Now in paperback, this groundbreaking publication announces the death of the conventional portrait.

Exploring bold new strategies of representation – computer manipulation, retouching, photomontage, found imagery and methods of veiling and disguising – the artists here present provocative faces to the world that are sometimes alluring, sometimes touching, sometimes frightening, but never less than riveting.

Whether Gillian Wearing’s masked self-portrait, Aziz + Cucher’s neutral façades, Lawick Müller’s composite portrait of a couple, Cindy Sherman’s disquieting disguises or Orlan’s disturbing experiments with cosmetic surgery, these faces demand our attention.

William A. Ewing is Director of the Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland, the world-renowned museum of photography. He is the author of more than a dozen books on diverse aspects of photography and the curator of a number of international exhibitions on the themes of the body and the face.
Nathalie Herschdorfer is an Associate Curator at the Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne. An art historian specializing in the history of photography, she has co-curated several major international photography exhibitions.