Des oiseaux
Michael Kenna
Éditions Xavier Barral
English, French
Hardcover
104 pages
205 x 260 mm
2019
ISBN 9782365112468
A master of landscape photography, Michael Kenna’s images reveal a world that is almost evanescent. One where diaphanous light enshrouds nature in mystery, with islands, rivers, and even summits standing out in the distance. “In all of my work there is a certain prevailing theme which has something to do with memory, with time, with change.” Birds soar overhead, tracing aerial figures in fleecy skies, come to rest on a branch or fly gracefully over hazy expanses of water. Suspended flight, halted moments in time—one that is frozen, immutable.
Shades of grey and depth of field give Michael Kenna’s photographs a somewhat melancholic feel. All is silence. Like paintings in the grand classical tradition, Kenna’s photographs of birds reflect nature devoid of any human presence, where birds alone reign.
(source: https://www.delpireandco.com/en/produit/des-oiseaux-michael-kenna/)
About the Artist
Michael Kenna’s mysterious photographs, often made at dawn or in the dark hours of night, concentrate primarily on the interaction between the natural landscape and human-made structures. Kenna is both a diurnal and nocturnal photographer, fascinated by light when it is most pliant. With long time-exposures, which might last throughout the night, his photographs often record details that the human eye is not able to perceive.
Kenna is particularly well-known for the intimate scale of his photography and his meticulous personal printing style. He works in the traditional, non-digital, silver photographic medium. His exquisitely hand crafted black and white prints, which he makes in his own darkroom, reflect a sense of refinement, respect for history, and thorough originality.
michaelkenna.com
(source: https://www.michaelkenna.com/resume.php)
About the Publisher
Atelier EXB publishes works that address new forms of photography, contemporary art and sciences. Founded in 2002 by Xavier Barral, and taken over in 2020 by the five members of the team (Jordan Alves, Nathalie Chapuis, Yseult Chehata, Charlotte Debiolles and Perrine Somma), the publishing house conceives each book with great attention to both content and form. To question the forms of photography, to bring to light artistic voices, to approach the major questions which innervate our contemporary societies through the image: the Atelier EXB is at the same time a space of creation, curiosity and opening on the world.
Aesthetic rigor and editorial content, developed in close collaboration with major names in contemporary creation as well as more emerging figures, make up astonishing works where many artists and authors from around the world. To date, the catalog includes more than 200 critically acclaimed works.
exb.fr
(source: https://exb.fr/en/content/8-presentation)
