Customer Reviews

Andreas Gursky

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

First you must understand why this book was put together. Peter Galassi, the Museum of Modern Art in New York's Chief Curator in the Department of Photography made this book as a sort of large catalog to accompany the Gursky retrospective which was in May 2001. The Gursky's photos are huge, the exhibition at MOMA was huge and the book is - well, big, but other's will more than likely agree, it could be bigger especially in context to Gursky's work. (12" x 13.5")

Inside you'll find two things Gursky's photos and Peter Galassi's essay. More than likely you'll thumb through the book ogling the photos first, only to find the treasure of Peter's research about Gursky much later. Galassi's writes with authority and intellect as he discusses the "artistic contexts and origins of the work" in detail. In the preface Galassi admits that the introduction is lengthy but is only meant to encourage further study. Indeed, you are curious, you are pulled in. Here is a sample "Andreas Gursky's best pictures of the past decade knock your socks off, and they're meant to. They're big, bold, full of color, and full of surprise. As each delivers its punch, the viewer is already wondering where it came from - and will continue to enjoy the seduction of surprise long after scrutinizing the picture in detail." Galassi continues with bringing non-photo experts up to speed on the environment of the European aesthetic over the past 150 years, with much of the focus being on the 1950'6 - 60's. Fortunately attention has been paid also the Becher's, one of Andreas Gursky's mentors from the Kunstakademie (art academy), as well as the changes that had occurred in the practice of what was being taught there. Influential artists are named and noted and neatly woven into the grand picture. There is more, but for my purposes here, the result is a writing that so thoroughly saturates the history of the artist and his medium, that it is indispensable to the book as a whole. If it were only a book of slick, meticulously composed scenes on a gargantuan scale, it would be just another coffee table book; left to collect dust in some neatly arranged corner.

The discovery of Gursky's photos is a big one. (Quick note, anyone who has ever been remotely associated with graphic design will appreciate the clean lines and layout of text and photos.) Not only is the book highly readable, it looks modern. Pages 43 -186 are entirely the color plates. They are huge. They are fascinating.

I have read a variety of descriptions of Gursky's works, many of them come from very different starting points and all come to the conclusion that he is a master artist. The photos are everything from "...modestly scaled, infallibly exposed, sharply focused images..." and "focus on the recent phase of capitalism, reified leisure, consumerist fantasies and global transformation of production." His works are "complex and labor intensive process", "Olympian" in their "detached observation of setting and stilled activity," and " overwhelmingly dense image(s) rendered with astonishing visual clarity." My point being, that you cannot escape something mesmerizing, which is the view on the world only Gursky can offer. He shoots everything from alpine landscapes to stock exchange rooms, sunsets and shoe racks, rock concerts to factories, all with the same omniscient eye. The result is astonishing; it is a sucker punch. Urbanscapes, which encompass both, views of the micro and the macro, and often render a feeling of disbelief.

There is something in these photos for EVERYONE. Literally in the sense that Gursky has traveled the world to capture these scenes. Figuratively because there is something here that everyone can relate to. Above and beyond shopping for candy, watching a sunset, standing on the mezzanine of a hotel balcony, this work conjures big questions about: commerce, ultra-consumerism, mass development and cultural homogenization, the feeling of being alone in a crowd, great energy spent on insignificant things and more. The conclusions are here for you to discover.

In summary, the book is wonderful. It is eye candy and it is brain candy. In no way is the book a substitute for seeing the artwork, but if you have to take "the next best thing" surely this book is it. I highly recommend this book for students who are actively pursuing a degree or career in photography, for art historians, teachers of art or photography, and anyone interested in social - political - environmental - or spiritual commentary by a modern artist.

Again and again, devotees of Gursky's work find themselves struggling to describe the sheer physical impressiveness of his prints. Pristine, perfect and awe-inspiring as they are; they ... in the viewer, challenging one to see more, to make sense of this information overload.

Previous coffee-table monographs on Gursky failed pitifully to convey the experience of viewing his finest work: such as the retrospectives at the Tate Liverpool (UK) or this latest show at MOMA NY -from which this book arises.

