Measure of Emptiness: Grain Elevators in The American Landscape (Signed First Edition)

GOHLKE, Frank and John C. Hudson

ISBN 10: 0801839491 / ISBN 13: 9780801839498

Published by The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD, 1992

About this Item

First edition. Softcover. Simultaneous paperback first printing. 107 pages. Essays by both Gohlke and John C. Hudson. A moody and striking collection of 45 black and white photographs of grain elevators and the surrounding areas. An about very good copy in photo illustrated wrappers with a faint moisture stain to the bottom edge of the pages but with no impact on any of the images or text. Signed and inscribed by Gohlke on the half title page and dated in the year of publication. Uncommon signed. Seller Inventory # 181163

Bibliographic Details

Title: Measure of Emptiness: Grain Elevators in The...

Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD

Publication Date: 1992

Binding: Soft cover

Signed: Signed by Author(s)

Edition: 1st Edition

About this title

Synopsis:

"In the United States there is more space where nobody is than where anybody is, " said Gertude Stein. From the Midway area of Minneapolis to the prairie grasslands of Kansas, the American landscape is characterized by this spaciousness--and by the presence of windowless, rumbling, enormous grain elevators, rising above the steeples of churches to announce the presence of a town and to explain, in great measure, the function of its inhabitants. Why did their builders choose that particular form to fulfill a practical necessity? And how does the experience of great emptiness shape what people think, feel, and do? Frank Gohlke, one of America's foremost photographers of landscape, has pondered and documented the relationship between these enormous structures and the emptiness of the surrounding landscape for the past two decades. The result is this evocative sequence of images, beginning with Gohlke's earliest formal studies of structural fragments and their mechanisms, and gradually expanding to depict the grain elevator as a part of the landscape. His camera eventually retreats so far that the grain elevator disappears in the horizon, and only the landscape--the "space where nobody is"--is visible. Introducing the photographs is a personal essay by Gohlke on the relationship between people and their space, and the ways in which that relationship actually creates a landscape. A concluding historical essay by John C. Hudson details the development and function of the grain elevator and its geographical and economic role in American life.

Review:

"The pictures are superb. They move from awe and admiration, to description of the structure, variety and function of the elevators, to a consideration of their physical and social place in the landscape. This is an impressive piece of work." -- Peter Galassi, Curator of Photography, Museum of Modern Art