Harry Gruyaert: Between Worlds

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A note from FRAMES: if you have a forthcoming or recently published book of photography, please let us know. There are at least six different levels of content within this image, each one with its own contextual and narrative interest. Harry Gruyaert is renowned for his photographs of India, Morocco and Egypt as well as of the west of Ireland, and for his use of colour.

A Magnum photographer and renowned colorist, Harry Gruyaert has been traveling the world for over forty years. Harry Gruyaert: Between Worlds dissolves the boundaries between exterior and interior spaces, a closed world and one that is open to elsewhere.A penetrating analysis of the work of one of the most influential painters in the history of modern art by one of the world’s most respected art historians.

The artwork here reflects both the cultural and musical depth of Cuba as well as the political influence of revolutionary communism. A good photo is a photo that says a lot of things about the place and the moment it was taken,” says Gruyaert. He has had the good fortune to travel widely, and whether he’s taking images in Belgium or Morocco, London or Paris, airports or alleys, it’s not that he sees things differently. Most often, there is some version of a window that separates the scene, creates dissonance, and includes reflections that bring in unexpected content. A bit later, Campany continues, “For Gruyaert, making threshold images means bringing together different light levels and different color temperatures.A collection of seventy-five images that connect one realm with the next, this volume shows that beyond the marvelous colorist that he is, Gruyaert’s images also depict a photographer’s vision of the world. His powers of persuasion clearly exceeded those of Colonel Baker, who seemed the personification of Victorian solidity until that embarrassing incident in the sealed railway compartment, where he failed to entice Miss Dickinson to join in his bit of fun, and afterwards had to try and explain his conduct to the High Court, with the whole nation hanging on his every word. A simpler image from Gao, Mali, in 1988 simply shows a vacant room, a glassless window, some fabric blowing in what is perhaps a breeze, a vacant red chair, and through the window opening people walking on a dirt street. There is the story from the observer, the story from the two inside the car (the looks on their faces speak volumes), the story from the four the far distance. A picture from New York City in 2020 is again a combination of direct vision, obscured vision, reflection, perhaps even reflections of reflections.