Introduction:

Barbara Krueger is an American artist most famous for her conceptual collage-style work. Considered to be part of ‘The Pictures’ Generation, her work confronts topics such as power, identity, consumerism, and sexuality. Born to a working class family on January 26, 1945 in Newark, New Jersey, Kruger developed an interest in graphic design, poetry, and writing early on, and began her formal education at Syracuse University in 1964, attending for one year before dropping out due to the death of her father.

In 1965 she went on to attend the Parsons School of Design in New York City for one semester before obtaining a design job at Condé Nast Publications. Kruger found herself to be successful in the world of publication design, first being promoted to Head Designer at Mademoiselle magazine, and later working as a graphic designer, art director, and picture editor for the art departments at other various high-profile magazines. 

While successful in the world of publication, Kruger often felt intimidated and out of place in the New York Art scene, which she felt was unwelcoming to women. However, Kruger received support for her early projects from groups such as the Public Art Fund, and was encouraged to keep creating. Some of Kruger’s earliest physical art can be traced back to the early 1970’s feminist craft reclamation period, during which she created large wall hangings as well as crocheting and sewing brightly colored erotic objects. In 1978, Kruger published an art book titled Picture/Readings, combining her photography of architecture with her own writings. 

In the 1980’s Kruger began perfecting the conceptual collage style for which she is most well known, layering black and white photographs with declarative captions— often in the more modern Futura Bold Oblique or Helvetica Ultra Condensed fonts— to explore and comment upon social and political topics. By juxtaposing found images from mass media and advertising (often which promoted the ideas she was disputing) against bold statements that use pronouns to directly address the viewer, Kruger questions opinions on feminism, classism, consumerism, and individual autonomy. Kruger’s work is often grouped with other postmodern feminist artists such as Jenny Holzer and Cindy Sherman, who also use tools of mass communication and advertising to explore the concepts of gender and identity. 

Kruger’s earlier works of her signature style can be recognised by their pre-digital nature and small scale. Using her skills as a former magazine editor, Kruger would compose her chosen images and text in a “paste-up”, then produce a negative of the piece to print enlarged versions. Today, Kruger creates her work digitally on her computer before transferring her work to print, but continues in her trademark style of combined photography and text. 

Much of Kruger’s work has been displayed publicly, ranging from a poster for the 1989 March on Washington in support of legal abortion, to murals in Strasbourg and Los Angeles, as well as multiple works for American art museums and universities. Since the mid-1990’s, Kruger has also produced large scale immersive audio-video installations, addressing the same topics as in her printed works.

Alongside creating her art, Barbara Kruger has also created numerous well-known magazine covers, written articles for a variety of high-scale publications, and taught at a multitude of

universities. Today, BarbaraKruger livesandworks inbothNewYorkandLosAngeles, and continuestoproduceartandteach.