WATTS INDEXThe canonical database of visual culture

Artists›Sarah Charlesworth

Sarah Charlesworth

Artist

WA-00008153

PhotographyPictures Generation

Representation

None documented

Institutional Exhibitions

Works in Collection

Assets Indexed

Authority-backed Facts

Publications Referenced

100%

Profile Completeness

Cultural Positioning

Influence Graph

No influence edges encoded yet.

Authority Records (2)

WikidataQ89304909

MoMA

Selected Institutional Exhibitions

View all exhibitions →

No image

Borderline

Paula Cooper Gallery

2025

No image

Tabula Rasa

Paula Cooper Gallery

2024

Field Verification (7 fields)

0 cross-verified · 7 single-source

BiographyWikidata· 70%
Birth yearWikidata· 70%
Death yearWikidata· 70%
LocationWikidata· 70%
NationalityWikidata· 70%
Primary mediumWikidata· 70%
Profile imageWikidata· 70%

Source Registry (3)

Paula-Cooperhttps://www.artsy.net/artist/sarah-charlesworth
Tier 3 · Scraped/inferred100%
MoMA bulk 2026-05-04https://www.moma.org/artists/1073
Tier 1 · Institutional92%
Wikidata Patch
Tier 1 · Institutional40%

About

Why this artist matters now

Sarah Charlesworth worked in photography and appropriation, using found press images and printed media to interrogate how circulated pictures construct meaning, desire, and cultural identity. A central figure in the Pictures Generation, she worked alongside peers in New York from the late 1970s onward, sharing a collective concern with the mechanics of image culture rather than photographic authorship in any traditional sense. Her practice stripped images of their original context, reframing them against saturated grounds or within formal grids to expose the psychological and ideological freight they carry. Her work is held in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art.

Source: Paula Cooper · Trust score: 100% · Updated 1mo ago

Graph relationships

Taste overlap and adjacency

Movement

Pictures Generation

Medium

Photography

Related Artists

12 in graph

Institutional

Museum Collections

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Metropolitan Museum of Art Cleveland Museum of Art Art Institute of Chicago Museum of Modern ArtNew York

Canonical record

Artworks (20)

WattsOS

Carnival Ball

2011 · Chromogenic print

Frame: 105.4 x 81.3 cm (41 1/2 x 32 in.) Image: 100.3 x 76.2 cm (39 1/2 x 30 in.)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

WattsOS

Ego

1991 · silver dye bleach process color print (Cibachrome)

Image: 59.3 x 48.9 cm (23 3/8 x 19 1/4 in.); Matted: 81.3 x 71.1 cm (32 x 28 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

Buddha of Immeasurable Light

1987 · Silver dye bleach prints

Overall 42 × 62" (106.7 × 157.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

WattsOS

Buddha of Immeasurable Light

1987 · silver dye bleach process color print (Cibachrome)

Framed: 104.4 x 155.3 cm (41 1/8 x 61 1/8 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

Black Steward from Tartan Sets

1986 · One from a portfolio of three offset lithographs

composition and sheet: 32 × 24" (81.3 × 61 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

MacGregor from Tartan Sets

1986 · One from a portfolio of three offset lithographs

composition and sheet: 32 × 24" (81.3 × 61 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Dress MacLeod from Tartan Sets

1986 · One from a portfolio of three offset lithographs

composition and sheet: 32 × 24" (81.3 × 61 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Tartan Sets

1986 · Portfolio of three offset lithographs

composition and sheet (each): 32 × 24" (81.3 × 61 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

WattsOS

In a Dream...

1983 · foil stamping on cloth, portfoilo box cover

Case: 65.1 x 54.6 x 5 cm (25 5/8 x 21 1/2 x 1 15/16 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

Spiral Galaxy MGC 4565

1981 · Gelatin silver print

119.5 × 165.5 cm (47 1/16 × 65 3/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

WattsOS

Rietveld Chair

1981 · Gelatin silver print with applied colored gels in custom lacquered frame

Frame: 67 7/8 × 50 1/4 × 1 5/8 in. (172.4 × 127.6 × 4.1 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Unidentified Man, Unidentified Location (#2), No. 3 of 14 from the series "Stills"

1980 · Gelatin silver print

198.2 × 106.7 cm (78 × 42 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Unidentified Man, Corpus Christi, Texas, No. 7 of 14 from the series "Stills"

1980 · Gelatin silver print

198.2 × 106.7 cm (78 × 42 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Dar Robinson, Toronto, No. 8 of 14 from the series "Stills"

1980 · Gelatin silver print

198.2 × 106.7 cm (78 × 42 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Vivienne Revere, New York, No. 5 of 14 from the series "Stills"

1980 · Gelatin silver print

198.2 × 106.7 cm (78 × 42 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Unidentified Man, Unidentified Location (#3), No. 6 of 14 from the series "Stills"

1980 · Gelatin silver print

198.2 × 106.7 cm (78 × 42 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Patricia Cawlings, Los Angeles, No. 10 of 14 from the series "Stills"

1980 · Gelatin silver print

198.2 × 106.7 cm (78 × 42 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

WattsOS

Thomas Brook Simmons, Bunker Hill Tower, Los Angeles, California

1980 · Gelatin silver print

Frame: 199.7 x 106 cm (78 5/8 x 41 3/4 in.)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Movie-Television-News-History, June 21, 1979

1979 · Twenty-seven chromogenic color prints, printed 2010

Each: 24 × 15 1/2 × 1 1/4" (61 × 39.4 × 3.2 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

WattsOS

April 21, 1978

1978 · Photostats, chromogenic prints

Approx. 24 × 18 in. (60.9 × 45.7 cm) each See "Charlesworth Photostat Worksheet 2016" for inscriptions and dimensions.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

View all 20 artworks →

Artwork sources (4)

20 published of 26 catalogued · 19 with image

Art Institute Chicago
7 published7 img
MoMA
6 publishedof 12 catalogued12 img
The Met
4 published
Cleveland Museum of Art
3 published

Per-Artwork Provenance Chains (top 3)

3 entries · 1 sources

In a Dream...
1983 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Ego
1991 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Buddha of Immeasurable Light
1987 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number

Record

Images

22 assets

Artsy

Wikipedia

Art Institute of Chicago

View all 22 media items →

Relationships

Peers & Context51

Richard Longco-exhibited Zoe Leonardco-exhibited Terry Adkinsco-exhibited Carl Andreco-exhibitedTauba Auerbachco-exhibitedJennifer Bartlettco-exhibited

Movements1

Pictures Generation

Collections7

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Cleveland Museum of Art Art Institute of Chicago The Metropolitan Museum of Art Museum of Modern Art Artsy

Institutional

Representation & Collections

Gallery

Paula Cooper Gallery

In collection

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

In collection

Cleveland Museum of Art

In collection

Art Institute of Chicago

In collection

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

In collection

Museum of Modern Art

New York, US

Market

Auction sale history

Houses that have sold works by this artist at auction

Auction house

Artsy

Network

Related Artists

Record

Exhibitions and timeline

Group Exhibition Borderline

2025

Group Exhibition Tabula Rasa

2024