The works of this Swedish/British photographer of architecture were on recently at the Royal Institute of British Architects.
If you like Bernd and Hilla Becher you'll like his work - De Mare snapped follies, iron bridges, Swedish wooden warehouses, weird pyramidal tombstones, rare smock mills, flights of steps, shadows, fog, water, industrial architecture of all kinds. All recorded in abstract compositions of deep black, pale grey and every grade in between. Poetic, romantic and sublime - in the Burkean sense.
His work can be seen in several books, including my favourite, The Functional Tradition in Architecture, with text by J.M. Richards. Not available at amazon, but I found a copy at abebooks.com. All his books seem to be out of print - somebody do something!
I'm sad to hear that Jim Richards' books are out of print already. It's extraordinary how quickly the water closes over the head of even the most eminent and influential person once he has died.
ReplyDeleteFunnily enough, I don't seem to have any of them myself, though he was a friend of my parents.
Yes, how sad! Don't suppose you got to see the show?
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