At the heart of Thomas Ruff’s complex oeuvre is a pioneering conceptual expansion of what constitutes photography. Ruff’s prodigious output varies widely, from analogue portraits to manipulated images appropriated from the internet, digitally-altered archival images and digital photograms. Works by the Dusseldorf-based artist consistently explore how historical and media-driven changes in photography affect our understanding of the relationship between image and reality.

Between 1981 and 1991 Thomas Ruff collected photographs from German newspapers and weeklies, amassing an archive of 2500 images. In 1990 and 1991 he selected 400 images from it, according to entirely subjective criteria, photographed them without captions, and had them reproduced as colour prints in twice their original size.

For this book, Thomas Ruff re-photographed the templates of the Zeitungsfotos series so they could be reproduced in black-and-white on a coloured background. Awarded Most Beautiful Swiss Books 2014.