The Passion of the Real in Painting and Photography
Edited by Brigitte Franzen, Susanne Neuburger.
At the end of the 1960s, a group of American painters stepped out of the shadows of Abstract Expressionism and turned towards the tradition of painterly realism. Photorealist painters often used the photographic image as a model, but “correcting” the photographs--as Chuck Close did in his portraits--by placing different photos next to each other to give each segment of the picture its own focal point. Photorealists frequently emphasized the precedent of Pop art, and this volume on both Photorealist painting and photography in dialogue with painting (such as William Eggleston and Saul Leiter) opens with Mel Ramos, Ed Ruscha and Andy Warhol to underline this association. Monumental in scope, and with a wealth of color reproductions, Hyper Realalso assesses works by Richard Artschwager, Thomas Demand, Vincent Desiderio, Rackstraw Downes, Richard Estes, Eric Fischl, Richard Hamilton, Duane Hanson, Jann Haworth, Candida Höfer, Robert Longo, Allan McCollum, Tracey Moffatt, Gerhard Richter, Stephen Shore, Thomas Ruff, Wayne Thiebaud and many others.
"Photography's purely auxiliary role in art production was never question. It was considered far superior to other artistic aids in terms of both quality (thanks to the camera's 'objective lens,' the camera was sometimes referred to as the 'pencil of nature') as well as quantity (photographic images could be produced rather quickly). Initially, these photographs provided the artists with a great deal of visual information concerning motifs that were not available in the artist's immediate vicinity which might serve as inspiration for the artist's paintings or the architect's (historical) building designs, for example. There was practically no discussion concerning photography's ability to produce 'artworks.' The general consensus was that this was indeed impossible, and it was not until the 1890s that people began to question this consensus with increasing fervor. In light of the role of photography over 100 years later, it is interesting to look back upon both the arguments in favor of photography as an artistic medium as well as the intentional transformation of the photographic process aimed at creating artistic photographs. It is not only important to examine the role of photographs as independent works of art, but also photography's resurrected role as a source of motifs for the Photorealists."
Monika Faber, excerpted from Artistic Vision? Photographic Vision! in Hyper Real.
FORMAT: Hbk, 10 x 13 in. / 400 pg / 274 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $49.95 LIST PRICE: CANADA $60 ISBN: 9783865609298 PUBLISHER: Walther König, Köln AVAILABLE: 4/30/2011 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Out of print AVAILABILITY: Not available TERRITORY: NA LA ASIA AFR
Hyper Real The Passion of the Real in Painting and Photography
Published by Walther König, Köln. Edited by Brigitte Franzen, Susanne Neuburger.
At the end of the 1960s, a group of American painters stepped out of the shadows of Abstract Expressionism and turned towards the tradition of painterly realism. Photorealist painters often used the photographic image as a model, but “correcting” the photographs--as Chuck Close did in his portraits--by placing different photos next to each other to give each segment of the picture its own focal point. Photorealists frequently emphasized the precedent of Pop art, and this volume on both Photorealist painting and photography in dialogue with painting (such as William Eggleston and Saul Leiter) opens with Mel Ramos, Ed Ruscha and Andy Warhol to underline this association. Monumental in scope, and with a wealth of color reproductions, Hyper Realalso assesses works by Richard Artschwager, Thomas Demand, Vincent Desiderio, Rackstraw Downes, Richard Estes, Eric Fischl, Richard Hamilton, Duane Hanson, Jann Haworth, Candida Höfer, Robert Longo, Allan McCollum, Tracey Moffatt, Gerhard Richter, Stephen Shore, Thomas Ruff, Wayne Thiebaud and many others.
