-
PENTTI SAMMALLAHTI: DES OISEAUX
(SAMMALLAHTI, PENTTI). Lesaffre, Guilhem. Paris: Editions Xavier Barral, 2018. First English Edition 1/500. 4to. Cloth With Pastedown. Photography Monograph. As New/No Jacket - As Issued. 120 pages, 66 duotone illustrations.
"Traveler-photographer Pentti Sammallahti captures the mysteries of nature on his travels and among these, the world of birds. Coastlines, swamps, parks, endless plains, forest clearings, snowy landscapes… In these isolated areas, birds slyly reveal their presence. Like visual tales, these images attest to his extraordinary eye for detail, to light that sculpts spaces, to silent expanses in which a human or animal presence suddenly appears. The experience of the image is twofold: beyond its narrative virtuosity, his use of a two-color process, with immaculate whites (as in the plumage of his swans or pink flamingos) confronted with deep blacks, creates a play of textures and powerfully renders a world in which birds play a unique role. Accompanying these photographs, the ornithologist Guilhem Lesaffre showcases the relationship to the seasons that is a fundamental aspect of the life of birds. Where it exists, winter is a major constraint that birds must grapple with and that notably leads to strategies in their search for food and energy economy, or socializing. The author here associates the life of birds in winter with Pentti Sammallahti’s photographs. A brand new, pristine example of the now unavailable first English language printing from 2018 limited to five hundred copies still in the publisher's shrinkwrap. 978-2-36511-215-4 Inventory Number: E000PSB