The Art of Light.

The Art of Light. Photographs by László Moholy-Nagy. Edited by Hattula Moholy-Nagy. Text by Oliva María Rubio, Vicenzo Vitiello, Hubertus von Amenluxen, et al. La Fabrica, 2010. 256 pp., illustrated throughout, 8¾x10¾". Images from Amazon.

László Moholy-Nagy was a Hungarian artist, painter, photographer and thinker (born 1895) who has highly influenced generations of artists with his work and as a professor at the Bauhaus school.

At the Bauhaus Moholy-Nagy taught in such diverse medias as painting, sculpture, photography, photo-montage and metal.

He was very much influenced by constructivism (effectively moving the Bauhaus teachings from expressionism to constructivism upon becoming head of its foundation course) and "a strong advocate of the integration of technology and industry into the arts".

As many of those associated with the Bauhaus school (and also due to the fact that he was Jewish) Moholy-Nagy had to leave Germany in the 1930s. He settled in England and later in the US where he became director of the New Bauhaus and founded the School of Design in Chicago.


The book 'The Art of Light' "presents Moholy-Nagy's work in all of its glorious unity and diversity.

Including more than 200 works, from painting, photography (black and white and color) and photograms to collages, films and graphic design, it emphasizes his greatest years of productivity, from 1922 to the end of his life [1946]."


You can read more about László Moholy-Nagy here, here, here and here for example, and more from the publisher's description of this book here for example.

Also have a look at this really wonderful experimental film by László Moholy-Nagy that I've previously featured here.


First quote from ubuweb ; second quote from publisher's description.

Herve Morvan: The Genius of French Poster Art.

Herve Morvan: The Genius of French Poster Art. By Michel Archimband. PIE BOOKS, 2010. 268pp., illustrations throughout, 21×14,8cm.

Herve Morvan was a French poster designer, illustrator and artist who became well-known for his advertising posters in the 1950s.

'Herve Morvan: The Genius of French Poster Art' features a collection of 280 of Morvan's creations for the advertising world, including posters for kids, food/drink (including the Perrier advertisement that made his name), fashion, cigarettes, film and music, etc, etc.

The book is a wonderful look at the era of 1950s advertising, and the work of Herve Morvan.

a photo a day - month nine

a photo a day (set). Month nine (29 Aug-27 Sep).

I've now come to the end of month nine of my photo project/diary 'a photo a day' (month nine is above, you can see the first month here, the second month here, the third month here, the fourth month here, the fifth month here, the sixth month here, the seventh month here and the eight month here).

'a photo a day' is an incidental look at what I see out the window or on my way to places everyday. Even if I live in a city environment most of the time I'm primarily focusing on landscape or the sky, as I find the intense impact nature has on us even in a city-setting very interesting indeed (spending time mainly in Stockholm with its' clearly defined seasons and high impact of the weather, this is even more poignant, and thus interesting to document).

It will hopefully be an interesting capture of the seasons changing, random captures of immediate or unexpected loveliness, as well as some beautiful photographs.


You can see the result so far above, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here (full set here) or view the individual images, today's photograph and continue to follow the project going forward by clicking here or here. Enjoy!

These Photographs Will Heal Your Soul.

These Photographs Will Heal Your Soul. Photographs by RJ Shaughnessy. RJ Shaughnessy, 2010. 62 pp., 29 black & white illustrations, 11x16".

American photographer RJ Shaughnessy's style has been described as "authentic, energetic, spontaneous, and youthful." He's worked extensively both in fine art photography as well as with the commercial side of photography and with fashion photography.

The photographs in 'These Photographs Will Heal Your Soul' are abstract, immediate and with a strong rhythm to them. As Shaughnessy himself says of the book: "Everything you need to know about this work/book is in the title."


Both quotes from here.

After All.

After All. Photographs by Laura Letinsky. Text by Mark Strand. Damiani, 2010. 96 pp., 55 colour illustrations, 11x8½".

Canadian photographer Laura Letinsky is best known for her still lifes, with much of her work "alluding to human human presence without including any actual figures".

She "explores the inextricable relationship between ripeness and decay, delicacy and clumsiness, waste and plenitude, pleasure and sustenance.

The influence of Dutch-Flemish and Italian still-life paintings-whose exacting beauty documented shifting social attitudes resulting from exploration, colonization, economics and ideas about seeing as a kind of truth-can be seen here as well.

In 'After All', Letinsky explores photography's transformative quality, changing what is typically overlooked into something splendid in its resilience. Poet Mark Strand contributes an essay to this marvelous volume."


