THE ARTIFICIAL OF THE REAL Anton Josef Trcka, Edward Weston, Helmut Newton

The Artificial of the Real, featuring these three photographers, Anton Josef Trčka, Edward Weston and Helmut Newton, highlights the complex ways in which humans have perceived themselves within their world throughout the century, demonstrating how photography can render the artificiality of reality perceptible. In Anton Josef Trčka's work, nature serves as a picturesque enhancement to his portraits and explores it as a means of expressing new forms of humanity through photography that is both intimately close and distantly abstract. Edward Weston depicts it in its most fundamental and pure forms, embodying both reality and metaphor and views the body as an essence of pure form, representing physical existence in its most abstract way. Helmut Newton, on the other hand, views bodies as the product of a director's imaginative vision—genuinely rooted in reality, yet artistically detached for effect and sets nature as a hyper-real backdrop, crafting visual worlds that resonate with contemporary audiences. Although technically a catalog for a 1998 German exhibition curiously titled The Artificial of the Real, the large-format, clothbound book is beautifully reproduced. Exhibition catalogs often present artists in the freshest and most insightful light, and this book is no exception. It offers a rare opportunity to glimpse the work of three accomplished photographers and to gain some understanding of how their work is viewed today. Out Of Print. Condition: Very Fine.