Rough Beauty [Hardcover]

Dave Anderson (Photographer), Anne Wilkes Tucker (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2006

"This book's title, Rough Beauty, conveys Anderson's conviction that the hard scrabble lives of most of the residents of Vidor, Texas, are worthy of our attention, but it also conveys that he does not seek to beautify their lives by removing the crude edges." -- Anne Wilkes Tucker

A powerful photographic documentation of the people and places a poor and isolated town in rural southeast Texas, most known for its long history as a KKK town.

Begun in fall 2003 and completed in early 2006 (after fifty trips), Rough Beauty explores the character and burden -- and the resilience and off-kilter beauty -- of a community branded by its history. Vidor is reviled for its history of Klan activities, but behind this stereotype lingers a town filled with people who have not been able to lift themselves up and a crushing poverty sometimes reminiscent of the Great Depression. Anderson's images show a hidden beauty that lies dormant even in the roughest places.

Winner of the Santa Fe Center for Photography 2005 Project Competition.
Exhibition tour begins fall 2006 and continues throughout 2007.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

In the interview concluding this book, Anderson suggests that the historic photographer he most admires is Dorothea Lange, especially for her images of poor, rural Americans. His pictures taken in little Vidor, Texas, attest the affinity. The people Anderson shows, like those in Lange's famous pictures, are poor and white. Most of the adults have no or too little work; Anderson says they typify the people his economic historian father says have lived for generations as tenuously as many more did only during the Depression. Whereas Lange photographed the poor to call attention and relief to their plight, Anderson aims to disclose the beauty in their lives that arises from their persistent enjoyment of life despite continual hardship. He finds it in the things they create because they can't buy them: a deer-hunter's stand, old boots transformed into planters, a barrel rigged with ropes for children to "bronco"-ride. He finds it in candor of expression, tenderness for pets and infants, and children's play. But it's a rough beauty, all right, especially among the adults. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Prior to becoming a full-time professional photographer, Anderson worked for Bill Clinton at the White House and then as a full-time producer at MTV. Dave's project "Rough Beauty" was the winner of the Santa Fe Center for Photography's 2005 Project Competition. He was also named a rising star by Photo District News. Founder and curator of photography at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Curated over two-dozen exhibitions, including retrospectives for Robert Frank, Richard Misrach and Brassaï, and published many articles and lectures around the world. Awarded fellowships by the National Endowment for the Arts, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, and the Getty Research Institute.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 120 pages
• Publisher: Dewi Lewis Publishing (October 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1904587291
• ISBN-13: 978-1904587293
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 10 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,202,330 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Anderson Accomplishes Delicate Balance, November 27, 2006

By 

M. Keasler (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Rough Beauty (Hardcover)

I was very impressed with this incredible book with quiet and poetic images. Photographer Dave Anderson is doing what the best and most important photography today does - addressing social issues in a dignified manner. The resulting portrait of Vidor is a difficult but sweet one that presses into details of quiet beauty that we might never see if we were walking through the same streets. I found the photographs of children endearing and sweet. I have never been through the town in question but but love to visit after seeing Anderson's view of the town. I think the people of Vidor would be complemented by this sweet portrayal of a part of their town that is surely ignored by most.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Photographer's Photographer, October 21, 2006

By 

Jason L. Rapp (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Rough Beauty (Hardcover)

Recalling the great photojournalists of old, Anderson's photographs conjure stories -- great and small, joyous and sorrowful -- of his subjects, though we are to guess them ourselves. The title, Rough Beauty, is apt because while the eye initially falls on the center of a perfectly captured beautiful moment, around the periphery lie markers of a difficult place (poor, small town East Texas) and a difficult time (now).

I recommend this work without reservation.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A former resident's opinion, April 17, 2009

By 

J. Land (Austin, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Rough Beauty (Hardcover)

For me personally, this book was a breath of fresh air. Admittedly Rough Beauty's focus is on Vidor's poverty, but the book tries to show my home town for its humanity. Every other media outlet has shown similar people, but instead has focused their inhumanity. It's a good book and the photographs are beautiful. For anyone from Southeast Texas or anyone familiar with Vidor's reputation, I strongly recommend this book.