Remarkably beautiful
photographs , March 2, 2006
I have lived in the Holy
City of Jerusalem for thirty years. But Steven Brooke gives in his
remarkably beautiful photographs his own special way of seeing it.
He does not see and photograph the people of the city but rather its
great historical religious sites. And he does this often through
panoramic vistas , striking and surprising. |
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.
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."
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."
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.
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from the Jerusalem Post
