North South East West - (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

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.

Review Quotes

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.--Dana Jennings "The New York Times"