Originally published in 1974 by the Jargon Society and long out of print, The Family Album of Lucybelle Crater is the best-known body of Ralph Eugene Meatyard’s work. At once comic and tragic, grotesque and beautiful, the series of 64 images features his wife, Madelyn, in a hag’s Halloween mask together with a different friend or relative in a transparent mask. Critic and scholar James Rhem worked closely with the photographer’s estate to reconstruct Meatyard’s original, and unrealized, intentions for the publication of this project. As a result, this revised edition features the correct sequencing of images and the captions, reproduced in his own handwriting. In addition, each surviving participant in the Lucybelle Crater project has been interviewed by Rhem, and the book includes a critical essay and extensive background information. Accompanying the Album are 40 more figurative works establishing a context and exploring important themes in Meatyard’s work. —the publisher