First quote from here, second quote from here.

Stockholm.

Stockholm. Photographs by Pieter ten Hoopen. Nygren & Nygren, Stockholm, 2010. Images from Pieter ten Hoopen's site.

The book 'Stockholm' features work by photographer Pieter ten Hoopen and was published to accompany the exhibition of the same name.

The series of photographs is "an investigation and a narrative about loneliness within the urban environment.

The series was photographed from 2008–2010, and is divided into public and private spaces. We encounter figures in unidentifiable rooms, as well as on buses and in the underground.

ten Hoopen unreservedly acknowledges that the series is subjective, and in many ways, autobiographical, reflecting his own experiences as a foreigner trying to connect in an unknown city."


The exhitibion 'Stockholm' with work by Pieter ten Hoopen is on at Fotografiska (the center for contemporary photography, Stockholm) until November 28.


Quote from here.

Some Dry Space.

Some Dry Space. An Inhabited West. Photographs by Michael Light. Introduction by Ann M. Wolfe. Conversation iwth William L. Fox and Michael Light. Nevada Museum of Art, 2009. 48 pp., black & white and colour illustrations, 8x12½".

American photographer Michael Light's work focuses "on the environment and how contemporary American culture relates to it. His work is concerned both with the politics of that relationship and the seductions of landscape representation.

He has exhibited extensively nationally and internationally, and his work has been collected by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Getty Research Library, The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The New York Public Library, and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, among others."


The book 'Some Dry Space' was published to coincide with an exhibition at Nevada Museum of Art. It features "large-format aerial images [that] address themes of mapping, vertigo, geology, and human impact on the land.

Like all of Light's work, these images provide a beautiful yet thought-provoking glimpse into American traditions of expansion and exploration-the insatiable human need to pursue the unknown."


First quote from here, second quote from here.

Tomi Ungerer versus America.

Tomi Ungerer versus America (documentary).

French illustrator and artist Tomi Ungerer is best known for creating art connected to political issues and social satire, as well as illustrating children's books.

'Tomi Ungerer versus America' is a documentary that deals with how the American art scene of the 1960s (of which Ungerer was a part) has shaped America today.

"This film takes you on a journey to the New York and the America of the 60s with a very unique guide - Tomi Ungerer. He brings us back to the heart of what would be called the golden age of American culture. But it's not a nostalgic trip. Instead, it's an explanation of the forces that shaped today's America and predicts how the US will develop in future."


You can read more about the documentary here for example, and more about Tomi Ungerer here, here or here for example.


Quote from here.

A dark day

A dark day in Swedish history. Read: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Wacht.

Wacht. One Picture Book #62. Photographs by Eiji Ina. Nazraeli Press, Portland, 2010. 16 pp., 72 colour illustrations, one print, 5½x7¼". Images from photo-eye.

One Picture Book is an ongoing series of limited edition artists' books published by Nazraeli Press, which I've previously written about here and here for example.

The artist is asked to create a book based on one image or series of connected images, from their previous work. The hardcover edition is limited to 500 and contains an original print by the artist.


'Wacht' (one picture book #62) is a book by Japanese artist and photographer Eiju Ina that "documents in details the omnipresence of security cameras around the world. This is a book of anomalies, as the cameras that simultaneously protect and monitor us vary from humorous and ominous, subtle to clunky, hi-tech to classical."


Quote from publisher's description.

The Cemetery of Reason.

The Cemetery of Reason. Photographs by Ed Templeton. Edited by Thomas Caron. Text by Jean-François Chévrier, Carlo McCormick, Philippe van Cauteren, Arty Nelson, Thomas Caron. S.M.A.K., 2010. 160 pp., illustrated throughout, 9x11¾".

In his art work American contemporary artist and skateboarder Ed Templeton "delivers up his diagnosis of the contemporary human condition in a whirlwind of present-tense imagery, filtered through photographs, paintings and drawings.

Over the past decade and a half, Templeton has built an oeuvre that closely tracks his day-to-day reality, recording life in the Southern Californian suburbs, his flawed family background, his life as a professional skateboarder, his milieu, the relationship between the artist and his muse (his wife Deanna) and much else. Templeton has also drawn deeply on artists such as Egon Schiele, Balthus, David Hockney, Larry Clark and Nan Goldin; as with their work, what begins as a very personal chronicle ultimately opens out onto grander horizons-in Templeton's case, a broad meditation on the chaos and the joy of being human.

