Paul Outerbridge

Command Performance

Martineau Paul

In the 1920s, a young American – Paul Outerbridge (1896-1958) burst onto the photographic art scene with images that were visually fresh, technically adept, and decidedly Modernist. Not only did he re-invigorate the photographic art of the period, he also applied his talent for composition to the commercial world, introducing an artist's sensibilities to advertisements for everything from men's haberdashery to JELL-O, for magazines such as "Vogue" and "Vanity Fair". An early master of the complex carbo colour process, "Outerbridge" also photographed nudes in poses that skirted the limits of propriety at the time".Paul Outerbridge: Command Performance" is a visually stunning volume that brings together one hundred photographs from the whole of Outerbridge's career, including his Cubist still-life images, commercial, and nude photography. This is a visually stunning celebration of the pioneering work of photographer Paul Outerbridge.

About the author

Paul Martineau is associate curator in the Department of Photographs at the J. Paul Getty Museum. He is the author of "Paul Outerbridge: Command Performance" (Getty Publications, 2009) and "Still Life in Photography" (Getty Publications, 2010). James Crump is chief curator and curator of photography at the Cincinnati Art Museum. In 2007, Crump wrote, produced, and directed the documentary film "Black White + Gray", featuring the influential curator and collector Sam Wagstaff and artist Robert Mapplethorpe.