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Portraits
Rineke Dijkstra is renowned for her uncanny and thoughtful portraits series of teenagers and young adults: girls and boys of various nationalities at the beach, children of Bosnian refugees, Spanish bullfighters straight out of the arena, Israeli youngsters before and after military service, and here, documented for the first time, her series of photographs taken of aspiring, young ballet dancers. Her subjects are shown standing, facing the camera, against a minimal background. Formally, the images resemble classical portraiture with their frontally posed figures isolated against minimal backgrounds. Yet, in spite of the uniformity in the photographer's works, there is a marked individuality in each of her subjects. Dijkstra often deals with the development of personality as one moves from adolescence to adulthood, or through a life-changing or potentially threatening experience such as childbirth, or a bullfight. "Portraits" includes the photographer's new "Ballet School" series.
- GenresArtPhotography
160 pages, Hardcover
First published December 31, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 31, 2012
I am so inspired by her photographs. She manages to capture power and vulnerability, poise and uncertainty, the emergence of self. She explores "what we don't want to show anymore, but still feel." Dijkstra also expresses the general in the specific. We see ourselves, our neighbors, our children in her bold and clean portraits. What I mean by 'clean' is that she gives us no clues, no accoutrements to infer context or meaning to the lives of her subjects. Whether on the beach or in a room, sitting on a chair, the subject is completely alone. I find her work incredibly moving.
February 25, 2009
cheating here- I didn't actually read the critical text. The first paragraph was larded with enough jargon to gag a billygoat.
but the photos are outrageously great, the reproductions are stellar and it has quite a few I hadn't seen before. A fine core sample of the world of my favorite contemporary photographer.
but the photos are outrageously great, the reproductions are stellar and it has quite a few I hadn't seen before. A fine core sample of the world of my favorite contemporary photographer.
November 25, 2016
Features beach photos, new mothers (bare skin), chair photos of a gal growing older, bull fighters (torn clothes and bloody), and military photos. Some are before and after-like.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews