Photography's Antiquarian Avant-Garde: The New Wave in Old Processes

Photography's Antiquarian Avant-Garde: The New Wave in Old Processes by Lyle Rexer. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780810904026.

In direct rejection of the point-and-click tricks of digital photography, a renegade group of artists have turned their attention to near-obscure 19th-century processes from cyanotypes to daguerreotypes. Featuring 120 color images and works by 60 artists, this is the only book to chart this worldwide revival. The members of the Antiquarian Avant-Garde, who include Adam Fuss, Sally Mann, and Jayne Hinds Bidaut, seek to reengage the physical, hands-on facets of photography, and to celebrate the diverse, idiosyncratic results. An essay by Chuck Close and an interview with Sally Mann enhance Lyle Rexers lively text, which highlights the importance of the new movement for art and photography. A glossary gives detailed insight into such diverse methods as daguerreotypes, photograms, tintypes, and gum bichromates.