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This book, published in 2000, presents art photographs of Egyptian antiquities (such as the Pyramids) by four American photographers taken between 1988-97, that were part of the (Chicago) LaSalle Bank Collection. The four photographers whose works are reproduced in the book are Linda Connor, Lynn Davis, Tom Van Eynde, and Richard Misrach. Mr. Misrach's photos are in color - the other photos are in various tonalities of B&W.
Since the publication of the book, LaSalle Bank was acquired by Bank of America (2007) and the LaSalle photography collection must have been incorporated into the BofA art collection, since it is difficult to find any references to it online since around 2007.
The 30 years or so since these photographs were created have seen a global revolution in photography and communication with the rise of the internet and with the proliferation of cheap smart phones, selfies, as well as the popularity of online/shared photography - which has made photography into the primary communication medium for millions.
But in 2000, when the book was published, the LaSalle Bank was still in business, and had just embarked on a program of publishing small focused catalogs highlighting aspects of its photography collection, of which the present volume was the first. As the then CFO of LaSalle Bank Thomas C. Heagy wrote in the Forward to the book, its growing collection of photographs, was "founded in 1967... [and was] one of the oldest corporate-sponsored collections of photography in America." He explains the origin of the bank's Egyptian photography collection: "With the purchase in 1993 of the three "Lost Egypt"portfolios, published by The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago and drawn from the Institute's extensive archive, the bank embarked on an informal program to acquire photographs that reflect how nineteenth- and twentieth-century photographers have pictured Egypt, its people, and its ancient monuments." Mr. Heagy also wrote: "The history of Egypt offers abiding lessons if only through its longevity in the face of centuries of upheaval and change." He may have been trying to associate the bank with longevity and stability - perhaps ironic in light of the fact that LaSalle Bank would be acquired by the #2 bank in America in less than a decade.
In addition to the Forward, the book contains a well-written introductory essay by Sarah Anne McNear, the then Curator of the LaSalle Bank Photography Collection, which traces the history of photography in Egypt and attempts to place the photographs in the book the context of those of 19th C photographers Maxime du Camp and Francis Frith.
Here are a few quotes from Ms. McNear's essay:
"[Mary McCarthy, 1956:] Sophistication, that modern kind of sophistication that begs to differ, to be paradoxical, to invert, is not a possible attitude in Venice. ... One gives up the struggle and submits to a classic experience."
"Like McCarthy's Venice, Egypt provides a classic rather than unique experience."
"Though Napoleon proved victorious over the ruling Mameluke forces at the Battle of the Pyramids in July of [1798], ... his ultimate ambitions in Egypt were thwarted within days by the British who, under the leadership of Lord Nelson, destroyed the French Fleet in the battle of Aboukir Bay."
And a couple of quotes from the End Notes by Emily Teeter (Research Associate and Curator of Egyptian and Nubian Antiquities, The Oriental Institute of the The University of Chicago):
"The Karnak Temple in modern Luxor is one of the largest temple complexes ever constructed. For over 2,000 years, it was constantly being added to and modified to suit the taste and needs of individual rulers."
"The mortuary temples of some kings and queens were used for generations and even centuries after the death of the rulers to whom they were dedicated. The uppermost terrace of Queen Hatshepsut's chapel [at Deir el-Bahri on the West Bank of the Nile at Luxor] continued to be a focus of ritual; it was an important destination for processions during an annual festival in which people came to the necropolis to visit their deceased relatives. In the Ptolemaic Period some 1,200 years after the death of Hatshepsut, the sanctuary was renovated and rededicated to two deified architects, Imhotep and Amunhotep, Son of Hapu, who were worshiped as healers."
I particularly liked Ms. Connor's 1989 photo "Giza, Egypt" - a view of eroded limestone formations at Giza that contain tomb chapel entrances, toward a pyramid. Also, Mr. Van Eynde's "Karnak Temple, Man Sweeping Hypostyle Hall at Dawn" (1988) - a panoramic view toward an obelisk (of Thutmosis I) that highlights the immensity of the gigantic 23 meter columns, is most evocative and spectacular.
Mr. Misrach's color photos juxtapose the new with the old - include tour buses, cars, apartment complexes encroaching on the pyramids at Giza, but also a particularly beautiful, sepia tone, dream-like photo of "Philae Temple and Nile" (1989). Ms. Davis' "Chephren, Giza, Cairo, Egypt" (1997) of one of the famous pyramids, with the structure shown rising above a field of rocks, with no clouds in the sky, the photograph in warm grays, is truly mesmerizing in its simplicity. Although it's a "classic" structure we're all familiar with, in this photograph, it is impressively and memorably presented. The absence of any reference to scale - the rocks it the foreground could be boulders or pebbles - and the stark shadows, suggest an an other-worldly quality, that the monument could just as easily exist on another planet, or the Moon.
