Auto Focus features a dazzling array of self-portraits by seventy-five of the world’s foremost contemporary photographers. Photography writer and curator Susan Bright provides a clear guide through this significant and dynamic genre, showing how issues of identity—whether national, sexual, racial, personal, or artistic—are key to understanding the work of many of today’s leading photographers.

This lavishly illustrated, accessible survey is organized into five thematic chapters: diaristic and autobiographical images; pictures of the body; the use of masks and masquerade; the return to studio portraiture and the photographic album; and performance, both public and private. An informative illustrated introduction explains the history of the photographic self-portrait from the 1840s to the late twentieth century, providing an invaluable context for the recent surge in artists’ images of themselves.

From intimate images of introspection and those that consciously challenge notions of ethnicity and sexuality to dramatic, stylized photographs of dreamlike scenarios, Auto Focus shows how one of the longest-established artistic genres continues to fascinate artists today.

苏珊·布赖特（Susan Bright），国际知名的摄影评论家，同时也是策展人和作家，文章散见于各大报刊杂志。她除了举办过许多摄影与艺术的国际性会议和研讨会外，也曾担任过伦敦国家肖像画廊（National Portrait Gallery, London）摄影部门的助理策展人、摄影师协会策展人，以及伦敦苏富比艺术学院（Sotheby’s Institute of Art）摄影硕士课程（历史与当代）的执行总监。举办过的展览有“Something Out of Nothing”（Fotogalleriet, London）、“How We Are: Photographing Britain”、（Tate Britain, London）“Face of Fashion”（National Portrait Gallery, London）。另外她也是本书的姊妹篇《摄影作为艺术》的作者，目前定居于纽约。

译者：

王琅，1985年生，现供职于瑞士文化基金会。