MoMA, 1991
First edition
Softcover, 128 pages,
Condition: Fine
The cult classic Pleasures and Terrors of Domestic Comfort examines the American Dream of domestic happiness. Arranged thematically, the book explores the settings, rituals, and moods of suburban life in the eighties. Straightforward, documentary-style photographs appear alongside staged, frankly artificial pictures—and with a wide range of work that falls between these two poles of contemporary work. By turns hilarious and unsettling, this unconventional family album offers rich if conflicting information about the state of the old relationship between the American Dream and the American Nightmare.
Published on the occasion of the exhibition of the same name presented at the Museum of Modern Art of New York, the work of 62 contemporary photographers is represented, including Tina Barney, Ellen Brooks, William Eggleston, Mary Frey, Nan Goldin, Nicholas Nixon, Lorie Novak, Cindy Sherman, Sage Sohier, Larry Sultan, Carrie Mae Weems, and Neil Winokur.
