"This book is a fine contribution to the study of modern art and artists and will help us to understand the practice and significance of alternative identities, pseudonyms and collective identity." -- Art Daily "Nicola McCartney is part of a new generation of thinkers about art. Art now is more playful and indiscreet than it has ever been but it also aspires to talk to a political world that is both frightening but also where there is a possibility to reach new audiences. The idea of the artist in this new space is changing. In this book McCartney charts the careers of artists who question the role of the artist and who seek to subvert the notion that art is produced only by artists. McCartney asks: who do these artists think they are?" --Bob and Roberta Smith "Nicola McCartney gets it: anonymous groups subvert the Western convention of the artist as a lone genius (usually a white male)." --Guerrilla Girls "Nicola McCartney offers us a fresh and incisive analysis of moments in modern and contemporary art in which pseudonyms, anonymity, and collective identities are put to use. In doing so, McCartney interrogates the foundations of traditional art history and the art market.

Death of the Artist is an important and exciting new contribution to our understanding of art's political efficacy." --Joanne Morra, Reader in Art History and Theory, Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London.