John Currin Selects

How can one understand what the artist's eye sees? In this volume, the first in an occasional series of monographs, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, confronts the specific vision of a contemporary artist, publishing reproductions of artwork chosen by that artist alongside his or her own pieces. Celebrated young figurative painter John Currin has here selected some 30 works of portraiture, ancient to modern, from the MFA's permanent collection, evaluating them as one might a friend, enemy, or lover--subjectively, passionately, at times irrationally, but always with a visceral sense of connection and personal insight. Currin pairs these portraits, which in their juxtaposition become a composite self-portrait, with commentary on the works and the ways in which they relate to his own painting.