In Plane View: Abstractions of Flight [Hardcover]

Anne Collins Goodyear (Author), Carolyn Russo (Photographer), Patty Wagstaff (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2007

In Plane View: Abstractions of Flight, by Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum photographer Carolyn Russo, redirects our attention to the often-overlooked simple beauty of aircraft design. With precedents in the work of Robert Delaunay, Charles Sheeler, and Arshile Gorky, among others, Russo uses fine art photography to bring out new visual dimensions of these powerful symbols of the 20th century, transforming them into works of art. Russo’s striking color photographs distill the complexity of civil and military airplanes and spaceships into bold combinations of line, shape, light, and color.

Beautiful in themselves, Carolyn Russo’s photographs become even more intriguing when we learn their source: the iconic air and space craft of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C.

Through her unconventional approach Russo reveals new layers of meaning, from the whimsical to the profound, in the appearance of some of history’s most revered flying machines. Juxtaposing her playful and discerning eye, scholarly text from NASM and the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery provides fresh perspectives on flight and photography that will leave audiences looking at the world with new eyes.

The book features 90 color photographs, quotes by aviators, artists, and poets, historical captions on each aircraft, and interpretive essays by Anne Collins Goodyear, assistant curator of prints and drawings at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, who specializes in the relationship of art, science, and technology.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Carolyn Russo has worked as a photographer at the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution since 1988. She is author of Artifacts of Flight (Harry N. Abrams, 2003) and Women and Flight: Portraits of Contemporary Women Pilots (Bulfinch Press, 1997). Women and Flight was also a traveling exhibit and toured the United States for seven years with the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service. Artifacts of Flight received awards from the American Institute of Graphic Arts’ 50 Books/50 Covers competition and the American Association of Museums’ Publications Design Competition. She holds a BFA in photography from the Massachusetts College of Art. Her photographs have appeared in both solo and group shows nationally.

Patty Wagstaff is a six-time member of the USA Aerobatic Team, has won the gold, silver, and bronze medals in Olympic-level international aerobatic competition, and is the first woman to win the title of U.S. National Aerobatic champion and one of the few people to win it three times. Flying before millions of airshow spectators each year, her breathtaking performances give spectators a front-row seat view of the precision and complexity of modern, unlimited hardcore aerobatics. Her smooth, aggressive style sets the standard for performers the world over.

Anne Collins Goodyear is Assistant Curator of Prints and Drawings at the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. Goodyear is the author of essays in Reconsidering a Century of Flight (UNC Press, 2003) and exhibition catalogues for the North Carolina Museum of Art’s Defying Gravity: Contemporary Art and Flight (Prestel, 2003) and the Art Institute of Chicago’s 2001: Building for Space Travel (Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2001). She is co-editor of Flight: A Celebration of 100 Years in Art and Literature (Welcome Books, 2003).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: powerHouse Books (November 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1576874052
• ISBN-13: 978-1576874059
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 0.8 x 11.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #442,450 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beauty, in Things That Fly, December 3, 2007

By 

Dave English (Arizona, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: In Plane View: Abstractions of Flight (Hardcover)

This is a book of beauty. It's not a catalogue of airplanes -- there are plenty other books like that -- this is a collection of pieces of photographic art. There are quotes and some intelligent interesting background information on each plane or spacecraft; but the stars are the almost abstract stunning photographs. The jet intake of a MiG-21F, a peeling paint close-up of Gemini IV, the lines of a Grob 103, the exhaust nozzle of an F-104A Starfighter. It's a Technicolor high-def love affair with mechanical bits of aviation history. Worth getting a coffee table for . . .

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Saw the originals, had to have the book!, September 1, 2009

By 

S. Epstein (D/FW, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In Plane View: Abstractions of Flight (Hardcover)

I got to view the traveling Smithsonian exhibit this book is based upon, at the Dallas Frontiers of Flight museum at Dallas Love Field Airport, today. I was so impressed by the compositions and colors that I had to run to the gift shop to find a book of the collection. They had just stocked the book, today, and the clerk did not know what it was, so I was lucky to stumble across it, autographed, no less. This is not a collection of airplane photos - it is a study in the beauty created by the engineering which the artist found in the details. I try to accomplish a similar effect with my own photography, so I am looking to this book for inspiration. The text with each image describes the component and aircraft each image is made from, and gives its historical context. Amazon's price is much less than I paid.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!, January 20, 2012

By 

jadedseraph - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: In Plane View: Abstractions of Flight (Hardcover)

The photos in this book are fantastic. The few you can see on the preview are beautiful, but do not even begin to do justice to the rest of the book. The shots are unique - ones I haven't seen in other compilations and focused on aspects of the plane I would not have personally thought of. I purchased it for a pilot who loved it. He spent hours pouring over it and still pulls it back out.