Active since the early 1940s, Louise Bourgeois has consistently plumbed her own biography for subject matter and inspiration.

A voracious reader of colonial letters and diaries, Walton Ford is fascinated by the fear and wonder of nature that he finds in historical texts.

“The illusion is that most of my work is simply about past events, a point in history and nothing else,” says Kara Walker about her subversive use of the traditional silhouette technique.