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At the Water's Edge
Since 1976, Joel Meyerowitz has photographed Cape Cod Bay in Provincetown, Massachusetts, during all hours of the day--from first light to dusk and beyond--capturing the contemplative mood created by light, air, and water. This small-format gift book gathers the best of those photos--originally published in Meyerowitz's classic Cape Cod collections--to create the perfect memento of time spent along the shore. 70 color illustrations.
- GenresPhotography
118 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1996
12 people want to read
About the author
Joel Meyerowitz
74 books42 followersJoel Meyerowitz is an award-winning photographer whose work has appeared in over 350 exhibitions in museums and galleries around the world. He was born in New York in 1938 and began photographing in 1962. Meyerowitz is a “street photographer” in the tradition of Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Frank, although he works exclusively in color. As an early advocate of color photography (early-60’s) he was instrumental in changing the attitude toward color photography from one of resistance to nearly universal acceptance. His first book “Cape Light” is considered a classic work of color photography and has sold over 100,000 copies during its 26-year life. He has published nineteen other books including “Bystander: The History of Street Photography” and “Provence: Lasting Impressions.”
In 1998 Meyerowitz produced and directed his first film, ”POP”, an intimate diary of a three-week road trip he made with his son Sasha and his father, Hy. This odyssey has as its central character an unpredictable, street wise and witty 87-year-old with Alzheimer’s. It is both an open-eyed look at aging and a meditation on the significance of memory.
Within a few days of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, Meyerowitz began to create an archive of the destruction and recovery at Ground Zero. He was the only photographer who was granted unimpeded access to the site. Meyerowitz took a meditative stance toward the work and workers there, systematically documenting the painful work of rescue, recovery, demolition and excavation. The World Trade Center Archive includes more than 8,000 images and will be available for research, exhibition, and publication at museums in New York and Washington, DC.
In 2001 The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. State Department asked the Museum of the City of New York and Meyerowitz to create a special exhibition of images from the archive to send around the world. The images traveled to more than 200 cities in 60 countries and over three and a half million people viewed the exhibition.
In addition to the traveling shows, Meyerowitz was invited to represent the United States at the 8th Venice Biennale for Architecture with his photographs from the World Trade Center Archives. In September 2002, he exhibited 73 images – some as large as 22 feet – in lower Manhattan. Some recent books are: “Taking My Time”, his fifty year, two volume, retrospective book by Phaidon Press of London, “Provence: lasting Impressions,” co-authored with his wife Maggie Barrett, a book on the late work of Paul Strand by Aperture, "Glimpse": Photographs From Moving Car, which was a solo show at MoMA, and "Joel Meyerowitz Retrospective", published in conjunction with his recent show at NRW Forum in Dusseldorf.
Meyerowitz is a Guggenheim fellow and a recipient of both the NEA and NEH awards. His work is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, the Boston Museum of Fine Art, The Art Institute of Chicago, and many others.
In 1998 Meyerowitz produced and directed his first film, ”POP”, an intimate diary of a three-week road trip he made with his son Sasha and his father, Hy. This odyssey has as its central character an unpredictable, street wise and witty 87-year-old with Alzheimer’s. It is both an open-eyed look at aging and a meditation on the significance of memory.
Within a few days of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, Meyerowitz began to create an archive of the destruction and recovery at Ground Zero. He was the only photographer who was granted unimpeded access to the site. Meyerowitz took a meditative stance toward the work and workers there, systematically documenting the painful work of rescue, recovery, demolition and excavation. The World Trade Center Archive includes more than 8,000 images and will be available for research, exhibition, and publication at museums in New York and Washington, DC.
In 2001 The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. State Department asked the Museum of the City of New York and Meyerowitz to create a special exhibition of images from the archive to send around the world. The images traveled to more than 200 cities in 60 countries and over three and a half million people viewed the exhibition.
In addition to the traveling shows, Meyerowitz was invited to represent the United States at the 8th Venice Biennale for Architecture with his photographs from the World Trade Center Archives. In September 2002, he exhibited 73 images – some as large as 22 feet – in lower Manhattan. Some recent books are: “Taking My Time”, his fifty year, two volume, retrospective book by Phaidon Press of London, “Provence: lasting Impressions,” co-authored with his wife Maggie Barrett, a book on the late work of Paul Strand by Aperture, "Glimpse": Photographs From Moving Car, which was a solo show at MoMA, and "Joel Meyerowitz Retrospective", published in conjunction with his recent show at NRW Forum in Dusseldorf.
Meyerowitz is a Guggenheim fellow and a recipient of both the NEA and NEH awards. His work is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, the Boston Museum of Fine Art, The Art Institute of Chicago, and many others.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 16, 2012
There are two versions of this that I have that contain the same photos with two variations (additions/subtractions) between the two. Slightly different format covers as well with borders and 'finish'.
A different, earlier Meyerowitz from the soft gauzy photographer of landscapes a decade or so later than many have come to know. Almost documentary, indeed documentary in particular cases of seaside eateries that no longer exist or have been modernized for the tourists, these are photographs of the moment, from an observant eye.
While Meyerowitz is influenced in these photographic series by artists and photographers ranging from Avedon to Edward Hopper, the painter, they are indeed his own.
The 'beach' portraits, including a self-portrait bordering on the creepy, though very centered and full front in nature, are captured with a thought towards the light and the simple backdrop of the ocean and sand. This is Meyerowitz stripped down from what he would produce later in his complex pastel laden landscapes.
Color is the key to this collection of photographs. From the accents of the signage in a Rhode Island restaurant, to the droplets of color from the beach surrounding bathers in monochromatic swimwear, to automobiles of 'an era' that have that rich Kodachrome wash across them all that with the Cadmium Sulfide yellow being so present, these are color photographs.
Only three or four of these photos are distinctly eye grabbers, and then not for the reasons one might think. Viewers with any awareness of the visual language will catch the technique exploited by the photographer, if not consciously certainly by effect.
The real telling quality to this book is that a dozen or more these photographs is that they remain vivid in the mind even weeks after a first brief viewing. Some are distinctly nostalgic now, but were pop culture at its height at the time, an example being the skater girl in her dress.
The special digital inked version of this pops unlike the conventional 4-color, but the 4C version has a quality of its own worth a separate viewing.
Worth a look, and then again later for both the historical development of the photographer, and for the subject material of a recently by-gone by abandonment era.
Life's a beach, didn't you know??
A different, earlier Meyerowitz from the soft gauzy photographer of landscapes a decade or so later than many have come to know. Almost documentary, indeed documentary in particular cases of seaside eateries that no longer exist or have been modernized for the tourists, these are photographs of the moment, from an observant eye.
While Meyerowitz is influenced in these photographic series by artists and photographers ranging from Avedon to Edward Hopper, the painter, they are indeed his own.
The 'beach' portraits, including a self-portrait bordering on the creepy, though very centered and full front in nature, are captured with a thought towards the light and the simple backdrop of the ocean and sand. This is Meyerowitz stripped down from what he would produce later in his complex pastel laden landscapes.
Color is the key to this collection of photographs. From the accents of the signage in a Rhode Island restaurant, to the droplets of color from the beach surrounding bathers in monochromatic swimwear, to automobiles of 'an era' that have that rich Kodachrome wash across them all that with the Cadmium Sulfide yellow being so present, these are color photographs.
Only three or four of these photos are distinctly eye grabbers, and then not for the reasons one might think. Viewers with any awareness of the visual language will catch the technique exploited by the photographer, if not consciously certainly by effect.
The real telling quality to this book is that a dozen or more these photographs is that they remain vivid in the mind even weeks after a first brief viewing. Some are distinctly nostalgic now, but were pop culture at its height at the time, an example being the skater girl in her dress.
The special digital inked version of this pops unlike the conventional 4-color, but the 4C version has a quality of its own worth a separate viewing.
Worth a look, and then again later for both the historical development of the photographer, and for the subject material of a recently by-gone by abandonment era.
Life's a beach, didn't you know??
December 27, 2022
A very good variety to capture both the beauty and the essence itself via photography of Cape Cod. His pictures are adept at calling forth a mood and I recommend that you read this and enjoy them, as you will no doubt just turn to page after page. Then put it down and come back to it after a fashion and give more time to truly appreciate the artistry of this photographer and should you be even an amateur photographer you will find inspiration in its pages.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews