Emmet Gowin: Photographs

Following his marriage to Edith Morris in 1964, Virginia photographer EmmetGowin began to make portraits of his wife and extended family in and aroundhis rural hometown of Danville. In this collection of 68 black-and-whiteimages, first published in 1976 by Alfred A. Knopf, and now lovinglybrought back into print by Steidl Photography International, Gowin writes,"in 1964, I entered into a family freshly different from my own. I admiredtheir simplicity and generosity, and thought of the pictures I made asagreements. I wanted to pay attention to the body and personality that hadagreed out of love to reveal itself." Inspired by the work of Walker Evans,Robert Frank, Frederick Sommer and his mentor, Harry Callahan, Gowinapproaches his subjects with a reverence for the relationship betweenphotographer and subject. Although his images often resemble snapshots, hemakes pictures that succeed as more than just family records--one techniqueis to employ a circular vignette around the image. The pictures collectedin this new edition of Emmet Gowin: Photographs are from new scans of thevintage prints, impeccably reproduced.