Infanta
by Ralph Gibson.
Published by Takarajima Books. ISBN-10: 188348913X
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Ralph
Gibson was born in 1939, in the United States, and is an acclaimed, award
winning, fine arts photographer. Widely published and exhibited, his images
grace the collections of over 100 museums worldwide. He was first introduced
to the power of the camera
at an early age. In the 1950's his father worked at Warner Brothers film
studios, becoming an assistant director to Alfred Hitchcock. Here Gibson
would hang around the film sets watching westerns being shot. Later he
found himself being called upon to be an extra and bit part player. This
led him to became familiar with the use of light: "I still vividly
recall the bright carbon-arc lights used to expose the slow orthochromatic
film of those days. My sense of contrast must surely have been born during
this period as well as the idea of a strong camera presence." At
the age of 16 he signed up to join the US Navy who, as luck would have
it, decided to send him to a photography school in Florida. "I
took it seriously and experienced for the first time in my life a sense
of self." It was whilst serving on his first ship that he had
an epiphany: "I looked up at the sky and screamed, 'Someday I
am going to be a photographer!' Forty years later I am still screaming." Upon leaving the service, in 1959, Gibson found himself furthering
his studies in San Francisco. "I began to understand the language
of abstract expressionism, jazz and beat poetry." In what was
one more lucky break for Gibson, he was taken on as an assistant to legendary
photographer Dorothea Lange. The most important thing that he learned,
during the time he spent as assistant to Lange, was that the content of
an image was much more important than the technique that created it.
Gibson's favourite subjects are the human figure, sculpture and architecture,
sometimes in combination. The human body, as seen via his camera, often
becomes sculpted, as if out of marble, immutable. Influenced by the films
of Bergman and the 'nouveau roman' writings of Alain Robbe-Grillet, Gibson's
photographs are somewhat reminiscent of Bill Brandt, Edward Weston and
Minor White and can be best described as seductive, existential, visual
metaphors. The images he creates are designed to generate a deliberate
emotional detachment - emphasised by his much imitated use of extreme
close-ups, strong contrasts and fragmented isolation. These lyrical images
are often dark and brooding, incorporating fragments that offer up glimpses
of tactile dreams, often with mysterious undertones, building layers of
narrative meaning through contextualization and surreal, erotic juxtaposition.
Such has been their impact that they have become a source of inspiration
to artists since the early seventies when he published 'The Somnambulist'
- the first of a trilogy of books. Over the years his work has found a
much wider audience via its use on record album covers, such as the inner
sleeve of Joy Division's 'Unknown Pleasures'. Still devoted to creating
images, via his trusted Leica, on traditional 35mm film, composing in
camera, without resorting to cropping in the darkroom, Gibson has become,
for many, the fine art photographers 'photographer.'
The
book's title, Infanta, we are told, was inspired by a
visit Gibson made to the Museo del Prado, in Madrid. Here he was taken
by the 1656 painting by Diego
Velázquez entitled 'Las Meninas' or 'The Maids of Honour'. This
famous painting depicts a scene, within the Madrid court of King Philip
IV of Spain, of the young Infanta Margarita surrounded by her entourage.
What is notable about this artwork is that Velázquez has included
himself within the image, looking outwards and beyond the pictorial space
to where a viewer of the painting might be standing, as he works on a
large canvas - Gibson was struck by the existential ambiguity of the painting.
He sees the body of work, showcased within Infanta, as
an attempt to explore "our fascination with seeing ourselves
reflected in the psychological mirror of the human body." For
Gibson, the nude is a canvas onto which an artist can project almost anything: "In photographing the nude, I can get the figure to reflect whatever
idea I am engrossed in."
First
published in 1995, this 120 page, hard-backed and dust-jacketed, monograph
opens with a 5 page introduction, entitled 'Venus Reclaimed', by former
editor of the magazine 'American Photo', Alexandra Anderson-Spivy which
is both informative and respectful of the work. We are then treated to
a single
page artist's statement entitled 'The Mirror of the Psyche' followed by
over 100 stunning monochromatic images, made between 1988 and 1994. These
are displayed one per page, with a border that allows for plenty of space
to breathe, the print quality, whilst perhaps not up to today's standards
of subtlety, is first rate for the time. The book concludes with a witty
four page essay, by novelist, essayist and former stripper Mary Gaitskill,
entitled 'Naked Women' that explores what it is to be a woman, nakedness
and being seen. Infanta is a book that one feels compelled
to keep returning to, discovering something new with each visit, and will
delight anyone who loves both Gibson's work and photography in general.
Review
by Christopher John Ball
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