An English Eye
Unusually for LipService I quote the leaflet on this book more or less in full:
An English Eye: The Photographs of James Ravilious offers the first comprehensive study of the work of this leading British photographer of rural life and landscape, whose photographs are often compared with those of Henri Cartier-Bresson.
In his foreword to this fascinating 120 page book, Alan Bennett emphasizes that Ravilious's pictures "are heirs to a very English tradition of photography" associated with the best work of Humphrey Spender and Bert Hardy. The majority of these wonderful black and white photographs were made over a period of twenty years for the Beaford Archive in North Devon, and are lyrical and evocative studies of the people, animals and landscape of the area.
Occasional trips beyond its boundaries have produced intriguing and masterfully composed photographs of people and landscapes in France, Italy, and other parts of the British Isles. As Alan Bennett writes, "James Ravilious has made his record of rural life out of love, the whole enterprise done on a shoestring and it's perhaps this and his obviously sympathetic and retiring presence that has gained him entry and acceptance into the homes of his subjects. They have trusted him and let him see them as they are: they have not spruced themselves up for the lens or done a quick run round with the Hoover. Nobody tidies up; nobody clears the pots; nobody is on their best behaviour, Ravilious knowing instinctively that when people are on their best behaviour they are not always at their best. And that goes for outside as well as inside, farms shown with all their inevitable clutter, machinery rusting among the nettles and walls of lovely cob and thatch, it's true, but rusting corrugated iron alongside. How many communities very different from the one Ravilious records would benefit from such a compassionate witness." This beautifully designed and printed book contains a substantial essay by Peter Hamilton, in which he discusses Ravilious's life and work as a fascinating combination of art and social documentary, and provides a detailed account of his working methods ant techniques. It includes information on his distinctive uses of Leica and large-format cameras and his interesting approach to fine printmaking, and is illustrated by more than 115 duotones of his greatest photographs.
"Like the greatest photographers, Ravilious can take your breath away with his mastery of the instant" Anna Murphy, The Observer
"Ravilious may represent the last of his kind: the gifted amateur whose curiosity and vision enables him to create a highly individual body of work" Richard Pinsent, The Art Newspaper
"Remarkable as a portrait of place and community" Linda Saunders, Modern Painters
An English Eye (ISBN 1-85522-628-6) is available from Devon Books, Halsgrove House, Lower Moor Way, Tiverton Business Park, Tiverton, Devon, EX16 6SS, and may still be available at the bargain special offer price of only £17.95 post free.
Dewi Lewis Publishing
has a new Autumn catalogue - write with your name and address to: Dewi Lewis Publishing, 8 Broomfield Rd, Heaton Moor, Stockport, SK4 4ND (0161 442 9450 Tel & fax) to request a copy.
IPSE
Meetings at Windmill House, Bolney have reverted to
Thursday evenings - next is 26 Nov. Contact Jill Staples for
details 01444881891.
A weekend with John Blakemore at Micklepage is on 15/16
May. Saturday workshops are planned for 6 March, 6 Nov and a
weekend workshop for 2/3 Oct. Again contact Jill.
There is still time to order
copies of Jill's `Pond' as Christmas presents if you are looking
for something different to fill those stockings!
£10 including
p/p from Jill at Windmill House, Top Street, Bolney, West
Sussex RH17 5PP.