Private Views, book reveiw

(This is the first post of three regarding a package I received from a public relations agency that contained promotional material for projects they represent.)

The name of the book is "Private Views"...

"In the early 1980s, photographer Barbara Crane embarked on a photographic project shot during Chicago's various summer festivals. Armed with a Super Speed Graphic camera and Polaroid film, Crane waded in close to the revelers and focused on capturing the details of clothing and hairstyles, but most important, gesture. The images are tightly cropped and terrifically alive, viscerally bringing us into the crush of people eating, drinking, and enjoying the crowd dynamic—an incredible inventory of private gestures performed in public spaces."

Crane is professor emeritus of photography at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. And represented by: Stephen Daiter Gallery, Chicago; Higher Pictures, New York; and Galerie François Paviot, Paris.

The first thing I noticed about the book is how regal it appears due to the binding and texture of the cover...it feels as if a fine nettish material has been embedded on to, and into, it. It's a great looking "coffeetable" book.

Halfway through the book, the first picture that caused me to pause and contemplate it, is one of a man using his forearm crutches. He is framed from his chest to his knees. I immediately began to wonder about the subject:

who is he?

why is he using crutches?

was it due to an accident?

does he have some disease?

how old is he?

After enjoying the aforementioned picture, I slowed my browsing. The next one I paused for is of two people...being show from their chest to their waists...warmly and affectionately holding each other around their waists. (It caused me to be reminded of how I would embrace my ex-wife. It's a good memory, and something I greatly enjoyed doing...which is why I was stopped in my browsing of the book by this picture.)

There are some shots that contain the faces of the subjects, but it is clear that the focus is on the body language of those in the pictures.