Henry Wessel Icons Portfolio mit 15 Gelatinesilberabzügen 2007. Jeweils ca. 17,8 x 26,7 cm (27,8 x 35,3 cm). Jeweils rückseitig mit Bleistift signiert, datiert, betitelt und nummeriert. Beiliegend die originale Portfoliobox mit 4 Deckblättern, diese mit maschinenschriftlichen Werkangaben sowie einem Text des Photographen. Exemplar 4/5 (+ 2 A.P.). Edition Henry Wessel/Galerie Thomas Zander, Köln. - Die Abzüge einzeln unter Passepartout und Glas gerahmt. Provenienz Galerie Thomas Zander, Köln; Privatsammlung, Rheinland Literatur Henry Wessel, Bd. 1. California and the West, Göttingen 2006; ders., Bd. 2. Odd Photos, Göttingen 2006, jeweils mit Abbn. Inhalt: Walapai, Arizona, 1971; Southern California, 1985; California, 1973; Tucson, Arizona, 1976; Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1968; Pasadena, Los Angeles, 1974; Las Vegas, 1973; Buena Vista, Colorado, 1973; Tucson, Arizona, 1974; Oklahoma, 1975; Nevada, 1975; Santa Monica, California, 1989; Waikiki, 1978; Santa Barbara, California, 1977; San Francisco, 1974 Nach einem Studium der Photographie an der State University in New York zog Wessel 1969 nach Kalifornien, wo er sich - beeinflusst durch das Licht und die visuellen Reize der kargen Landschaft - einer neuen Art der Photographie zuwandte. Die Begegnung mit der Westküste bedeutete für Wessel einen so radikalen Einschnitt, dass er sie im Vorwort seines Buches "California and the West" eindringlich beschreibt: "I walked out of the airport into one of those clear sharp-edged January days. The light had such a physical presence; it looked as though you could lean against it. The long shadows of axial sunlight were fracturing the landscape, lighting faces like an on-camera flash, every surface detailed and separate. As I stood there, I wanted to photograph everything in front of me." (Henry Wessel, a.a.O., o.S.) Zusammen mit Robert Adams, Lewis Baltz, Stephen Shore sowie Bernd und Hilla Becher, deren Photographien ebenfalls von einem nüchternen, dokumentierenden Blick auf eine von Menschenhand veränderte Landschaft mit Industriebrachen und Vororten geprägt sind, wurden Wessels Arbeiten 1975 in der Ausstellung "New Topographics: Photographs of the Man-Altered Landscape" im George Eastman House in Rochester gezeigt, die dieser in den USA stilprägenden Photographierichtung ihren Namen gab. Henry Wessel Icons Portfolio containing 15 gelatin silver prints, printed 2007. Each approx. 17.8 x 26.7 cm (27.8 x 35.3 cm). Each signed, dated, titled and editioned in pencil on the verso. Accompanied by original portfolio box with 4 fly sheets, thereon typewritten notes on the edition as well as a text by the photographer. Portfolio 4 from an edition of 5 (+ 2 A.P.). Henry Wessel/Gallery Thomas Zander edition, Cologne - The prints individually matted and framed. Provenance Galerie Thomas Zander, Cologne; private collection, Rhineland Literature Henry Wessel, Vol. 1. California and the West, Göttingen 2006; idem, Vol. 2: Odd Photos, Göttingen 2006, each with ill. Contents: Walapai, Arizona, 1971; Southern California, 1985; California, 1973; Tucson, Arizona, 1976; Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1968; Pasadena, Los Angeles, 1974; Las Vegas, 1973; Buena Vista, Colorado, 1973; Tucson, Arizona, 1974; Oklahoma, 1975; Nevada, 1975; Santa Monica, California, 1989; Waikiki, 1978; Santa Barbara, California, 1977; San Francisco, 1974 Following a degree in photography from the State University in New York, Wessel moved to California in 1969 where he devoted himself to a new form of photography influenced by the light and visual stimuli of the barren landscape. His experience of the West Coast was of such radical significance for Wessel that he emphatically describes it in the foreword to his book 'California and the West': “I walked out of the airport into one of those clear sharp-edged January days. The light had such a physical presence; it looked as though you could lean against it. The long shadows of axial sunlight were fracturing the landscape, lighting faces like an on-camera flash, every surface detailed and separate. As I stood there, I wanted to photograph everything in front of me.” (Henry Wessel, loc.cit., n.pag.) Together with Robert Adams, Lewis Baltz, Stephen Shore as well as Bernd and Hilla Becher - whose photographs are equally characterised by a sober, documentational view of a landscape transformed by the human hand with industrial wastelands and suburbs - Wessel's works were shown in 1975 at the exhibition 'New Topographics: Photographs of the Man-Altered Landscape' at George Eastman House in Rochester, giving the name to this photographic movement which had decisively influenced the style of photography in the USA.