Tag Archives: Photography

New Photography Books: “Peter Beard” – “Life As Works Of Art” (Taschen)

Peter Beard Book Taschen 2020He collaborated with Francis Bacon and  Salvador Dalí, he made diaries with  Andy Warhol, worked on books with scientists like Dr. Norman Borlaug, Dr. Richard Laws, and Alistair Graham, and toured with Truman Capote, Terry Southern, and the Rolling Stones—all of whom are brought to life, literally and figuratively, in his work. He delved into the world of fashion for its beautiful women, taking Vogue stars like Veruschka to Africa and bringing new ones back to the U.S. with him.

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Artist, diarist, collector, and writer Peter Beard has fashioned his life into a work of art; the illustrated diaries he kept from a young age evolved into a serious career as an artist and earned him a central position in the international art world.

Peter Beard Taschen 2020

After spending time in Kenya and striking up a friendship with the author Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen) in the early 1960s, Beard bought 50 acres next to her farm with the stipulation that he would film and write about the land and its flora and fauna. He witnessed the dawn of Kenya’s population explosion, which challenged finite resources and stressed animal populations—including the starving elephants of Tsavo dying by the tens of thousands in a wasteland of eaten trees. So he documented what he saw—with diaries, photographs, and collages. He went against the wind in publishing unique and sometimes shocking books of these works, including The End of the GameThe corpses were laid bare; the facts carefully recorded, sometimes in type and often by hand. Beard uses his photographs as a canvas onto which he superimposes multi-layered contact sheets, ephemera, found objects, newspaper clippings that are elaborately embellished with meticulous handwriting, old-master inspired drawings, and often swaths of animal blood used as paint.

In 2006, TASCHEN first published the book that has come to define his oeuvre, signed by the artist and published in two volumes. It sold out instantly and became a highly sought-after collector’s item. In the decade since, the monograph has been revived in two smaller versions; but sometimes, bigger is better. Now, the book you haven’t been able to get your hands on is available in one large-format volume.

The artist

Born in New York City in 1938, Peter Beard began taking photographs and keeping diaries from early childhood. By the time he graduated from Yale University, he had developed a keen interest in Africa. Throughout the 1960s and ’70s he worked in Tsavo Park, the Aberdares, and Lake Rudolf in Kenya’s northern frontier. A constant creator, Beard the chronicler photographs, writes, draws, collages and assembles a history of his life experiences and our own. He lives in New York City, Long Island, and Kenya with his wife, Nejma, and daughter, Zara.

The editors

Nejma Beard is Peter Beard’s agent and Executive Director of the Peter Beard Studio. Her spirit and experience are synchronous with Beard’s—having been born and raised in Kenya. This deep familiarity and a devotion to a place and a people forms their unique collaborative relationship. Primary to her work is a deep concern for the future of the world and a commitment to ecologic efforts. She curates exhibitions, art-directs photo shoots, and edits and assists with all Beard publications.

David Fahey is co-owner of the Fahey/Klein Gallery, Los Angeles. During his 31-year career in the field, he has collaborated on over 45 fine art photography books. He is the co-vice president of the Herb Ritts Foundation and serves on the Photography Advisory Council for the J. Paul Getty Museum.

The authors

Owen Edwards has written about photography for more than 30 years for numerous publications including American PhotographerNew York Times Magazine, and Smithsonian.

Steven M. L. Aronson, a former book publisher, is a writer and editor. He edited and published Peter Beard’s book Longing for Darkness and wrote the T.V. special The End of the Game. He is the author of HYPE and the co-author of Savage Grace.

The contributor

Ruth Ansel is an award-winning art director known for her innovative design at many of America’s top fashion and cultural magazines since the 1960s. Ansel Design Studio (est. 1992) has produced international fashion campaigns and books with photographers including Peter Beard, Richard Avedon, and Annie Leibovitz.

 

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Travel & Culture Books: “Mykonos Muse” In The Greek Islands (Assouline)

Mykonos Muse Assouline May 4 2020With such names as ‘Paradise’ and ‘Super Paradise,’ the sands of these shores have captured the imaginations and hearts of industry titans, artists, and party-goers alike from all around the globe, marking it as a stable cosmopolitan destination and as a paramount it haven on the jet-set circuit.

Located in the Cyclades and surrounded by the blue-green water of the Aegean sits whitewashed, windmill-strewn Mykonos, the island of the winds. This ancient island and those surrounding it, mythologized as the bodies of gods felled by Hercules in the time of antiquity, are older than legend and have played host to countless cultures for more than millennia. At forty-square-miles and boasting a population of only ten-thousand, the ‘Ibiza of Greece’ has become prized for gorgeous architecture, welcoming and open-minded locals, and fantastic beaches.

