"Casting themselves as latter-day dandies of an era gone by, the artist team of McDermott & McGough have mined the history of aesthetics as a means to illuminate the present condition of art and culture. With biting irony, and an unmistakably camp sensibility, McDermott & McGough have long employed a visual language that draws heavily from earlier art movements. Still, their work is closely tied to the day. This, the first retrospective monograph of their photographic work, underscores the tenacity of their mission - to seek a future through the past. Included are the duo's portraits, nudes, still lifes, and architectural pictures utilizing such archaic processes as gum-bichromate, cyanotype, platinum palladium, and salt printing."--Jacket.