Stephen Kaltenbach: The Beginning and the End

The first comprehensive monograph on a lost veteran of American conceptualism

A pioneering figure in the history of conceptual art, Sacramento-based artist and author Stephen Kaltenbach (born 1940) is long overdue for scholarly treatment; in the past decade and a half there has been a resurgence of interest in his work, but this is the first major publication dedicated to him and his unique contribution to art post-1960.

Alongside reproductions of works, essays by the principle authors, exhibition co-curators Constance Lewallen and Ted Mann, explore, respectively, Kaltenbach’s dialectic of concealment and exposure, and his enduring interest in the nature of artistic influence and authorship. Contributing essays by Gwen Allen, Sarah Lehrer-Graiwer and Lawrence Rinder focus on more specific works or bodies of work: Kaltenbach’s seminal Artforum Ads of 1968-69; his series of Life-Dramas; and his monumental painting Portrait of My Father (1972-79). The book also includes an exhibition history and bibliography.