Mykonos Muse Assouline May 4 2020

This book chronicles the culture and society that has defined Mykonos over the past century—from its days as a hideout for such luminaries and elites as Le Corbusier and Antonis Benakis, to its moment as a sanctuary for the gay community,to its predominant party scene—all the while indulging the reader with the ruins and myths hidden there.

Lizy Manola is a Greek photographer. A freelancer, her focus is on documentary photography. For more than fifteen years, she has traveled and shot in distant places, where culture and everyday life preserve their natural authenticity. She has published two books with Assouline, Certain Realities and Ethiopian Highlands. Her work has featured in solo and group exhibitions in Greece and worldwide. She lives and works in Athens and New York. Thirty years ago, she bought a house on Mykonos; she has spent endless summers holidays on the island ever since.

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Photography: The “2019 Great Outdoors Photo Contest” Winner – “Napali Storm” By Richard Langer

"2019 Great Outdoors Photo Contest" Winner - "Napali Storm" By Richard Langer

The grand prize in the 2019 Great Outdoors Photo Contest goes to Richard Langer for the image, “Napali Storm.”

 

“This photograph was taken from a small helicopter over the Napali cliffs on the island of Kauai, Hawaii,” explains Langer. “To avoid the distortions that would result from photographing through the helicopter’s dome, I selected one that had no doors. This was fine for photography, but it let the rain and wind in on my wife and me. Though the weather had been stormy and rainy throughout the flight, it lifted a little as we flew over the ocean. By the end of the trip, we were drenched and shaken, but knew that we had witnessed an amazing sight.”

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Travel & Photography: “Amalfi Coast” – “Pinnacle Of The Italian Dream” (Assouline, April 2020)

Amalfi Coast by Carlos Souza and Charlene Shorto Assouline April 2020The Amalfi Coast is the pinnacle of the Italian dream. Tucked amongst the lemon blossoms and the bougainvillea is a line of thirteen towns that comprise the Amalfi Coast. Known for its vertical landscape, the villages are only accessible via the Strada Statale 163 — a narrow, winding, cliffside route that while unsettling to traverse, offers unparalleled views.

This magical strip joins the mountains and the Mediterranean Sea below and aesthetes from around the world flock here year after year to enjoy its quaint pebbled beaches, scenic hikes, perfect climate and legendary establishments, which are not limited to storied hotels and restaurants.

Amalfi Coast by Carlos Souza and Charlene Shorto Assouline 2020

Landmarks from the Cathedral in Amalfi to Villa Rufolo in Ravello, all evoke the culture and the spirit of bygone centuries, and landmarks enjoyed by the likes of Jacqueline Kennedy, John Steinbeck, and Gore Vidal abound. With its signature limoncello, both grown and enjoyed locally, finest villas and breathtaking vistas, the Amalfi Coast is in a class of its own.

Carlos Souza is a global brand ambassador for Valentino and a contributor at Architectural Digest with over forty years of experience in the art and fashion world. His photography career began at the request of Andy Warhol, who asked him to shoot fashion shows for Interview. He has previously worked with Assouline on #Carlos’s Places (2014) and Comporta Bliss (2018).

Charlene Shorto was born in Recife, Brazil, and educated in Switzerland and Great Britain. She is wed to Carlos Souza and has two sons, Sean and Anthony. The family moved to Rome, where Charlene worked tirelessly under the fashion designer Valentino, eventually ascending to the position of director of Oliver by Valentino. Shorto also collaborated with Souza on Comporta Bliss (2018).

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Travel & History Books: “Great Camps Of The Adirondacks” – Gorgeous Updated 2nd Edition (2020)

The foremost guide to the historic camps of the Adirondacks―a unique vernacular style of rustic architecture designed to complement the land. Now available in a Great Camps of the Adirondacks Harvey H Kaiser 2020second and enlarged edition, here is the foremost guide to the historic camps within America’s spectacular forest preserve, the six million acre Adirondack Park.

When first published in 1982, Great Camps of the Adirondacks launched a campaign for the preservation of these architectural treasures while also sparking a trend in great camp-inspired home design, a cohesive approach to building that author Harvey H. Kaiser named Adirondack Rustic Style.

