An unusual compilation of sumptuous color photographs detailing striking underground constructions of all types: subways, sewers, crypts, cellars, vaults, bars, mines and prisons, to name a few. Long a favorite of art directors, this book will also appeal to architects, artists and anyone else interested in a unique view of the world below us.
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Visually superb,
By
This review is from: Underworld: Sites of Concealment (Paperback)
This review is intended to compensate for deficiencies in Amazon's usually excellent descriptions of books.
This book is the catalog of a traveling exposition of art photographs, taken entirely within Germany, and centered on underground places from historical times to the late 20th century. The bulk of the book, and its main value, lie in the reproductions of 83 color photographs. These are technically superb in selection of subject, artistic composition, and photographic execution. The images focus entirely on structure and underground spaces: nowhere appears a human being. Every image is reproduced in large format, using a top-quality printing process. The book has two main text chapters, both bilingual in having both the original German, and an English rendering in translation. Preceding the presentation of the images is an artistic exposition of human responses to underground places and their cultural significance. The underlying material is thoughtful and sensitive, but the English translation seems mechanical and less than fluent. Following the presentation of the images is an image-by-image commentary on the history and significance of each subject. Here the English text is fluent and delightfully informative.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Highly recommended,
By
This review is from: Underworld: Sites of Concealment (Paperback)
There is a structure where I park my car on the way to work. I then take the stairs to get to the street. It's an ugly stairway of unfinished concrete, rough iron railings and harsh fluorescent lighting. During the winter as I push the heavy door open to enter the staircase after parking my car, a blast of frigid air follows me. As the stairway turns going down I pass a dark guarded nook, a kind of cave, under the stairs I have just descended. Then as I turn to go down a short passage before the final set of stairs to the street, I am met by a strong force of warm air coming from huge ducts high up near the ceiling. Over the last couple of winters I have found myself thinking that with some blankets, cardboard, and maybe another warm body, if you had nowhere else to go, you could do worse than spend a winter night in that little nook under the stairs. A lot of people sleeping out in the open in our city would probably love to use it for that purpose, though I've never seen any signs of anyone doing so. As I experienced 'Underworld -Sites of Concealment' I thought back to my musings about the little nook in the parking stairwell. Maybe I'm not such an oddball to be thinking such thoughts. As a species, I think we have very often had need of comfortable nooks and safe refuges as storms and conflagrations raged outside. Even someone in a comfortable material situation, if they have any imagination, should be able to appreciate the importance of such places and find great interest and perhaps fascination in them.
'Underworld' is a fascinating book. It is also frightening, mysterious, beautiful, and profoundly disturbing in places. Ostensibly, it is an eclectic collection of photographs dealing with underground themes situated in and around Germany, accompanied by an excellent preface and individual commentary on each photograph. You obviously don't read a book like this, you experience it. I would study each photograph and just take in the mood. Then I would imagine myself in the picture, wondering what was around that corner, what was behind that door, who would have walked that tunnel in the past, what happened in that cavern, how old could this be, what would it have been like to have been held here for a while, can that be what I think it is?, etc. As a species, human beings don't just seek refuge underground or hide and store things, or transport people and goods through tunnels; we also do terrible things to other people underground, out of sight, out of hearing. Finally, I would look up the notes for the photograph at the back of the book, and be educated, delighted or depressed, and frequently amazed by what I read. The quality of the photography is quite stunning. With the conditions and lighting the photographer would have had to work with, I have no idea how it was possible to transform what many would only see as mundane, gloomy, underground places into complex atmospheric art -art that strikes vital primordial chords in the human psyche and sub-conscious. Peter Seidel is seeing into the essence of things and then capturing it on film for the rest of us to enjoy. I guess we should call this genius. Two weeks ago, as I came down the stairway of the parking structure, my eyes were drawn to a crude black iron grating sealing off the nook under the stairs. I had not been the only one to be aware of the little cave under the stairs and it's potential.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great reference book!,
By "werm" (Alameda, CA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Underworld: Sites of Concealment (Paperback)
As a concept designer in the entertainment industry, I found this book to be a wonderful resource for all the underground hideaways that you rarely see. I highly recommend this book!
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