This book is from the Todd Oldham Studio research and design library collection.

by Tracey Bashkoff (Author), Nancy Spector (Author), Hiroshi Sugimoto (Photographer)

A Guggenheim Museum publication devoted to Hiroshi Sugimoto’s striking wax portrait series. Known for his seascapes, theaters, and museum dioramas, Sugimoto turns here to life-size black-and-white portraits of historical figures including Henry VIII and his wives, Voltaire, Benjamin Franklin, Oscar Wilde, and Emperor Hirohito. Photographed in wax museums against deep black grounds and lit with dramatic, Rembrandtesque precision, the images blur the boundary between sculpture, painting, and photography.

The series also features a monumental five-panel photograph of a wax effigy of Leonardo’s Last Supper.

Published to accompany an exhibition commissioned for the Deutsche Guggenheim Berlin and traveling to the Guggenheim Museo Bilbao, the book includes essays by leading art historians and an interview with Sugimoto, offering deeper insight into this haunting body of work.

Publication Date: 2000
Publisher: Guggenheim Museum Publications
Dimensions: 11.5 x 0.75 x 12.5 inches

170 pages.

Please note: All sales are final. Due to the unique nature of these pieces and our studio move, we’re unable to accept returns or exchanges.