American artist Elizabeth Peyton has been credited with infusing the old genre of portraiture with a new life. Her idealized and highly stylized oil paintings and drawings of willowy, melancholy figures -- often contemporary celebrities, artists or friends -- raise questions around the possible role of the genre today.

Elizabeth Peyton is published in conjunction with the artist's major solo exhibition at the New Museum in New York, which will travel to the Whitechapel in London, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis and the Bonnefantenmuseum in Maastricht.

Contributions by: New Museum