Czech Eden. Photographs by Matthew Monteith. Text by Ivan Klima. Aperture, New York, 2007. 80 pp., 58 color illustrations, 11x9½".
"Combining restraint, brilliant color and a certain thoughtful attention to the uncanny within the everyday, Monteith's photographs parallel a venerable tradition staked out by masters like Joel Sternfeld, and embodied in contemporary work by younger photo-documentarians like Alec Soth. Though at times foreboding, an energetic optimism and humor pervades Monteith's work. His meticulously composed and beautifully produced images focus on individuals, landscapes, oddly stilled cityscapes and the worn traces of the country's long and complex history."
"Czech Eden, Monteith's first monograph, is not a literal description or documentation, but rather a parable in which the viewer encounters individuals and environments that are cohesive yet contradictory, beautiful but unsettling."
2 comments:
hey i read your isabella/treacy post and it was fabulous - the images are wonderful ... spectacularly eerie, but pristine in a way. Of course the press is Assouline so one would expect no less. Assouline, Aperture...you really know what you are talking about. I love coming here!
You are sweet! I just love those images from the book - there are more of the other kind = more vivid and eccentric in the book (you can see some on the amazon link on the post http://www.amazon.com/Philip-Treacy-When-Me-Isabella/dp/2843233720/ref=sr_1_1/102-1253354-4443369?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1178568897&sr=8-1), but I love the clean pristine lines and perfect use of space of these more subdued ones... Really glad you like it!
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