The Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company collection of contemporary photography is the only comprehensive collection of contemporary artist-based and conceptual photography in the world, and this book is thus the most complete survey of contemporary art photography available. Since the 1960s, the photographic medium has undergone fundamental changes in both its intentions and perceptions, joining and in some cases eclipsing the traditional fine arts of painting and sculpture. No longer a minor tributary navigated primarily by specialists, photography has become a powerful current in the art world's mainstream. Included in this collection are performers, painters, sculptors, film makers, and video artists, as well as artists referring to themselves as "photographers." Klaus Kertess's essay contributes to the ongoing debate about places the artists and their work in the context of contemporary art practices, locating their origins and influences in the 1960s Minimalist and Pop Art traditions. This collection includes the work of more than 200 artists, ranging from Andy Warhol and Robert Rauschenberg to Cindy Sherman and Andreas Gursky.