Since the early 1960s, William Christenberry has plumbed the regional identity of the American South through his work in Hale County, Alabama, where he was raised. Although he is most often associated with--and recognized as a pioneer in--American color photography, he also works in an unorthodox mix of media that includes sculpture, drawing, painting and found-object assemblage. This comprehensive survey of his work considers all those practices together, and in doing so gives readers access to the full scope and complexity of his vision. In every medium, Christenberry's theme is unified: the history, the story of place, is at the heart of his project. His poetic documentation of vernacular architecture, signage and landscape captures moments of quiet beauty in a sometimes mythic terrain that, with its worn iconography and buildings turned ramshackle, evokes the form and power of the passage of time. Since relocating to Washington, D.C., in 1968, Christenberry has dutifully returned to photograph the same locations annually--the green barn, the palmist building, the Bar-B-Q Inn--fulfilling a personal ritual and documenting the physical changes wrought by the passing of a year. More than half the photographs in this comprehensive survey are previously unpublished, including new and vintage images and a stunning selection of never-before-seen Kodachrome work. An essay by Walter Hopps, the artist's lifelong friend and the founding director of the Menil Collection, who passed away in 2005, will draw attention as well.
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Editorial Reviews
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"His unmanipulated pictures, deadpan but memory haunted (with echoes of Walker Evans), are exquisitely alert to textures, colors and telling detail. His eroding structures can of course be read as stand-ins for human lives, from which they derive their deep poignancy." -- Grace Glueck --The New York Times
"A poetic documentation of vernacular architecture, signage and landscape. Christenberry captures moments of quiet beauty in a sometimes mythic terrain that, with its worn iconography and buildings turned ramshackle, evokes the form and power of the passage of time." -- Photo District News
"Like Walker Evans, Christenberry grasps the great paradox of the camera--that the most economical images can yield the richest complexities... His pictures are dry-eyed and straightforward, and all the more moving for it." -- Richard Lacayo --Time Magazine
"A poetic documentation of vernacular architecture, signage and landscape. Christenberry captures moments of quiet beauty in a sometimes mythic terrain that, with its worn iconography and buildings turned ramshackle, evokes the form and power of the passage of time." -- Photo District News
"Like Walker Evans, Christenberry grasps the great paradox of the camera--that the most economical images can yield the richest complexities... His pictures are dry-eyed and straightforward, and all the more moving for it." -- Richard Lacayo --Time Magazine
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Christenberry finds mystery in the ordinary,
This review is from: William Christenberry (Hardcover)
After ordering this book based on the solitude of the cover image, I was not disspointed with the excellent content. Christenberry has an ability to capture the questioning and mystery of quiet images. He stops and watches for natural arrangements that probably go unnoticed by just about anyone. (Except those also blessed to see the intrique that can lie quietly waiting for imagination to find them.) This photographer has the great gift of finding the unknown quantity. He is skilled like a painter, to catch the light that can turn a shed into something that can stop you dead in your tracks in wonder.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Aperture and Christenberry : A triumph.,
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This review is from: William Christenberry (Hardcover)
Aperture are publishing some of the best printed and produced photographic books available. William Christenberry is an artist who uses photographs as part of his work that includes paintings, sculptures, constructions and installations. I purchased this book because of the photographic work, but I enjoy the paintings and sculptures also. My appreciation of William Christenberry as an artist grows everytime I look at this exceptional monograph.This is one of the better books of its type currently available, and the essays that accompany the plates are excellent.
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Shades of Walker Evans,
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This review is from: William Christenberry (Hardcover)
Christenberry photgraphs and crafts replicas of the landscapes in Hale County, AL. This is the same area in which Walker Evans photographed the people and places in the 1930's for the US Gov't and the classic "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men."
Christenberry's images are every bit as poingnant and timeless as Evans and like Walker he captures the old farms, buildings, signs with a great eye, circa 1966. Chistenberry also consturcts replica models of the building and scenes he captured on film which are stunning. Any afectionado of Evans or photorealism should have this book. Jeff Rose
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