Paulsen’s theme in this book is her daily life: family, friends, her surroundings and the nude, in locations including
Westchester, Block Island and Mabou. Yet as much as Paulsen’s images explore her existence now – children playing
Scrabble, freshly cut roses, gambolling dogs – they also concern memory and family history. Paulsen’s colour is
hushed and her subjects sometimes subtly blurred, creating effects that hark back to Paulsen’s training as a painter.
And just like much still-life painting, Sarah Rhymes with Clara is a revelation of the poetic in the seemingly banal. As
William Meyers wrote of one of Paulsen’s images in the Wall Street Journal, “the picture is so casual, so free of
gimmicks, it seems to have taken itself, which is precisely the hardest of artistic accomplishments.”
Susan Paulsen was born in Milwaukee in 1957, and now lives and works in New York. Paulsen holds a Bachelor of
Arts from Ohio Wesleyan University. Her solo exhibitions include an acclaimed show at the Maison Européenne de la
Photographie in Paris in 2004. Steidl has published her Tomatoes on the Back Porch (2004).
Sarah Rhymes with Clara
von Susan Paulsen
