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Loading... Inlands: Visions of Bostonby Mimmo Jodice
None No current Talk conversations about this book.  RobertDay | Jan 25, 2014 |  no reviews | add a review
The great Italian master of black and white photography Mimmo Jodice was commissioned by the Massachusetts College of Art to capture the heart of contemporary Boston, highlighting the soul of this once maritime town, residence of New England's cultural and historical elite, and now home to a surprising array of innovative architectural design and urban renovation. Jodice's challenge was to portray Boston's past and its future as a unified whole. A powerful and innovative photographic journey consisting of 50 black and white photographs of urban Boston and the surrounding landscapes, Jodice's pieces are characterized by dramatic contrasts of light and shadow accompanied by fast moving and sometimes fleeting images which playfully bring to life the essence of the modern city. This is a personal vision of Boston: a romantic Gardner Museum, derelict and abandoned waterfronts and piers, and spacious city squares and legendary graveyards: taken together these photographs carefully recount the history and glimpse into the future of America's first city. This spectacular volume opens with an introduction by art historians Ellen Shapiro and David Nolta, who analyze Jodice's Boston work in the context of his previous work. Students of photography, modern art lovers, photography collectors, and Boston natives will revel in this special and modern view of Boston. No library descriptions found. |
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 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)770The arts Photography, computer art, cinematography, videography PhotographyLC ClassificationRatingAverage: (3.5)
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Wikipedia in English
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I found this book something of a mixture. Many of the photographs are truly notable, with either a specific view of part of the city that otherwise wouldn't be regarded by most visitors, or a view which is clearly the photographer's own reaction to the scene. And there there are some pictures which I would frankly not have included because they would not meet my own self-imposed technical standards. But the overall package is attractive and the good photographs are very good, with a tangible sense of place.
There is an introduction by Jeffrey Keogh, the Director of Exhibitions at the college, and an essay by the curators of the exhibition, David D. Nolta and Ellen R. Shapiro. This sets their artistic reaction to Jodice's work, but I have to take issue with them on one point; they comment on a photograph showing a hemispherical tank on an industrial site and say that this illustrates what they call "the myth of globality" - yet they sign up to this myth and say that this photograph "could be anywhere". Now, if this photograph had showed a downtown street full of global brand names, I could understand that (though the theme is a bit hackneyed by now). But the fact is that hemispherical tanks on building sites are NOT universal. If these people had actually travelled a bit more with their eyes open they would see the diversity of the mundane. Given that the curators have opted for the comfortable commonly-accepted viewpoint and have also suspended any judgement of technical ability in the selection of pictures for the exhibition, I am led to the opinion that whilst these images may, for the most part, be striking and beautiful, they reflect a particular social viewpoint of an artistic elite that is detached from the real world. And that may just be working against what the photographer wanted to show in the first place. (