After the Deluge

Kara Walker has been one of the most lauded artist of the past decade, coming to prominence in 1997 when she received the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship at the age of twenty-right. While much has been made of the provocative and sometimes incendiary nature of her work that deals with race and American history, "After the Deluge" lays bare some of the many sources that have inspired and informed her work. The book accompanied a magnificent exhibition that Walker curated at the Metropolitan Museum of Art using both her own work and work from the museum's collection. The book contains the material from the show though not it's engaging layout, since the book was already in production by the time the show opened. But this books serves as a wonderful and informative introduction to one the most important artists of the the 20th and 21st century.