Barbara Kruger

The large, bold artworks of Barbara Kruger assimilate images taken from the deluge of mass media that is so predominantly a part of contemporary society. As pictures and words derived from television, film, newspapers and magazines comprise the media’s powerful ability to communicate, Kruger creates her own sexual, social and political messages by mirroring this fact.

Kruger’s earliest artworks date to 1969. Large woven wall hangings of yarn, beads, sequins, feathers, and ribbons, they exemplify the feminist recuperation of craft during this period. Despite her inclusion in the Whitney Biennial in 1973 and solo exhibitions at Artists Space and Fischbach Gallery, both in New York, the following two years, she was dissatisfied with her output and its detachment from her growing social and political concerns…

Barbara Kruger was born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1945. After attending Syracuse University, the School of Visual Arts, and studying art and design with Diane Arbus at Parson’s School of Design in New York, Kruger obtained a design job at Condé Nast Publications. Working for Mademoiselle Magazine, she was quickly promoted to head designer. Later, she worked as a graphic designer, art director, and picture editor in the art departments at “House and Garden,” “Aperture,” and other publications. This background in design is evident in the work for which she is now internationally renowned. ..

Artworks

Works in the MOMA collection