We are thrilled to announce the publication of American artist Melissa Shook (1939-2020)'s first monograph, Published by TBW Books, The three-hundred-page book is dedicated to the artist’s daily self-portrait series from 1972 to 1973, publishing all 192 photographs of the series together for the first time.
With her medium format, black and white photographs, Shook captures herself in a variety of poses creating a more complete portrait than could be achieved with any one image. The photographs often include Shook’s daughter and the friends who populate her sphere.
The viewer is introduced to the artist’s intimate domain and the mundanity of everyday existence comes to the forefront: nursing her ailing toe on the couch, sitting at the kitchen table with a friend, hair wrapped up in a towel post shower, dancing with her daughter. Rather than strictly embodying a typical vision of beauty, Shook’s poses are often imbued with irreverence and parody as a rejection of the tradition of female portraiture made from a male perspective.
The book is astutely contextualized by Sally Stein's essay highlighting the artist’s purposeful dismissal of the idea of a single, revelatory moment, opting instead for the extended serial portrait, with all its contradictions and complexity.
For more information and purchase, please go to TBW Books' website:
