Customer Reviews

Emmet Gowin: Photographs

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This is a reissue of Emmet Gowin's first monograph, originally published in 1976. The production values are excellent, and the work is as fresh as it seemed back then.

Gowin is not the only photographer to make family portraits - think of Sally Mann, Lee Friedlander and Nicholas Nixon - but his photographs have a way of making time stand still, rather than recording the passage of time. It is hard describe the richness of his work in the usual terms: it is not surreal, not quirky, not self-consciously archetypal, but it is deeply spiritual. Gowin shows that the familiar can still be extraordinary, and the extraordinary can be right before our eyes.

The book also includes some of Gowin's "circular" photographs, and some fascinating images of disintegrating books that are reminiscent of the work of Frederick Sommer. Gowin has gone on to have a distinguished career as a teacher and photographer of landscapes, but Photographs is the equal of what was to follow.

Highly recommended.

I've been a big fan of Emmet Gowin since i was introduced to his work back in school. His work has been a huge inspiration for me.
This book was out of print for many years, I'm really glad it's back in print for people to enjoy again.
Emmet Gowin was an amazing photography professor at Princeton for many years.

I believe the book's title speaks for itself. Often remembered for this initial body of work, Mr. Gowin's images married the snapshot with the pictorial tradition. The reproductions show considerable fidelity to the surfaces of his actual prints. I proudly display this book in my collection.

The demand for this book is high and there is good reason for it.