The Last Picture Show

Artists Using Photography, 1960-1982

February 8, 2004 - May 9, 2004

: Giovanni Anselmo Enrare nell'opera (Entering the Work) 1971 Photographic emulsion on canvas. 104 5/16 x 153 9/16 inches. Private Collection, courtesy Galleria Tucci Russo, Torre Pellice, Italy.; Charles Ray Plank Piece 1973 Two black-and-white photographs mounted on rag board, 39.5 x 27 inches each. Collection Kiki Smith, New York.; Jeff Wall Double Self-Portrait 1979 Cibachrome transparencies in lightbox. 64 9/16 x 85 13/16 in. (13.9 x 217.9cm). Collection Art Gallery of Ontario. Toronto Purchase, 1982.; Cindy Sherman Untitled Film Still #34 1979 Black-and-white photograph, AP 2/2; edition of 10 + 2 Aps, 10 x 8 in. Courtesy the artist and Metro Pictures, New York.; Peter Fischli and David Weiss Der Brand von Uster (The Fire of Uster) from Wurstserie 1979 Color photographs, 9.5 x 13.75 in. Collection Walker Art Center, Clinton and Della Walker Acquisition Fund, 1993.; William Wegman Reading Two Books 1971 Black-and-white photograph, 14 1/4 x 10 1/2 in. (36.2 x 26.7 cm). Collection Gayle Greenhill, New York.; Bruce Nauman Bound to Fail 1966-67/1970 From a portfolio of 11 color photographs. 19 3/4 x 23 1/2 inches. The Heithoff Family Collection, Minneapolis.; Barbara Kruger Untitled (You are not yourself) 1982 Black-and-white photograph, 72 x 48 in. (182.9 x 121.9 cm). Collection Per Skarstedt, New York.; Adrian Piper The Mythic Being: I/You (Her) 1974 Black and white photograph, ink. 8x5 in. Collection Walker Art Center. T.B. Walker Acquisition Fund 1999.; Joseph Beuys La revoluzione siamo moi 1972 Phototype on polyester, ink, ink stamp, 75 1/2 x 39 3/8 inches. Alfred and Marie Greisinger Collection, Walker Art Center; T.B. Walker Acquisition Fund, 1992.; The Last Picture Show Installation View 2004 Left to right on the walls are works by Bernd and Hilla Becher, Joseph Beuys, and Gilbert and George. Photo by Joshua White.; The Last Picture Show Installation View 2004 Left to right on the walls are works by Dennis Oppenheim, Richard Long, Mario Merz, and Christian Boltanski. Photo by Joshua White.; The Last Picture Show Installation View 2004 Left to right on the walls are works by Sigmar Polke, Bruce Conner, Charles Ray, and Douglas Huebler. Photo by Joshua White.

About the Exhibition

The Last Picture Show: Artists Using Photography, 1960-1982 is the first major examination of photography by artists who think of themselves as artists first, rather than photographers. Focusing on roughly a twenty-year period, The Last Picture Show brings together approximately 150 works by 57 artists who took up the camera as a tool to pursue their broader artistic ideas, using photographs not only as documents of fleeting performances, staged self-portraits, temporary assemblages, or remote interventions in the landscape, but also as the actual, lasting work of art.

The Last Picture Show encompasses a wide range of art practices and movements such as Conceptual Art, Minimalism, Arte Povera, and strategies of image appropriation. The broad scope of the exhibition includes diverse and unconventional photographs that demonstrate how artists have used the camera to frame critical explorations and overarching themes. These include architecture and seriality, the body, self-portraiture and identity, found images, appropriation, interventions in natural and built environments, conceptual strategies, and the absurd, among others.

Artists

Included in the exhibition are Vito Acconci, Bas Jan Ader, Giovanni Anselmo, Eleanor Antin, John Baldessari, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Joseph Beuys, Mel Bochner, Christian Boltanski, Marcel Broodthaers, Victor Burgin, Sarah Charlesworth, Bruce Conner, Jan Dibbets, Valie Export, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Peter Fischli and David Weiss, Gilbert and George, Dan Graham, Hans Haacke, Douglas Huebler, Yves Klein, Imi Knoebel, Silvia Kolbowski, Jeff Koons, Barbara Kruger, David Lamelas, Louise Lawler, Sherrie Levine, Sol LeWitt, Richard Long, Gordon Matta-Clark, Ana Mendieta, Mario Merz, Nasreen Mohamedi, Bruce Nauman, Hélio Oiticica and Neville D’Almeida, Dennis Oppenheim, Giulio Paolini, Giuseppe Penone, Adrian Piper, Sigmar Polke, Richard Prince, Charles Ray, Martha Rosler, Allen Ruppersberg, Edward Ruscha, Cindy Sherman, Laurie Simmons, Robert Smithson, Ger Van Elk, Jeff Wall, Andy Warhol, Robert Watts, William Wegman, James Welling, and Hannah Wilke.

The exhibition was organized by Douglas Fogle, curator at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. The Hammer Museum is its second venue following its debut at the Walker Art Center. A richly illustrated catalogue features essays by Fogle and several artists, including Lawrence Alloway, Jeff Wall, Dan Graham, Robert Smithson, Mel Bochner, Vito Acconci, Richard Prince, and others.

The Last Picture Show: Artists Using Photography, 1960-1982 is organized by Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, and is made possible by generous support from Karen and Ken Heithoff, La Colección Jumex, Matthew O. Fitzmaurice, Carol and Judson Bemis, Jr., and Harry M.Drake.

The Los Angeles presentation of The Last Picture Show is made possible by The Broad Art Foundation, Rosette Delug, and Michael Rubel. Related public programming is supported by The Pasadena Art Alliance.