Horses: Photographs [Hardcover]

Michael Eastman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 7, 2003

More than a hundred extraordinary portraits—lush, rich, textured, sculptural—that reveal the spirit and nobility of the horse. Portraits of horses gazing at the camera, standing in the golden light, stamping away flies, galloping, bucking, rolling in the dust.

They are the work of Michael Eastman, a self-taught photographer influenced by Edward Weston, Walker Evans, and Henry Moore, who spent thirty years capturing the essential nature of subjects that range from Cuban life to landscapes to architecture in many places. Now he turns his refined eye to the magnificent horse.
Eastman has caught the animal’s complexity and power, fear and courage, goodness, masculinity, femininity, uniqueness.

“All animals are wonderful,” says Eastman, “but horses are truly mythic.”

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

More than a hundred extraordinary portraits?lush, rich, textured, sculptural?that reveal the spirit and nobility of the horse. Portraits of horses gazing at the camera, standing in the golden light, stamping away flies, galloping, bucking, rolling in the dust.

They are the work of Michael Eastman, a self-taught photographer influenced by Edward Weston, Walker Evans, and Henry Moore, who spent thirty years capturing the essential nature of subjects that range from Cuban life to landscapes to architecture in many places. Now he turns his refined eye to the magnificent horse.
Eastman has caught the animal?s complexity and power, fear and courage, goodness, masculinity, femininity, uniqueness.

?All animals are wonderful,? says Eastman, ?but horses are truly mythic.?

About the Author

Michael Eastman’s photographs have appeared on the cover of Time, and his work has been published in Life and the New York Times. Eastman is a recipient of a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. He lives in St. Louis, Missouri.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 168 pages
• Publisher: Knopf; 1 edition (October 7, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375414681
• ISBN-13: 978-0375414688
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 1 x 12.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #539,065 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely STUNNING!!!!!!!! A MUST have!!!!, October 24, 2003

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Horses: Photographs (Hardcover)

I've been in designing books (mostly pictoral) for over 12 years. I can safely say this is an absolutely incredible book!!! It's worth the $45 sticker price but a can't pass up at the Amazon price. The 4 color b/w photography shows detail that is very, very rare to be able to see in photographs. Perfect jobs were done on tones, contrast, and not to mention the talented artistry of Eastman. I saw photos in here of angles and positions I've never seen printed before and this book has provided me with over half a dozen inspirations for sculptures. I can't possibly recommend this book enough! For those of us that do equine art, you can't be without this beautiful reference. I'll never part with it.

64 of 71 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointingly stylized rather than real, January 30, 2004

By 

H. Cunningham (Boise, ID United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Horses: Photographs (Hardcover)

I had high hopes for this book, especially after seeing the other Amazon reviews. I was very disappointed, however, because many of the photos appear to be touched up or otherwise stylized somehow. There are many very blurry images and various double or multiple exposure shots. If all the photos were like the one on the cover - simple, real, excellent photos of horses - the book would be worth the money. However, only about 1/4 of the photos are that way. This seemed to me to be more like a rich person's coffee table book than a true horse lover's book - for those who like "artistic" renderings rather than the real thing.

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow. I mean, wow. Really, wow. No, wow., October 17, 2003

By 

Paul G. Macfarlane (Aspen, Colorado, USA, Planet Earth) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Horses: Photographs (Hardcover)

Really, Michael has that gift of seeing what others don't see and capturing it in the lens. What you'll see in these images if you're open enough, is pure love. The love Michael has, obviously, for these creatures, wild, free and noble. But also you'll see these animal's love for life itself in their expressions and the briefly-captured energy of their movements. Each page suitable for framing, each page dares you to stroke it and imagine the sweat of the hides and smell the unmistakable odor of a living horse. In fact, most of the images are so beautiful, you could crop out the horses and still have raw beauty.