Richard Prince: Early Photography 1977–87

This book was published on the occasion of three exhibitions by Richard Prince at Gagosian—Early Photography, 1977–87 at the Grosvenor Hill and West 21st Street galleries in London and New York, respectively, and The Entertainers at the Davies Street gallery in London. (The New York exhibition brought together the works from the two London exhibitions.) The presentations featured many of Prince’s iconic cowboy, girlfriend, and advertisement photographs, as well as the complete series of The Entertainers (1982–83), a rarely seen set of manipulated photographs that evoke the adult entertainment theaters prevalent in New York’s Times Square in the early 1980s. Writings by the artist and source material from his time working in the tear-sheet department at Time magazine are also included. 

The catalogue reproduces the over seventy exhibited works and archival materials along with installation photography, supplemented by rarely seen documents and work prints from the artist’s archive. An illustrated eight-section essay by Sydney Stutterheim follows the structure of Prince’s circa 1977 text “The 8-Track Photograph,” illuminating his foundational project in depth and connecting it to multitrack recording in music. Stutterheim explores the origins, processes, components, and lasting significance of “rephotography,” through which Prince appropriated images from advertising and the lifestyle press, redefining the concepts of authorship and originality.