Remembered Light: Cy Twombly in Lexington: Photo memoir of Cy Twombly’s Lexington studio and luminous light.

by Sally Mann, Simon Schama (Contributor)

The artists Cy Twombly and Sally Mann may at first seem an unlikely pairing. He was a leading contemporary artist who defied easy categorization, a painter and sculptor whose enigmatic work often referenced mythology and epic poetry. She is a photographer with an uncanny ability to tap raw human emotion, whether depicting members of her family or the landscape of the American South. What they had in common was place—both grew up in rural Lexington, Virginia, where Twombly kept a studio and produced some of his most important work until his death in 2011, and where Mann has lived and worked all her life. Over the course of several years, Mann photographed inside Twombly’s the paint splatters on the floor and walls, the works in progress, the sculptures as they caught the raking rays of light passing through Venetian blinds, the progression from order to chaos that so often characterizes an artist’s working place. The result is a rare insider’s view of Twombly’s process—we sense him in the room at every turn, although he is always just beyond the frame—and a poetic dialogue between two artistic visions.

Genres: Art, Photography

112 pages, Hardcover

Published October 4, 2016

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

[Orest Mercator · Rating 4 out of 5]

The interview is great, and the photos -- when viewed in conjunction with the interview -- are of both general and specific interest. It's a unique opportunity to learn more about Mann's eye as exercised outside of (figural) portraiture. That said, though, this book certainly felt more of a passion project than the deep artistic statement of Mann's family photography. Enjoyed nevertheless, but don't start here. (Also, great use of a Mark Strand poem!)