STEVEN BROOKE STUDIOS
VIEWS OF ROME
from the publisher
Steven Brooke
believes in the myth of Rome. The intensity of his gaze and the poetry of
his visual
expression are unusual among artists who have worked in the Eternal City.
The two hundred photographs
that comprise his Views of Rome transcend the experience
of any
particular moment. Like the Rome of Giovanni Battista Piranesi, the
eighteenth-century
printmaker,
Brooke's Rome is ultimately a Rome of the imagination. Inspired by the
seventeenth- and
eighteenth-century Dutch and Italian vedutisti, Steven Brooke emulates
rather than
imitates his artistic predecessors. His goal is to acknowledge the vedute
tradition while reshaping
and extending it to accommodate the qualities of the photographer's art.Views of Rome is a unique guide to the most
significant sites of ancient, Christian, and modern
Roman
architecture. Steven Brooke produced the work - the first collection of its
kind in over
one hundred
years - during his tenure as a fellow of the American Academy in Rome in the
early 1990s. For
this book he has written detailed captions that provide the history, location,
and, often,
directions to each site.
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from
A Common Reader, 2002
"In
an essay I once wrote about wandering in the streets of Rome, I asserted that
photographs could never do justice to the city's evocative fabric of structure,
space, and time. Well, I've spent so much time savoring Steven Brooke's
photographic Views that I'm happy to eat my words. Brooke's...photos are
artful documents of the Eternal City - beautiful and transporting."
Ted
Weeks, Art Critic, Florida Times Union, Jacksonville,
"Steven
Brooke's photographs of Rome at the Cummer Museum of Art are nothing short of
spectacular."
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Margaret
Flanagan, Booklist
"Brooke presents an
absolutely stunning collection of monochrome photographs depicting typical
signature views
of Rome and an array of other, less familiar architectural jewels. This
visually compelling
guide is divided
into three historically significant and culturally distinct eras. Approximately
200 black-and-white photos capture the unique essence of ancient Rome, Christian
Rome, and modern Rome. Each photographic representation is accompanied by a detailed explanatory
caption, and many are offset by exquisite period engravings. Three essays by prominent art historians serve
as an introduction, but the superb photographs stand alone in this sumptuous testament to the timeless
power and social value of architecture from a photographer of considerable artistry and talent."
VIEWS OF JERUSALEM AND THE HOLY LAND
from
A Common Reader, 1998
"Reinvigorating
the view-painting tradition...Brooke artfully and comprehensively surveys the
vistas and architecture of Jerusalem through the camera's eye. His careful
black-and-white photos have the alluring intelligence and time-soaked
suggestiveness of engravings; his text and detailed captions teach a short
course in the history and geography of the city and its environs. A valuable
work."
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from
Word Trade Review
In
VIEWS OF JERUSALEM AND THE HOLY LAND photographer
Steven Brooke recreates the tradition of the earlier vedutisti artists with an
exquisite tour of these sacred places. Stressing the landscape and architecture,
Steven Brooke's photographs are painstakingly composed, mostly shot early in the
morning to capture the stillness, and printed in glorious duotone. The images
are often shown with corresponding 19th century engravings that create a
fascinating dialogue with the past. All the major historical views are here:
overviews of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, The Temple Mount, the various
Stations of the Cross, The Western Wall, the Church of St. John the Baptist, the
tomb of the Virgin Mary, and the room of the Last Supper. The author contributes
an essay on the history and architecture of Jerusalem, and each of the more than
two hundred photographs includes historical notes that further enrich the
experience of
VIEWS OF JERUSALEM AND THE HOLY LAND.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
from the Jerusalem Post

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