From Library Journal
This catalog accompanies the first museum retrospective of the photography of influential German multimedia artist Polke. Originally mounted by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA), the show is currently in Santa Fe and will travel to Washington, D.C.'s Corcoran Gallery. Often thought of as a painter or printmaker, Polke actually experimented with diverse media, refusing to accept the technical limitations they are commonly thought to have. His constant manipulation of negatives, paper, and print and use of double exposures and overprinting can be seen as direct influences from other media and are more aesthetically informed than the technical experiments undertaken by Laszlo Moholy-Nagy 50 years earlier. In content, Polke shows a preference for abstract compositions and portraits, while in mood the works vere between ethereal and jocular, occasionally achieving both concurrently. The essays by Morris Hambourg, curator of photographs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and Schimmel, MOCA's chief curator, elucidate Polke's methods and themes in jargon-free language, though they are at times repetitive. The more than 150 rich reproductions, however, are the heart of the book. Highly recommended for all libraries with works on contemporary art.?Eric Bryant, "Library Journal"Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Library Journal