Monument
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,Photography & Video
Monument Details
From Library Journal This superb book of large-format photographs pays homage to the concept of "monument"Aboth as natural forms and ancient ruins of human creation. Collected here are ghostly photographs of icebergs sculpted by wind, atmospheric images of geysers, striking portrayals of rock formations, misty images of Niagara Falls, and pictures of the pyramids and the Meenakshi Temple. Each of the photographs is brilliantly executed, both technically and aesthetically, and the breadth of the photoessay is most impressive. The book as a whole is beautifully designed and printed, and the 60 plates are carefully reproduced on matte paper, giving the whole thing a touch of antique character. Gazing at these magnificent structures, now crumbling back into the earth, one is left with a sense of quiet dignity and wonder. A fine book by an outstanding photographer; highly recommended for public and academic libraries, especially libraries with substantial fine art photography collections.ARaymond Bial, Parkland Coll. Lib., Champaign, IL Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. Read more
Reviews
For those of you who may be unfamiliar Lynn Davis; she is an American photographer whose work is widely collected and has been internationally exhibited.Best known for her large-scale landscapes, and photographs of "monuments of the human and natural landscape", perhaps the most noteworthy characteristic of her work is its striking tonality; with strong grays, subdued whites and blacks, or, often, gold and selenium. The genius of her sparse composition and controlled modeling of light produce a restrained majesty that invokes awe.As noted by other reviewers, this book lacks somewhat in the quality of the reproductions, and those familar with her work, enormous prints which hang in some of our finest museums, may be dissappointed a bit in the contrast; it just simply can't compare to her originals. That said, this book is well worth owning, and would be well paired with a copy of her husband's book, 'Hard Travel to Sacred Places', (Rudolf Wurlitzer, Shambhala Press, 1995) which documents the circumstances surrounding the taking of many of these photos; a trip to South East Asia after the death of their son in 1993.Davis' prints appear in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art (New York), the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, and the J. Paul Getty.Davis' first exhibition hung at the International Center of Photography (New York) in 1979, alongside the work of her close friend Robert Mapplethorpe. After her first trip to Greenland in 1986 she gave up photographing the human form, shifting, instead, to the monumental landscapes and cultural/architectural icons for which she is renowned.This book is a collection of the most seminal works of one of our greatest photograhpers, and it's a must have. It would also be well juxtaposed to display it beside a copy of 'Robert Mapplethorpe And The Classical Tradition: Photographs and Mannerist Prints' (Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, 2004).