Portraits [Hardcover]

David Seidner (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Seidner was 42 when he died in 1999, leaving a photographic legacy that was broad and complex. The works in this book are portraits of the rich, the successful, and the unknown dressed in 19th-century costume. Using a very formal, nearly shadowless light granting an icy tone to each image makes for remarkable work glorifying the steady gaze shared by camera and subject. Each portrait can appear as a nearly perfect representational painting of what it is: a carefully composed and posed photograph that places current people in another time. The rich texture of clothing fabrics, the carefully prepared confidence in these men and women, and a gifted photographer have come together to construct a book that is unusual--spare but elegant and a final showcase for an artist with very special talents. A brief text by Richard Martin, curator of the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, provides an appreciation for these complex mergings of aesthetics and people--who, through Seidner's eye, become timeless. Recommended for all photography collections.
-David Bryant, New Canaan P.L., CT
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 80 pages
• Publisher: Assouline; 1st edition (October 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 2843231523
• ISBN-13: 978-2843231520
• Product Dimensions: 14.9 x 10.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,014,977 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Remember beauty?, November 5, 1999

By 

Chantil955 (Honolulu, Hawaii, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Portraits (Hardcover)

A disclaimer: I am not a professional photographer; my opinion is only one of an amateur who likes looking at photos.

Remember beauty? When photography began, portrait photography was primarily about showing people at their best. Old American Civil War photographs show proud soldiers in their uniforms about to go to war, or serious young couples about to be separated. Today we seem to live in an age of realism, when photographs of people are considered "better" or more "honest" if you can see their pores and blackhead scars. I'm not saying realism, in itself, is bad; a realistic portrait of a person can tell you more about that person's life than an entire article could (Mary Ellen Mark's photos of the homeless, for example). But portrait photography in general, and celebrity photography in particular, seems to have lost something in this shying away from beauty. Today celebrity portraits either go for shock value (see any David LaChapelle photograph) or play the Look-how-naked-I-am-Pay-attention-to-me game (see almost any Rolling Stone or Maxim magazine cover). David Seidner, whose photos often appeared in Harpers & Queen magazine, takes the opposite track: he creates pictures of people, fully clothed, in gorgeous settings. If you follow pop culture and are use to seeing photos of celebrities wearing old T-shirts and a pair of faded jeans, the pictures in "Portraits" are almost breathtaking to see: lush, sumptuous, extravagant. Most of the pictures in "Portraits" came from a photo essay Seidner did commemorating the recent John Singer Sargent exhibition. Seidner contacted descendants of people who posed for Sargent's paintings, dressed them up in the style of Sargent's time, and took photos of them in the Sargent style (pictures of Samantha and Serena Boardman, Lord Glenconner, and Natasha Fraser-Cavassoni fall into this category). The other photographs in "Portraits" consist of people in formalwear (Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece in his British military uniform, the Miller sisters in haute couture dresses). The result is a book of stunning loveliness. It contains the single best photograph of the great Jessye Norman I've ever seen in my entire life. The Helena Bonham Carter picture was choosen for the millennial exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, London, as one of the hundred great photographs of the century. The only bad part of looking at "Portraits" is the reminder that Mr. Seidner is no longer with us. The world is a poorer place for losing this man who sees beauty in it.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Master, July 23, 2002

By 

Kyle P. Wagner (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Portraits (Hardcover)

David Seidner had few rivals. His photography is so beautiful, it seems to have a quality that makes you want to consume it slowly, like good wine or a beautiful meal. (Feel free to insert your own metaphor pertaining to something you would like to consume slowly.) He achieved a lighting technique that is particularly notable, as it is so perfect, and the axis of many of his images.

"Potraits" is the perhaps the greatest achievement in his career, cut short by death not too long after they were completed. He worked for a great deal of time on this project, and anyone purchasing this book should be aware that he was in the grip of terrible illness while shooting, but still managed to realize his vision.

If you're not familiar with the photos, they're based on the famed society portraits of John Singer Sergeant using mostly relatives of those subjects, and one or two models. (Such as the luminous Bernadette Jerkowsi doing a superb Josephine/Odalisque on the cover, and inside.)

This book is a reminder and document of the doggedness of a passionate artist: we should all have such determination. David Seidner is sorely missed.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book has to be seen to be believed!, May 20, 2000

By 

Anton Karidian (Toronto) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Portraits (Hardcover)

Mr. Seidner's portraits are niether simple documentations nor pretentious blurry art photos. His visions of his subjects are elegantly caught on film as if film were a painter's canvas --carefully conceived and classically composed. He is the "Hans Holbein" of portrait photography. Simply beautiful!