Photographs

Front Cover
Arena Editions, 2000 - Photography - 156 pages
Robert Maxwell is one of the most exciting new photographers to have emerged on the savagely competitive scene of fashion and editorial photography. In Photographs, Maxwell shares his edgy nudes, portraits, and still lifes that are at once modern and, strangely, part of the past. Much has been written about the lack of innovation in contemporary photography, and this book, Maxwell's first, underscores why he is widely considered to be the one of the most interesting photographers of his generation.

Combining a rough-edged eroticism with a genuine interest in form and beauty, Maxwell's nudes -- perhaps the most difficult genre to master -- are in a class by themselves. His elegant portrait studies of his family, friends, and passersby are fresh and original and bring to mind the groundbreaking work of Irving Penn and Horst P. Horst. But Maxwell is distinguished from his modernist forebears, aesthetically and by his unique approach to the medium: he utilizes the nineteenth-century glass wet-plate technology known as the ambrotype -- called the "black art" of photography for its rich, dark, and reflective surfaces. These gorgeous glass objects come alive, as do the artist's platinum and silver prints, in this striking book -- certain to become a milestone in the art of bookmaking.

From inside the book

Contents

Section 1
8
Section 2
9
Section 3
10

5 other sections not shown

About the author (2000)

Robert Maxwell began using the camera at age 28, when his girlfriend gave him a Nikon F3. Now 39, maxwell has completed assignments for the most prestigious fashion magazine of out rime, including W, Vanity Fair, Vogue, Mademoiselle, Elle, and Interview. A former surfer from La Jolla, California, Maxwell is currently based in New York City. Genevieve Field is editorial director of "Nerve" magazine.

Bibliographic information