The Great Wall of China [Hardcover]

Daniel Schwartz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2001

Over many years and many journeys, Daniel Schwartz has patiently and meticulously photographed one of mankind's supreme monuments - the Great Wall of China. Schwartz was the first foreigner ever to be allowed such privileged access to the Wall. From the Yellow River westward he travelled through mountains and deserts and frozen grasslands to the borders of Central Asia. China's new policy of openness encouraged him recently to revisit the Wall and to photograph areas that had been closed to him on previous journeys. To place the photographs in context, the Chinese historian Luo Zhewen, who had dedicated his life to the study of the great wall, has written an essential brief history. Also included in Jorge Luis Borges's meditation 'The Wall and the Books' and an extract from Franz Kafka's short story 'The Great Wall of China'. This extraordinary project is at once a beautiful photographic essay, an intriguing conceptual art project, and a personal odyssey. Daniel Schwartz, with his prfound and haunting vision of the Great Wall, has made not only a unique document but a book that is a work of art in itself.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Like How Man Wong's recent Exploring the Yangtze ( LJ 4/1/90) and Marc Riboud's Capital of Heaven ( LJ 1/91), this is a photo essay recording the travels of a photographer in contemporary China. In this case, Schwartz has photographed sections of the Great Wall of China and provided a few pages of disjointed thoughts and phrases about his trip. His black-and-white photographs use light and shadow to create interesting, often understated, images, with less concern for showiness or exoticism that is common in the other two books. Besides Schwartz's work, this volume includes Borges's speculative essay "The Wall and the Books" and a four-page history of the wall's construction by Luo Zhenwen. Suitable for collections with an interest in China or photography.
- Kathryn W. Finkelstein, M.Ln., Cincinnati
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Daniel Schwartz, the award-winning photographer, is the author of Delta: The Perils, Profits and Politics of Water in South and Southeast Asia, also published by Thames & Hudson.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 216 pages
• Publisher: Thames & Hudson; First Edition edition (September 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0500542430
• ISBN-13: 978-0500542439
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,597,543 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)