PhotoLit - data bank on photographic literature

The only text in this book is to be found on the spine.

Nur Kurztitelaufnahme 2001.

Text engl. - Selected as one of the best photography books of 2000 by Andy Grundberg for the New York Times. Out-of-print. Scarce. - From the publisher: "The photographs in The Sky Book comprise Richard Misrach's most recent, most ambitious series, which transposes his narrative from the land to the sky. The images mediate between document and abstraction, reality and metaphor. Drawing on photography's documentary tradition, Misrach contextualizes each photograph with respect to time and place, rooting the celestial realm firmly in the earthly and political one."

"Golden Gate offers yet another dimension to Misrach's artistic output. Three years ago, he and his family moved into a house in the Berkeley Hills of Northern California. Since then, Misrach has been obsessively photographing the magisterial view of the Golden Gate Bridge from his front porch, each photograph taken from the exact same viewpoint at different times of day. The photographs reproduced here, from a series of over seven hundred, capture the opening between bay and ocean, and the famous bridge, in every light and weather condition. The perils of cliché would have overcome most photographers, but Misrach's pictures elevate his subject to the sublime - banks of charcoal cotton or ocher clouds; tangerine, lemon, and rosy sunsets; heavy black storm curtains; and thick rays of light. Like color field painting, these views transcend the ordinary. They are, as the artist states, "an unabashed celebration of the glorious light that is the Golden Gate." But Misrach's Golden Gate photographs also offer a commentary on the politics of the view - the relationship of wealth, power, and privilege at the beginning of the twenty-first century. They stand in and between popular narratives about this region and its unique history – about Alcatraz and Angel Island, the Marin Headlands and the Presidio, the Ferry Pier and the Greensward, all magnificent assets of the Bay Area. Not unlike the grand views of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century painting, the Golden Gate pictures offer more than ocular pleasure – they represent a cultural and political landmark that, often photographed, reveals something deeper under Misrach's penetrating gaze. They are a celebration of the beauty and spectacle of the Golden Gate, but issues of culture and power are embedded just below the surface." (Publisher’s text).

Illustrated with color reproductions of Misrach's luminous photographs. - Nur Kurztitelaufnahme 06.2006.

Text engl. - *sic! rec. May 1997 - actually this should have been the winter 1996 issue. - Incl. biographies.

Nur Kurztitelaufnahme 07.2007.

Text engl. - Nur Kurztitelaufnahme 05.1997.

This book received the “Golden Light Award” 1996.

Text engl.

Text engl. - Vgl. Buchbesprechung in [Stern] Spezial Fotografie Portfolio 26, 2001. S. 90. - From the publisher: "Golden Gate offers yet another dimension to Misrach's artistic output. Three years ago, he and his family moved into a house in the Berkeley Hills of Northern California. Since then, Misrach has been obsessively photographing the magisterial view of the Golden Gate Bridge from his front porch, each photograph taken from the exact same viewpoint at different times of day. The photographs reproduced here, from a series of over seven hundred, capture the opening between bay and ocean, and the famous bridge, in every light and weather condition. The perils of cliché would have overcome most photographers, but Misrach's pictures elevate his subject to the sublime - banks of charcoal cotton or ocher clouds; tangerine, lemon, and rosy sunsets; heavy black storm curtains; and thick rays of light. Like color field painting, these views transcend the ordinary. They are, as the artist states, "an unabashed celebration of the glorious light that is the Golden Gate." But Misrach's Golden Gate photographs also offer a commentary on the politics of the view - the relationship of wealth, power, and privilege at the beginning of the twenty-first century. They stand in and between popular narratives about this region and its unique history – about Alcatraz and Angel Island, the Marin Headlands and the Presidio, the Ferry Pier and the Greensward, all magnificent assets of the Bay Area. Not unlike the grand views of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century painting, the Golden Gate pictures offer more than ocular pleasure – they represent a cultural and political landmark that, often photographed, reveals something deeper under Misrach's penetrating gaze. They are a celebration of the beauty and spectacle of the Golden Gate, but issues of culture and power are embedded just below the surface."

Text engl. - Other edition: Dt. Ausgabe: Violent legacies. Das Erbe der Gewalt. Drei Gesänge. Frankfurt am Main: Zweitausendeins 1992. - Nur Kurztitelaufnahme 2001.

Text dt. - Other edition: Original edition: Violent legacies. Three cantos. Fiction by Susan Sontag. New York: Aperture 1992.

Richard Misrach's Pictures of Paintings showcases photographs of select museum masterpieces by Thomas Eakins, Gericault, Anthony Van Dyck, Frederick Remington, William Adolphe Bourgereau, Martin Johnson Heade, Orazio Riminaldi, Giovanni Paolo Pannini, Thomas Cole, Albert Bierstadt, among others. Working primarily in the art museums of the American West, along with The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, he photographed details of paintings not unlike those normally found in art historical texts, but to a different end. Misrach attempts to reexamine these details, not so much as a guide to the artist's style or technique, but as a means of understanding a lexicon of cultural values, among them race, gender, religion, and power. By collapsing the barriers between the traditional practice of documentation and the recent strategies of appropriation art, these photographs raise important questions regarding representation itself. Pictures of Paintings marks the first comprehensive compilation of this significant body of work. [Text at Schaden.com]

„Betörende Farben und eine Exaktheit, die nur die Großformatkamera ermöglicht, zeichnen Misrachs retrospektive Übersicht mit Fotos und Serien, die seit 1975 entstanden sind, aus. In der Reihenfolge des Entstehens werden die frühen Aufnahmen, dann das zentrale Werk, die "Desert Cantos", die Serie "Golden Gate" mit ihren faszinierenden Lichtstimmungen, Nahaufnahmen von Gemälden, die nahezu abstrakten Wolkenbilder und Aufnahmen von Stränden. Im Mittelpunkt steht das Thema Wüste im engeren und weiteren Sinne. Die Unerbittlichkeit und Unwirtlichkeit dieser Landschaftsform und der Umgang der Menschen mit ihren Landschaften haben Misrach über Jahre hinweg beschäftigt. Exzellent gedruckt. Kein Text, nur Bildlegenden. (Buchh. Lindemann, Stuttgart 12.2005). - Nur Kurztitelaufnahme 12.2005.

Somptueuse et gigantesque monographie (50,8 x 40,6 cm, plus de 3 kilos !), On the Beach s’attache à décrire notre relation particulière à la mer. Misrach utilise une palette de couleurs variant au gré des fonds et des marées, des motifs abstraits de vagues et d’ondulations, des plages vides ou bondées. Richard Misrach, né en 1949 à Los Angeles, est l’un des maîtres les plus prolifiques de la photographie contemporaine. Ses photos sont présentées de manière permanente au MoMA et au Whitney Museum (New York). Ce livre est le premier publié en France entièrement consacré au travail de R. Misrach. (photographie.com : 2007-11-06). - Nur Kurztitelaufnahme 11.2007.