At the Edge of the Light: Thoughts on Photography and Photographers, on Talent and Genius

Rating:
Summary: A great read
Review: "At the Edge of the Light" is a collection of seven essays on Brassaï, Kertész, metaphors about the parallels between photography and mathematics, the role of narratives in photography, Weston, Stieglitz, and Strand.

The first essay on Brassaï covers a long swath of his life, but the parts I found most interesting where those about his relationships with other artists in Paris during the late 1920's and 30's, particularly Henry Miller, and his intellectual influences, such as Goethe and Nietzsche. The best word I can find to describe the narrative and writing in this essay is "pleasant." I particularly enjoyed Travis' description of Brassaï's work as capturing "flow and duration", and contrasting it with Cartier-Bresson's "decisive moment." I found this description of Brassaï's work to be among the best aspects of the book.

The second essay deals with Kertész. Although Travis discusses much of Kertész's work during the 1920's, he mainly focuses on the picture "Chez Mondrian," Kertész's relationship with Mondrian, and even much on Mondrian himself. While I did enjoy this essay, I didn't take as much away from it as the others.

The third essay was by far my favorite, not just because it is about the relationship between mathematics and photography and I am a mathematician, but because it is genuinely deep and novel. Travis discusses the creative process in photography through metaphors with mathematical reasoning and proof in the (relatively) accessible field of number theory, even going so far as to proclaim that "there is no difference in the way a creative idea comes to a mathematician and the way one comes to a photographer." Although most of the metaphors are just that, and effectively so, the comparison between Euclid's proof of the Pythagorean Theorem and Cartier-Bresson's "Hyères, France" approaches a true bijection. This example was my absolute favorite part of the book. Travis goes further and explains the role of beauty and aesthetics in mathematical creativity, drawing upon Hadamard's "The Psychology of Invention in the Mathematical Field." Here Travis also gets into the role of the subconscious in both mathematical and artistic creativity.

A respected curator of photography, especially at a place like the Art Institute of Chicago, going off and studying mathematics, and then coming back and teaching so much about photography, has to be one of the most remarkable intellectual exercises I have every encountered.

The fourth essay deals with how the presence or absence of narratives in photography affects our experience of the artwork. This leads to the primary discussion of the last three essays on artists in old age. Travis tries to show the importance of the later work of Weston, Stieglitz, and Strand, and the tenor of his arguments are summed up in one he makes about Strand:

"What then is there to say about a photograph of an autumn leaf, especially one in black and white? Beyond some diagram of composition, the answer to this question depends on the photographer who made it. Of Paul Strand, there is a lot to say. Of a leaf centered in his 1973 'Fall in Movement', there is less."

Travis does note that Strand himself felt photographs should stand more or less alone. I can't give an opinion on this issue, but, like all the other essays in this collection, the last four are a joy to read.

As noted by a previous reviewer, the photographic printing in this book leaves much to be desired. While mostly a distraction, the poor print quality strongly interferes with what Travis has to say about Weston's "Point Lobos."

All in all, this book is a must read if you have an interest in the art history of photography or art photography in general.

Rating:
Summary: Thought-Provoking But Imperfect
Review: The book consists of seven essays, most of them based on 1991-2001 lectures. The first two deal with Brassaï and Kertész, who were active in the early part of the twentieth century. The next two concern the parallel between creativity in mathematics and in photography, and the importance of narrative in photography. The author concludes by musing on late photographs (or sets of photos) from three outstanding photographers: "Point Lobos" by Edward Weston (1944), the "Equivalents" series of clouds by Stieglitz (1920s - early 1930s), and "Fall in Movement" by Strand (1973). Some 10 pages of notes follow the 162 pages of text.

I found the book thought-provoking, and many of the photographs were new to me, but the book could have been improved in the following ways. First, an index would have enabled the reader to find specific passages or artworks of interest. For example, one might like to see again the paragraphs on Poincaré on pages 74-75, or the photos by Sternfeld on pages 80 and 85. Second, it would have been nice to know the dimensions of the original photographs. A work that is only a few square inches in size will have a different impact than one that covers an entire wall. Third, virtually the entire book discusses creations by white men; it would have been nice to introduce some diversity in race and gender. Finally, while the off-white matte 6"x8.5" paper is lovely for the text, it does not allow high-quality reproduction of the photographs. Pure white semi-glossy paper in a larger format would have been better.

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