This MOMA book succeeds where others have failed: thanks to its designer's skill in taking portions -sometimes very small portions- of Gursky's images and placing them in the book as visual puzzles. They challenge the reader to recognise what they are, from which images -and where they belong. They also serve as an implicit yard-stick. "my God" the reader realises, "if this double page spread is only that tiny part of the whole image, I can imagine just how big and detailed the whole picture must be".

So, if you've not seen Gursky's actual prints yet, then please do: there is no substitute. But -having seen them - this is the only book that will come anywhere near to reminding you of that delightful experience.

Bill Hirst

Gursky's prints in person are astounding--words fail to capture not only their size, but their detail. This book does an excellent job of taking those gigantic prints and putting them into a manageable size. Plus, this is a comprehensive overview of Gursky's work.

Every photograph in Andreas Gurskey's book is a revelation. It's not a page turner-you'll linger at length over each photograph's wealth of detail, painterly composition, and absurd landscape. The images in this book have an amazing ability to startle and provoke. They are at once humorous and full of despair, alienating and invigorating. Traveling all over the globe to capture these moments, Gurskey has created a discourse about utopiansism, mass culture, work, consumerism, nature, and modern design. While the reduced size of the photographs (in contrast to the MOMA exhibit) means they lose some of their power, the book is ordered in a way that puts the images in dialogue with each other. And it reads better than any novel I have read in recent memory.

Walking through my neighborhood bookstore, I casually glanced at the photo books as I walked by. I usually stop and take a closer look, but lately I haven't seen any quality large format photography books, so I had my doubts. The loud and snappy color stripe on the book, combined with the mass of people, and on top of that the name Andreas Gursky, I stopped dead in my tracks. I felt my heart flutter and my knees get weak. Finally! A nice large book with insane large format work, with beautiful reproductions, and great layout!! What else would I want in a book? Well, personally, I like books that make we want to attack the world with my 4 x 5, I want to come out charging like a boxer in the first round. Not only did this book make we want to go shoot again, but it also made me think about shape, texture, content, and design. Some people think photographers don't pay much attention to those things, but in this book, it is disturbing the detail that is presented in each photograph. There is a photograph of a Dutch soccer stadium, and the crispness of the image is stunning. You can almost see individual strands of grass, you can almost see the players sweating, in other words, it is amazing. But to sum it all up in a non big word type of way, dude, buy this book. If you like books that make you do work, get this book. I am serious, you won't be disappointed. Oh Yeah!!

I haven't read the accompanying text yet, but if you've seen Gursky's work these reproductions don't do any justice to his work. I don't believe it's simply that the images can't be reproduced accurately, because an exhibition catalogue from a number of years ago was wonderful. I would skip this book if you're interested mostly in looking at the photos.

Gursky is a clever photographer who appears to be studying either the human condition or the nature of human irrelevance and anonymity - difficult to say. This book, wrtten in both English and German and emanating from an exhibition in Basel, goes only part way to examining his way of working, but spends more time on the influences on and philosophy of Gursky's work. As a photographer myself, I was disappointed that very little space was given to how Gursky actually constructs his amazing pieces. But maybe that's why it's art and not science?

This is a fairly inexpensive way to acquire one of Andreas Gursky's books. Most of his other books are fairly expensive and seem to be increasing in value. The quality of the images is excellent and the only issue I have with the book is the size of the offerings. If you have ever seen one of Gursky's images in the flesh you will quickly realize that this book only hints at what his prints really look like. But an oversized book would have been more costly and even then would not have approached the scale that Gursky prefers. All in all, I would recommend purchasing this book which is something that I have obviously done.

Probably the most innovative and gifted
photographer of our time Mr. Gursky's work is
selected, edited and presented by equally competent
eyes at MOMA. It is a 'must have' for those who
enjoy photography and contemporary art.

Its amazing how much more respect this book gets from guests once they realize the sheer size of these prints. The book is a great collection of his work, but cannot (of course!) truly do justice to his work.

Gursky's eye for symmetry astonishes me...internal shots of hotels, landscapes of cities, even crowds.

The book does a great job of borderless shots, to help exemplify his work as well as random close-ups to emphasize its clarity.

You don't have to be a student of art to appreciate this book - rather you just have to be able to realize the grandness of gursky's work.