Susan 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, frolicking dogs--they also concern memory and family history. Paulsen's color palette is quiet and her subjects sometimes subtly blurred, creating effects that hark back to her 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 Europ enne de la Photographie in Paris in 2004. Steidl has also published her Tomatoes on the Back Porch (2004).