Joel Sternfeld: Walking the High Line [Anglais] [Relié]

With a large-format camera and an eye for the subtle light of cloudy days, photographer Sternfeld (Stranger Passing) documents the High Line, an elevated railway running along the western edge of Manhattan for just over a mile. The tracks, which have been derelict for more than 20 years, once carried freight to the warehouses and shipping yards along the Hudson. Though the urban landscape is evident billboards, apartment buildings, and warehouses surround the tracks in each shot Sternfeld's focus is on the wildness that now overtakes the High Line, his angles emphasizing the road before him as it sprouts bristling weeds and scrawny trees, or softens into patches of clover, buttercups, and grape hyacinths. Taken from May 2000 to July 2001, the photographs capture the seasonal changes of this surprisingly undisturbed space. Two essays follow the 24 color plates; Harvard history and landscape professor John Stilgoe obliquely considers the idea of discovery, while New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik offers a brief history of the elevated railway, with comments by Sternfeld. This slender book is an important addition to comprehensive New York City libraries and is recommended for large photography and urban planning collections. Carolyn Kuebler, "Library Journal"
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Sometimes like a river of grass, sometimes like the wheat fields of the Canadian prairies, the High Line is a unique ruin that simultaneously permits contemplation of nature and the city. Since March 2000, photographer Joel Sternfeld has been documenting the abandoned elevated railway line which runs for 1.5 miles along the West Side of New York City, from 34th Street down along the edge of the Hudson River, through West Chelsea's tree-lined blocks and art galleries, and into the heart of the Meat Packing District. Walking the path of this real-time landscape, Sternfeld has created a suite of images in which the landscape is read as both a social and cultural indicator.

Essays by Adam Gopnik and John Stilgoe.

Joel Sternfeld's previous publications include American Prospects, On this Site, and Stranger Passing. He is the recipient of two Guggenheim fellowships and a Prix de Rome.