Jeff Wall

by Jeff Wall (Photographer), Martin Schwander (Editor), Jeff Wall (Editor), Ralph Ubl (Text by)

Overview

Cinematic scenes with painterly compositions that place contemporary photography within the broader canon of art history

Since the late 1970s, Canadian photographer Jeff Wall has made significant contributions to establishing photography as an autonomous medium. He is considered the founder of "staged" photography and generates mostly large-format photographs—often inspired by literature, film and art history—composed in a multilayered and subtle way from a multitude of individual shots. Wall makes a distinction between his documentary still life photos and his “cinematographic” pictures, the latter of which take months or even years to complete. His contemporary genre scenes invoke famous works by Hokusai, Manet, Kafka, Ellison and others.
Among the more than 50 works collected in the catalog of the large-scale solo exhibition at the Fondation Beyeler are Wall’s iconic large-format slides in light boxes, black-and-white photographs and color photographic prints. His most recent images, representing the entire spectrum of his oeuvre, enter into a dialogue with works from the time of Wall’s beginnings as an artist and reveal a wide range of references in terms of content and form. These new works will be on display and published in book form for the first time.
Jeff Wall (born 1946) received degrees in art history from the University of British Columbia and the Courtauld Institute of Art. After teaching for a few years he turned to photography in earnest in 1977; he continues to experiment with both digital and analog techniques. Wall’s work was included in Documenta 10 and 11 and has been exhibited at Tate Modern, the Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Museo Tamayo.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783775756303
Publisher:	Hatje Cantz Verlag GmbH & Co KG
Publication date:	04/09/2024
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	9.75(w) x 12.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Jeff Wall was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1946. He received his MA from the University of British Columbia in 1970, with a thesis on Berlin Dada. He studied with T.J. Clark at London's Courtauld Institute from 1970-1973, and worked as a writer until 1977, when he made his first lightboxes. In 2006, Wall received the prestigious Hasselblad Award, putting him in the company of such photographers as Henri Cartier-Bresson and Ansel Adams. A major traveling retrospective stopped at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, The Art Institute of Chicago and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 2007 and 2008.

Editorial Reviews

There are a number of living artists whose reputations are solid but whose work is sadly unknown outside the art world. Fortunately, the "Contemporary Artists" series will go far to correct that. Affordable, thoroughly illustrated in color, these books provide maximum exposure for the price. Although this is enough to make the series worthy of consideration, it is important to point out what makes it unique. Each volume includes writings by the artists whenever possible. Of the two considered here, painter/printmaker Spero and photographer Wall, the latter is the more verbally prolific. In addition, a piece of literature was preselected by the artist to use as a tool for discussion. Put this together with essays by curators and critics, interviews from throughout the artist's career, and a handy chronology and you get an interesting, overall view of the artist. This multifaceted approach is rewarding not only for its comprehensive view of each individual artist but also because it allows each book in the series to vary according to its subject's strengths. A work in progressthese are the fifth and sixth titles, respectivelythis series is a practical buy for most libraries but is especially recommended for academic and large public libraries.Susan M. Olcott, Columbus Metropolitan Lib., Ohio

Library Journal

Wall is a Canadian artist/art historian/theorist who deploys state-of- the-art film and computer technology while invoking the composition, scale, and subject matter of such painters as Vel<'a>zquez, Goya, and Manet. This presentation includes an interview with the artist and two interpretive essays, writings by Pascal and Kafka selected by the artist, and selections of the artist's own writings on subjects that include "Photography and Liquid Intelligence," "The Interriorized Academy," and "Representation, Suspicions, and Critical Transparency." Wall's strange and eery compositions are presented in a 10x12<"> format, which probably can only suggest their "live" impact as giant transparencies mounted on light boxes. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Booknews