Former Dean of the Yale School of Art, Richard Benson has been a photographer for more than four decades, but until now his art often took a back seat to his prodigious achievements as a printer and a teacher. When he devoted himself to overseeing the production of his own pictures a few years ago, everything fell into place. From direct digital capture through inkjet output, Benson's renowned technical wizardry yields unusually vibrant and beguiling color prints that are at once ultra-vivid and utterly natural, like our everyday visual experience. This volume presents nearly 100 photographs by Benson that highlight not only the unique properties of his prints, but also his fresh techniques for reproducing them on a printing press, as exemplified in this book. The uncanny lushness and clarity of the photographs gives voice to Benson's generous, inquisitive eye. As he crisscrossed the continent, Benson observed the creations of nature as well as man in pictures that are at once cheerful and patiently attentive to the forces that shape and soon enough change everything under the sun. An essay by Peter Galassi, Chief Curator of Photography at MoMA, surveys the work and a text by Benson explains how it was made.
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
The New York Times
Dana Jennings
The rich and striking photographs here range from Rhode Island seascapes to California mountainscapes. But what's most satisfying on this visual roadtrip is that Mr. Benson, a former dean of the Yale University School of Art and a MacArthur fellow, isn't just seduced by conventional beauties. He unmasks too the primal allure to be found in a pile of gravel and iron gone to rust, in stacks of bricks and in truck tracks stamped into the mud and the muck.
Artforum
James Welling
As revolutionary as his earlier duotone and tritone black-and-white printing was, North South East West upped the ante. It is easily the most beautiful book of color photographs ever printed.
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FORMAT: Hbk, 11.5 x 7.75 in. / 128 pgs / 109 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $35.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $47.5 ISBN: 9780870708169 PUBLISHER: The Museum of Modern Art, New York AVAILABLE: 10/31/2011 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: NA ONLY
Published by The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Text by Richard Benson, Peter Galassi.
Former Dean of the Yale School of Art, Richard Benson has been a photographer for more than four decades, but until now his art often took a back seat to his prodigious achievements as a printer and a teacher. When he devoted himself to overseeing the production of his own pictures a few years ago, everything fell into place. From direct digital capture through inkjet output, Benson's renowned technical wizardry yields unusually vibrant and beguiling color prints that are at once ultra-vivid and utterly natural, like our everyday visual experience. This volume presents nearly 100 photographs by Benson that highlight not only the unique properties of his prints, but also his fresh techniques for reproducing them on a printing press, as exemplified in this book. The uncanny lushness and clarity of the photographs gives voice to Benson's generous, inquisitive eye. As he crisscrossed the continent, Benson observed the creations of nature as well as man in pictures that are at once cheerful and patiently attentive to the forces that shape and soon enough change everything under the sun. An essay by Peter Galassi, Chief Curator of Photography at MoMA, surveys the work and a text by Benson explains how it was made.
