Andreas Gursky

205 Pages·2016·40.07 MB·English

by  Galassi, Peter

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Author
Galassi, Peter
Date
2001
Publisher
The Museum of Modern Art; H.N.
Abrams
ISBN
0870700162, 0810962152, 0870700170
Exhibition URL
www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/170
The Museum of Modern Art's exhibition history—
from our founding in 1929 to the present—is
available online. It includes exhibition catalogues,
primary documents, installation views, and an
index of participating artists.
MoMA © 2017 The Museum of Modern Art

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ANDREAS GURSKY
Andreas Gursky's large color photographs vividly encapsulate
our world of high-tech industry, global markets, easy travel,
and slick commerce. Gursky has tracked the contemporary
Zeitgeist from his native Germany to such far-flung places as
Hong Kong, Brasilia, Cairo, New York, Shanghai, Stockholm,
Tokyo, Paris, Singapore, and Los Angeles. His subjects include
international stock exchanges, vast hotels and apartment
buildings, sporting championships and parliaments, and mid
night raves attended by casts of thousands.
Born in 1955, Gursky came to prominence in the late 1980s
after studying with Bernd and Hilla Becher at the
Kunstakademie in Dusseldorf. In the 1990s, as he turned to
contemporary themes and his photographs grew in scale,
he rapidly achieved a signature style of saturated color, com
manding symmetry, and bold design, in which every tiny detail
responds to the compelling order of the whole. At the same
time, his highly inventive work has drawn nourishment from
an improbable diversity of imagery and techniques, from the
seductions of commercial photography and the tricks of dig
ital manipulation to the steady eye of documentary photogra
phy and the grandeur of painting by artists from Caspar
David Friedrich to Gerhard Richter.
This large-format book is published to accompany the first
American retrospective of Gursky's work, at The Museum of
Modern Art, New York, in the spring of 2001. Its full-page
plates and generous details survey the artist's career from
1984-t o the present. Peter Galassi's richly illustrated essay
provides the first in-depth study of the artistic contexts, work
ing methods, and evolution of Gursky's photography. The book
concludes with a detailed Exhibition Chronology and
Bibliography.
196 pages; 133 illustrations (115 color, 18 duotone)

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Peter Galassi
The Museum of Modern Art,
New York
Distributed by Harry N. Abrams, Inc.,
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Published in conjunction with the exhibition Andreas Gursky,
organized by Peter Galassi, Chief Curator of the Department of
Andre Photography, The Museum of Modern Art, New York,
our w March 4-May 15, 2001.
and
zeitge The exhibition is made possible by the
Hong William Randolph Hearst Endowment Fund.
Tokyo
interr This publication is made possible by the
build John Szarkowski Publications Fund.
night
Produced by the Department of Publications,
Born The Museum of Modern Art, New York
after
Kunsl Edited by David Frankel
conte Designed by Deborah Littlejohn and Santiago Piedrafita
he ra Cover designed by Gina Rossi
mane Production by Christopher Zichello
respo Printed by Passavia Druckservice GmbH, Passau, Germany
time, Bound by Stamperia Valdonega S.R.L., Verona, Italy
an im Color Separations by Barry Siddall, MR Reproduktionen, Munich
seduc
ital m This book is typeset in DIN Schriften, designed by Erick Spikerman,
phy a and in Eurostile, designed by Aldo Novarese. The paper is 170 gsm
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David Luxosilk
This I Copyright © 2001 The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Amer
Mode Photographs by Andreas Gursky © 2001 Andreas Gursky
plates
1984 Certain illustrations are covered by claims to copyright cited in the
provid Photograph Credits, p. 195. All rights reserved
ing m
concli Published by The Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53 Street,
Biblio New York, New York 10019
196 p; Clothbound edition distributed in the United States and Canada by
Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York
Clothbound edition distributed outside the United States and
Canada by Thames & Hudson, Ltd, London
Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number: 00-110690
ISBN: 0-87070-016-2 (clothbound, MoMA/Thames & Hudson)
ISBN: 0-8109-6215-2 (clothbound, Abrams)
ISBN: 0-87070-017-0 (paperbound, MoMA)
Cover: Andreas Gursky. May Day IV (detail). 2000. See plate 59
Frontispiece: Paris, Montparnasse (detail). 1993. See plate 28
Printed in Germany
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CONTENTS
FOREWORD
PREFACE AND
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
GURSKY'S WORLD
Peter Galassi
PLATES
LIST OF PLATES
EXHIBITION CHRONOLOGY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
TRUSTEES OF THE MUSEUM
OF MODERN ART