A beautiful, hefty monograph produced by Rizzoli New York spanning Crewdson's entire career to date. Enormously pleasurable. Along with the photos themselves, it includes some fairly redundant short narratives by Jonathan Lethem - one for each series - and the usual sorts of essays (usual but in this case interesting), as well as extended interview extracts with Crewdson and key members of his extensive crew which are illuminating in relation to both the mechanics and the artistic impulses behind these fascinating works.
Early Work (1986-88)
Plenty of signs of the direction he'd later take in these photos taken as a student around the town of Lee, Massachusetts - indeed, many seem like rough takes of images that he'd return to years later.
Fireflies (1996; printed in 2006)
In one of the framing essays in this book, Crewdson is quoted describing how disappointed he was when he first saw how these had come out as, shot naturalistically, they had failed to capture the reality of how he had experienced the fireflies; the contrast, of course, is to the elaborately staged works that he would move to producing later in his career and with which he's most associated. These fireflies ones seem minor to me (but then what would I know), but they're charming too.
Natural Wonder (1992-97)
Taking nature as their subject, these operate very deliberately to denaturalise. Elements of the gothic, and that David Lynch influence very clear.
Hover (1996-97)
Twilight (1998-2002)
From the same well as The Mysteries of Harris Burdick.
Dream House (2002)
In the context of Crewdson's work, the presence of actual Hollywood actors - Julianne Moore, Tilda Swinton, William H Macy, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Gwyneth Paltrow - is entirely congruous.
Beneath the Roses (2003-08)
The series in which his vision is most fully realised. Also, the various naked figures that appear throughout are even more disquieting after seeing It Follows (which must surely have drawn at least some inspiration from him).
Sanctuary (2009)
(@ CCP a few years back)
Early Work (1986-88)
Plenty of signs of the direction he'd later take in these photos taken as a student around the town of Lee, Massachusetts - indeed, many seem like rough takes of images that he'd return to years later.
Fireflies (1996; printed in 2006)
In one of the framing essays in this book, Crewdson is quoted describing how disappointed he was when he first saw how these had come out as, shot naturalistically, they had failed to capture the reality of how he had experienced the fireflies; the contrast, of course, is to the elaborately staged works that he would move to producing later in his career and with which he's most associated. These fireflies ones seem minor to me (but then what would I know), but they're charming too.
Natural Wonder (1992-97)
Taking nature as their subject, these operate very deliberately to denaturalise. Elements of the gothic, and that David Lynch influence very clear.
Hover (1996-97)
Twilight (1998-2002)
From the same well as The Mysteries of Harris Burdick.
Dream House (2002)
In the context of Crewdson's work, the presence of actual Hollywood actors - Julianne Moore, Tilda Swinton, William H Macy, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Gwyneth Paltrow - is entirely congruous.
Beneath the Roses (2003-08)
The series in which his vision is most fully realised. Also, the various naked figures that appear throughout are even more disquieting after seeing It Follows (which must surely have drawn at least some inspiration from him).
Sanctuary (2009)
(@ CCP a few years back)
