Published to accompany the retrospective opening at New York's Guggenheim Museum, this catalogue offers a chronological overview of more than 100 works spanning two decades. It moves from the early portraits — relatively straightforward in composition yet heavily manipulated during processing — to the more recent allegorical works, whose formal refinement does nothing to soften their provocative charge.

The sequential presentation allows the reader to trace the development of his visual language while identifying the thematic constants that run through his different periods: heaven and hell, suffering, beauty, and motherhood, alongside his recurring depictions of mutilated and malformed bodies, masks, thorns and grapes as references to Christianity and pagan mythology.

The volume includes an in-depth critical essay by the exhibition's curator on Witkin's work as a whole, as well as the first publication of his 1976 manifesto, "Revolt Against the Mystical." An essential reference for any library with a serious collection in contemporary photography.