Harry Gruyaert: Edges

Harry Gruyaert, Richard Nonas

In this stunning collection, Magnum photographer Harry Gruyaert explores the visual power of shorelines.

The “edges” that Harry Gruyaert, a preeminent member of the Magnum photo agency, explores in this lush, full-color book are the oceans, seas, and rivers where humans meet the edge of the shoreline and the water begins. This unique volume, which opens from the bottom up, takes the reader to Israel’s Dead Sea, the Niger River in Mali, the North Sea of Iceland, South Korea, and Biarritz, as Gruyaert’s photos record the subtle chromatic vibrations of the edges of the far East and West. Gruyaert juxtaposes the hustle of the city with a pared-down, yet intense, nature. His landscapes are never empty; they are inhabited places where light, color, objects, people, and situations weave a serene, sublime scene.

This beautifully produced photographic manifesto reveals the profoundly poetic character of Gruyaert’s work, and the sensual elegance of his compositions.

Reviews

Unlike many contemporary photographers whose work feels clever and born of the immediate moment, Gruyaert shares the wisdom of his long and rich life, and in so doing offers the viewer images of depth and poetry, of danger and indifference, drama and subtlety, community and isolation.

— Photobook Journal

Contributors

Harry Gruyaert

Author

Harry Gruyaert is a Belgian photographer known for his images of India, Morocco, Egypt, and the west of Ireland and for his use of color. He is a member of Magnum Photos. His work has been published in a number of books, been exhibited widely, and won the Kodak Prize.

Richard Nonas

Foreword By