About the New Topographics

The 'New Topographics' is a contemporary style of photography that emerged in the USA during the 1970s. The term derives from the 1975 exhibition at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York entitled 'New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-altered Landscape', in which curator William Jenkins presented works by Robert ADAMS, Lewis BALTZ, Bernd and Hilla BECHER, Joe DEAL, Frank GOHLKE, Nicholas NIXON, John SCHOTT, Stephen SHORE and Henry WESSEL. These photographers turned their attention to places and landscapes or sections of landscapes (often urban suburbs) characterized by human intervention. It was not the ideal conception of landscape, but the documentary view of an environment shaped by industry, transportation and the exploitation of nature that became the subject of a new photography critical of civilization. The approach of photographers in this genre is often conceptual.

Reception

The 'New Topographics' is generally understood as the beginning of a new photographic view of the landscape and a drastic change in US landscape photography. Until then, photographers such as Ansel ADAMS and Edward WESTON in particular had defined the ideal of modern American landscape photography, guided by the view of a landscape and nature largely untouched by man.
The impetus provided by the photographers of the 'New Topographic Movement' continues to have an impact on the current generation of photographers. Joachim BROHM, Hans-Christian SCHINK, Michael SCHMIDT, Hildegard OCHSE and Heinrich RIEBESEHL, among others, can be seen as German representatives of this movement with parts of their work. (Text created using a Wikipedia entry, retrieved on 25.01.2024)

Literature about the 'New Topographics'

  • 'New Topographics. Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape' (1975); 'New Topographics' (1999, by Paul Highman); 'New Topographics' (2013, by Britt Salvesen); 'New Topographics. Texte und Rezeption' (2013); 'Reframing the New Topographics' (2013); 'New Topographics and Tomboy. Landscape transformation and photography' (2016, by Akihito Onishi); 'New American Topographics' (2018)

About the photographers associated with and influenced by the 'New Topographics'
  • Robert ADAMS, Lewis BALTZ, Bernd and Hilla BECHER, Joe DEAL, Frank GOHLKE, Nicholas NIXON, John SCHOTT, Stephen SHORE, Henry WESSEL, Joachim BROHM, Hans-Christian SCHINK, Michael SCHMIDT, Hildegard OCHSE, Heinrich RIEBESEHL
Photo books by and with works by photographers associated with and influenced by the 'New Topographics'
  • ADAMS, Robert
    BALTZ, Lewis
    BECHER, Bernd and Hilla BECHER
    DEAL, Joe
    GOHLKE, Frank
    NIXON, Nicholas
    SCHOTT, John
    SHORE, Stephen
    WESSEL, Henry
  • BROHM, Joachim
    OCHSE, Hildegard
    RIEBESEHL, Heinrich
    SCHINK, Hans-Christian
    SCHMIDT, Michael

In 'Sea Stories', the photos by Robert ADAMS describe the cycles of nature with a new naturalism. It contents a sequence of three visual narratives: among alder and maple trees, along the beachand back through meadows and what remains of the inland forest
0,00 € * Weight 0.7 kg
HC with dust jacket, 24,5 x 26 x 2 cm., 96 pp., 48 b/w ills., English
35,00 € *
First published in 1974, Robert ADAMS' photobook 'The New West' is now considered a photobook classic, along with 'American Photographs' by Walker EVANS and 'The Americans' by Robert FRANK as seminal photobooks exploring American culture and society.
from 198,00 € Weight 1 kg
The photographs in 'First Pictures' by Joel STERNFELD were taken at a time when color photography had not yet been able to assert itself against the B/W tradition. They make this photo volume a revelation also in the history of contemporary photography.
48,00 € *
The book 'Turning Back' by Robert ADAMS documents and observes the results of greed so unrestrained that they are indistinguishable from those of nihilism. It reflects what was lost, what is retained, and what we value as a people with a common history.
58,00 € Weight 1.9 kg
SC in plastic slipcase, 29 x 29 x 2 cm., 112 pp., color & b/w ills., English
40,00 € *
'A Road Trip Journal' is a complete reproduction of the journal that Stephen SHORE made on his month-long tour in 1973 when he began work on his 'Uncommon Places' project. With postcards and reproductions that he made himself and distributed on his trip.
275,00 € * Weight 3.7 kg
Slipcased HC, 30,5 x 38 x 2 cm. (12 x 15 in.), 64 pp., 54 duotone b/w ills., text language: English, Ltd. to 350 numbered copies
248,00 € *
ORIGINALLY SEALED! German-languaged 'Retrospective'-catalog contains important text contributions to the understanding of the work of prominent photographer Stephen SHORE, an extensive interview with David Campany, a complete bibliography and a chronology
148,00 € * Weight 2.3 kg
Stephen SHORE's out-of-print photo volume 'Winslow Arizona' includes a selection of images he presented during contemporary artist Doug Aitken's 'Station to Station' project, which filmed a trans-American journey by train.
from 68,00 € Weight 0.7 kg