Jeff Wall - Tableaux Pictures Photographs, 1996 - 2013

Jeff Wall (born 1946) is both one of the most innovative and classic photographers of his generation. He became well known in the 1970s for his large-format transparencies, backlit by fluorescent lightboxes. His subject matter is varied and wide-ranging, based on situations experienced by the artist that are then recreated for the camera. Wall´s combination of color prints and lightbox images, which he calls "cinematic" photographs, were completely novel and somewhat controversial when he first used them: only black-and-white photographs were considered appropriate for a serious museum exhibit. In 1996, Wall expanded his repertoire to begin producing monochrome images, further exploring the cinematographic--particularly film noir--and the aesthetics of classic photography. This volume, accompanying a Kunsthaus Bregenz exhibition, begins with these monochrome pictures and continues through the present. Many of the works are reproduced here for the first time.