Sarah Charlesworth (1947–2013) was an American contemporary artist renowned for her experimental works in photography and her critical exploration of image culture. She was a key member of the "Pictures Generation," a group of artists who used appropriation, deconstruction, and re-contextualization of images to investigate ideologies embedded in media and culture.
Artistic Career and Creative Features
1970s: Conceptual Photography
Charlesworth began her career in the 1970s, focusing on conceptual photography, treating the medium as an analytical tool to explore the relationship between images and reality.
1980s: Influence of the "Pictures Generation"
During the 1980s, her works often employed found images through appropriation, challenging notions of originality and media authority. Her Modern History series is particularly notable for its deconstruction of news imagery.
1990s: Studio Photography
In the 1990s, she transitioned to studio-based work, creating meticulously crafted photographs using props and constructed scenes to investigate the interplay between form and content.
Theorist and Writer
Beyond her artistic practice, Charlesworth was also a theorist and writer, offering profound insights into the roles of imagery, media, and culture through her critical essays.
Impact and Legacy
Sarah Charlesworth was not only a photographer but also a critical thinker whose work significantly influenced the evolution of contemporary photography and the re-evaluation of image culture. Her art elevated photography to a conceptual and philosophical domain, challenging traditional perceptions of the medium.
Her legacy continues to inspire new generations of artists and scholars, prompting ongoing reexamination of the dynamic interactions between photography and culture.
Published to coincide with the major exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and covering an artistic career that evolved over nearly half a century, this comprehensive overview illustrates the wide range of Sarah Charlesworth’s art and legacy. Sarah Charlesworth explored an array of artistic expressions, from conceptual photography in the 1970s, appropriation of images associated with the Pictures Generation in the 1980s, and studio-based photography using props and setups beginning in the 1990s. At each turn, her growth as an artist paralleled the evolution of photography as a contemporary medium. This richly illustrated monograph offers a historical perspective on Charlesworth’s art and reflects extensive access to her archive, including notebooks, sketchbooks, diaries, studio logs, test prints, and many never-before-published images, revealing her thought processes over time and their articulation within and across her career. Opening with a chronological essay followed by examinations of particular aspects of the artist’s evolving practice, the book reevaluates and clarifies Charlesworth’s impact as a photographer, writer, and theorist.
