Jean Pagliuso: Poultry Suite

(Hardback)

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Description

The American artist Jean Pagliuso, who was born in 1941, explores an unusual subject in her most recent experimental photographs: chickens. Over twenty breeds modelled for her in her studio, resulting in insightful black-and-white photographs that present the birds in their unmistakable glory.

Jean Pagliuso has created portraits of the world of fashion and of fi lm since the 1970s. She has worked for Robert Altman, Universal Studios, Disney and other production companies. Magazines such as Vogue, the New York Times and Rolling Stone published her photographs before she dedicated herself entirely to fi ne art photography. The process of making prints and experimenting with darkroom techniques is an essential component of her work as a photographer. The insistence on the purity of technique has led Pagliuso to discover Thai Mulberry paper onto which she hand-applies a silver gelatin emulsion. Here, her unique portraits of chickens reveal to us their beauty, distinctiveness and expression, and ultimately achieve icon status.

Reviews

"Pagliuso's latest series spotlights a wholly different, unexpected model: the chicken. Framing each fowl alone, she has captured these birds with remarkable, individual expression, inviting us to take a much closer look at the common species."

"Portraits of animals are, of course, not novel, but rarely are they elevated, with such subtlety, to possess a natural nobleness."--Pagliuso, Jean "Hyperallergic"

Author Bio

Ralph Gibson is a fine art photographer and the founder of Lustrum Press. April Gornik is a landscape artist whose work is in the collections of many museums across the United States. Maya Lin is renowned modernist artist and architect, best known for her work on the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial in Washington, DC. Eric Fischl is a painter and sculptor most famous for his figurative paintings. Joan Tewkesbury is film and television director.