"THE FROZEN IMAGE: SCANDINAVIAN PHOTOGRAPHY". Collectif. Edition Abbeville Press, New York en collaboration avec le Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. 1982. Imprimé aux USA. Petit in-4, dos droit, couverture souple cartonnée photo (état d'usage). 208 pages. Textes en anglais, introduction par Martin Friedman, illustré de très nombreuses reproductions photographiques noir & blanc, quelques-unes en couleurs, in-texte et hors texte. Ouvrage réalisé dans le cadre de l'exposition éponyme itinérante au Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, du 07 Février au 03 Mai 1998, au Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, du 12 Septembre au 14 Novembre 1982 ; International Center of Photography, New York, du 13 Janvier au 27 Février 1983 ; Frederick S. Wight Art Gallery, Los Angeles, du 03 Avril au 15 Mai 1983 ; Portland Art Museum du 08 juin au 17 juillet 1983 ; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, du 05 Août au 02 octobre 1983 ; Tacoma Art Museum du 23 Octobre au 04 Décembre 1983.

 

"…What then is Scandinavian about Scandinavian photography? Our answer must be provisional, given the general and subjective approach we took in our study of it. Nevertheless, we might venture that photography in the Nordic countries seemed to us an art of stillness. Naturally, 19th-century visions of frozen landscapes under cloudless skies are quiescent, but, to generalize, even Scandinavian photographs of dramatic events seemed to us psychologically remote from their subjects: events are frozen in time. Here, formal issues—spatial relationships, contours of forms, tonalities—seem to dominate, yet this cool facade should not mislead us. Formal structure and content are not identical. Often beneath that facade we discern disquieting psychic energy—on occasion, even turbulence. To describe Scandinavian photography as good form veneered over a welter of conflicting emotions is perhaps an exaggeration. Nevertheless, in these images, things aren't always what they appear to be. What initially might seem a placid record of a woman's face, a landscape, a group of objects casually strewn on a table, on closer inspection appears filled with portent and symbolism. In the transmutations of Nordic artists, the simplest events assume intense psychological meanings. It is the tension between form and feeling that gives vibrancy to the artistic phenomenon of photography in Scandinavia." Martin Friedman.

 

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