Great Camps of the Adirondacks - Harvey Kaiser 2020

In this second edition, preservationists will find a success story. Designers and builders will discover page after page of inspiration. All readers will see the history of a region unfold as Americans from the mid-1870s to the late-1930s, including the very wealthiest New Yorkers, sought out the wilderness. The camps they built as private seasonal retreats are distinguished both as architectural responses to the Adirondack environment in the use of logs and stone, and as successful examples of buildings blended into the forest and the natural contours of the mountains and lakes―homes built to serve as beautiful complements to the land itself.

Harvey H. Kaiser served as the Senior Vice President for Facilities Administration and University Architect at Syracuse University between 1972 and 1995. His 1982 book Great Camps of the Adirondacks popularized the term “Great Camps” to refer to the grand summer residences that wealthy families built in the Adirondack Mountains in the nineteenth century, and revitalized interest in these sites. Several studies on western national park architecture culminated in his 2008 book The National Park Architecture Sourcebook.

 

Steven Engelhart is the executive director of Adirondack Architectural Heritage (AARCH) located in Keeseville, New York. AARCH is a private, nonprofit. historic preservation organization for New York State’s Adirondack Park, whose mission is to promote better public understanding, appreciation, and stewardship of the region’s architecture, communities, and historic sites.

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Top New Books: “The Art Of Earth Architecture – Past, Present, Future” (Mar 2020)

The Art of Earth Architecture Past, Present, Future Jean Dethier March 2020The Art of Earth Architecture demonstrates the wide-ranging applications and sustainability of this building material, while presenting a manifesto for its ecological significance. Featuring raw-earth masterpieces, monumental structures, and little known works, the book includes the temples and palaces of Mesopotamia, the Great Wall of China, large-scale urban developments in Tenochtitlan in Mexico, the medinas of Morocco, and housing in Marrakech and Bogota.

For almost ten thousand years, unbaked earth has been used to build remarkable structures, from simple dwellings to palaces, temples, and fortresses both grand and durable. Jean Dethier spent fifty years researching this landmark global survey, which spans five continents and 250 sites.

This definitive reference features many UNESCO World Heritage sites and contains essays on the historical, technical, and cultural aspects of raw-earth construction from twenty experts in the field, as well as hundreds of photographs, illustrations, and architectural drawings.

The Art of Earth Architecture Past, Present, Future Jean Dethier March 2020

Jean Dethier has dedicated his life to the research, safeguarding, and development of earth structures around the world. Dethier worked at the Centre Pompidou as a curator of influential architectural exhibits for thirty years. Winner of the prestigious Grand Prix national de l’architecture, he sat on the jury of the 2016 Terra Award, the first international prize for contemporary earthen structures.

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Culture & Photography: “Granado – Rio De Janeiro” The Legendary Brazilian Apothecary (Assouline)

Granado Book by Hermes Galvao AssoulineSince it first opened its doors in Rio de Janeiro in 1870, Granado has remained true to its founding mission: to concoct local, natural remedies and cosmetics, crafted from flora of Brazil. Such a formula is responsible for Granado’s endurance through time and its current standing as Brazil’s oldest pharmacy and apothecary. 

This stunning and fascinating addition to Assouline’s Legends Collection chronicles Granado’s triumphant transformation from a small Rio shop into an international brand lauded for creating sustainable and stunningly-packaged products made from plants, herbs and flowers native to the region.

Granado Book by Hermes Galvao AssoulineToday, Granado has three boutiques in Paris and a significant online presence in Europe; but the story of Granado’s rise begins with the tale of one man’s singular vision. At a time when medicines used toxic substances such as mercury and arsenic, José Antonio Coxito Granado began to develop natural alternatives that would quickly revolutionize the world of pharmaceuticals in Brazil. In a text enlivened by more than 200 images that capture the bright colors, botanical terrain, and vibrant aesthetics of Rio, writer Hermés Galvao traces the brand’s history, from its modest roots to its time as the Official Pharmacy of the Brazilian Imperial Family and its eventual growth into a global brand under a new family’s ownership. Featuring an illustrious cast of characters and overlapping with some of the most influential eras in Brazilian history, the story of Granado is a tale as rich as the land that yields its products.

Hermés Galvão was born in 1975 in Rio de Janeiro. He is the author of Como Viajar Sozinho em Tempos de Crise Financeira e Existencial, published in the Brazilian market in 2016. He was a columnist for Vogue Brasil for five years and contributes to GQ and Casa Vogue, writing about travel and urban behavior around the world. Galvão conducted the image research for Assouline’s 2016 title In the Spirit of RioGranado is his his first book for Assouline as a writer.

