EPIC NEW PHOTOGRAPHY BOOKS: SALLY MANN & SALLY GALL
There is a bounty of beautiful new fine arts photography books this year. Two that we are featuring here explore the unbearable lightness of being, each in its own way. Heavenly Creatures, by Sally Gall, presents a collection of colorful ephemeral frolicking forms, the stuff of mid-summer daydreams. While Sally Mann: A Thousand Crossings gathers rich black and white silver gelatin prints depicting a darker deeper dreaminess.
While the artists’ subject matter and styles are extremely different, both possess an air of innocence. Both take a different approach to soul.
Heavenly Creatures, by Sally Gall, lifts us up off its pages, with beautiful photos of the artist’s works.
Fine art photographer Gall captures the ephemeral beauty of delicate fabric as it dances with breezes.
Think laundry drying on clotheslines, then think ballet, choreographed by the wind.
Cottons, silks, and papers flutter and billow, all caught on filaments, all surrendered to the whims of air currents. Sunlight shines through them in varying degrees as we see them from below, floating against bright pale blue skies.
Sensual and abstract, the shifting shapes and colors evoke both biologic and angelic images.
Gall has a long history of focus on the natural world and its relationship to humanity. Previous works have included series featuring gardens, cultivated landscapes, and animals.
Gall lives and works New York City. In addition to her fine art career, she teaches photography and creates commissioned work.
Gall’s photos appear in numerous museum and private collections around the world. She has a 30 year history of gallery exhibitions. Gall has been awarded several prestigious fellowships, including two MacDowell Colony Residencies and a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Fellowship. She has published two books, The Water's Edge(Chronicle Books) and Subterranea (Umbrage Editions).
Check out Gall’s forthcoming exhibition -- her 13th solo show -- at the Julie Saul Gallery in 2019 to accompany Heavenly Creatures. Book published by powerHouse Books.
Sally Mann: A Thousand Crossings, by Sarah Greenough and Sarah Kennel, features a collection of photos by legendary photographer Sally Mann.
Spanning more than 40 years of work, we see Mann’s personal and artistic journeys, as she explores, experiments, and experiences life in the American South. Organized into five sections—Family, The Land, Last Measure, Abide with Me, and What Remains—and including many works not previously exhibited or published, Sally Mann: A Thousand Crossings is a sweeping overview of Mann’s artistic achievements.
Mann’s portraits and landscapes all share a common moodiness and sensuousness. They are full of emotion and intimate. They are both lush and spare. Some are provocative and have raised controversies. Most are in black and white formats, with a few rare full color images.
The images are autobiographical, featuring Mann’s own family, home, and land in Lexington, Virginia. They are steeped in history yet pose contemporary questions about identity, race, and religion.
Mann began her career 40 years ago with a series of photos of her three children as they romped and lounged, often naked, through their "free-range childhood" at the family's farm.
There is deeply moving series of photos of Mann’s husband, Larry, as his body deteriorates over time due to muscular dystrophy.The landscapes series is epic.
This 320-page richly printed volume includes more than 100 of Mann's photographs, including some previously unpublished, with contributions of essays from arts writer and curator Hilton Als, Malcolm Daniel (Senior Photography Curator of The Metropolitan Museum), and historian Drew Gilpin Faust. The book was co-produced by the National Gallery of Art and the Peabody Essex Museum.
Mann, considered to one of the most influential and provocative photographers of the past several decades, is also an accomplished literary memoirist
Sarah Greenough and Sarah Kennel are curators at the National Gallery of Art and the Peabody Essex Museum, respectively, and co-curators of the Sally Mann: A Thousand Crossings exhibition. Published by Harry N. Abrams.
Read more about Beautiful Books in Wild Wonderful Wales, Beautiful Last Lines and Find Beauty in The Lost Words.
And check out more beautiful things happening now in BN Wellness, Impact, Nature/Science, Food, Arts/Design, and Travel, Daily Fix posts.
Do you have amazing photos? Enter them in this week’s BN Photo Contest. We run a new creative contest every week!
-
Photo by Sally Gall. “Fantasia.”
-
Photo by Sally Gall. “Apparition.”
-
Photo by Sally Gall. “Gust.”
-
Photo: “Heavenly Creatures.” Book by Sally Gall. Courtesy of powerHouse Books.
-
Photo by Sally Gall. “Red Poppy.”
-
Photo by Sally Gall. “Efflorescence.”
-
Photo by Sally Gall. “Oceania.”
-
Photo: “Sally Mann: A Thousand Crossings.” Book by Sarah Greenough & Sarah Kennel with photography by Sally Mann. Courtesy of Harry N. Abrams.
-
Photo by Sally Mann. “The Last Time Emmett Modeled Nude.” From “Sally Mann: A Thousand Crossings.” Book by Sarah Greenough & Sarah Kennel with photography by Sally Mann. Courtesy of Harry N. Abrams.
-
Photo by Sally Mann. “At Warm Springs.” From “Sally Mann: A Thousand Crossings.” Book by Sarah Greenough & Sarah Kennel with photography by Sally Mann. Courtesy of Harry N. Abrams.
-
Photo by Sally Mann. “Beans bottom.” From “Sally Mann: A Thousand Crossings.” Book by Sarah Greenough & Sarah Kennel with photography by Sally Mann. Courtesy of Harry N. Abrams.
-
Photo by Sally Mann. “Deep South, Untitled (Scarred Tree).” From “Sally Mann: A Thousand Crossings.” Book by Sarah Greenough & Sarah Kennel with photography by Sally Mann. Courtesy of Harry N. Abrams.
-
Photo by Sally Mann. “The Turn.” From “Sally Mann: A Thousand Crossings.” Book by Sarah Greenough & Sarah Kennel with photography by Sally Mann. Courtesy of Harry N. Abrams.
-
Photo by Sally Mann. “Vinland.” From “Sally Mann: A Thousand Crossings.” Book by Sarah Greenough & Sarah Kennel with photography by Sally Mann. Courtesy of Harry N. Abrams.
-
Photo by Sally Gall. “Blooms.”
-
Photo by Sally Gall. “Stratosphere.”
