World on My Doorstep

Chronicles, through stirring images and biographical text, the brilliant autumnal period of a modern master. In 1950 the photographer Paul Strand left New York for Europe, where he and his wife Hazel would remain for the 25 years until his death in 1976. Settling In Orgeval, France, a small town near Paris, Paul and Hazel began travelling widely, as Strand searched for "the perfect village" where, sustained by hard and honest work, humankind coexisted harmoniously with nature, even with machines. Using large-format cameras for most of his work and creating prints with four-dimensional depth and vibrancy, he sought to depict a timeless sense of community. Strand may or may not have found his communal Eden, but the quest for it produced some of the strongest, noblest, and most influential photographic images of the century. This book is a collection of the finest of Paul Strand's photographs from his European years, reproduced from rare vintage prints, that only become available after his death.