the subject and the medium for The Pictures Generation artists. They explored how television, magazines, advertisements, and film shape cultural narratives and individual identities. By appropriating and manipulating these media images, they aimed to deconstruct their persuasive power and expose underlying stereotypes and consumerist ideologies.