Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/08/23
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]About a year ago I saw a Ralph Gibson show in Paris. His prints from the "early" years were very high contrast, grainy, tri-x in Rodinal work. In the 80's he undertook a color project which expressed his interpretation of the life and culture of France.(In the Foreward by a French critic he was praised for avoiding any photos of the Eiffel Tower or other examples of "monumental France") That body of work resulted in a very popular Paris show and a beautiful, evocative book, Historie de France. The show was a radical departure from his earlier work because color prints were the medium. Every photo is a vertical composition. According to the book, dye transfers were made for the show. There was a Gibson interview in Camera and Darkroom some years ago as well as the recent Camera Arts article. In both, he mentions the old Focomat enlarger, but, the CA piece reveals he is going digital in a big way and is a self-described computer buff. At the end of Historie de France there is a self portrait in a mirror showing Gibson with a M6 on a wrist strap and what appears to be a IIIg on a neck strap. Bill Lawlor