Publisher: Nazraeli
Publication date: 2024
Print length: 80 pages
Language: English
Price Range:
Reviews:
"In the summer of 1987, at 26 years old, a few years post-graduate school, I found myself in a rundown apartment outside Boston. Securing an artist's residency in the South of France, I flew to Paris in August. For a few weeks, I lodged with close family friends in a top-floor apartment on Avenue de Wagram. They moved in fashion and film circles, and I slept in a bed rumored to be Jane Fonda's from her Barbarella days. As the weather cooled, they loaned me a brown corduroy jacket once wept upon by Jean Seberg (of Godard’s Breathless, Preminger’s Bonjour Tristesse fame). Days were spent racing around Paris with my camera, hardly eating due to financial constraints, returning to their apartment for dinner and a glass of champagne. Later that year, I journeyed to Cassis for my artist's residency at the Camargo Foundation, near Marseille, a town visited by luminaries like Virginia Woolf, Paul Signac, André Derain, Raoul Dufy, and Frédéric Mistral. Day trips to Arles, Aix, Marseille, and Nice enriched my experience, with a simple darkroom available for film processing.
In 1987, devoid of cell phones and digital cameras, meeting someone required precise planning and adherence. Seasons lingered, time seemed more abundant, and daily life unfolded at a leisurely pace. Parks, museums, and subways were less crowded, and anxiety, though present, didn't permeate as deeply as today. Mark Steimetz eloquently captures this sentiment in the introduction, reflecting on the era's distinct character.
This captivating compilation of Mark Steimetz's previously unseen photographs, taken during his sojourn in the South of France 35 years ago, offers a glimpse into his formative years as an artist. With over 60 images expertly printed in duotone on Japanese Kasadaka art paper and bound in Burgundy linen, "France 1987" is a limited edition of 1,000 casebound copies that promises to be a coveted collector's item."