'The Cemetery of Reason' is the first large monographic museum publication devoted to Templeton's work. Presented as a mid-career retrospective accompanying a spring 2010 exhibition at the S.M.A.K. (Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst) in Ghent, Belgium, it combines and juxtaposes works in various media from the past 15 years with new works and series, all reproduced in 260 color images, thus providing the most comprehensive overview of Templeton's work available."


Quote from publisher's description.

David Goldblatt: Photographs.

Photographs. Hasselblad Award 2006. Photographs by David Goldblatt. Introduction by Gunilla Knape. Text by Michael Godby. Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern, 2007. 84 pp., 45 colour illustrations, 12x10¾".

Photographer David Goldblatt has been "making photographs of the South African landscape and culture for more than 50 years.

Born in 1930 in a gold-mining town near Johannesburg, his parents were Jewish refugees from Lithuania, and they raised him with an emphasis on tolerance and antiracism. In 1975, at the height of apartheid, Goldblatt explored white nationalist culture in 'Some Afrikaners Photographed', and in the 80s he observed workers on the Kwandebele-Pretoria bus, many of whom traveled eight hours every day to work and back. His late-90s solo show at New York's Museum of Modern Art focused on architectural work, and showed off Goldblatt's uncanny ability to discover a society through its buildings and landscapes.

His photographs of architectural structures revealed the ways that ideology had defined his home country's landscape."


Quote from publisher's description.

Palmyra.

Palmyra. Photographs by Eric Ericson. Journal, Stockholm, 2008. Unpaged, colour and black & white illustrations throughout, 13¾x11".

"Ericson has always proven to be an eclectic multidisciplinary artist - his previous projects include a series of satirical letters, a 68 foot long drawing of a fantasy city skyline, and the construction of bird apartment buildings (768 homes) on the roof of Kulturhuset in Stockholm.

Shot over 13 visits to the ancient city of Palmyra (Tadmor), a UNESCO World Heritage Site located 215km northeast of Damascus, Palmyra strikes a quite different note than Ericson has sounded before - the large-format color photographs are infinitely still, exquisitely composed and reveal his startling sensitivity as a photographer. "


Eric Ericson is a Swedish writer and artist. You can read more about his book of photographs of the ancient city of Palmyra ('Palmyra') here or here for example.


Quote Daniel Espeset.

Fast City.

Fast City. Photographs by Morten Andersen. Oslo, 2000. Unpaged, numerous black-and-white and colour illustrations, 5½x7¼".

'Fast City' is "a captivating, fast-paced, blurry-eyed, whirlwind tour of Oslo, by one of her native sons. A great, visual journal that follows no rules and adheres to no philosophy".

Since this influential first book Norwegian photographer Morten Andersen has had a number of other books published and exhibited his work frequently.


Of 'Fast City' Andersen says:

"According to the I-Ching, boredom breeds darkness, and this may be truer in regards to Oslo than most other towns."


Both quotes from publisher's description.

Art Spiegelman

Clip from Art Spiegelman documentary (K-special). Entire documentary (in English) here.

Happy Sunday! Today is the last chance to see the entire Art Spiegelman documentary (shown as part of the K-special culture program series). Hope you do, and hope you enjoy it!


Art Spiegelman is an American comics artist, best known for the comic book memoir 'Maus' (dealing with the subject of the holocaust), which won him the Pulitzer Prize. He's also an editor and advocate for the medium of comics, and has highly influenced the art form.

Read more about him and his work here or here for example.

People I’ve Never Met and Conversations I’ve Never Had.

People I’ve Never Met and Conversations I’ve Never Had. By Nick White. Nobrow Press, 2010. 32pp., four-colour illustrations, 14,8x21cm. Limited edition of 3000. (Images cropped by me).

'People I’ve Never Met and Conversations I’ve Never Had' is a monograph featuring Nick White's most recent work (including both drawings and collages) and is published by the excellent Nobrow Press as the first hardback in their Monobrow series.

"Nick White’s use of vintage magazines and found material to create surreal and humorous imagery evokes a nostalgia for the golden years of printed ephemera. Portraits of fictitious characters and graphical records of bizarre conversations that have never happened fill the full colour book.

On each page Nick skillfully creates surreal and playful anecdotes in his unique style of layered painted patterns and carefully selected paper cut-outs.

His work, sometimes child-like in it’s optimism and at other times very sophisticated in it’s form of construction, is aesthetically engrossing and entertaining in equal measure."


