Art Can Help
A collection of inspiring essays by the photographer Robert Adams, who advocates the meaningfulness of art in a disillusioned society

In Art Can Help, the internationally acclaimed American photographer Robert Adams offers over two dozen meditations on the purpose of art and the responsibility of the artist. In particular, Adams advocates art that evokes beauty without irony or sentimentality, art that “encourages us to gratitude and engagement, and is of both personal and civic consequence.” Following an introduction, the book begins with two short essays on the works of the American painter Edward Hopper, an artist venerated by Adams. The rest of this compilation contains texts—more than half of which have never before been published—that contemplate one or two works by an individual artist. The pictures discussed are by noted photographers such as Julia Margaret Cameron, Emmet Gowin, Dorothea Lange, Abelardo Morell, Edward Ranney, Judith Joy Ross, John Szarkowski, and Garry Winogrand. Several essays summon the words of literary figures, including Virginia Woolf and Czeslaw Milosz. Adams’s voice is at once intimate and accessible, and is imbued with the accumulated wisdom of a long career devoted to making and viewing art. This eloquent and moving book champions art that fights against disillusionment and despair.


Distributed for the Yale University Art Gallery
1126449485
Art Can Help
A collection of inspiring essays by the photographer Robert Adams, who advocates the meaningfulness of art in a disillusioned society

In Art Can Help, the internationally acclaimed American photographer Robert Adams offers over two dozen meditations on the purpose of art and the responsibility of the artist. In particular, Adams advocates art that evokes beauty without irony or sentimentality, art that “encourages us to gratitude and engagement, and is of both personal and civic consequence.” Following an introduction, the book begins with two short essays on the works of the American painter Edward Hopper, an artist venerated by Adams. The rest of this compilation contains texts—more than half of which have never before been published—that contemplate one or two works by an individual artist. The pictures discussed are by noted photographers such as Julia Margaret Cameron, Emmet Gowin, Dorothea Lange, Abelardo Morell, Edward Ranney, Judith Joy Ross, John Szarkowski, and Garry Winogrand. Several essays summon the words of literary figures, including Virginia Woolf and Czeslaw Milosz. Adams’s voice is at once intimate and accessible, and is imbued with the accumulated wisdom of a long career devoted to making and viewing art. This eloquent and moving book champions art that fights against disillusionment and despair.


Distributed for the Yale University Art Gallery
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Art Can Help

Art Can Help

by Robert Adams
Art Can Help

Art Can Help

by Robert Adams

Paperback

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Overview

A collection of inspiring essays by the photographer Robert Adams, who advocates the meaningfulness of art in a disillusioned society

In Art Can Help, the internationally acclaimed American photographer Robert Adams offers over two dozen meditations on the purpose of art and the responsibility of the artist. In particular, Adams advocates art that evokes beauty without irony or sentimentality, art that “encourages us to gratitude and engagement, and is of both personal and civic consequence.” Following an introduction, the book begins with two short essays on the works of the American painter Edward Hopper, an artist venerated by Adams. The rest of this compilation contains texts—more than half of which have never before been published—that contemplate one or two works by an individual artist. The pictures discussed are by noted photographers such as Julia Margaret Cameron, Emmet Gowin, Dorothea Lange, Abelardo Morell, Edward Ranney, Judith Joy Ross, John Szarkowski, and Garry Winogrand. Several essays summon the words of literary figures, including Virginia Woolf and Czeslaw Milosz. Adams’s voice is at once intimate and accessible, and is imbued with the accumulated wisdom of a long career devoted to making and viewing art. This eloquent and moving book champions art that fights against disillusionment and despair.


Distributed for the Yale University Art Gallery

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780300260243
Publisher: Yale University Press
Publication date: 08/24/2021
Pages: 92
Product dimensions: 5.50(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Robert Adams is an American artist, best known for his series of photographs that explore the urban and natural landscapes of the American West.

Table of Contents

Introduction 9

Edward Hopper 12

Edward Hopper 14

Richard Rothman 18

Julia Margaret Cameron and Abelardo Morell 20

Frank Gohlke 24

Wayne Gudmundson 26

Ken Abbott 30

Edward Ranney 32

Leo Rubinfien 34

Eric Paddock 36

Terri Weifenbach 38

William Wylie 40

Nicholas Nixon 43

Garry Winogrand 46

Mark Ruwedel 48

Judith Joy Ross 50

Cuny Janssen 54

Dorothea Lange 56

Mitch Epstein 58

Emmet Gowin 60

David T. Hanson 62

John Szarkowski 64

William S. Sutton 66

Eugene Buechel 68

Edward S. Curtis 72

Anthony Hernandez 74

Robert Benjamin 77

Mary Peck 80

Dorothea Lange 82

Afterword 84

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