Present
Published on 6. January 2020
Book
Hardback
496 pages
978-94-63887-15-1 (ISBN)
Description
Stephan Vanfleteren (1969) is best known for his probing black and white portraits, but in recent decades he has also produced a wide range of documentary, artistic and personal work. From street photography in global cities like New York to the genocide in Rwanda, from building fronts and shop windows to the mystical landscapes of the Atlantic Wall, from still lifes to penetrating portraits.
To mark Vanfleteren's 50th birthday, he is celebrating with a major retrospective which will occupy the entire Antwerp Museum of Photography (FOMU, 25 October 2019 - 1 March 2020) and with this publication Present, in which he looks back over his fascinating career. "I was there, I was present", says the photographer, who always feels himself to be both accomplice and witness.
For Present, Vanfleteren has taken a generous selection of more than 400 photos from his ample archive, some of which have become iconic images while others have never been published before. In extensive texts, he reflects on how his own work and photography as a genre have evolved over the past decades and links these developments with a number of major social changes.
This superbly illustrated book is an impressive overview of Vanfleteren's work and offers a comprehensive picture of him as a photographer, as an artist and, above all, as a human being living life with empathy, wonder and curiosity.
Previous successful publications by Vanfleteren, such as Belgicum, Portret, Atlantic Wall and Façades & Vitrines, have become true collector's items.
To mark Vanfleteren's 50th birthday, he is celebrating with a major retrospective which will occupy the entire Antwerp Museum of Photography (FOMU, 25 October 2019 - 1 March 2020) and with this publication Present, in which he looks back over his fascinating career. "I was there, I was present", says the photographer, who always feels himself to be both accomplice and witness.
For Present, Vanfleteren has taken a generous selection of more than 400 photos from his ample archive, some of which have become iconic images while others have never been published before. In extensive texts, he reflects on how his own work and photography as a genre have evolved over the past decades and links these developments with a number of major social changes.
This superbly illustrated book is an impressive overview of Vanfleteren's work and offers a comprehensive picture of him as a photographer, as an artist and, above all, as a human being living life with empathy, wonder and curiosity.
Previous successful publications by Vanfleteren, such as Belgicum, Portret, Atlantic Wall and Façades & Vitrines, have become true collector's items.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Belgium
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 308 mm
Width: 257 mm
Thickness: 60 mm
Weight
3340 gr
ISBN-13
978-94-63887-15-1 (9789463887151)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Stephan Vanfleteren (°1969) is one of Belgium’s most renowned photographers. Among the general public, he is mainly celebrated for his penetrating black and white portraits of famous and anonymous people. However, his oeuvre is much more diverse than that. Starting his career as a press photographer, Vanfleteren made captivating photo reports about the events that dominated the news. Later on, he began to elaborate a variation of themes in extended photo reportages, going from storefront façades to a journey along the mythical Atlantic Wall. For his most recent work, Vanfleteren withdrew into his studio to focus on his own version of classic themes such as nude portraits and still life photography. In the latter, entitled Nature Morte, he portrayed in color dead animals that he found near his home. Where most of his images are very time phased, this series marks an evolution in Vanfleteren’s work towards a more timeless approach and subject matter.
Whether it concerns his journalistic, documentary or artistic photographic projects. Vanfleteren always remains true to his characteristic style and esthetic. A pallet of black and whites, the use of sharp contrasts and well-defined details is the trademark that he developed throughout the years. Also, his recent color work shows his impressibility, combined with his craftsmanship, his involvement with the subject which can be landscape, still life, portrait or nude. His expansive personal stories and reflections of encounters are mesmerizing excursions of a photographer who feels as much a witness as an accomplice. A melancholic soul hides in the sensitive photographer.
Stephan Vanfleteren received in August 2021 a Doctor Honoris Causa from the VUB - Brussels University, Belgium. His latest project is ’Transcripts of a Sea’, on view at the Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent, Belgium until 2026.
Whether it concerns his journalistic, documentary or artistic photographic projects. Vanfleteren always remains true to his characteristic style and esthetic. A pallet of black and whites, the use of sharp contrasts and well-defined details is the trademark that he developed throughout the years. Also, his recent color work shows his impressibility, combined with his craftsmanship, his involvement with the subject which can be landscape, still life, portrait or nude. His expansive personal stories and reflections of encounters are mesmerizing excursions of a photographer who feels as much a witness as an accomplice. A melancholic soul hides in the sensitive photographer.
Stephan Vanfleteren received in August 2021 a Doctor Honoris Causa from the VUB - Brussels University, Belgium. His latest project is ’Transcripts of a Sea’, on view at the Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent, Belgium until 2026.