Face: The New Photographic Portrait

This groundbreaking publication announces the death of the conventional portrait. In an age when we are bombarded with flawless images of youthful beauty, when rejuvenation is available through a jar of cream or a scalpel, artists and photographers seek to portray the face in new ways. Through a variety of techniques, including computer manipulation, photomontage, and retouching, the artists present their new portraits. They replace clarity with blur, the split-second with the elastic moment, questioning the notion of a fixed identity, of universality of expression, of what constitutes beauty. Whether Cindy Sherman's disquieting disguises, Gillian Wearing's masked self-portrait, Lawick Müller's composite portraits of couples, or Orlan's disturbing experiments with cosmetic surgery, these faces demand attention.