Bruno Astuto is a Brazilian journalist and has been contributing to Vogue Brasil for more than a decade. A worldwide ambassador of Brazil’s fashion and lifestyle, and a bibliophile who owns more than 10,000 books, he is the author of several books, including Catarina de MédicisSomos Todos Iguais, and In the Spirit of Rio.

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New Architecture Books: “Working Title” By Tom Kundig – “Richly Detailed”

Tom Kundig Working Title Architecture March 2020Striking, innovative, and dramatically sited, the twenty-nine projects in Tom Kundig: Working Title reveal the hand of a master of contextually astute, richly detailed architecture. As Kundig’s work has increased in scale and variety, in diverse locations from his native Seattle to Hawaii and Rio de Janeiro, it continues to exhibit his signature sensitivity to material and locale and to feature his fascinating kinetic “gizmos.”

Projects range from inviting homes that integrate nature to large-scale commercial and public buildings: wineries, high-performance mixed-use skyscrapers, a Visitor Center for Tillamook Creamery, the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, and the Wagner Education Center of the Center for Wooden Boats, among others. Tom Kundig: Working Title includes lush photography, sketches, and a dialogue between Tom Kundig and Michael Chaiken, curator of the Kundig-designed Bob Dylan Archive at the Helmerich Center for American Research.

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Photography: Singer Kenny Rogers (1938- 2020) Had “Passion For Taking Western Landscapes”

“Kenny Rogers took portraits and western landscape photos like no other. He was passionate and fell in love with the warmth and beauty that captured all that he saw through a lens,” says Patty Wente IPHF CEO and President. 

Kenny Rogers Photographs - One Tree
“One Tree” – Kenny Rogers

International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum logoThe International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum mourns the passing of its first Lifetime Achievement Award Winner and 2017 inductee Kenny Rogers. Rogers was a dedicated and talented photographer for nearly four decades. His best-known images are portraits of well-known singers, actors, and dignitaries from around the globe.

Kenny Rogers Photographs
“The Thumb” – Kenny Rogers

In addition, he had an ongoing passion for photographing the American landscape. Rogers was skilled with his large format view camera, and loved to make prints in his darkroom. Regarding his photography, he said, “I am an impulsive obsessive. I impulsively get involved with something, and then I get obsessed with it. So that’s what happened with photography.”

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Art Books: “At First Light – Two Centuries Of Maine Artists, Their Homes And Studios” (Rizzoli, Mar 2020)

At First Light Two Centuries of Maine Artists Rizzoli March 2020At First Light chronicles twenty-six extraordinary artists of the last two hundred years who have lived and worked in Maine. Published to coincide with the state’s bicentennial in 2020, the volume considers the significant contributions artists have made to a deeper and more profound understanding of Maine’s history, its land and its peoples. Maine’s unique and breathtaking landscape–from its rugged coastline, quaint harbors, majestic mountains, and verdant forests–continues to have a powerful effect on the artists who are drawn to its shores.

Written and expertly researched by some of the foremost scholars and curators in the field, each chapter focuses on a different artist, featuring the artists’ artworks and anchored by breathtaking contemporary photography of their homes, studios, and surroundings. From picturesque bungalows to grander structures with beautiful vistas, the houses and studios featured are as diverse as the artists who have inhabited them. The artists featured include fan favorites to lesser known yet important figures from the eighteenth century to the present day, working in a range of media from painting to photography to sculpture, including: Jonathan Fisher, Winslow Homer, Frank Weston Benson, Charles Herbert Woodbury, John Marin, Marsden Hartley, Rockwell Kent, N. C. Wyeth, Andrew Wyeth, Jamie Wyeth, Marguerite and William Zorach, Rockwell Kent, Marsden Hartley, John Marin, Eliot Porter, Fairfield Porter, Rudy Burckhardt, Yvonne Jacquette, Ashley Bryan, Lois Dodd, Alex Katz, Bernard Langlais, Robert Indiana, David C. Driskell, Molly Neptune Parker, Richard Tuttle, and William Wegman.

About The Author

Anne Collins Goodyear is codirector of the Bowdoin College Museum of Art. Frank H. Goodyear III is codirector of the Bowdoin College Museum of Art. Michael K. Komanecky is chief curator at the Farnsworth Art Museum, in Rockland, Maine. Stuart Kestenbaum is the Poet Laureate of Maine. Walter Smalling is a photographer based in Washington, D.C.

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