The Angle of Repose: Four American Photographers in Egypt: Linda Connor, Lynn Davis, Tom Van Eynde, Richard Misrach
By Sarah Anne McNear & Emily Teeter
square 4to. pp. 60. colour & b/w illustrations. hardcover. dw. (fine condition). [Chicago: LaSalle Bank, 2000].
ISBN-10: 0970245203 / ISBN-13: 9780970245205
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Egypt provides a classic rather than a unique experience. According to modern historians, it has been a tourist destination since 30 B.C., and the interest of foreign travelers has hardly waned since. The photographers presented here are no exception; each knits past with present while validating their own discovery of Egypt's ancient monuments. From the pyramids of Giza to the Valley of the Kings, Lynn Davis' and Linda Connor's silver gelatin prints echo 19th-century photographers' documentations of their North African travels. Strewn with scaffolding, piecemeal temples, and shattered sculptures of pharaohs, Tom Van Eynde's Egypt reveals the dramatic detail of its ruins. Harsh and colorful, Richard Misrach's landscapes juxtapose contemporary culture with ancient desert monuments, framing the Pyramids with tour buses, downtown Cairo, and cement housing complexes. "The Angle of Repose" is the first book in a series featuring the LaSalle Bank Photography Collection, the second-oldest corporate collection of photography in America.