Eliot Porter: In The Realm Of Nature

Description

It is a beautifully illustrated celebration of the images of Eliot Porter, and their role in the origins of the environmental conservation. Known for his exquisite images of birds and landscape, Eliot Porter (1901-1990) was a pioneer in the use of colour photography. His work also became a powerful visual argument for environmental conservation. Possessing a gift for close observation, Porter explored new ways of depicting nature, building blinds in trees so he could study his avian subjects at closer vantage, and producing landscape images that capture both pristine forest and ragged river canyons with equal force and brilliance. Initially encouraged by the ground-breaking photographers Ansel Adams and Alfred Stieglitz, Porter went on to produce a body of work all his own. His 1962 Sierra Club book "In Wildness Is the Preservation of the World" transformed the concept of nature photography books. Ultimately, Porter's photographs came to the attention of Congress and led to the passage of the Wilderness Act of 1964, the foundational law in wilderness management today.

Reviews

"[Porter's] images are rich and saturated with movement and detail, qualities that this book by Getty curator Martineau honors by simply getting out of the way.... A brief introduction, white space, short captions, and an emphasis on quality reproduction let the artist's work stand for itself."--"Publishers Weekly"

Author description

Paul Martineau is an associate curator in the Department of Photographs at the J. Paul Getty Museum and author of the best selling Herb Ritts: L.A. Style.