Published as a companion book to the artist's Twenty Year Retrospective, Michael Kenna: Retrospective Two presents an overview of Kenna's landscape photographs made between 1994 and 2004. Michael Kenna is arguably the most influential landscape photographer of his generation. The subject of over 20 books and hundreds of solo exhibitions throughout Asia, Australia, Europe and the United States, Michael Kenna often works at dawn or during the night. He concentrates primarily on the interaction between the ephemeral atmospheric conditions of the natural landscape, and human-made structures and sculptural mass. Kenna's exquisitely crafted prints are included in such permanent museum collections as The National Gallery, Washington, D.C.; The Museum of Decorative Arts, Prague; and The Victoria and Albert Museum, London. In 2001, Michael Kenna was made a Chevalier in the Order of Arts and Letters by the Ministry of Culture in France. Born in Widnes, England in 1953, he currently lives in the USA. The introduction Inventing Peace by Anne W. Tucker explores Kenna s relationship to contemporary photographic ideas.
For over thirty five years, British born Michael Kenna has been looking at landscapes in ways quite out of the ordinary. His mysterious photographs, often made at dawn or in the dark hours of night, concentrate primarily on the interaction between the ephemeral atmospheric conditions of the natural landscape, and human-made structures and sculptural mass. Kenna is both a diurnal and nocturnal photographer, fascinated by times of day when light is at its most pliant. Using non digital equipment, his night time exposures can last up to ten hours, and his photographs often record details that the human eye is not able to perceive.
Kenna's intimate, exquisitely hand crafted black and white photographic prints reflect a sense of refinement, respect for history, and thorough originality. They have been exhibited in numerous galleries and museums throughout the world and are included in such permanent collections as The National Gallery, Washington, D.C.; The Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris; The Shanghai Art Museum; and The Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Over forty books and catalogs have been published on Kenna's work.
Website: www.michaelkenna.com
