From Library Journal
This sumptuous book features the work of three of the greatest photographic artists of this century. It is an interesting grouping of quite different artists, including the soft, atmospheric portraits of Tr cka; the crisp, sensual still lifes of Weston; and the stark nudes of Newton. The book is unified by the theme of photographic form, notably in portraiture and the human figure, as well as Weston's classic still lifes. Although technically a catalog for a 1998 German exhibition curiously titled "The Artificial of the Real," the large-format, clothbound book is beautifully reproduced and reasonably priced, especially given the high production values. Exhibition catalogs often present artists in the freshest and most insightful light, and this book is no exception. It offers a rare opportunity to glimpse the work of three accomplished photographers and to gain some understanding of how their work is viewed today. Highly recommended.ARaymond Bial, Parkland Coll. Lib., Champaign, IL Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Nature: In the works of Anton Josef Trcka nature is picturesque, an embellishment atmospherically enhancing his portraits. In Edward Weston's work it appears in its most basic, purest forms, as both reality and its metaphor. And for Helmut Newton nature is the hyper-real backdrop against which he stages the pictorial worlds which accompany and pursue us today. Body: Trcka uses the body as a vehicle for a new expressiveness, a new gesture, a new image of mankind, which at the turn of this century could only be created by means of a photography both so close to, yet so remote from reality. For Weston the body is pure form, one of the world's primordial forms, an abstract representation of human, physical existence. And Newton: here bodies are creations invented by the director behind the camera, manifestly rooted in reality, but nevertheless vigorously detached from it for the sake of art and artificiality. The Artificial of the Real is about the art of perceiving reality and representing it. Three photographers show how human beings have experienced themselves in their world at different moments during this century. For this, photography is how the artificiality of the real is rendered perceptible.

SYNOPSIS

This book presents 3 important photographers--Anton Josef Trcka, Edward Weston, and Helmut Newton, and explores the relationships between reality and representation.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal