At Twelve: Portraits of Young Women

by Sally Mann (Photographer), Ann Beattie (Introduction)

At Twelve is a composite portrait that is both universal and intimately personal. As Ann Beattie writes in her perceptive introduction, “These girls still exist in an innocent world in which a pose is only a pose--what adults make of that pose may be the issue.” Sally Mann's work is in the collections of major museums across the country. “Haunting black-and-white studies of children, shown here as surprisingly sensual and often distant beings, the magical keepers of some obscure and vaguely frightening secrets.”
--Karen Lipson, Newsday

Genres: Photography, Art, Nonfiction

56 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1988

About the author

Sally Mann (b. Lexington, VA, 1951) is one of America's most renowned photographers. She has received numerous awards, including NEA, NEH, and Guggenheim Foundation grants, and her work is held by major institutions internationally. Her many books include At Twelve (1988), Immediate Family (1992), Still Time (1994), What Remains (2003), Deep South (2005), Proud Flesh (2009), The Flesh and the Spirit (2010) and Remembered Light (2016).

In 2001 Mann was named “America’s Best Photographer” by Time magazine. A 1994 documentary about her work, Blood Ties, was nominated for an Academy Award and the 2006 feature film What Remains was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2008. Her bestselling memoir, Hold Still (Little, Brown, 2015), received universal critical acclaim, and was named a finalist for the National Book Award. In 2016 Hold Still won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction. Premiering in March 2018, Sally Mann: A Thousand Crossings, opened at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. This comprehensive exploration of Mann’s relationship with the South traveled internationally until 2020. In 2021 Mann received the Prix Pictet, the global award in photography and sustainability for her series Blackwater (2008-2012). In 2022 she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Mann is represented by Gagosian Gallery, New York. She lives in Virginia.

Reviews

[Moved to Library Thing adaorhell · Rating 5 out of 5]

In one of my Tarot books they describe Sally Mann as the Queen of Swords. Queen of Swords has a notoriously bad rap as the Ice Queen, someone who is removed from the garden of earthly delights and blood and guts and fucking and everything else we love as mammals. The justification was something like ; Sally Mann is an artist first, before anything or anyone else. And so when she takes pictures of things she loves, like her children, she must remove herself, and function only as the artist, and not as a mother. She must not run to their attention when they cry, to bandage a cut or bruise, or nurse an aching tooth. Some would call this callous, but this is a woman who is devoted to her art and is a better artist because of it.

I agree.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

The pictures are gorgeously shot but seem somewhat staged, forcing the subject to become what she wants-- for instance, cropping the cover photo to focus on the girl's crotch. She captures what she set out for, her thesis--the dangerous sexuality and gritty beauty of 12 year old girls.

[Esther Hong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have been attracted to her photographs right from the beginning, that's why I'm analysing one of them for my essay. A thoughtful read and very useful for my essay. Shit, can't stop thinking about my essay.

[lauren]

fun glimpse into some of sally’s earlier work! i’d seen the “famous” ones so often it was easy to like forget their greatness in seeing them again here. clear demonstration of her intuitive vision, not quite the clarity / aesthetic mastery of ‘immediate family’ to come. somehow in looking at these it feels even more understandable the explosion of attention she later received, like this would’ve sufficiently primed everyone for the inevitable… anywho her memoir ‘hold still’ is straight up excellent if any of my handful of followers are interested

[Diego Munoz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting to see these children, some accepting or craving adulthood, some held back by their parents and others perhaps too early are women already.

Her framing is original, and the tone of the photos at times is dark with a low depth of field.

It’s a great book.

[LaLa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Literally perfect. I could die from jealousy. What an amazing thing.

[Ruby Birns · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was what inspired me to work in Photography. It was a birthday gift from my Mother for my 12th birthday, and I wore it ragged and threadbare looking at the photos and reading her essays over and over. Sally Mann is an inspiration.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

The photographer is actually Sally Mann. Her work is amazing. I love every book I've managed to get my hands on.

[Vanessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Often painful, usually provocative-Sally Mann's photos can often move me to tears.

[Sanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not really reviewing the reading of the text here, although I was glad to have the added story to the photos here. Sally Mann continues to be one of my favourite photographers.

[Lee Farris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although the photos were beautiful and definitely evocative, I was a little put off since they looked more staged than I had expected based on the book's description.

[Emily Patterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Haunting, heartbreaking, masterful, beautiful.

[Naberius]

photography

[Rebecca_atx · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I've ever read.