Ralph Eugene Meatyard
February 1st, 2005from the Phaidon 55 Series
Photography by Ralph Eugene Meatyard
Edited by Judith Keller
ISBN: 0714841129
The 55 series aims to make great photography available in small paperbacks at low prices. In other words, they think there is interest in and a whole new market for photography books that aren’t coffee-table tomes priced upwards of thirty bucks.
This five inch square book is packed with arresting Meatyard images: many of his children posing in abandoned homes, an example from his light on water series, odd still life shots, a photograph from The Lucybelle Crater Family Album, and other mask-wearing figures.
I find myself drawn to the photographs with his children, because they aren’t what you might expect. The children aren’t cute, aren’t precocious, and don’t appear self-concious. The photographs with them don’t seem to be about them, either. The way he has them pose, their surroundings — the images are about things much bigger than the children themselves. They are about society, decay, wonder, questions, and the state of knowing and not-knowing that childhood is.
Along with the photographs (printed one to page, leaving room for a white border around the image) the book presents a biography containing the standard elements of birth, jobs, marriage, kids, influences, and death. Opposite each photograph, Keller provides the title and date for each image as well as a paragraph of art criticism gone wrong.
Specifically, she tries to boil down several overblown points into one paragraph. The result is ludicrous commentary that seems farfetched, or just plain wrong most of the time. I have no doubt Keller knows her stuff, she is the curator of photography at the J. Paul Getty Museum. Perhaps what she turned in was thoughtful commentary, but it reads like tragically Cliff-noted art history. The commentary doesn’t add to the experience of viewing the photography, and it can be safely skipped.
The strength of Meatyard’s images, combined my limited budget for acquiring coffee-table art books or God forbid actual prints, made this a good deal for me at under ten bucks. Recommended to anyone interested in photography, and particularly recommended for folks with an appreciation for the odd.
