Summit : Vittorio Sella : Mountaineer and Photographer : The Years 1879-1909 - Hardcover

Sella, Vittorio; Mount Holyoke College. Art Museum; New York School Of Interior Design Gallery; Adams, Ansel; Whyte Museum Of The Canadian Rockies

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0893818089 ISBN 13: 9780893818081

Publisher: Aperture, 1999

Synopsis

Weighted with heavy, nineteenth-century camera equipment, Vittorio Sella climbed some of the world's most mysterious, perilous peaks and photographed them, many for the first time. His strikingly elegant photographs, which in Ansel Adams's words, "revealed [the mountains] in all their sheer majesty," offer groundbreaking scientific and documentary information as well. Climbers today still use Sella's pictures to map out routes and to better comprehend their challenges and the magnificence to come.

Through Sella's images, we can witness the grandeur of the world's greatest peaks; the Russian Caucasus, the Saint Elias Range in Alaska, Mount Ruwenzori in Africa, the Kanchenjunga in the Himalayas. His photographic documentation of these peaks had no precedents and has few, if any, equals.

Greg Child is a mountaineer and author of Thin Air (Dell, 1993). Wendy Watson is curator of exhibitions at Mount Holyoke College. Paul Kallmes, a renowned member of the American Alpine Club, has worked closely with the Fondazione Sella for several years.

Published in association with Fondazione Sella and the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum.

About this title

About the Author:

Greg Child is a world-famous mountaineer and author of Thin Air. Wendy Watson is curator of exhibitions at the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum. Paul Kallmes, a renowned climber, has worked closely with the Fondazione Sella for several years.

From Library Journal:

This book is a careful reproduction of some of the best black-and-white landscape photography ever collectedAthe work of Vittorio Sella. A courageous photographer and mountaineer, Sella climbed peaks on three continents to record stunning views at the top of the world; this book should make us grateful that he hauled heavy photography equipment on those ascents. The strength of this volume is its collection of images: tucked and rolling glaciers, unyielding mountains that seem to run in an infinite sequence from close to distant, and deep gaps full of the treachery of silence. The absolute clarity of the portraits demonstrates this climber's mastery of his medium. The images here look bold and contemporary: pure gatherings of white (snow), black (jagged peaks and ledges blocking sun), and various greys (clouds, shadows, and crevices). Ansel Adams's preface byAwhich he wrote as an appreciation in 1939Ajoins with reverent essays by other Sella admirers who know enough to stand aside while the photographs earn their own silent appreciation. Recommended for public and academic libraries.ADavid Bryant, New Canaan P.L., NJ
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Aperture
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0893818089
• ISBN 13: 9780893818081
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 128