I've also written about Nobrow before here. See more of Nick White's work (and site that makes me smile) here.


Quote from publisher's description.

Hiroshi Sugimoto.

Hiroshi Sugimoto. Photographs by Hiroshi Sugimoto. Texts by Kerry Brougher, Pia Muller-Tamm, Hiroshi Sugimoto, designed by Takaaki Matsumoto. Hatje Cantz, 2009. 396 pp., 229 colour and tritone illustrations, 10¼x11¼".

'Hiroshi Sugimoto' is a monograph of the work of Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto.

Sugimoto work is "characterized by matchless clarity and presence. His works are always an absolute embodiment of his chosen visual motif, reduced to its essence".


The monograph 'Hiroshi Sugimoto' is "the first to feature works selected from all of the series produced to date - including, of course, his most famous: Sugimoto's celebrated portraits of wax figures seem to face up to their living audiences; his Seascapes show us nothing less than a person's first conscious view of the ocean; the extremely long exposures of Theaters elevate the white, luminescent cinema screen, transforming it into a magical image of an altar; and the fascinating Dioramas - photographs of scientific display cases - allow us to travel with the artist far into the past to observe extinct animal species or the daily life of early man.

Additions to the original edition are two new groups of works, Lightning Fields (2006) and Photogenic Drawings (2007)."


Both quotes from publisher's description.

Zaisyo.

Zaisyo. Photographs by Mitsuru Fujita. Tosei-Sha, 2010. Unpaged, black & white illustrations throughout, 10½x10¼"

'Zaisyo' is a monograph by Japanese photographer Mitsuru Fujita.

'Zaisyo' "which translates into 'one’s hometown', is a domesticated view of rural Japanese architecture and landscapes. Published by Tosei-Sha, this book is a collection of photographs representing small town Japan.

Fujita's images, taken between 1995-2008, are beautifully printed black and white photographs that navigate between formal street scenes, empty parking lots and railroad stations. While Fujita's images represent small community populations they are completely devoid of human presence other than the occasional automobile.

The result is an eerie anthropological view of what almost appear to be modern day ghost towns."


Quote from photo-eye newsletter.

Lumen.

Lumen. Photographs by Carlo Valsecchi. Edited by Musee de l'Elysee. Foreword by William E. Ewing, essay by Nathalie Herschdorfer. Hatje Cantz, 2009. 192 pp., 150 colour illustrations, 11¾x10½". Images from photo-eye.

'Lumen' - a beautiful book of expressive large-format photographs of an industrial landscape by Italian photographer Carlo Valsecchi - is described as:

"From monumental industrial architecture to the interiors of strange machines, from night views of cities flickering like active volcanoes to gleaming high-tech laboratories, from neat boxes of fruits or vegetables to the sprawling agro-industrial farmlands of Argentina - Carlo Valsecchi alternates between the near and the far, between precise figuration and poetic abstraction.

His large-format photographs, devoid of human presence, often take unexpected vantage points, which, while initially destabilizing our perception, then encourage us to engage more actively with the image.

Although much of his work is clearly within the strong tradition of the industrial landscape developed by the German school (Becher, Gursky), Valsecchi has found his own expressive register, tending toward the monochrome.

The special qualities of the images have to do with the extremely soft palette and nuanced chromatic scale, features that sharply differentiate his photographs from mainstream color practice.

Painterly in its sensibility, Valsecchi's work evokes the pictorial grandeur of American Abstract Expressionism."


You can view more images and an excerpt from the book here.


Quote publisher's description.

Photographs by Götz Diergarten.

Photographs. Photographs by Götz Diergarten. Hatje Cantz, 2010. 160 pp., 98 colour illustrations, 9½x10½".

Götz Diergarten is a German photographer, who's work often entails picture series featuring a conceptual link between type and color.


In 'Photographs' we see a "series featuring German façades, French beach cabanas, and British spa architecture, [where] Götz Diergarten examines the outward appearance of different types of everyday buildings.

Following in the footsteps of the Becher School, Diergarten’s works are conceptually rigorous, with a documentary-style straightforwardness.

Diergarten’s originality, however, lies in the fact that he adds color as a dimension to this austere concept. In his photographs of standard beach cabanas, it is the color that expresses a sense of originality and uniqueness.

In the METROpolis series, he transforms the materials and patterns of passageways, tunnels, and railway platforms into abstract color spaces and fields, so that they resemble the kind of American color photography by artists such as William Eggleston or Stephen Shore."


Quote publisher's description.