Customer Reviews

Perpetual Mirage: Photographic Narratives of the Desert West

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the catalog of a 1996 exhibition at the Whitney: "Photographic Narrataives of the Desert West." The catalog has well-reproduced photos from the mid-19th century up to the turn of the 20th, mostly from the "Great Surveys" by Clarence King, Lt. Wheeler and John Wesley Powell, with works by such pioneer landscape photographers as William Henry Jackson, John Hillers, and Timothy O'Sullivan. There are a few samples of the works of early 20th century photographers like Edward Weston, Dorothea Lange and Ansel Adams, and (to my eye) less-distinguished work by more recent photographers like Robert Adams and Mark Klett.

Fortunately, the core of the book is about the pioneers. The accompanying essays are worth reading (though of variable quality), and there's a useful section of biographical sketches of the featured photographers. Definitely worth a look if you're interested in this era of photography. It's a handsome and well=produced book, certainly well-worth the $6-10 asking price for a used copy.

As is usual with OOP books, Amazon has (at the moment) three separate pages listing used copies of this book. This page has the most copies available as of this writing.

Happy viewing,
Peter D. Tillman