BAY/SKY (signed)

Meyerowitz, Joel. BAY/SKY. Forward by Norman Mailler. Bulfinch, Little Brown and Company. New York. A very fine copy in very fine dust jacket. Signed and inscribed by Joel Meyerowitz. Please email for photo of signature.

From Library Journal Evoking Monet's studies of light and Stieglitz's equivalents, Meyerowitz here refines a vision begun in his earlier collection depicting Cape Cod, Cape Light ( LJ 3/1/79). Using a balance of sea and sky where "attention is paid to everything in the frame," he has reached an ethereal formalism. Perspective and selective focus are no longer of primary concern; the horizon line becomes the only spatial marker in many images. The 47 color plates are meticulously printed from the 8 10 view-camera negatives. An introduction by Norman Mailer, the afterword by Meyerowitz, and a list of plates are the only text. An elegant eulogy to land's end and absolutely essential for all photography collections.
- Kathy J. An derson, Indiana Ctr. for Global Business, Indiana Univ.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Booklist In Cape Light (1979), Meyerowitz made his reputation as a landscape photographer specializing in the ephemeral natural light and color associated with artistic luminism. Here he returns to the cape but has pared down his subject matter to just one long stretch of the sea meeting the sky. With his 8-by-10-inch view camera, he shot 46 different views of this vista, which are here reproduced as oversize colorplates. Misty gray morning, clear blue noonday, vivid sunset, gray-blue blanket of clouds, tide in, tide out--each image has its own form and color even though there is little but the horizon in view. Bay/Sky is a natural and more radical extension of Meyerowitz's landscape vision, and it contains some exquisite sights sure to delight both serious photography buffs and lovers of sunsets. Still, collections lacking Cape Light should add it before getting Bay/Sky, which is really a long coda to the earlier work. (A word of warning: Norman Mailer's silly introduction taints Meyerowitz's ethereal viewpoint with sexism, likening it to "a great beauty who is ready to reveal her nude secrets to but one photographer, her own private court photographer.") Gretchen Garner