For the last 22 years of his life, Ralph Eugene Meatyard, a practicing optician in Lexington, Kentucky, made pictures that were uniquely photographic and unmanipulated except for his fondness for the directorial mode: props, masks, and posing. These unique images, all made in Kentucky, are mysterious, frightening, and imbued with literary and philosophical allusions. Excellent reproductions accompany essays by his lifelong friends Van Deren Coke and Wendell Berry. Akron Art Museum curator Barbara Tannenbaum analyzes the thematic periods in his work, while David L. Jacobs (University of Houston) discusses Meatyard's working methods and critical reception. Recommended for photography collections.
Softcover
Pages: 208
Size: 12 x 9 inches
Publisher: Rizzoli
Publication Date: August 1991
Available from the gallery for $45