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Mitch Epstein: Recreation

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Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Recreation by Mitch Epstein offers a striking visual exploration of American life between the 1970s and 1990s, capturing the complex rituals of excess, alienation, joy, and desire that defined the era. This expanded edition revisits and enhances Epstein's early work, with many previously unpublished photographs that present a vivid, pre-smartphone portrait of modern America. Epstein's wit and unique perspective transform the everyday into unexpected moments of insight, reflecting his enduring inquiry into the American psyche and landscape.
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Format: Hardback
$17000
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

Recreation is ideal for readers interested in photography, American cultural history, and visual arts, especially those fascinated by late twentieth-century society and analogue-era aesthetics.

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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Between the 1970s and '90s, Mitch Epstein photographed the rituals of excess and alienation, jubilance and desire that defined late twentieth-century America. These pictures marked the beginning of his photographic inquiry into the American psyche and landscape that has now lasted half a century. Recreation captures the vitality of modern America in a pre-smartphone, less self-conscious time. In these early works, Epstein's wit reigns, along with his singular way of making the mundane startle and the extraordinary appear to perfectly fit in.

This new edition expands on the original Recreation book published by Steidl in 2005. More than a third of these photographs have never been published, and all of them have been re-worked with fidelity to the pictorial quality of the films of the era.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Critics praise Epstein's capacity to reveal the "ache of fun" beneath leisure activities and to make the mundane startling and the extraordinary perfectly fitting. His photographs evoke uninhibited and oppositional moments, creating a psychologically probing and dynamic portrayal of American culture. Reviewers commend the new edition for its insightful sequencing and remastered images, highlighting its significance as a landmark portrait of analogue-era America.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9783969990827

Publisher: Steidl Publishers

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 14 July 2022

Country: Germany

Imprint: Steidl Verlag

Illustration: 84 Illustrations

Contributors:

  • Edited by Susan Bell
  • Edited by Ryan Spencer

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 320.0mm

Height: 280.0mm

Weight: 2180g

Pages: 176

About the Author

A pioneer of 1970s art photography, Mitch Epstein has photographed the landscape and psyche of America for half a century. His awards include the Prix Pictet, the Berlin Prize and a Guggenheim Fellowship, and he was recently inducted into the National Academy of Design. Numerous collections hold his work, including the Museum of Modern Art and Tate Modern; in 2013, the Walker Art Center commissioned a theatrical rendition of his "American Power" series. Epstein has described the cultural and physical evolution of the United States from 1973 to 2019 in his Steidl books Family Business (2003), Recreation (2005), American Power (2011), New York Arbor (2013), Rocks and Clouds (2017), Sunshine Hotel (2019), Property Rights (2021) and In India (2021).

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  • Mitch Epstein: In India
    Between 1978 and 1989, Mitch Epstein made eight trips to India and shot tens of thousands of photographs. He also made three films there with his Indian wife, director Mira Nair. The photographs in this book are the result of Epstein's unusual dual vantage in an extraordinarily complicated culture: through his Indian family life and work, he was both an...
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  • Mitch Epstein: Silver + Chrome
    Between 1973 and '76, Mitch Epstein photographed in American cities—New York, Los Angeles and New Orleans, among others. In 1973, he was initially shooting in black-and-white as a student of Garry Winogrand when he asked his teacher, "Why not colour?" With Winogrand's blessing, Epstein shot his first rolls of Kodachrome. Silver + Chrome is a chronicle of his three years...
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  • Mitch Epstein: Property Rights
    Who owns the land, by whose authority, and with what rights? These questions led Mitch Epstein to make Property Rights, a collection of photographs and short texts examining the American government's ongoing legacy of property confiscation, and how communities gather to resist. Epstein began this series in 2017 at Standing Rock, where thousands protested the installation of the Dakota Access...
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