Customer Reviews

Tir a'Mhurain: Outer Hebrides

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Tir a' Mhurain: The Outer Hebrides Of Scotland is a new and impressive edition showcasing the 105 duotone, breathtaking, sequenced photographs by Paul Strand (1890-1976) drawn from his 1954 sojourn to the untamed island of South Uist, located near the west coast of Scotland. Glorious images of landscapes and sea, personal portraits of fishermen, and wondrous natural splendor mark this volume which is a joy to leaf through as it presents captured images and memories of a truly timeless beauty. With an informative text by Basil Davidson and featuring an excellent introduction by Catherine Duncan, Tir a' Mhurain is a much appreciated contribution to the art of photography and a highly recommended acquisition for personal, professional, and academic "History of Photography" reference collections.

Paul Strand, one of the great photographers of the world, spent three months in 1954 on the Island of South Uist in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. Long a fan of Scottish photographers and Scotland (he had devoted the first gallery in his 1937 "Centenary of Photography" exhibition at the New York Museum of Modern Art to the work of the Scottish pioneers Hill and Adamson) he excelled himself with Tir a'Mhurain (the title is Gaelic for "Land of the bent grass" one of the Gaelic names for Uist).

It is sumptuous, penetrating and great art. The book is long out of print and this re-print (not quite perfect as some of the pictures appear a little soft) is a rare opportunity to own it without forking out hundreds of pounds for an original (not that they come on the market).

If you are interested in photography, the Western Isles, Scotland or even just life and people, buy it!

I have been eyeing this publication for some time. As an amateur photographer interested in the history of photography and it's greatest photographers, I thought I should deepen my knowledge of Paul Strand. I chose this book rather than the usual books collecting the "greatest hits" because I wanted to get a feel for a specific photographic study. As I am preparing a book of photographs on an island, I chose Strand's study of a Scottish island, Uist. This edition has been re-released by Aperture and the printing, binding and presentation are first rate. A real pleasure to take into hand and open. The covers are covered in cloth, a rarity in modern books. The book is accompanied by interesting information about the island experiences, but it is not clear what is Strand's work and what is not. This is not a re-release of the original book but a re-working, with some editing of the photographic content. All this is fine, but not knowing what are Strand's words and what aren't, or which photos were in the original edition make it difficult to evaluate Stand's work itself. We are looking at an edited work, and not a reprinting of the original work. That, in my opinion, is where this publication falls down. The pictures are whimsical and tender - not great works of art but ones that speak of a personal poetry of island life, often lonely but beautiful at the same time. Get this book if you already know Strand's work and want to deepen your knowledge, but get a compilation work if this will be your first purchase.