Henry Wessel
Standard
Steidl, Gottingen, 2007
pages 184
dimensions 27.5 × 29.5 cm, hardcover with jacket
language English
ISBN 978-3-86521-391-4
ARTISTS
Henry Wessel
Wessel came to photography almost accidentally during his years at Pennsylvania State University, but he was immediately hooked. He began to photograph seriously in 1967, inspired by the work of Wright Morris, Robert Frank, and Garry Winogrand, and in 1971 he was awarded a Guggenheim grant to document the landscape that flanks the American highway system, a once-natural terrain profoundly transformed by human presence. In the 1970s, Wessel became part of a generation of artists who challenged and expanded the categories of landscape and documentary photography, foregoing traditional views of pristine nature in favor of straightforward and personal depictions of the built environment.
Wessel came to photography almost accidentally during his years at Pennsylvania State University, but he was immediately hooked. He began to photograph seriously in 1967, inspired by the work of Wright Morris, Robert Frank, and Garry Winogrand, and in 1971 he was awarded a Guggenheim grant to document the landscape that flanks the American highway system, a once-natural terrain profoundly transformed by human presence. In the 1970s, Wessel became part of a generation of artists who challenged and expanded the categories of landscape and documentary photography, foregoing traditional views of pristine nature in favor of straightforward and personal depictions of the built environment.