Books

USING HISTORY
67 color photographs by Greta Pratt, hardcover, essays by Rennard Strickland and Karal Ann Marling. Published fall 2005 by Steidl.
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Book Description: Using History takes us on a tour of Americans celebrating their past. From Civil War battle reenactments to Abraham Lincoln impersonators to colossal buffalos and Indians, Greta Pratt’s photographs examine how historic iconography is used, and challenge us to question who Americans are. Taking an approach that is both affectionate toward her subjects yet sardonic about the larger implications of their actions, Pratt cuts to the heart of the ambivalent drives that move Americans.

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IN SEARCH OF THE CORN QUEEN
Soft cover, 96 pages, 61 black and white photographs by Greta Pratt, essay by Karal Ann Marling. Published 1994 by Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Book Description: Greta Pratt returns to the county fairs of her childhood to present a vision of Midwest communities largely unfamiliar to millions of American urban dwellers. For three summers she traveled the Midwest chronicling the life of the region-parades of civic pride, displays of exemplary harvests, and prizewinning heifers, beauty pageants, old-timer reunions, and annual storefront festivals.

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FotoFest 2010 Biennial, Contemporary U.S. Photography
Book Description: 507 Color Pages, Five Curatorial Essays on Contemporary U.S. Photography including the introduction by Charlotte Cotton.
Featuring 45 Contemporary U.S. Photographers
Co-published by Schilt Publishing, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

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Exploring Color Photography Fifth Edition: From Film to Pixels, Robert Hirsch
Book Description: The classic book on Color Photography is back in print and completely revamped for a digital photography audience. Learn from step-by-step instruction, illustrative charts, and unbelievably inspirational imagery in this guide meant just for color photographers.  World renowned artists give you insight as to “how they did that” and the author provides challenging assignments to help you take photography to a new level.  With aesthetic and technical instruction like no other, this book truly is the bible for color photographers.

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History as Art, Art as History: Contemporary Art and Social Studies Education, Dipti Desai
Book Description: History as Art, Art as History pioneers methods for using contemporary works of art in the social studies and art classroom to enhance an understanding of visual culture and history. The fully-illustrated interdisciplinary teaching toolkit provides an invaluable pedagogical resource—complete with theoretical background and practical suggestions for teaching U.S. history topics through close readings of both primary sources and provocative works of contemporary art.

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THE OLD, WEIRD AMERICA, Toby Kamps
Book Description: Borrowing its title from Greil Marcus’ 1997 book The Old, Weird America: The World of Bob Dylan’s Basement Tapes, this publication is produced in conjunction with an exhibition at the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, which considers the work of 16 artists who explore American folk imagery and history from the time of European settlement to the 1960s. Dylan, Marcus argues, was influential because he explored an older, half-forgotten world of American legend that seemed at once stranger and more telling than anything found in the mainstream. The artists featured in this volume, all of whom came to prominence in the last decade, include Jeremy Blake, Sam Durant, Barnaby Furnas, Brad Kahlhamer, Margaret Kilgallen, Dario Robleto, Allison Smith and Kara Walker, among others. As a group, they draw on folklore for its ability to illuminate American cultural life in its strange mixture of civilization and barbarism, enlightenment and madness. (2007)

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AHISTORIC OCCASION: ARTISTS MAKING HISTORY
Book Description: A paperback, 120 pages, color book featuring Mass MoCA’s “Ahistoric Occasion” exhibition. Features historically-reimagined art by Felix Gmelin, Greta Pratt, Paul Chan, Yunka Shonibare, Allison Smith, Nebojsa Seric-Shoba, Trevor Paglen, Jeremy Deller, Peggy Diggs and others. Published by Mass MOCA; Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. (2007)

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