Since the publication of the book, LaSalle Bank was acquired by Bank of America (2007) and the LaSalle photography collection must have been incorporated into the BofA art collection, since it is difficult to find any references to it online since around 2007.
The 30 years or so since these photographs were created have seen a global revolution in photography and communication with the rise of the internet and with the proliferation of cheap smart phones, selfies, as well as the popularity of online/shared photography - which has made photography into the primary communication medium for millions.
But in 2000, when the book was published, the LaSalle Bank was still in business, and had just embarked on a program of publishing small focused catalogs highlighting aspects of its photography collection, of which the present volume was the first. As the then CFO of LaSalle Bank Thomas C. Heagy wrote in the Forward to the book, its growing collection of photographs, was "founded in 1967... [and was] one of the oldest corporate-sponsored collections of photography in America." He explains the origin of the bank's Egyptian photography collection: "With the purchase in 1993 of the three "Lost Egypt"portfolios, published by The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago and drawn from the Institute's extensive archive, the bank embarked on an informal program to acquire photographs that reflect how nineteenth- and twentieth-century photographers have pictured Egypt, its people, and its ancient monuments." Mr. Heagy also wrote: "The history of Egypt offers abiding lessons if only through its longevity in the face of centuries of upheaval and change." He may have been trying to associate the bank with longevity and stability - perhaps ironic in light of the fact that LaSalle Bank would be acquired by the #2 bank in America in less than a decade.
In addition to the Forward, the book contains a well-written introductory essay by Sarah Anne McNear, the then Curator of the LaSalle Bank Photography Collection, which traces the history of photography in Egypt and attempts to place the photographs in the book the context of those of 19th C photographers Maxime du Camp and Francis Frith.
Here are a few quotes from Ms. McNear's essay:
"[Mary McCarthy, 1956:] Sophistication, that modern kind of sophistication that begs to differ, to be paradoxical, to invert, is not a possible attitude in Venice. ... One gives up the struggle and submits to a classic experience."
"Like McCarthy's Venice, Egypt provides a classic rather than unique experience."
"Though Napoleon proved victorious over the ruling Mameluke forces at the Battle of the Pyramids in July of [1798], ... his ultimate ambitions in Egypt were thwarted within days by the British who, under the leadership of Lord Nelson, destroyed the French Fleet in the battle of Aboukir Bay."
And a couple of quotes from the End Notes by Emily Teeter (Research Associate and Curator of Egyptian and Nubian Antiquities, The Oriental Institute of the The University of Chicago):
"The Karnak Temple in modern Luxor is one of the largest temple complexes ever constructed. For over 2,000 years, it was constantly being added to and modified to suit the taste and needs of individual rulers."
"The mortuary temples of some kings and queens were used for generations and even centuries after the death of the rulers to whom they were dedicated. The uppermost terrace of Queen Hatshepsut's chapel [at Deir el-Bahri on the West Bank of the Nile at Luxor] continued to be a focus of ritual; it was an important destination for processions during an annual festival in which people came to the necropolis to visit their deceased relatives. In the Ptolemaic Period some 1,200 years after the death of Hatshepsut, the sanctuary was renovated and rededicated to two deified architects, Imhotep and Amunhotep, Son of Hapu, who were worshiped as healers."
I particularly liked Ms. Connor's 1989 photo "Giza, Egypt" - a view of eroded limestone formations at Giza that contain tomb chapel entrances, toward a pyramid. Also, Mr. Van Eynde's "Karnak Temple, Man Sweeping Hypostyle Hall at Dawn" (1988) - a panoramic view toward an obelisk (of Thutmosis I) that highlights the immensity of the gigantic 23 meter columns, is most evocative and spectacular.
Mr. Misrach's color photos juxtapose the new with the old - include tour buses, cars, apartment complexes encroaching on the pyramids at Giza, but also a particularly beautiful, sepia tone, dream-like photo of "Philae Temple and Nile" (1989). Ms. Davis' "Chephren, Giza, Cairo, Egypt" (1997) of one of the famous pyramids, with the structure shown rising above a field of rocks, with no clouds in the sky, the photograph in warm grays, is truly mesmerizing in its simplicity. Although it's a "classic" structure we're all familiar with, in this photograph, it is impressively and memorably presented. The absence of any reference to scale - the rocks it the foreground could be boulders or pebbles - and the stark shadows, suggest an an other-worldly quality, that the monument could just as easily exist on another planet, or the Moon.